The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-07-07


lawless hordes of hrebugs are at work at q
score of points in the south half Chicago.
Fires are raging in every direction among
the numerous railroad yards, and hun
dreds of cars and hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of merchandise have
gone up In smoke or been carried of by
the now frenzied mobs of rioters. In
cendiarism is rampant. Alarm after
alarm has followed in quick succession all
day, and tonight at IL O'Clock the glsre
reflected from the heavens showed that
the pastime continues unabated. At mid
night reports of fires followed each other
with startling rapidity. being confined.
however, principally TO railroad rolling
stock and buildings, against which thus
far the greatest part of the mob's fury has
been directed.
Early this morning a blaze started
among some overturned cars At \ ensing-
ton. quickly communicating 20 other
tracks filled with long lines of cars. many
of them containing valuable merchandise.
The flames were famed by strong winds.
At this point total of 200 cars was wiped
out At the stockyards one blaze after
another was reported, aud from the out
lying districts came urgent calls for engines
and police protection. increasing in fire.
quency.
But with the falling shades of night
came the climax. In the Panhandle
yards. from Fifty-fifth to Sixty-third
street, eighty stock cars are on fire. The
tracks contain from 1000 to 2000 cars. half
of them loaded, and they will be total
loss. No water being st hand the fire
must burn itself out. The Panhandle
i'll -. rs.I
and destroyed.
The Grand Trunk yard at Eiston is = sea
of flames Five hundred box cars are sup
posed TO have been burned and efforts to
check the flames have been futile.
While directing the movements Of the
Eleventh battalion at Fifty-first street
Fire Marshal Fitzpatrick was seized by
the thoroughly frenzied mob of firebugs
and thrown into pond. from which he
was rescued by the police. more dead than
alive. Everything at this point viii
probably be a total loss.
At Hyde Park, near the Worlds fair
grounds, the ashes Of forty cars are now
smouldering. and word has just come In
thAt after numerous efforts the mob has
succeeded in firing the Illinois Central
shops at Burnside.
At the stock yards tonight about fifty
toughs. some of whom are railroad men.
are skulking fiom point TO point and
starting large number of fires. Their
methods were thoroughly unique. Load
ing several hand cars with buckets Of
waste and oil they would glide around the
cars in the darkness. lighting wads of the
stuff, which would be thrown into the
open doors Of the cars as they passed by
them. Fires sprang mp on every hand,
and no organic ed effort on the part of the
police seemed 20 be able 10 intercept the
incendiaries This is the banner district
OF the city, il not of the entire country, for
all-aronnd toughs. and il is as much as 4
mans life is worth 10 enter H. Company
after company on heavy marching order
has been sent 10 the district.
The loss to the railroads will be enor-
nous. Miles OF track have been ruined
by the fierce heat, and hundreds of switch
and signal towers. with their expensive
mechanism. are utterly ruined thousands
Of cars and untold quantities OF merchan-
disc of every imaginable description have
fed the fiames and the iarders of the
thieves valuable locomotives have been
wrecked and disabled, and miles Of tangled
wire and poles litter the ground. Tele-
phone. telegraph, electric light and fire
alarm wires are now the special objects Of
attack. The plugging of fire alarm boxes
constitutes a new and doably dangerous
element in the tremendous wave Of ineen-
diarism nov sweeping over the southw vest
portion OF the city. preventing, as it does,
notice being received OF the starting of
fires until. with the poor water supply in
the outlying districts. a ire has attained
such headway that il cannot be stopped
except through lack Of fuel on which TO
feed.
The maddened mohs, now worked up TO
the highest pitch Of fury, are paraiielling
the scenes OF the commune, and al this
hour Il appears as though nothing short Of
the miraculous can prevent an armed
demonstration against them and the sacri-
nce Of many lives About eighty cars
we're barned altogether in the Illinois
Central yard. and tonight ~ 10 o'clock the
danes we're smoidering. but no further
spread of the Ere al this point Is feared.
Much apprehension vas felt this even
ing concerning the Pullman shops. The
feeling among the strikers is intense.
This evening a committee Of the
strikers made q tour Of the works and
ordered the watchmen TO leave the place or
suffer the consequences Some Of these
became greatly alarmed aud did 50. bat
later on being reessnred BY the company
and TIE arrival during rhs evening Of
state militia. they returned 20 their posts,
and dursne the early evening II was said
that the Pullmaa plant Was adequately
manned with guards. The inten lion Of
the strikers vas not known. but there are
| those wno fear ineendiary work or the
possible use of explosives.
The fFst deiachmeat Of the National
| Guard reached Kensington At . 30 The train
ran around 10 l.ivsEdAis, where a company