The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-10
Always the City Has Suffered
From Conflagrations.
ESTIMATES UPON THE DAMAGE.
Probability That 1t Will Be Much
Heavier Than Was First
Supposed.

| that the symmetry of the marvelously
| beautiful Court of Honor should have been
/ marred by the Ted-tOngued fend, whose
malice has heretofore brought sorrow and
! suffering to Chicago. Others took a more
| philosophical view of the situation, saying
the fire anticipated the work which time
would have as surely done. Still others
expressed the wish. barring the facts that
! the exhibits are 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, includ-
ing the Midway. leaving nothing behind
| them except ashes and the indestructible
portion of the great exposition; so should
! ii have had a fitting finale. Unexampled
in the magic of its rearing, and IN
matched IN its supernatural beauty, its end
would have been equally unparalleled and
its grandeur would have been treasured in
memory, unblemished by the gnawing tooth
of time, instead Of falling apart, piece by
piece, and becoming melancholy reminder
of vanished loveliness.
The scene at the eastern end of the
Court of Honor this morning was one of
utter desOlaii0n and destruction. Where
at sunset last night cleaned the white
cOlumns of the Peristyle. fianked by the
| Music Hall and Casino, and capped and
ornamrnted by the imposing quadriga over
the central arch and the rows of figures
along its cornice, the Peristyle is no more
and the Music Hall and Casino were heaps
Of ashes, save for the great golden statue
of the republic, standing in unmoyed
majesty at the eastern end of the basin.
The view from the grand plaza in front
of the Administration building, between
the Agricultural building on one side and
the great Manufacturers Hall on the
other. and the view out over the blue
waters of Lake Michigan, was unob-
structed. and what was yesterday a per-
feet architectural whole is now an IN
slightly ana sorrowful aggregation of un-
balanced architecture. Thus does one
little change par the symmetry of the
artistic whole; thus is shown with what
inspired knowledge of artistic unity the
builders of the Worlds Fair worked.
The beauty of the grand court is COM
petely taken away as an artistic whole,
and the plans for its preservation are put
completely en- route. unless it shall be de.
termined to rebuild the destroyed portion,
a thing not at all likely.
But the flames did not stop at the Peri
style. the Music Hall and the Casino.
They leaped to the Worlds Fair giant, the
great arched ball of the Manufacturers and
Liberal Arts. and before. with the most
strenuous efforts, the Fire Department
was enabled to check them in eating away
the lofty roof, a vast hole was made
therein, ana the fire brands from above
falling upon the boxed and Grated goods
water, did a vast amount Of damage. One
Of the great arched Orders forming the
largest span OF any building in the world,
overhested by the tapping tongues of flame,
buckled and fell to the floor below, crush
ing the beautiful French pavilion. in which
were housed what remained of its valuable
exhibits.
The damage to the Manufacturers build
ing was mostly confined to the south half
of the roof and to exhibits as yet unre-
moved beneath that portion. Over space
of 500 feet on the east side and $50 feet on
the west side the roof was burned en-
tirely burned away. Beneath this portion
were the French, Belgian and Russian ex-
hibits, and they suffered the most. 1t is
impossible as yet to estimate the loss on
the exhibits, as they are all boxed and
will have to be unpacked before it can
be known what damage was done by
water to the textiles and by the breakage
to ceramics and other fragile exhibits in
the work Of hasty removal. The heaviest
loss, however, Is in the French section,
whose exhibit was originally worth 81, 500,-
| 000 Among the losses in that section are
q bronze statue OF war, the Sevres china
exhibit, Gobelin tapestry exhibit, mosaic
and inlaid furniture exhibit. Dore bronze
vases. costume exhibit and French pub
fishers exhibit.
The loss on the burned buildings is total.
as the insurance had expired. The Manu-
features building cost s1,70O, 900; the
Music Hall, $500, 600; the Casino, $1,000 10;
the Peristyle, $4,000. These figures,
howe yer, cannot be taken in estimating
the value Of the destroyed buildings, as
they were practically worthless, the cost
of the demolition and removing in
the case Of all, except the Manufact ures
building. being equal il not greater
than the salable value, and the value of
the Manufactures building was chiefly
confined to the great steel arches, which,
with the exception of the one mentioned,
are still intact.
1t was about 3 o'clock this morning be-
| fore the fire was thoroughly under control,
and the firemen continued on duty many
! hours longer, turning streams upon the
smoking or glowing timbers here and
there. to guard against the possibility of a
renewed outbreak.
The French Commissioners and special
agents appraised the total loss In their sec
ton by last nights fire at $4,000.
LONDON, Jan. 9.-The DAILY News. COM
menting on the fire at the Worlds Fair
grounds in Chicago says, in reference to
Higinbotham's remarks that the fire was
the cheapest way in which the Casino.
Peristyle and Music Hall could be got rid
of: Fire was the cheapest way for
removing some of the fair buildings. but
this does no: apply TO the destruction OF
the Liberal Arts building In which was
stored large portion of the foreign goods
exhibits at the fair. The loss of these
goods will cause serious uneasiness in
many parts of the world, and is great
misfortune for several reasons. The chief
virtue Of monster exhibition is not to get
! its fair buildings burned II owes 60