Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-01
YamaCraV in Ruins.
FIFTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE
HOMELESS.
4 TRIO OF LIVES LOST.
James Cash, Moses COStOn and a
Negress the Victims.
HALF A SQUARE MILE DESOLATE
Stubbs' Warehouse and the Elec-
tric Light Works Gone.
Loss Almost a Million.
THREE HUNDRED SMALL BUILD
INGS IN ASHES.
SUCCOR FOR THE SUFFERERS.
The Barracks Thrown Open to the
Homeless.
James Cash, Moses COstOn and a
Negress the Victims.
HALF A SQUARE MILE DESOLATE
Stubs Warehouse and the Flee
tric Light Works Gone.
Loss Almost a Million.
THREE HUNDRED SMALL BUILD
INGS IN ASHES.
sUCCoR FOR THE SUFFERERS.
The Barracks Thrown Open to the
Homeless.

/ of the most disastrous CONGREGATIONS tna'
| has ever been recorded in the history Of
/ the city. involving the loss Of three lives,
! the destruction of 80 buildings, and rem
dering LIS people homeless.
shortly after y O'Clock fire was discoY'
cred in the northeast corner of the cotton
warehouse on Farm street, at the head OF
/ Joachim, owned by Mrs. c. f. Stubs, Of
\ this city. and Hon. A. L. Mcintyre, Of
/ Thomasville. Ga. The structure was
I erected in 1879. and occupied the site Of
/ the stiles garden and old building. The
/ stiles family once owned the land now
known as the Springfield plantation, and
/ the site of the Central Railroad and Ocean
/ Steamship COmpany's wharYes. The old
/ building was afterwards known as the
/ OglethOrpe Medical College, that was de-
/ stroved bv tre in 1868. The hands were
( about turning out lot of cotton, and
/ a number Of drays with men and teams
were within the gateway. Among the par
/ ties inside the enclosure were Mr.. q.
/ {. Hayward, Mr.. Daniel Mcintyre,
/ Mr.. John Law, in charge OF the
warehouse. and Mr.. James NJ. Cash.
BENJAMIN Green. Frank Davis. Doc
/ MpTdecai. a man known as Little
/ Frank" Moses COstOn, and a woman
/ named Green, all cOlOred, were alsopre-
I sent. Mr.. Cash, Moses CostOn ana the
( woman Green were lost. The others es-
/ caped by climbing to the shed which sur
/ rounded the interior of the enclosure and
I leaping into the street. When the lire
! was first discON cred the warehouse
/ hose and water buckets were Immediately
{ brought into service, and as the first
water was being thrown the flames darted
across the face Of the bales and drove
those who escaped into Farm street. All
the other doors were blOckaded by cotton
/ and locked, so that it was impossible for
the others to escape except by climbing.
THE ALARM.
In less than fifteen minutes all the cot
/ ton in the warehouse was on fire, and il
/ was about this time that Mr.. Lawrence
/ Hanley, of the Central Cotton Press,
/ urne&in the alarm from signal box No.
I %. at the Central Press. At the begin
ming of the fire. the wind seemed to be
from the northwest, so that by the time
the apparatus of the Fire Depart
ment reached the scene the shed
in the southeast corner of the
the metal roofing. The window frames
of the old Stiles mansion on Farm street
were also smoking. The rapidity with
which the flames spread rendered every
moment precious. The dense clouds OF
smoke and the intense heat kept the fire
men at a distance. Though a line of hose
was in service at the Farm street en-
trance another was speedily stretched to
the Stiles house and the wooden
residences on the south side of the
warehouse. At 12:4j O'Clock the two
story frame residence just beyond the
southwest angle OF the warehouse Occu-
pied by a family named Smith and owned
by Mr.. A. La Roche took fire and was
subsequently, destroyed, the occupants
moving out all their furniture. By 1:15
O'Clock the interior of the Stiles house
and the roof were in flames and shortly
after portions of the south wall OF
the warehouse fell outward with terrific
crash. About $50 O'Clock the door on the
went side dropped in and revealed a
MASS OF SETTLING FLAMES,
the heat from which caused the cOrnices
of the houses on that side to smoke, when
/ Mr.. Horace Rivers formed a bucket bri-
gade, aud for time prevented the spread
OF the c0nfiagratiOn in that quarter, where
there were no engines or other regular
fire apparatus from the beginning to the
termination Of the catastrophe. The
inmates of all houses within a block
{
Nest and north sides succeeded in
moving their household effects by ,
o'clock. but very. many articles # furni-
ture were broken, destroyed and stolen.
