Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-01-12
cre., Fire At the Worlds Fair.

Probably no more magnificent yet terri
| fving spectaele has eyer been witnessed
this side Of the Atlantic. 1t was long after
dark when the belated people returning
| from work TO their homes in the southern
suburbs along the elevated railroad, famll-
| lar to hundreds of thousands of Worlds
fair visitors, noticed constantly enlarging
column of fire and smoke ascending sky
ward in the east.
THE Worlds fair is on fire" was the cry,
| and few. indeed, of the fascinated watchers
| from the train windows alighted until the
famous terminal at the exposition grounds
was reached. Directly past the scene oi
the frightful fire of the cold storage ware
/ house. where scores of firemen lost their
lives during the fair, hundreds of speeta-
tors hurried from the trains into the cele-
brated court of honor. There, suddenly
the conhagation came into full view.
Whirlwinds of blazing embers were being
| carried from the end of the court of honor
| furthest from the Administration building
high over the mammoth roof of the liberal
arts building, the lBrgest structure on
earth. The great golden statute OF the
republic could be seen lifting her liberty
cap defiantly aloit through the clouds OF
smoke and flame.
The fire had been burning less than an
hour when a thunderous crash of falling
timber and a tremendous shout from the
crowd announced the collapse of the peri
style. A moment later another terrific
veil from the crowd told that the liberal
art building had caught fire and that the
whole exposition was threatened.
A dramatic incident marked the destruc-
tion of the peristyle. One of the ladders
hearing ND a group of fremen fell with the
columns and one If the heroic fire lighters
went down to death, while number Oh
others suffered injuries more or less re-
| we're.
The sky was livid, brilliant at this time
with falling sparks, many OF which leii
away to the north, showering the roofs OF
the art palace, woman's building, and the
various state structures with fire, Ever'
train and street car added momentarily
thousands Il the throngs of people, and but
for the terrifying spectacle and the danger
to life and property it seemed as II the
greatest gala night of all at the Worlds
fair was on in all it's glory.
The fire started in the casino just east OF
the agricultural building and south OF the
peristyIe. The casino was quickly devour-
ed and the flames surged north on the top
of the poristyle and, dropping, made sec
ond line of fire along the base of the col
umns. The flames then sprang through
the music hall which corresponds at the
north end of the peristyle to the casino at
the south While the fire was burning
there was one of the most singular and
fascinating sights of the night. Along
the top of the peristyle were scores OF stat
utes. The spectacle for those people for
tunate enough to be on the moving side
walk just east of the peristyle was that OF
succession of gigantic human beings
plunging, one after another, headlong into
the waters of the lake below.
The origin of the fire is said to be re-
venge on the part of couple of tramps.
The solitary guard in the music-hall says
that Just before the flames broke out he
kicked two vagabonds out of the music
hall and told them to find quarters else
where. They left in the direction OF the
casino, and soon after the fire broke out
and everything on the grounds was terror
and confusion.
Fears of looting added to the horror OF
the scene. At about 10 o'clock, with a
possible loss of about 81 100000 by fire in
the manufacturers building alone, the au-
thorities began to realize that large ele-
ment in the crowd was composed of ldlers,
who. once started in lawlessness it would
be hard to control. Such preparations as
could be hurridly made were set in motion
TO remove goods, and guard other build
ngs but all such efforts were the merest
child's play. The utter hopelessness OF
such attempts on short notice was made
apparent at once. The few officers on
guard could hardly do more than shut their
ewes and grit their teeth, hoping against
nope that the flames would speedily be
stayed.
The spectators at this time, partly 70
guard their lives and prevent wholesale
robbery of the exhibits, had been largely
driven by the police westward over the
bridges from the lake, and lined up in a
solid mass against the electricity building
Here they could see giant handfuls of the
roof and great blazing fragments dropping
down upon the exhibits below. Through
the glass roof and buildings could be seen
the pieces falling like boulders in an ava
lanche, crushing and burning the exquisite
French section, and threatening to destroy
the Russian and British sections.
The freboats and engines on the lake
side had by this time subdued the fame;
in the ashes of the peristyle and in the
f lower collonade of the southeast side of tht
liberal arts building and hopes were raised
, that the fire had been subdued, hut shortly
after Ills p. m the flames got beyond
control away up on the top promenade o
the liberal arts building and he main aisl'
of the building was mass Of flames, aris
5 ing from the blazing brands which CAM
0 from above.
, Three days ago the number of packages
) awaiting shipment in each building was
! Manu- factures 1864 Midway Plaisanct
, | ,300 Fine Arts 740, Woman's $40, Horti
f culture 1000, Transportation 600, Minin!
} l $50, Electricity l637, Agriculture l,SOC
and 800 scattered in other buildings
; making total of 24,OO0 packags. Less
, than IA, 900 packages had been shipped
away prior to December 26 last. Most o
the goods remaining were foreign exhib
its.
Remorselessly the fire was hurting itsel
; through the iuterstices of the big iroI
arches at the dizzy heights above. Th'
flames wound, boa constructor fashion, il
and around the mammoth electric hght
coronas suspended from the roof Below
these fearful circles OF iron likely to droI
at any moment, no man dared TO go, ever
the hardest not venturing within hun
dred feet Frantic horses, with heavily
loaded trucks, were plunging through the
aisles, not encum bered with wreckage ol
, drenched with the falling cataracts of wa
, ter. most of which fell far short Of the top
| most flames.
Clouds of smoke and vapor that every
moment Oh two shut out the view OF the
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