Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-25
Total
BURNING TODAY.
A Standing Tower Blown Up With
Dynamite.

A Standing Tower Blown Up With
Dynamite.
Thousands of people visited the scene Of
the fire today. Lieut. Kelly with all of his
POLICEMEN. had his hands full keeping the
crowd back.
Considerable danger lurked about the
smouldering ruins. for several walls. charrsd
and bullying. threatened to fall any moment.
The big tower bay window at the corner of
I'd and b streets was declared unsafe. and
Chief Paris ordered it down. There was
no way to remove 1t except by dynamite
and Contractor Albert Gleason was sent for
to do the work. The large crowd was dis
rersed. and four sticks OF dynamite placed
under the tower. Then as many long fuses
were connected. and at 30 they were touch
ed on There was a Kissing the fire crept
along the fuses. Then moments suspense.
and like peal OF thunder the dynamite
exploded, and the sixty feet of tower set
tied to the ground.
Towards evening. the fire which had been
sn:olderins all day. burst out afresh
among the DEBRIS and the firemen, tired
and almost exhausted. went back to work
Several of the men sickened at the awful
stencil from the burning horse flesh. and
had to leave the ruins. The big wall at the
northeast corner of the building on I'd
street was in 4 bad condition, and threat
ened to fall at any moment. 1t was found
impracticable to blow these walls up as
such a measure would have jeopa rdized the
houses on the north. The walls are badly
bulged. however, and must be taken down
at once. "'t
1t will be necessary to keep the fire de-
partment on hand all night, as 1t Is certain
there Is considerable fire underneath the
ruins. When the alarm sounded this morn
Ing Foreman Fitzgerald of the water de-
partment responded at once He saw at a
glance the condition of affairs. and ran at
once to Capitol Hill. where he cut of the
water for the alStern section Of no oil
and turned II full head in the fire section
His action made it possible for the fremen
to get all the watef they wanted. .fo.
The Supposed Origin.
The great question Els: How did the fire
originate? There are many Surmises When
the fire department arrived the entire build
ing was afiame.. and 1T was impossible to
locate the origin 3.
One gentleman who1said he was connect
ed with the buiIdsnet stated he had heard
that the fire orighfate1 in the stable where
a gasoline wagon came In late and was
carried upon the second floor. where the
horses were. 1t was his opinion that the
gasoline wagon had burst
Assistant Chief Belt, who was the FIRST
fireman on the scene. said when he arrv ed
there was dense volume of smoke coming
from the center of the building. He sent
his driver to turn In special and then a
general alarm. Shortly afterward an ex-
plosion occurred and the walls fell in like
row Of toy blocks. He would not say
that 1t was the work of an incendiary, but
1t certainly looked suspicious, fr.
1t Is stated that there Is considerable gold
and silver In the ruins. and the police de-
partment Is in charge. No one except fire.
men are allowed near the building
The health officer had a conference with
the Commissioners this afternoon regarding
the removal of the dead horses. He stated
that Contractor Patrick Mann was making
arrangements to remove them.
Messrs. Saks & Co. sent a number of light
cotton hats for the firemen to wear