Patrons, Too, Leave Without Ceremony When Fire Threatens
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A small but spectacular fire at 19 and 21 West Thirty-sixth Street shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon caused considerable excitement on Fifth Avenue among the great crowds enjoying the Spring-like weather.
A water tank twelve stories above the ground, and balanced just at the edge of a party wall, towering above the millinery establishment of Lady Duff Gordon, at 17 West Thirty-sixth Street, caught fire. For a few moments it looked as if the tank supports would burn through, and the several ton weight drop upon the roof of the four-story building adjoining.
Four engines, two trucks and a water tower responded to the alarm turned in. The congestion of traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue was at its height. The work of the traffic police in clearing the streets and
the skill of the firemen in piloting their apparatus through the maze of vehicles gave the big crowd an exhibition of what New York's uniformed men can do.
Little damage was done by the fire, which was quickly extinguished by the firemen, but some amusing excitement was caused by the flight of the thirty young dressmakers from the threatened establishment next door. In this general exodus there were several women who had been trying on clothes in the dressmaking rooms, and the whole party came out together without ceremony.
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