St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-27
ONE WARD WIPED OUT
Lynn, the City Of Shoes, Wis
tied by a Disastrous Con-
flagration.
A Square Mile Of the Business
Section Of the City
Burned.
The Loss Is Estimated at
About Ten Millions OF
Dollars.
Hundreds Of People Homeless
and Many Business Firms
Almost Ruined.

LYNN, Mass, Nov. 26.-Lynn, the
city of shoes, was visited this afternoon
by the greatest fire in its history, and
with two exceptions the contlagratiOn is
the most disastrous that has ever Wis
tied New England. The exceptions are
the great Boston fire of 1870, which de-
stroyed between S75,OCO,000 and $780,
0O0.0u0 worth of property, and the Port
land fire of 1866, which caused a
loss of between s1O,CCO,OOO and
81, 100000. TO-day'S fire started
at 1855 a. H., ragged over eight hours,
devastated square mile of the business
section of the city, and caused a loss
estimated at about Sl0.000,000. In fact,
the greater part of the Fourth ward is
wiped out, as regards the important
Accommodating blocks and prom
inent places of business. The fire start
ed in Mowers wooden building on AL
mont street. over the boiler. and spread
with such rapidity that the fire depart
ment of the city was
POwERLESS TO COPE WITH 1T.
This large wooden building was soon
doomed, and the flames leaped across a
narrow passageway and communicated
with the six-stOry brick block. known as
Mowers block. When the ire in these
two buildings got well under way it was
evident that a terrible cOnflagratiOn
would result. Almost simultaneously
the fOnr-story wooden shoe factory
of Bennett & Barnard, Oh Central
avenue, and the fOur-story wooden
building Oh AlmORt street caught fire,
and after a time hurricane of flame
was in progress, which blanched the
cheeks of all the spectators. For eight
hours the flames had full sway, the
efforts of firemen and citizens seemingly
being of no avail, although of course
they did valuable work. The burned
territory includes and is bounded by the
following streets:
Almont, Central avenue, at its junction
with Willow; Union, from its junction with
with Broad to the Boyden block on both
sides; Mount Vernon street, entire: Beach, on
both sides as far down as Lees lumber yard;
Washington, from Monroe through to Union:
Railroad avenue; all of Exchange street;
Broad, from the engine house, both sides ND
as far as the corner of Exchange; Spring
street entire; besides dwelling houses too
numerous to mention on Suffolk, Amity, Sag
amore and Beach streets.
Aid arrived from Boston, Salem, Mar
blehead and surrounding towns. but
their united efforts seemed to have little
effect on the hurricane of flames.
Scenes of the great Boston and Chicago
fires were repeated in all their horrors.
Mothers fleeing with babes in their arms.
express wagons loading at business
and dwelling houses and transferring
goods to a place of safety. in many
cases a second removal being neces-
sary. After the fire had been in prog
resS two hours. everybody declared it
would not stop until it reached the
ocean. So it looked. and so it proved to
be the case. Four daily newspapers are
burned out, the Item. Bee. Press and
News, three of which are issued in the
afternoon and one in the morning.
Three national banks. the Central. Sc
curitv and First National, together
with the Lynn institution for savings,
located in the First National block,
are all wiped out. Twelve of the
finest shoe blocks in the city are in
ruins. and twenty-five stores. At this
writing it is impossible to state how
many dwelling houses are burned.
They were mostly occupied by the poor
class in the vicinity of Beach street and
the wharves. 1t is impos to give
any estimate of the insurance, out con-
servatIve estimates place the loss on
property at
TEN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
There were many narrow escapes
from accidents. hut no fatalities are re-
ported. The high brick fire wall on the
B. Z. Spinner block served as barrier
to the further progress of the flames up
Union street after that handsome
structure was Quilted. The most prOmi
nent blocks burned are as follows:
Almont Mowers block and the
block occupied by the Consolidated Adjusta-
bic Shoe company. Continental square and
Central avenue-bennet & Barnand's block
full of stock; The wooden block IN which
was located the Daily bee; Begen Green's
block; the brick block. and block owned by
riers new brick block; c. o. Bee
be's brick block, F. A. Pinney's brick
block, large wooden building occupied
by Titus q Buckley. Earl's block. j. G.
Browns brick block. Ashcrofts brick block,
Kirkland brick block. Buffum brick block,
brick factory occupied by c. j. Little q Co.,
and Cushing & Downs large wooden build
ing, occupied 10y C. f. Ilarwood &D.S. Boynlon;
the brick factory occupied by John 5. Bart
lett & Co., and the wooden block OF E. E.
Eeler. occupied as u machine shop and plan
ing mill On Exchange street-M BaiDitt's
wooden block. the large Doak brick block,
the wooden block corner of Spring
street. the, brick block occupied by
L. S. johnson company, the First
National bank block, and ten or
twelve small shoe factories. the entire street
being wiped OFT. On Broad Street-Sawyer
& Chase's carriage factory. W. y. Breed &
Co.'S five-story brick block, V. K A. II. Jones
ive-st0y brick block, and eight or ten
smaller wooden buildings. On Beach Street
Breeds & Co.'S lumber wharf and planning
mill, ID. Potter Sons planlng mill Joseph
Breeds Sons lumber wharf, five or six car
pen,er shops and several dwellings.
The Central Congregational church
burned to the ground between 6 and z
o'clock. The handsome First National
Bank block cost $4,000 to build. 1t is
well insured. Located on the two top
stories was the Oxford club, which had
the handsomeSt club rooms in Essex
county. Their loss is about $1,000. with
a good insurance. The First Methodist
and First UniverSaliSt churches and
several school houses have been thrown
open to accommodate the burned-Out
families. Mayor Newhall has called a
special meeting of the aldermen to take
action and appoint relief committees.
S. n. Breed & Co., the largest lumber
dealers in Essex county, lose every
thing, including their handsome
brick structure on the corner of Beach
and Broad streets. They estimate their
loss at 5000. 600; insurance at about s125,-
600. They will open for business in the
morning at the Office of L. A. NeWhali
& Co. Mount Vernon street
WAS WIPED OUT ENTIRELY,
On this street was located the large