The record-union., 1898-05-13
A Big Grain Elevator and Other
Property Destroyed.
Entaiiing a Loss Of One Million Two Hun
dred Thousand Dollars.
One Person Burned to Death, One
Fatally Injured and Over
Dozen Others More or Less Seri-
ously Injured, the Results of a
Boarding-House Fire at Chi
cago.

CHICAGO, May 12.-Grain elevator
ID" belonging to the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy EleX ator Compa-
ny, was destroyed by fire this afternoon.
The losses on building and contents ag-
gregate about 81 100000 The elevator
contained 1,115,O00 bushels of grain,
valued at $4,000, the property of P.
D. Armour. The grain was fully IN
sured
The elevator stood at Lumber and
Borne streets, on the west bank OF the
Chicago River, near the Twenty sec
ond-street lumber district. 1t was
used as a grain warehouse by r. ID.
Armour and had a capacity of 3,62O,-
600 bushels.
The cupola of the elevator fell in
within an hour. after the hames We're
discovered, and after that the fire de-
partment rapidly lost control Under
the influence of a strong wind the
flames began to spread in every dlrec-
ton, and seized huge piles of lumber
In half a dozen lumber yards within a
few squares of the elevator. me
Lord & Bushnell Lumber Company was
the first concern whose property was
set on fire from the elevator. The
lumber yard of d. S. Tate was next
destroyed. and freight cars on thelr
side tracks We're consumed, with the
contents of finished lumber. The yard
of Arthur Gourley & Co. caught fire,
but quick work of the firemen headed
off the flames in this direction. Frank
Bender & Cos yards adjoining the
Gourley property, caught next, and be-
fore the fire department steamers on
the river could reach the Bender plant
it was entirely destroyed.
The fire was a most exciting one.
Railroad employees with a bravery ap-
preaching recklessness took switch en-
gines in from the side tracks leading
between the blazing lumber piles, and
coupling them to standing freight cars,
dragged them, blazing, from the heart
of the conhagration. The flaming
trains. as soon as they were outside of
the lumber yards, were deluged by fire
engines This work was prosecuted by
the railroad men until the heat from
the lumber yards caused the rails to
curl, pulling the spikes from the ties
and rendering the tracks useless.
The gravest apprehensions as the fire
spread were entertained for the great
gas ldIlhS VI lIie COpit . Clo, a~iSAAN
and Coke Company. The firemen re-
allied that these were about as dam
gerous as powder magazines, and that
a single spark might cause an explo-
sion, frightful in its consequences. A
strong patrol of firemen with two en-
gines and a quantity of other appara-
tus was detailed for duty in the vicin-
ity of the gas reservoirs.
At ] 40 p. m. the fire was still burn
ing in the lumber yards, but the losses
were confined to the yards named, and
the Fire Department officials believed
they had the flames under control.
There was an explosion of grain dust
in elevator d. belonging to the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy Railroad, which
wrecked the interior before the flames
had made much progress. The grain
handlers at work in the elevators were
compelled to slide down the chutes
used for loading grain into the cars and
all of them escaped uninjured.
Elevator d, which was used by p. d.
Armour as a store house, contained l.
$4,000 bushels OF grain as follows:
Wheat. 100000 bushels; corn 60, 900
bushels; oats. 100000 bushels; flax,
1500 900 bushels; rye, 10000 bushels.
Armour's loss on the grain will foot
up $3.50. 900, fully covered by insurance.
The elevator was valued at $3.50, 900,
and was also fully insured.
At > p. m, although the fire was