Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-11-03

"hS was La anu llc AbAl ii
ing wave of fire swept across the street
and descended on the buildings oppo-
site. In a moment they were wrapped
in flames.
Thousands CT streams Of water could
not stay the confiagraton in its march
of destruction toward the lake.
The walls of the three-story brick
building on Broadway formerly occu-
pied by the Cracker Trust, then vacant.
began to totter and warning voices
urged the crowd back Just in time.
The whole front of the building pitch
ed into the streets. A few moments
laterf the sides fell out with a crash.
People IN that part OF the third ward
realized that their homes were doomed.
There was stampede OF residents in.
TO the streets, all armed with furniture
cats, dogs and all manner of household
utensils and bedding and vehicles OF
every description were hulTying away
with belongings OF the people whose
homes We're soon to be III flames.
Meanwhile the flames had gone over
the ground they had formerly missed
III the store OF j. Z. tissinger Il Co.
and the Milwaukee Art Glass works Ill
The opposite block, in which il had
originated. The WeIlaur block, seven
stories nigh, was soon in flames with the
Milwaukee Chair Co.'S vacant buildin-
owned by the Phster q NogeI IeaLue1
Co., and the wholesale grocery store OF
Roundy Peckham 4 Co., and ali on
Broadway. The next building to sue
cumb was the National DistlIliug co. S uI
Buffalo street.
The wind WAS still WhirIing Tie
seething nameS on toward Lake AIichi-
gan III a direct line with its startina
point, and u scramble began. Chief OF
l. OA1SN CGL4AHcS44 O1uC4Ch IAlC S4ll1S 1O1CE
to the TIRE, and they assisted III getting
! out the furniture aud household goods
| OF the luckleSs families, who Were
forced TO fee from the path cut out by
! the flames.
| Dozens Of frame buildings along Mil
! y1roIgl.aa and IaffaTSpn St1AatS infuanT
Detroit and Chicago, as well as those
on Buffalo and Chicago streets, were
Tapped up as if they had been paper
All of these buildings We're consumed
within half an hour of the time when
! the fame leaped over Broadway and
started i'll the WeQauer block.
! Suddeny the wind swept around
as UNEXPECTEDLY as before. While it
was northeast when the first alarm
rang, it was now almost due south,
, cutting out broad avenue of destruc-
: ton toward the Milwaukee river and
Lake Michigan. In its path lay the
( big freight sheds and cars Of the Chi
cugo & Northwestern railroad, together
with {. rOundhouse and its valuable
contents OF rolling stock The end of
i the freight sheds at the corner OF
jefferson and Chicago streets was the
first to ignite and flames soon spread
all over the yards, burning freight cars
and everything before it. The company
soon had Il force at work saving the
property. Locomotives and many
freight cars We're soon taken out of
harms way.
Having cut its path over to Jackson
street from Broadway, the fire was now
following the south wind down Broad.
way, down Jefferson street, down SIiL
Waukee street, along Broadway it swept
to the Waisla 4 Bolderman manufac-
turing company's plant at Chicago
street and to the No. 10 engine house
+ on Broadway.
When it reached the Weisel & Bolte
plant, the department had perpetrated
, an attempt to cut it off with dynamite
Three Kegs were placed in the building
having been stored there to wait the
coming flames As each went off in
close succession cry went up from
thousands who blocked the streets for a
radius of a mile that the gas works had
| exploded. 1t was about $50 O'Clock
! when the first building on the northeast
plant began to burn. The Gas Works
occupied a territory bounded by Mil
waukee, Menominee and Erie streets
and the ally between Jefferson and
Jackson streets. The Gas went out in
many parts of the city and it was fear
ed the works We're doomed, but at i
o'clock the great oil tanks were still
intact.
Bethel home near the gas works
caught fire soon after. Wirth & Ham
mels livery stable on Broadway, con
tanning hundreds of horses was in the
path of the flaming cyclone. Some of
the horses were taken away, but many
were burned. The Laura Catlin kinder
garter also succumbed despite dyna-