The Cecil Whig., 1886-10-23

Salisbury, Nd, Almost Entirely De
stroyed by Fire.

SALISBURY, Mp., Oct. 1S.-SaliSbury
is in ashes The conHagration of 1860
was insignificant compared with that
which h visited the town last night. The
wolK of destruction is as complete as it
is possible to be. The total number of
Oue large planning mill establishment and
lumber yard, 80 stores, IS dwelling
houses, stables, hotels, 3 churches, ?
newspaper offices, opera house, post
Office, bank.
The hotels were the Peninsula House
and ID. G. Adams Salisbury hotel, the
only two in town. The churches were
St. Peters p. Il, st. Mary's Roman
! Catholic and the NJ. +. The Adcer
tiser and Wlc,mico Record printing
offices were consumed.
MILLION DOLLARS LOST.
Tue loss cannot be estimated, but is
believed to exceed 81 ,000,0 900. THIS is
about as low an estimate as is put upon
it. The insurance is probably between
one half and twO-thirds the loss. An
idea of the loss may be formed from the
following among the principal losses: E.
f. Jackson Il Co., SO, 900, insurance
probably 10000; b. l.. Gilhs Il Son, loss
500, 900. insurance not over 81, 900; Il. f.
Powell & Co.. loss $4,000. insurance
$2S, 900; l.. W. Gunby, loss $50. 900, III
surance So 600; Birckhead, Laws &
Carey, loss $50, 600, Insurance Sl5 600 tu
$50, 600; S. +. Toadvine, loss S2O, 900, i'll
surauce not known; w. FL. Rounds, loss
So 600, no insurance; 5. T. Evans, loss
81 500, no insurance; F.. G. II II. ). rodd,
loss Sl2 600, Insurance about ST, 900; DR..
l.. ID. Collier, loss 81, 900, INSURANCE
about So 600. and so on. II Is impossible
as yet to learn the various losses and the
amount of insurance.
BELIEVED TO BE INCENDIARY.
1t is the general opinion that the fire
was of an incendiary origin, and if SO a
better place could not have oeen selected
to start contlagration, it being stable
on DJck street, from which it spread
quickl, to adjoining stables and carriage
houses. burning so iuriously that three
horses and COW were col sum, d b, fore
they could be gotten from the stables in
which the fire first broke out. The fire.
engine of the town was put into service
Immediately, and hundreds of men aud
boys aud women hocked to the place to
render any and in their power. The en-
glue had hardly been gotten in readiness
to play upon the buildings when it was
| discovered that part of the machinery
| was rusty aud would not work Efforts
were made to remedy the defect, but fin
ally abandoned. aud when this fact be-
came known to the people they looked at
each other in blank dismay, then gazed
in terror at the roaring flames. shrank
back from their hot BREATH which was so
intense that the buildings could not be
approached with water buckets, ami with
one accord shouted to eacn other Save
your own home!' and retreated slowly
up Main street before the rapidly advan-
cling lire. Some of the cooler minds ad
vised "a united attempt To check the fire
by dowsIng adj .cent structures with
water carried i'll buckets, but this feeble
defense would have been useless, for the
fire had now reached the liquor store OF
Clman II Bros, and with the Increased
| the town was at its mercy.
| EXPLOSIONS OF POWDER AND WHISKY.
A store in which powder and cartridges
we're kept became ignited, and the horror
of tho stu alton added to IA hundred fold
by the simultaneous explosion of kegs of
powder and barrels Of whisky, and the
| ,,F l,,I,
tridyes. Sparks flew in every direction,
aud in short while flames burst forth
from the Jackson mills and from SO yeral
stores. The people no longer retl Gated
| SLOWLY, but II ii panic-stricKen from
street to street, from house to house,
stopping at times u help move piece of
furniture which had caught. or waiting a
moment to look back at the pursuing
flames, and then again fleeing. Many of
the men stood their ground, and with
| heroic sell sacrifice. IN trying to help
their neighbors Furniture and silver
ware were moved in some instances to
| places OF comparative safety, but it would
not be many minutes before the flames
would flash from an unexpected quarter
and the things would have to be moved
further and further, as it seemed as if
tue fire would never stop spreading
RAPID SPREAD OF THE FLAMES
To illustrate how rapidly the flames
leaped from house to house it ls but nee
| ings on Main street, a square away from
the Dock street stables. were not able to
save more than a little siverware aud
odd pieces of furniture. Valuable arti-
cles were thrown from windows by the
most excited and smashed on the side
| walks, while feather beds were carefully
taken down stairs. The uproar in the
streets was M .de more deafenng by the
dashing to and fro of horses and wagons
| and the pititul screams of women and
children. but even in their fright some
of the ladies worked with "a will to save
household valuables. A number of them
lost all their clothes except the dresses
which they were wearing. Meantime
the flames We're consuming both sides of
| Main street, and the dwellings and the
| Roman Catholic Church on West Church
street, the National Bank, the Peninsula
House and the Protestant Episcopal
Church followed soon afterwards, and
| the fire kept on to Division street, along
which the flames ran north aud south
| kilograms had been sent to Wilmington
| and Cristeld for engines. The Cristield
| eng inc arrived about | o'clock, and ewo
engines from Wilmington an hour OF so
| later. They did good service and finally
| succeeded i'll checking the flames after
| both sides OF DIVISION street had been
| burned as far as the NJ. +. Church. East
| of vision street no damage was done
| except To several small houses on East
Church street up to Powell stables. Cn
| Division street, south of Main street, the
lire extended to Traders store on one
| side, and To the Wicomico Record office
on the other. The AdCsrtiscr building
Was destroyed The handsome new
courthouse was saved by the citizens
| with buckets aided by the firemen The
towers ui the courthouse were scorched,
! and the whole structure would have been
burned to the ground if It's isolated posi-
ton had not enabled the use of buckets
THE DAY AFTER THE FIRE.
n body slept Sunday night and today.
The hagg ard faces of the men and their
torn clothes are in keeping with the
scene of do ,olation. The tire-swept area
is dotted with tall brick chimneys and a
few brick walls. Everything else is lev
eled to the earth. The consumption of
the buildings and their contents was SO
thorough that only the nails and bricks