One of the most spectacular fires which have ever occurred
in New York destroyed the Equitable Building in Broadway early on Tuesday morning. The building stood in the heart of the financial quarter of the city, and itself contained the offices and safes of some important companies, including the Union Pacific and its affiliated railroads, as well as those of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The number and im- portance of the securities stored in the building was so great as to interfere considerably with financial proceedings in Wall Street, although it is believed that most of them are un- harmed inside the steel vaults in the basement. Unfortunately a number of lives (at least seven) were lost, and desperate attempts at rescuing valuable papers led to many hair- breadth escapes. The difficulties of the firemen, as well as the picturesqueness of the scene, were greatly increased by the intense cold, which froze the water from the hoses in great icicles upon the walls of the building and even coated the firemen themselves with ice.
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