, 1891-05-17
HUNDREDS HOMELESS.
Muskegon, Mich, Visited by a
Disastrous Fire.
Twenty-Five Blocks of Build
ings Swept Away.
The Inhabitants Able to Save
but Very Little.
Financial Loss Estimated at
Half a Million.


hushEdoN' MICH May Twenty
two squares OF business buildings and
dwellings were swept away tonight by the
most d;sastrous fire MrsL.oon hoe w.
TlNeN
seen u s'aIteu Al Z'oo In the
LaunkoWe hotel barns, Just oil Pine
street, and, aided by a strong wind, swept
with li~Rbtpipglike ran,ditv ten blocks nm
D. $3.50 - $50 -
~ " onei ousLnesS
Streets % 'he CITY. lhen' by a sudden
SHIFT of the wind. the flames were driven
toward Terraye ayenpc ono ot tho 6nes,
ros;dorce s,raa,s :, h 10, L. -
- - "Ne ."eS
swept uncheckeu unth the southern
portion OF the city was reached. where the
buildings we're not so close together.
Tbera the Gramen a;dsd bv e,a;no. .,a
- 60 -
men ir'n ptSnu hapius' suoceeueu IN
getting the flames under control, although
at a late hour some buildings we're still
burning ~fiercely. twenty-five blocks
are devastated. Pine street business
houses for ten blocks are entirely wiped
ont.
Among the most valuable blocks we're
the Pine Street house. Philabourn block.
ECkeTulhu : ITuR SUITE. hldtIneW w ISO0 \
residence. Sedgwick's wholesale store.
McMichael's shoe store, Launkowell no.
tel. No l,ss than $50 residences. includ-
inc some of the 6nest IN the citv arc in
ashes. The 500 600 court bonse was
Quilted. but the public ~cumen were
saved. The prisoners in the county iall.
which occupied the basement of the court
house, were liberated. Several cows and
horses were burned and n little child
sleeping in the L~aunkowell hotel barns
where the fire started. is missing. A con-
sentative estimate places the total loss at
over $500. 900.
Hundreds of families who were rem
dered homeless are being cared for by
people in the portion of the CITY which
escaped the visitation. The scene on the
streets tonight is terrible. Homeless
people are running frantically about.
making endeavors to save some little nor
ton of their most valuable effects which
had been dragged from their houses. bnt
in most cases the spread of the flames
was so rapid that, as in the case of the
great Chicago fire. little or nothing could
be carried away. Above the cries of
women and children and the shouting of
men could be hear the explosion of dvna-
mite used by fremen to blow up buildings
in hope of STAYING the progress of the
flames, and again a heavy conclusion as
the boiler IN some business building would
explode scattering the debris in all direc-
lions.
The fremen lsbored under difficulties
from the start, the gale which was blow
ing scattering huge blazing brands far
beyond where the men we're working and
causing new fires to spring up constantly.
Among the sad incidents was the death
OF Harry Stevens. He was i'll with
pneumonia, and when the flames ap-
preached the house had to he moved.
The shock was too great and he died
while being conveyed to a place of safety.
Tonight women and children of the
poorer classes wander homelessly along
the streets, moaning and weeping over
their losses. if the city authorities do
not Immediately Interpose and make some
arrangements to house the homeless ex
treme suffering viii certainly follow.
The first residence vicinity that fell h
victim to the fire was that commonly
called The Sawdust," inhabited mostly
by laboring people. This, in a htlle
while, was completely devastated. At
and the business nortton of Pine .trea,