Evening journal., 1893-08-09
THE RUINS OF SNOW HILL
Seventy-six Houses Were
Burned to the Ground.
RELIEF FUND MAY BE NECESSARY

the Peninsula Visit the Ruins-Three
Hotels, One Church, Three Newspaper
Omces and Two Banks swept Away,
Together with Many stores and DWELL
ings-Total Loss $780, and Only
SO, 600 Insurance-rhree Stores Left.
Snow HILL, Nd, Aug 9.-Hundreds
Of people from all sections of the PENN
sula are here to-day viewing the ruins
and sympathizlng with the sufferers from
one of the worst fires ever occurring on
the Eastern Shore. When discovered at
the midnight hour the flames were gain
ing rapid headway in the second story Of
the Dryden building, and fifteen minutes
from the time of discovery Of the FIRE II
burned through the roof and rear end of
the building. Then the mammoth drug
store of P. D. Cottingham & Co., on the
one side, and B. 7. Smiths clothing store,
on the other, caught fire. Very soon all
three buildings were burning furiously,
and the people realized that the business
portion Of Snow Hill was doomed and
hard work would have to be done to save
the resident portion Of the town.
Men, women and children wrung their
hands in despair, and men who are noted
in less stirring times for their coolness
and bravery, ran about in an aimless
manner and were so panic stricken that
they did not know what they we're doing.
Whistles were blowing, church bells
pealing out the fire alarm, and pande
monium reigned. The town has no fire
apparatus and its only dependence was
the bucket brigade"
Burning OF the Court House.
Storehouse after storehouse was licked
up by the flames Merchantsj were en-
deavoring to save such Of their goods as
they could get out Of their stores and car
rying them to places Of safety, every kind
Of vehicle being pressed into service for
the purpose. The Court House yard was
thought to be safe place for storing
goods, and thither nearly every one ran
with arms full of dry goods, furniture,
clothing and every conceivable kind OF
merchandise. But this afterward proved
to be a costly error, for everything
placed in the Court House yard was to 20
up in smoke.
Pearl Street Ablaze.
The flames leaped across to the big dry
goods store Of Richardson, Smith, Moore
& Co and j S. Price & Co., on the east
and west corners Of Green and Pearl
streets, and building after building Oh
both sides Of Pearl street was soon
ablaze. The fire rushed on until il
reached Market street and began to con.
sumo the Democrat Messenger news
paper Office on one side OF the street and
the old National Hotel on the other.
The hotel, a large wooden building,
rearing high up in the air and sur
rounded by porches, furnished, excellent
fuel and was soon all ablaze, the flames
from it shooting over to the cupola OF
the Court House, which ignited and soor
the interior Of the old temple Of justice
was on FIRE. The building was destroyed
except its walls, which are standing.
Around on the north side Of th,
/ square the Washington Hotel, owned by
Levi A. Purnell, was on FIRE. In lesl
than one hour from the time the alarm
Of FIRE was made the whole square be-
tween Pearl and Washington streets
| huu OItrn dIu In1dIhtl ollttl6 WAS III 4
solid blaze, and the fire was making
. rapid headway northward from its start
= ing point toward the POcOmoke rive
and The saw and planning mills o
Smith, Moore & Co. and John Jane
|. Collins, located along the bank of tn
river.
Work of the Bucket Brigade.
The fire was checked in this directio
by the heroic efforts of the "bucke
brigade" directed by Colonel job
Walter Smith, who fought the FIRE unit
he was soaking wet and exhausted
Register Of Wills Thomas d. Purnell'
d house, the residence of Lieutenant Top
Il pan, Wilson's Hall. J. Parker Smith
q store, Burbage & Comers undertaken
4 establishment, Stephen L. Purnell
store and w d. Corddry g. Sons
manufacturers Of sash, doors, ETC., wei
q saved by this stubbornly fought bait
j. OF Colonel Smith and those who glad
listened to MS directions aud prompt
Is obeyed them.
"a But ths fire still ragged to the soutl
east. r. j. McAllen & Bro. s grocel
and confectionery store, which was OF
s. Of the finest storehouses in the town, WI
n ablsze and the large dwelling house
Mrs. Ellen Robins near by, tenanted
n Walter W. Hurlock, was meeting wi
III the same fate. The jail, which was
brick structure like the Court Hous
ds caught ON fire about the same time tn
the temple of justice was besieged
the roaring flames, and was destroyed
Incidents of the Fire.
ks o. NJ. Purnell no doubt saved ma
=" residences In the southeastern section
=, the town by using force pump in
Oi ard to which was attached one hundi
IN feet of hose. He kept his buildin
'pt well wet with water and the fire v
checked at his residence. The Maken
al Memorial Presbyterian Church caught
=. FIRE several times as also did the re
dences Of l.. Edward Bolton and HorI
m Payne, but each time the fire was
Rio out before It did much damage.
Ter What Is Left.
r'n Only three stores were left in
town-those Of Captain j. Parker Smi
ner Stephen L Purnell and William Hor
but with commendable pluck
energy several Of the merchants '
suffered the heaviest losses have alre
ent telegraphed to Baltimore for goo