The New York Herald Newspaper, January 15, 1879, Page 3

‘ BROADWAY ABLAZE. Disastrous Fire on the Corner of Grand Street. OVER A MILLION JOST. Scenes of Terrible Grandeur “and Confusion. FALL OF THE SOUTH WALL. Two Firemen Buried and,.One of Them Taken Out Dead. ‘A great fire occurred last evening on the corner of Brosdway and Grand street. The theatres were about closing, and the throngs of pleasure seekers hastening into the open air, on their homeward journey, saw with alarm 3 sky lurid with the flames of a great conflagration. Along lower Broadway especially glimmered the indications of a large fire. ‘The flames seemed to envelop blocks. They sprang aloft, leaping higher and higher at every moment, and apparently spreading with furious energy. The majority‘of the startled lookers'on were seized with _ the usual impulse to witness s fire from the nearest possible point, and soon the streots and sidewalks were alive with people hastening to the scene. The procise location of the re was at the northeast cor- ner of. Grand street aud Broadway, a magnificent five story brick building. Tho firo was first discovered at half-past nine o'clock, but it was nearly ten before the flames had attained their greatest vigor. From that time until nearly cleven o'clock the devouring clement seemed to have everything at its mercy. LEAPING HIGHER AND HIGHER, Beginning on the third story the flames first shot a rd, forcing their way through tho roof until their flery crest overtowered the highest of buildings, The massive streams of water from the engines seemed as playthings with the angry fire. They caused tho heated. walls to hiss in response; they toppled’ over cornices, they shattered window sashes and forced their way through from. wall to wall, but still the flames grew denser. All above being consumed, the fire next sought for food below. Slowly it crept down. The ertgines snorted with redoubled vigor, additional streams were directed on tho burning building, but downward and sideward went the flames. It ‘seemed tor half an hour as if the adjoining buildings were doomed. The heat in the immediate vicinity was intense. Three blocks away on either hand stood and stared the thousands of anxious, eager spectators, held back by cordons'of police. The flames lit up, their faces, and the flickering gas lamps in the neighborhood looked as dying. candles in the brilliant glare. The firemen stood nobly at their posts. From all sides came their attacks. Tho burn- ing building was as a fortress defended with belching tannon at cvery’opening, and the fire brigade the at- tacking troops, determined ta subdue or perish. ‘THE: VIEW ¥ROM A: DISTANCE. « The scone from Stewart's building, looking toward the Post office, was highly sublime. The great dome of the buildiug- was lighted -up -su: that the flagst ff shone like golden pillar. The upper story of the building reflected the red glare in the win- dows, and the flickerng flame gave an air of enchant- ment to tlie building. From Fourth avenue the view was magnificent. ‘The red flame made a briltiont background, while) “the smoke swelled upward from the doomed build- ing. ‘The smoko wus filled with bogutiful sparks of 014) Whict: Were onty lost when they réachod an al- titads of several hundred fect in the air. AN EXPLOSION, the midst of the battle came an explosion that Dlanched the cheeks of more than one. At first it was supposed that one of.the walls had fallen in, and, as the valiant band of firemen were known to be on all sides, a fear that some had fallen on the altar sf duty stopped the breath of tho panic-stricken observers, But bappity «uch was not the case, The explosion proved to be cansed by an engine on one of the floors bursting. * Still the tottering walls; enveloped in the flames, looked ominous, ‘The strug- gle continued. Now the work of the brigade began to tell. The flames slackened and grew less, and it speedily became evident that the flery monster had dono his worst. ‘The adjoining buildings, only & few minutes before apparently doomed, now loomed up im ‘tho ‘brightness, and every one intuitively felt that they were safe. But there could be no relaxation on the part of the men battling with the element. Every fresh indica- tion of renewed life was quickly mot with a well di- rected attack, Streams poured in from every side. On the adjoining ‘buildings stout hearted fire- men stood with steady hose vieing with their brethren in the street. The battle was nobly fought and the victory nobly won; but alas! it was not without the sacrifice of human life. One hero fell a victim to his duty. The long threatening wall at last came down, and from beneath its crumbling rums the police took out the lifeless remains of one valiant fireman. He had stood at his post of danger one minute too long. THE ENGINES. Within fifteen. minutes after the discovery of the fire there were the following force of engines and hook and ladders in the vicinity:—Engines Nos. 1, 4, 5 6, 8 9.10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, %, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33, and Hook and Ladders Nos. 1, 5, 6,7, 8,9, 11 and 12. The Lower Insurance Patrol answered the first alarm and the Contéal followed on the second. At ten ites to ten a simultancous call was given, which brought sll the engines and — “4 Roe ee bd - }. At eleven minutes to nee and 24 wore speciall: ealled. Then on SS seen for the Tptows companies to cover the left by the others, ‘Thus during the firo the other parts of the city were covered, WARPING AND CRUMBLING. At eleven o’clock the Rage of the blazing structure was magnificent in the extreme. There was 8 less volume of flame, but the clonda of smoke’ which rotled upward from reflected in rgeous tints the flerco wrath that was still unappeased. Floors and par- titions and pillars within ¢ walls had entirely vanished. Tho window sashes hung in splinters in their frames, shattered by the tremendous force of the streams of water. Here and there they were on fire, and as the sashes were damp the flames burned salionly, giving to the mind of the spectator the image of great malignant eyes, with which the do- stroyer looked mockingly upon the mortals who were bravely trying to stay his progress, The immense cop: ing of the roof clung persistently to ite position, but ‘was steadily burning up, and at short tervals vat, masses would detach. thomselves and come crashing down to the pavement with loud reports like the ex- losion of acannon, Tho sparks would fly in every irection, and horses men who were standing ® hundred yards away would start with fright apprehension. They svon had reavon for su and hasty flight. IMPENDING DANGER. About aquarier after cleven the southern wall of the building was first observed to lean 4 little midway between lway and Crosby street. It ‘was of great thickness, the main part being of brick, and was faced with brown stone. In Grand street ‘were grouped ® score or moro-of firemen. They did not seem conscious of the death which was ae bry ot — t 73 oa Rae swall loom! 10 height of nearly