The morning call., 1894-07-06
FLAMES SCATTERED BY WIND.

CHICAGO, July 5.-The Worlds Colum-
bian Exposition is a bilowy sea Of fire.
The Administration building. the archi-
tectural crown Of the White City. with its
gilded and decorated dome, its supporting
paviions, enriched with statuary; ma
jestic Agricultural building. with deco
rated colonnades. with its beautiful
statue Of Abundance. above which once
wheeled ST. GaudenS' beautiful figure of
Diana the Chaste: the beautiful Hall
Of Mechanical Arts, with its lofty,
fluted COFinthian colonnades. its su-
perb circular porched entrance and
its figure tipped spires; the light and airy
Electricity building, with its open roof
lanterns, its curVilinear recessed entrance,
where erstwhlle stood the statue of Benja-
min franklin on the south. and its grace
ful. projecting bays on the north; the
attractivelv inordinate but substantial
looking Mines building; the mammoth
Manufacturers and Liberal arts building,
with its large arches of steel iDclosing
foTtv-acre lot. and its lofty triumphal cor
ner and central arches. together with
number OF minor structures. have passed
into history at the wave OF an incendiary's
blazing hand.
From the south colonnade to the
Government building and from the lake
TO the golden door of the angel-guarded
Transportation building the worlds
famous White City is no more. As the
evening sun was shedding his rays for the
last time on the estwhile scene of life they
fell upon the familiar outlines of these
floaters of human handiwork almost uD-
touched in their serene loveliness. Two
hours later the new moon bent her pale
crescent above them, SHINING on a mass OF
ruins wrapped in a pail of smoke save
where the yellow red of blazing timbers
flared against the blue black which covers
the sight OF the White City and covers up
all the great departmental structures.
The fire spared only the Transportation,
horticultural and Fisheries buildings and
the art palace. The last named is now
occupied by the Field Cnlum bian Museum,
and the Fisheries building is a mere steel
skeleton, having been demolished by
wrecking company. Besides these the
Government building, the Woman's build
ing and the British buildings are all that
remain Of the hundreds of structures that
once filed Jackson Park. Even the poly
glOt glories of the merry midway have de-
parted. Sic transit gloria mundi.
All of the main buildings. of
the Worlds Fair except the Hortl-
cultural building. the Women's building,
the Art Palace. the Machinery Hall and
the United States Government building
were almost entirely burned tonight.
Thew were the property of the Colum-
bian Exposition Salvage Company, and
had been purchased for $780, 200.
The fire was discovered this evening by
several boys in the southwestern corner Of
the first floor of the terminal station.
When first seen it was but an incipiept
blaze, and the boys tried to stamp it out
for several minutes. They were unsuc-
cessful, however, 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 20 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 uDOn the blazing structure.
The first alarm was Immediately fol-
lowed by S-11 call and this by special
call for ten engines. By the time tie first
detachment of engines was fully at work,
- the terminal station was mass of flames
and the fire had leaped across to the Ad-
ministration building. In twenty minutes
the dome of this beautiful structure fell
with terrible roar and sparks and blaz-
ing brands were carried by the wind north
and northeast to the Mining, Electricity
and Agricultural buildings. The Elec-
tricity building was the first TO take fire.
In few minutes it was enveloped in
flames. and at 7:10 o'clock the glass roof
collapsed and the iron framework of the
structure fell in. at 7:15 o'clock the east
end of the mining building fell in, and the
flames became 80 fierce that the engine
companies stationed between the cleo
trieity and mining buildings had to fly for
their lives.
Engine company IS was forced to aban-
don its engine. and had scarcely time to
unhook the horses from their traces. One
of the animals succeeded in getting away.
but the other was suffocated. Several
hundred feet of hoca was alco hurpad