Evening journal., 1900-10-30


both sides for three blocks in both di-
rections. The street was covered with
/ fine bits of glass.
The force of the explosion was exer-
! ted horizontally across the street, sky
/ lights being carried away as IL by a
] storm, and the castings of doors broken
away with the glass. The explosion
did not spare the interiors of stores,
everything being heaped up in confu-
sion.
The explosion tore down buildings to
! the west, the walls Of those on the
! Washington street side being hurled
outward to the streets as If an explO-
sion had been taking place locally. in
/ stead of away at the Greenwich street
end of the block. 1t was thought. in
deed, that explosions had followed IN
{ these buildings, but no cause for them
could be found The immense build
! ings of J. II. Mohlmann G. Co. 'front.'
! ing on Washington street, simply col
lapsed, a deluge of barrels and boxes
I filed with fruit, rolling out and form
I ing a pile that stretched half way
/ across the street At the time Of the
! explosion blazing barrels were hurl-
| ed clear across Washington street and
/ set fires TO the buildings to the west.
/ threatening ap extension of the con-
flagratiOn in that direction, but the
firemen deluged these buildings and
saved them. Eleven buildings are com
pletedy wrecked and a score of other
buildings seriously damaged.
The first reports of the fire that went
out were that the Tarrant building
in its fall had crushed down upon two
crowded restaurants and buried hun
dred or more in each. Subsequent ex-
animation showed that If any persons
we're caught in these places It was the
kitchen help and very few outsiders.
If anybody The patrons of the Home
Made restaurant, kept by man named
Z Buckley, were in the most imminent
danger, but witnesses say all escaped.
and after the flames subsided a clear
view could be got into the dining
room and no bodies were seen, the
place being untouched by fire. though
damaged by the collapse of the Tarrant
building. A man who watched the FIRE
from across the street said that the
crowd in the restaurant was evidently
warned, and swarmed out after the
first explosion, everybody being out
when the second explosion came
A restaurant on the south side of
: Warren street was in as much danger,
nearly, and the building was totally
destroyed by fire, but it was said that
the crowd got out Of this also. 1t was
thought that the cooks in the Buckley
restaurant and some of the guests who
tried to escape by rear alley might
have been caught.
The Loss of Life Unknown.
Outside of few who were injured in
the streets the loss Of life by the fire
and explosion must have occurred in
the Tarrant building, mainly, and pos
sibly in the other buildings destroyed
by the fire
The number Of persons in the Tar
rant building was estimated to be in
the neighborhood of so. Secretary AL
len, of the company said that there
were As employees and thought all got
out with the exception of one, an so
year-old porter named Callahan. Peo-
pie who saw the fire declared, however,
more must have been lost.
The only person positively known to
have been killed up to midnight was a
man who died in one of the hospitals
from the result of an injury received
in the street.
Chief Croker at an early hour said
that there were no firemen missing,
although it had been reported that an
entire company could not be found, and
1t was supposed that they had been lost
under the ruins Of the collapsed COM
mission houses on Washington street.
A number of firemen were injured in
various ways however, and scores of
persons received injuries of every de-
gree from falling debris in the streets.
Firemen and policemen covered with
blood were common sights at the be-
ginning of the fire, and one of the lat
ter, Calvin, of the Church street sta
ton, who was badly cut up while as
sisting a fireman out of the wreck on
Washington street, was certain that
firemen had been buried under the
cavein of the building.
The Fire Under Control.
At 3 o'clock the fire was completely
under control of the firemen, the
flames still burning fiercely in the in
terror of the burned area, but danger
OF spreading being over. At clock
the flames had been extinguished in
the buildings south Of Warren street
and crowds of men from the building
department were put to work tearing
down high walls. At the same time
workmen were hurried by the ele-
waited railroad company to repair the
downtown track.
Neither the officials of the police de-
partment nor of the building depart
ment were willing to give any estimate
Of the loss caused by the fire and ex-
plosion. That it will amount to over
a million was not denied by anybody.
There was great indignation among
the business men of the vicinity when
they learned the part the explosion |
had played in the general catastrophe. |
An explosion of this drug house had
not been unexpected. as it was gener-
ally believed in the neighborhood that /
there were explosive chemicals in the |
place.