The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-10-04
West Side Block In the TWen-
ties Burned to Mass
of Cinders.
HIGH PRESSURE SAVES DAY
Old Buildings and lnflammables
Feed the Blaze and Make
the Battle Hard.

Chi.f Croker stood last night at
Eleventh avenue and Tventy-fourth
:, r-e' and thlnkrd his lucky stars for
TIA. high pressure mains. With ten
lanes feeding from them and cascading
SOD gallons minute the chief beat
down IN two hours a fire which wiped
out nearly whole block. bis jagged
holes into two other blocks and threat
ened To sweep toward the ferries and
piers II the waterfront
Under the chiefs eye was a sizzling
ruin % red and black debris. all that was
left Of the block Of factories and lumber
yards between Twenty fourth and
Twenty fifth streets and half way from
Eleventh avenue to Tenth. Another
mass of ruins showed where the Are had
jumped Twenty fourth street and cut
into the block To the south, while across
Eleventh avenue between Twenty fourth
and Twenty fifth streets. within a short
block Of the ferries and piers. the flames
had shaved away a solid front Of lumber
yards and sheds
INV looH - - IhA ~ ~ ny
Croker. and the concerns that suffered
worst were the Moore Brother. Lumber
Company at the southeast corner of
Eleventh avenue and TWenty-fourth
street. with 1000 go feet 81 hardwoo d
burned. the Atlas Metal Bsdstead Com
pany On the south side Of Twenty fifth
II rect IA the middle IL the wasted block.
which host its plant and $3.50 OOO worth
of brass bedstsads and stock. and ths
Clark A wilkins kindling factory On tbs
east side 81 Eleventh avenue between
Tw-nty-fourth and Twenty nth streets.
which was utterly destroyed
Although the fire covered more terri
tory. As Croker remarked. than any 81
recent years nobody was killed and no
one was fatally hurt. Two policemen
had Ia GO 10 the hospital 10 have buns
treated after rescuinR roomers at the old
Pennsylvania Hotel at the northeast
corner OF Twenty fourth street and
Eleventh avenue, five persons were
knocked down and cut or bruised 10y q
high pressure hos. which escaped from
10 tripod az Eleventh Aven Ne and Twenty
third street. "A fireman got blow in the
abdomen from a runaway nozzle and a
woman Of % years was carried hystsricAI
and suffering from shock from the Penn
sylvania Hotel
Here was the situation the chief had
10 handle when he drove his automobile
into the rosy haze II Vas a particularly
dangerous district for a fire 70 get .
running start IN. Along Twenty-third
Twenty fourth and Twenty fifth streets
were little. old hotels fallen into decay.
groups Of luw factory buildings and
wooden sheds Along the avenue fronts
were four and five story factories. In
the middle Of the blocks were lumber
yards where the planks were piled In
stacks twenty feet high.
Across Eleventh avenue toward the fer
ries were the Standar d oil plant Tor manu-
featuring candles. lubricants and patent
oils. and the Wanamaker garage. The
long building ~ the United Mates Express
Company ran through whole block from
Twen'y-fourth to Twenty third street
\ number Of the facto used oils. gaso-
leGe and paints in their business.
The fire started at IS p, " in the
lumi-r yards Of Moore Bros. Mt the
southeast corner 81 Twenty fourth street
and Eleventh avenue Edward = sley.
pany. looked out - the back door 81 the
storage room. saw the Moore once blaz-
ing and hustled 10 get the express COM
pany's hIe apparatus into action,
He dragged a length 81 hose ont Of
the hack door found a one armed man In
Twenty-fourth street who volunt erred
20 help climbed n high board fence,
lifted his little ho-eline from the one
armed man and liz into the rising flames
single handed. The frs' ~ the rushing
fire companies drove their engines over
Riley's hose. hut he didn't care Croker
patted him on the hack later on and told
him he was some fire fighter.
" was n curious thing. hut two engine
70 and .. who had been Are
n Citing az Tenth avenue and Twenty
ninth street. must have passed through
the neighboThood 70 the west On their
way down town Just about the 'iups Ril~y
wss drilling a y inch stream On q three
alarm Are. Croker calculated that they
must have dashed past wi,hou, seeing
the glare or hearing the uproar that the
neighborhood was making
The first engine companies on the job
were busy ~ sOS p. VI Croker came
shrek ing mp on the second alarm and he
sent in rapidly third. fourth and hfth
alarm. which brought To the Are none
twenty five engine COMPANIES and four
hrehoa'-. the New Yorker from the
the James Duane from Thirty
hfth street and the Norm River. the
Thomas WIllett from Gansevoort street
and the North River and the AbTam s.
Hewitt from Main street. Brooklyn
The chief vas taking no chances ami
he found before he got through that he
hooded all his engine power his hreboats
and HE high pressure mains 90 heat back
The hameS from the waterfront and from
the solid bloclIs % factories and tene-
nsnta 20 the west and north
Everybody for a good long walk In
three directions hustled 20 the IRE. banked
up against the police lines and watched