| Show A fire tire proof building eull tuil ding the business structure in iii ne ew york which on tuesday night w was as in a few hours converted Sd from an architectural ornament to the city into a heap of ruins await awalt awaiting ing some dr to td recover from it richer treasures of gold silver sliver and precious stones than the home and tomb of agamemnon ever knew passed for a fireproof fire proof building its walls were of the best brick its front of the finest quality of iron its windows were protected pr elected by shutters of solid steel there was waa not so far as outside tion could discover the smallest scrap of material on which fire could coula fasten and abd yet a cigar stub set it on fire A few minutes sufficed to c convert the nire fireproof fire proof building into il a roa roaring furnace belching ferth bames flames ilka lika a volcano iino lino A few hours s left nothing of the stately pile rile but a confused mass of crumbling bricks shattered iron irod and benk bent and twisted steel so 80 intense was the heat that the massive granite blocks coimin forming the sidewalk were cracked crik crit eked ched split and utterly ruined the fireproof fire proof I 1 building wab was in fact a huge tinderbox tinder box and the costly precautions against fire firo proved eff efi effective etive only in in preventing the prompt ex of the th e flames outside all was gran granite ite brick brlek iron and steel insique was wood of oe the most inflammable kind the inside columns beams floors and stairways were chleda of georgia pine the structure being in fact face a frame fram e bui building ming wing en encased cased eased wj with th iron a ventilating shaft abaft ran through the centre and at a intervals in inthe tha the brick walls were recesses through which the khe steam P pipes lpes were conducted from cellar to 0 roof when whet the ca carpenters r were laying the floors they disposed of the shavings by packing them in in the hollow spa spaces c a under the planks to make the structure tur tul e still more nir gire fir fire proof ithe pit the sub cel lars wre wore filled with thel the shavings cut paper and pine boxes in which goods good were packed for shipment and aud these sub suli cellars were lighted and ventilated by ron fon iron ton gratings in the granite sidewalk deWalk Al might be ax expected elfed to some day happen to sueh such a build building bik happened last tuesday A lighted cigar stub dropped on the sidewalk fell through a grating into the combustibles om busti bles bies stored below belfar the flames dames spread rapidly the Iri lri inflammable i flam fiam material mounted ahr through ough theo ventilating chaft arld and the hoi hol low paces spaces in hi the brick walls from story to story burst bura out through the in in the shaft of the ficor floor abd aad in a few moments spread throughout the vast building and converted IC into a roaring volcano the steel shutters were closed and bolted defying the efforts of the tiie firemen to break in and when the iron front became heated the firemen were 1 e glad giad idd ind to keep at a respectful distance A common frame house would have been far safer against nir fir nire fire ing than this costly nire fireproof fire proof 11 building designed to tb contain and dud pr protect 0 treasures to the value valdo of between be one ond and two million do dollars lars cleveland herald kerald marcal march 0 |
