Year: 1877

also barrel factory, silk factory and
several houses adjoining, and block
of frame houses ON Tenth avenue, be-
tween Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth. A
steam fire engine was burned, the fire.
men being unable to get it out in con-
sequence of the intense heat.


The factory and other buildings
named in Thirty-fifth street were burned
to ruins in about three-quarters of an
hour. A fire steamer was anchored at
the dock foot of Thirty-fifth street, and
lines of hose extended from it to
Eleventh avenue to supply water to two
engines. The hydrant at the corner of
Tenth avenue and Thirty-sixth street
was entirely empty. While the fire was
at its height


WATER WAS so SCARCE


that the tenants of houses which caught
fire from sparks were unable to obtain
water except by damming up in the
gutter the water which came from the
fire hose. They succeeded before noon,
however, in getting the fire under con-
troll, although it was then still burning
fiercely in some of the buildings. In the
confusion prevailing it was impossible
to obtain details of losses and very diff
ficult to make even an approximate es-
innate of their total amount. The low
est estimate of the latter is 81, 900, 900,
and many persons place the amount at
much higher figure. 1t is reported
that


MANY LIVES WERE LOST,


but rumors on this point are very con-
flicting. 1t is probable that some work.
men in the piano factory were unable
to escape, but the number is not known.
The fire is believed to have broken out
in the fifth story of the building. One
of the workmen named Edward Pack
master jumped from an upper window
and was taken up in terrible con-
dition. His skull was fractured and
many bones broken. He died in a few
minutes. A few workmen were seri-
ously injured. They were sent to Belle
vue hospital. A woman is known to
have died dnring the fire, but reports
differ as to whether she died from in
juries received in attempting to escape
or from illness.


Three alarms were sent out in rapid
succession and large force of firemen,
engines and trucks responded. The
heat produced by the fire was intense
and the firemen were obliged to keep at
a considerable distance from the burn
ing buildings. 1t is probable that they
could have prevented the fire from
spreading if they had had a sufficient
supply of water. A row of brown
stone apartment houses on 50th street
burnt rapidly. Their inmates were
able to save but small part of their
property. A strong wind which veered
from point to point


wHIRLED SPARKS AND BRANDS
in all directions. Sparks blown to 10th
Avenue set on fire number of frame
buildings occupied as stores and dwell
lings, and three structures, Nos. 449 to
1853, inclusive, were burned.


There is no hope that vestige of
the blocks bounded by 35th and seth
streets and 10th and 18th avenues will
be left. The school house on 35th
street is entirely demolished and the
tenement houses on four sides Of the
block are in ruins. Sparks from the
burning buildings lighted on the
canvas roof of the Gospel tent and it
was destroyed. The conviction is
growing that the loss of life will be
serious, and several ambulances are in
the neighborhood. One authority says
there must be from rs to 100


BODIES BURIED IN THE RUINS.
Another statement is that some 25
to 80 girls employed in the upper sto-
ries of Hale's factory have persisted.
The ambulances have moved some 1e
or 20 wounded who jumped from the
burning factory. Still another state
ment is that of the 100 to 200 men in
the factory at the time of the fire
comparatively few escaped death OF
fatal wounds. The occupants in 36th
street could distinctly see workmen in
the piano factory making futile efforts
to escape from the roof and upper sto-
ries, and could hear their


| sHRIEKs FOR ASSISTANCE.


August Varrath, one of the As men
at work in the top story Of the factory,
said the alarm was given to them by a
watchman who had put his head out Of
a window and seen smoke issuing from
the windows below. The foreman
urged them to keep cool, saying there
was probably plenty of time for escape
Varrath says the men scattered in vari
Gus directions, but the fire and smoke
drove them back from the stairways
There was fire ladder at each end o.
the building, and also chain firt
escape. Varrath got down by one O
the ladders. He said that since his es
cape he had not seen any Of his fellow