Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-14
HUGE PHILADELPHIA
TRAIN SHED SWEPT
BYS1,000,0OO BLAZE

PHILADELPHIA. June 11.-Fire
early today practically destroyed
the train shed of Broad street sta
ton, the Philadelphia terminus of
the Pennsylvania railroad. \ guam
tity of mail and baggage and
number of passenger coaches also
were consumed.
The flames spread westward and
did not reach the main building
containing the waiting rooms and
ticket offices. These. however, were
Gdmaged by water. The general Of
fees Of the company were not CO III.
aged.
There WIS no official estimate cf
the loss. but it was believed II
would approximate at least $l'Ooc'-
600.
A large number of firemen were
overcome by smoke, but no one was
seriously injured.
OUTGOING train service was delay
ed several hours.
The fire started soon after l q. m.
under the wooden platform in the
train shed which covers several
acres and spread so rapidly that
many passengers in sleeping cars
standing on the tracks had difficulty
in making their escape. Dense vol
umes of smoke soon filled the shed
and poured into the waiting room
and other parts Of the station. In
coming passengers, however. man
aged to grope their way through
and find exits. Hundreds of per-
sons waiting for outgoing trains
fled from the building when smoke
began to come through the windows
and doors.
Part of Mail Saved
Intense excitement prevailed and
TO add to the confusion the lights
went out in some parts of the sta
ton.
Six alarms were sounded, calling
out nearly all the fire apparatus
in the city. Hundreds of streams
OF water were poured on the flames
but it was not until the huge arch,
extending from Fifteenth to Seven
teenth streets and from Market to
Filbert was mass of wreckage,
that the firemen were able to check
the blaze. The roof of metal and
glass collapsed in many places and
the brick side walls fell at several
points. 1t was under the shed, on
the street floor that the mail rooms
and express and baggage stations
were located. A large force of men
with trucks attempted to remove
the mail, but were driven off by
fire and smoke before they had
completed their Jobs.
A new f1fteen-story theater build
ing being constructed across Market
street on the south, caught fire sew
eral times, but the damage was
slight. Burning embers also flew
in the direction of the city hall, less
than 100 feet away, but the fire.
men managed to keep them from
doing any damage.
Railroad officials could not say
what caused the blaze.
Twenty Persons Injured
A roundup by the police and hos
pitfalls showed that about 20 persons,
none of them passengers, were
slightly injured. A great number
were fremen,
There were nesrlr 200 passengers
in the ten sleeping cars in the sta
ton when the fire started. The cars
were pulled out of the shed by shift
ing engines to the West Philadelphia
yards and later were attached to
trains and departed. One string
of seven sleepers were destined for
Boston ard the other three for Pitts
burg.
Eight steel coachss. three electric
coaches and three locomotives were
trapped and badly damaged. They
were too far back in the shed for the
train crew to risk their lives to get
them out. A car belonging to a
circus was among those left in the
shed but it was not touched by the
flames.
Today all that remained OF the
great arched shed, one of the great
est in the world when it was built
more than forty years ago, was the
skeleton frame work and the side
walls. When it was built it was
proudly referred. to by the railroad
: as the portal to Philadelphia" 1t
was 7O7 feet long, 3O7 feet wide and
100 feet high. The shed covered
sixteen tracks and eight platforms.
Probably the most serious effect
of the fire on the travelling public
was the loss Of baggage William j.
Crout, general superintendent OF the
Union Transfer company, said that
officials OF the company informed
him there were probably between g.
600 and 1000 pieces Of baggage in
the rooms under the train floor. AS
the records were in most cases burn.
ed, 1t is probable the exact amount
never will be known. The monetary
loss on this baggage is purely spec
ulatiVe, although estimates of more
than a million dollars were made by
railroad men.