Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-11-27
A GREAT CALAMITY.
Destructive Work Of Flames at
Lynn, Mass.
MANY ACRES OF PROPERTY BURNED

tion which Wipes Out Business and
Residence Buildings to the Value of
$4,000. ooo-An Eight Hours Contest
with the Fiery Monster.
LYNN, Mas, Nov. 27-Lynn, the city Of
shoes, was yesterday afternoon vitised by the
greatest fire in its history, and with but two
sxcepji ons the most disastrous which has
sver visited New England. The except ions
are the great Boston fire Of 1872, which de-
stroyed between $50, OO00, 900 and So, 0o0, 900
worth Of property, and the Portland fire Of
1855, which caused a loss OF between $40, 600
Do and Sl2OO0OOO Yesterdays fire started
At II IS a m, ragged over eight hours devas-
tatcd a square mile Of the business section Of
the city. and caused loss estimated at
sl0,OoO,OoO In fact, the greater part Of
Ward Is wiped out, as regards the i'm
portant shoe manufacturing blocks and
prominent places of business
How the Fire Started.
The fire started in Mowers wooden build
Ing, on Almont street, over the boiler, and
rpread with such rapidity that the excellent
Dire department Of the city was powerles. to
cope with it. This large wooden building
was soon doomed, and the flames leaped
Hcross a narrow passageway and communi-
rated with the six-story brick block known
as Mowers block When these two buildings
got well under way it was evident terrible
conhagration would result Almost stimuli
taneously the four-story wooden shoe factory
OF Bennett & Barnard, on Central avenue
and the four-story wooden building on AL
mont street caught fire, and when under
way a hurricane Of fame was in progress,
| NH blapghaN Oh -
looking on.
Fighting Against Fate.
For eight hours the flames had full sway,
the efforts of firemen and citizens seemingly
being of no avail The burned territory is
bounded by the following named streets:
Almont, Central avenue at its junction with
Willow street, Union street from its junction
with Broad 10 the Boyden block on both
sides, Mt Vernon street entire: Central
square entire; Beach street on both sides as
far down a. Lees lumber yard, Washington
street from Monroe through to Union. Rail
road avenue, all Of Exchange street, Broad
street from the engine house on both sides up
~ far a. the corner Of Exchange, Spring
street entire; besides dwelling houses too
numerous To mention on Suffolk Amity,
Sycamore and Beach streets.
Aid from Surrounding Towns.
Aid arrived from Boston, Salem, Ma
head and other surrounding towns but the
united efforts seemed 10 have little effect on
the hurricane of flame. Scenes familiar in
the great Boston and Chicago fires were re-
peated IN all their horrors-mothers fleeing
with babes IN their arms, express wagons
loading at business and dwelling houses and
transferring goods 10 places Of safety, In
} many cases a second removal being necessary,
J and the utmost confusion and alarm prevail
ing The excitement increased and became
panic as it became realized that a confag-
ration threatening the entire business quar-
ter was in progress.
Pour Newspapers Burned Out.
After the fire hal been burning two hours
everybody agreed that il would not stop I'M
ill 1t had reached the ocean. and this proved
10 be the ca-e. Four daily newspapers are
burned out-The Item. Bee, Press and News
three afternoon and one morning. Three
national hanks-the Central, Security, and
First Acknowledgements with the Lynn In
stitution for Savings, located in the First
national block are all wiped out Twelve of
the finest shoe blocks in the city are in ruins
aud about twenty-five stores. At this writ
ing II Is impossible 10 say how many dwell
ings are burned. The houses destroyed we're
mostly those occupied by poor people, in the
vicinity of Beach street and the wharvcs II
is impossible yet To estimate the insurance.
but conservative estimates place the loss ON
property at 100000 There were many
narrow escap.7- from serious in juries but no
fatalities are reported. The high brick fire
wall on the &. F. Spinney block served a. a
barrier 20 the further progress of the flames
up Union street after that handsome structure
had been Quilted.
Prominent Blocks Burned.
| The most prominent blocks burned are as
| all III, l.
and the block occupied by the Consolidated Ad-
Unstable Shoe company, Central square and
Central avenue; Bennett q Brainerd's block
Fuller's block, the wooden block in which
was located The Daily Bee. Bergengreen's
block and the brick block owned by The
Daily item. On Union street-B W Cur
rier's new brick block, c. o. Beebes brick
block, r. F Spinney's brick block, n large
wooden building occupied by Titus 4 Buck
ley, Earle's block, J. q. Browns brick block,
Ashcroft's brick block, Kirtland's brick
block, Bufrums brick block the brick facto-
ry owned by c. J. Little & Co, and Cushing
& Downs large wooden block occupied by
c. E. HARDWOOD and D. s. Boynton: the brick
factory building occupied by John S. Bart
lett & Co the brick and wooden block of E
f. Elder, occupied as a machine shop and
planning mill On Exchange street-M II.
Abbotts wooden block, the large Doak brick
block, the wooden block corner Of Spring
street, the brick block occupied by l.. 5.
johnson q Co, the First National bank
block, and ten or twelve small shoe factories
the entire street being wiped out On
Broad street-Sawyer q Chase's carriage
factory. ". y. Breed & Co 5 flve-story brick
block, V X x A II. Jones five-story brick
block, and eight or ten smaller wooden build
ings On Beach Streets " Breed a. Co.'S
/ Inn k.arx .,-fu .,l Il
Sons planning mill, Joseph Broed-' SOM Ium-
Der whnrf, five OF six carpenter shops and
several dwelling houses.
Several Churches DESTROYED.
The Central Congregational church burned
10 the ground between and 7oclock The
handsome First National bank block cost
$4,000 70 build 1t was well insured
Located on the two tOp-stories was the Ok
ford club They had the handsomest club
rooms in Essex county, and their loss is
about e. 90, well insured The First Metho-
dist and First Universalist churches and
several school houses have been thrown open
to accommodate burned-out families Mayor
Newhall has called a special meeting OF the
aldermen to take action and choose relief
committees. $ Y. Breed & Co, the largest
lumber dealers in Essex county, lose every
thing, including their handsome brick
structure at Beach and Broad streets They
estimate their loss at S20O, 600, with about
tl25, 90 insurance. They will open for bust
ness In the morning at the Office Of the 7. A.
Newhall Coal company. Mt. Vernon street
was wiped out entirely On this street were
located the largest brick factories, occupied
by Francis W. Breed, Healy Bros and
William Porter & Son. Goodwin's last fac
tory on this street was also burned,
Burned Itself Out.
Dynamite and powder were used a.
frequent intervals to blow up wooden build
ings, but with little effect The fire virtually
burned itself out, and at 7.3O was con-
sidered under control. Both companies of
the Massachusetts militia located in Lynn
were called out and put ON patrol duty
Several of the shOa manufacturers h,rna1