Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-10-21
HOMES IN RUINS.
Town of Windsor, N. s., Destroyed
Loss, S3,OOO.OOO-Two Perish.


LOSS. S3,OOO.OOO-TwO Perish.
Halifax, N. S., Oct. 1s.--Historic Wind
sor, one of the most beautiful towns
in the province, was devastated by fire
Sunday morning. For six hours, begin
ming shortly before three a. M, the fire,
famed by violent northwest gale,
ragged so ferceiy that the local fire de-
partment was absolutely helpless to
cope with it, and within half an hour
after it's discovery the mayor began to
call for outside assistance. Long be-
fore noon the town had been eaten up
almost completely, the area covered by
the flames being nearly mile square,
and OF the 400 or more buildings occupy
ing the section barely half a dozen
scorched structures remain. Among
the buildings that escaped are the
Windsor cotton factory, Kings college,
the Anglican church, the Edgehill
school for girls and the Buffrin hotel.
No Nova Scotia town has ever been
visited by a conflagration of such d.
mansions. Of the $500 people that in
habited the place few have homes of
their own left. Over 5000 have been
taken in by the residents of the sur
rounding country and neighboring
towns, while the remainder of the suf-
ferers have gone to Halifax or are shell
tered in army tents erected in the va
cant plots by detachment of British
troops from the garrison city. The dis
aster is appalling in it's extent.
The total loss is estimated at S., OOO,-
600. While number Of the heaviest
losers are partially insured and some
OF them pretty well covered, the total
insurance is calculated to be not more
than 100000.
Two lives were lost, Michael Whalen
and his wife, an aged couple, and two
children of Walter Mosher, boy of IL
and girl of nine, were badly burned.
Two children of Jesse Smith are miss
ing, but will likely turn up all right.
Several others are reported missing,
but one, Miss Drillio, telephone OPP
orator, has already been found. Will
lam Cleveland, telephone operator,
was dangerously hurt and several
others more or less injured.
Powder and dynamite were used to
blow up buildings in the hope of staying
the progress OF destruction, but the
efforts were fruitless, and the fire swept
everything before it. The town has no
steam fire engines, though there is an
excellent water system, but the local
firemen could do but little, all their hose
being burned in the streets while in use.
All that remains of what was a beau
tiful and hustling town is about $50
dwellings, n hotel, a church, the rail-
way station and the university build
ings, which are outside the town proper.
During the seven hours that the fire
ragged every wholesale and retail store
and every shop-in fact, every place of
business in the whole town-was swept
out of existence, with all they con-
tanned. Five of the six hotels were
burned, the three banks, the post office
and custom house, the courthouse and
Jail (the prisoners being liberated by
the jailer), the electric light station,
telegraph and telephone buildings,
every foundry, mill and factory, five of
the six Observation-Disclosures Baptist,
Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and SAL
yation Army, the Episcopal only es-
eaping-al! public school buildings and
400 residences and dwellings.
Windsor is historic town in the land
of Evangeline, about so miles from Hall.
fax, and is famous as seat of learning,
containing a ladies' seminary and
Kings college, one of the oldest univer-
sites in America. 1t was one of the
wealthiest towns for its size in Canada,
AMI contained about 1000 inhabitants,
5000 of whom are now homeless.