The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-01-16

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column Of fire and smoke ascend
,skyward in the east.
The worlds fair Is on fire 7" was
Q cry, and few indeed of the fascina-
1 watchers from the train windows
ighted until the famous terminal at
exposition grounds was reached.
Q last half mile Of the journey was
ectly east to the fair, 80 that all
" Of the blazing pleasure house of
world was shut off for q time com
jly. Directly past the scene of the
ltful fire of the cold storage ware
%. where scores of fremen lost
lives during the fair, hundreds of
tors hurried from the train into
ebrated court of honor. There,
ly, the conflagration came into
Whirlwinds Of blazing embers
being carried from the end of
urt OF honor furthest from the
istre' ling, high over the
OF sliberal arts build
ruCture on earth.
statue of tho re-
lifting her liberty
through the clouds
he PERISTYLE.
sen burning less than
~thunderOus crash of
nd q tremendous shout
aoyyannounced the collapse
nnster another terrific veil
ND told that the liberal
Jhad caught fire and that
spositiOn was threatened.
G incident marked the de-
the peristyle. One of the
ring q group of iremen fell
olumns and one of the heroes
n to death, while a number
nefs s%uifes l injuries more or less
ne sky was livid, brilliant at this
. with falling sparks, many Of
ch fell away to the north, shower
the roofs of the al tpalace, woman's
lding and the various State struc
,es with fire. Every train and
.ds TO the throngs Of people, and but
r the terrifying spectacle and the
anger to life and property it seemed
If the greatest gala night Of all at
he worlds fair was on in all its glory.
WHERE THE FIRE STARTED.
The fire started in the Casino, just
east of the agricultural building and
south Of the peristyle. The Casino
was quickly %devoured, and the flames
surged north on top of the peristyle
and dropping made a second line of
hto uiOHS WIG DdSo Vi GuS
The flames then sprang through the
hall, which corresponds at the north
end of the peristyle to the Casino at
the south. While the fire was burn
ing, there was b of the most singular
and fascinating sights OF the night.
Along the top of the peristyle were
scores of statues. The spectacle for
! those people fortunate enough to be
on the moving sidew ak, just east of
the peristylo was that of a succession
Gigantic human beings.
The spectators at this time, partly
,uard .heir lives and prevent
- nolesale robbery of the exhibits, had
been largely driven by the police west
ward over the bridges from the lake
and lined up In a solid mass against
the electricity building. Here they
could see great blazing fragments
dropping down upon the exhibit be-
low.
Through the glass in the buildings
could be seen pieces falling like
bOulders in an avalanche, crushing
and burning the exquisite French
section and threatening to destroy the
Russian and British sections.
LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING DESTROYED.
The fire boats and engines on the
lake side had by this time subdued the
ame in the ashes of the peristylo and
in the lower colonnade of the south
east side of the liberal arts building,
N hopes were raised hat the fire
had been subdued, but shortly after
ll:l5 o'clock p. m. the flames got
beyond control way up on the top
promenade Of the liberal arts building,
and the main aisle of the building was
a mass OF flames, arising from the
blazing brands which came from
above.
Remorsely the fire was hurting itself
through the big iron arches. The
flames wound-boaconstrictor fashion
In and around the mammoth electric
light coronas, suspended from the
roof. Below these fearful circles of
iron, likely to drop at any moment,
even the hardest would not venture
within hundred feet. Frantic horses,
with heavily loaded trucks, were
plunging through the ~aislcs, encum-
bered with wreckage or drenchcd with
the falling cataracts of water, most Of
which fell far short of the topmost
flames. Clouds of smoke and vapor
that every moment or two shut out !
the view of the fire in the roof, we're
colored in the most fantastic fashion,
running from green and violet to
vivid scarlet. Just what caused the
extraordinary views none seemed to
know.
ESTIMATING THE LOSS.
Opinions seemed to be general that
tho loss by wator would DO oven
greater than that by fire.
The federal officials put the maxi
mum loss, il the fire docs not spread
beyond the liberal arts building, at
81 900, 600. On the other hand. the
made by people connected
with the local directory made the
highest figures 81, 800, 900 in the liberal
arts building.
At l0:45 o'clock q great iron arch
gave way directly above tho French
and falling heavily buried them
beneath the burning pile and they were
II JAPS WERE HELPLESS.
Back of the French was the Japanese
exhibit and about it clustered o crowd
OF scared and frantic Japanese. This,
like many exhibits, has not been re-
leased from bond and goods could not
be taken from the building. Under
the direction of some Japanese OF.
ficials, the wares were cartcd to tho
doors and there they stood guarded by
tho natives OF the howery kingdom,
who sorrowfully awaited the destruc-
ton that seemed inevitable. All of
the American exhibits had long ago
been removed, but the formalities OF
the custom house had detained the
goods Of the foreigners, Superinten-