The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-02
FEARFUL FIRE
Sweeps [ new " YORK
The Entire Department
Called Out With Re-
serve Police Force.
SULLY
SAVES FAMILY
Fireman Killed by Falling Wall.
Intense Heat Drives Crowd
Back and Engines Are
Abandoned-Whole
Blocks Are
Ablaze.

! & 81 =
NEW YORK. January Fire, origi-
mating in a business block on West Fifty
third Street carly to-day. destroyed that
building. and spreading to adjoining ten
emen. houses on both sides OF the street.
gave the fire department. y hard fight.
Fi.e alarms were sounded In quicfi sue
lcession. summoning an immense anc'lpt
OF apparatus 10 the scene. while hun
dreds OF police reserves were called 10
restore order among the families who
fed In panic from the burning tenements.
Tho drenen We're handicapped by low
water pressure. and were repeatedly
driven back by the flames which. spread
ing In every direction, soon threatened the
whole thickly populated tenement sec
tion. A tenement on either side of the
block were in flames before the occupants
We're well out. Spreading to two tenements
at the rear the fire for a time made
lively headway. while strong northeast
gerly wind carried burning embers to two
ablaze.
Two fireboats from the North River as
sisted. The widest confusion followed
among the hundreds of tenants, who,
rudely awakened, rushed to the streets,
scanuly clad and unreasonable with fear.
The police hau the greatest difficulty in
preventing n reckless sacrifice 81 life
among those who wished to return to
their homes for their belongings
Gaining Rapidly.
AT 2:l0 O'clock the fire was gaining
rapidly with possibility of a connagra-
ton. The firemen could not then get
within one hundred feet of the fire. and
several engines had been deserted.
At 10 o'clock ten buildings were de-
Rstroyed or in flames. They were a stable
block. "A silk manufactory and eight
tcnements The fire was gaining steadily.
and threatened the whole block. Tenants
within a radius of half dozen blocks
had been ordered out.
Fireman Killed.
AT a:ao o'clock dyeing establishment,
the origin Of the fire, burst. into tlames.
When the walls Of the stable fell John
Shay, fireman. went down with the
ruins. At the risk of their own lives
Illt.Il
His skull was fractured and he was
otherwise injured He was removed to
a hospital IN a dying condition.
The burning of the dyeing establish.
ment was accompanied by explosions of
chemicals, rendering greater~ths danger
to the tiremen and helping TO spread the
flames.
In imminent danger of his life, Poice-.
man Patrick Sully made his way to the
top floor of burning tenement, where
he found mother and six children
thuddled together and helpless from fear
iUnalded and in repeated trips he car
Eried the whole family to the street II.
Fire Spreading.
AT $50 o'clock the fire was spreading
stables and dungovernabies from fear, were
running through tile adjacent streets. TO
add to}the confusion thieves began looting
the burning tenements, They We're fired
SupOn by the police, but with What effect
could not, be known.
Failing walls wrecked n Water-tower
and made FiftN-thlrd Street In the SV!cin-
5tysof the fire impussa BILE. All the police
reserves on the West Side and extra ans
balances weret.in attendance.
ssg Many Persons Missing.
AtF3soclock the fire was not under con-
troll. hut it was believed at that hour.
that 1t could be kept within It's bound
aries Several persons are missing from
the families who occupied the }tencnlents.
hut lin the confusioniit was impossible to
determine whether loss of 3 life had oc-s
cured One woman had been taken to
fthe hospital dangerously and, 1t is
thought, fatally burnod, Il. f