The record-union., 1894-07-06
Five Buildings at the Worlds
Fair Grounds Destroyed.
THE FLAMES TANNED BY A FIERCE
SOUTHWEST GALE.
Two Bombs Found in New York City
In Places Where Their Explosion
Meant Great Loss of Life and Dam-
age TO Property-whether Meant
for Shipment or to Work Destruc-
tion There Not Known.

Special to the REcoRD-UNIoN-
CHICAGO, July, 5.-The Worlds Coz
lumbian Exposition is billowy sea Of
fire. The administration building, the
architectural crown of the White City,
with its gilded and decorated dome, its
supporting pavilions enriched with
statuary; the majestic agricultural build.
ing, with decorated colonnades, with its
beautiful statue of abundance, above
which once wheeled ST. Gaudens' beauti-
ful figure Diana the Chaste; the beautiful
hall of mechanical arts. with its lofty
fluted Corinthian colonnades, its superb
circular porched entrance and its figure-
tipped spires; the light and airy electric
ity building. with its open roof, lanterns,
its curvilear entrance, where erstwhile
stood the statue of Benjamin Franklin
on the south, and its graceful projecting
bays on the north; the attractiyely in
| ordinate but substantial-looking mines
building; the mammoth manufactures
and liberal arts building, with large
arches of steel inclosing a forty-acre lot.
and it's lofty triumphal cornice and CEN
trail arches, together with number of
structures, have passed into history at the
From the south colonnade to the Gov
ernment building, and from the lake to
the golden door of the transportation
building the worlds famous White City
is no more. AS the evening sun was
shedding his rays for the last time on the
erstwhile scene of life, they fell upon the
| familiar outlines OF these hoaters OF
| human handiwork almost untouched in
| their loveliness. Two hours later, the
new moon bent her pale crescent above
them, shining on mass OF ruins.
wrapped in pail of smoke, save where
the yellow red of blazing timbers flare
against the blue black which covers the
site of the White City and covers up all
of the great departmental structures.
The fire spared only the Transports
ton building, horticultural and fisheries
building and the art palace. The last
named is now occupied by the Field
Columbian Museum. and the fisheries
building is mere steel skeleton. having
been demolished by wrecking COM
| pany. Besides these. the Government
building, the woman's building and the
British buildings are all that remain of
the hundreds of structures that once
| filled Jackson Park. Even the polyglot
glories OF the merry midway have de-
| parted.
The fire was discovered by several boys
| in the southwestern, corner of the first
| floor of the terminal station. When first
seen it was but an incipient blaze, and
! the boys tried to stamp it out for several
minutes. They were unsuccessful, how
! ever, as the fierce gale which was then
| blowing from the southwest famed the
| fire.
Before an alarm could be turned in the
| fire had reached the second story of the
! building. Owing to the distance which
separated most of the engine companies
| from the scene of the fire, there was con-
siderable delay in getting a stream of
| water upon the blazing structure. The
| first alarm was Immediately followed by
3-11 call, and this by special call for
! ten engines.
| By the time the first detachment of en-
| gines was fully at work the terminal sta
| ton was mass of flames and the fire
| had leaped across to the administration
| building. In twenty minutes the dome
of this beautiful structure fell with a ter
were carried by the wind north aud
northeast to the mining, electricity and
agricultural buildings. The electricity
| building was the first to take fire. In
! few minutes it was enveloped in flames,
and at 40 the glass roof collapsed and the
| iron framework of the structure fell in.
| AT 7:15 the east end of the mining build
| ing fell in, and the flames became so
fierce that the engine companies stationed
| between the electricity and mining build
| ings had to fly for their lives.
Engine No. 1S was forced to abandon
their engine and had scarcely time TO un-
hook the horses from their traces. One
of the animals succeeded in getting away
but the other was suffocated. Several
hundred feet of hose was also burned.