The Great Baltimore Fire.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 55, 9 March 1904, Page 4

The Great Baltimore Fire.

appalling uisasj j--h. eight killed and many injured. ENORMOUS DAMAGE. A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION.

BALTIMORE, Feb. 7. The fire which took place to-day was the most appalling disaster in the history of Baltimore. The flames, raging practically unchecked during ninny hours, completely destroyed scores of the largest business houses in the wholesale district. Owing to the wide extent of the calamity it will be to-morrow before an approximate estimate can be made. The tire started shortly before 11 o'clock this morning in the wholesale drygoods store of John E. Hurst and Co., on Hopkins Place, in the heart of the business district, with a series of loud explosions, which were heard in remote parts of the city, and spread with fearful rapidity. FIRE BRIGADES POWERLESS. In hall an hour a dozen big warehouses in the wholesale dry goods and notions district were burning fiercely. The entire city lire department was called out, but was utterly powerless to check the spread of the Haines, which were aided by high winds, and by noon there were saxage tires in at least 30 big wanhouses, and the flames were steadily eating their way into successive blocks,' north, west, and south. On Baltimore-street, the block between Liberty and Sharp Streets, was ' soon ablaze. Then came the next block east to Hunover, and after that the block on the south side lo 'Charles-street broke out into flames, the Consolidated Gas Company's building and Oehm's Hall burning fiercely. Meanwhile stores north of Baltimore-street were being similarly consumed. Mullins- Hotel was ignited, and other buildings near it . West of Liberty-street, on the south side of Baltimore, the block was doomed, and the big Baltimore Bargain House, also attacked. In Hopkins' Place, where the fire started, Hurst's building and other wholesale houses on both sides of the street and fell. The big drygoods houses of Daniel Miller and Sons and M. A. Sutton and Co. were soon aflame, and along German street east and west from the Hurst buildings a dozen buildings were burning and scores were threatened. WALLS FALL WITH A CRASH. ■Mass and Kemper's big wholesale store on Baltimore-street quicklysuccumbed to the flames, and the walls fell with a crash that was heard for squares. The Hurst building was utterly destroyed, not even a wall ten feet high being left standing, and was apparently the centre of the cauldron whence tho flames radiated over the doomed district. In- Hopkins Place the Hopkins Savings Bank and the National Ex- » ehaflge Bank were gutted by flames, the few streams of water that the firemen were able to turn upon them proving utterly ineffectual to even halt the destruction. Here, across the street, were the ruins of John E. Hurst and Co., and the building next to it, S. C. Hehet, jun., and Sons' block, was in flames. Adjoin- • ing was the large building owned by the William Koch Importing Coni- . pany, which wus also quickly destroyed. Across the street, the Stanley Drug Company building was soon in ruins. Fronting on the Haltinrore-street side of this block were the Roxbury Rye Distilling Company, the building occupied bv Silberman and Co., which had hardly been completed, and next to it the establishment of M. Moses and Co. On the corner was the building occupied by Sugar and Shear, and several other smaller concerns. All of these were burned, the whole square being a mass of flames. A HUGE TORCH.

At half-past one o'clock Mullins' Hotel, a seven-storey structure at Liberty and Baltimore Streets, was in flames from garret to cellar, and its great height and narrowness converted the doomed building into a huge and dreadful torch. All of the guests of the hotel had been ordered out of the building shortly after the fire broke out in Hurst's place. There was no panic or confusion, and no one was injured. Although every bit of lire-lighting apparatus in the city was called into requisition as the flames continued to spread, the liremen realised that they had a task before them which was too great for them to Combat. Telegrams for fire engines were sent to Washington and Philadelphia, and at one o'clock six engines arrived from Washington and four from Philadelphia and joined- in the battle with the flames. Engines from stations in Baltimore, Howard, Anne Arundel nnd Hartford counties also arrived as soon as possible, some of the apparatus travelling a distance of 30 miles or more. Water plugs in every section within n radius of a half-mile from the fire were in use and it is roughly estimated that mo streams were playing at one time upon different parts of the lire. Owing to the great congestion of lire apparatus, the crowds of people and the general confusion, many of the eng.nes from out of town were unable to find a place'where they would he of any use. The area bounded bv t-erman, Liberty, Sharp and Baltimore Streets was early found to be doomed, and the firemen turned their attention to saving the buildings on Baltimore-street, east of Sharpstreet.

