Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-03
ONE MAN LOST HIS LIFE
The Downing Company and Plant System the
Heaviest Losers.
SOLDIERS ARE GUARDING THE PROPERTY
and Other Property Was Carried Out
OF Town for safety-The Water
Supply Gave Out.

Savannah, Ca. April "A special re-
ceived at II o'clock tonight by the Morn
ing News from Brunswick, Ga. says:
The fire which commenced this MORN
ing at II 80 o'clock and is now burning
destroyed fully 100000 worth of prop
erty cost one human life, caused one man
to be mashed and crippled and prostrated
four men, who are suffering in various
stages The dead man is Night Watch
man Smith of the Plant system, who died
from apoplexy due to overheating. phe
injured man lost hand. His name is
unknown. The men prostrated are ne
groes The property destroyed includes
the wharf property. cotton sheds. freight
warehouses. tracks, part of the freight
in the warehouse, etc, all belonging to
the Plant system, and comprising their
local Terminal freight facilities; from
three to six freight cars and between
10000 and 10000 crossties, the property or
N. Emanuel and James E. Broadhead,
on the Plant system dock; $4,000 barrels
of rosin, 1000 barrels of spirits of tur-
pentine all the wharf engines, whole
sale grocery building, grocery stock and
warehouse buildings of the Downing
company, Negues' fish house and various
small fish and oyster houses on the water
edge of Bay street.
On the far side of Bay street the fire
swept Briesenicks three-story brick
building, including the machinery; the
supply stock of Briesenick, the office fur
niture of Broker Maxey and lumber
dealer Padrosa, the retail dry goods store
of Cohens, the wholesale grocery and
liquor stock of j. j. Lott the wholesale
and retail liquor stock of r, V. Douglass,
the wholesale liquor stock of Tobias New
man, the Metropolitan saloon and the
A faf UFn
in a block of FIVE brick buildings, one,
two and three stories high, the wholesale
warehouses of the Hoyt Hardware COM
pany, the three-story Ocean hotel
Extending up Monk street the retail
store of the Hoyt Hardware company
was burned and Bears two warehouses
full of goods. Across Monk street the
Haas Liquor company, wholesale and re-
tail, and the Ice depot.
On Bay street from Monk street up
the fire swept Herr's brick building,
used as retail dry goods store, Hirschs
wholesale and retail liquor store, several
smaller stores and two empty stores, all
in a block of brick buildings from one
to three stories high. At this hour 1t is
impossible to give anything like an ac-
curate statement of the losses, but the
estimates given below are placed low:
Plant system, SIS, 900; Broadhead, $4,000;
Emanuel, $4,000; Downing. $225. .oOo
Bresenick and occupants, 100000; Lott
$4,000; Douglass, 10000; Newman, $20,-
900; Hoyt. $4,000; Ocean hotel. $4,000;
Haas, $4,000; Hersog and. buildings and
stocks in the block, $4,000.
These losses are merely calculated from
hurried interviews and may prove great
er Messrs. Emanuel Downing & Lott
are about covered by insurance. Mr..
Newman has only $4,000 insurance. Moth
ing definite can be learned at this hour
as to the others.
When the alarm was turned in a vol
of haV caused
crowds to hurry that way. The fire was
then burning inside a warehouse on the
Plant system dock and had caught fire
from a pile driver engine. train or
freight cars on the dock tracks prevented
easy access and the fire was hard to get
at. While the fire was being fought un-
der these difficulties extra forces of labor
ers were piling cotton into the British
steamship Humbert, lying alongside, and
when the cotton was in she pulled OFF,
The Norwegian bark Ascalon was also
pulled off in safety.
The fire by this time had burned
through the line of freight cars and into
the main warehouses, where hundreds of
citizens were assisting the employees in
getting out goods. From there the flames
swept under the roof of the cotton sheds
and it was realized fully that nothing
could stop them. The wind was blowing
fiercely and the firemen endeayored to
keep a wall of water between them and
Downings naval stores docks, but with
out avail. At 2 o'clock the rosin had
caught and the fierce heat and dense
black smoke drove people away and
made fighting 1t worse than before.
Every available man was employed
throwing naval stores into the bay, and
the water was soon filled with mass of
blazing barrels The flames swept across
Downing s docks and warehouses, catch
ing the two-story extra large brick sup
ply building and DESTROYING It, The heat
from the fire still raging in the yards
ignited the brick block opposite, and Ii
went gradually through taking the
Ocean hotel with 1t and branching off up
Monk street to the .Hoyt> Hardware COM
pany and nearby buildings. Up to this
hour the maddest excitement has charac-
terized the actions of many people, and
rumors of fatal and other accidents were
adding to the excitement. Business had
long since been suspended, and the entire
population was viewing the flames and
assisting the fremen. When Hoyt's
building caught 1t was expected that the
entire business portion of Brunswick
was going, and merchants began moving
their stocks to the outskirts of the city.
Pandemonium reigned. drays and other
vehicles were driven at breakneck speed
up and down the streets to store goods
and flying clouds of sparks sent property
owners home to guard their buildings
Every available man was employed to
watch for fires and garden hose and lad
ders were placed In readiness. Two or
three residences caught but were saved
by volunteers and the court house was
also saved BY them
When wholesale destruction seemed
inevitable Aldermen Mason and Reed
wired Waycross, Savannah and Jackson
willie for aid and Immediately received
cheering answers. Chief Grain and his
men did good work. and the water sup
ply held up well. but finally was exhaust
ed before the neighboring firemen ar
rived on special trains rendering their
presence practically useless With the
wholesale emptying of stores and squares
came the necessity for guards, and the
Brunswick, Rifemen came out for guard
duty. At o'clock the riot alarm. was