New-York tribune., 1910-02-05
ARMY STORES BURN
BIG DOWNTOWN FIRE
Chemicals Worth 500, 900 De
stroyed-EmpIoyes Sd0ed.

The United states army hospital ser
vice lost more than 100000 worth OF snb-
plies in a fire which wiped out the nledical
supply depot al Nos. $50 ana 20 west
street Yesterday afternoon. The destruc-
tion of the seven story building. whence
the Departrent of the East and the
Panama Canal Zone receive their supply
was one of the most picturesque of recent
fires. Major Edwin P. Wolfe and thirty
five Civil Service employees were rescued
from the building.
The fire. which started by spontaneous
combustion of chemicals on the second
focr. swept up and down the passenger
elevator and nushroomed on the upper
and lower floors with lightning rapldlty
Major Wolfe and seven employees were
held prisoners on the third and fourth
floors until extension ladders were brought
70 their rescue by the iremen. while John
McKeon. the engineer of the building, vas
caught IN the sitting fumes from chemi-
Gals which filled the cellar He was
dragged TO the street through a hatchway.
The other men were carried down freight
elevator.
4 slight explosion and a puff of smoke
at 12.4O o'clock were followed in less than
fifteen minutes by blaze which made the
building. which stands at the southeast
corner of West and Vestry streets, rag
ing furnace. with clouds of smoke pour
ing from the roof and windows, The ex-
pIosion of chemicals in the depths OF the
inferno added to the spectacle, which
thrilled thousands of persons IN west
street.
on the third floor Of the building men
were rushing preparations to make SO
600 bospital shipment to the Panama Canal,
where the supplies are badly needed These
77,en found themselves enveloped in smoke
before they realized that there was fire
in the place. They caught the elevator on
its last trip TO the ground floor. Donald
b Inman. one of their number, reached
the shaft moment too late for the ele-
vator. and, with the flames close TO MS
heels. slid down the steel cable.
As the smoke and chemical vapors choked
I'D the fourth floor. where Major Wolfe
and his office staff were quartered. F. w
Toulon and John Thompson, clerks, VINO
have been in the government employ for
forty Years we're cut off from escape
They we're led o a window ledge by MAJOR
Wolfe VINO ordered them down a fire lad
der and then was the last man TO leave
the building.
While the roIicau of the rescued gov
ernment employees was being called by
Major Wolfe, the fremen carried Mrs
Mary Cass, an aged invalid, from the
building at No 259 West street. Other
rescues followed in quick succession, but
none of the adjoining houses caught fire;
and although all were emptied of their
tenants. their safety was insured by the
high pressure water system
AS the flames broke through the elevator
shaft on the fifth floor, a lot of misCeI-
laneous hospital goods caught fire. Then
the sixth and seventh floors added heaps
of bedding. drugs hospital tents and ban
dages to feed the roaring column OF fire,
which finally broke out of all sides of the
roof
With the first two alarms. Chief Croker
and Fire Commissioner Waldo arrived at
the fire The high pressure service regis
tered 175 pounds pressure and 1890 gal
Ions Of water were being poured on to the
flames every minute of the three hours
that the fire was at IT'S worst a third
alarm brought reserve apparatus, Whlch
was not needed when Chief Croker com
Melted MS survey of the burning bulldlng-
The medical branch of the army leased
the building from the F. j. Carlin Com
many on December /. 1903 IRE destroyed
iJnhert streets. on November H. 1908 The
west street station was one OF the TOUR
dapots IN the United states, and the loss
will seriously handicap the medlcal sta-
+iCns on the east shore of the Panama
Canal and in Porto Rico.
Win the crowds that were attracted to
,be FIRE from the lower section Of the city
were hundreds of persons from New Jer-
sew who came over the DesbToSSeS street
feTrv. Inspector DAILY and one hundred po-
Iican7en kent the fire lines clear A Speclal
at-oI ~ soldiers from Governors Island
ITas sent 10 guard the building last night.
The government does not carry insurance