The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-01-10

Chicago, Jan. 9.-various ere the
Expressions to be heard today wherever
citizens congregate in regard to the
fire at the Worlds fair last night
The first feeling, this morning,
when most of the inhabitants first
learned of the confagration from
the morning papers, was one of
keen regret that the symmetry of
the marvelously beautiful Court of
Honor should have been marred by
the red-tongued fiend, whose malice
has, heretofore, brought sorrow and
suffering to Chicago. Others took a
more philosophical view of the situa-
ton, saying that the fire but antici-
pated the work which time would
have surely done. Still Others ex-
pressed a wish. barring the fact that
the exhibits were not all removed, that
the flames had been given their will,
without let or hindrance, and that they
might have swept the grounds from
end to end, including Midway, leaving
nothing behind them except ashes and
the indestructable portion of the great
exposition, so should it have had a
fitting finale. Unexampled in the
magic of its rearing and unmatched in
its supernatural beauty, its end would
have been equally unparalleled and
its grandeur would have been treasured
in the memory, unblemished by the
snawing tooth of time. instead Of fall
ing apart piece by piece, and becoming
melancholy reminder of vanished
loneliness.
The scene at the eastern end of the
Court of Honor this morning was one
of utterly desolation and destruction.
Where at sunset last night cleaned the
white columns of the Peristyle.
f1anked by the Music Hall and Casino
and capped and ornamented by an
Imposing quadriga over the central
arch, and rows of figures along its
cornice, the Peristyle is no more and
the Music Hall and Casino are heaps
of ashes.
Save for the great golden Statue Of
the Republic, standing in unmoved
majesty at the eastern end of the basin.
the view from the grand piazza In
front of the Administration building.
between the Agricultural building on
one side and the great Manufactures
hall on the other, the view out over
| the blue waters of Lake Michigan
would be unobstructed and what was
/ yesterday perfect architectural whole
| is now an unsightly and sorrOWfrII
aggregation of unbalanced ARCHITECT
| ture.
One little change was enough to mar
| the symmetry of the artistic whole
Thus is shown with what inspired
knowledge of artistic unity the builder
| OF the Worlds fair worked. The
| beauty Of the grand court is com
pletely taken away as an artistic whole
and the plan for its preservation is
put completely to rout, unless it shall
be determined to rebuild the DESTROYED
portion, thing not at all likely.
| But the flames did not sion at fbA
Per1style, the Music Hall and Casino.
They ieaped to the Worlds fair giant.
the great arched hall of the Manufac-
lures and Liberal Arts, and before.
with the most strenuous efforts, the
tlre department was enabled to check
them in eating the lofty roof. q vast
hole was made therein and the fire
/ brands from above, falling upon the
boxed goods below, together with thou
| sands OF tons Of water did a vast
amount Of damage. One of the great
arched Orders forming the greatest
span of any building in the world fell
to the floor below crushing the beau
tiful French pavilion, in which were
| housed what remained of it's valuable
exhibits.
The damags to the Manufactures
! building is mostly confined to the south
OF the nall, the roof and to the exhib-
It's yet unremOved beneath that nor
ton. Over space of 500 feet on the
east side and $50 feet on the west side
the roof is entirely burned away. Be
meath this portion were the French
Belgian and Russian exhibits, and thew
suffered most.
It is impossible as yet to estimate tha
loss on the exhibits, as they were an
boxed and will have to be unpacked
before it can be known what damage
was done by water to the textiles and
by breakage to ceramics and other
fragile exhibits in the work Of hasty
removal.
The heaviest loss, however, was in
| the French section, whose exhibits
were originally worth 81, SOC, OO0 Among
the losses in that section are bronze
lstatue of war; Sevres china exhibit.
the Gobelin tapestry exhibit, the mos
| aic and inlaid furniture exhibit. q
Dore bronze vase costume exhibit and
the French publishers exhibit The
loss on the burned buildings is total.
as the insurance had expired. The
Manufactures building cost $40, 900; the
Music Hall, 5000, 900; Casino, $500 0O0.
the Peristyle, $15O,000 These figures.
however, cannot be taken in estimat-
ling the value of the DESTROYED build
Iings, as they are practically worthless.
The cost of the demolition and remov-
ling in the case of all except the Manu-
features building, is being equal to-
if not greater, than the saleable value.
The value of the Manufactures build
ling is chiefly confined to the great
steel arches which, with the excep-
ton of the one mentioned, is still in
tact
1t was about 3 o'clock this morning
before the fire was thoroughly under
control, and the firemen continued on
duty many hours longer, turning
streams upon the smoking or glowing
climbers here and there to guard againsf
the possibility Of a renewed outbreak
HIGINGBOTHAM ROASTED.