one hun- dred feet looked as as one of the Pyramids. From their position they could not the slow deflection ‘of wall, but tho crowd of fire officials on the southwest cor- ner of Grand street watched its progress with painful anxiety, At thirty minutes after eleven the wall had buiged out so much near the roof that it looked like falling at any moment, and those whoo were fastened upon it even thought that they @ould see it tottering. Another part of tho copiug and a wild rush down Brosdway was mado by 4 PS of the onlookers. “A i A hag esa i oe a ive minutes , wi is false alarm had barely subsided, there enddenly came o dull aud sullen roar, The wall seemed sto waver just one instant and then it deecended all at once and in an almost be naan, to the und, with the sound of © Niagare. It.was over in 0 oriee cs that those who saw it were almost epell- horror, It had been anticipated, but 1 colerity. A thick volnme of acose, obtparing we perceived NEW YORK ruin itself, ‘Throt this cloud were appor- | | ru keen joa he flame. Some of The | firemen — 8 Cig — fe Broad an roaring ice oh oe, ee ae eet ee m view. The sim and dust, howewer, away, and ‘then a black and battered group were discerned at the corner of the opposite bait “Boys, is any one hurt?” asked a reporter. “No,” was the o! response; ‘no one so far.” But they were mi 5 BARELY SAVED, Before the wall fell, despite the ominous signs of warning to get out of the way, a large group of fas- cinuted spectators stood near the doorway of Thiess’ Hotel, No. 127 Grand sireet. The bulging of the wall was regi 1 for some minutes with a feeling of terror, which, however, gave way to one of indifference, as each one peg eee lors time must elapse before the crash Would come. ‘The wall went in au instant, and the barroom of the hotel was tilled with a crowd of osiesmeee Zge oud whose cries were drowned in thunder grashing ruins. Smoke and dust, that extinguished some of the lights, and débris dashed through the fanlight and the open door. A few who were unable to gain the door were pinned agaivst the saints window, and nearly a ton weight of the ruins fell in dangerous proximity. Five minutes afterward they too sought shelter in the saloon, scared ont of their wits and begrimed with dust and cinders. One of the bricks from the falling ruins landed on the bar of the saloon. About the same time Inspector Murray and Captain MeDon- nell, of the Boh Precinct, went toward Crosby street to call off some of their men and jumped intos doorway barely in time to save their lives, some of us flying bricks and rubbish striking a!l around m2. A FIREMAN'S PATH. The shaky sud threatening condition of the walls, sapped as they were by the tierce breath of the flame, eansed orders to be given to the gallant firemen to drop the hose end run for their lives at the slightest indication of danger. Fore man Fuariow, of Engine Company No. 17, saw a portion ‘of the building in Crosby ‘street where the flames seemed to have entire immunity and where no stream of water had yet reached. He shouted to his men, “Man the pipe,” and Joho Reilly, Denis J. Dorsn und J. Searles caught up the hose and made a rush along the sidewalk on Crosby street toward the point indicated by their chief. A cry from a*multitude of voices reached their ears; they looked up and saw the red roof sway- ing above them. Searles di the hose instantly and ran like a deer me street; Doran 1g for the basement of Hincks Brothers and ‘eilly made a desperate rush for the corner of Grand street. Searles barely escaped, having just cleured the outer fringe of the falling thess; Doran was crushed down into the basemeut, bencath a mass of blazing timbers and crumbling ruins, and Reilly was buried beneath the huge heap of débris tha: choked up the Grund street corner. There was not a pause of au instant after the fall on the part of the comrades of the stricken men. They rushed to the ho without # moment's hesitation, and fluny aside the hot bricks, the charred timsbers and smoking rub- bish. ‘TAKEN FROM THE RUINS. Soon the bruised form of Dotan was lifted out and conveyed to a neighboring ssloon. He was alive and gtoaning with pain, but the scarred features were scarcely recognizable. Auother desperate effort was made amid the ruins by und wiiling hands, and the dead body of John Reilly was taken out. Ambu- lences were ow hand aud the remains were sent at once to the Fourteenth precinct station. Reilly’s body was horribly crushed by the heavy maxs of stone that fell on him. He formerly belonged to Engine Company No. 20 and was at.aci to No. 17 only @ month ago. He was a young man, @ cousin’ of Judge Campbell, and leaves a wife and family. His residence was No. 273 Delanccy street. Fireman Doran, alxo of Engine Company No. 17, was badly injured about ‘the head and body. He’ was taken to Bellevue Hospital. Three members of Engine Company No. 31 were also reported missing. ‘The members of No. 17, however, arc said to have been the only firemen in the rnins when the wall fell. | POLICE ARRANGEMENTS. One of the first on the scene was Inspector Murray. He was near the corner of Prince street when the clanging of the engine bell, as the engine rushed down Broadway, told him of the conflagration. ¥Fol- lowing at a double quick he saw the flames just as they were breaking through the Crosby street side, Almost simultaneously Captain McDonnell, of the Eighth precinct, wes or hand, To send for reserves was but the work of a moment, and in less than five minutes a platoon of men had arrived. By this time the crowd had largely increased, and were pressing forward in dangerous proximit: y, to tue burning building, ‘The police force was hardly large enough to keep them back, and another reserve wus ordered. ten o'clock sections had arrived from the Fifth, Eighth, Fourteenth and Fittcenth precincts, under the command ectively of Captains Eakea, McDounell, Brogan and Byrnes, theentre feree num: bering 15@ men, Of these Inspector Murray promptly assumed command, stationing them in square sec- tions on Grand street, Crosby stroet and Hroadway Throughout the continuance of the fire they pre served order and kept proper space for the working of the firemen, s TRE INKURANCE PATROL. While the fire was yet in its incipient state the insurance patrol arrived. To effect an entrance and begin the work of preserva was their first act. ‘The flames were at this time confined to the third Armed with — rubber “bi the. work covering the goods. The fire began to grow hotter, and they dashed forward in cnger haste, but the flames were their master in speed, for they were soon obliged to abandon their undertaking and leave behind a hundred or more of their rubber blankets, which, of course, were consumed in the general destruction soon afterwards, TUMULT IN CROSBY #TREET, While the flames were dancing in fantastic glee through the floors at the rear of the doomed build- ing Crosby att looked like a scene from Dante’s “‘Inforno.” The black smoke from the throbbing engines rolled in heavy masses along the narrow thoroughfare, blotting