St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-04-17

promptly, and engines Nos. IL anu zo'
hook and ladder No. s, and two nose
carts were sent over the bridge. The pipe
was soon laid to the fire, h'lt "heh the
water was turned on it was !oo'iu 1i,fs
the hose had been cut. This cansen oe
lay of a few moments, but d new me vi
hose was soon in shape ana st'eain
playing on the car, the flames soon oe'"s
extnguished The burned car belonged
to the Wabash st. Louis & facihc' ah"
was loaded with sand.
THE SECOND FIRE.
Just as the flames got under @ood neau-
way big blaze was discovered IN tne ul'
rection of the round-ho of the Cairo
Short Line, about mile and hall 10 tne
southeast The crowd ran down the
track to this fire, when it was found that
three boxes and one caboose on the
Cairo Short Line tracks were enveloped
in flames The cars were surrounded
by crowd numbering, perhaps,
two hundred people, but they
were orderly and made no
disturbance The caboose belonged to
| the Vandala Line, while the box-cars
were one Burlington & Missouri River, a
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and CHI
| cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul, all empty.
After the cars had nearly burned to the
ground chemical engine arrived and
PLAYED stream on the fire, but it did
| little good and The fremen retired.
THIRD FIRE.
| Atl2:lO O'Clock the Waterman at the
Yards of the Cairo Short Line detected
! another fire in the oi-shetis, which i'm
mediasely burst forth and developed the
! building in flames. 1t was Il commodious
wooden structure, rendered additionally
/ a obi INV no oil which
the aoor was saturated. The fire,
fed by barrels of oil, swept
westward, and in few moments one OF
long train of freight cars on the nearest
track caught fire. The wind, which had
been driving the flames in the direction
| of the round-house and shops, grew as
the intensity of the flames increased. The
| fire crept along to the main buildings
and spread to another of the cars which
| separated it from the shops.
Only a few moments more
elapsed before the flames leaped
to the next parallel track, ana at one
O'Clock this morning there were six or
eight freight cars ahlaze, and the shops
were menaced by the aggressive element.
An engine near the round-house whlsted
continuously for assistance. The croWa
of spectators increased from minute to
night under the exertion of the St. Louis
tire department., and transferred the
theater of the excitement to the shops.
"Nothing can save the shops" was the
general comment, and it became apparent
that not only the buildings to which the
| fire was tending were doomed, hut also
| half dozen long lines of loaded and
empty freight cars which filled the inter-
| vening space.
TWO MORE BLAZEs.
A fourth fire started in the Cairo Short
Line lumber yard, where lot OF dimen-
| sion timbers for car construction was
piled. There were also number OF cars
standing in close proximity, and they
| commenced to blaze, attracting crowd
of spectators in that immediate locality.
The crowd stood leisurely and SAW the
/ property consumed without making any
effort to save it.
Another blaze shot up in the vicinity Of
the Little roliing-mill, where there was
number of Short-Line cars and cars be-
longing to various other roads. They
burned slowly, as there was but very
little wind blowing at 80 O'Clock this
morning, when East st. Louis was
Illuminated by four distinct and widely
separated blazes.
THE FIRKMEN ORDERED OFF.
The St. Louis fire department was near
at hand and could have readily
extiucuished the fires if the crowd
would have permitted them to do so.
They had got the flames under con-
troll at the second fire, about a thou
sand wards below the shops, and would
have extinguished it if they had not been
interfered with by the strikers. About
1915 Assistant Chief Gross was helping
to push the burning cars from the train
with which they were connected when
striker stepped up to him and said:
81 want to speak to you" Mr.. Gross
said he would give his attention in mo"
ment, and allowed himself to be led from
the burning cars. a
The striker said he represented com"
mittee which had been instructed to IN
form the fire department that they were
not wanted in East St. Louis:
The Assistant Chief explained that he
had responded to the call OF duty.
"Did you come here by the authority
of Mavor Joyce?" asked the mouthpiece
of the committee.
dyes"
"Take my advice. You had better
make sneak, anyway. 1t amt healthy
for you here.
Assistant Chief Gross concluded that
it was no use staying there any longer,
and he withdrew his men and prepared to
return to St. Louis. When they left, Mr..
Gross said it was useless for them to at
tempt to do anything. as the strikers
threatened their engineers, cut the hose
and had told him that they would not be
allowed to do anything.
The casualties occurring throughout
the evening to the firemen were the cases
| 81, lExt