Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-01-09


 top of the peristyle were scores of statues. The spectacle for those people fortunate enough to be on the moving sidewalk just east of the peristyle was more of a success sion of gigantic human beings plunging one after another headlong into the waters of the lake below.
 The origin of the fire is said to be revenge on the part of a couple of tramps. The solitary guard i'll the Music hall says that just before the flames broke out he kicked two vagabonds out of the Music hall and told them to find quarters elsewhere. They left in the direction of the Casino, and soon after the fire broke out, and everything on the grounds was in terror and confusion.
 The Fall of the PeristyIe.
 Whirlwinds of blazing embers were be- ing carried from the end of the Court of Honor farthest from the Administration building and high over the mammoth roof of the Liberal Arts building, the largest structure on earth. The great golden stat ue of the republic could be seen lifting her liberty cap defantly aloft through the clouds of smoke and flame.
 The fire had been burning less than an hour when a thunderous crash of falling timber and a tremendous shout from the crowd announced the collapse of the peri style. A moment later another terrific yell from the crowd told that the Liberal Arts building had caught fire and that the whole exposition was threatened.
 A dramatic coincident marked the de- struction of the peristyle. One of the lad ders upon which was a group of fremen fell with the columns, and one of the heroic fire fighters went down to death, while number of others suffered injuries more or less severe.
 The sky was livid and brilliant at this 1x,ith follinr uof ol fell away to the north, showering the roofs of the Art palace, Womens building and the various state structures with fire. Ev- cry train and street car momentarily y added thousands to the throngs of people, and but for the terrifying spectacle and the danger to life and property it seemed as if the greatest gala night of all at the Worlds fair was on in all its glory.
 The spectators at this time, partly to guard their lives and prevent wholesale robbery of the exhibits, had been largely driven back by the police over the bridges from the lake and lined up in a solid mass against the Electricity building.
 Here they could see believing out giant handfuls of the roof and great blazing frag- ments dropping down upon the exhibits below. Through the glass roof and build ings could be seen the piers falling like powders in an avalanche, crushing and burning the exquisite French section and threatening to destroy the Russian and British sections.
 The fireboats and engines on the lake had by this time subdued the flames in the ashes of the peristyle and in the lower col onnade of the southeast side of the Liberal Art building, and hopes were raised that the fire had been subdued, but shortly after 11:15 p. m. the flames got beyond control away up in the top promenade of the Lib era1 Arts building, and the main aisle ot the building was a mass of flames arising from the blazing brands which came from above.
 Scarlet Colored Flames.
 Remorselessly the fire was hurling itselt through the ihterstices of the big iron arches at the dizzy heights above The flames wound boa constructor fashion in and around the mammoth electric lights suspended from the roof Below these fearful curls of iron, likely to drop at any moment, no man dared to go, even the hardest not venturing within 100 feet. Frantic horses with heavily loaded trucks were plunging through the aisles not in- cumbered with wreckage or drenched with the falling cataracts of water, most of which fell far short of the topmost flames.
 The clouds of smoke and vapor that every moment or two shut out the view of the ur6 1n the FOOL were COlOTeu III the most fantastic fashion, running from green and violet to vivid scarlet Just what caused the extraordinary coloring none seemed to know. Guesses were that the dyestuffs and chemicals in the exhibits drowned in water were the origin.
 The federal officials put the maximum loss in the Liberal Arts building at $1 ,O00,- GOO. On the other hand the estimates made by the people connected with the local directory made the highest figures only $500, 900 in the Liberal Arts building. About 10:45 great iron arch gave way directly above the French wares, and fall ing heavily buried them beneath the burn ing pile, and they were abandoned. Back of the French was the Japanese exhibit, and about it clustered a crowd of scared and frantic Japanese. This, like many ex- hibits, has not been released from bond, 1 and the goods could not be taken from the