out the clear starhght above and illuminated et intervals by myriad sparks which fell inasteady rain. Through this pall of smoke might be seen the dense streams of water which tho firemen directed on every floor, and beneath all the: huge coils of hose, like an anaconda of preposterous dimensions. Occasionally the streana wore directed on the buildings on the east wide of the street to cool them off, 3 process very refreshing and benetictal to the buildings in qnes- tion. A.tew doors above was a small Italian colony in a frantic state of excitement. No chorus in the most extreme of Italian melodrainatic operas ever exhibited such intense feeling. AN ORIGINAL CHORUS, Not even when the Count Di Luna's right hand man tells his horrified listeners how a bad gypsy made a broil of his master’s body did the Academy chorus. show such symptoms of terror as did their Crosby street countrymen when the fire raged in their neighborhood last night. ‘The childrep of sunny Italy had just returned from musical tours around the city and had laid aside their beloved hurdy gurdies for the night. It was a strange sight, those dark-browed faces at doors and windows, supplemented by the glixtening eyes and quaking visages of the terror-stricken monkeys beside them, Cries of “Dio mio !"’ “Quel fuoco !”” “Miserere !" and “Salva me!” mingled strangely with the hoarse shouts of the firemen and the steady roar of the flames, All cyes were turned toward the ylowing scene, where material sufttcient to clothe half New York was in a state of combustion. Now a pillar ‘was wreathed in fire and shone more resplendent than the most ambitious efforts of the si artificer in a transformation scene. Again a bine window cur- tein waved in the flames like a defiant flag for a long time ere the, hot breath breathed upon it and reduced it to ashes. ' The telegraph wires hung down in graceful festoons from the walls, aud on tho sijoining roofs the dark forms of the laboring firemen looked like gnomes through the dark canopy, ‘TH SURROUNDINGS. The wind from the southwest for more than threatened to involve in the red immediately adjoining, and the indeed damage the ro to a considerable extent. In other respects, however, {tentirely escaped injury, exeepting, perhaps, some slight damago from water. The rear part ot the first floor of this building is occupied by the Pacific Bank. About ten o'clock a private watchman, who was on duty, sent a telegraphic despatch to a gentleman who has a large pecuniary interest in the bank. inasmuch as ithas the custody of all his money. Twenty minutes afterward he arrived on the seenc in @ coupé By some means getting past the vigilent cor- don of policewnen he rushed straight into the build- in; sought to enter the bank. Toa fireman who attempted to detain him he exciaimed— ‘The safe in there holds every cent that I possess, Tam determined to get in there. You cunnot stop me,”” ‘ The fireman held a lantern close up to his face. His appearance was wild and his actions were almost Maniucal, Persuasion had no effect him and the muscular momentum of two policemen was re- quired before he could be removee. Sparks from the fire fell on the awning iu front of the store’ of Coogan Brothers, at No. 125 Bowe wnd set it on fire. Before it was entirely consumed Officer Hughes, of the Tenth Precinct, succceded iu extinguishing it. The loss is estimated at $50, OCCUPANTS OF THE BUILDING. The ground floot of the building ovenpied by Harvard, Sanger & Co., wholesale lers in fancy and notious. Their establishment wus the jast reached by the devouring element, but so com- plete was the sweep of the flames thut their entire stock was consumed, On the floor above them Naumberg, Kraus, 1 & Co. hed their clothing warehouse. They cupied the entire story, extending from 264 to No. 268 on way and running back to Crosby street. ‘They alvo occupied the half of the building above this story, running along Grand strest. Edwin Bates had his clothing business in the north- erly halt of the upper stories. LOMB AND INSUTLANCI The losses of each of these conce: it ia difficult fo estimate, asvery different figures were furnished by the owners sud the underwriters, Howard, Sanger & Co. had a large stock of goods in hand, but as they had insuranco des for trom $100,000 to $500,000 it is believed that they will not suffer very severe losses. Naumburg, Kraus, 1. stock. Having w had filled — their ¢ to get rid of chandise — left on No. tnd a inrge wonter trnde they pat large winter » the: tablishment, “and. in ondct ws omuth of the = mer their lands as possible they had just despatched s number of “drummers” on Ap ; ir. po get be “ae avon after breaking out of the fire, that it losses of the concern. He said that had the; taken stock lately he feured that up’ of $1,000,000 ‘would be represented by the material on hand. Other estimators fix the joss at) «not over — $500,000, Considerable, solicitude was evinced we And members of the firm to save a couple of safes which contained very valuable papers thelike. In the fall of the building, how- ever, one ot them went down, and it as likely that the unsteady floor in the southwest corner was not strong enough to support the other. Edwin C. Bates & Co., dealers in dry goods, oceu- pied the upp stories of Nos. 456 and 468 Broad- way. They had insured their stock some time since for $285,000, but are said to have reduced the policy $25,000 during the last few days. It is said, too, that they proposed Jeaving the building soon and had already | begun to pack their goods with that intent. ESTIMATED VALUE OF THE STRUCTURE. Owing to the finctuations in real estate the value of the building cannot very readily be fixed. One of the Messrs. Brooks, who was present, said he could not definitely sagpraise it himself. It is believed, however, that the irneture, with all the alterations that have been in- troduced, was worth $300,000 or $400,000. The insur- ance on it is believed to reach # total of about $200,000, ‘Mr. Yearance, of the Safegnerd Company, generally distributed the insuraice, and it is supposed to be divided between his own and a number of Broadway companies. HISTORY OF THE BURNED BUILDING. In the year 1456 Brooks Brothers, the clothiers, de- termined on opening a large warehouse at the junc- tion of Grand street and Broadway, which was then @ business centre of tl trade, Work was begun toward the close of the year meutioned, and- the building was pushed toward c¢ tion as rapidly as was consistent with good workmanship and ¢ tucilities masons and builders bad in those day The structure was a strong one, calculated to last for years, and to those who had uot anticipated tie strides of trade it | was regarded as @ house which would be in the oe of the business community for an unlimited period. Until the year 1869 the Brookses transacted their largest business in it and it was one of the best known clothing houses in the city. In that year the firm concluded that ation further up town would increase their trade, and they accordingly vacated the building, removing to