The sun., 1901-12-11

Of the Gre supply in the district fed by the
1s-inch main
A repair gang got to work as soon az the
| water was turned off, and though II may
be some time before the broken pipe. or
pipes, can be replaced, It IL probable that
some temporary connection can be ar
ranged at once at the point OF the break.
When the food was at its height the
water In the side streets reached some
distance toward the west from Madison
avenue nearly reaching Alfred Gwynne
Vanderbih's house at Fifty-six,h street
and Fifth avenue and L. ii. Hartman 5
residence al East Ffty-fifth street
The houses whose Easements suffered
the most we're those on Madison avenue
between Ffty-ffth and Fifty-sSth streets.
These houses and their occupants were
Nos SIS, Mr.. and Mrs. Henry s. Lawrence;
557, Mr.. and Mrs. Daniel Eaton; $50, Mr..
and Mrs. John Ilarsen Rhodes: SOL, Mr..
and Mrs. George H. Jones; 583, Mrs Robert
Bonner.
In East Fifty-sixth street No. 70. occupied
by DIR. and Mrs. Alexis NJ. Leon; No. IS.
tenanted by Mr.. and Mrs. r. NJ WyleT;
No -, which il the Loreley apartment
house. and several others were flooded TO
the basement ceilings. In all these houses
and those In Madison avenue and in East
Fifty-ffth street all the furnace fires were
put out
On East Fifty-fifth street the houses
flooded and their occupants were 81, Mr.
and Mrs. G, q. Muller; SO, Mr.. and Mrs ": II.
Gunther; S. Nh and Mrs. James I. Har-
per; 60, Mr. and Mrs. W. b Dillon; O., Mr.
and Mrs +. Spies; 80. Mr. and Mn, X. p
Charles; es, Mr. and Mrs. Robert NJ Gal
leway; 10, Mr.. and Mrs. George q. De Witt
72, Mr., and Mrs. T.. r. De Grove; "a, family
named Armstrong, who got the house re-
Gently from Henry Selgman; Nos. 70 TO SO.
apartment houses owned by the Ogden
Goelet estate.
The janitor Of the apartment houses,
Philip Foran. was asleep in chair in the
basement when the break occurred and
was awakened by the water wetting his
feet. He and his wife took out their four
children. By the time they reached the
street their beds were floating around.%.
The lower part OF the First Reformed
Episcopal Church, at the corner Of Fifty
fiith street. was filed from floor TO ceiling
and there were some who doubted last
night as TO whether the building would
not require pinning up before 1t could be
used again for service.
Into the Grand Centrals tunnel the water
poured in torrent. George Schumann.
the station master at the GreNd Central,
when he heard what had OCCURRED. at once
gathered a force Of workmen and went
TO investigate tho possibility Of danger
to the tunnel. But although the water
was flowing into the three divisions OF
the tunnel from the different openings
between Fifty-ffth and Fiitv-ninth streets,
the drainage was SO ample that II was
carried away almost as quickly as II flowed
in.
The main tunnel and the one to the east
hold only few inches of water, NOT enough
10 cover the tracks entirely. In the western
tunnel the water did hide the tracks from
view, but a. this track is not being used
owing to repairs. no Inconvenience was
felt
T.oNS., an 49, o,Los Ii,a, ,oa ,ot i'm,
peded 10 any great extent, but although
the trains slowed up the spray was dashed
over the tops Of the cars, the passengers
thinking they had suddenly run into rain
storm.
Mayor-elect Low stopped by .he water
she'd on his way home from the Columbia
alumni dinner and took In the sights.
Water Commissioner Dalton was entirely
at sea a. 10 the cause OF the accident. He
went over to the scene with a Sun reporter
and said that his administration had been
very lucky so far about breaks in water
pipes, which was fortunate because OF the
great amount Of excavation now going on
in the city. He expects that II any serious
damage has been done in the cellars Of the
property owners In the flooded region
the city will have plenty Of suits for
damages on its hands (under the next adj
ministration)
Gen. Coils said there was no reason
for the three hours delay of the depart
Nffll ll tNu'ting on tnc water. ln'if
were gat.s every hero and there and aC-
curate maps OF them.
DR.. Tucker, who saw the break in the
main, In describing II said later that the
first indication that any thing was wrong
was a sound AZ II something had exploded.
This was followed Instantly bv an up
heaval Of the ground and tho rising in the
air OF a column Of water about eIght feet
high ard two feet in diameter.
For more than an hour there was no diminu-
tion in the size of this column About
midnight IL began 20 die away until il be-
caTo only hig spring
II Is said that some men attached 90 ths
Water Dcpartmeu lad been wCrs1ng
near the spot during tn" day. Whether
or not they injured the main IN any way
was not asoertainabe
The chief IN charge Of Fire Head quarters
said early This morning that no difficulty
Wa Anticipated from the POSSIBLE scarcity
Of water should a fIp start IN the ncighbor-
hood u the break Unless ~" fire was a
very liP on". he said. there would be no
trouble iu getting oil the water wanted
from other supply pipes