Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-10-22
THE WRECK At SYDNEY.
SATURDAYS coniiag'ation Len the City in Bad
Ssape.. About $780, 900.

migration in Sydney has left wreck and
run IN las wake. Where large and flour
iShing mercantile establishments stood.
mere Is nothing but smouldering ruins.
ran chimneys charred brick walls and
smoking debris tell the story of the great
est confiagratiOn in the history of Sgd
nev. The sight. today, was striking con-
.rast to the scene of last Saturday. Then
the stores aglow with electric lights were
crowded with shoppers, and everywhere
was hustle and activity. IL is vastly diff
ferent now. for there are very few stores
standing and they are envelOped in smoke
from the burning embers. From the time
that alarm of fire was rung in till after
noon the people of Sydney have been on
The streets. Some became iiremen for the
day and fought the confiagration with
viGor. doing as well as the veterans Of the
sydney brigade; and others dropped their
coats and lent willing hands in carrying
articles from burning buildings
1t was a minute or two after o'clock
saturday afternoon, when the electric
light station sounded the alarm am il
was not long before the citizens CT Sydncy
realized that the greatest conflagration IN
the history of the town was about 20
launch forth in it's fury and all account Of
the oVcrtlrning of an oil stove in the
large furniture store of Gordon & Keith
on the western side of Charlotte street
The stove was being used at the time for
MEETING glue ana when the accident oc-
CURED employees of the establishment
hastcncd to the water faucet only to find
that the water was not running. a shurt
time befor" break occurred in the pipe
III the center Of the town and CouSctllcnt-
y there was little water TO fight tho
flames.
The wind was blowing with great fury
and from Gordon d kciths the fire
spread TO buildings occupied by A. +.
Carr. Jcweler; \. -. ellis, grocer; BIan-
chard. BENTLEY & Co. ana the Maritime
Premium co. a strong northeast wind
was blowing and the flames soon ieaped
a. he. Ia. lNttilI
by IL. Balls d Co, butchers; Chapel a
Warren. bakers and confectioncrs, ana
Isaac Greenwich \ few doors north of
the last named store stood the large
brick thret-Story apartment store Of
Prowse Bros. & Crouell. and the flames
spread with lightning rapidity to it and
II was soon a mass Of flames and nearly
the whole of the PrOwSc stock was con-
SImed
The flames shot across the street to
Burns corner. also down Prince street to-
wards Ecuiinck street and in less tina 1
an hour tn" whole east side of Charlotte
street from Prince William To Pitt was
in flames. The next street east Of Char
lotto In Bcntinck ana number of cot
tagcS On the west side of this Str.ca I row
ed ready victims Of the fire. And their
sparks iSnited a number Of houses an tn"
east side Of the street. At Prince vii
liam hard fight was waged and also
proved TO be a victorious one. for her"
the fire iirnd was held in check: but Will.
quarters they were unable to cope with
the sea Of flames in other sections. IN
fact. the renowned Reds of Cincinnati .
would have been unable to master tn,
flames IL was task beyond the power
of human skill. Three blocks on Char
lotte street two blocks on Prince. one
on Pitt. three on Bcntinck and one on
George Were all ablaze at one time an
the spectacle was gruesorie. and II wa
then that the tiremen worked with might
and main
Eight thousand feet of hose were out.
which included 9pl feet belonging to Glacc
Bay, lpn feet belonging to North sydney.
and lvp feet belonging 10 the Steel CO..
and the local firemen had the assistance
OF the brigadcS also from The above incu-
toned places J. +. WisSchusscn. archI-
tect of the Steel 60. secured A larc,
quantity Of dynamite and with ~ en-
ployes OF the steel works used il To good
effect.
For three hours the fire burned viii:
great fury along the above mentione
streets and il was thought that the who'll
town would be destroyed. But shortly he
fore , o'clock the contiagration seemed to
center around the corner Of Pitt and
Charlotte streets and every effort was
made 70 keep IL there. II was then quite
dark and myriads Of sparks floating about
in the air lent a fascination 10 tn. seem"
Several nearby buildings were ignited.
but in every case the firemen wer" on
hand and saved them and ut length II
became apparent that the worst fire Nova
Scotia has seen since Windsor was swept
out was under control. Heavy rain ami
vacant lots at the corner Of George anu
Prince streets prevented the spread of the
flames in that direction.
As soon as il WAS realized that tn. town
was i'll danger. almost everyone pickle |
NJ their vnluables ready 70 move AZ !,
moments notice. At the sydney Hotel.
for instance. all the silvcrware was col
lcctcd together. In houses and stores
near the seen" Of the cont'aGration, cv
cryonc WAS busily engaged in removing
their worldly goods to Il place Of safety
Teams rushed wildly in all direction
bearing loads of furniture bedding and
merchandise Probably some - residences
were destroyed in addition to the e.
places of business over which, in man.
cases. people lodged. Consequently quit
a number Of people found themselves
without any abiding place. last evening.
All. however. found temporary refuge
with friends and neichbors. \ little hard
ship was incurred in this score.
During the progress of the fire consider
able looting occurred. Thirty arrests
wer" made, but when the Jail was threat
ened by fire tn" prisoners had to be re-
leased. TIL" loss will probably not h
over $;3n,01. with nearly s3s.0N Insurance
The loss of the following insurance com
panics. tn" british American. the Cana
dian. the Imperial. the Liverpool. London
& Globe, the Phoenix Of London. tho
queen. Sun. the Union, the National amt
the Western. will he about $'a'Vn to $50.
ts1 divided between them. except the Ma
tional, which had comparatively few
risks. The companies represented by y.
NJ. Crofton. the secretary of the Beard
of Trade. with their approximate losses.
are: The Royal. $3.50; Phoenix. Hartford.
saCo: Hartford. $500: Caledonian. S6Dn
ON the whole nearly all the property dc
stroyed carried fair insurance. Prom. :
Bros, the large dry goods establishments,
had Si3 gn on their stock and $500 on the
building. Unfortunately for the dry good.
merchants burned out. they all had their
fun stock Of fan and winter goods.
\ feature of the fire was the fact that
some hundreds of the people. including
many leading citizens of Sydney, werv
spending the day in Halifax for tho r.
ception to the Duke and Duchess of Com
wall and York. When the news Of the iir.
reached Halifax it created great excite
mcnt
iha HAaAaea QiNAr