New-York tribune., 1901-03-11
". Y, n. II. &c II. RECORDS LOST
DAMAGE BY A FIRE IN WILLIS-AvE
GENERAL OFFICES BUILDING
ESTIMATED AT S25O,OOO.

The three story brick building owned and
occupied by the New-York. NewHaven and
Hartford Railroad Company. New-York Divi-
sion. for general offices Of several departments.
at Willis ave and MISUNDERSTANDING
ond-st.. was destroyed by fire early last even
ing. The police and Chief Croker of the Fire
Department estimated the loss at S6O.U"
George w. Brady. assistant division superin-
tendent of the railway company. said the dam
age to the building and the valuable records
stored there would probably aggregate S25eHo
He said the building was worth $4,000.
Thirty clerks employed in the building at the
time of the fire escaped with difficulty Will
lam Lindsey. one of the clerks. fell down two
flights of stairs and was internally injured. He
was taken TO his home
The building was 300 by 40 feet in dimensions
and three stories high. In IL were the through
freight passenger ard baggage general offices.
With the exception of Sundays there are en-
ployed there one hundred and fifty clerks
Stored in what was known the record ROOM.
in the middle of the ton floor records val
ued bv the company at 81 .OOOONO Aside from
the temporary inconvenience caused by the fire,
the company will not suffer account of the
destruction of it's records. Duplicates are on file
in Jersey City and Hartford.
The fire was discovered in the record room
515 o'clock The thirty clerks were already
preparing to quit work. Harry Arthur, one of
their number. said he had been in the record
room five minutes before it was discovered TO
be abIaze. At that time IL all right
Assistant Superintendent Brady said later that
he had no theory as TO the cause Of the fire He
thought the old and tinderIike records might
have ignited spontaneously, or that a spark from
one of the engines in the yards below, thrown
through open window. might have caused
the trouble. Chief Croker thought OF the
clerks might have dropped a-ctgarette and thus
caused the fire.
Ten minutes after the first alarm rung
flames were shooting two hundred feet or more
into the air. There a strong wind-almost
a gale. in fact-blowing. and this famed the
fire In fury. The downtown track Of the Man
haitian Elevated Railway lay within forty feet Of
the burning building. Trains running on
ten minute headway. and the rolled by
the heat from the fire so great that II peeled
the paint off the sides. Once train
passed fiery tongues licked the elevated cars.
making the passengers recol IN terror. Fortu-
nately, the train running at a good rate of
speed and the fire did no damage
Chief Croker appeared with the engines an
swering the third alarm He said the water
pressure was so low that four engines al
together useless and helpless. and he ordered
them back their houses. He did not have
them pump water from the nearby Harlem
River. Had il not beer for the three immense
streams thrown by the fireboat Havemeyer into
the fire the blaze might have entirely destroyed
the building.
j. W. Woodrup. the agent of the company at
that station, long before the fire out had
leased the big dance hall in Brommer's Union
Park. by. and. with force of clerks had
set caring for the Company's business. Tele-
graph lines We're quickly connected with the
place. and the officials of the company were
soon in communication with those on the ground
J. III. Thurbsh. yardmaster, and one hundred
moro men under his supervision, saved two
freight cars full of records before the fire drove
them away ]. w Everett ticket agent said
tickets and cash worth $1,000 were saved Coal
records of value were saved.
The building first occupied on October 3
1891. In IL were desks for 150 men, 50 600 worth
of typewriters and the usual office equipment