Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-11-02
TERRIBLE WORK
OF |NC[ND|AR|ES
Fourteen Solid Blocks Of r
iags Destroyed by Big
on Coney ISL
TWO SCORES OF PERSONS
Drunken Freak Said to 30 Rssponsit
for the Fire, Which Caused Loss or
One Life and s1,5oo,ooo Worth Of
Property-Two Men Are Now Under
Arrest.


New York. Nov. Fourteen solid
blocks OF buildings in ruins, one life
lost, two score of persons injured. 500
persons homeless and financial loss
Of $1,500.000 is the outcome OF an al
legged drunken freak which resulted in
the fire at Coney Island yesterday.
Frank Connolly, %, and Peter Skeliey.
aged 3S years old. former walters in the
Albatross Hotel. are locked up charged
with arson on the strength of state
ment made by Barney Wolf, proprietor
OF the Raines Law Hotel al the island.
Wolf says on Friday night Connolly
and Skelley, in the presence OF crowd,
said things were getting dull en- the
island and they believed they would
liyen the place up with fire. Wolf
says lhe saw them start fire. which
he put out. Again yesterday. he as
serts, they started second fire, but he
arrived Just as the flames shot UP. but
he was unable. to control them as he
had done on Friday. and he gave the
alarm. When he saw hts own place
burn and heard his brother-in-la Ai-
bert Rubin. had his skull fractured by
leaping from window to save him-
self, he told the police of Connolly and
Shelley. The story Of the alleged iI-
cendiarism was all over the island
while the flames were at their height.
and feeling against Connolly and Skel-
ley ran high. Today there is a grea.
scarcity OF food on hand an a hundreds
are suffering for the ordinary necessi-
ties Of life.
New York. Nov. .2.-Coney Island
was swept by a fire Sunday afternoon
and evening which in 81 few hours de-
stroyed property to the value Of about
$1,000.000, made 500 persons homeless.
and entirely wiped ou. the acres-ek-
dives, cheap shows, restaurants. dance
Coney Island resorts wldch lined tha
famous Bowery. and extended for some
nine blocks to the eastward and as Tar
south as the surf line Of the sea Itself.
The region destroyed Is practically
the same as that which was burned in
1896, only this time the area lett In
ashes is much larger than 1t was at the
former fire.
So far as could be learned at late
hour last night SIX to nine persons
were more or less severely injured.
One, Albert Rubens. was so badly
burned that 1t was said at the Kings
county hospital that 1t was doubtful
that he would survive until morning.
Two young men. Peter Skelley. aged
"a. and Frank Corley, aged ~. are un-
der arrest charged with having started
the fire, and the police are looking for
another young man named Chariet
Connolly, under suspicion OF being an
accessory to the crime.
It was ten minutes before O'CLOCK
In the afternoon. and In a vacant buiid-
ing. known as the Hippodrome, ad-
Joining Ticeas Albatross Hotel. that the
fire started. 1t spread so swiftly that
by the time Tice had notified Rounds
man Kennedy and the latter had turned
in an alarm not only the Htppodrom1
but Tice's hotel Itself was blaztng
fiercely.
Both Of these buildings are on Tue
Won walk and close to the large struc-
lures OF Steeplechase Park. There was
a light wind blowing almost directly
from the west. and the sparks and
Aames were carried along in a line
rarallel with Surf avenue and seemed
To threaten Jue ucSll uStACAi VI @ 1880 "
more of buildings IN front OF them.
Roundsman Kennedy. In quick sue
cession, turned in TWO. three and hnal-
ly four alarms as the gravity OF tne
situation became apparent AT he
third alarm all the engines from
Gravesend. Sheepshead Bay. Bath
Beach. Bensonhurst and Fatbush re-
sponded.
When the fourth alarm was turned
in fourteen engines. six truck compa-
MES and ten battalion chiefs were
either on the scene or were hurrying
there as fast as their n1adly galloping
horses could bring them. Battalion
chief David Kirkpatrick was the first
OF the department officers on the
ground. He had figured conspicuous
ly in the big fire Of 1896, and he knew
at a glance the size Of the work that
was cut out for him. More engines
were summoned but at the start the
supply was utterly inadequate.
During all of the severe work which
fall unon the fire department there was
barely a water pressure OF ten pounds,
and engine No. 45. when 1t got upon
the scene, could not get water enough
10 feed its boiler and during all the
hours that the fire burned not q glass
Of water could be drawn from faucet
IN coney. The engines took every BIT
of 1t. and some of them at that could
barely get stream to the top OF the
.wo and three-story frame buildings
-hru which the fire was swiftly eating
its way.
ssoo,o0o Fire in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia. Pa, Nov. 2.-The large
plant of the Avil Printing Company at
s943-3947 Market street. West Phila-
,elphia, was destroyed by fire last
night. and much surrounding property