New-York tribune., 1908-02-05
SAFE KILLS FIREMEN.
BIG DOVNTOWN BLAZE
Manu- Hurt When Floor Gipes " dy
IN Uorfh Street Building.

Crashing down through the fire eaten beams .
b; sa<s on tba third floor Of the building az
Nos. - and IS Worth street last evening carrisG
mn f-e-1an n their death and dumped what was
yae- of the crew Of uulucHy Truck 10 into neap
of burning timbers. When this happsn9o lI-1~7
other members Of that company were N lhs
Hudson street House OF Relief. burned ana CUT
from the collapse Of another portion OF the thiru
floor When the frozen, battered Ineh-"IA
were left OF thera-were ordered DacA 70 QI1l
ters after three and one-half hours OF gruei-ins
work so exhausted were they tnat lhey nao -
De helped of their truck
With the Thermometer lowering Just above Il1
zero point water pressure so low that a. hEsc
the men could not get stream across narrow
Worth street, frozen hydrants and bursting hose
the fremen had their hardest fight in the ooWn-
town district for months One killed. another
missing and eleven injured was the result OF
the long battle
The building OF the north side OF the street
Just east OF West Broadway, is in the heart OF
the wholesale district and Just the street
Is the big warehouse OF the n B. Claim Con-
pany. against the iron shutters OF which the
flames from the burning building beat ana
storrned With e start OF twenty minutes before
sny sort OF q stream could be brought 20 bear,
Il was all the hremen could do TO confne The
bIaze TO the one building Starting n q bale OF
cotton on the west side Of the third floor the
flames spread through the light infanrnapie
stuffs as fire runs along stream OF OIL ins
clerks barely mad time TO reach the freight III
in the rear ot the building. The damage is est-
mated at s150,0oo.
COLLAPSE OF THIRD FLOOR
When the fire had ragged for two hours the
, rear OF the third door gave way, carrying down
| three men OF Hook and Ladder 10. and Captain
Doonan- OF Engine 4. Half an hour later
| Thomas p EglantCu. OF Truck 70. and fifteen
others went into the building az the second floor
! and began to work their way back Just as
| they got well inside the heavy safe On the floor
above came crashing through Seven Of the
| men. seriously hurt. sent to the hospitals
THE MISSING
| CoNLIN. William. Engine l.
lived az Ne, $50 Isth street Brooklyn
THE INJURED.
BERNAN John W assistant foreman Hook and Ladder
5. Fractured RIBS internal injuries.
DoosAS John socsan . Engine Company q co1tus,on'
GARvTN. Charles. Engine Company Z
/ GEHERAN, Joseph. fireman Engine Company 4: CONT
Uea s57sae 7Gs9h ss8 sa:ra5I5as aan Engine C''7s = BACK
% a '9en aass h ao5 % 5s f.a ed hass5 @ g a. ribs
| MKEoGH John T. fireman Hook and Ladder S: scalp
wounds and eoutuslons-
wounds ana laceratIo-s
| sAIcH George fireman Hook Ladder 10;
SULLIVAN. Daniel. fireman Engine Company A scalp
| SWEET. Andr-w foreman HOOK Ladder 10:
| tioIs and Internal INJURIES condition critical
TUILY Daniel fireman Engine Company =. scalp WOUND.
| and internal injuries
| About forty persons were or the third foor
when the fire started. including six women
| stenographers. They all got out. although sew
/ eral had narrow escapes. As the last Of them
| were going down In the freight lift. the cable
snapped just before the lift reached the bottom
| All in the bruised. but none vas Sc
! riousIy hurt.
| ALL STOCK TOTAL LOSS.
| The first floor and basement was occupied by
Woodward. Baldwin < &c. dealers in domestic
| musIins; the second by kibbe, Chaffee. More
| house & Co. hosiery. and The third by Chaffee
| Morehouse & Carmichael. hosiery commission
| merchants. Part Of this floor was subiet TO
! Francis r. Masters & Co. and Charles c. Cope
! land & Co The fourth and fifth floors were
used as storage lofts. AL the stock in the build
| ing as well as the building itself Will De a
/ total loss. William II. Chaffee. OF Chaffee
Morehouse & Carmichael. lost all his original
| material for geneaIogy Of the Chaffee family.
but fortunately had sent his completed manu-
! script a short time al so 10 his publishers
/ Hindered by the slippery pavenents. the ap-
! paratus was slow in reaching the fire. Right in
front Of the building the opposite side
! an old fashioned hydrant. frozen Around the
/ corner in West Broadway were two more in the
/ same condition While the frenen were
/ ming their lines from hydrants in Church. Leon
ard and Thomas streets and West Broadway a
| couple of lines were attached 20 the standpipe
/ on the roof OF the Clafiin Building. across the
1 way. So little pressure could be obtained thar
/ the stream got only halfway across the street
| and then blew away, turned into spray by the
wind.
FIRE STREAMS WEAK
| II was more than quarter Of hour before
any amount OF water was 70 be had. The water
/ tower of little use I0r some time. the
stream from the lower nozzle barely reaching
/ the second floor and sometimes falling short Of
| that. Battalion Chief Gueriu ordered 4 second
alarm turned in the moment he reached the
| fire. and a third was sent in with Chief Croker's
| arrival The water tower. stationed immedi-
ately in front of the buildings sometimes threw
/ in volumes of water and sometimes didn't the
pressure being uneven. The dense smoke from
| the burning cotton drove the hremen back time
| and again.
| BY the time the third. fourth and fifth floors
| had been cleaned out and the fire had eaten
| down into the second. the men from. Trucks 10
| and and Engine got To work Entering
| through the front of the building. they drove the
| fire back steadily. foot by foot. until they had