SHEPPARD KNAPP STORE BURNED.

SHEPPARD KNAPP STORE BURNED.

A night fire that did $300,000 damage destroyed the retail furniture store of Sheppard Knapp & Co. on West Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, Manhattan, New York, The fire broke out at 10:45 p. m., and by midnight the flames swept from the basement through the five floors and out through the roof. This old building was but one of the three sections of the Sheppard Knapp store. A long L extended through to Fourteenth street, with an entrance there. The fire, which was in the basement of all-three sections, reached the first floor of the L, doing considerable damage. The main section of the store adjoined the old building on Thirteenth street and faced on Sixth avenue, thus constituting the comer of the whole store. The fire was kept down cellar there, though great damage was done by smoke and water as in the L. On one side of the Fourteenth street L was the Cowperthwaite & Co.’s furniture store, which sustained a loss of some thousands of dollars—the second fire-loss that firm has received within a few months. McKeever’s hotel on the other side of the L was not much damaged. Four alarms were turned in, which brought a water tower and large number of engines and other pieces of apparatus. Ry to o’clock a. m. the fire had been stopped. The engines had hardly room to operate, owing to the openings made on Sixth avenue for the construction of the McAdoo tunnel. Some of these openings were boarded over, while some were simply inclosed. The Sixth avenue L road was utilised by the firemen, the electric current having been cut off. It formed a most useful auxiliary. The surface car traffic was stopped. The most difficult portion of the fire to fight was that in the basement, which was full of oil cloth, and every effort of the firemen to drown out the flames was for a long time fruitless. Rugs, valued at $40,000. were stored on the first floor. They were, of course, practically ruined; explosions in the vaults of the store with their dense smoke and the deluge of water poured upon them rendered them valueless. The adjoining jewelry store of Linhcr on Sixth avenue suffered somewhat; hut all the diamonds and valuahl • stock were removed in time. There is no doubt that the fire was incendiary. There was no nightwatchman nor anyone in the place, and the pneumatic alarm—an automatic affair—either failed to work or had been tampered with. Who the incendiary could he. or what was his motive is a mystery. Some time ago there was a $.K>,ooo fire in the building, which was also set down to incendiarism. The police displayed their usual stupidity and lack of intelligence in the matter. They, of course, knew that there never was anyone in the building at night; yet they say that, about midnight, when they pushed in the door of the Thirteenth street side of the store, they found a man staggering out apparently overcome by the smoke. As he said he was trying to get out to turn in an alarm, the police let him free, thinking he was a night-watchman. An hour afterwards, when it had dawned upon them that they had been fooled, they plunged into the crowd to look for the man and arrest him! Such a tale of superhuman intelligence deserves chronicling. 1 hat the smaller fire-trappish buildings on Sixth avenue and those adjoining on Thirteenth and Fourteenth street were not swept by the flames—in fact, that a general conflagration did not ensue was due entirely to the splendid work of the fire department.

A night fire that did $300,000 damage destroyed the retail furniture store of Sheppard Knapp & Co. on West Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, Manhattan, New York, The fire broke out at 10:45 p. m., and by midnight the flames swept from the basement through the five floors and out through the roof. This old building was but one of the three sections of the Sheppard Knapp store. A long L extended through to Fourteenth street, with an entrance there. The fire, which was in the basement of all-three sections, reached the first floor of the L, doing considerable damage. The main section of the store adjoined the old building on Thirteenth street and faced on Sixth avenue, thus constituting the comer of the whole store. The fire was kept down cellar there, though great damage was done by smoke and water as in the L. On one side of the Fourteenth street L was the Cowperthwaite & Co.’s furniture store, which sustained a loss of some thousands of dollars—the second fire-loss that firm has received within a few months. McKeever’s hotel on the other side of the L was not much damaged. Four alarms were turned in, which brought a water tower and large number of engines and other pieces of apparatus. Ry to o’clock a. m. the fire had been stopped. The engines had hardly room to operate, owing to the openings made on Sixth avenue for the construction of the McAdoo tunnel. Some of these openings were boarded over, while some were simply inclosed. The Sixth avenue L road was utilised by the firemen, the electric current having been cut off. It formed a most useful auxiliary. The surface car traffic was stopped. The most difficult portion of the fire to fight was that in the basement, which was full of oil cloth, and every effort of the firemen to drown out the flames was for a long time fruitless. Rugs, valued at $40,000. were stored on the first floor. They were, of course, practically ruined; explosions in the vaults of the store with their dense smoke and the deluge of water poured upon them rendered them valueless. The adjoining jewelry store of Linhcr on Sixth avenue suffered somewhat; hut all the diamonds and valuahl • stock were removed in time. There is no doubt that the fire was incendiary. There was no nightwatchman nor anyone in the place, and the pneumatic alarm—an automatic affair—either failed to work or had been tampered with. Who the incendiary could he. or what was his motive is a mystery. Some time ago there was a $.K>,ooo fire in the building, which was also set down to incendiarism. The police displayed their usual stupidity and lack of intelligence in the matter. They, of course, knew that there never was anyone in the building at night; yet they say that, about midnight, when they pushed in the door of the Thirteenth street side of the store, they found a man staggering out apparently overcome by the smoke. As he said he was trying to get out to turn in an alarm, the police let him free, thinking he was a night-watchman. An hour afterwards, when it had dawned upon them that they had been fooled, they plunged into the crowd to look for the man and arrest him! Such a tale of superhuman intelligence deserves chronicling. 1 hat the smaller fire-trappish buildings on Sixth avenue and those adjoining on Thirteenth and Fourteenth street were not swept by the flames—in fact, that a general conflagration did not ensue was due entirely to the splendid work of the fire department.