The Flagstaff sun-democrat., 1897-04-22
FIREBUGS AT WORK.
Blends Apply the Torch in the Busi-
 ness Center of Kansas City.
More Than Half . Dossn Fires QuickIS started-scarrett Estate Loses vslu- able Buildings-A Night of Terror
 Passed by Business Men.

KANSAS CIry, Mo-, April 15.-The fire fend was busy in Kansas City last night. Over the business center of the town the torch of destruction was brandished and stiff breeze caught up and scattered myriad sparks as they welled from fiame-engulfed building and menaced millions of dollars worth of property and threatened for while to blaze charred and blackened path along Walnut and Main streets as long as there was food to feed upon. Never before in the city's history has the alarm of fire carried such feeling of terror to the people. The wild cry of fire sounding in the night had added horrors last night. There was every evidence that a well-organized and systematic band of firebugs was indus. triously at work. Thousands assem- bled to witness the illumination. Thieves circulated in the crowds When the alarms began to come in, men and women pushed and jostled through the streets, shouting Fire, firew in delirium of excitement. The feeling that firebugs were at work spread among the crowd, and muttered threats could be heard on every side. Many merchants took the precaution to throw out guards to protect their property from incendiaries. It was thought that an effort was made by gamblers to burn the town; another theory was that robbers did the work to enable them to loot the homes of the people.
 At 9:15 last evening great sheet of flame suddenly broke through the win- dows of the fourth and fifth floors of the big five-story building located in the middle of the block on Walnut street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, directly opposite the fire de- partment's headquarters. The big building was practically unoccupied. Last week it had been used for the pure food show, and all the exhibits of the show had been removed. While the walls are still standing, the building is total wreck. It cost s60, 900 when it was built, and was we'll worth this amount. The buildings in the rear, fronting on Main street, were also damaged. The entire loss, includ- ing the damage done by water, will not be more than Sl0o, 900.
 While all the fire-fighting force of the city was engaged in stopping the big blaze in the Scarritt buildings alarm after alarm came in from differ ent parts of town. There were eight separate alarms besides the first two summoning the department to the big fire on Walnut street as follows: At 1O:15 p. m., small fruit stand at 515 Delaware; at 1925, a stairway leading to deserted cellar at 51o Delaware street; at 10:45, false alarm of fire at Twelfth street and Grand avenue; at 11:10, a shanty at Second and Wyan- dotte streets; at 11:20, a bicycle ware house belonging to Lawrence Bros. at 1910 Walnut street; shortly after it was discovered that the floor of the D. $. Mayer Liquor Co.,, at IA East Twelfth street, had been saturated with coal oil and was ready for the torch, but the proprietor had guards surround the building and saved it from destruction. At 1920 a. m., the southeast corner of Eighth and Main streets, top of Economy furniture building was discovered on fire; at 1:10 c. w. Lovejoy's blaming mill. Four teenth and Main streets, and at 2:20 . Shanty on Guinotte avenue, near Heim's brewery, was burned.
 The total losses amounted to about SIG, $50.