The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1894-01-18
FAIR IS FIRE SWEPT.
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION BUILD
iNGS CONSUMED.
The Peristyle In Ruins-Casino and Music
Hall De-oured by Hungry Flames-vast
Fiery Furx2ce In the Great ManufAct-
ures Building.
Loss Of Life and Thousands.

Park CO mmissiOners " Ill not tear down
the majestic Peristylc. nor will the
:. uch Of the wIecker def e the M..sic
Hall or the Cal inc, A vexed proble,A
that touched the sentiment Of the
world to the quick has been sci ed.
To-day the Park Conmis sioEcrs h I've
to deal with ruins where rJud build
ings stood. Twenty thou. and speeta-
tors. according to CHICAGO dispatch.
saw the east end of the Court o. Honor
vanish in smoke and flame. The fire
building. then swept nOrthwatd along
the Peristyle into Music Hall. and
from there across and into the Manu-
features Building. Fo' three hours
the flames ragged along tn l.. east end of
the Court of Honor until nothing was
left but charre1 timbers and blac. .cned
plaster A shower of spark fell upon
the ice in the lagoon until it looked
like sea of fire: they fell upon the
adjacent buildings, threatening them
with destruction. 1t was mag nj ice mt
spectacle that drew ce>. seiess eXclama-
tons of wonder and awe from the spec
tatOrs that crowded the grounds in the
vicinity OF the fire. 1t was the great
est pyrotechnic display of the Fair.
manufactures Roof Catches.
But the work of destruction did not
end with the burning of these build
ing-. Fireb ands were carried to the
roof of Manufactures Building, and the
promenade around the crown of that
enormous structure was soon on fire.
The wind was strong and the flames soon
reached the immense wooden ventila
to, under the caves. and they were soon
burning tiercely. The clere-story I'M
der the roof was gu ckiy in a
blaze. From this and through the
great holes made in the glass roof fell
Il continuous shower of fireb ands, and
In twenty minutes there We're over a
dozen small CONGREGATIONS in the Bel
sections. Firemen and Columbian
fully that, although the facades and
exhibit structures were destroyed,
probably not more than a dozen cases
containing exhibits were burned. The
goods jeopardized represented $780,
OOO; the loss is rot over 100000
principally by water. How much
insurance is carried will not be
learned for some time, as many OF the
policies were written in foreign coun-
tries. There is little if any insurance
on the Manufactures Building, and
none on the Casino, Peristyle and Mu-
sic Hall.
The fire worked clear around the in
side of the done. burning itself out at
3 o'clock Tuesday morning.
AS in the Cold Storage fire. life was
lost in fighting it. William Mackie. of
Engine Company No. 81, fell from the
Peristylo and died an hour later at
Mercy Hospital. Three other men
were injured.
The FIRE was discovered at $50
o'clock on the second floor in the north
west corner of the Casino. c. Mason,
q guard on duty in Music Hall, saw it
and ran to a fire alarm box and tried
to turn in an alarm, but the key would
not work. Then he went to another
box, and again failed. He tried a
third with the same result, and then a
fourth. Then he gave it up and hunt
ed up telephone, and succeeded in
getting an alarm at last. BY this time
the flames had gained a strong head
way. Marshal Malley responded with
one engine, and Immediately turned in
All alarm.
A week ago twenty engines would
have responded to this call, but owing
to the changes that have been made in
he arrangement for fire protection at
the Fair only ten engines responded.
These found that they had more than
they could contend with, so special
call was sent in, and this was soon fol-
lowed by a second special. 1t was too
late to attempt to save the Casino. and
the firemen devoted most of their At
tentiOn to saving the Agricultural
Building and to checking the flames on
the Perlstyle.
TraInps Suspected Of Arson.
It is more than probable thst the fire
was started by tramps. They have
been fairly swarming in the Fair
grounds since the first Of the month,
especially around the Casino and Music
Hail. There is no guard at all stationed
| In the Casino nor in fact anywhere
nearer that point than Music Hall,
where one.Ean keeps watch. There is
also guard in the Convent of La
Rabida About / o'clock in the after
noon a dozen tramps walked into Music
| Hall. where Guard {. Mason was on
| duty. He ordered them to leave, but
they made an insolent reply and
| refused to go. Mason succeeded in
driving them out. They went in the
| direction OF the Casino. and in an hour
after the fire was discovered. No one
| A0A SAN LIZ III W NC AAoullO tIlC S1SlAO
and there has been no fire there for
months, but there were number of
old packing cases and a quantity of ex-
celsior in the building. and if the fire
was not started by design it could easily
| nave been started by means of cigar
stub or the ashes of pipe carelessly
emptied in the intiammable stuff that
thickly covered the floor in places.
| The estimates on the value of the
goods which We're jeopardized by the
| Sire in Manufactures Building vary
widely. though it is probable that s..
00o,00J is a conservative approxima-
| ,ion Of what renal, ed on the floor
when the fire broke out. The foreign.
ers have had lard time getting their
exhibits shipped from Chicago. 4
statement prepared by Collector
Clark. at the last meeting Of his
chief inspectors, showed that only one
third of the foreign goods had been
! started home. Two months have
passed since the work began. At the