Milford chronicle., 1888-11-30
Pocomoke City in Ashes.
THE BUSINESS SECTION OF THE TOWN DE-
sTRoYED.

At4 O'Clock Thursday afternoon of last
week fire broke out in the drug store of d.
o. J. Truitt. in Pocomoke City, Nd, and by
10 80 O'Clock that night when it was under
control, almost the entire business portion of
the town was destroyed, including two three
story brick blocks and both hotels The in
surance is stated to be about sIIo,ooo. The
loss will be S225, 900. Pocomoke City is a
town of 1000 inhabitants, situated in Wor
eester county, Nd, on the line of the n. Y,
P, and N. R. R., and on the Pocomoke river
The building where the FIRE originated was
situated in the heart Of the town, and from
the FIRST it was a hopeless case. The bucket
and ladder brigade did all in their power, but
all their efforts proved fruitless. The town
was not provided with any kind of 6re-ap-
paratus, and message was sent to Salisbury
for its department, which responded in one
hour from receipt Of the message. A strong
northwest wind sent the hungry flames leap
ing from one building to another.
From the drug store the fire spread to a
carriage factory, which communicated it to
the postoifice, and the following stores were
then destroyed The store of Townsend &
Stevenson; next a general merchandise
store and then a confectionery store. The
fire next communicated to the large brick
block occupied by l. H. Morrill,, boots and
shoes; Lloyd, Dryden & Blaine, drug store;
E. G. Polk & Co. clothing, boots and shoes;
the millinery store OF Miss Jennie Matthews;
general merchandise store of Smuilen &
Paradee; Stevens & Matthew's dry goods
store, and veasey & Bevins, general mer-
chandise
On the north side of the street the FIRE
struck Blaine & King. general merchandise;
Captain Husted's store, and a dwelling occu-
pied by Mrs DeKay; next the hardware
store of H. & A. B. Davis, and large mil
linery store by Mrs. Payne; then the brick
block Of W. J. Dickinson & Son, f. Fouu-
tain, druggist and another hardware store.
The handsome hotels, the Clark House and
the Parker House, were then burned. The
store of Mr.. School6eld, residence occupied
by Mr.. Stevenson, the new residence of
Alfred Townsend, residence of Clark, and a
number of other houses. Kings livery sta
bles, carriage factory, the printing Offices of
the Times, the Record and Gazette and Pen
iHsulay Ledger, were all burned. This
leaves the town without a paper.
At O'Clock the FIRE was considered to be
under control The entire business portion
of the town is gone, and only two stores re-
main. They are James Clogs and Blaine &
Kings. Only few dwellings were burned,
the bulk of the buildings destroyed being
stores. The people seem to stand their losses
heroically but many are heavy losers. On
the outskirts of the town the sight is one of
great confusion. Loads of goods are lying
around in disorder. When the excitement
is over and the people settle down to the full
realization oftheir losses, the worst showing
will come. In the main centre of the town,
there is nothing standing but tall chimneys
which throw their shadows over the place
once covered by fine buildings.
The officials of the New York, Philadel-
phia and Norfolk railroad at Cape Charles,
as soon as they learned of the FIRE, sent train
with fifty men to help fight the flames
Pocomoke has been unusually lucky in
not having so many fires as her sister towns.
owing to the towns unprotected condition,
and being so closely built, almost entirely of
frame, there was nothing to stay the hand of
destruction.