Fourteenth strect and later opening another house on the corner of Broadway und Bond street. ALTERATIONS IN THE BUILDING. Then Scribner oc: ed the building for a time, but it was left before long and the Brookees, who still retained proprictorship of it, determined to alter it in order to better adapt it for business purposes. In order to do this they had the building divided by a partition. eree in the contre und it was virtually turned into @ doubly structure. A large amount of money was expended in these alterations and others tending to strengthen and beautify it, the aggregute of which is estimated by some to have been $100,400, Allen, MeLcan & Co. were the next tenants. They abided there for a while and then ruptey. After that the building wi present incuinbents, It was alway sey ones had all the advantages belonging to any of the structures of its date, und the arrange- ments to guard against fire were as completo us is ‘usual in such cases, ORIGIN OF THE FIRE. me their bank- How the fire originated no one has been able to ascertain. A puff of smoke from the third window from the corner on the fourth story was the first — signal which caught the eye of a by-passer. Then an alarm was rung, but hurdly hud the electric bell at the Central office and Fireman's -Hall ccused its vibrations till two other alarms were sounded in rapid succession and quickly followed by special culls for _ engines. No more seems to be known. of the origin of the fire by the inmates of the building than by those who were summoned to the sceno by the alarm Dell. A number of night watchmen were employed in it, but such of them as were seen. last night’ seemed to have a rather vague notion ot how the fire begun, or to what extent the va- rious firms would’ suffer. Mention was made of extinguishers and other appliances which had been in the place, but no intimation was given of their haying been called into play during the evening. THE FIRE oF 1876. The terrible fire of last night recalls a still more terrible conflagration which swept over the same district on the evening of the 8th of Febru- ary, 1876. The fire in question broke out in the building No. 444 Broadway, adjoining the Continen- tai Hotel, and extended to Crosby and Grand streets. Half an hour after the alarm was sounded the flames had gained such control that it was feared the whole block would be consumed. Owing to the direction of the wind the fire ran northward along the roofs until the corner of Grand strect was reached, con- suming half the block and causing the destruction of millions worth of property. All the buildings were constructed of iron, and seemed to curl and twist like so much card-board under the intense heat to which they “were subjected. Strong iron pillars were “bent end twisted patil: sha were wrenched asunder and fell in-6eu: masses into the street or back into the scothing flames behind, Twenty feet of wall suddenly bent outward and feil to the ground with a thunderous crash. At the same time that the rear wall fell the cntire iron front tumbled into Broadway. Just before a gallant band of firemen had rushed to the aid of one of their endangered engines, and searvely had they drawn it toa piace of safety when the spot it had occupied was covered with the d¢bris of the fallen building. CHECKED AT ORAND STREET. Like a demon the fire gained new strength as: it progressed, and house after house fell till the flames reached Grand street, the buildings seeming to crum- to in their track, In just sixty minutes propert: to the value of $4,000,000 had been deatroyed. ‘The width of Grand st topped the further prog- ress of the fire, and, thanks to the gallant efforts of the fire brigade, the fire was extinguished. One of the principal causes of the rapid advance of the conflagration was the scarcity of- water, for tho hydrants proved unequal to supplying the power ful engines brought into pis “ Unfortunately human life was xacrificed before the conflay was conquered, Five members of Company No. who had already narrowly escaped destruction, were ordered to enter @ space made vacant by the fire, when the only remaining wall of No, 444 fell, bury: ing the five men. ‘Two of them were killed and the others badly injured, AN IMFROVED WATER SUPPLY, The benefit derived from the improvement of the down town facilities for water supply were forcibly illustrated by last night's battle with the flames. On the oceasion of the former fire it was found that the difficulty of procuringwater was due to the smallness of the mains. Alderman Morrie, some years since, introduced a measure in the Common Council for the laying of new pipes and the erection of new hydrants in the streets, which would remedy this evil, These were placec in Crosby, Mercer, Church and New streets, and in Broadway from Fourteeuth street to the vicinity of Chambers, Last ae the thirty-cight eugines which rallied to the fire drew from the mains in Crosby street and Broadway at the same time, and old firemen declared that they had never before seca such perfect streams as those which were thrown into the blazing building. Had it not been for the fortunate plenty of water itis highly probable that the fire would have speedily grown to the Proportions of a conflagration dexpite the best efforts of the Fire De- partment. Luckily, too, the weather was go mild that not a particle of ice formed on the nor was the flow of the water by its existence in the hydrants. At the burning of Barnum‘s Museum, near Prince street, in this same neighborhooa in’ 1467 a great many hydrants were frozen #0 that water could not be drawn from them, and the weather was #o severe that thé wholo of the rnins was covered with # thick armar of ice, which for several succeeding days presented a most magnificent spectaclo. BRUTALLY BEATEN. Officer Brennan, of the Eleventh precinct, late last night found a mun lying unconscious and bleeding on the stoop of No. 133 Pitt street, and had him removed to the Union Market police station. There he regained censcious- ness and stated that his name was Marcus Murenburg, that he had no home and went into a yard near where he was found to cat some bread, when he was attacked by three unknown men, who deat and kicked him about the head and then threw him into the street. He was removed to Bellevue Hospital, where the surgeons found that he was dangerously wounded, CITY NEWS ITEMS, Ata meeting of the stockholders of the First Na- tional Bank yesterday « report was readg showing that, during the past year, the dealings of the bank in government bonds ugureguted $574,143,500, of which $59,125,009 was in four per ce ‘One shapo of the opposition to the « Code” is a Provisional Law Reform So +» whieh will meet this evening at the Park Aven jotel for the purpose of electing permanent officers and of hearing an address from Mr. George Tickuor Curtis, the provisional president. The subject of Dr. Lord's third lecture, delivered at Chickering Hall yesterday morning, was “Paula and Jerome, or the Friendships ofjthe Sexes,” ‘The audience was the largest of the season and