The morning call., 1894-01-09
SEAS OF FIRE.
Tragic End of the
White City.
ONE FIREMAN DEAD.
What the Crowd Saw in
Chicago.
GREAT BUILDINGS CRUMBLE.
GREAT BUILDINGS CRUMBLE
Melted Before Heat Nothing
Could Withstand.
ADDED HORRORS OF PLUNDERING
Too Late the Officials Saw That
Millions of Property Could
Not Be Saved.

CHICAGO. Jan. 8.-The Worlds Fair
Pompeii came tonight The rushing vol
cano of flame, the huge Gothic architecture
tumbling into chaos. the bewildered mobs
of peOple-all were there under a starry
sky of Italian clearness, and with Lake
Michigan's broad expanse a second Med
iterranean. Probably no more magnificent
yet terrifying spectacle has ever been wit
messed on this side of the Atlantic.
l. was long after dark tonight when be-
lated 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
a constantly enlarging column of fire and
smoke ascending skyward in the east.
"The Worlds Fair is on fire p' was the cry,
| and few indeed of the fascinated watchers
from the train windows alighted until the
| famous terminal at the exposition grounds
was reached. The last half mile of the
! journey is directly east TO the fair, so that
| all view of the blazing pleasure houses
of the world was shut off for time CON-
pletely.
Directly past the scene of the frghtful
| fire in the cold storage warehouse hun
| dreds of spectators hurried from the train
| into the celebrated Court of Honor.
| There. suddenly, the conflagratiOn came
| into full view, whrlwinds of blazing en-
| bers being carried from the end Of the
| Court of Honor furthest from the Admin
| isTation building. high over the roof OF
the mammoth Liberal Arts building, the
| largest structure on earth, and the great
| Holden Statue of the Republic could be
| seen lifting her liberty cap defiantly aloft
/ through the CLOUDS of smoke and flames.
The fire had been burning less than an
| hour when tbunderous crash of falling
| timber and a tremendous shout from the
| crowd announced the collapse of the
! PerIstyle. A moment later terrific yell
| from the crowd told that the Liberal Arts
| building was on fire and the whole exposi-
| tiOn was threatened.
| A dramatic incident marked the destruc-
tion of the Peristyle. One of the ladders
bearing up group of firemen 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 livi1 at this time with fall
ing sparks, many of which fell upon the
roofs of the Art Palace. the Women's
building and various State structures.
Every train and streetcar momentarily
added thousands to the tErOngs, and but
| for the terrifying spectacle it would have
seemed as if the greatest gala night of
the fair was on in all its glory.
The fire started in the Casino just east
of the Agriculture building and south of
the Peristyle. The Casino was quickly
devoured, and the flames surged north on
top of the Peristyle, and dropping made a
| second line OF fire along the base of the
columns. The blaze then sprsng through
the Music Hall. which corresponds at the
north end of the Peristyle to the Casino at
the south. While the fire was burning
| there one of the most singular and fasci-
mating sights OF the night was witnessed.
Along the top of the Peristyle were scores
of heroic statues, and the spectacle for
those people on the moving sidewalk east
of the Peristyle was that of succession of
gigantic human beings plunging one after
another into the waters of the lake below.
The origin of the fire is said 20 have been
revenge on the part of a couple OF tramps.
The solitary guard in the Music Hall said
that just before the flames broke out he
kicked two vagabonds ou. 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 lo0ting were ADDED to the hor-
ror of the scene. At 10 o'clock, with
possible loss of about $4,000, 600 by fire In
the Manufactures building alone. the
authorities began to realize that a large
element in the crowd was composed of
idlers who, once started in lawlessness,
would be difficult to control.
Such preparations as could be hurriedly
made were set In motion to remove the
goods and guard the other buildings, but
oil nh affar ~.
play and the utter hopelessness of such
attempts on such short notice was made
apparent at once. The few officers on
guard could no more than hope that the
flames would be speedily stayed.
The spectators at this time, partly for
safety and partly to prevent wholesale
robbery of exhibits, were driven back by
the police and lined up against tile Elec-
tricity building. Hera they could see
great blazing fragments dropping on the
exhibits below. crushing and burning the
exquisite French section and threatening
to destroy the Russian and British sec
tions. BY this time the freboa!s and en-
gines had succeeded in subduing the flames
in the ashes of the Peristyle and on the
lower southeast SHE of the Liberal Arts
building, and hopes were entertained that
the fire was subdued. but shortly after
IL the flames got beyond control
upon the top of the promenade of the Lib
eral Arts building. aud the m ain aisle OF
that building became a mass of flames.
Remorselessly the fire hurled itself through
the interstices of the big iron arches at a
dizzy height above. They wound boa con-
sricior like around the mammoth elec-
tricity light coronas. while below frantic
horses with heavily loaded trucks were
J plunging through the aisles notiDcum bered
with wreckage or drenched with falling