Arizona republican., 1894-01-09
Mark the Site of the
 Beautiful White City,.
The Worlds Fair District
 Ravage by Fire.
A Horribly Grand and Magni-
 ficent Spectacle.
The Destruction Said to Have Had It's Origin in the Revenge of
 Two Elected Tramps.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
 CHICAGO, Jan. S.-The worlds fair Pompeii came tonight. A rushing volcano of flames, huge gothic archi- lecture tumbling into chaos. bewilder- ed mobs of people all were there. Un- der great starry sky of Italian clear. ness with Lake Michigan's broad ex- panse second Mediterranean, probably no more magnificent yet terrifying spectacle has ever been witnessed this side the Atlantic.
 It was long after dark tonight when belated people returning from work to their homes in the southern suburbs along the elevated road familiar to hundreds of thousands of worlds fair visitors, noticed constantly enlarglng column of fire and smoke ascending skyward in the east. "The worlds fair is on fre!" was the cry and few indeed of the fascinated watchers from the train windows alighted until the famous terminal at the exhibition grounds was reached. The last half mile of the journey is directly east of the fair so that all view of the blazing pleasure houses of the world was shut of for short time completely. Directly past the scene of the frightful fire of the cold storage warehouse hundreds of spectators hurried fro n the train into the celebrated court of honor.
 There suddenly the confagration came in full view. Whirl winds of blazing em bers were being carried from the end of the court of honor farthest from the ad ministration building high over the roof of the mammoth liberal arts building, the largest structure on earth. The great golden statue of the republic could be seen lifting her liber- tv cap defently aloft through clouds of smoke and flames. The fire had been burning less than an hour when thun- derous crash of falling timber and a tremendous shoGt from tho crow! all nounce the callapse of the peristyle. A moment later another terrible yell from the crowd told thst the l1heral arts building was on fire and the whole ex- position was threatened.
 A dramatic incident marked the dis truction of the rcEisty.c. C1S ot tsho ladders bearing up the fremen fell with the columns and one heroic fireman went down to death, while number of others suffered injuries more or less severe.
 The sky was livid at this time with falling sparks. many Of wh;ch ta!! upon the roofs of the art palace. the Womans' building and various state structures. Every train and street car added mo- mentarily thousands to the throngs and and but for the terrifying spectacle it seemed as if the greatest gala night of the fair was on i2 aN is glory.
 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 drop ping made second line of fire along the base of the columns. Tho hamos then sprang through music hall, which corresponds at the north of the peristyle to the casino at the south.
 While the fire was burning there, one of the most singular and fascinating sights of the night was witnessed. Along the top of the peristyle were scores of heroics statues. The spectacle for those people on the moving sidewalk east of the peristyle was that of g succession of gigantic human beings plunging one after another headlong into the waters of the lake below.
 The origin of the fire is said to have been revenge on the part of couple of tramps. The solitary guard in music hall said that just before the flames | broke out he kicked two tramps out of the building. They left in the direction of the Casino and soon after that the fire broke out and terror and confusion ensued. Fears of footing were added to the horrors of the scene.
 At 10 o'clock with the possible loss o' about $1O,OOO,OOO by the fire in the manufactures building alone, the au- thorities begin to realize that large element in the crowd was composed of idlers who, if once started in lawless- ness would be difficult to control.
 At midnight President Higin botham telephoned the general manager of the Associated Press saying he had been in the burning building over two hours, that the roof had burned and fallen, but fortunately few exhibits were in range of the falling embers. ''I should say" he said, "the loss by water would be much greater than by fire. The total loss to the exhibits will not ex' ceed $100,000. Of course the loss is serious enough but the fire is now fairly under control and there is no more to fear. All told, the contents of the liberal arts building did not exceed in value $100,000, ,000. As to the casino, the peristyle and music hall, there is no loss. We should not regret their burn- ing as it is the cheapest way to remove them"