Evening journal., 1892-04-04
BIG FIRE IN NEW ORLEANS
Flames Lick Up $500, 900
Worth of Property.
THREE F1REMEN FATALLY INJURED

Two Big Connagrations Rage In the City
at the same Time, aud the Fire De
partment Is Powerless TO Check Them. |
Cotton Goes Up In smoke.
NEW ORLEANS, April 4-This city was |
visited Sunday by two Of the worst fires IN
its history. Eleven blocks Of buildings were
destroyed, involving loss Of s3,5OOoOO
Both fires were the result Of carelessness,
and would have been trivial but for the ex-
treme dryness, which was the result Of
long drouth, high wind and the made
quacy of the fire department. The first and
most disastrous Of the fires started in the
! district in which the cotton presses are stu
ated and burned the buildings in the dis
trict bounded by Peters, Front, Thaiia and
Pobins streets A high wind was blowing
at the time and the flames spread with apal-
ling rapidity. A cigarette, dropped care
lessly, caused the fire, which started in the
Fireproof compress The Shippers cotton
press where $1,000 bales Of cotton were
stored was the next TO go, and the Orleans
compress with q, 900 bales soon followed.
Three Firemen Fatally Injured.
While the fremen were combating the
flames in the Orleans compress the walls
suddenly gave way and Captain Dupree,
Lieutenant Shaw and Pipeman Bordeaux
were buried in the ruins All were serious
ly and possibly fatally injured. The Inde-
pendence cotton yards had been engulfed,
and the fire covered an area Of five squares.
The Baldwin Agricultural works and the
Louisiana rice mills, four squares distant,
were ignited by the masses Of burning cot
ton which filed the air, but after hard
fight both buildings were saved without
serious loss.
A panic prevailed in the vicinity OF the
fire, which was close TO the residence dis
trict, and people living many blocks distant
began fleeing for their lives, carrying what
few belongings they could gather up in the.
haste The New Orleans vinegar factory
was completely destroyed The cotton loss
is estimated at about 5000 bales. This
would mean loss Of about g., 225, 900 in
cotton alone. One story Of the fire is that
il was the work Of laborers, who wished to
avenge the purchasing of the presses by the
trust. Tho Fireproof press is owned by the
trust in the name Of Penrose Brothers,
managers. The Orleans press is also in the
trust in the name Of Adam Lorch, manager
The Shippers press is owned by Boyd g.
Herrick, who are not in the trust
stin Another Big Blaze.
In the midst Of the FIRE among the cotton
presses an alarm was turned in for fire in
the residence portion OF the city in the
square bounded by Annunciation, Laurel,
Second and Third streets All of the fire
apparatus was at the big cotton fire, and it
was some time before some Of the engines
from the place could be sent to the scene Of
the new fire. When they eventually reached
there ten buildings were already a mass Of
| flames. Aid was summoned from the other
side Of the river, the handful Of engines in
the meantime being powerless to prevent
the spread Of the heroely roaring flames
All around the neighbOrhood scenes Of
panic and disorder prevailed, and many per
sons barely escaped with their lives 30 rapid
was the spread Of the flames. Residence
after residence was wiped out, and the eff
forts Of the firemen seemed 10 be in vain.
Hundreds Of people are rendered homeless,
and the great majority saved nothing Of
their effects but the clothes they wore.
Mrs. Valentine caused the blaze by trying
TO start fire with coal oil. An explosion
followed, and the house was soon in flames.
II was reported at the time that two chill
dren were killed by the explosion. For
half an hour the fire was a small affair, but
surrounding buildings, which were all
wooden cottages, and in two hours the
flames had swept bare an area of six blocks
in extent, reaching from Magazine street to
Constance crossing. In all 1856 houses were
destroyed. The loss VIII approximate
S5OO,0O0.
The total loss by both fires win be at least
s., 5OO, 900; insurance, S3, SO0,0O0. All Of the
presses destroyed were purchased Saturday
by an English syndicate, but the delivery
had not yet been made, and the loss, there
fore, falls on the presses and not on the syn
dicate.
At one time during the double conhagra-
tion kilograms were sent TO Mobile, Biloxi
and other towns for assistance, but these
requests were afterward withdrawn, as the
engines from those places could not hope tC
reach New Orleans in time. The Algien
fire department came over, however, and
rendered valuable assistance