the lec- turer’s remarks were tollowed with interest. The object of the lecture was to prove that the closest friendship could exist between tho sexes and still be as pure as that of Damon and Pythias, Judge Gildrsteeve yesterday appointed a commis- 1 to inqnire into the sanity of William 1, P Jx., who recently shot and killed Asa Ll, Farnise, of Fourtecnth precinct, it having been’ urged that snot of sound mind, The prisoner is at pres- ent confined tn Bellevue Hospital. The commission- ors are: —Dr, John Ordronaux, State Commissioner of Lunacy; Charles B, Waite and Colonel John R. Fellows. ‘There was a considerable decrease in tho number of cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria oe hap yea: terday to the Board of Health, Owing to the punctu- ality of physicians in making their reports and the activity of the disinfecting corps the eae has ‘been arrested, and a general abatement of it in ex- pected. Yesterday thore were twenty-eight cases of scarlet fever and ten of diphtheris reported st the ManianeT Buses. . , . ad “Now A staircase was | THE .FRENCH NATIONAL LOTTERY. TWELVE MILLION LOTTERY TICKETS 60LD— HOW THE PRIZES ARE TO BE DISTRIBUTED— UNIVERSAL EXCITEMENT IN PARIS. Since the outbreak of the war France has known no such excitement as that which culminates to- day, Tne Senatorial elections fade into insignificance before it. 'welve million lottery tickets have been sold to a nation of thirty-six million people, and the drawing begins this morning. The French were get- ting weary of republican dulness and wanted a new sensation, and the government, which always keeps its finger on the popular pulse, gave them the lottery, The first issue was con- fined to s million tickets, at one franc each. Within three days these tickets were selling on the Bourse for twenty-five francs each. The gambling spirit, once tapped, flowed over the country. Peasants, workingmen, domestic servants, all wanted to pour their little hoard of earnings or ings into the great pool. A second million of ‘tickets was issued, then a third and then # fourth. ‘These were immediately bought up by speculators and commanded enormous premiums. Then issue followed issue rapidly, and the government was forced to fix the limit at 12,000,000, where it stands to-day. The last million was almost a drug in the market. ‘Tickets sold, at little more than their original price, although, strangely enough, they still found buyers in England at 2s. 6d. each. BUSINESS AND PHILANTHROPY. The Exhibition was, of course, the excuse for the lottery, The government wanted to close it as brill- iantly as they opened it; to distribute among the public the vast store of unsold goods in the building and send away all the exhibitors in high good humor, Moreover, they proposed to pay the railway fares and hote! bills of all those poor provincials who de- sired to see their national exhibition and were kept at home by finuncial straits. A large number of lots were ulso set apart for the poor, and the lottery alto- gether wore a highly philanthropic air. MM. Mar- teau aud Montargis were appointed managers under the superintendence of M. Teisseranc de Bort. Be- fore the middle of December 000f, had been ex- pended for the provincial visitors. At the end of the year 8,500,000f. had been dokoted to purchasing the prizes, whether from exhibitors or from traders in France or abroad. So that commerce has roceived an astonishing impetus. Parisian merchants wero never more brisk and cheerful. The city is full of visitors, who have come to sec or take part in the drawing. ‘Rumors were receutly spread abroad that the experiment would fail and the managers would never succeed in distributing the unwieldy mass of objects under their care, and the further these rumors circulated the more uncasy grew ticket hold- ers and visitors. But mainly through the services of a large body of clerks, who have been classifying the oods day and night for two months, faith is to be opt with the public, and the first prize of 150,000f. will be drawn this morning. There was never amore various collection than that which now stands in the Palais de 1'Industrie in thirty-six compartments. On one side a huge American steam engines on another a toy locomotive, set in motion by a spoonful of wator anda drop of alcohol. Here you find pictures by Gérome, Meissonnier, Gustave Doré, and opposite them a collection of cheap colored prints, Sewing machines, dresses by Worth, canoes, dolls, kitchen ranges, Brussels carpets, jostle each other in inde- scribable confusion; and a country maiden may rise to-morrow morning the happy pos- sestor of an iron gate, a tower, a smith's bellows, an anvil, a barrel of salted cod, illion pins, a stained window, a live monkey, a cannon, twelve dozen falsc noses, a church clock, a plough, fifty packages of mustard, a life size statue, a boat, & grindstone or a Chinese pagoda. A fashionable lounger of the boulevards may be saddled wi child's hoop; a parish priest with an opera glass, an infide! professor of the Sorbonne with a hymn book. But the humor of the lottery is officially con- fined to the surprise lots, each of which contains two bottles of ink, one of blacking, a pound of candles, a pair of suspenders and a corset. THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES, After the first prize of 150,000 francs 2,000 others are to be drawn, each worth more than 2,000 francs. Those will be distributed at the rate of 250 a day for eight days. During the néxt twelve days 3,000 femayrrs yr will be allotted, and the drawing will be ended with two of 50,000 francs each and one of 100,000 francs. Thus the excitement will be kept at fever heat tor three weeks, during which time France will have little thought for politics or art. Mathematical ingenuity has been .much exer- cised to level the chances of the twelfth million with those of the first. The clearest heads in Paris have been working at this problem. They have finally adopted two mac! ne of twelve wheels to di ‘note the series, the second of six to mark the psrtic . But the late comers in the lottery are by no means content. They insist that the smelter numbers have # better chance than theirs. This feal- ing depreciated the last million tickets till they almost sold at par, and many disputes in clubs, cafés and on the boulevards have sprung from the jealousy between the two partics. Indeed, nothing is more curious then to watch how this .whole lottery experiment has for the momeut entered into French life. They talk of nothing else, think of nothing else, dream of nothing else. At afternoon calls the indies no longer discuss their dresses, but compare their chances of winning. Lucky uumbers are proposed by actors from the stage, and characters in the new reviews at the Varietés and Palais Royal represent the hexagonal and duodecupal wheels of fortune. The waiters at restaurants receive lottery tickets for their fees. ‘The beggars in the streets shine for lottery tickets. The theft of lottery , ts has been thoroughly by expert pickpock: In short, all classes