when he yanked hard on the fire alarm switch. He rushed into Dreamland's administration building and yelled, "Fire!" It was 1:58 A.M. James Lillis, the night watchman, heard the running men and noticed the orange glow at Hellgate.
With their efforts doomed, they ran for their lives. By the time they returned with them, they were confronted by a fire that was already licking at the rafters. He and his workers wasted valuable minutes scrambling up the spillway in search of them. Epstein remembered there were some hand extinguishers and a reel of hose nearby. Two or three workers rushed up the steps towards an exit and safety, while the others shouted and scrambled about in confusion. One of the workers accidentally kicked over a bucket of bubbling tar and a moment later Hellgate was in flames.Īt first there was panic.
All at once the lights flickered and the men were plunged into darkness. The bulbs either began to explode from the heat of the tar, or from a short circuit. inside Hellgate, overhead light bulbs began popping. Hellgate, a boat ride through the caverns of hell, was the start of the Dreamland fire.Īt 1:30 A.M. He and his workers were caulking the leak with tubs of hot tar. Ellis contracted Samuel Englestein, a tinsmith, to make the necessary repairs. It had sprung a leak three days earlier during a trial run. William Ellis's Hellgate, a boat ride through dimly lit caverns that progressed through rapids and into a giant whirlpool before depositing its passengers safely at the exit. The park had been newly repainted cream and fire-house red, a little more exciting than its previous all white decor.īy dusk everything seemed ready except one attraction.
Gumpertz, was promoted from manager of the Lilliputian Village to Dreamland's top executive post. Coney's amusement attractions had always taken for granted the influx of free spending visitors in the evenings after the horse races had been run.ĭreamland's owners had poured in another $60,000 to remodel and redecorate their park in hopes of recharging its sagging attendance. Reformers in Albany had passed strict laws against gambling at racetracks, and after a two year struggle, the tracks had closed the previous season. That was an optimistic prediction because for the first time in a quarter of a century, Coney's amusement attractions would have to draw crowds without the powerful assistance of its three racing tracks. If the pleasant weather held, it promised to be Coney Island's best summer season ever. Workers at Dreamland on Friday were applying the finishing touches to get the amusement park ready for its opening the following day, Memorial Day weekend.
Coney - Dreamland Fire Coney Island - Dreamland Fire 1911 The material is copyrighted © 1997 by Jeffrey Stanton.
0 kommentar(er)
