Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-01-19
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION BUILD.
lNos CONSUMED.
The per,style In Ru,ns-cas,no ana Music
Hall rcvoured by Hungry Flames-vast
Fiery Furnace In the Great AIanufact-
ures Building.
Loss Of Life and Thousands.

| tuut tOuCueO tno SonlllnenC OF Cn0
world to the quick has been solved.
To-day the Park Commissioners have
to deal with ruins where proud build
ings stood. Twenty thousand specta-
tors, according to q Chicago dispatch,
saw the east end of the Court of Honor
vanish in smoke and flame. The fire
started In the Casino. destroyed that
building, then swept northward along
the Peristyle into Music Hall, and
from there across aud into the Manu-
factures Building. For three hours
the flames ragged along tho east end of
the Court of Honor until nothing was
left but charred timbels and blackened;
plaster. A shower of sparks fell upon
the ice In the lagoon until it looked
like a sea Of fire: they fell upon the
adjacent buildings, threatening them
with destruction. It was u magnificent
spectacle that drew ceaseless exclama-
tlons OF wonder and awe from the spec
tators that crowded the grounds in the
vicinity OF the fire. 1t was the great
est pyrotechnic display of the Fair.
Manufactures Roof Catches.
end with the burning of these build
ings. Firebrands were carried to the
roof of Manufactures Building, and the
promenade around the crown of that
enormous structure was soon on fire.
The wind was strong and the flames soon
reached the immense wooden ventila-
tors under the caves, and they We're soon
burning fiercely. The clerr-story un-
der the roof was quickly in q
blaze. Erom this and through the
great holes made in tho glass roof fell
u continuous shower of firebrands, and
In twenty minutes there were over n
dozen small confagrations in the Bel
gian, French, German and English
sections. Firemen and Columbian
Guards fought tfe,e fires SO success
fully that, although the facades and
exhibit structures were destroyed,
probably not more than q dozen cases
containing exhibits were burned. The
GO; the loss is not over 100000,
principally by water. How much
insurance is carried will not be
learned for some time, as many OF the
policies We're written in foreign coun-
tries. There is little it any Insurance
on the Manufactures Building, and
none on the Casino, Peristyle and Mu-
sic Hall.
Tho fire worked clear around the in
side OF the don o, burning itself out ut
3 o'clock Tuesday morning.
AS in the Cold Storage fire, life was
lost in fighting it. William Mackie. of
Engine Company No. 81, fell from the
Peristylo and died an hour later at
Mercy Hospital. Three other men
were injured.
The fire was discovered at $50
o'clock on the second floor in the north
west corner of the Casino. G. Mason,
a guard on duty in Music Hall, saw it
and ran to e-alarm box and tried
to turn in an alarm, but the key would
not work. Then he went to another
box, and again failed. He tried q
third with the same result, and then
fourth. Then he gave it up and hunt
ed up telephone. and succeeded in
getting an alarm at last. BY this time
the flames had gained strong head
way. Marshal Malley responded with
one engine, and Immediately turned in
a ALL alarm.
A week ago twenty engines would
haze responded to this call, but owing
to the changes that have been made in
the arrangement for fire protection at
the Fair only ten engines responded.
These found that they had more than
they could contend with, SO a special
lowed by a second special. 1t was too
late to attempt to save the Casino, and
the firemen devoted most of their at
tention to saving the Agricultural
Building and to checking the flames on
the Perlstyle.
Trainps Suspected Of Arson.
It is more than probable that the fire
was started by tramps. They have
been fairly swarming In the Fair
grounds since the first of the month,
especially around the Casino and Music
Hall. There is no guardsat all stationed
In the Casino nor in fact anywhere
nearer that point than Music Hall,
where one man keeps watch. There is
also guard In the Convent of La
Rabida. About o'clock in the after.
noon q dozen tramps walked into Music
Hall, where Guard G. Mason was on
duty. Ho ordered them to leave. but
they made an insolent reply and
refused to go. Mason succeeded in
driving them out. They went in the
direction OF the Casino, and in an hour
after the fire was discovered. No one
had any right to be around the Casino
and there has been no fire there for
months, but there were a number of
old packing cases and quantity of ex-
celsior In the building, and IL the fire
was not started by design 1t could easily
have been started by means OF cigar
stub or the ashes Of q pipe carelessly
emptied in the inaammable stuff that
thtckly covered the floor in places.
The estimates on the value of the
goods which were jeopardized by the
fire in Manufactures Building vary
widely, though it is probable that g.
Mo,OO) Is conservative approxima-
tion Of what remained on the floor
when the fire broke out. The foreign
ers have had hard time getting their
exhibits shipped from Chicago. A
statement prepared by Collector
Clark. at the last meeting of his
chief inspectors, showed that only one
third Of the foreign goods had been
started home. Two months have
passed since the work began. At the
present rate II looked 40 II the last Of
the foreign goods would not be out Of
Jackson Park before May 1. The
delay In shipment 10 said to be due to
the railroads.
The BallAinss Destroyed.
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