Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-05-10


swath 2R Miles in Heart of the
city---Loss, s1o,ooo,ooo and 10000
People Homeless.
Jacksonville, Fla, was devastated
by fire Friday, the flames raging un-
checked ten hours, cutting swain
2 IL miles long by half a mile wide
in the heart of the city, destroying
property valued at over $lO,OOO,OOO,
and rendering 10000 people homeless.
There were several causalties. Inc
government building, which caught
fire but was saved, was the only pre-
tentious structure left standing. The
opera house, city hall, Commercial
bank, fire department building,
county court house, criminal court
house, Jail, graded schools, Catholic
orphanage and convent We're among
the institutions destroyed. The mag
nificient St. James hotel, and the
Windsor, United States and Placide
hotels were destroyed. The Episcopal,
Roman Catholic Methodist and Pres
byterian churches were burned, and IA
solid blocks of residences were re-
duced to ashes, including United
States Senator Taliafero's mansion
and the fine house bought by the Elks
for a club house.
The fire department used dynamite
to blow up houses a block from the
fire, hoping to check the flames, but
the wind blew so strongly that sparks
and burning shingles were carried
over the firemen, setting fire to the
buildings five and six blocks away
An immense quantity of powder and
dynamite stored in the Hubbard hard
ware store exploded, causing the build
ing to collapse like an egg shell.
The fire started in the big pile of
moss on the drying platform of the
Cleaveland Fibre company from a
spark from a burning chimney in a
negro's house, and not from an cleo
trio wire, as first stated. 1t leaped
across Davis street and took a course
through a section where block after
block of frame buildings, mostly oc-
cupied by negroes, had been erected.
Here is where the fire department lost
its grip, simultaneously, in half a
dozen places, some of them six blocks
from the main fire, flames burst from
the roofs. The wind, rising, higher
and higher moved down whole rows of
these buildings and attracted at first
a crowd of curious sightseers, who
seemed to be fascinated by the sight
until they learned that their resi-
dences, too, were in danger of total
destruction. 1t took just four hours
for the resistless sea of flames to con-
sumo every building in its wake for
a space of six to eight blocks wide
from Davis street, near where ii
started, to the Hogans creek viaduct
a distance of over 112 mile, eating
its way through the heart of the resi-
Dental section. The hope of the peo-
pie grew strong that the worst was
over But as far as the value of the
damage from the fire was concerned
the worst was yet to come. Just as
the material for the confiagration was
apparently consumed, a shift in the
wind sent a roaring sea of flames
southwark toward the river. Then il
was beginning to dawn on the minds
of the unfortunates who had sought
refuge TO the riverside that they were
in danger of being cut off and suffo-
rated. A rush was made for the
South Jacksonville ferry, and hun
dreds sought refuge on the other
shore.
Right into the heart of the town the
flames swept The Windsor hotel, the
st. James, both of which were among
the finest winter hotels in the South
We're consumed in an incredibly short
time. The opera house followed next
and then row upon row of elegant
residences were offered up to the insa-
table fire fiend.