Coach Jim Rice ordered the rowing squads to report on Monday for barge work on the Hudson, remarking that real rowing was better than work on the machines in the gymnasium.
The loss on the building was officially placed at “less than $100,000,” which, it was said, was fully covered by insurance.
Fire that partly destroyed the Thornton Stables, a five-story brick building at 85 to 95 West Mifflin street this morning, has aroused Mayor Curley to the immediate necessity of legislation to enable the city to raze buildings, without the fear of resultant liability, when such buildings have been condemned by the building department. He will ask the incoming Legislature for such a law.
For sixteen years the West Mifflin street building had been regarded as one of the worst firetraps in the city, according to the mayor. In 1898 it was condemned and an order was issued by the fire commissioner forbidding firemen to enter the building in case of fire. During these years the building was constantly under inspection by both the fire and building departments, and why it was not ordered vacated has not been explained. The walls were shored up, or strengthened by iron rods, as the foundation had settled, and yet the firemen realized that, once a fire got under way, the walls would not last long, as their thickness was about eight inches.
Before the fire was extinguished today, Mayor Curley and Building Commissioner O’Hearn visited the scene and discussed with Fire Commissioner Grady and Chief McDonough the dangers that exist in other buildings throughout the city which have been condemned but which are still occupied and are regarded as a particular menace in case of fire. The party looked over the surrounding property, and the Building Commissioner pointed out three buildings on the same street and practically adjoining the stables that were being torn down on his orders. These were ramshackle buildings that had been fire menaces for years. It was the prevailing opinion that if the stable fire had got under greater headway when discovered, and if a heavy wind had prevailed, the best efforts of the firemen could not have prevented a serious spread of the flames. The buildings on the southerly side of the stables are all of wood, and the flames would have had little difficulty, had they got beyond the control of the firemen, in sweeping over the site of one removed building to those of most inflammable nature used as lodging-houses.