Evening star., 1907-08-27
POISON LAYS OUT FIREMEN
FIVE IN NEW YORK HOSPITAL
AFTER WAREHOUSE BLAZE.
Cases That Puzzle the Surgeon-One
Mans Blood Destroyed-Fire
Itself Soon Doused.

NEW YORK, August 27.-The fremen
who answered two alarms for g. fire at 81
Washington street yesterday morning and
put the blaze out Of business in jig time
didn't figure on after effects. The fire was
| confined to the two upper floors of Hagan
& Co.'S warehouse. Smoke rolled out of the
building in great volume and spread over
| the financial district in such a heavy pail
| that the sun didn't shine on Wall street
! or lower Broadway for some time.
| Deputy Chiefs Binns and Guertn got their
| heads together and decided that the way
| to get the fire on the run was to drown 1t.
With water towers dumping In torrents. en-
! gines hurting gallons in rapid fire and
| pair Of freboats gushing salt water up
| from the river by the ton, the fire soon
gave up the ghost.
The fremen went through the burning
| upper floors as If they were going to a tea
i party, but they staggered out SHINING ana
red eyed.
| II don't know what it is" SAID veteran
smoke eater, but there Is something IN
| that smoke that's hotter than I've ever
| tackled before.
| 1t was some time after the fire had been
practically extinguished and few firemen
| were ordered to take hand lines and went
| down the floors that the fire fighters found
out just what made the smoke SO irritating.
! Stored on the two burning floors We're
|
| other stuff used in dyeing.
! Couldn't Forget the Fire.
The firemen. their eyes badly swollen and
their noses itching and burning. wandered
away and tried to forget the fire. They
couldn't Last night five had been sent to
| the hospital suffering from poison and
smoke.
| While the smoke fumes gave the men
badly irritated throats and eyes, the cause
| of worry for Department Surgeon Herman
l.. Refs and the hospital physicians is the
| dye poisoning. The men waded about in
pools Of dyed water. The dye got in con-
tact with their flesh and into their blood.
through the stitching of the boots and into
| the feet of the men.
| Fellows, an engineer with Engine in
Liberty street, is in critical state. Little
| hope is held out for his recovery. Fellows
| had several holes in his boots and the poi
son soaked into his feet. Like the others af-
| fected, he was seized late In the afternoon
| with violent headaches and then nausea.
| Surgeon Refs tapped Fellows and found
| that the blood in the lower part Of his body
had been practically destroyed. The blood
that flowed from his veins after the tapping
was brown.
All the other firemen taken to the hospital
are suffering from this poisoning. although
none is SO badly affected as is Fellows.
| John Mackenzie of Engine Is suffering
from smoke narcosis and from analine poi
soning as a result Of getting the stuff on
| his hands. Like Fellows he didn't begin to
feel the effects Of the poisoning until along
| in the afternoon. Mackenzie only recently
| returned to duty after being laid up from
q bad knockout he received from broken
gas pipe in a fire in the cellar Of Fulton
| street paint shop not long ago.
Headaches and Nausea.
Clarence Connolly Of truck Is in Old
Slip began to have headaches and then
to be nauseated about sundown last night.
He was hurried to the Hudson Street Hos
pital He was poisoned by the dyestuff,
| in addition to narcosis brought on bv In
haling the fumes from the stuff.
| When the others were getting ready
| for supper last night in the Headquarters
Of truck 10 in Fulton street FYremen
George Peterson and John Nichols found
they had no appetite. Instead they had
headaches and were very sick. Surgeon
Refs came around and after look at
them had them carted off to the hospital
They had got the poison on their feet and
hands and it had got into their blood.
Another fireman In the Same company
| pleaded to be left at his station and was
| put to bed there.
The poisoning has caused great stir
among the firemen. 1t Is something new
| to them. Never before have the members
Of the fire department struck such a
strange happening. Chief Croker became
returned to town last night. Surgeon Refs
made full report on the cases to him.
The fire caused lot Of excitement in
the Syrian quarter. 1t looked like bad
blaze for time. and the Syrians. Greeks,
| Turks, Armenians and even the few Irish
that live in that section began to pack
tions for hurried moving. The police
! reserves from several downtown precincts
| had all they could do to keep these people
from hurting their household goods into
| the street.
Chief Binns said that $4,000 would be
a liberal estimate Of the damage.