The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-10-25
SAD SUNDAY.
Mournful Throngs Fill the Blackened
GfraQfe
Especial to the PREss.l


PENNINGTON, Oct "a. = The tired and
overweight inhabitants of this stricken
village were slow to make their appearance
this morning, the hard work of the night
previous exhausting them so completely that
they were glad to rest later than usual. 1t
was nearly 10 o'clock before many were seen
on the streets, and by that time visitors from
the surrounding country began to pour in.
There has been steady stream of teams
driving in from all directions, all day long.
The tearing down Of the fragments Of brick
walls and the kissing and smoking fires that
were still left burning were of interest
enough to keep the burnt district crowded
all day. People now feel much easier when
they come to think what they have left.
Quite number of stores still remain, and
others will soon be rebuilt. The principal
trouble is a lack of tenements. People say
good rents were scarce before the fire, and
now, with fifty or more families out Of
doors, it is a hard question what will be done
Just after the fire, when things looked their
worst, the majority were preaching that the
buildings would never be rebuilt in such
numbers again. Now the tide is changing
and they are more hopeful. Mr.. ID. V. b.
Ormsby, an insurance agent of good judg
ment, told your representative this morning
that he expected in ten years, if he lived, to
see them all rebuilt and more with them.
Communities don't suffer by such fires"
said he, individuals may, of course, but the
burnt district is always built up with better
buildings in the end, and more of them"
fl,n tod tc hot
seems to be but little talked of yet. All
seem to agree that it was incendiary but no
names are mentioned Various stories are
afoat One is that a gentleman riding
towards the village about the time the fire
started met about mile out man lashing
his horse at furious rate. The gentleman
was obliged to drive into the ditch or get run
down. His theory is that this man
set the fire and drove away. A son of Mr..
Gerry, in whose stable the second fire
started. went into the stable and fed the
horse and says everything was all right. He
went in and sat down to supper and before
he had finished the fire was SO far under
way that Mr. Gerry failed to get out his
horse although he burned his face severely
in the attempt. Some think sparks from the
Sandy River r. r. locomotives set both fires.
But no theories have yet been advanced but
what are easily argued down.
Many claim that several Of the buildings
ought not to have burned if proper fight
had been made. Men stood all around
watching the flames and refused to help even
when offered pay The old court house
caught on the roof and the fire was no larger
than mans hat for a long time and with a
man on the roof it might have been saved.
The Normal school was in as much danger
as the Methodist and Baptist churches but
was saved by the hard work of the pupils,
while women even begged men to go on the
roof of the churches which might have been
saved by their so doing. The side of Mr..
Ormsby's house is badly blackened but by
hiring force of men to work with water
pals he saved it, while his neighbor's work
shop was torn down and the blazing pieces
fell within few feet Of his house. There
are many cases of this kind where buildings
stand. saved by hard and persistent work
although all around them are ruins.
Portland people will be sorry to learn
that Editor Hunter is one Of the most unfor-
tunate losers in town. His office, one Of the
finest equipped and best arranged in the
State, was burned, not a line of type being
saved, although his books were taken out.
His household goods, part of which were new
are all gone, the house in which he lived be
ing burned to the ground, and his old home
occupied by his mother, Mrs. Thomas Hunt
er, is all swept away. Also the house of Mr.
Walter Nichols Mrs. Hunters father, thu
house burning when Mr.. Nichols was fight
| ing fire elsewhere, not dreaming that his owl
house was in danger; and that of Mrs. Tar
box, Mrs Hunters sistef, both being total,
destroyed. Mr.. Hunter himself was badl,
bruised up in his efforts to save something
but has already begun toplan for big mum
Der of the Chronicle nextSweek, the Lewis
ton Journal kindly offering to do the me
chanical work. The Franklin Journal ais,
is in the same fix and they will probably us,
the Office of the Wilton Record for their mex
issue.
The various religious societies all held ser
vices today, the Congregationalists usinI