The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-09
81, YH0MAS'S CHURCH CONE.
.,pr DESTROYS 1T DOWN TO DARE
WALLS AND TOWER.

..,,,,urc. Carvings. Paintings. Windows
r',tcrly wiped Out--Wiil Build Anew
n, INC site. says the Pastor. Avenue
Needs Iydrants. Says Chief Croker
n, the Protestant Episcopal Church Of st.
r,onas which had stood at the northwest
amer OF Fifth avenue and Fhty-third
. ...oot for thirty-hve years, a fire OF yes
..rdav morning left nothing but probably
.,..less shell. 1t was the church In which
csrsuelo Vanderbilt married the Duke OF
worhoroush, in which the Late Roswell
y Flower used to pass the collection plate
- in which worshiped some OF the richest
md most fashionable OF tho Episcopal
eock Save for the walls and the sturdy
helfry, which may have to be RACED, nothing
T. left OF the Gothic pile Of brownstone
built BY Richard Upjohn. Z.
The Rev. DR.. Ernest NJ. stires. rector OF
.he parish, was summoned to town from
T.ke George, where he was spending tpe
GUNNER. lie was accompanied by his
~fe and with J. C. Fargo and j. T. After
INV of the vestry they went first to the
ohr,ch and then talked things over at the
Hotel Manhattan The use Of the new
R,oadwar Tabernacle OF st. Bartholomew
and Of the Church Of the Incarnation had
heen offered to the congregation OF 81.
rhomas's "Of course, our church Will
be rebuilt and undoubtedly on the old site, v
Dr. Stres said to reporter OF THE sun.
whether or not any OF the structure still
.tanding will be used we cannot yet tell.
First We must consult with architects
md builders. But We will not be ham,
nered for money for already have received
more than half dozen Offers, mostly by
telepraph, from members Of the oongre-
cation who are out Of town.
As to the offers OF places Of worship to
meet our immediate needs. feel compelled
N saw that a congregation such as st.
Tbomass would hardly like to be restricted
N its use of a place Of worship to unusual
hours by sharing the day with another
congregation. l have no doubt that OK
cepting for a few Sundays We shall have a
Mace to gather In; certainly by the first
Sunday in October. am grateful to those
rho have extended their aid and SYM
pthy.'
Dr.. Stires said that tho church originally
had cost $500 900. he believed. and with the
valuable paintings and the new organ the
money loss exceeded 100000. The insur-
snce was about $500 COO
The mere loss Of the building proper would
not be stunning blow to a parish with an
income of $4,000 year, but the fire took
The chancel decorations done under the
direction Of John La Fargo and Angus
tus Saint Gaudens, were destroyed, There u
more grief among the congregation OF st:
Thomas's over the loss Of the two mural
paintings by La Fargo and the gold bronze
bas-relief reredos by Saint Gaudens than for
anything else, unless 1t be the altar, which
BY Or. ". ". Morgan in memory o! his
father, the Rev. William F. Morgan. q
former rector. I.,
The decoration Of the chancel was the
rift OF Charles II. Housman, in memory
q his mother The angelic figures by
La Fargo after Fra Angelica that formed
we're also Mr.. Housman's gift. The chime
In the tower, the cross surrounding 1t and
q number OF the stained windows were
also memorials. The altar is said to have
cost nearly s1oO, 900 and the works OF the
painter and the sculptor half as much more.
III, organ cost nearly ~ 900.
The caretaker in house in Fifty-third
street. two doors away, SAYS che smei!ed
sm1ke early Monday evening and made
a search Of the premises entrusted to her.
but found no blaze. At IL p. NJ, on her
return from walk, she smelled smoke
again, but second investigation revealed
nothing and she went to bed. i never oc-
curing 10 her that the churce might De
nGre.
Mrs Sandsbach. houseke eper for the rec
tor, BOXED from her window in the rectory,
Just west Of the church, at e:3S o'clock
Yesterday morning and saw smoke pouring
from the caves Of the church. The cry
she SO; up was heard by Policeman levitt,
who has Fifth avenue beat and who had
passed the church fifteen minutes before
without seeing or smelling the smoke. lie
rang the alarm.
The first look the fremen took showed
that the fire had been going for at least an
hour, and perhaps ten hours. 1t was fur
mace inside the church, furnace that grew
and broke the great, bea utiful windows.
Chief Croker, coming in his automobile at
the second alarm, saw that there not only
vas no hope OF 50 wing st. Thonas's, but
that the buildings about 1t were In grave
danger, The flames reared out OF the doors
and windows so holly that the flremen could
e. g; no closer Than the opposite ourbs Of
hose melted and their trucks caught flre.
The tower Of the church. with the ire
mendous draft afforded by the belfry
100 feet above the ground, was every inch
aAame within, the brownstone at the win
dows racking from the intense heat. 1t
Is great. square tower, and Chief Croker
knew that il it fell there would be death ss
well as damage. II it went to the north 1t
must destroy the houses Of DR.. w. Seward
Webb and H. Nick. Twombly, at $50 and
81 Fifth avenue, and probably the house
Of John D. Rockefeller, at the southwest
corner Of Fifty-fourth street and the ave.
nne. If it fell toward the south 1t would.
strike the house Of the late Daniel 8. Lamont
At West Fifty-third street, and the house
Of Albert Gallatin, at $40 Fifth avenue. II
II toppled westward 1t would crush the rec
tory, and II to the east it would almost
surely reach the houses on the east aide Of
Fifth avenue tenanted by James 7. Pyle.
samuel untermyer and o. H. P. Belmont.
SO Croker turned almost his entire at
tention to the tower, moving that the
name within the body OF the church would
have its will, whether he liked or not. In
half an hour from the time OF the first alarm
the roof fell in, but the tower stood. The
streams shot into its windows below the
oelfry had done their work we'll, and they
showed no more flame, but there was fire
m the belfry, plain TO be seen, eating away
a. the timbers supporting the chimes:
Then the bells, which had rung now and
again under, the play Of the water tower.
tail