New-York tribune., 1907-12-15
BIG CHIMNEY FALLS.
One Dead Three Hurt-Old Liberty
Pole Kills Another.

One man was killed and three other persons
,,are seriously injured by the falling of largo
chimney and another-man was killed by fall
ing fagpoIe during the gale which struck New
York Yesterday morning A young girl was
rescued after being overcome by the storm
Much damage done to telephone ana teie-
graph wires all over the metropolitan district
and traffic was greatly impeded Failing poies'
signs and chimneys and broken windows were
reported everywhere. All day long the streets
ran rivers of slush. II was day that made
New York believe that winter had arrived with
a crash.
Not only was the storm felt in New York. but
Long Island and New Jersey suffered from the
rain and the gale that went with IT, The wind
was particularly felt in the harbor. At 800
O'Clock in the afternoon the gale reached It's
highest velocity blowing fifty-six miles an hour
According to the Weather Bureau. a total of 1.23
inches of snow and rain fell during the day
The most serious effect of the storm in the
CITY was the blowing down of twenty feet OF the
three hundred foot chimney Of the New York
Steam Heating Company. Nos 35 and 81 Sutton
Place About O'Clock last night a section OF
the chfnneys torn from its holdings toppled over.
landing on the roof of a house occupied by the
family of Henry Speitel. at No. SO Sutton Place.
crushing in the structure and seriously fnjur1nS
Mrs Lena SpeiteI and her two daughters Emma
and Jessie Wreckage from the house fell on a
shanty at the foot of the chimney, killing David
Dooley. a watchman, who lived at No 411ls
East 65th street
The SpeiteI women were completely buried in
the ruins and had to be dug out by fremen.
Patrolman Thompson. of the East 51st street
station who was standing in front of the house.
was knocked down by the falling bricks. but
managed to send in an alarm for the fremen
and the reserves from his station house AM
balances from Flower Hospital were also sum-
uoned and the injured were cared for and taken
70 the hospital After some trouble the body OF
Dooley was reached. but life was extinct IL
was feared that the remainder Of the chimney
would fall. and the police warned the tenants
from the nearby buildings
A man. as yet unidentified. who was walking
i, stanton street near Columbia street at about
4. so o'clock was killed instantly when haspole
which had stood at that corner for the last fifty
years was snapped by the terrific wlnd' crusninS
his skull as il fell to the sidewalk
The pole was said TO be the only Liberty pole
still standing in the city, The original pole was
nut HID shortly before the time of the draft riots.
in 1863, by Thomas Carton. who was then a
Democratic leader in his district His organiza-
ton went under the name of the Liberty Boys.
and it was in their honor that the pole was
named II was sixty feet in height at that time.
and some wears later 20-foot extension was
put
The Roller Coaster Amusement Railroad ar
19Jth street and Amsterdam avenue rort
George. a structure - feet high and 10 Feet
long. was blown to the ground The debris was
hurled along the ground until the obstruction
for,,,ed nv, a grove of treeHstopped it's further
rrorraes The owner of the roller coaster Is
charles II. Merrill. whose office was directly
underneath the structure
vos+ar5av morning he hired two laborers to
ba1, him brace the structure They finished
their work in the afternoon. Scarcely had Mr.
Merrill entered his office when he heard the
snapping of timbers and supports AS he ran
ont of his office the miniature railroad tottered
and then collapsed. 1t was a narrow escape for
Mr. Merrill as the roller coaster in its fall
crushed the office.
one of the four 12-foot steeples which adorn
the Roman Catholic Church of st. Charles Bor-
romeo at Hist street and Seventh avenue was
h,ovn down by the wind last night No one
was injured.
In front of No. 1853 Broadway falling tree
was blown bv the wind through the window Of
the drug store of Naum wollfert at that
number. No one was hurt. as there were no
customers in the store at the time and the
proprietor in the back room
A block further up Broadway, at No 3o4S. the
big window of the wall paper store of Richard
Thibaut was blown in.
Ten negro families were driven from their
dwellings in the tenement houses at
Nos A. A. As, As and 80 East 13oth street last
night by the flooding of their flats with sewage
from sewer at the corner of Rider avenue and
136th street which was choked up with slush
and frozen snow
A. score of trees throughout Kingsbridge and
Low excursion rates to Florida and South yta