The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-11-23
Marks the Spot Where Business
Houses Stood
SPRINGFIELD'S GREATEST FIRE
Resulted In n Loss of from o500.000 to
97OO.OOO-Work of Rebuilding to Be
Begun at Once by tho Chief Sufferers
from the Flames.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Nov. %. The losses
by the fire which ragged for five hours in
the heart OF the city destroying six busi-
ness blocks and one hotel. are now esti-
mated at from $500. 900 to s7Oo, ,0c0. and are
about two-thirds covered by insurance.
1t was dismal but still thrilling pic
ture that the cold light OF daybreak re-
vealed to the spectators who stood con-
tentedly in the drizzling rain on all sides
of the burned area. The flames no longer
leaped fercely skyward. but had been
tanned down to comparative mildDess, and
the smoke was much less dense in quantity
and color.
OF the home and store of j. w. Webber
and the four blocks adjoining, only piled
up and smouldering heaps Of brick, iron
and timber remained. or the Glendower
hotel all that was left was the ominous
looking fragment Of the corner facing the
postofiice building on Worthington street,
portion of the party wall, and towards
the east aud south portions Of the rear and
side walls. All else was smoking heap
of debris
A steady and disagreeable drlzzle of rain
was falling, and torrents of water poured
down the stairways of the Wight build
jngs 1t was mud aud water everywhere
in the vicinity of the ruins. Main street
from Worthington almost to Bridge street
was sorry spectacle. The pavement and
the east sidewalk were lost to sight under
mass of brick, stone, charred and
splintered woodwork and fragments Of
what had been once plate-glass windows.
Tangled lengths of electric light and troll
ley wires were coiled among the debris
like serpents.
Street Choked Up.
Worthington street was in even worse
condition. From one side to the other IL
was an almost impossible mass OF debris,
and where the fallen fragments OF build
ings had left space stood pools Of water.
The thousands OF spectators on the post
Office steps aud every point of vantage,
kept in check by the police lines, formed
an interesting background, and over all
hung like a pail leaden-hued clouds.
No time was lost in setting Main street
partly to rights. AS soon as daylight
made work possible large force of men
were set at work clearing away the debris
ard the street railway company gathered
up its tangled and broken trolley wires
Street car traffic was at q complete stand
still at first, but after while the company
sent a number Of cars to the rescue.
The corner towering aloft In melancholy
grandeur all that was left of the front Of
the Glendower attracted a considerable
share of the attention of the spectators, ex-
pecting to see it fall. But its liability to
totter and crash down at any moment
made il dangerous, and the firemen de-
cided that it must coma down.
So the aerial ladder was swung against
it, touching at point few feet below it's
top, ard two flremen mounted the ladder
and threw rope around the fragment.
This done, the men on the ground pulled
with will aud the column crashed, rails
ing a cloud OF dust in the debris below.
James L. Able will begin to rebuild at
once. The ruins of the Glendower hotel
will be replaced by $75.0O0 block, also for
hotel PURPOSES