Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-11-03

wy N'SilliiF1 ilSttllil iilAtlt'NAo ~ tt'S
Light Horse Squadron aud Fourth Bat
TALON. They will assist the police force
in guarding property.
There is no telling, ut this hour, (11.05
o'clock what the extent Of The fire will
be. 1t is extending south Of broadway
bridge and backing up Detroit street at
the river frontand at the lake.
UNDER CONTROL AT MIDNIGHT.
Engines from Racine and kenosha
are playing on the fire at points where
they can do the most good They left
the trains south of the fire, and did
much TO confine it to the north bank of
the river below the turn at Walkers
Point bridge. At 1l.45 Chief Foley
announces that the fire is under control.
MILWAUKEE, WIS, oct. 29.-When
the sun came up out of Lake Michigan
this morning he shed no light upon the
western portion of Milwaukee. There
was q brighter light there than he could
furnish and it had been there for 10
long hours and it will be there still
when he has done good days work
and gone to rest These 10 hours We're
big with the fate of Milwaukee. In them
was crowded the destruction of what
will take as many months to rebuild
and much of the work wrought by the
flames can never be repaired.
At 90 minutes Of 6 o'clock last night
an oil barrel exploded from some I'M
known cause in the store occupied by
the Union Oil Company, at No. 215
East Water street, and the fire spread
over IL blocks of business buildings and
residences, over 800 buildings in all,
caused the loss Of four lives, and des-
troyed property valued at SG 100000. 1t
is now entirely under control, but the
ruins in places are burning icrcely,
and it will be several days before the
last spark nf tile fire is extinguished.
When the fire broke out in the store
of the oil company the majority Of the
engines of fhe fire department were at
work IN other parts Of the city, there
being ut the time less than three separ-
ute fires burning in different parts Of the
city. These fires were comparatively
insignificant in themselves, but the part
they played in the fierce tragedy which
has desOlated 81 large portion of the
city was important for the engines were
delayed so long that it was fully 20
minutes after the first oil barrel had eX-
plodcd before the first engine came rat
Ting up to the front of the East Water
street building, and it was 45 minutes
before the fire was confronted by a force
thought TO be sufficiently large TO hold
it in check, TO say nothing of subduing it.
When the firemen first gaZcd upon
the store Of the Union Oil Company il
was
A ROARING FURNACE OF FLAMES
through which in rapid success could
be heard the noises of the exploding oil
barrels within. Long tongues Of fire
were leaping across the street and lick
ing the front of the building upon the
opposite side of the street. The tiremer
fought we'll, however and within an
hour had crowded the fire back and
thought the day was their own. At GAO
however,
THE ROAR OF ANOTHER EXPLOSION
was heard and the fire leaped up more
tiercely. Directly opposite the store o.
the Union Oil Company was that o.
| Dahmeycr q Co., who also carried {
large stock of oil, and there was frolit
| for the flames, which roared through
the large four-story building with ;
vigOr that deted all efforts to check o.
control them.
AMONG THE HOMES OF THE POOR.
Then the fire spread with rcsistles
fury. The people who reside in tina
part of the town are Of the poor classes
| There are no fine residences there, anC
most of the buildings were small one
story and two-story frame houses. They
| a., e., fla
rushed toward them with a velocity
which left them time to escape will
nothing but their lives and what the!
had upon their backs After the fire hat
crossed Broadway many of the peopl
fled from their houses to look ut thu
beautiful rolling mountains of flames
These same people never went into thei
houses again. The fire was upon then
before they could do it. The wind wa
still carrying the
m MASS OF SETTLING FLAME
on toward Lake Michigan, III direc
line with the starting point, and Chic
of Police Janson ordered his entire fore
to the fire, where they assisted in get
ting out the furniture and household
goods of the luckless families who wer
forced to flee from the path cut out b.
the flames. Dozens of frame building
along Milwaukee and Jefferson streets
between Detroit and Chicago, as wei
as Buffalo and Chicago streets, wer
licked up as if they had been outline
of paper. All these buildings were con
sumed within half an hour of the tim
when the flames leaped over Broadway
THE RAILROAD BUILDINGS.
Suddenly the wind turned around
Where it was northeast when the fir
alarm rang, il was now almost du
south, cutting out broad avenue o
destruction toward the Milwaukee rive
and Lake Michigan. In its path Ia
the big freight sheds and the yards q
the Chicago IL Northwestern roa(
together with the round house and il
valuable contents of rolling stock. Tn
) end of the freight shed on the corner q
Chicago and Jefferson streets was tn
first to ignite, and the flames soon sprea
all over the yards, burning freight car
and everything before it. Fifteen lon
trains Of freight cars stood on the NORTH
western tracks,
WHEN a lifILow OF FIRE
leaped across Van Buren, street an
touched the south end of the freigh
house. In second almost u millio
dollars worth of railroad property wa
destroyed. The low brick freight hous
stayed the onward sweep of the flame!
but only for a moment. Through til
square windows the rcd glow could i
seen, and u moment later shower {
burning cinders tloatcd away towar