New-York tribune., 1907-08-04

ers commiserated with him, although on the same
day the grand jury had handed down an
against him. which was 10 result IN MS 1orGeo
abdication from the boss-ship Of Gravesend anu a
ccnyict's stripes the following year. Two hunureu
thousand dollars worth OF property was ,T. ~
that day. Less than SIX months iateI Hte tI No, -.
House and seven other buildings were pulheu -
the ground and seven others were badly charreo'
representing a total loss Of S50Go.
there is hue and cry raised for its regeneration
Newspauers and politicians, with a single MINDED
IookoI for the welfare of New Yorks great public.
Of course have more than once proposed the ac-
QUESTION OF the resort by the city and its CONVEX
sion into a park With that purpose in View a Dill
was introduced IN the Legislature a few years ago
and succeeded in getting through the Assembly
safely The final defeat of the measure did no.
/ seem. however. to cause Keen regret 10 tIe sie'I
majority of New Workers who know their Coney
Island, with its noise and excitement ana SOME
thing doing all the time. Most Of them were re-
signed the wiping ont of the Bowery in the HTe
of November ! 1893. But they were frankly not
Onars and wanted something livelier at their
favorite resort than beautiful strand edged win
lawns, the latter shaded by trees ana dot'eu a.
regular intervals with park benches The beSautl-
full view of boundess blue that could thence
be had and still is to the ordinary man ABOUT
New York a poor substitute for our own Coney
Island with its million and one forms OF noisy
diversion.
That little sister Of Coney Island. Rockaway. has
also been tried by fire in the last twenty years
Often. IN the OF the island the fire ghtiis
facilities have been found wanting, and so nave It's
fliusy wooden hotels and concert pavlions on the
morning after. RoCkaway IS the little sister or the
msnt and general mad search for fun laRihs ia
all the Rockaways and the stations and resorts
near 10y il has Il big Still. most of its big fires
have been. confined one locality. Seaside ii was
there that the last big blaze the Rockaway sum-
Irer zone occurred. That January Il. lSVo
when three hotels and seven smaller buildings
went up in smoke and caused their owners a loss
estimated at S2J0U00 This early morning
fire also. 1t was first discovered in the Hotel wal
dorf shortly before O'Clock.
Seaside also the site of Rockaways record
burning September 20, 1892. This caused loss
OF SSo0e9, and started at noon but the ruins were
h,azins brightly IN spots the next morning one
hundred and sixty swept clean. Be
sides the thirty hotels. boarding houses, rest tau-
rants. balls. stores. etc. that wiped
out the electric light works also fell 20 the flames
RocAaway wasn't part OF New York then and the
means to feht-the fire were poor enough but that
night the flames themselves had to provide the
necessary Light for the fire fighters. one woman
( burned death in Cornish's Seaside Museum
where the fire originated, and fifty families We're
! rendered homeless
There were two hundred guests many of them
| asleep. in the Ocean View Hotel. at Rockaway
which stood on the beach between Hammels ana
Arverne, when a fire broke out there little be
fore O'Clock on the evening of August lS' 1879.
The brisk wind that was blowing toward the Se'I
made the hotel furnace in short time. hut the
direction Of the wind saved much other property
from the flames As in the of the Long Beach
Hotel fire last Monday morning, the beach was the
resort OF many guests. who in their nakedress
nestled close toane sands until Samarltalis came
! bearing clothes.
Rockaway had also q fire on June I, 1902 Like
the Coney Island affair of last week. ii came on
| Sunday. The season had Just got under way
| Again like the Couey Island fire. it broke out in
the early morning. about $50 o'clock. and burned
! over TWO blocks OF buildings in its course Sea
! side was the hoodoo scene again. and four per
sons lost their lives the blaze, which did dam
/ age OF $4,000 property.
Another big fire summer resort near New
/ York was that the Fire Island Hotel on May
/ o. 1903 The building had just been completed ana
| furnished at a cost of $1,000 There was little
/ insurance Here again incendiary was suS-
! Ilected. Another OF the seashore resorts or
! New Yorll's populace. South Beach. on Staten
Island had $4,000 loss from fire on Aprli .. lS'Z-
Twenty-Five hundred feet Of wooden buildings along
| the beach reduced TO chaIred eIhpeIs III tie
course of two hours and a half. and there would
have been serious loss OF life except for the timely
! arrival OF q detachment Of regular soldiers from
! Fort Wadsworth.