The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-03-11
MANY RECORDS DESTROYED
FIRE IN A CONSOLIDATED ROAD
BUILDING IN NEW YORK.
A Total Damage of About S25,OOO-Du-
pIicates of the Lost Records Kept In
Hartford and New Jersey-Thirty
Clerks Escape with Dihieulty-One of
Them Injured-Ofiees Wiped Out.

Them Injured-Oniees Wiped Out.
New York, March 10.-The building
owned and occupied by the New York,
New Haven and Hartford Railroad
company. New York division, for the
general offices of several departments at
Willis avenue and 1920 street. was
heavily damaged by fire early this eve
ming George w. Brady, assistant di-
vision superintendent of the railroad
company, said the damage to the build
ing and the valuable records stored
there would probably aggregate $780,
900. He said the building was worth
$4,000. Thirty clerks employed in the
building at the time of the fire escaped
with difficulty. William Lindsey, one
Of the clerks, fell down two flights of
stairs and was internally injured.
The building was 300x40 fet IN di-
mensions and three stories high. In it
were the through freight, passenger.
baggage and freight offices. With the
exception of Sundays there are employ
ed there about $50 clerks. Stored in
what was known as the record room"
in the middle of the top floor were rec
ords valued by the company at a mil
lion dollars. Aside from the temporary
inconvenience caused by the fire the
company will not suffer on account of
the destruction of the records as fire
had been anticipated and duplicates are
on file in Jersey City and Hartford The
fire was discovered in the record room.
Thirty clerks were already preparing to
quit work.
Assistant Superintendent Brady said
he thought the old and tinder-like dry
records might have ignited spontane-
ously or that spark from one of the
engines in the yards below, thrown
through an open window, might have
caused the trouble. This latter theory
was contingent on window being open
"a most improbable contingency, he
said. Chief Croker thought one of the
clerks might have dropped cigarette
and thus caused the fire. The fire
quickly asserted it's majesty, and ten
minutes after the first alarm was rung
in flames were shooting two hundred
feet or more into the air. There was
strong wind, almost a gale, in fact,
blowing, and this famed the fire in
great fury. The downtown track Of
the Manhattan railway runs within
forty feet of the burning building.
Trains were running on ten-rninute |
headway, and as the cars rolled by the
heat from the fire was so great that it |
peeled the paint off the car sides. Once
as train passed a gust of wind struck |
the column Of fire, tipped it over and |
the fiery tongues licked the elevated |
cars, making the passengers recoil in |
terror. Fortunately the train was run |
ming at a good speed and the fire did no
damage.
Had 1t not been for the three i'm |
mense streams thrown by the fire boat I
into the fire the blaze might
have destroyed the building utterly.
Chief Croker was not asked why his
superfluous engines had not pumped
water out of the Harlem river, which
was hardly more than length or two
of hose distant
j. W. Woodrup, the agent of the
company at that station, was telegraph
ed to in his home in New Rochelle and
came down on a special engine. Long
before the fire was out he had leased
the big dance hall in Broomers Union
park near by, and with force of clerks L
set to caring for the company's busi-
1ess. Telegraph lines were quickly con-
nected with the place, and the officials
If the company were soon In commune
cation with those on the ground Yard
master j. Fl. Thurbish and one hundred
)r more men under his general super
yision had saved two freight cars full of
'ecords before the fire drove them away.
All the tickets and money in the build
ng were saved.