The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23
IMMIGRANT GIRLS IN PANIC,
FIERCE FIRE RACES NEAR STATE
STREET HOMES.

Tar Paper Factory Packed with COmbu
tIbles Elves Ftremen a Two Hour Fight
Plight Of q LRmbkIn Old Van Rene.
selaer House IN Peril Of D~estruCtiOn-
A fire which wasn't seen until 1t bad
Quilted the building and burst through the
roof Of a paper manufacturing plant at
IS Pearl street caused a panic last night In
three immigrants homes directly behind
in State street, and threatened for a time
to destroy the old Van Rensselaer, mansion
at 7 State street, one Of the Oldest buildings
in the city. : Two alarms were sent in on
account Of the threatening nature OF the
blaze.
The fire apparently started on the fourth
floor Of the siX story paper factory, owned
by }. B. Price, which was stored with a lot
Of infammable oils, tar paper and other
materials which burne fiercely. The build
ing was equipped on all sides with iron
shutters, and when the blaze was first seen
il was shooting skyward from the hole il had
eaten through the two upper floors and the
roof.
Ten feet behind il was a two story ex-
tension used asa kitchen and dining room
by the mission 6f Our Lady Of the Rosary,
a home for Irish immigrant girls, in the
old Van Rensselaer, mansion. Fifty girls,
half of whom arrived yesterday on the
steamship 81. Louis, we're at supper in the
dining room when a shower Of sparks and
thick clouds of black smoke from burning
oil descending to the ground blew in at the
open windows.
Instantly the girls pushed aside their
chairs in terror and made for the stairs.
The Rev. Father Henry and his assistants,
Fathers Brosnan and Grogan, were hur-
riedly called, and succeeded in getting the
girls out into the hallway of the home and
on the wide piazza before they were hurt
in the crush. The clerfymen then saw that
if the walls of the building fell, as seemed
likely from the volume of flame from the
roof, they would crush in the extension
and part Of the main building of the home.
All the valuable Vestmfnts in the priests
rooms and the sacred vessels in the chapel
on the first floor we're removed to the piazza
at the risk Of being damaged by rain.
The Rev. Father Urban Nageleisen. di-
rector of the Leo Haus, a home for German
immigrant girls at 8 State street, next door,
had lots of trouble quieting the alarm OF
twenty-five girls in his home. All the women
insisted on carrying their trunks and lighter
baggage out into the street, and their pre-
caution really proved wise, because the
entire house was flooded with water TO
prevent harm from descending sparks. AT
the Lutheran Immigrant Home, at 8 State
street, also a small sized scare was on for
a time.
When Andrew Nealon, a Waterman on a
new building being erected in State street,
first saw the flames at 7'o'clock he aroused
the neighborhood, and with a number OF
employees from a nearby livery stable
tried to force an entrance. While they
were working they heard pfteous criea
from inside, which sounded human. They
bounded away with clubs of all kinds, and
when the lock was finally broken and the
door swung open a mQHth old lamb stag
! Qered out, bleating IKE mad, its white
fleece black az ink from the thick smoke.
n staggered a little while and then walked
on unconcerned, to entertain about a nun
dred small boys.
Chief Croker arrived On the second alarm,
as did the ireboats New Yorker, Body and
Hewitt. The latter stretched lines Of hose
clear across the Battery Inc fought the Are
from the rear. The firemen all worked at Il
for two hours before II was quenched, and Il
was voted one of the most stubborn fires
the department has had TO fight in the lower
end Of the city for a long time. It worked
up and the firemen were driven back half
A block from the build ing. and 10 was only
after an hour and a half Of work that they
were able to gain . footing on any q Of
the dDorS D-.
the employees OF three stables near BY