The San Francisco call., 1898-11-15

was af1re Willing hands tunbled let ters into sacks and carried them away. Ten minutes from the moment 1t took fire the postoff1ce was falling In pieces.
 So rapidly did the fire spread that it then became apparent that Dawson was doomed unless miracle intervened | to save 1t. However, citizens and sol ] diers set their teeth and went to work | to do what they could. The crowd l seemed panic-stricken and rooted to the
 spot.
 Secondhand dealers and other store | keepers who had buckets feared to loan 1 them Desperate methods were re- 1 sorted to- The determined few drew
 revolvers on the nearest merchant and
 forced him to give up the buckets he | had. After that there were no more re- i fuSals. 4hree lines of men were formed i to the river and soon all descriptions l of vessels that would hold water were | passing swiftly up one line full and | down the other empty.
 Men mounted roofs and poured water l on the fire till their smoking clothes | scorched the flesh and their faces were | blistered. There were some deeds of
 heroism. One man remained at his post till his eyebrows were singed; an- | other fled only when his hair was ablaze.
 Urged by the wind the roaring flames ! reached out their arms and encircled l the fine new Worden Hotel building. | All this happened so quickly that only | a few armfuls of vaIuables had been 1 carried out. From this building the l fire spread up the street and down the street and leaped across Paradise alley
 toward Second street, upon the numer-
 ous cabins occupied by women of the i town, In less than an hour over forty | buildings in four blocks were burning
 at the same time. The whole block be-
 tween First and Second streets and First and Second avenues was seeth- ing furnace, the flames being sucked | inward. Wagons and carts rushed hither and thither taking goods to safe
 places. The thousands of buckets of
 water passed rapidly along the lines l made no more holes in the fire than a | handful of shot cast into a river. There
 was a sputter and the holes disap-
 peared.
 Across Front street Jumped the fire
 and almost at the same instant the
 shacks and shell-like Buildings on the
 water front joined the general com bustion This Is part of the long section of water front which Alexander Mcdonald leases from the Government
 officials for $12,000 month. McDonaId I is generally credited with making a tmontlly cleanup of from S12,OOO to | s15.0 900 in rents The rent roll of the | Klondike king will not now be so large for a while.
 L Meanwhile a number of water pass CTS in the lines up from the river fell exhausted where they stood. Others Immediately stepped up to take their nIaces. Many men on the wide fringe
 of ice down at the river were frozen to their tracks by the water splashed l and dropped on their feet from the | buckets. The situation became some 1 what ludicrous when they had to be
 chonped out of the ice. Whisky was | freely passed along the line to revive tha drooping spirits of the workers, for sti1I the flames rolled on higher and bfeher and wider and wider grew the | hiackaned track Casks of liquor were
 rolled into the street and the heads l knocked in. Others beside the fire l workers got hold of the tin cups and 1 so syuzzled themselves that the number
 of drunken men and few Of the low
 est class of women could be counted
 by twos and threes. In addition to 1 these were the usual large nuIlber of
 males and females, who, routed out at
 the early hour, had not slept off the I night's debauch. Some, still drunk
 had not gone to bed at all. These peo-
 pIe got in the way of the fire fighters, 1 in the way of those who were trying
 to save their property, laughed and
 ioked at the flames and made a most shameless spectacle in the full glare of the calamity which was sweeping over
 the city.
 It became evident by this time to the l fire fighters that the only way Daw-
 son might be saved was by tearing l down and blowing up buildings in the