The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-28

New York, Feb. 27.--The greatest fire
Newark, y. j., ever experience d, swept
through the retail dry goods district to-
u ,ght, destroying score or more build
ings The loss is estimated at over
81 CO0C0O. Several lives may have
been lost and several persons were
badly burned.
Tie fire started in W. V. Snydcr's d.
partment store at Broad and Cedar
streets, a four story building, OF 70 feet
frontage and extending 100 feet along
Cedar street. The stock was vd4ucd at
half million dollars AID nothing w4s
saved The building was bum, d TO the
ground.
The fire broke out about 6:20 o'c ock
y. m., after the several hund ed EN-, ,,.oyes
had left the building, which was taen
taken charge Of by a number of sweep
ers. 1t is thought that some Of the en-
CINE room force and similar employees
may have also b en in the bu Id ng. he
flames spread with terrible rap.dity, the
entire building being envelon, u before
the arrival Of the irenen Only one
man was seen, and he was at q wind w
on the second floor in a frenzy Of fear.
The firemen raised a ladder, but before
they could scale ii the man swung him
self through the broken wiud0w and on
10 the ladder. AS he rclcaed the lad Ter
rush of fame came Though the Win
dow, eRgtltng m 1t roceded III mo
mpnt, and the man was seen on the
ladder wrapped in fire as his clothing
burned. \ fireman ran up the oder or
the under side and grabbed hun TO pre-
Vent him falling. Then others went up
On the CgVer side and began tearing the
burning ciothiag from the an. Thy
did this with their naked hands and
wire themselves burned. Thousands Of
people witnessed the thrilling scene.
The burning clothing was torn from the
man. and with it came portions of tho
flesh. he man was taken TO hosp tai.
Meanwhile a general alarm was tn ned
in and about fifty odd pieces of fire ap-
paratus in the city were rolling to the
fire Ten minutes after the ire was
discovered the flames had lnpd across
Cedar street. and were travelling a4so
northward along Broad street. Within
half an hour the fire was beyond con-
trol.
The four story building adjoining the
Snyder building on Broad street and
occulie by ]. NJ. Mantz dealer in laceS
and similar goods on the first floor and
offices on the upper floors, was totally
destroyed with evtryth ng it conta ned.
Next to it was the restaurant and
confectionery establishment Of T. Il.
Alien. fashionable caterer, this build
ing also containing offices of many kinds
1t was destroyed, as was also the trunk
store of C.. r. Peddie. The fire COM
Al. f..a. Al
front part almost untouched. Then it
gutt d the rear of the big department
store Of David Strauss. The fremen at
this point made a desperate stand to
prevent the fire from getting iyIto
Hartedgen's jewelry store which was
n"xt in the block.
\ COMPLETE RUIN.
w. II. Rae's jewelry store occupied
the corner opposite Spyder's. Nothing
was saved here, although the valuable
stock Of jewelry, probably the largest in
Newark, was securely locked in the
vaults Of the building. Above the jewel
~ store the building was occupied by
off .ces Within an hour there was rd.
ly brick of the bu ld.ng standing above
q few feet from the sidewalk. The
flames drove through a sold. wall into
i. j. Garrigan's drug store. Cairns
photograph establishments and galleries
were next above this and nothing could
save either Of them. The rear end Of
the Bee Hive Dry Goods store, owned
hy L. a.. Strauss & Company was next
to go, aud here large body of tre-
men concentrated and fought hard 70
keep the fire from entering the MAIN
building which was separated from the
rear portion by a wall with iron
doors. The fight was a stubborn one.
The doors became red hot and the task
looked hopeless. While the ian2@
We're thus eating the heart out Of III
most important business block on Bgoad
street the fire was spreading westward
along Cedlr street on both sid 5. On the
south side of this street. the fire burn
ed from No. , at the rear of Raes store
to No. 24 These were all small stores,
in buildings three and four stories high,
the upper floors beng occupied largely as
dwellings. In this row was Bierman' 5
pawn shop. where many Thousand dol
lars worth Of articles were destroyed.
ON the north side of Cedar street.
back Of Snyder's. the fire attacked a
row Of eleven brown stone and brick
buildings. used as offices on the uppsT
floors and stores on The ground floor.
All tue police in the city were on
duty at the fire except those absolutely
needed on post A hundred thousand