Omaha daily bee., 1894-02-25
AGAIN VISITED BY FIRE
Worlds Fair Buildings Suffer from the
Hands of an Incendiary.
FOR THE FIFTH TIME IN A FEW MONTHS
Agricultural Hall Now a Mass of Blackened
Ruins-Hard Work to Save the other
Structures from Destruction
Scenes Mt the Fire.

CHICAGO, Feb. 24.-Five times now
within fewer months, the Worlds fair
grounds have been devastated by the fire
fend. The Peristyle is gone; the Colonnade
is burned down: serious damage has been
done to the south end Of the immense Manu-
facures building; the symmetry of the
Illinois building has been marred; even the
Fine Arts building, that triumph of the ex'
hibition architects, has been in serious
danger, and now today the Agricultural hall,
already scorched and spoiled by previous
blaZes, has been practically IL not abso-
lutely destroyed.
When the fire was first seen this morn-
ing, a special alarm was sent in. which
called engines from Hyde Park and Wood
Lawn. Another alarm called other engines,
and a determined fight against the progress
of destruction was begun.
Running up the outside of the pillars, the
flames gained rapid Roadway in the roof,
and spread rapidly toward the dome in the
center. Once having a start in the lofty
arch, its destruction was a matter of short
order. Driven by a brisk wind, sparks from
the burning building were carried toward adj
joining buildings, and for a time the fire.
men had before them the prospect of an
extended conflagration. The firemen were
well distributed, however, and while several
companies were working vigorously IN an
attempt to stay the fire in the Agricultural
building, others were detailed to adjoining
structures, and volumes of water were
directed toward exposed parts. An hour
after the general alarm was sounded, the
firemen had accomplished all that was pos
sible, and the blaze was practically ex>
tinguished.
Before the fremen had succeeded in their
work, however, the building had been ruined.
AS the fire spread through the dry timbers or
the roof burning embers soon began drop
ping to the floor and the supports, gradually
weakened, at last gave away, carrying with
them connected parts of the roof and the dome
pitched in ruins to the floor. Its fall prac-
tically put an end to the remen's work.
Small patches of flame were still visible
around the ragged edges Of the roof, but
floods of water directed against them soon
drowned out all danger of a spread of the
fire. The destruction of the dome left the
already partially burned building even more
unsightly and it now bears little resem-
blance to the ornate structure surlnounted
by the statue of Diana which formed a
feature of the Court of Honor.
But one theory was advanced at the
grounds regarding the origin OF the hre.
Everyone agreed that an incendiary was
again responsible for the destruction. The
repeated attempts to burn the fair buildings
have been ascribed to this cause and the
conclusion was promptly reached that to-
days ruin could be safely attributed to the
same cause.
The gilded statue of Diana was removed
about six weeks ago and escaped destruc-
ton in today's blaze.
Crowds of people focked to the scene and
watched the fire for hours. With the eX-
ception of the Peristyle fire, that of today
was the worst the fair has had since it
closed and spectators found a great deal to
interest them. Near the dome of the
building were numerous groups of %statuary
looking in the grand basin. AS the flames
burned away their supports the gigantic
figures tottered and fell into the fiery pit
below. Some of the groups fell away from
the fire and were dashed to pieces on the
frozen ground. Arms, legs and heads of the
fallen sculpture Uttered the promenade
nearly to the edge of the lagoon.