Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1912-01-13
EQUITABLE LIFE
BUILDING BURNS
Six Killed In Spectacular Fire
In New York.
BILLION DOLLARS IN VAULTS
Famous Old House Of Great insurance
Company Destroyed by Flames and
invaluable Aeeords Are Lost.


Equitable Life Assurance society. In
the block between Broadway and
Nassau street and Cedar and Pine
streets, In New York--the first great
office building erected In New York
was ruined by fire. II was the most
destructive Office building fire In the
city's history.
Six men lost their lives In the fall
ing wreckage One of these was Bat
TALON Chief william Walsh. OF the IRE
department. who died. carried down by
a collapsing floor. as he was leading
his men upward toward the Lawyers
club rooms.
william Giblin. president OF the
Mercantile Safe Deposit company.
was saved In the nick OF time--drag-
ged through window whose bars had
been sawed through by fremen.
President Day, of the assurance so
ciety, says the securities. worth $l,'
600, 100000 or more. stored In the
vaults OF the Equitable and the Mer-
camille Safe Deposit company. are I'M
harmed and that the 10000 policies on
which the Equitable had loaned $780,
600. 900 had been found intact In the
steel cases on the second floor one
small vault OF the Equitable was open.
ed and over $50.000.000 in stocks ana
bonds removed.
+. NJ. Willings. secretary OF the Mer-
camille. and w. c. Poillon. vice presi'
dent OF the vaut company, climbed
over ice hummocks and piles oil
wreckage aud satisfied themselves that
| the fire had done little damage. In
these vaults are stored the securities
OF the Hartman and Gould estates.
OF Kuhn. Loeb 4 Co.. OF kountz Broth
ers. August Belmont & Co. William A.
Read 4 Co. and others.
Accompanied by Deputy Chief Binns.
Vice Presidents Strong and Thornton.
OF the Bankers TRUST company. WIS.,
tied the great strong boxes OF the
Equitable society on the second floor
| They assured themselves that the
vaults were rninjured and that there
was no reason to suppose that the
| s274. OOO. 900 worth OF Equitable securi-
| ties there were harmed. 4. Il. Ritten
house. representing President Day. re-
| ported to the meeting of the executive
committee OF the board OF directors
that the securities could be removed
In three days. II was thought best TO
wait that long to make sure that the
| temperature of the interior OF the
vaults had cooled down.
Assistant Secretary s. $. McCurdy.
OF the Equitable, who had been In
speeding the fire swept Offices ON the
second and third floors. reported
cheerful news To the new quarters OF
| the society In the City Investing build.
ing. McCurdy. after a good deal OF
climbing about. go, to the offices OF the
secretary ON the second floor. He dis
covered at once that the minutes OF
directors meetings covering all the
years since the organization OF the
society were safe. together with other
records that were lost IL was at first
feared.
| A law library of $4,000 volumes.
law library. containing $4,000 volumes.
worth perhaps 100000 and establish
ed many years ago by Henry Baldwin
| Hyde as an inducement to lawyers TO
take quarters In the building. Is dissi-
pated In ashes. Possibly 100000 life
insurance policies upon which the
| Equitable had loaned money were
burned. They were In steel boxes
| which may not have resisted the heat.
II they are gone II will take legislation
10 reproduce them. All in all. the fire
SO tangled the affairs OF corporations
with vast interests that II may take
years to straighten them out.
The actual money loss was compar'
atively slight.
Even the Equitable people do not
mourn the building They were going
20 tear II down soon any way and fg-
uret It's actual value To the stock and
policy holders as precisely nothing. II
was outworn and antiQuated, and the
cost OF demolishing II would have been
far more, the society's officials said.
than the loss In furnishings and equip
ment. Figuring that way. the society
places its loss at only $250.0O0. but the
value OF the law library Is not included
In the estimate. Insurance experts
guessed that the loss to tenants would
amount TO perhaiF 100000 So. all
told, the loss was perhaps $l.6oo.00O.
The FIRE started in the rear OF the
Cafe Savarin. the celebrated bar and
restaurant. so long run by the Equit
able ITSELF and only severed from II
after the insurance investigation. An
investigation developed that II orlei
mated probably in wooden stairway
near the elevator shaft In the back oi
the cafe. II Is said a gasoline stove
exploded.
E0Eex,'S Honey and Tar