whether high or low, are lottery mad. RESSION AND RES! OF LOTTERTE: itement may perhaps be due to the tact that in France since in 186, when this torm of gambling was abolished by the govern- ment. It hadalways been popular since Louis XIV. used it to distribute the royal presents, as the Em- perors of Rome, Nero and Heliogabalus, had used it beforchim. But it was never rooted into the thoughts: and habits of the people, as in Italy, though they offered sturdy opposition to their Parliament whenever they feared to bedeprived of it. In Germany immense properties have been sold in this way. Prussia long depended on lotteries for part of its public revenue, In Austria they were recognized as important aud beneficent institutions, and in England they dis- tributed annuities under the license of Parliament, endowed science and learning and fostered art, until in 1423 they were held so pernicious to public morals and had actually wrought so much distress among the poor that power which ted them xwept them away. In Italy alone have they become a uccessity of existence. They are the joy and solace of the Italians. Three Popes temporarily sup- preased them, but quite ineffectually. They flourish how as vigorously as when the Veaction merchants introduced them. ‘The Italian will leave his children to starve that L® muy buy a lottery ticket. Every casual accident of his life corresponds in his dream book with a number, and that number be purchases, if he begs or steals the money. Next Saturday, hoe says, his fortune will be made; he will roll iu ‘his carriage and never work — again. His credulity and superstition in quest of lucky numbers is incredible. Guerrazzi, the famous novelist, tells a well known and well authen- ticated story of @ pricst, a peasunt and the peasant's wife, who dug up a dead body trom the graveyard, and, while the priest held the corpse by thé hair, the peasant struck off its head, and his wife took it home and cast it into a seething caldron to: watch how amony times it tothe surtace, that they might bet on that number in the lottery; for the deceased was a lcarned man and had studied algebra, aud there must be still much cabalistic power in his head. And this in the middle of the nineteenth century, end in Tuscany, the garden of Italy, and in Florence, the Athens of Tuscany. A CHICKASAW OFFER: ‘The following letter has been addressed to Police Justicg Otterbourg:— Tistominco Crry, Cherokee Nation, Jan. 9, 1879, Hon. Judge Orrensouns :— Dear Sin—The writer of this is a Chickasaw Indian and bas noted your action in the case of Charles ex-convict, and desires to make the following ut:—As @uative Indian of the civilized tribe ickasaws I om entitled to as many acres of land cultivate or have tended, Jam young, and aries er will come here will ysure him ® comfortable home, plenty of work + good honorable business and easy terms. Tell him for me I will take him for ® companion and equal partner to improve a homo of 160 acres: that I will assist and furnish him everything until he gets a start; that I will keep from others all knowledge of his past life, and for his mother’s seke will give a chance to be a man again, All I ask of him is pay his way -here, which I think could be done by some of the benevolent societies. Iam an Indian and give him bet word as such that the past shall be sacred, that I will help him and start him honestly in the world, If the above intervets you show it to him and let him write to me, and I will state my terms to him. Very respectfully yours, JAMES H. GUY. SUBURBAN NOTES. ‘The action brought by William P. Groom against Peter Cooper, in the Kings County Supreme Court, to recover the sum of $50,000 for alleged libel, con- tinted to oceupy the attention of Justice Pratt and a jury yesterday., The plaintiff claims. that through the libel he logt a situation worth: MM, The testi- mony taken for the plamntift yosterday was of a character favorable to Mr. Groom, The case will be continued to-day tain Mullaney, of the Fourth precinct, Jersey yosterday afternoon arrested forty Italians who were engaged Alling iu the sunken ground at Caven Point, The men, Baxter street, this city, wore locked up in the Gregory street polico station. Thoy were arrested on vom- plaint of Peter C. Vreeland, who charges them with Beeson | of the eienee te. oan vue e o um} author: we y Soewer Clix Boatth af Hol HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1879.—TRIPLE SHEET. DISTRESS IN LONDON A Chorus of Lamentation from the Journals, SORROW AND GLOOM IN MANCHESTER, Threatened Strike of a Hundred Thousand Colliers, AMERICA THE CAUSE. How We Have Taken the Iron and Cotton Trades. Loxpon, Dec. 24, 1878. Punch appears this week with a suggestive cartoon. The background of the picture is a snowy, sombro atmosphere, with dark, shifting clouds. ‘The ground, is covered with snow. Father Christmas carries s lantern. His beard is white and flowing. Around his head is twined a wreath of holly. At his side is Mr. Punch, in the warmest combination of gar- meuts—a heavy muffler around his throat, his hands deep in his pockets, his eyes shivering and anxious. ‘Tho dog Toby is also warmly clad. On the background are the words, “War,” “Failures,” ‘Commercial Depression,” “Distress.” This is the legend of the picture: “AN Anpvovs Quxst.”"—Mr. Punch—“What are you looking for, father Father Christmas— “Peace on earth and good will to men.” There are some verses upon it, from which allow one quota- tion:— “Peace and good will!” Our yuletide mirth Is marred by sounds of wrath and sorrow, While War and Hate divide the earth, And Ruin measures the morrow. Yet sober Sense must ply its task, And Charity its sucred mission; And Wit shall strive to tear the :csk From each fresh face of Supersritica Hearing the words that echo still, “Peace and good will!” This is a sorry welcome from the most genial of newspapers—the journal whore mission is to find nothing but merriment in the world—to sce only the sunny side of every cloud. But Mr. Pynch only speaks the voice of England, and there is no voice but what tells of sorrow and want and pain. Here are the morning journals, which are supposed to mirror the day whose events they record. You read of Arctic London. The editor warns his readers that this is not the time for luxury and feasting, and urges a Christmas of “wise, considerate and far- seeing charity” as a fitting conclusion of a disas- trous year, as tending——and mark the significance of all here implied—“to lay the foundation of a better understanding between various classes when the good times come around again.” The various classes, it seems, then, are not on the best relations—the class which bears not quite comprehending theclass which is borne, Is there nothing ominous in this ? DISTRESS IN THE WORKING DISTRICTS, One passes to another newspaper and reads a news report. The heading is s2d enough, “Distress in the Country.” Mark you, it is the country; notteeming, grimy, snow-bonnd, over-populated London. In Nantwich the shoe trade is in s shocking condition. Shoemaking is