The record-union., 1897-10-18
Extensive Devastation Wrought by
Furious Flames.
The Losses Estimated at About Three
Millions of Dollars.
Historic Windsor, the Beautiful
Nova Scotia Town, Laid in
Ashes, Nearly Mile Square Be-
Only a Ha1f-Dozen Structures
Remaining.

Remaining.
HALIFAX On. S., Oct 17.-Historic
Windsor one of the most beautiful
towns in the province, was devastated
by fire this morning. For six hours,
beginning shortly before a. m, the
fire, famed by violent northwest gale,
ragged SO fiercely that the local fire de-
partment was absolutely helpless to
cope with it, and within half an hour
after its discovery the Mayor began to
call for outside assistance. Long before
noon the town had been eaten up al
most completely, the area covered by
the flames being nearly mile square.
OF the 400 or more buildings occupying
the section barely half a dozen struc-
lures remain. Among the buildings
that escaped are the Windsor cotton
factory, Kings College, the Anglican
Church. the Edge Hill school for girls
and the Dufferin Hotel The latter is
the only hotel left standing. No Nova
Scotia town has ever been visited by
a conflagration of such dimensions. OF
the $500 people that inhabited the
place few have homes of their own
tonight Over 5000 have been taken
in by the residents of the surrounding
country and neighboring towns, while
the remainder of the sufferers have
gone to Halifax, or are sheltered in
army tents erected in the vacant plots
tonight by a detachment of British
troops from the garrison city.
The disaster is appalling in it's ex-
tent. The fire started in a barn be-
hind the Marine block, in the heart
of the business district. The high gale
prevailing carried the flames to other
buildings before the firemen had time
to get at work and in a short time the
showers of sparks were carried in all
directions, and ignited a score of build
ings. The occupants of dwellings had
time to hurry on some clothing and to
| drag some household goods into the
streets, but there was no place of safe
ty to which anything could be removed
quickly enough to save it from being
destroyed or damaged. The flames cut
a clean : aps from the waters edge on
the business front to the forests in
the rear, bounded by Ferry Hill on the
| south side and by Fort Edwards on
the north. During the past few years
many handsome brick structures have
Dt6Il eIeCleu, Dul lHSsot WCIc SCiiCi Oily
contiguous to old wooden buildings, and
all went together before the furious
flames. The origin of the fire is some
what mysterious. severe lightning
storm passed over the town before the
flames burst forth, and some think the
barn in which the fire started may
have been struck by lightning, but
many strongly suspect that the confia-
grafton originated through the care
lessness of some drunken men, When
morning broke the site of Windsor was
a scene of desolation, with hundreds
of frantic thinly -clad and destitute men
and women and children rushing back
and forth through the smoky streets.
Fortunately no lives were lost, al
though the streets were perilous with
flying bricks and slabs which the fierce
hurricane drove from the roofs like
thunderbolts In the hurry and excite
ment horses and cattle in the stables
were forgotten and many perished in
the flames or were suffocated from
smoke
The ruins of the fire are ablaze to-
night, the smoldering embers having
been famed into a blaze, and the
heavens are lit with the flames which
cast their reflection across the river on
either side as far as the eye can see.
The occupants of the few houses that
remain are keeping awake tonight,
fearful that the fire will spring up
again The fire has moderated some
what and there is no likelihood of fur
ther disaster
Relief measures were started in Hall
fax at an early hour. and this after
noon a trainload of provisions, tents,
| blankets, etc. arrived from the pro-
vincial Capital. Aboard the trains were
General Montgomery Moore, Governor
Daily. Mayor Stephen, and 100 men of
the Royal Berkshire Regiment and
Royal Engineers, who were brought to
attend to the erection Of tents and aid
in the relief work.
The total loss is estimated roughly
at SO. .000.000. While number of the
heaviest losers are partially insured,
and some of them pretty we'll covered,
the total insurance is calculated to be
not more than half a million.
The principal losses are: c. NJ.
Shaw's Marine block, $1,000; w. H.
Curry & Co, $4,000; Shaw Bros. SS-
COO: Paysant block. $4,000: Graham's $
block. $40. 600: Victoria Hotel. 1900;
Blanchard block, S22.0 900; c. & G. Will
sons block, $4,000; Dimock & Arm
strong block. S22. 900; J. B. Shaw's
block. S21 10000; c. H. Dimock's block,
$4,000: building of Murphy & Wood.
ST.. 600: Commercial block, S26, coo: c.
P. Shaw. ST., 1000: c. D. Geldert & Co,
$40 GOO: A E. Reasonin, $4,000;
Cburchill's block, $4,000: Keith's
building. $4,000; Wilson Bros, S22,-
600, Gerrish block. S21 900; Borden's
block. 81. .000; Postoffice and Custom
house. $4,000; Empire block, SIG, 900;
7 LYNCH & Sons. $4,000; Avon Hotel.
S6 600. Somerset House, 900; Ger
rish Hall. $4,000: Courthouse, S19,-
600: Methodist Church, SIS Bap-
tist Church. $4,000; Presbyterian
Church. S12.0 900; Catholic Church, S4-
600: DR.. Haley's residence, S14 900; c..
d. Wolfmouth's residence, S20. 600;
Kings iron foundry. $4,000: electric
light company, $4,000: Windsor
Plaster Company. $4,000.
Among the minor residences destroyed
were those of DR.. Black, DR.. Moody,
DR.. Gossip, DR.. Reid, Windsor Hotel,
| John Keith, John Lynch, Mrs. G. E.
Forsythe, John Doran, w. O'Brien, T.