The herald., 1898-09-12
NEW WESTMINSTER
Financial Loss Heavy-Hundreds Of
People HON eless

| VANCOUVER, B. c.. Sept. 1.-THE bust
ness portion of New Westminster was to.
tally destroyed by fire this mornin. II ie
impossible to estimate the property loss
at this writing. but II will run up into the
hundreds Of thousands. Despair and suf-
fering are the lot OF hundreds OF homeless
people. Food, clothing and aid Of all kinds
is being hurriedly dispatched from Van
couver to the .ll-fated Royal city,"
] It is not known how many people lost
their lives, but 1t is feared several have
been burned to death. Campbell, a fire.
man. fell Off the roof of burning building
and was killed. A woman dropped dead
from fright. One woman, who was i'll,
died while they were moving her from a
burning house, while another suffering from
| typhoid fever. who had been twice re-
| moved from residences which were in the
burning zone did not survive the shock.
| So extremely fierce were the flames that
apples on the trees on the SIDE Of the street
opposite the burning houses were roasted
Three river steamers were destroyed, the
Edgar. Gladys and Bona Concord. Every
industry save the big Royal City planning
mills and Cleveland Canning company has
been wiped out. The Canadian Pacific
railway station and bridge across the Fra
ger river were burned.
Started at Midnight
The fire started about midnight on the
river front and was caused by a spark from
a steamer. Famed by a fierce gale the
flames spread at such a rapid rate within
three hours ten streets were ablaze. The
fire was first noticed at Brackman 4 Kerr's
rbor a.
spread down to the Canadian Pacific de-
pot. 1t crossed the street at this point.
From there 1t went up the street, taking
in the other side OF Front street and Co.
lumbia street. the business thoruughfare
Of the city. Block after block cought fire.
and in few minutes there was nothing left
OF what had been the business portion of
New Westminster.
New Westminster
From Columbia street 1t spread up the
hill to a huge building built on piles In
gully bridged by Carnavon street. There
was a great space under this building filled
with dry seasoned lumber. The air got In
with the fire and gave 1t great play. There
was a whirlw!nd of flame, which belched
forth destruction. From this point the
fire spread and the English cathedral was
quickly attacked. The Baptist and Cen
trail Methodist churches followed, all be-
ing destroyed, together with large num-
ber Of residences. The inhabitants had to
flee for their lives. The fire swept down
Carnavon street and quickly enveloped the
big brick court house and the wooden city
hall. Fortunately. there was a big open
space here and the flames were not able
to leap far enough to take In the big CEN
trail school. Agnes street, however had
got alight, and one side Of Royal avenue
also. All the houses on that street were
completely burned. The wind was blow
ing furiously down Frazer river toward
the mouth. If it had been blowing the
other way the whole OF the Catholic church
buildings, convent and hospital and other
structures would have been burned This
morning there was no water supply for
the use Of the homeless citizens. There
was not a single butcher, baker or pro-
vision shop that was not destroyed, and
there was only one small hotel saved.
Some Of the burned-out people retired in
the early hours in the open air In front Of
the school house. They covered them
selves with blankets and lay down 70 sleen
under the sky.
Estimate of Loss
The loss Is roughly est:ma ted at s26oO..
900: insurance $1.5OO0O0. Bank vaults
withstood the IRE. One insurance COM