Rock Island daily Argus., 1889-06-25
FIRE FOLLOWS THE FLOOD.
Johnstown Loses About Thirty Partl
Wrecked RuildinDa

| JOhnstown Loses About Thirty Partly
Wrecked Buildings.
| JoHNsTowN, Pa, June 25.-It was only
due to the direction of the wind that the re-
mains of 10 lnstown were not entirely wiped
out by fire yesterday afternoon. The blaze
| began at l O'clock with the First ward school
house, which stood on the bank of Stony
creek That building stood on the upper side
of the dismal waste which the torrent OF
water swept clear across the town. Close by
the school building, all jumbled up together,
were about thirty buildings, some of them in
a good state of preservation and inhabited.
Next to these houses was street, the only
one not yet cleared of debris, and on the op-
posite side was wide stretch of ground
tightly packed with frame buildings in all
manner OF decrepit attitudes Still further
above were some of the best preserved build
mgs in the city
Powder Explosion.
Had the wind carried the flames in the op-
posite direction fire would have DESTROYED
what the food had left. As it was the fire
caused vei1table panic in the immediate
neighborhood, as it enveloped one house after
another in rapid succession One of the
abandoned houses had been a hardware store
and the expl ,sion of keg of powder in it
| sent the burning roof flying in fragments,
thus increasing the danger
A Successful Fight.
Men were put to work smothering the bon
fires that stretched across the open SPACE
with earth, and in this manner cut off the
fires line of communication to the threat
ened buildir gs, whose occupants were al
ready remov ng the remnants of their fur
niture. THIS banking the bonfires with
earth, and the veering of the wind so that the
burning embers were carried into Stony
creek, ended the danger In this direction
Where the Damage Was Done.
On the other side the fire met no opposition
until it had reached the ruin-packed street.
The militia and gang of laborers worked
hard on clearing the street and then tore
down number Of houses on the opposite
side. By this time the streams of water from
the fire engines had their effect and the fire
was under control after burning for two
hours, but twenty five or thirty houses were
in ashes
They Were Ready to Move.
The whole population of the valley turned
out to watch the conflagration, and so gen
eral became the belief that everything re-
naming would go up in smoke that in all
directions people were loading their effects
on wagons pr eparatory to fleeing to the hills
The money loss will be about S35 900. The
fire was caused by three small boys setting
fire to pile Of rubbish.
An Explosion in His vaIi.e.
An Italian vas arrested in the laborers'
camp last evening with large valise in
which was concealed seven ne-pound sticks
OF dynamite stolen from Arthur Kirk, the
dynamiter. Loose in the valise with the
explosive was found quantity of knives,
forks, spoons etc, relics of the flood A
local magistrate fined the fellow S., and
confiscated his valise and contents The sol
diers then chased aim out of the camp
Col. Shephard's Generosity.
Last evening Clara Barton, of the Red
Cross society, asked Gen. Hastings for trans
portation for wenty five of the more desti-
tute people, largely females, to Asbury
Park, N. j., where Col. Elliott F. Sheppard,
of The Mail al Express has offered to main
tain them for a month. Gen Hastings
promptly furn she'd the tickets
Relieving the Relief Committee.
A. j. Moxham, general manager of the
Johnstown Fail company, gave notice
yesterday that after next Saturday the peo-
pie in his employ will not he on the relief
list This was paralslled by a notification
from the East Conemaugh authorities that
their people were in no further need of re- |
lief