New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-02

Chief owen McKiernan Of the Sth Battalion
was riding.
Battalion Chief Duffy was being driven In
another buggy, by his driver. Thomas Cunning
ham, directly IN front OF that in which Chief
McKiernan was riding The buggies were going
west through Thirty-fourth-st. At Tenth-ave.
the motive power of the surface car lines is
being changed to electricity. There is great
amount of debris along the block from Tenth
to Eleventh ave, and Cunningham drove on the
sidewalk at Tenth-ave. Chief McKiernan, who
was driving in his buggy, did not see the excava-
ton. and drove into 1t. He and fireman who
was with him were thrown out and severely
bruised. The horse landed against a channel
rail, and was killed by electricity. Chief Nc
Herman and his aid went to the fire. leaving
the body of the horse and the wrecked buggy
in the trench.
COFFINS MADE ON SIDEWALK.
. A grewsome sight was presented in the front
of the house. The bodies were laid the side
walk, and as fast a patrol wagon would
arrive it would be loaded with bodies and driven
to the West Thirty-seventh-st station There
the bodies were placed on cots in cells and
each one tagged. AS fast as Identification
would be made the name would be written
on the tag. AS soon it became known that
the bodies were there undertakers began to
arrive in droves. None were allowed to enter
the station or talk TO the relatives of the dead
When Coroner Schoer arrived at the station
he telephoned to the Bellevue MOrgue for TWEEN
ty-four collins. There were only four collins at
the morgue. but parts of collins sent to the
station, and the work of putting them together
was done on the sidewalk A large crowd
watched the unusual sight. The police finally
had to drive the crowd away, as it grew so large
that the street was blocked When the collins
were completed bodies were placed in them.
The city hearse and patrol wagons took the
collins placed
alongside each other i'm the rotunda. The tops
of the collins were left open, so that identifca-
lions could be made. Each body num-
bered and sheet of paper giving the name was
pinned the coffin. The coroner said most Of
the victims had died primarily from suffocation,
although several had been burned afterward.
The house is owned by the Miller estate. of
No. Broadway. The agent for the house is
L a Geoghegan, of No. 464 Eighth-ave- Cor
oner Scholer said he had started inyestiga-
ton as to the cause OF the fire
CONVINCED FIRE WAS INCENDIARY.
The more 1 find out of the origin Of the
fire, the more convinced / am that 1t was
the work of an incendiary," he said. The fact
that it started al that hour and at no one ever
had any occasion to go into the wOodshed shows
that there is something suspicious about It. l
learned that the WOodShed full of barrels
that the boys in the neighbOrhOod had put there
for bonfire on election night. Mrs. Garfield,
the janitOr, assured me that the cellar door had
been locked when she went to bed. and that no
one could have entered il excel from tire main
hall on the ground floor.
Il also found that paper and rags had been
stuffed into the woodshed. l inquired of many
of the tenants as TO whether there had been
any quarrels between any of them but could
not find out that there had been. ! also learned
that there had been no trouble with any of the
tenants because of non payment of rent, which
might have been motive for some one TO set
the house on fire. Altogether the origin Of the
fire is a mystery, and it will be hard work to
find out anything concerning it.
1t is an outrage the way some tenement
houses are made" he continued In nine
cases out of ten when there is a fire in a build
ing of this kind half the people who are killed
are sunocated by smoke. This is because the
smoke has no way to get out. There ought to
be some law passed compelling owners of
houses to establish some means of ventilation
that will allow the smoke from fire in the
house to pass out through the roof Many lives
would be saved if this were done"
Deputy Chief Duane agreed with Coroner
Scholer that the fire appeared suspicious.
i arrived in answer to the first ALARM he
said. land then the house was a roaring fur
mace from the third floor up. The flames must
have travelled quick as lightning TO have gained
such Roadway in so short time. and that
means that it had been burning for some time
In the cellar before it broke out.
L never saw fire in which so many means
or escape were present where such a loss of
life occurred as in this one The tanning and
panic of the tenants. of course accounts for
most of the lives lost. although the lack of
ventilation had lot to do with it. A large
NUMBER or those who were killed were suffo-
Gated While they slept. The positions of the
bodies showed this"
II was ledIHeu tnat Barney Hughes. a
sWltchman or the New-York Central Railroad
stationed block away, had tried for several
minutes TO alarm the tenants of the house by
battering on the front door which was locked
but was unable to make any one hear
~. The police say that the house was known as
the House OF All Nations" from the variety of
nauonalities living in it. There are several
otner houses In the block that. the noIice say
would prove to be as great a fire trap as
No. 426. F 49,
That had the hospital ambulances arrived
earlier than they actually did. many of those
VINO succunbed TO suffocation would be alive
to-day. was the substance of a statement r,ade
by firemen of Engine - last night
The second alarm was turned i'm about I. :
a. M" they said, but it was o'clock before
any ambulance responded. The fire patroInaan
aid their best to induce artificial Respiration
but they had several other things to attend 10
and were not able to keep the breath in anv -
The superintendent of the New-York Hos
pital declared last night that the hospital hal
not been informed until 1:55 a. M. when two
ambuances were sent to the fire. 1T is obvf-
ously impossible" he said. for us to respond
to every second alarm "
The superintendent of the New-York Hos
pital also denied that ii etiquette to re-
spond to a second alarm.
we received n call from the police for an
ambulance" he said. at about 30 a. m. and
sent one Immediately.