The Lamar register., 1896-05-02
ONE MILLION LOSS.
CRIPPLE cREEk's GREAT FIRE.
Eight block. In the Heart of the CITY
Destroyed - Hundreds of fsmiiie-
Made Hemsls..- Fortunately no Lives
Wee Lost.

whereby six blocks IN the central part Of
the city wer. swept clean. The property
bss amounts 70 sIypaUoo. about one
fourth OF which Is Insured while 2Oco
people are made homeless. The following
account Is given by special dispatch TO
the Republican of this city;
At O'Clock yesterday afternoon an
alarm Of Ore sounded from the Central
theatcr and dance hatl a, the southeast
corner ef Myers avenue and Third street
Before the hose companies could respond
the entire dance hall was euyeloped IN
ilames. Before water could be turned upon
Il the firc had spread TO the Union dance
hall adjoining. and WAS taking bold Of
Casey's secondhand s,or,,
A genile breeze wlIs blowing rrom the
southwest. The wosnan and her lover bad
knocked over ihe gasoline stove used by
Jones the lunch counter man. In the rear
nf the dance han The gallon of gasoline
IN The stove spilled over the fioor and gave
the flames an impetus that spr,ad ;Errn
rapidly over the dry frame buildings or
''tsnticrIOln' dtStrict ot Cripple Creek
Within ten minutes from the time the
alarm sounded rwo streams were playing
from the gulvity water works system Of
the town. bot aImosi from the fsst Il
was apparent that the fire would do much
damage l,efor. It could be controlled. The
Argyle block. On the corner Of Myers and
Third, was proiee;ed by an lronclad wall.
II was thought Il could be saved. To the
West was q row ~ light frame shantiss
occupied rs saloons. dance halls and
houses II prostitution.
For these there was small hope baIf a
strong febi was made 10 prevent the
flames spreading 10 The west. acr,,ss Third
and 10 thu negih. across Myers.
Within thirty minutes. In spite of many
streams now b,sarine on the flames frum
the Immense water pressure. the front OF
the Topic theater. aerrss the street from
the origin OF the lire. broke out in flames
and made Il apparent that ii would be i'm
possible to save anything IN the line OF
the wind
From the Topic. a long. bollo.s 'rame
building. the spread 20 the northeast.
across the alley In the solid row Of bust
ness houses lining the south side OF Ben
nett avenue was almost as fash. and
from that time on. for two hours from
the time the gasoline stove was over.
turned. ;he salidly built business section
bounded or the south by the alley be-
tween Warren and Myers, and on the
north by that between Bennett and Carr.
with Third street for a line Of partial
safety on the west. and the eastern line
on Fifth street. six large city blocks OF
buildings WIS n mass OF flames. From
these boundaries OF main destruction the
fire climbed Capitol hill on the south and
burned TO the Gold I'm road. To the
north it crossed Carr avenue with It's lines
OF residences and churches and burned It,
self out in q line with the wind AT the high
school building ON the north side Of Eaton
avenue. BY hard work the fremen were
able to preTent The fire crossing Third
street at any point. and the four blocks Of
business houses lying 10 the west of the
line were saved.
In the sweep Of the FIRE were many Of
the important Institutions of the city.
The postoffice with 5000 undelivered let
tiers. the First National bank, the jail and
town hall. the Gold Mining Stock Ex-
change and hundred stores, saloons and
offices and 300 dwellings OF all classes
were wiped out OF existence, with 90 per
cent Of their aggregated contents, in less
than three hours time
f,,- /. a