The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1922-07-19
Two Killed
Scores Hurt
in N.Y. Fire
Five Hundred Families Arc
Driven from Home by Blaze
in Bohemian Quarter
Burns All Day.
Three Persons Missing

New York. July ls.-(By A. P.)-
A stubborn, puzzling warehouse fire
in the Greenwich Village section OF
the city broke out about 8 Tuesday
morning, burned through the day.
and was still blazing at night after
nearly 100000 gallons of water had
been played on the flames by 40 hose
lines.
"The toughest fire I've ever en-
countered," was the way Acting
Fire Chief Smoky Joe" Martin put
it to Mayor Hylan when he returned
to direct his men after having been
blown out of doorway by one Of a
series Of explosions which rocked the
lower west side.
With the flames checked. but not
conquered, investigation showed that
two firemen had been killed. three
more were missing. about IS persons
had been taken to hospitals seriously
injured and more than Us had re-
ceived first aid treatment at three
emergency stations opened by the
Red Cross. In addition. about 500
families were driven from their homes
in the Bohemian quarter, and barred
by the. police from returning. lest
the warehouse walls collapse.
Smoke Blinds Firemen.
The outstanding features OF the fire
was the mysterious, pungent black
smoke that rolled out of the building
soon after the first of the blasts.
1t came in never-ending clouds,
settling down about the base of the
storehouse and binding the fighters
so that they could not see the flames
they were combating. Though al
midsummer sun blazed down until
late in the afternoon. when thun-
derstorm broke, the firemen found
it black as midnight and rugged
searchlights in their efforts to pierce
the enfolding darkness.
,Bafled as to the cause of the FIRE,
experts of the city sought all day to
solve the mystery. ~
Fire Commissioner brennan. who
declared that no permit had been is-
sued to store explosives or chemicals
in the warehouse, worked hard to as
certain what was housed within the
four blazing walls. Finally police
men were sent through the milling
thousands who had gathered to watch |
the blaze, paging officials OF the
Manufacturers Transit company, op-
Grating the six-story warehouse.
Property Damage Heavy.
Although the property damage
could not be accurately estimated
without check of the contents. said
to include newsprint, rubber, rice and
EPSON salts, it was evident that it
would run into the hundreds of thou
sands OF dollars. =
One story, which particularly at
tracted attention of the investigators
was told members of the police bomb
squad by DR.. Anthony Paone, dem
list who lives opposite the warehouse.
Paone, who turned in the first
alarm, asserted that just before the
first explosion he had seen three men
with a pushcart stop in front of the
building, carrying in several boxes
ind then emerge. He advanced the
:heory that incendiaries had started
he blaze.
Another puzzling story was told by
Mrs. Joseph Ash and four of her
1eighbors, who live in an apartment
house on the same block as the ware
.ouse. These five homeless ones
maintain that throughout the night
hey had heard mysterious, muffled
explosions.
The known dead are:
Fire Lieutenant ]. J. Schoppe-
meyer, killed by falling debris. =.
Fireman James Carroll, attached
o a Brooklyn company, killed when
lis engine struck curb while re-
,ponding to an alarm.
Doctor Overcome.
DR.. Harry M. Archer, an honorary
leputy fire chief, fell victim to
he fumes while treating the injured.
Overcome by smoke, he was car
led to a Red Cross station, where
he nurses found he also suffered
rom numerous gashes. II
The whole quarter was thrown
nto a panic with the first blast,
which broke windows in St. Vim
ent's hospital, at Seventh avenue
nd Thirteenth street. ,
After the terror OF the explosions
ad subsided, the Villagers" began {
cooperating with the authorities in
elief work.
While city chemists studied the {
Iames to determine what was caus-
1g the heavy smoke and filled test
ubes with water pouring FROM the {
urning building for the purpose of t
nalysis, the artists threw open their