Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-18
RAPACIOUS FLAMES.
A Disastrous Confagration
in New Orleans.
Rows Of Big Business Blocks
Destroyed.
The Fire Department Compelled to
Fight Against Odds.
Nearly Ss,OOO,OOO Worth of Property
Destroyed Before the Enemy Was
Subdued-No Loss OF Life
Reported.
Associated Press Dispatches.

Associated Press Dispatches.
New ORLEANS, Feb. 17.-At II O'Clock
tonight fire Quilted the dry goods store
of Schwartz & Sons, corner of Canal and
Bourbon streets. The heat was so great
that the fremen could not get near the
burning building. The fire then spread
to adjoining buildings, and soon Wore
lein's music store, Cluvier's drug store,
Runkle's dry goods, McCloskey, confec-
tionery; Kuhn, fancy goods; Kregger,
fancy goods, the nickle plate shoe store;
Quibble. fancy goods; Kraus Bros, no
tions; Hoffman, worsteds; Brill's SAXON
and Wagner's saloon were consumed.
Schwartz's establishment was a. COM
manding structure. only recently COM
pleted, being four stories high, Of brick,
iron and stone, with mansard roof, sur
mounted by high clock tower.
At 10 15 waiter in restaurant on
the opposite side of the street perceived
a small tongue of fame licking it's way
along the cornice of the roof of the
Schwartz building, and hastened to
give the alarm. The department re-
sponded promptly, but experienced
great difficulty in getting to work, and
the whole edifice was ablaze before a.
stream could be brought to bear upon
it. The flames spread backward
to Kraus Bros establishment
and across Bourbon street to
Cluvier's drug store simultaneously, and
the department found itself powerless
to cope with the destroyer, and the
suburban engines were pressed into
service.
Backward the fire. spread to Hoff-
mans. To the left it attacked Werlein's,
and crash followed upon crash as falling
roofs overburdened the floors beneath,
already heavily laden with stocks Of
merchandise, and each gave way in turn
until the interior fixtures OF the stores
and their contents were piled in blaz-
ing heap on the ground floor. Stripped
of all support, the walls OF the Schwartz
building toppled and fell, and the We
lein building quickly followed. IT.
The building on the river side oi
Bourbon street crushed in soon alter
and full half square of the most val
liable property in the city was smok'
ing mass of ruins.
A breeze arose to fan the flames, and
they attacked their prey with renewed
vigor. On the opposite side of Bourbon
street, the Claverias building was the
first to collapse, and carried with it the
walls of RunkePs establishment. Nc
Closkey's confectionery was, mass oil
seething flame; Kreger's building was
also burning fiercely.
The Nickel-plate shoe store interviewed
to save the main entrance to D. HI.
Holiness immense establishment on
Canal street, and that portion of the
store was but little damaged. The Bour-
bon-street entrance to the Holmes build
ing, however, Jared worse. The massive
plate glass windows and weather doors
were shattered to atoms, and the more
infammable portions of the stock thus
exposed caught fire in asmoment.
This was long before the fire depart
ment was fairly at work, and tons of
water were poured upon the burning
material before the flames showed the
first symptoms OF yielding.
On Canal street, east of Bourbon, they
met an impossible barrier in the mass
i've Touri buildings, which adjoin Wer-
Inns, and though the roofs of all the
stores comprising the row were more
than once afire, the flames could make
no progress against the sturdy masonry
The new Cosmopolitan hotel and the
adjoining structures, which front on
Royal street, just off Canal, and run
back into the center of the block, caught
fire in the rear, and it required the ut
most efforts of the fremen to save
them. Isl
The promptness with which the vari-
GUS electric circuits, running through
the heart of the city, were shut off, pre-
venting fatalities, and the only accident
noted is the injury to fireman, caused
by flying debris.
Schwartz's stock, valued at over $500, i
600, was insured for $500, 1000 and the
building for $35, 900, considerably below
its value. Holmes's stock was insured
for. half million and worth nearly twice
as much, but the damage to it is not
thought to be very great. Cluverius
carried $4,000 on his stock. and the
others were insured in proportion.
Every insurance company in the city
has about an equal share OF the loss.
Most of the buildings destroyed were
newly erected and collectively thought
to be worth a quarter of million dol
lars. Many other buildings, with their
contents, were badly damaged. 1t is
impossible to obtain full details of the
losses and insurance tonight.