FIRE BEYOND CONTROL. The fire was.beyond their control, and the flames ran from one building to another in spite of the fact that the firemen did their best to check their progress by soaking the structures with water. Cinders ignited the roof of the Front-street theatre, a half-iuile away, and for a time it looked as though that structure would be destroyed. The blaze was extinguished by firemen and citizens. Much alarm was felt at the City Hospital, where the rain of cinders was at its fiercest. The Sisters of Mercy in charge of the institution were all at their posts, and an effort was made to keep the fact of th« lire ;l secret from the patients. A few cinders fell on the roof of the hospitul, but were extinguished by the physicians of the house stall. THEMKXIK) I S EX I'JJJSIOXS. At three o'clock a tremendous explosion of 1 r.o battels of whisky, stored in the upper floor of 24, Han-over-street, hurled tons of burning matter across the street on to the roofs of the building opposite, which the liremen were drenching with water in a vain hope to make Hanoverstreet the eastern boundary line of the lire. The flames quivered for a few moments under the water, but soon ate into the buildings on the east side. A fire, engine was buried . by a falling wall, the firemen fleeing for their lives. The whole city was notified of Jie lire by the terrific explosion some minutes niter eleven o clock, A sharp, splitting roar went up with reverberating tlimi- . iler. This was followed bv a pecttliar whistling noise, like that made by shrill wind. The churches In the , central section of. the city were filled with worshippers, many of whom became frightened, and, though no panic ensued, hundreds of men and women left their seats and went out- . - side to see what had occurred. In a '■■■ few moments the streets throughout r - tho city were crowded with excited people. Another deafening crash occurred and dense columns of cinders ttnd smoke shot up over the central " Section of the'city, and in ii huge ■ ljrown colnmns moved rapidly toward the north-west. Borne on the strong south-east wind the column of smoke,-blazing cinders and even pieces of till roofing, spread over , the centre of the city and a rain of • CJhders fell, compelling pedestrians to dodge the coals. Two more explosions followed, and thousands of persons hurried to the scene of the

wore lifted into the air by the torri11c heat, Milling upward liko pnper kites. and when ihey reached a point beyond the zone of the most intense heat fell fluttering to the ■street. CRASH AFTER CRASH. Crash after crash followed within the burning district, but even the liremen could not tell from what buildings they proceeded. Walls and flooring fell in with thunderour roars that echoed blocks away. Hundreds of merchants and business men with olliccs in the threatened district were notified by watchmen and the police. Nearly all took steps to have their books removed to places of safety. Hundreds of men and hoys were engaged to move the books. Tin-: worst ovKii. BALTIMORE, Feb. rt. When darkness, fell to-night the people of the stricken city knew the worst was over, 'fit.- tlaincs, which tor moiv than 2-1 hours had swept resistlessly through the heart of tile city, were checked. An arniv of lirenicn from many cities, working heroically and aided by a muddy little stream, linally conquered. Worn by a night and day of terror, the great crowds that watched t in; runt of their city turned homeward, ami at midnight the streets were deserted .save for the police and military, who guarded the burned area. To t he south a red glow rises and falls, marking 110 acres of devastation—,S.j squares of property that yesterday represented values' to the extent of from T.'i.iKMi.ntiii dollars to 12.->,l)<)U,ui>i) dollars. Not even a close approximation can be made of the loss. No guess can he made of the insurance. An expert, the city building inspector, estimates the loss in buildings alone at 15n,011(1,000 dollars. On the other hand, it is said, some estimates do not place the total loss at a greater figure. KILLED ANO LNJIRKI). It is a dillicull task at present to attempt to estimate the deaths and casualties. That will be a matter to develop in the next lew days. it is known, however, that eight liremen were killed by falling wails. Scores of persons were injured. There were more than IUO injured in the hospitals, and among them is Baltimore's fire chief, George W. Horton, who was the victim of a live wire. The watchman of Hurst and Co., was taken to the hospital. His face H.nd hands were terribly burned. An. other man rushed into his place to get his private papers out of the safe, and they were burned by a spark in his pocket. The celluloid collar of Captain Schleigh was burned to a crisp, and his neck was badly burned. Chief Horton was almost suffocated, but recovered. Eighteen women, two babies, and 17 lihrses were taken from the Maternity Hon. pital Oil West Lombard-street in police ambulances in the City Hospital. A woman who was ill iii bed with typhoid fever was takea to the City Hospital.