The Portland daily press., 1892-10-29
SEEN THROUGH THE FLAME.
Incidents of the Resistless March of the
COnfiagration.

| SEEN THROUGH THE FLAME.
Incidents of the Resistless March of the
| Confiagration.
| MILWAUKEE, October 29.-The lower
| portion of the east side of Milwaukee
was a whirlwind of flame tonight. The
burned portion comprises the wholesale
district the Northwestern railway yards
and the gas works. 1t was also thickly
| inhabited by Italians, Poles, Germans
| and Irish, most of whom are poor and
| lost everything. The loss will be be-
| tween 81, 900, 600 and So, 600, 900. The fire
started shortly before 6 o'clock in the
wholesale liquor house of A. Blade &
| Son, on the west side of East Water
street, between Detroit and Buffalo
streets The wind was blowing fully go
miles an hour. As the fire broke through
| the roof, the hurricane caught up the
brands and flung them on the seven
story building of Babb and Kipp on the
corner of Broadway and Buffalo streets.
| Before the engines on the third alarm
could arrive and come into action, the
Kipp building was mass of flames.
| This was the beginning of the fire. The
| sparks were caught up by the gale and
whirled hither and thither and while the
| firemen were fighting bravely in the
| fierce shower they found their efforts
powerless to stay the progress OF the
| f1ames A general alarm was turned in
| bringing the entire fighting force of the
city into action but it was unable to stay
the steady march OF the flames.
From Babb and Kipps the
! fire worked backward to East
Water street but was there held by hard
| fighting, with the fire companies. en-
veloped in smoke and flames, undistin-
guishable except when the wind whirled
the curtain apart at times for a second.
Baked here the flames threw them
selves with renewed vigor on the terri
tory to the eastward and leeward. There
no engines stayed their progress and they
Rioted Down Across Broadway.
stopping for a moment in the block be-
tween that street and Milwaukee
streets. They then jumped over that
and continued in an unimpeded
career toward the lake, half mile away,
carving destruction ruin and despair to
the poor families who were in their path.
These people hurri ed from their homes
carrying with them what they could and
where this was made impossible by the
sudden onslaught of the hurricane of
fire, fled swiftly, not stopping to look
behind, only glad to escape with their
lives. Mixed in with the small wooden
buildings which were the dwelling places
of these unfortunates were huge whole
sale houses. The fire king made no dis
tinction. The territory burned out is in
the shape of a slightly obtuse triangle.
Roughly, it is a space two-thirds OF
mile wide and three-quarters of mile
NJ - Ia 1s,.fa
were repeated. Every street looking
south was filed with fire. Assistance
had been asked from surrounding cities
and Chicago. The efforts of that portion
of the department to the west and north
of the fire had been directed toward
holding it from any retrograde march,
and in this the men were successful.
There were hundreds of cars in the
Northwestern yards lost. The switch
men of the road worked like beavers,
moving as many as possible, going back
and forth
In Storm of Fire and Smoke.
Again and again they went in, returning
with trainsN until the available tracks
were full and the heat drove them away
At II o'clock the fire had eaten its
way down the east side of East Water
street, changing the triangle to square
Here Henry Pembroke, fireman, was
killed by failing walls. The flames
would jump across buildings for a block,
leaving them untouched only to return
later and wipe them out. On Broadway,
south of Chicago street, having met no
resistance, the fire progressed more
rapidly.
The Fourth regiment, under command
of Col, King, was called out to assist in
guard duty. A platoon was sent to the
House of Correction near which institu-
ton the fire was reported raging with no
police there for guard duty. The heavi-
est sufferers will be the poor people
driven out of their homes. On every
hand are accounts of narrow escapes.
Nothing standing in the fire district ex-
tending from Detroit street and Broad
way to the lake except here and there
chimney.
Leading insurance men say that about
half of the loss is covered by insurance.
They estimate the big losses as follows:
Budd d Kipp, furniture, $780, 600; }. E.
Patton e. Co.. oils and paints. $3.50, 600;
Gugler Lithograph Company, 100000;
Eoundy, Beclsham & Co., wholesale pro.
ducts, 100000; II. s. Cheftel
& Co., wholesale grocers, $500, 900;
j. Welmore & Co., wholesale grocers,
| $500. 900; Milwaukee Chair Company,
$3.50. 900; Northwestern freight houses,
contents ond cars, $500, 600; 50 smaller
business houses, $3.50, 900; 800 dwellings
and cottages. $500, 900; Weisel & Vilter,
machinery. 100000; Inbusch Brothers,
groeers, $3.50. 200: total IS, ia, 900.