The morning call., 1893-06-08
Leaping Beyond Human
Control.
NO HELP WAS AT HAND.
The Town of Fargo in Deadly Peril,
and the Fire Is Still
Burning.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

of Fargo Is in ashes. The fire started at
o'clock in a restaurant on Second street
while a strong wind was blowing. At
O'Clock the fire had reached the Grea.
Northern tracks, ten blocks north. cutting
the entire district and spreading three
blocks east to Broadway A strong fight
was made to prevent the flames crossing
to the west side of Broadway, but by
a'clock they had got over in several places.
| The telegraph wires are all burned. so it is
| impossible TO reach Grand Forks or Hills
boro to ask for help. Probably 1000 people
are homeless. The fire also crossed the
river 10 the Moorehead side at the Fargo
| roller mills, which will be burned. Among
the principal firms already burned are
Hersean, dry goods; Cranes restaurant;
Magill, farm machinery; the Northern
Pacific elevator buildings; the Western
| Union telegraph Office; Morton, real estate;
Red River Valley Bank; Daily Forum;
Merchants State Bank, opera house,
| Tyler real estate, John Deering implement
warehouses. Coles livery, Grand Hote'.
Flemng's drugstore, Veder IL Lewis
grocery, Christians drugstore, Sheridan
Hotel, Appel Bros. Minneapolis Dry-goods
Company. logan's studio, American Iron
Works. Continental House and Van
Brunt's implement warehouse.
The strong wind made the fire travel so
quickly that hardly anything was saved
and the flames went through brick build
ings as easily as wooden oueS The loss
will be over S1.OOoOO0 as practically the
business portion of the city is gutted
At 10 o'clock tonight the fire was still
burning in a couple of dozen places. The
ing the flames back on the burned district.
A block in the middle of the city. from
Robert street ard Front south four blocks
wide ana ten blocks long, is biackened
plain of ashes with not dozen buildings
standing.
The fierce south wind drove it like
prairie fire. The brick buildings seemed
10 melt into heaps of crumblng sand and
il was impossible to force enough water
through the mains to fight the fire. A con-
servative estimate of the loss at 10 o'clock
is S3. coo, 000 with not to exceed one-quarter
Insurance. Plenty of help is now there,
Grand Forks, Wshpeton and CasSelton
having sent hose companies.
Over 5000 people are Tonight homeless
and it is impossible TO verify the reports
of accidents. James F. Lynn, the eight
year-old son of a former Alderman, is re-
ported burnt, also three other children
Photographer Gilbert and an unknown
man were cut off from the stairs in the
third story of the Chaplin block, while try
Ing to save some property.
Practically there is only one hotel left in
town-the Headquarters. The ire burnt
all around ii, but so far it has been saved.
There is only one restaurant left in town.
The hotel is already full and large num-
ber of people will sleep in the courthouse
and the schOolhouses on the south side.
President Hill has wired to open the
Grand Pacific Hotel at Moorhead for the
fremen. There are only two grocery
stores left in town.
The fire was started by hot ashes from
the Gem Restaurant thrown out behind
| the place and ieniting some loose paper
back of Hoseman's dry-goods store. Some
body left the front door open and inside
of two minutes the wind drove the flames
through the buildings and out on the roof.
In the next fifteen minutes the flames ran
two blocks west. taking brick buildings
and all, and then jumped across the street
to McGilPa big machinery warehouse.
North and east of this for two blocks
each way are big machinery depots, mostly
two-story wooden buildings, and at this
season filled to the roof with the years
supply of farm machinery for North Da-
kota.
On first one roof and then another
tongues of flame broke out as whiriing
fire flakes settled on the shingles, and in
side Of half an hour the whole space of
four blocks was mass of fame, the prop
erty consumed being valued at 81 100000.
The only machinery houses saved are
Walter A. Woods and the Monitor Press
Drill The fremen tried to confine the
flames south of Northern Pacific avenue,
but failed, and the opera-house block was
soon burned. While the Grand Hotel was
burning to the east the flames shot over
Front street, burning barns and then the
Fargo Forum office. The printers had
just time to lock the forms while the office
force kept back the flames.
1t had been expected that the three
story brick building of the Red River
National Bank would arrest the fire, but
it went in fifteen minutes. The fire
burned rapidly up the east side of Broad
way. but was confined to that side of the
street. 1t then went through the residence
district north of the Great Northern track,
making a clean track five blocks wide,
and fires could be see over mile north
caused by flying cinders.
The wind shifted again and the flames
caught the Minneapolis and Northern
elevator, containing 100000 bushels Of
wheat. the North Side school and the
Great Northern depot, but the flames in
the latter were extineuished. The east
side of Broadway. containing large num-
ber of business houses and the Fargo Re-
publican office, was burned.
The flames, being at last across Broad
way, soon made short work of the two
blocks between Mears' and the Citizens
Bank. Just little further west is the
three. story brick Chaplin block, the four
story Columbia Hotel ana the big brick
Hagman block, occupied by E. NJ Rath-
worth, wholesale grocer.
Three-quarters OF an hour from the time
the Columbia Hotel caught nothing was
standing but the walls. The big brick
Citizens Bank for long time resisted the
flames, but at last they crept west of it
and burned Eliot's Hotel. stopping two
blocks west at the City Hall. which was
gutted. The flames then took shoot
north toward the Great Northern freight
depot, burning the new Methodist church