the industry of Nantwich, and the manufacturers have reduced wages a penny the pair. On the London and Northwestern Railway, one of the great corporations, 5,000 workmen have been given an enforced holiday of ten days. And at Christmas, too, when workmen pull up and try to get ahead and have enough for a good turkey and a gown for the ‘‘missis." In Chester able-bodied men shovel snow for bread, so that even snow is a bless- ing. Meetings are held in Southampton to dévise methods of finding bread. Birmingham is a great industrial centre, one of the most interesting towns in England, where lsbor has attained a high intel- ligence, where political forces are more active and ‘more progressive than in any part of tire Kingdom. In Birmingham we learn that the distress is greater than has been known for many years. In Ulverstone the iron trade has stopped and soup kitchens are opened. In Chard there is & quarrel between lace makers and the masters. The masters insist that the workmen,.shall not belong to the trade union, and Decatise their wish is not respected they give nomoro work. In Exeter able-bodied workmen crave bread; they have no ineans of earning bread. At Tunstall the colliers have been reduced ten per cent. All through the Trent region, in Staffordshire, where the lowest form of industry flourishes, ‘there is*sucl a depression as‘has not been known for years. Then the canal is frozen, and this adds to the distress. At Leeds there has been a large failure, the boatmen are utterly destitute—‘nothing for themselves or their horses.” God help us! The silk hands are all idle. Who would buy silk this dreary, dismal year? and if people will not buy silk workmen cannot spin and weave it. There are soup kitchens, which are largely patronized, In Wolverhampton bread and oatmeal are distributed, and a committee has been named to make a@ searching inquiry into the cause of the distress. It will be a comfort to know the result of this inquiry, but meantime let there be abundance of bread and meal. Among the fishermen there is unusual want, many of them selling their furniture to buy food and coal. On one day last weet 300 gallons of soup were given out. In Ashton-under-Lyne, where cotton industries flourish, there is no cotton trade. Furnaces are blowing out their fires. In the Dewsbury iron dis- trict a strike has taken place. The men will not sub- mit to the reduction of two shillings a week. In Warrington the wire trade suffers, and “over two hundred able-bodied workmen are breaking stones at from eightcen to thirty-two conts a day.” And, to crown all, comes the appalling rumor that 100,000 colliers are on the verge of a strike. Can you imagine what that means? They say in France the cold is so severe that wolves are seeking food at the gates of Metz. And in England ? BURROW IN MANCHESTER, Here, for instance, is Manchester, the centre of one of the richest, most populous and most industrious sections in England. “Over the whole of the vast area,”” says one authority, ‘the trade depression, and as a consequence poverty and distress, hangs like actoud.” Before me is along narrative of the spe- cial forms assumed by this distress. The better classes, clerks and skilled workmen feel it. Furni- ture goes io the pawnbrokers. These men are intel- ligent and have the pride of intelligence, and be- fore they beg or complain send away the piano and the sewing machine. A tailor is seen who, in good times, with the aid of his wife, earns $4 50a week, Now he lives in a room fourteen fect by cight, his wife and children crouching around the fire, and no furniture but a mattress, A clerk is visited who had been a com- mercial traveller, Six months ago he was told there was no longer any commerce which could be coaxed by travelling. Now watch, furniture and all have gone, because two baby boys had to be fed, and there was not a chair ora table in the room. Another caso was that of a small draper. All his furniture gone, only @ lot of coal, which some kind friends had rent the morning my informant called. Scamstresses were found in ectnal star 1. Men who earned $1,000 or $2,000 a year have fallen’ into penury, It is difficult to relieve such people, They do not want to go to the soup kitchen or the workhouse, and you find advertisements of this character in the Manchester papers:—Familles whose position makes them unwilling to make per- sonal application for relief are invited to state their cases by letter only, addressed to box 162 Post Office, Mane!) All applications must be accompaniod by reference to last cmployer and one or two reepect- able honscholders.”” You can imagine how widely spread is want in Manchester when you learn that on last Friday, at ono agency alone, relief was asked for 10,800 souls, In Kent the farmers have resolved to turn out of their cottages laborers who refuse to sub- mit to a reduction of wages and to withdraw from the Laborers’ Union, Tho laborers have held a meet: ing and resolved to emigrats to New Zealand unless the farmers ‘‘stopped playing their pranks.” Why Now Zealand ? Is not America much nearer ? THE THREATENED SYRIRR OF THE COLLIERA, But the onchundred thausemd colliers.one strike! in the. 3 ‘That isa momentous fact—more to be considered tham the gloripus Afghan news, with which all England should be thrilling in patriotic ardor but about which no one seems to care. Who can rejoice over & ® besten and fugitive Ameer, with bread so hard to earn and one’s piano and sewing machine and sacred wedding ring going to the pawubroker's shop ? Here is aleading newspaper article, ealm and well com- sidered, on the hundred thousand coliiers. Their wages have been pared down and down until they can hardly keep shoes on their feet. Remember that this distress has been coming slowly for a long time, and these proposed Christmas reductions are only a step in a series of reductions. Now the colliers are asked to come down twelve per cent. ‘The good times which were promised as every clipping came off their former pittance—the radiant, sunny times when every Englishman would carn enough to insure him at least a warm dinner, with bef aud baked po- tatoes—where are they? As far off as ever, and still 3 greater cutting down, The colliers argue that while all trades have suffered their trade has been the least affected; that people must have coals, whether poor or rich, and that they are pinched not because, the masters suffer, but because they wish to ‘take advan tage of the general distress to increase their profits. 