New-York tribune., 1902-01-27
FOUR BURNED AT A FIRE
EY.ALDERNAN FLICK SA YES
4 UUTE FROM JUMPING.
HORSE KILLED BY A RUNAWAY WATER
GREAT ODDS, CROSSING TUN-
MEL EXCAVATION.

MEL EXCAVATION.
There has seldom been fire in this city where
.La Aremen labored under such a disadvantage
s that Yesterday IN the five story brick building
- No 10 Bond-st. The building is at Elm-st,
~ which is part Of the rapid transit tunnel ex-
caya+jon. The excavation is twenty feet deep,
aud the frernen We're compelled TO jump down
,nto It, wade through mud and water. dragging
lines Of hose, and Chamber up on the opposite
side 10 get in a good position TO fight the blaze.
Finally a forty-foot ladder was placed in the
tunnel. The fremen climbed on it and poured
water into the building best they could.
Water Tower No. ? met with serious accident
II going 10 the fire.
The three upper floors were afame when the
fremen arrived. It was owing 10 the eXtraor-
dinary risks they took that they got the fire
under control, after two hours of the hardest
Kind of work. In the OF the building is
vacant lot but il was packed with trucks and
carts and the fremer- had to move them away
l,e+ore they could haul their ladders in. This
took considerable time. Then they ran their
ladders Up. mounted the fire escapes. and. al
rbough flames were shooting from every window
and they were enyeloDed in dense clouds of
smoke. they stood their ground and poured
water into the building. Three lines Of hose
we're carried up 10 the roof.
The EllILlLS Is ONNI4t1 ~ john ". SNrN'
father of ex-Alderman Frederick F. FIeck. and
most Of II is occupied by the Manhattan Spong-
ing and Refnishing Works. of which the former
IS The proprietor. The second floor is occupied
by Wick & COS steam laundry.
Several men at work in the building
when the fire broke out. and they had narrow
escapes from being burned TO death. Several
were burned slightly and were removed TO st.
Vincent's Hospital in ambulances. A little be-
fore the fire broke out fifty men had been in
the buiI5ing but they had gone before the blaze
was discovered. Frederick Fleck and three men
were on the top foor a bookkeeper and as
sstant on the third. and Barney" Malon, the
engineer. was putting in some shafting on the
fourth foor where there had been a fire two
weeks ago.
EMPLOYE GAVE THE ALARM.
The fire yesterday started on the fourth floor
from an unknown cause, and was discovered by
Barney" Mallon. He rushed TO the street in
search Of policeman TO send in an alarm. but
there was no one in sight, and he ran to the
quarters OF Engine Company No. So which is
stationed in Great Jones-st. AT the same time
Policeman Byron Lewis, Of the Mercer-st. sta
ton, the fame and smoke, and sent in
alarm. When Captain Oswald, Chief Croker's
aid, arrived the first alarm. he turned in a
second. Battalion Chief Ahearn sent in the
third when he arrived. for it looked then if
the fire was getting away from the hremen.
Water Tower No, . turned out of its quarters
al Fourth-ave. and Thirteenth-st. on the first
alarm, and started down Broadway at a rapid
speed. TIE three horses slipped on the asphalt
and Arthur Mum. the driver. turned 10 the car
tracks 10 them from falling. But even
then the horses could not get a good footing, and
the momentum OF the heavy tower pushed them
along when Mum tried TO hold them back. The
apparatus was going too fast TO put the brakes
on hard. ard Mum had 10 let the horses go at
full speed
Al Broadway and Tenth-st. Mum saw that
i was impossible 70 save the horses from fall
ing. and he decided to take a desperate chance
hy sweryirg west into Ninth-st. When near
thai street he tugged at the lines. and the horses
gaIope5 of the tracks but when Ninth-st. was
reached they were going too fast. The animals
were headed straight for the curb, slipping all
the way. and before Mum could make a su-
rreu.e effort TO hold them they dashed directly
t1r lamp post and hydrant at the southwest
corner.
There IS an incline there. one Of the horses,
Nat, fel Joe, the off horse, ran into the hydrant,
and broke II off Part Of it penetrated his
breast giving him terrible wound. The front
wheel Of the tower crashed into the lamp post,
breaking il of A bar snapped off and part
Of II pierced Joe's hind quarter, breaking his
backbone II 4. was thrown the sidewalk in
front q a store window, where he lay writhing
in agony until he was shot.
Narn Jumped from his seat, drew his knife
and olr Nat and Bob loose from the traces.
They were kicking and struggling to get UP. A
crowd Of two thousand persons watched the
animals struggling. Mum was overcome with
Erief when he saw that Joe was fatally injured
and he broke down and wept. An officer Of the
Society for the Prevention OF Cruelty to Ami
mails shot Joe. The animal had been IN the
Fire Department for four years. The third
alarm brought the Chambers-st tower.
a MUTE SAVED FROM JUMPING.
Richard Crotty, a deaf and dumb mute who
was employed by Fleck. busy work on
the TOP aoor. and did not notice the other men
making a wild scramble for the stairs When
the smoke rolled up from the fourth floor he
became beYiIdered, and was going to jump from
window to the street. Fred Fleck returned
and saved him. They climbed d fire
escape at the rear Of the building and descend
ed 70 the lot. Both were burned about the
face and body. Barney Maon and John
Wilkes We're also burned when they rushed
downstairs TO the ground floor.
Chief Croker came the third alarm. He
Immediately ordered company of his men tc
tear down the guard fence along the tunnel. 81
II would be easier for the iremen to get neal
the side Of the buiIdinfy along the excaya finn