The excitement of these people was great
in anticipation of losing their homes,
though at that hour many bystanders felt
that they We're sincerely speaking when
they attempted to reassure them by as
serting that all danger of the fire spread
ing had virtually passed.
PROGRESS OF THE FIRE.
At 3 O'Clock the wind shifted to the
southwest and seemed to have increased
in velocity. \ large portion of the north
wall of the warehouse fell, when row of
houses on the continuation of Indian
street lane, west of Farm street, took fire,
and the flames rapidly communicated
east, west and north to the frame build
/ ings on that side, and thence to nine one
story tenements owned by Mrs. HabeT-
I sham. When the fire took posses
sion of these houses, on the north
and west side Of the warehouse,
/ the roar of the flames was heard
I from 800 to 400 feet distant, and as the
! wind had risen it was at once apparent
/ that all that north portion of the city was
at the mercy of the deVOurIng element.
I Residences and stores were quickly va
Gated: the streets were crowded with
\ hicles, and hundreds of distracted moth
/ ers and weeping children, white and
| black. intensified the piteOus aspect of the
/ calamity Several persons barely escaped
+ being surrounded by the fire at different
/ times during the afternoon, as sparks
were waited frequently some distance
and set the roofs of other houses in a
/ blaze. By 4 O'Clock all the buildings
/ north of Indian street lane, from West
/ Boundary to Farm street were destroyed,
1 and the fire had crossed to the east side of
\ the street and was burning along the
north side Of Joachim street and on In
dian street and Indian street lane.
SPREAD OF THE FLAMES WESTWARD.
/ Though the houses Immediately adJOin-
! ing the south and west sides Of the ware
Y house were the first to catch, the flames
/ did not make any great Roadway in this
I direction. On the south this was owing
/ to the contrary WING and the efforts of the
tiremeu. and on the west TO the large area
4 of vacant ground on either side of the
canal beyond West Boundary street. On
! Farm street, adjoining the ware
, house.. was the twO-stOry tenement
owned by Mrs. Mary Ann Smith,
( and occupied by cOlOred fami-
lilies. This persisted, but here the flames
! stopped. In the rear of this house, west
. ward. stood the cottage of Mr.. Parry. a
1 n sister of that gentleman and his chill.
I dren. This lady was sick in bed, and the
/ bouse had caught before she was gotten
ont Nothing of the contents We're saved
| These two houses. Mrs. Smiths and Mr.
/ Porrv,s were the only ones DESTROYED
/ south of the warehouse and Olive street
| on fine west, and in the direction OF
the Central Railroad warehouse as
4 far as the vacant ground, all
the houses intervening were de-
/ stroved. The principal ones were in
/ cluded in the group of shantles known as
| Understands row, a tWO-st0ry brick
dwelling owned by Mr.. Sol Mcintyre, a
/ large frame-hOuse belonging TO colo-ed
woman named 0phelia Warren, and the
| row of new cottages owned by Mr.. VIII
| liam SOlte. When the fire had nearly
/ consumed Understands row, the
SAVANNAH PAPER MILL
,vare imDerilled. At the northwest corner
/ Of the mill stood a small frame-house
4 on the western terminus of Understands
row which would surely have impaired
tho sames to the mill structure had it
NOT been pulled down by heroic force of
workers. Wet blankets were then placed
/ ON fine caves nearest the IRE, and 1t was
/ saved.
| Across West Boundary street, and the
! commons. stood the Central Railroad cot
/ ton warehouse. on the platforms OF which
I there were a large number OF bales OF
| cotton. This was played upon continually
/ by two streams Of water, and II
/ spark could have strayed that distance 1t
! would have been instantly extinguished.
Leaving the corner at the paper-mill, the
/ southwest boundary Of the burned dis