The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-08
.HOBOKEN DOCKS MASS OF RUINS LackaWaRna Suffers Enormous
 Loss by Fire STARTED ON FERRYBOAT Spread so Rapidly That In Less Than an Hour Damage Had Been Done
 Amounting to Half
 Million. s
STARTED ON FERRY8OAT

New York, August 7.--Inside of three- quarters of an hour late tonight fire and Western Railroad companys termi- nal in HobolSen, seized two ferryboats and practically ruined them and for half an hour threatened the destruction of the entire water front in the vicinity, inelud- ing the Hamburg-American and North German7IIoyd steamship docks, at which several big ships were lying. It is im- possible to estimate the property damage but it will be heavy.
 So far as known no lives were lost.
 For over an hour huge tongues of flame leaped from the wooden structures on the Lackawanna docks, lighting the New Jersey and New York water fronts. For a time 1t threatened a loss larger than that of the big dock fire several years were destroyed with great loss of life.
 Blazing Ferryboats Cut Loose.
 Blazing ferry boats, cut from their docks, f1oated in the river, wandering fire ships, which for time endangered ship ping in the river. The fire started on an old wooden ferry boat and swept by a northerly breeze communicated with the ferry house, spread to the main building of the Lackawanna and then to the Dukes house, famous Hoboken hostelry. The hotel was frame structure and was ready prey for the flames By this time the flames were spreading in all directions, utterly beyond the control of to the first alarms.
 Following the hotel, the structure of the Public Service Corporation--the street car operating company of Hoboken, Jer- sey City and nearby places-went down bef3re se flames.
 F, At 1 o'clock this morning the fire was under control. The big steamship piers had been saved, and rough estimate placed the damage at between s4O0,0O0 and s5oO.oo
 Spread With Great Rapidlty.
 A remarkable feature of the great blaze was that inside of twenty minutes after its start 1t had seized upon the Lacka-
 
 dred feet of train sheds, dooming them.
 The flames started from an unknown cause on the old wooden ferryboat Hop atong, which had been tied up in the open slip between the Hamburg docks and the Christopher ferry slips The fire was discovered about Il O clock. It was then leaplng from the boiler room below the main deck, through the en- zine room. and attacking the wood of the superstructure. A watchman on the ferry dock turned in calls for the city department and also for the Lackawanna fire brigade. Almost before the com pany's men could lay line of hose and before the city flremen could reach the scene, the flames had leaped to the ferry office building between the piers and then to the brand new ferryboat Bng- hamton, which was lylng in the north ern slip of the Barclay-street line. From there 1t leaped in q few seconds to the high frame structure above the waiting rooms, and in five minutes after the fire was seen the entire buildings covering many acres were burning. Twenty min utes after the blaze was first seen, the high tower, which surmounts the build ing crashed down all ablaze. Twenty minutes after the alrm it looked as Il the entire lower part of Hoboken, inelud- ing the Hamburg American piers, would go.
 Leapec Into Train Sheds.
 Four slips with high piling caught and these burned fiercely and set the fire southward into the freight piers. These had been destroyed for the most part by great fire on May 20, 1904. and had just been rebuilt.
 From the adjoining room flames leaped into the train sheds and so rapid was ha fl,a nrexf,, +t.,t were drawing out the cars there to be ready for use in the morning, had to be hurried out. Seven coaches were lefk behind, but there had been time enough to save about thirty others.
 The two burning ferry boats were lowed out into the river by tugs. The Hopatong sunk later. The Hopatong when she took fire was tied at the Ham, burg American dock No. 8. The flames licked the side of the pier but did not set 1t on fire.
 The wind was blowing somewhat out of the north, and that carried the flames on the Hopatong away from the pier and the structure of the ferry terminal
 Fire aid was quickly summoned from Jersey City and New York, the former city sending all available engines and the latter despatching two fire boats. With this extra force the Hoboken fire men were able to prevent the fire from spreading through lower Hoboken while the fire boats held the flames in check along the water front.
 Spread Along Front Piers.
 While the fire was held by the firemen to the north and west it was spreading along the front piers to the southward, where only tugs and fireboats from Man. haitian could attack it. Here 1t caught the new immigration station. This build ing was of brick and stone and had been occupied only two weeks It cost $70,0o0 to build, and was supposed to be fire proof, but was soon a mass of flames, the interior burning rapidly. Only few per sons were in 1t at the time of the out break and they were hurried out.
 Just as the alarm was given the men on the railroads terminals bridges were making ready for the arrival of the boats from New York. The captains of the ap- preaching ferryboats. however, saw the fire and stopped their heavily loaded craft
 There were few persons in the waiting rooms at the station and they fled through the train sheds into Hoboken, George Robinson, a Hoboken fireman. had one of his arms badly crushed by a falling timber. This h the only accident reported.