The Portland daily press., 1894-05-16

the Crowd, Women Fell Exhausted and
| Firemen We're Badly Hurt-TweIve
Acres of Dwellings Devastated.
| Boston, May 15.-Some small Roxbury boys
| set themselves up as rivals to Mrs. o 'Leary' s
! cow, this afternoon and the result was the
| largest fire in this city since Thanksgiving,
| 1889, burning over greater area than any
| since the memorable one of 1872. In less
| than three hours, twelve acres of territory
were burned over. The base ball grand
! stand and bleachers, a large school house,
| an engine house. one hundred and sixty
| four wooden buildings, and thirteen brick
| buildings were burned and some one thou
sand families rendered homeless. The loss
| is conservatively estimated at from $500, 600
! to S500,000, although one authority puts it
| at one million dollars.
The indications are that the fire was
| caused by carelessness and mischief, and
got beyond control through stupidity. Since
last season, the seats in the centre field of
| the ball ground have been torn down, and
| the only twenty-five cent seats left, occupied
a triangular position in the extreme
right field. When ths 10 seats were COM
pleted there were left great many shayings
and loose pieces of wood. which were not
removed. 1t has not rained for several
days, and this furnished good ammunition.
The boys set the fire, became frightened and
ran away. An officer was told about the
blaze, and tried to pull away some boards,
thus giving the flames good start. Then it
| took a long time to send in an alarm and
turn on the water. 1t seemed fully twenty
| minutes between the discovery of the smoke
and the application ofwater. A ball game
between the Boston ald Baltimore mines
had begun with $500 SPECTATORS. But two
and one-half innings we're played when the
game was interrupted by the fire which was
| started a few minutes after four o'clock.
The occupants of the bleachers, feeling the
warmth under them, jumped from their
seats and tried to extiaguish the flames by
| scattering the rubbish. After five or ten
| minutes of unavailing work, some one sug-
gested calling the fire department. The first
alarm was given at 4.1a thessecond at Al, the
| third at 4.22 and the fourth at AS The de-
partment was slow in getting to work, and
before any one seemed to realize the danger
| the flames were beyond control. In fact, it
| was at first considered a joke, and the
| spectators
| oHoAAN LIZ SIeA Liza L DALL,
| even when houses outside the right field
| fence began to burn. Few imagined that
| the seats on the ground back of first base
would catch fire. The flames spread with
| the rapidity of prairie fire. The ball players
ran out to the scene but were soon forced
| back. The sound made by the flames re-
sembled the ripping If paper. The fire soon
attacked house Guide the grounds on the
| east and crawled along the fence. feeble
attempt was made 10 saturate the seats
| back of first base, but it was like drop of
water in a bucket. Iothing, meantime, had
| been done to protectthe grand stand, and
| the flames soon re;ched that structure,
which was soon destroyed. The heat was
| so intense that The spectators who had
been driven into tn, left field corner began
to make their way out of the grounds
| through hole in the centre field fence.
The ball players notexpecting more than a
| brief interruption, 0on had to hustle to get
out their belongings. Some boys who
frequent the grouns thoughtfully removed
the pictures from the dressing rooms TO
places of safety. Fifteen minutes after the
fire was discovered. the houses in the rear
of the ball ground were attacked and
within an hour the whole fence on the right
field side, all the sets on the bleachers, the
grand stand, ticketoffice and all the con-
tiguous wooden structures were destroyed.
The fire had also burned through to fremont
street, and then proceeding southerly had
seized ali the wooden dwellings on Burke
Coventry and Berlil streets. Having prac-
tically
CONSUMEDEVERYTH
on the right hand sde of fremont street, it
crossed that street and proceeded in the
direction of Roxbug crossing. The norther
ly boundary of tb fire was at Benton
street, and it's laUenl boundaries were Cabot
street ON the one sde, and the Boston and
Providence railroat on the other,
At six the fire reached Walpole and
Sterling streets, district full of old wooden
houses. Sparks fran the fire were flying all
over the northerlypart of Roxbury, setting
| fires in many localities and adding terror
| to the confusion elgendered by the fire.
Fully fifty houses n the immediate vicinity
of Walpole and fremont streets had blazing
roofs. The occupants climbed through sky
lights with bucketsof water, but no sooner
| had they subdued he fire in one part than
| ii was discovered il another. Finally, see
ing their efforts fmitless, they abandoned
their homes to the lanes. At the outset