The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-16

W. - v WV v Nv 80 W."
~ ~ lsse stir wsses trvs sesree
Tho bosr a mishtlrf lhsn tho nlah's'lct
Tint Il No conclusion N thiet CrobeT NJ ~"
fTfe nrpsftmsn, sNsr = conHict sith ihe
prller yas,artsy atsrn0pn ~ = towering
blsse. 'oprrd wv = mighty srNoh" piufne
,hnt waved northwcst across tho oi'y from
me souhe,s, ~rrrsr ~ rhir'ie'h street.
snd Firs, svenue
Hef,rs ,ha ars wa subducd " had do
stroyed tho piano factory ~ Jacob poll \
Sons and autird tho ~ash. door and blind
plant ~ John " carl A dozen tenem~nis
ta Tho south ~ The hlays IN East twenty.
ninth a,r~rt and In First avenue wsre
smp,ied NJ dwrllers. chiefly Italians. VIM
dragged moat ~ their household goodn
down 10 tho sidewalk and petched on them
there
n waa aftor The hre Wa undrr control
tina, Tho trouble bot ween Chief Crok0T's
men and the pulico occurred. Opposite Tho
piano factory, which occupies ion feet In
Fas, Thirtirth street there are three lumber
Yards Thousands ~ residents ~ the popti-
lors district had gathered In these and
thronesd the tall lumber piles, Others
had crowded down into the street. almost
minEling with tho fremen, The police
made little effort to preserve tho fire lines.
Chief Croker's attention was called 10 the
Il xity ~ the cops. His men told him that
they could not work properly with a mob
Of half grown men interfering. There were
then more than half a dozen streams play
ing on the fire ruins from the East Thirtieth
street side, and more from other points,
chiefly from the rear fire escapea Of the
East Twenty ninth street tenements.
The chief looked at the pressing throng
and said calmly. but with decision: "Tun
the hose on them. II the police can't main
tain lines I win"
A strong, chill stream was pushed full
IN the faces Of the crowd and II fed as IL a
! battery Of machine guns had started pour
ing shot into it. A few wide sweeps OF the
water broom cleared away every vesti ge
Of humanity.
There were in the multitude thus cleared
away some four or five bluecoats. and they
resented the attack on their uniforms and
declared that Chief Croker had purposely
| turned the hose on them. The chief denied
this, but said that he was not a bit sorry,
and that he would do the same thing again
il the police did not keep back the swarm
OF people who had no right within the fire
lines.
The fire was seen first on the ground
floor Of the six story brick piano factory
, covering aOi and 100 East Thirtieth strest
and connecting by way OF the ground floor
with the three story brick building on the
| southeast corner of Thirtieth street and
First avenue, the upper floors Of which
were used by John H.. Carl. The piano
factory was saturated with oil, turpentine
and varnish and II was a furnace in less than
a quarter Of an hour after the first smoke
burst from the doors, about $50 O'Clock
Nearly all the $50 workmen in the two
works hops had started home, swelling
the mu altitude on the streets. The first
engines that came found there was no
pressure on the old fashioned mains on
the cross streets, and their streams were
about az useful az fire extinRuishers or
those Of a country hand machine in which
the red shirted "vamps" glory. There
was a fine demonstration Of willingness "a
on the part of the passing throng TO help
the fremen stretch the hose. which the
fremen themselves, accustomed to sys-
tematic work, did not appreciate.
/. Chief Croker was coming across the river
| on n 1pTTyDOat when H6 Sd" tHt SHloht
tower, which, indeed, was visible even from
Sandy Hook. Deputy Chief Kruger had
| already turned in a third alarm. When
the chief landed he turned in two more,
bringing alto gether twenty-three engines.
two fireboats. the Hewitt and Strong, six
trucks and one water tower. But there
wa no pressure W hatever at some hydrants.
and the average was not S per cent. Of the
---- Iy,, -. lin 80 1,,,DIaI ~ with thn
| freboats.
! A feature of the fire was the frequent
! bursting Of the hose working at MIGRANTS
connected with the avenue mains. The
second story windows Of one tenement in
First avenue were broken by a swiftly
gushing fountain, and the dwellers in the
front rooms fled down the stairs. Charles
Staixner, a thrce-year-old visiting in the
fire neighborhood, was nearly drowned
by a food from a broken hose and was taken
TO Bellevue Hospital.
Walls OF the piano factory fell on end
crushed the engine room Of JAMES Sin
clair's stone yard. adjoining the factory
on the east. Philip Stern, 10 years old, OF
$3.50 East Thirteenth street, was hurt by fall
ing bricks and taken to Bellevue. Many
boys and men in lodging the drenching
from broken hoses fell from the tops of
lumber piles. William Eberenz Of ss2
Second avenue broke his left leg, and Paul
| Holster Of AZ East Thirty-ffth street had his
hip injured,
Capt. Morrissey of Engine 10 rescued a cat
from a fire escape Of the factory by ladder.
The windows below the cat were belching
flame, and It was paralyzed with fear. 1t
will be appointed mascot to Engine 10.
Among the spectators at the fire were
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and DR.. Darling
ton of the Health Board. The doctor got
a duoking from a broken hose.
-Four tenements in East Twenty ninth
street were made uninhabitable by fire
and water. Chief Croker said the total
damage would probably be about 800 600.
half Of which falls on the piano factory.
Policeman William Krath reported last
night at the East Thirty fifth street station
house that he had been knocked of a lum-
Der pile when Chief Cookers men turned
the hose on the crowd. He did not FAY
what he was doing on the pile.