Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-11-13
BY WIRE TODAY.
Galveston Almost Wiped Out
of Existence by a Con-
flagration.
Fifty-twO Blocks Devastated
and Seven Hundred Resi-
dences Burned.
English Troops Ordered to Invade
Burmah and ThebaW Prepar-
ing to Resist.
M ~
Traffic ON the Illinois Central
About Suspended by Strike
Among the Employees.
seven Hundred Residences Burned.

Among the Employees.
seven Hundred Residences Burned
Galveston, Nov. Is, l1:20 a. m.-The
fire reached the beach about a mile and
a half from the starting point. The
track of the fire is now a mile and a hall
long and six or seven blocks wide. Over
seven hundred residences have been
burned. The wind is blowing a terrific
gale and the fire is still burning t~iarceIy
aud not under control,
About 4 O'Clock the fire began to
spread to the east aud west of Sixteenth
street. The wind rose to a gale and a
pandemonium ensued and for a time it
seemed as if the entire eastern half of
the city was doomed. The fire spread
RAPIDLY to the southwark, licking
up blocks of residences, hasti-
ly abandoned by their occupants and by
five o'clock it had reached Broadway,
which threads the center of the island,
running east and west. At seven O'Clock
the wind gave signs of dying away and
shortly it began to shift, until about
eight o'clock only a fair breeze was blow
ing. By this time the fire had eaten its
way to Avenue o, where at $50 o'clock
it seemed to exhaust itself and the fire.
men checked it's further ravages at this
point, or within two blocks of the gulf.
The burned district covers fifty two
blocks, seven of which were not swept
entirely clean. 1t is sixteen blocks in
depth and an average width of three
blocks. From the house tops the smok.
ing and burned district resembles q
huge, black, half opened ian lying across
the island from the bay nearly to the
gulf. The island at that point is nine.
teen blocks or q mile and a half wide.
The fire started on the north side of
avenue A, better known as tie, "strand,"
which is one block from the
bay and 1t stopped when with
in two block Of the snls
from the avenue to avenue d. The fire
was confined to a strip bounded on the
east by Sixteenth street, and on the
west by Seventeenth street. The bust
ness pert of the city begins at Twen-
tieth street and runs west ten blocks.
This outline locates the fire which began
to spread rapidly, after it had passed we
nue. d, aud by the time it had reached
avenue j, or Broadway, it was sweeping
nearly three blocks IN width. From the
west side of Fifteenth street to the east
side of Fourteenth street, about three
hundred houses were burned, which
were occupied by fully five hundred
families. From avenue Alto avenue
b, Tor four squares, the burned
dwellings were occupied almost entirely
by the poorer classes and several fami-
lies were crowded into q single room.
This strip from avenue %, however,
in the burned district, Includes some of
the weathiest portion of the people. One
hundred elegant furnished mansions are
in ruins and all manner of estimates are
to be had. The city assessor says the
taxable value of the dwellings burned is
$650,000. This makes the actual value
Of property burned $l,5OO.O 600, which
perhaps represents the loss in money.
The insurance is estimated at $500, 600.
although some place it at 100000. So
far as can be learned not a single acct
dent occurred.
The hotels are filled with homeless
people and a citizens committee is now
at work apportioning families to rooms
and premises vacated for their use.
Every vehicle in the city is at work
carrying furniture, bedding and other
household effects to places of safety.
Thousands OF people are visiting the
burned district, looking among the
smoking ruins for valuables, hoping to
find something left, but all is as blank
as a desert. Even huge water tanks and
fences and telegraph poles are burned to
ashes. Business is entirely suspended.
Many sick people were removed during
the conaagratlon and several women are
reported Frustrated by the terrible
excitement.
A meeting Of citizens is now I'M pro-
gress to provide immediate relief for the
poerer victims, as Galveston will pro-
badly make no appeal to the outer
world. Faliowing close on the heels of
the great strike which inflicted a mont
ed loss TO the business men of Calves.
ton of fully 100000 this calamity is a
climax to the woes and sorrows of the
citizens of the city. With the excep.
ton of half a dozen of grocery stores
and the car repairing foundry where the
fire started, no place Of business was
destroyed. Insurance agents are now
going over policies and by night fall
will probably have completed the insur-
ance list. kilograms of sympathy and
offers of aid are already pouring in from
sister cities in Texas.
FOREIGN.