The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-09

froze.
 Great pieces of marble and granite. dislodged by the heat and the force of the Thigh pressure water, Tell about them in the narrow streets
 Flames rose and billowed hundreds of feet In the air. outlining surround ing skyscrapers in a frame of red It seemed a living fnferno-the bursting of a volcano in the depths of some instead of Nature Bremen suffered from heat and cold-heat from the blazing structure and cold from the bitter water that froZe about them. But it is to the credit of the smoke eaters that they never wavered. They stood to their tasks and suffered fight ing back the I1aelstrom of flames that, once out of their power, would have swept through the heart of New York like a thing possessed And though they suffered, they won They fought fire and water and cold and pain and never gave back a foot. A high wind, that approximated a. gale, caile sweeping through from the we st.
 FIrebrands Land in River.
 Sucked into the narrow canyons caused by the great buildings, huge firebrands were carried blocks away
 Some flew nearly to the East River and landed on buiIdings. Telephone girls, hastily apprised, notified night watchmen in all the downtown and to stand by. with fire hose ready, or the roofs of their own buildings, to extinguish any blaze started by a fly ing spark
 AS the morning progressed hun dreds of thousands of men and wo- men, employed in the financial dis trfct, beg9il disgorging from subways, elevated and surface lines. and, witE curiosity gone mad. they tried to force their way through tine fire lines though crumDling walls were falling about them and great masses Of granite and marble were crashing on- to the street More than thousand policemen. with fire lines drawn taut, fought them back, for the danger was great and once that army broke through and penetrated to the fire zone. the loss of life would have been great
 Police Charge Crowds.
 Scores of buildings in the immediate vicinity of the fire were ordered clos ed by the policemen and 1remen anu thousandS of men and women. denied access to their places of business, re- turned to the fire and tried by every known means to get inside the fire lines- Time and again, mounted po- through the crowds and drive them back.
 One of the most beautiful sights of the fire WAS the spire of Old Trinity Church, half a block away. on Broad way, shining high above the flames with its gilded cross outlined in living relief.
 Leap From Fifth Story
 Shortly after the fire got under headway, four porters were seen in the glare of the blaze to leap from a fifth story window. Tons of debris foll irnm ediately upon the spot where their bodies landed.
 During the frightfuI heat of the blaze, a fireman emerged from the building and told the fire chiefs that three of his companions were driven from the sixth floor bS the heat, had retreated into empty. hreproof vaults in the basement of the building and had taken refuge there The doors were clogged by tons of debris. Al though great marble blocks fell about them a hundred volunteer dremen poured tons of water into the vaults while others. with axes and crowbars. dashed in and out among the fallen debris. trying to chop out the men.
 At g o'clock, a fireman, emerging from the scene. declared the vaults we're now half full of water, endan- gering the men by drowning but that