The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-22
COTTON BLAZE LIGHTS BAY.
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fifs whioh started NJ N ~ last svsnina
In a'ofehotse No n the American tprh
snd frrs' Cputrny ~ fompNinsviNe H'sisn
isiand, arfead ~ storehu,s" No p ansi for
= fitne Threatened ~ destroy the hiihiinaa
and dprts " tho t~lahthu'ts" department
q~,ofrhos,sss = and . wrrs ntled With cotton
lsles shd they ma,ie me fiei fhese h'dli.
inea ~lth their contents vere iea'foye,i
rauaiHg = hes estimated ~ stSN,Doo
Almnst the setirr IRE nab,ine force ~
RIchmerd Iluroush Was called ott for tho
nfs, his inh " had tathlsd sircs " levame
n raid dersftmer' 1hs htrhoa, New
Yorker. with chief CfobeT ahoaOi, wont
down 10 help
Two hours after the lire started the flames
werr stili IN %storehou-es = and lard had not
sprcad Ia tho hig piers nor "a the other store
HOUSES ~ the south The s%tofchous's and
pier. arr known as the American Cotton
Docks.
The warehouses. besides the ah"ds which
ran uut on tho piers on each side ~ tho
docks. covered several acres Of ground
on tho shore running back from the water
front five or six hundred feet In sune cases.
They were mostly built OF brick and slate
and tin and had an elaborate system OF
fre protection. there being fire standards
for the taking Of water at frequent inter-
vals and many lines OF hose laid and ready
besides hose on reels In various parts Of
the va rds.
The yards extended from the United
States reservation occupied by the Light
HOUSE Department, south to Arietta
street in Tompkinsville, occupying the
whole area except a small portion near the
old ferry landing, where there was a hotel
and some small buildings. The hotel had
been used as a tenement house for years,
The ground on which the cotton docks
stood on the shore side was famous for
being a part OF the old quarantine site
and the scene OF furious riots years ago.
Back of the docks and across the Staten
Island Rapid Transit Railroad tracks,
which just there emerge from the tunne
under the Lighthouse Department grounds,
is Central avenue, where some Of the hand
soonest residences on Staten Island are
located.
The docks were approachable from the
land side only by way Of Arietta street.
When the fremen arrived the first COM
panies ran their lines from MIGRANTS on
Arietta street. Later engines took posi-
ton on Central avenue and ty carrying
their lines through yards and across the
railroad tracks, reached the land side Of the
fire.
Others made use Of the lighthouse grounds
and the men Of that department also ran
lines to fight the flames. The hose lines
shut of travel on the south shore and Tot
tenville divisions of the Staten Island Rail-
road. Passengers for st. George left the
trains at Stapleton Gad by walking u few
blocks were able to connect with trolley
cars which carried them to st. George.
The fire was discovered by William Smith,
a Waterman in the COMPRISING room of
No. 3. He sent in an alarm from a box
inside the yard. This brought Deputy
Chief Guerin and several pieces of apparatus.
At that time the fire was confined to one
corner Of the storehouse, but was burning
fercely in the baled cotton. An effort was
made to hold it in check.
The fremen al ded by the yards own
force fought the flames for half an hour,
but no Roadway was being made and all
the engines in Richmond borough were
called out az we'll as two fireboats and three
tug boats Of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road from the railroad docks at st. George.
The fire boats and tugs ran lines from the
waterfront into the yard and began to
flood out the flames.
6torehouse No. 8 is connected with No. 0
by a covered way. No. o was filed with
cotton in bales, as was No, 3. The flames,
once they began to spread, quickly passed
through into No. 8, and from then on the
fire wa a brilliant one as it broke through
the roofs and spread out. The bay was lit
up brilliantly.
Each of the warehouses was 400 feet by
100. To the south of them were others as
large and to the water side jutted out the
covered piers. To one Of the piers was
moored q big steamer which had been dis
charging cotton all day. This steamer was
pulled out from the dock to make way for
the freboats. She was not in any danger,
At one of the other docks lay a large tramp
steamer disoharging other merchandise.
She was made ready to go out into the
stream If the wind should change,
The fact that the wind was from the
east was favorable, as IL drove the fire
away from the larger part OF the yard and
toward the lighthouse department, which
was long III uduHeT y having hofle Oh ilS
buildings set on fire, A considerable
quantity Of navy supplies is stored there.
The freboat New Yorker took position
in the slip vacated by the ship which had
been discharging cotton. She ran a series
OF lines to the fire and her powerful streams
swirled bales Of cotton about as il their
weight was nothing.
Az / O'Clock this morning the indications
we're that the flames would be confined to
the two storehouses. The wind was hold
ing the flames away from the docks and the
big ~storehouses and the fire was 80 well
controlled that it seemed unlikely would
spread into the Government reservation.
A fireman wal injured on the way to the
scene. He is Martin Hannah, 20 years old,
OF Hook and Ladder l03, The machine
had run from Stapleton. As it was going
down the Arietta street hill Hannah got
down on the running board ready to spring
off as the apparatus slowed down a block
beyond the railroad tracks.
As the machine hit the worn wooden
crossing Of the railroad it jolted Hannah
off and the rear wheel ia ssed over him.