The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-09
Big New Car Barns Quickly
Burned and Tenement
Dwellers Had to Flee.
UNIQUE SIGHT IN STREETS
Densely Populated Section on
New York's East Side Has a
Thrilling Experience-.Less
to Street Railway Co. Es-
timated to Be Large.

NEW YORK, Oct, 9--Hundreds of
lives were endangered thousands Of
persons were thrown into panic, 1876
electric cars used on several crosstown
lines were destroyed and property loss
to the extent of 100000 was caused
by fire in the Fourteenth street car
barns early today.
As a result of the burning of the
cars service on all the crosstown lines
was greatly hampered today. Three
hundred and fifty horses which were
auartered in one section cf the big
barn were taken out in safety.
The fire had gained great headway
before it was discovered, and when the
firemen arrived the walls separating
the big structure from adjoining tene-
ment houses were smoking hot. In
stantly the word was given to clear the
tenements, and the occupants poured
into the streets in a panic.
From that time on the police were
as busy attempting to control the fren-
zied hundreds, most of whom were
foreigners, as the flremen were in
headway with startling rapidity. It
was not until several priests, attired
in all their robes, appeared on the
scene and walked through the surging
crowd imploring the people to calm
themselves that anything like order
was restored.
Firemen working on the fourth floor
the floor above them came down with
a crash. A few minutes later the Four
: teenth street wall of the building COL
Ispsed. From that time on it was
merely question of drowning out the
flames in the barn and several adjoin-
ing tenements which had caught fire.
The car barns are the fifth owned by
the New York City Railway Company
to burn in the past year or so. First
came the Forty-secohd street barns,
then the Fiftieth street, then those at
145th street and Lenok avenue and at
Eighty sixth street and Madison ave-
nue., followed by today's fire.
The origin of the fire today has not
tbeen determined. 1t WAS suggested it
was incendiary because of the burning
of the other barns. The police, how
ever, do not credit this theory, and are
of, the opinion that the flames were
started from badly insulated electric
wires
. The Fourteenth street barns, recently
built, were supposed TO be fireproof
Their walls were of brick and they
were supported by iron and steel gir-
ders.s Apparently there was nothing
about them tina. could burn. The barns
extenuded from 523 to 545 East Four@
teenth street, and were four stories
high, running back to the old barns
in Fifteenth street, used mainly for
stabling the 400 street car horses. These
occupied the first, second and top floors
of the old barn.
The fire started on the top floor of
the new barns. Efforts were being
made by the company's employees to
stay the progress of the flames, when
Policeman Cashin happened along and
lost no time in sounGlng the alarm
Cashin then started into the six-story
tenement at 521 to awaken the families.
This adjoined six Other six-story build
ings. all of them filled from cellar to
roof with Italian families. The fire
went through that "fireproof" building
as a man would run. and suddenly the
wall hanging over it smashed through
the roof and two top floors of the tene-
ment. Cashin was struck on the shou-
der BY sailing brick and knocked
unconscious.