| Show FLAMES CUT lONDON OFF fROM WORlD I England's Telegraph System j P Paralyzed by Fire in General Service Service Will B Be Crippled for Week at at- Least FIREMEN IN IN DANGER FROM FUSED WIRES WIRES' I Th Thousand Majority of Are Rescued Res RescUed Rescued Res Res- Whom Women cued With Without ut Panic Panic telephone tele Tere- phone Only Communication NEWS IS SENT VIA VIA PARIS T O ONDON bON 2 Lon L N Aug London London 0 tonight 1 is entirely y cut off from om tel telegraphic tele tole- graphic communication with ith the rest of the tho country and with the continent and for fora a time Jim conn connection with America America Amer Amer- ica lea was severed as' as as as' the result of a fier fierce e fire e this this evening in iii the tile general po postoffice ice where telegraph office i is located and in which pich all wires of ot the service are arC concentrated While the fire w was s extremely fierce no ho lives were ere lost and the damage was was' tile the inside of oZ the building One thousand a 8 majority of them got out of the structure turo promptly an and hou panic Tele Tele- graph service E will F ill l bo cr crippled p led for at least a fr S h h i W ibis ibish m t t J n b t lf l igi r at t r. r Q a i Teat rest test b bOn ln th floor The gallery affected so soon n was was' as filled with thick Bm smoke kc Ten minutes s. s after tho the tire fire fre started Sir sil Alexander King the head pf ot the postoffice ordered all aU out of the building They left by the stairways In good order and remained in the crowds about the building The entire brigade of or tho the cast east en end Continued l on P Page ge 2 2 Column 4 t. C f 1 I FIRE GUTS lONDON OFF FROM WORLD Telegraph Service Will Wilt Be Crippled Crippled Crippled Crip- Crip pled for fOJ Week by Blaze in General Postoffice Continued From Page 1 of ot London soon was on the scene with witha a n big salvage corps By S o'clock theIre the tho theire Ire fire was waa over Tho The lighting apparatus was out of commission however and anda a a. strange scene was presented as the salvage men muon grouped about the huge hugo structure with lanterns and candles of Wires Fused Thousands of ot wires underneath the tho thoI I floors had fused and tho the firemen were forced to tear up part of ot tho the floors to tog I g Kt t at the flames the thc work being I exceedingly d dangerous Tho The smoke made th the firemen's work difficult The floor on which the fire tire started was laid in six-foot six sections and it was necessary to take these up separately to get got at all tho wires The firemen first tried to smother the flames with sand but found that method meth meth- od ineffective The Tho building sustained no structural tural damage but tho the losses to cables and instruments and furniture were heavy henvy the furniture suffering from the tons tone of ot water poured In which streamed med through the whole building building- After 9 o'clock all the mustered mustered mustered mus mus- ut at th the central contrat hall ball for tor temporary duties and for tor salvage work during tho the thorest rest of ot the night It was explained to them that all Instruments had b boon been on carefully covered up Branch offices about th the town have thousands of ot messages for tor places In Inthis Inthis inthis this country and on the continent and communication with tho the outer world for tor three ho hours wits by telephone to Paris System Tho The genera Is 18 the center conten cen con ter ten of ot tho the telegraph service for tor the entire entire en- en en en- tire kingdom All the main cables for provincial towns and the wires connecting con con- fleeting with foreign cables concentrate concen coneen- there hence the tho complete completo paralysis parah sis ate of the system Besides the Paris telephone Intermittent telephonic communication communication com corn with the cable offices at Liverpool and Bristol was obtainable but the these wires were wera greatly over over- worked English telephone service is remarkably remarkably remark remark- abl ably primitive compared to that of ot moat most civilized countries and It now flOW is the subject of ot violent newspaper tion In the presence of tonight's emergency it Il went wont entirely to pieces The Thos greatest sufferers are the provIncial provincial provincial pro pro- papers who depend upon special wires for tor the London and continental service They rhey found tho the telephone wires Ires Impossible for forlong long messages |
