The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-09-06
SUNDAY NEWS.
Terrible Catastrophe in Balti-
more Great Loss of Property
and Life.
& Kansas Devil" in Human
Form Pays the Penalty of
an Awful Crime.
Fearful Fire,

BALTIMORE, Md, September 2-At an
early hour this morning fire broke out in
the roy warehouse of Price, Hilgenberg i
Co., lO7 South Sharp street. Before the
firenen could g 9ttow work an explosion of
fireworks wrecked the building and caused
he Alm S TO -pread with alarmingrapid-
iJy 10 the druE house of j. H. Winkleman
& Co. On the north, and the hat house of
ii. S. Levy L Co. on the south. Scarcely
had the tremen entered the edifice occu-
pied by the drug house when the inside of
the building seemed to suddenly drop in.
A terrific explosion followed and the I'M
mense building collapsed. The entire
tire department by this time reached the
scene, and rs the attention of the men was
concentrated on the building, under which
their cOmradesa were buried, the flames
mad a chance 10 spread, and spread they
did with frightful rapidity. In an increa-
IDLE short space of time the entire block
running from Lombard to Pratt street,
was in mass of flames. At the drug
house the iremen worked bravely. Holes
were cut through the pavement and every
effort made 10 reach the Imprisoned men,
but they were hurled under the mass of
brick and iron, and the fierce flames were
roaring around the spot. Awful groans
came from the pile, which seemed to make
the iiremen pHt forth superhuman efforts,
and after more than an hours work it be-
came evident that some of the men were
alive and being roasted to death.
John h lily, OF truck No. 2, managed to
crawl out from the rubbish, and of the
men VINO entered the building he was the
only one 10 escape with his life. He was
cut and bruieed, but his injuries are not
serious.
The names of the men known to have
been buried in the ruins are: Geo. Bowers,
Thos. Wagner, John A. Combs, Perry
Ryan, Harry Walker, George Kerins,
Hiram Mohfee.
The fret four were of No. 2 hook and
ladder compeny and the others belonged
to n. engine company.
1t is certain hat these men have lost
their lives, ana it may be that others were
with them when the crash came.
The firms that we're completely burned
out are: Aylis, Brewster O. Co., wholesale
shoe deale1s j.. II. Winkleman & Co.,
drugs; TRbb Bros. & Dominlck, hardware;
Price l. Co., toys; M. S Levy g. Sons, hats;
II. 8. King Sons, hardware; Dobbs,
Nudge d. Co. aper, and Hirshberg, Hol-
lander 4 Co., paints and glass.
The row Of buildings was one of the
finest in tha oity, none of the warehouses
being les. than five stories high, nearly
al OF then having been recently erected
AnoHg the buildings partly burned were
Materniic on Lombard street, and its i'll
mates were removed only with great diff
Guilty.
Ihs t15al loss will probably reach
Sl,510,0oy and it is pretty well covered by
Insurance most of which Is in small poll
oies IN out OF own companies.
r ne intense heat prevailing several
times drove the firemen from the building
where the boiies of their unfortunate
comrades were lying under tons of brick
and l.on, bat they persisted in the search,
and shortly after noon the first body, that
of Wagner, was brought to light. Near the
spot was the body of Harry Walker, stand
ing erect, as if packed in. Near him was
found what wa left of Geo. Powers, but no
other bodies we're found until near 6
O'Clock, when the body of Geo. Kerins was
uncovered,
The bodice we're terribly disfgured, the
flesh being burned off in many places.
The search IS icing pursued tonight with
the Gid Uf electric lights.
IN the hardT are store of Tabb Bros. g.
Dominick there were stored large quanti-
tiss Of cartridges, and as they exploded
several men wore injured by the flying
nullsts,
TIE orinia of the fire will probably
never be known. No fire was used in the
Price e5ta1lishment, and it is supposed
that spontaneous combustion was the
cause, but il ia known that the system of
electric lighting was introduced in the
building recently and it was only tried
last night, and 1t may be that defective
insulation SIT red the flames, and the
com5ustlb.e nature of the contents of the
building served as food for the destroying
element.
The fte was discovered by an into1i-
Gated man who stopped to rest on the
steps Of the buildlng opposite. There
WIGS considerable delay in getting the
alarm. and when the engines arrived the
building vas in flames from cellar to
roof. Fireworks we're in the upper story.