The evening times., 1901-05-04
THE JACKSONVILLE FIRE
More Than HaIfof the Florida City
Reduced to Ashes.

over One Hundred business Blocks
burned 5Iany OF the. Principal
Buildings Destroy ed-One Nan Dtes
From Excitement During the Con-
hagra4Ion-OnIy One Bank Left.
Most OF the HoteIS in Ruins-An
Appalling Scene of Devastation.
JACKSONVILLE. Fla. May 4.-The
fire which started IN this city yester-
day afternoon was under control at
midnight and by sunrise this morning
had about burned out More than half
of the business and residence portion
Of the city is in ashes and thousands
of persons are homeless.
Most Of the public buildings. includ-
ing the city hall, court house. the
armory, the opera house and fire de
partment headquarters. as well as all
the churches and all but one Of the
hotels, were destroyed.
". ". Cleveland, in whose fibre mill
the fire started, dropped dead from ex-
citement during the prog Of the fire.
The money loss as near as can be ap-
proximated at noon is / 1m $4,000. 600
to SIS. .00O. .000. What the Insurance
amounts to no one can guess The
scene is appalling. One hundred and
twenty eight blocks. of the finest resi-
dences, business buildings. churches.
banks, and public buildings are in ash
es. Not church in the city is stand
ing Out of seven banks but ore. the
National Bank of Jacksonville. is open
for business. The others have gone I'D
in smoke.
The city hall is gone. the public mar
ket, the county court house. the city
Jail, the police headquarters. the fire
department headquarters. the First
Regiment Arnory, the Board of Trade
rooms. and every building for public
purposes has been destroyed The ele-
CANT tourist hotel. the St James, fac
ing Hemming Park, Is d head of smoI-
dering bricks.
The Windsor Hotel, covering almost
an entire block, was swept away The
United States Hotel is leveled- the PIa-
eide IS a mere heap Of bricks. OF all
the frSt-class hotels in the city only
the DrvaI is unhurt by flames.
The Government Building in which
are the postofftce and United States
courts. is Unharmed, the cnly exception
to ali the public buildings in the city.
The Park Theatre is no more. the eIe-
CANT new EIks Club. costing S1&000. IS
ruin, and so are the Seminole. Phoe-
nix. and ether clubs
Despite early reports. so far as can
be ascertained not a life was lost in
the great IRE Many were overcome by
heat and smoke few fremen- were in
5Ured by falling walls, but no deaths
have been recorded Were there any
dead. not an undertaking establish
ment IS left that could care for them
Among the other buildings destroyed
was Cleveland's fibre factory, where the
fire started.
Fire companies came on special trains
from St. Augustine, Fernandina- Bruins
wick. and Savannah and aiGed IN fight
ing the flames. The water supply was
inadequate and buildings which seemed
TO be in the path Of the fire were blown
up. The wind was so strong. however.
and the fire spread ia so many places
at once, that little was accomplished
by this.
The territory from which the fire
swept every building is two and a half
miles long and from three-quarTers Of
a miie to d mile wide.
SAVANNAH, Ga, May 4--Inforna-
ton relative 10 the fire al Jacksonville
Fla received in Savannah after 1
o'clock this morning, makes the sIjua-
ton IN the Florida town more terrible
than earlier dispatches indicated Il Is
now stated that over one hundred
business and residence blocks were en-
tirely destroyed. The property loss IS
estimated by the Mayor of Jacksonville
at SI5,eoooo0. The fire has been put un-
der control but in many instances it
burned itself 10 the city limits before
gtorping- Besides the hundreds of
homes and private business hous-
es that are burned, many churches
and Office buildings also were destroyed
The county court house and other pub
lie buildings went down before the fire
Most Of the telegraph wires were still
down at 10 O'Clock this morning.
Passengers returning from the strick-
en- city on trains give q graphic descrip-
ton Of the terrible work Of the fire and
tie panic that ensued Z \ Booth.
manager at savannah for the y K.
Fairbanks Company, Of Chicago. who
reached here at l o'clock this morning.
said:
The frightfuI scene about the great
fire was such as words scarcely can pic
ture. the principal residence section
was swept by flames and distress is
great. Among those driven from their
homes are some OF the best families
IN the city. Many scenes Of patbos
might be described. but ii is difficult
to single out any one more affecting
than another. one incident I saw was
that OF gentleman who was pointed
our 10 me ss one Of the most promi-
nent citizens Of Jacksonville He had
lost his home. and. accompanied by his
wife two daughters. ana his son was
pushing along IL g little cart what lit
i!e Of their valuables had been saved
from the flames
The GIsorderIv element among the
citizens began To drink. carouse. and
Joat- and 10 check this fresh terror the
officials at p IN. sent mounted police,
armed with carbInes, 70 close the ss-
looms The military companies were
ordered out and the entire force Of po-
lice was on duty armed with carbines
- 6.fiT7ey was induced i~ 70 . cor