The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-03-27
Express Packages Destined for
All Parts of the World Are De.
strOyed by the Flames Caus-
ing Heavy Losses.
MONEY SAVED BY CLERKS.
One Party Rolls Huge Safe 20 the
Street, Another Carries $780,
coo Cash in Bags Through
Crowds teTrust Company.

New York. March GA spectacular fire
which threatened to destroy the Wall
street section OF Lower New York, was
discovered at 1i:3O this morning in the
buildings occupied by the American Ex-
press Company and the Morris European
Express Company. No. 81 Broadway. 1t
spread rapidly TO No. 80 Broadway. Occu-
pied by the Adams Express Company, and
ruined that building.
From the nature Of the fire and the
property destroyed. people all over the
country and in Europe are likely to suffer
inconvenience. Packages destined for ev-
cry section of the world have gone up in
smoke
The damage to the buildings will amount
to about 100000 There were millions in
gold and securities in the safes of the cx-
press companies. but, these were removed
to neighboring safe-deposit vaults in
strong boxes. guarded by Pinkerton de-
tectives
Many thrilling escapes were made by
the employees of the various concerns in
the destroyed buildings.
WARNS OCCUPANTS.
The smoke that heralded the blaze was
first seen coming from the basement of the
American Express, No. 81 Broadway. by a
policeman, Frank Roth, who sounded an
alarm and Immediately ran through the
building notifying the occupants to get
out.
The clerks had recently organized fire
brigade of their own, and started to fight
the blaze themselves. but it was too much
for them. and they were routed. Running
up to the Office. they placed ropes around
the big safe that contained many val
liable packages, and. with the aid of others
in the street. the safe was dragged to the
sidewalk
a From the basement. the flames found
their way TO the first .!oor and were dart
ing up the stairway when the first batch
of firemen arrived. The clerks in the
Adams Express Company building had
thought themselves secure, and some on
the third floor remained at work
Suddenly. however, the blaze swept into
the basement of their building and cut
off their escape by the stairway. The
clerks are T. Egan, j. Cavanaugh, H.
Haas, S. Claire. ]. Schrieble and A. J.
Wilson. The floor had been supplied with
long ropes for such an emergency and the
clerks lowered themselves to safety.
SAVE THE CASH.
About 100000 in cash in the offices of
the Wells-Fargo Bank at No 63 Broad
way was dumped into bags by the as
sistant cashier and several assistants. I'm
protected, they went through the crowds
in the streets and deposited the money
safely in the KniclIerbocker Trust Com
pany.
Fire Chief Croker was at Bloomfield, n.
J., where his mother is reported to be
dying, when the fire broke out. A tele-
gram was sent to him al once and he hur-
ried to the city.
A singular feature of so fierce a fire as
this was that no one was killed or badly
hurt, and that not a fireman was over
come by the smoke, despite the fact that
the spectators were driven by the dense
volume OF smoke to retreat into the side
streets, and that when the fire was at its
fiercest. the firemen grouped at the noz-
zles of the hose only a few feet apart,
could not distinguish group from group.
Every engine in the borough of Man
haitian south of Fifty-ninth street was
called into service. and several were
brought over the bridge from Brooklyn
where, for time, it looked as though
the Wall street section of the city might
be fire-swept. In ALL fifty fire engines
were brought into action to subdue the
flames.