1 am afraid this argument has holes in it and wili not carry water. In a time of such unexampled miscry every industry will suffer alike, and one foels quite certain that nothing but a necessity which could not be surmounted leads to the measure which has siin- moned the colliers to arms. If the government can find a way to avert this. strike it will avuid a serious difficulty, One hundred thousand men out of em- Ployment, and angry because they feel that their idleness is a grievance enforced upon them, what may not result? The argument of the workmen, as I quote it from an authority favorable to the masters, a paper entirely in the tory capitalist interests, is this:—“The workmen say that the mastors promised that no reduction should be carried further than the removal of all the addition to wages made since the beginning of that extraordinary expansion of trade which @ few years ago ¢0 enriched colliery propric- tors and their hands at the expense of the consumer— that is to say, of nearly all trades, and of every family in the country.” The masters deny that any such promive was made. It is difficult to seo how it could have been made. No reasonable business man wonld promise, because he “had a suc- cessful series of years and had put away large profits, that in years to come he would pay more for wages than he earned and use his profits in the future to meet bad times. In all such quarrels, where the point at issue is a matter of personal advantage, there are right and wrong on both sides. The masters pressed their advantage when tithes were bright without con- sidering the workmen—now the workmen mean to press their sheer force against the masters without making allowance for the distress. It is hard to spend the profits of 1875 in supporting work- men in 1878. It is slso very, very hard to keep body and soul together and have children around you on the wretched wages paid.to acollier, more especially if twelve per cent is to be taken from them. One cannot well see how the problem is to be solved; and the impending strike of a hundred thousand colliers, which appears to be ac- cepted as inevitable, seems to me the gravest fact im the present history of England, AMERICAN INFLUENCE CAUSING DISTRESS. You have heard that a committee is at work dis. tributing bread and meal, and also making a search- ing inquiry into the causes of the distress. Many reasons are assigned—the main reason, the prosperity of the United States. Nothing seoms clearer than this, that England is falling back simply be- cause America is advancing. Peace, it is written, hath her victories no less renowned than war. How wise it was in those who governed America to be content with a peaceful controversy with England. Iam not writing in any spirit of exultation because I never have seen cause for rejoicing in any war, poaceful or otherwise, and I believe if the relations between the family of na- tions were adjusted on a sound basis you would not sce what pains ong so mnch—the suffering of nations like Germany and England, and the prosperity of u» tions like France and America. One cannot help feel- ing that, having bad our day of sorrow, it is sweet once more to see the sun. But, sooner oz later, ‘this distress here must affect the most prosperous of ations: If you look for the causes of this trouble what doyoufind? There is the distress in the iron trade. Well, in ten years America has added twelvefold to her iron produc- tion. Every ton of ore produced is so much taken from England. We can make iron even in Tennessee and Alabama cheaper than it can be made in England, and as a consequence the export trade of English iron, once the largest item of our imports, is confined to the Atlantic coast, Very soon it will be driven out and we shall be sending our mannfactured iron to this market. This makes an immense chasm in the profits of English labor. There is distress in the cot- ton trade. Not long since England had a virtual monopoly of cotton manufacture. She purchased our raw cotton and sent it back to us in cloth, and the industry assumed prodigious propor- tions, She had a market in India and China. Iam afraid even to hazard a guess as to the amount of money England has made in the last half century out of her cotton trade with India, Chins and the United States. What do you see now? The United States makes her own cotton into cloth and begins to sup- ply England. In China our cloths are so much better than the English that we are taking the market. I hear of some English mills imitating our American trade marks eo as to seoure @ Chinese market. I read warning articles” in the newspapers, telling cotton manufacturers that unless they stop cheating the Chinese by putting too much sizing in their cotton cloths they will lose their whole trade, the Chinaman being a thoughtful, pradert person, and not caring to buy his sizing by the yard. In India, where England has a monopoly of the cotton trade, and where local regulations would forbid any serious cdmpetition on our part, the people are building cotton mills-and making their own cloth. Labor is so cheap in India and cotton grows there in such profusion that thistompetition must be effective. So you see that three great mar- kets in which England has heretofore been supreme ure taken from her and the cotton trade dies, and the men who work in cotton must go to the relief arso ciations and crave bread and meat. WILL EMIGRATION DO ANY GOOD? So I might continue and show you how in industry after industry we have defeated England. Our con- quests have only begun. The victims are the poor starving workmen in Lincolnvhire and the Trent Valley. What is the remedy? Some speak of a re. visal of commercial treaties or that America will giva England a chance. This means that having thrived under a protective tariff we should try and revive England by one made to suit her markets. You sce that Prince Bismarck has some such scheme for Germany. There is no hope that any treaty rev commercial refations will ever be made between Exthe land and America to the disadvantage of America, England has never given any other country an advan- tage iu commerce which she could reserve, and sho cannot expect us to do differently. Another remedy is emigration, Ishould not be surprised to see the emigration from England larger in the coming years than over before. It will be the emigration of the better class; men of property or of business who have about enough for an cldest son, with portions for the daughters, consider that the best carcer for the other boys is in the colonies or the States. Strong efforts are used by the govern- ment and private enterprise to direct this emigration to Canada and Australia, But Canada is so cold aud Australia is far away, and the burden of it will go to the United States. A wise policy on the part of the United States, the Western State governments and the railways would add to our population hundreds of thousands of the best men in England—mon of sense and character—whose addition to our civilize tion would be of as groat a value as the cavaliers whe settled Virginia or the Puritans who made for us New England, — MILITIA REFORM. Indge Hilton has tendered a social reception to the officers of the National Guard of the various States attending the Convention of Military Reform to be held at the Seventh Kegiment Armory, on the 16th and 1th inst. The reception will take place at th Judge's residence, No, 7 West Thirty-fourth street, on Thursday next, at nine P. M. A telegram from Raleigh, N. C., states that a dele. gation from that state, coi of Adjutant Gou- eral Jonosaad others, Couvention.