Evening journal., 1894-05-16

Aoi hull "a iLNiAthls anu luuti looi Wn Il
quickly numbered among the structures
consumed.
The wind carried the flames across tc
Walpole street and the buildings ON the
south side of that street were soon burned |
The iiremen in the vicinity turned their |
attention I'm this direction. but no sooner
had they done so than the flames shot down |
toward Coventry street on that side of Ire |
mont which is nearest the ball grounds |
They swept ON in this direction for three |
squares rs far AS Burke street, devourinp |
the homes OF the men and women who were
working with frantic energy TO get out
their household goods, and. even before |
they could remove those to a safe place the
walls burned aud crumbled down.
The fire started shortly after o'clock
and 10 minutes later a third alarm was
given. Half an hour after It was evident
that the fire was beyond the control Of the
force then working on II, and a general
alarm called out every available piece OF
apparatus and every fireman In the city
that could be spared
At 8 o'clock the entire block along the
west side of fremont street from Walpole
to Burke was a brilliant mass OF flames
which swept across TO the opposite side
and soon engulfed the buildings for -four
blocks. The tons Of water that had been
poured into the buildings from every side
apparently had not the slightest effect and
the tongues Of flame licked up everything
in their path like so much tinder.
BY this time the residents of the tene.
ments for nearly half mile around had
become alarmed and were moving all theit
property into the streets and seeking fot
places Of safety. So rapidly did the fire
eat its way, however, that those in the
blocks adjoining fremont street did not
have time to save their household effects
and barely escaped with their lives.
The streets were filed with frightened
women and children, poor people who
were trying to save a part Of their small
property and hurrying firemen and police
men.
Furniture Of all kinds Uttered the side
walks, and the flremen were greatly ham
pered by the distractions.
Progress OF the Fire.
BY o'clock the fire had crossed fremont
to Cabot street and was yet beyond the
control Of the firemen. Again and again
the gallant fire fighters made a stand and
poured thousands Of gallons Of water upon
the flames, but still they swept on, and It
seemed as If nothing could stop them.
Shortly after o'clock several steamers
arrived from Lynn, Salem, Beverly. Brook
liue and Lawrence and every effort was
made to stop the fire at Cabot street. But
in spite of the vigorous onslaughts of the
greater part Of the Boston department and
the assistance of the firemen from sur
rounding towns the fire could not be
checked, and not until il had burned from
Cabot street half way through TO Warwick
street and north TO Burke street was the
limit of the burned district on the south
east side of the ball grounds reached.
While the fremen were fighting the de.
vouring flames on this side the fire was
spreading from Walpole toward Milford
place, on the southwest side of the ball
grounds, and in half an hour all the build
ings in this block were in ruins. Not here
even did the fire stop, but burned ON until
il reached Rhggles street at one point, and
consumed the houses on both sides of
| Chapel street and laid low the structures
on Sunbury street At Ruggles street on
the west and Cabot street on the southeast
the fire was practically stopped, and AT
| 1880 it was under control and in no danger
of spreading further. On the northwes
side of the ball grounds the tracks of thl
Old Colony railroad prevented the conha
grafton from spreading in that direction
II is estimated that about 100 building
have been burned and about 800 families
rendered homeless The fire was an un
usually hot one and one OF the hardest e
fight in the history Of the Boston fire de
partment
Three steamers-Nos. "a, 30 and 36-hat
TO be abandoned because Of the heat. About
$3.50 Chief Webster was forced 10 retire al
most exhausted, with his face covered
with blisters caused by the heat, but h'
bravely returned to the battle soon aftei
and urged on his men.
A Look at the Ruins.
After the conhagration was under con
troll the grounds of the Boston baseball
team were thronged with thousands o
anxious sightseers. The familiar grant
stand was no longer there. Nothing re
manned but the iron work and a mass o.
smoldering ruins, with but a single pilla
of brick left to stand as a monument.
Looking toward fremont and Cabo
streets, one vast waste of fallen walls ans
smoldering ruins met the gaze Of those OF
the desolated ball grounds. Many ives
end street railway employees were burned
out, and hundreds lost all their effects. Or
the streets just without the burned dis
trict goods were strewn in every direction
Many outfits of entire households wer
hopelessly mixed up with goods from
neighboring houses, and many who ownel
goods created stirring scenes in their ei
forts to recover their lost property.
Women holding little children frantical
" looked for relatives without success
and in many cases women were carried OF
by officers in fainting condition. Tr,
mont street for distance Of several hun
dred yards Is strewn with wreckage, brC
ken coils Of street railway trolley and fee
wires, bedticking and hundreds of feet q
hose burned to a crisp, while rivers Of wa
ter covered the street. On one side thre
abandoned fire engines, twisted into a
almost unrecognizable shape, indicate
only too surely the strength Of the foe tn
valiant fire laddies had to contend with
The engines were abandoned long betor
the conhagration was at an end, and tn
, flames spread with such surprising rapit
ity that it was impossible to rescue ther
in time. The new house Of Ladder - an
Hose on fremont street was destroyed
= Alderman Bryant's residence on Walpol
street and his store on fremont sire,
: were also totally destroyed.