Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-03-08

pressing a large number of the bystanders
into the service. At first the work was con-
Quoted in a decorous manner. The goods
were boxed up and transported to places of
safety. But as the fire wa&ed hot all forms
were dispensed with, and men and boys car
ried off on their shoulders the first lot of
goods that could he seized. A piece of the
cornice on tho Fourth street front fell, and
this was the signal for an indiscriminate
rushing to and fro. The win
dows on the Jackson street side were broken
out, and goods were pitched ont upon the
street, running with the refuse of the en-
sines, and gathered up by horde of indus
trious gamins and eager friends of the firm,
anxious to save as much as possible from
what by this time had come to be regarded
as en- inevitable wreck.
Another piece of the cornice fell. 1t
stopped all egress from the main door of the
establishment, for overhead was heavy
globe, surmounted by an equally heavy cor
ner piece, and this was fast being consumed
and rendered less tenacious of its hold on
the summit of the walls. But those inside
continued to throw the goods upon the
streets, which were speedily loaded into
wagons or carried off on the shoulders Of
willing men and lads to places of safety.
When horses could not be procured to roll
| the goods away from danger, the thills We're
taken possession of by men, and the con-
tents Of tho load deposited at a point re-
mote from the scene of the conflagration.
The most valuable portion of the goods
the silks, velvets, and other expensive fab
rics-were generally boxed up previous to
their delivery upon the streets, and for the
most part have escaped serious injury The
linens, domestics, shawls, and many lines of
hosiery and dress goods were not as well
provided for, and therefore suffered consid
erably from damage by water, not only from
leakage from the floors above but from the
injury they received in their hasty transfer
from the store to the street and subsequently
by their removal to the improvised houses Of
refuge provided. The scene was indescrib-
able. There was q general scramble among
people of all classes to save the goods from
destruction. The falling einbers from the
fast consuming cornices fell unheeded to the
right and left of those who sought to save
the goods from the destroying element.
They paid no more attention to blocks of
cinders than 10 so many flakes of snow. A
brand from tbs roof that fastened upon q
block of dry goods was stamped out, and
the goods carried off on the shoulders of the
conqueror in triumph.
The Progress of the Fire.
Meantime the fire had been raging over
head. Though the streets were swimming
with the drippings of the engines and the
its way downward. First of all the flames
burst forth from the rear window of the
Fourth street front, and gave evidence of
its presence On the third floor. A stream
the water communicated with the fire than a
crash almost resembling an explosion took
place, and the entire floor seemed to be one
livid mass of fame. Great tongues of
the street and seeming to be anxious
to lick uD al that inter
fered with their progress. Scarcely mo-
ment elapsed before another crash and the
SCATTERING OF glass gavo evidence that the
flames had made an exit on the Jackson
street front, and look in that direction
showed that the flames were pouring out in
great streams, driving people from the street
by their intensity, and lighting up
the whole city with q lurid radiance.
About this time, shortly after 8
o'clock, the gigantic clock that has for
many years seemed to keep watch and ward
over that section of the city from its perch
in the attic of the building, fell with deaf
ening crash to the floors below, carrying
with it the embers that vera to complete the
destruction of the magnificent edifce that
has long been pride to our city. From
this point the fire on the cond floor rapidly
spread, meeting midway of the building
the spreading flames that had descended
from the upper floor in the rear of the build
ing. But a few moments were required to
envelop the whole floor in perfect whirl-
wind of fame, which was searching in its
effect, spintering the windows, ard threat
ening TO break down the walls by their vic
| lence.