The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-01-10

There was barely room in which 10 swing
around n team he horses. ,cra mhing
desperately owe" The ICY pavoment- and
frightened 10y jha falling stones and
frohrand.. plGnged and tried heir hest
tp break away Wa'er cas,adcd and fro2e
on their backs A. rapidly a. posslb" the
team. were unhtched. led to q,.iaj ,ireots
and hlnIketed against the cold
roo LATE TO SAVE TIRE BUILDING
Chief keulon. his face cruS'ed with
jr" hi- bands blocks Of ice and mis- slickcr
lv"red from frozen particles. entered
the Equitable IA few minutes after no ar
= v-d IN try to determine the course of
the tr" and to see # any of the employees
had been imprisoned by tho flames. Tie
made hls way up to the sixth floor but was
driven hack by the ovcrpOwering heal.
The chief saw then that il would be i'm
possible To save In" buiiding and tina; the
best to he done was to contine tho fire
and keep it from sweeping across the
narrow streets TO the noighboring hunks
The chiefs experience told Lin that there
had been too much delay. The fire. start
ing in the southwest corner Of the build
ing, had rushed upward through the elc-
vator shaft and had then spread over the
top floor. working first along Pine street
toward Broadway and then carving back
, ward toward Nassau street under The
drive of a northwest wind.
At AS A. NJ. Chief Kenlon summoned
help from Brooklyn. Deputy Chief Jally
rushed nine engines. four trucks and a
water tower across the Brooklyn Bridge
and had his force AZ work by sis The
BROOKLYN fire fighters got busy in Nassau
street trying To save tho northeast ey-
tension Of the Equitable Building a seven
story red brick ana stone structure oc-
cupied by August Belmont 4 TO. and
". A. Read 4 Co, bankers. They flooded
i, and saved most of IL.
FLYING CLOUDS or sCoRCHED PAPFRs.
All around tho Equitable windows
had been broken by tho hoat or by tho
rnpnct of water. Through these whirloC
clouds of papers and documents that
tho uubGrred winds had caught up from
desks or broken cases. People crossing
tra brooklyn Bridge about 7.3D o'Cloci,
Witnessed curious phenomenon. The
northwest gale, humming az a sixty mile
an hour clip. was burdencd with thes,
bits cf paper. They swept across the
river. whirling high in the air. Brooklyn
residents picked up later half burned
ard cancelled theCks bearing the firm
-
rlent- that had been torn by the wind
from other Offices in the building. Tn,
streets around the burning building
v.,re filtered with cEarred and soggy
lansing or commercial paper, mostly
cancelled.
Wi,u all tn" force he could handle in
such small streets, the twenty six Man
haitian and ,he nine Brooklyn cngincs
,g"tnrr wiIl the water towers trucks
and fuel c4rtl. Chief k"nlon attacked the
ntr from four sides. lie placed rwo hos,
lines in the Singer tower and shot great
/, reaIns over Broadway against the upper
stories Of the Eqult lbic, These dis
: lodged large blocks of crumbling stone
which fell and dashed to bits in Pine
street One of these Just grazed the
!, shoulder of Felix Bertine, proprietor of
ne Red Lion cafe, who was trying to ge,
into his place of business across Pine
rect Hose lines were directed from
the upper floors of the American Ex-
change National Bank at Broadway and
Cedar street An attack was made on
the southeast corner from the Hanover
> Bank Building. while the Brooklyn men
az the northeasr corner fought with their
WaUer tower and carried lines of hose into
the Belmont and Read Offices. But the
brooklyn tower had no luck. Twenty
minu,cs after it was put into service II
suck in the freezing slush. Descending
torrents froAe its joints and it would have