The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1881-09-20
Did Their Work for the Kan.
sas City Exposition
Yesterday.
A Graphic Account Of the Hor-
rible Holocaust, Together
with Incidents.
Notwithstanding the Heavy Lose,
the Exposition Goes
Bravely On.

known that terrible COnfiagratlOn was
raging on the Kansas City exposition
grounds, there was considerable excitemen.
in this city, and the BAZoo office was he
seiged with people anxious to obtain full
particulars. Nothing definite. however,
| could bc obtained until lU:3O p. H., when
| The express train from Kansas City ar
rived, bringing u number OF Sedalian> who
had been i'm attendance AZ the exposition
and had witnessed the work OF the fierce
flames.
OF this numhe. several were interviewed
l.y the EiZOo man. au,t The spt ctacle "a de-
p;c:ed by tiyni E.as; have been horrihl,
indeed.
The most interesting and reliable IT
port in regar! 10 the unfortunate affair =,
however, taken from the Kansas City
Journal oi this morning, as follows:
II WIS terrible f:v. The exposition
grounds Were throng,d with the largest
crowd ever seen ON tn, inside VI the gales.
II l. estimated iEJ: ,iier. We're over iu,C;I
people III attendance. Evervihir. W.,
moving aiJi. acc"r'.iH- 10 programme anC
there was Mt failure in any feature q:
TIE .,ra;.d exposition. II seernsd n il IL,
whole, civ ana 80! car ne!ghh"rS were ont
Tor - holiday. and the cc:,sei,sS thr"n-
that passed back and iOrjh along the ave
n,IcS, crowded The grand aiirhitheatr,-.
>ur-y.! through the ri.a:n hall AMI iilled
ia, l.any PLACES oi a;:.li>. ;.!ent and ~
irc>LEi-I.; Ms 4 gay, happy, good ua:ur,J
crowd .i.a; iu!lv ,u;;oy,,. ia, bright Ky aud
sweet fresh air, AID had come on; t. E.;,k.-
The ln,>i ii Tie day and the splendid ci.-
icria!T,.eH, furnished !.y the iair.
l. -. L..
and TIE sport was =, IL height. Tbs rae.
,rack, aroGni whic! 5000 people has! con
c-,.-::ed. MS the Cent?. ii attraction. The
second, ;ro'tiE. race. VAS nearly over,
ant The lady riders wer, t. bv brought 81.
next Tor i!.e ten mile runniu. race. The
crowd was waiting patiently for the intro
duc,iun vi ills special feature, whic:. bad
attracted - ..!any people, when suddenly
there WAS c-y Of IRE -
Fire. fire. fire."
The startling cry ran all over The
grounds and liz Ri instant there was III,
widest confusion.
"The Ls:n hall i ou liz, - Fire. tiIs
fire"
I'm alarm Of fire i startling enough. at
any Zine, but nn w:i,. alarm III dead III
night could have been more thrilling.
Men ran and shouted, women screamed
and tainted. and children were either lost
in the confusion or chung 10 their parents
ana added their cries of terror 10 the seu-
crai excitement All ewes turned toward |
the main hall, from whose towers score
u. tiays waved saily in the wind. Already !
the flames were ieaping from tower L. |
tower, ans. the whole O: the great structure !
WIS Wrapped in iia.nes. The ieapinc |
flames scv:nti To enyelop tire whole |
buildiIi. and t. sweep through it, spacious
wings almost with tie rapidiiy oi light |
Tn. CRY III "firc" had not more than |
been II lea:cd q: the front Of the hall than !
ii had mounted from the ground To- the !
top II the towers on tlie west end. and i
working i,s wav into the inside found :, |
least iii the elaborate decorations. The |
rafrers were heavily festocned with hunt
ing. AMI Il vast amount If other highly !
decorating material coyere;. |
tie whole interior surface. The fi'mC>
caught in this, ana ~ i: nj the wave ci tn. |
land red sheet OF i.ame swept tirougL /
the building. There was nothing for the /
people in the hall To do bu, to hy before
the fire, and The cracking danes followed
them 50 closely that 1t W.. with officially
all escaped.
The time was perhaps the mos, fortunate
Turing the whole day. The great interest
taken i'm the ten mile race by Miss Cook
in,! Miss Williams was about To commence
and the crowd had collected around the
race track, leaving the main building with
lever people in it than At any other time
Turing the afternoon. Ii this had net bcen
he case il is probable that great loss of
life would have resulted.
Nothing was saved from the building.
he fine goods Of every variety so tasteiu!ly
displayed by the exhibitors had TO b.
abandoned with nj! possible haste by these
in charge. Within fifteen minutes after
he fire started the whole structure fell i'm.
The fire was magnificent sight. 1t
started in some shavings AMI straw under
he steps Of the west end. There was a
good deal Of iniiammable material scat
ered around, and the wooden walls oi the
dry and covered with lint, fur
nished the best possible material for a
quick fire. The wind came from the north
vest and blew exactly right to make q
lean sweep Of the building. There was
no protection from the FIRE, and
the roaring flames found nothing To I'M
pe,le their swift and terribly destructive
progress. Within ten minutes after the
nv Of fire was first heard the buildings
adjoining the main hall, the Journal,
Mail, Times and Commercial Indicator Of
ices were i'm flames. The secretary oi the
lair association and his clerks had hardly
lime to gather mp their books and papers and
convey them to a safe place before their
office was on fire. Ii was totally DESTROY
ID, but here the march of the fire south
ward stopped.
No sooner had the flames reached the
top Of the main hall than the stiff breeze
blowing from the northwest carried the
lire across the avenue, almost $50 feet
wide, and blew it in the faces OF the crowd
On the ampitheater. At first a regular
panic seemed inevitable. There were prob
ably fifteen thousand people seated on the
and the swiftly approaching
ire made the stoutest quail for moment,
but few cool headed men prevented