New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-15
RIG CHIMNEY FALLS.
rPdSHES THROUGH ROOFS
reoement House Wrecke6-Sirty
Persons IN Peril.

-.,-,,, yvav under the weight of wires fastened
:. :. and to the blast OF the southwest storm
-. fact Of q big chimney, seven feet square
the six story factory building at Nos $40
or and 400 East 43d-st.. crashed through the
=. - that building and OF four story tene-
- house adjoining on the east, early yesVer-
-, morning. Though eight families, including
- sixty persons, were sleeping in the mouse
.. .,o,,rh the tons Of brick tore through 10
g .t,r5 floor. no ore was hurt Fire started
t-o,, q broken gaspipe Immediately after tne
- hut was extinguished by woman, WHO
,rohabIy saved the lives Of some OF her ieiIo"'
tenants. .,.,-.,,r ,ose ,s
TIE factory from which the chimney ross 10
..o,,,fs5 on the first three floors by the Ainet'
-, Mineral Water Machine Company on Iie
e.,--.r aoor by the Cameron Press, on the
arr bv Newman & Co, printers, and on inc
-, Aoor by the Color Plate Engraving Eoll. ao
The Cameron Press suffered about S4'ooV
ppo,os nri7cipaIly from water falling through
n. broken roof; Newman & Co about sooo -oS0
80 the same cause. While the Color Plate En-
r-aving Companys damage was ABOUT Fo'o'''
eT-,o ton focr Of the tenement house, where the
Greatest damage was done, was occupleu NS
sfrs Nora walsh and her daughter Margaret on
left SlIe. ana JDS6pLA l S-A14NAN-
arsn and his son-in-law. s. J. Kahr. and wife,
on the right Mrs Walshs fat got the worst
:. the avalanche of bricks. The section Of the
chimney that struck on the part Of the Toot over
,,- -oorns tore through into her Kitchen
With the mass Of bricks was the iron cap OF
.be chimney. in the form Of a hollow square
v,sirhing half a ton. This piece Or iron slruCh
xrs ws1sl7's cooking stove and drove IT, mass
a -.---s, Z yrrrr 81
into the fiat Of Joseph Pendevs, on the third
floor.
The shattered stove followed by several
wagon loads Of bricks. descended upon the stove
IN the Penders' kitchen and smashed II Duke
3 poodle dog was sleeping a few feet away a
moment before the mass Of bricks struck the
roof Of the tenement Duke jumped up. barked
1ondlv. ana ran to the door Of his masters bed
room. adjoining. Penders awole at his dogs
crv and had reached the kitchen door when the
mass of bricks fell. Pendegs and his children,
though badly scared. escaped harm.
Mrs. walsh calls It an act of Providence that
she was not in her kitchen when the bricks fell
She arises at 5. 30 o'clock on weekdays, but not
until on Sundays. Had the accident hap
nened on 2 week day. she says. she would surely
have been killed.
The fall Of the chimney made a report like
a great explosion. and awakened people for
blocks around
The fallen bricks broke the gas pipes in sew
eral places on the two upper floors Of the tene-
aent. one Jet was burning low in Mrs. Walsh's s
fat and when the daughter. Margaret. nineteen
years old. recovered from The first shock. and
TIED to get her mother out to the stairs. she
saw that the escaping gas was catching fire
from this Jet and that the wall where the stove
had been was burning. She ran into the kitchen
and extinguished the blaze with shawl Then
she tainted. and Penders carried her downstairs
to safety. She vas overcome for the rest Of the
day
Joseph Quinn who with his wife and six chill
dren live on the third floor. was awakened by
the noise Of the chimney cracking, and had
risen and was cropping for match when the
top section Of the chimney fell upon the tene-
ment house The bricks went no further down
into the building. but the families of John Pen
dergast and Albert Rathfelder, on the second
and first floors. were terribly frightened by the
noise above them
The whole house moment after the acCi-
dent was like : crushed anthtll. The tenants.
half clad and dishevelIed, ran to the lower floors
as quickly as they could, and their cries and
those Of the tenants in the adjoining houses
o.
Mcclure Of the East 5lst-st. station were early
on the scene ana succeeded in calming the ex-
cited tenants and finding them shelter in near
by houses
The damaged tenement having a hole fifteen
feet long and twelve feet wide in its roof. the
storm soon drenched everything on the upper
foors
The falling bricks cracked the roof timbers
IN both buildings as If they We're straws. These
tfnhers were soUr inches thick and twelve inches
wide. Additional velocity was given the top
section Of the chimney which struck the tene-
ment as it had further to fall. the tenement
being two stories lower than the factory, and
mat section smashed its way further down than
Inc part that struck the factory. The wall Of
the factory across which the chimney fell was
broken down nearly even with the tenement roof
FOR dozen feet.