New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-28
ONLY TENTH PART INSURED
Explosion from Short Circuit OF
Wires, Setting Tar Ablaze,
Causes the Costly
Confagration.
MANY WILD ANIMALS DIE
Owners of Many Burned Shows Set
to Work at Once to Reopen in
Some Way or Other in Time
for Memorial Day Crowds
-Throngs Visit Ruins

f0r memorial lay CIOWuS
-Throngs Visit Ruins.
Dreamland the scenic gem OF Coney
Island. was totally destroyed by fire
early yesterday morning. and although
the disaster brought with it a score OF
the narrowest kind OF escapes. not a
single human life was lost. The prop
erty losses were variously estimated at
from S2,25O,OOO to upward of Sj,Wopo
The Fire Departments last resort, the
"2-9" alarm, was turned in by Deputy
Chief Lally, in charge Of Brooklyn, al
most Immediately upon his arrival at
the scene. The 90" means that the
alarm telegraph clicks off nine straight
taps twice, and in fire parlance 1t sig
nifes that every wheel rolls fester-
day it called every piece Of apparatus In
Brooklyn south Of Bergen street ana
Sixth avenue to fight the Dreamland hre.
and that made necessary a move OF al
most every piece of apparatus. not only
I'm BROOKLYN and Queens, but even II
Manhattan. TO cover the territory lett
vacant by the big call TO the south
II is the first time that "29' has been
rune for action since the express build
ing's fire in lower Broadway, in l'o4'
and the second time in the history or TINS
department.
Firemen. policemen and spectators
eunnorted the accusations OF the prop
ertv owners who were wiped out Of bust
ness by the blaze that the utter tdiiure
Of the high pressure water system was
chiefly responsible for the spread OF the
flames through almost every pulldihs
between Surf avenue and the ocean,
from West Jth 10 West 10th streets.
Through preliminary investigation
nv Deputy Fire Marshal Thomas Brophy'
instituted Immediately after the hre hah
been checked. il was learned that
slight explosion. presumably reSu'.'"S
from a short circuit Of the electric wires
lighting an inclosed portion Of the heh
Gate" tunnel. was the cause Of the costly
blaze
Boilino Tar Spills in Excitement
Hell Gate" was water runway
through which boats glided by graV'ta-
tion. partly in the open and partly 'un-
reIled At about . o'clock yesterday
morning repair gang under samuel
Fnglestein. a contractor, who handles
that l<ind Of work al the amusement re-
sort. was engaged in tarrinS 'he DIX
A eli
! trough through which the boats sHue'
| Above them cluster or electric hsn''
went out suddenly. coincidently with
| slight ,x;losion. and in the CONFUSION
the pot of boiling tar was overturned
Flames sprang up from somewhere IN
the neiehborhood of the tar and spread
so quickly that the workmen were torceu
70 flee Cor their lives. That was the
beginning Of the end of Dreamland
The nremen could testify only that
they did not have the pressure necessary
20 egbt so fierce a blaze The Water
Derartmert said that the pressure vas
supplied all right by the high pressure
nurping station at West 18th street ana
Conev Island Creek, but that its force
had been reduced to uselessness by 'he
onening of city hydrants In other parks
of the Isle Of JOY. But an lnveSusau''
Of the premises of all the adjoining PARKS
and concessions disclosed the fact 'haI
,be nroprietors and employees or those
nlaces had used only their own water
sunplv in what fighting they had done
against the fire.
T.
for fire insurance, based upon the ao-
mittedlv non fireproof construction the
fire insurance policies carried on all the
property in the area laid waste VIII no''
q &c believed. amount 10 more than about
onc-tenth of the loss.
One of the most startling and at the
same time one of the snost pitiful feat-
ures Of the fire was the fight. for life
made nv the wild animals OF the Ferrari
sbow known for years 10 New Workers
&c Rostock's. Black Prince. widely
advertised Nubian lion, one OF the larg-
est and most ferocious Of the performing
herd of the Ferrari show. finished his
career ON the highest turret Of the
Rocky Road to Dublin" show with some
seventy bullets in his carcass, ana AT
that he died. not from the lead, but the
steel of a iremans axe welded by
patrolman Joe" Hoynes. of the Coney
Island police station.
FIeeine Lion on Fire.
BEFORE his spectacular nnish Black
Prince furnished the immense crowd
which had quickly gathered to view the
fire with a thriller In miX-up IN the
rupwav leading to the arena OF the
rerrari show the big Nubian in some
manner not yet explained escaped from
the trainers who were trying 10 beat him
along with his fellow captives into the
iron barred arena. BY that time the hre
had caught his name and the thicker
coatings of his brstly nide. and the pain
drove him mad. He burst through the
pagsageway leading To Surf avenue and
headed east without an apparent Thought
of the hundreds of human beings who
started A wild scramble to escape him.
Al the entrance 10 the Rocky Road To
Dublin" ride hundred yards up the
avenue. he turned in and dashed UP the
spiral distractions leading 10 one OF the
double turrets which adorn that building
Continued on sixth page.