Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-10-22
SALISBURY In FLAMES.
ITS ENTIRE DESTRUCTION PROBABLE.

MORE THAN 80 BUILDINGS BURN.
ED-THE TOTAL LOSS PROBABLY
EXCEEDING ONE MILLION-NO
LOSS OF LIFE.
SALISBURY, Md, Oct. II, mid.
nigbt.-A fire IS now raging OIL
Main street that will sweep
the entire town. The loss will be
beyond any estimate that can be
made at present. Terror reigns
supreme. Everybody is taking
goods to places of safety beyond
the town.
All the business part of the town
is destroyed, and the widest panic
prevailed throughout the night
At midnight the people were all
out of their houses. There is only
a single wire from the town, and 1t
Is insufficient to carry out the
messages with which it is burthen-
ed. The fire spread with alarming
rapidity, and though the telegraph
office is at the extreme end of the
town, the operator did not know
how soon he would he burned out.
At two o'clock the fire was still
raging.
The fire occurred at s. Frank
Toadvin's stable, on Dock street,
at o'clock in the evening. There
was brisk southeast wind, and
the fire departm ent was powerless.
The conhagration spread rapidly,
taking the whole town in a north
and northwesterly direction, con.
suming over fifty houses. The
total loss is about a million Of
dollars.
The long drouth made the large
frame houses as dry as tinder, and
the flames jumped from one build
ing to another. Large stores and
their contents we're swept away,
and many families stood helplessly
by and saw their dwellings burned
to the ground.
A brisk wind from the southeast
caused the flames TO spread to the
large grocery stores and livery sta.
bles on Dock street. When the
fire reached Main street, the many
large frame warehouses furnished
it with ample food for to feed upon.
1t spread in all directions. A thou.
sand livid tongues reached up to
Heaven and licked up building af-
ter building. The panic.stricken
inhabitants stood by, powerless to
prevent the increasing destruction.
Some furniture and other articles
were saved from buildings more re.
mote from the fire, but the greater
part of furniture and store stocks
was consumed in the fiercely bnrn.
ing flames.
The heat produced by such a
mass of frame buildings ls intense.
All Main street is doomed. High
and Church streets will not be
much better. Dock street is al
ready swept away, and Camden
street, east of the bridge, must
meet like fate.
The total loss will not be less
than Sl,000,OOO, with about two
thirds that amount of insurance.
The Peninsula Hotel Is now burn
ing and is nearly gone. 1t is abOnt
halfway up Main street. The fire
is as far as the bank, but as that is
considered fre-proof, it will prOba-
bly, escape the flames. The lurid
glare in the sky produced by such
a huge fire has been seen for miles
around, and many people from the
neighboring villages have come to
Salisbury to offer their assistance.
Little could be done to arrest the
progress OF the fire. Nothing can
stop it until a break in the build
ings is reached. All Main street
is a solid block. The streets are
strewn with furniture and all kinds
of merchandise taken from tho
burned and burning buildings. No
accident so far as known has oc.
Cured to human limb or life. Many
fine horses have perlshed. The loss
will fall especially heavy upon the
merchants, as many OF them had
recently laid IN a large fall and
winter stock.
12P. M.-Main, Dock, Camden,
Church, st. Peters and High streets
are in ashes. A part of Division
street is also burned. The flames
are rapidly progressing along the
latter street. An engine has arriv-
ed from Chris6eld.
It is impossible In the confusion
now prevailing to fully estimate
the loss or ascertain the companies
mostly involved. All the leading
companies of the country will be
losers.