The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-19
The Big HOadIey Building at Corner of Church and Grown Streets Practi-
 caIlY Destroyed.
LOSS ESTIMATED AT S1OO,0OO
FIREMEN HANDICAPPED BY THE
 SEVERE WEATHER.

Thermometer Near Zero and Terrific
 Wind Made Quick Work Impossibie-
 Excellent Judgment Used by Chief
 Fanchsr-1iany Occupants Lost valu-
 able Papers and Other Articies-Iu-
 surancs on Building Sufficient to
 Cover Loss-Three Alarms Sounded.
 One of the biggest and most exciting fires in New Haven in years was that which began at 5:SO yesterday after noon in the Hoadley building, one of the biggest and most prominent struc- lures in the city, damaging it so badly that it will have to be entirely rebuilt. What the flames did not destroy or damage the water did, and to such an extent that the portions of the apart ments of the building that remain will not be safe for occupancy. The build ing occupies the northeast corner of Church and Crown streets and was six
  on Church street and about the same amount on Crown street, and the land is an exceedingly valuable site.
 The origin of the fire is not positively known yet, but it was last night the consensus of opinion that it originated in the club rooms of the St. Aloysius society, which were on the fifth floor of the building. The flames were discov- cred by man passing along the street, who rushed into the building crying fire. At about the same time some one in the employ of G. G. Powning. an advertis- ing agent, whose office and storeroom was in close proximity to that of the club room, saw smoke issuing from the room. The janitor of the building, Charles Wellnan, and several others reached the floor at about the same time, and as the club room door was locked they broke the door down. The club room was at that time mass of flame and the cry of fire had called the attention of the remainder of the occu- pants of the building and they made nasty preparations for leaving. The fire happened at time when most of the offices in the building were void of people, or there might have been a seri- ous loss of life. Some one turned in the ala ri fl from ooifff box a5 corner of Crown and Church streets, and this quickly called Companies 1, 2, and [, trucks l and 2 and chemical i to the scene. By this time, even though their arrival had not consumed more than ten minutes, the entire top floor and the fifth floor were a mass of fire, the flames were shooting upward from the roof, and 1t was at once seen that the fire would develop into one of very serious pro- portions and an extremely difficult ore to cope with. Chief Fancher ordered g second alarm and tI1is called companies 4 and to the scene.
 By this time the ire had gained great headway and was assuming proportions which were almost beyond human con- trol. A line of hose from chemical 1 was strung into the building, but the flames were so intense that this was of no avail and 1t was quickly withdrawn. An attempt was then made to carry one of the large lines oe hose through the main entrance Of the building, which is on the Church street side. but the smoke was so dense and the heat from the flames so fierce that the fire men were compelled to simply stand at the top of the stairs leading to the sec- ond floor at the elevator shaft aid en- deavor to prevent a spread of the flames. Further entrance to the build ing was prevented principally by rea- son of it's peculiar construction. There was 8 very large court or openway in the center of the building, reaching from the second floor to the top, and the offices were built around it. The only means of gaining access to the upper floors was by the elevator and the stairways which 1anked either side of the court.
 The danger of the falling walls. tim- Der and clustering and the density of the flames made access to the upper floors not only impractioable, but ex- ceedingly dangerous It is quite cer- tain, however, that the work of the firemen on the fourth floor was not en- tirely useless, as they certainly sue ceeded in preventing the flames from spreading to the lower floors and con- fined them almost entirely to the fourth and fifth floors.
 When Chief Fancher observed the fact that the fire had done so much damage to the top floors that there was immediate edanger of the walsl or floor ing falling he ordered the men out of the building and they took up a posi- ton on the street and played on the flames from this point of safety. An other set of men with a line of hose was sent onto the Washington building, owned by Major Edward M. Clark, which is directly across the street on the Crown street side, and they at tempted to fight the flames from that place of vantage. TEe terrific wind of almost hurricane velocity prevented the men from doing much successful work. Tie stream was just about strong enough to reach the building but the wind blew it into spray and the entire street and sidewalk and many people watching the progress of the fire were covered with water. An