Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-02-10
FIXING THE LOSS.
CONTINUED from page ~
its origin in the explosion of this liquid
in the Hurst building

in the Hurst building.
This statement was subsequently,
corroborated by a signed statement is
sued by S. w. Il. Hopper & Cos. in
surance agents and brokers who said
they We're satisfied that there was no
gasolene in the building.
Mr.. Hurst said that he and Charles
George, a trusted employee. were the
last persons to leave the building at
$50 P. NJ. Saturday, and that all the
electric lights We're turned off by Il
switch. it Is not denied that the fire
started in the Hurst building but how
it originated is yet a mystery.
Baltimore, Nd, Feb. 9.-With the
great fire which ate up property va
riOusly estimated at from $25,000.00O to
$50. 100000 slowly burning itself out.
Baltimore awOke, this morning. to face
the grave question Of civic and NUM-
cipal readjustment. Confronting
the mayor and his associates Of the
city government are the problems Of
aid. the acceptance or refusal of gen.
crous profferss of assistance from every
the vast burned district. where lie bur-
led untold treasures in warped vaults
and safes. and the hundred minor
things that follow a calamity so stu
| pendOus that it is not fully realized
yet. To relieve banks and citizens
from the embarrassment of financial
transaction the next seven days have
been declared legal holidays in the
commonwealth of Maryland.
SO thoroughly is the policing of the
city now systematized that the big
force Of federal troops, yesterday, or
dered here are not Ginger needed. Not
single life has been lost and there is
no mans injuries described as other
than minor.
History affords no pareller to the
calamity SO costly III treasure and so
| fortunately free from loss of life or
| limb. 4
| Today dawned cold and clear and
! licking winds. There was a decidedly
fall in temperature during the night
and by early morning the full cutters of
| the fire district and the flooded streets
were turned to ice. The cold, however,
| is not sufficient to cause suffering
among those on duty. The absence of
, ind is blessing for thousands of feet
, OF lettering walls would surely tumble
/ in a strong breeze and add to the peril
| of the men on duty.
Baltimore is not under martial law.
I General Briggs terms the condition
military control but in no way have
| the civil authorities been superseded.
IL
| ing together.
! Incoming trains during the fore
noon, brought sightseers in consider
| able numbers. Those who came anti
| oipatinE the spectacle of n great city
/ iii confusion and lost in clouds of
| smoke We're disappointed.
Strangers alighting from trains see
| merely the normal Baltimore under Il
| brilliant winter sky.
| OF the great region swept by the fire.
/ nc part WAS devoted to residences so
| the sheltering of homeless is no part of
the citys problem. In the fire area
are embraced the financial district, Il
! considerable portion of the wholesale
| district. an area given over to brokers
Of various kinds and n large shipping
| district along the wharves.
In the wholesale district at the north
| western corner of the fire zone were
located many of the wholesale dry
goods merchants and manufacturers
of clothing, an important Baltimore
industry. Adjacent to this was high
class retail district with most of the
prominent jewelry, furniture and piano
establishments Practically every
office building in the city was destroy
ed along with the banks and trust COM
panies in the financial district nearly
every one of these being consumed
Around the Stock Exchange and
Chamber of Commerce which early fell
before the flames We're located the
offices of many brokers and these with
all the foreign steamship and custom
house broker offices We're involved in
the widespread ruin. Another whole
sale district destroyed was that devot-
ed to groceries and produce, the his
torical old Marsh Market" In the
heart of the burned district was the
immense central power plant of the
United Railway and Electric Com
pany. its fallen walls forming one of
the most impressive as well as mac
cessible ruins. Tangled cables now
form an impossible barrier around the
heaps of massive masonry.
To the eastward of the power house
and extending to Jones Falls and the
harbor, the eastern and southern
boundaries of the fire. is a region given
up to lumber yards, canning and pack
ing factories, and ice houses accessible
on two sides by water and marking the
first real check and farthest progress
of the flames.
Today. there is scramble for tenn
porary office room on the part of hun
dreds of business firms whose homes
ARE now but unrecogniZable wreckage.
Every foot of available space in the
large central building of the Y. NJ. c.
A. has been leased to prominent BUSH
ness houses for temporary offices. The
assembly hall of this building, which
seats 500 persons. has been secured by
one of the principal law firms of this
city. Rooms in other downtown halls
and hotels have been rented by other
firms at high figures.
AS yet, few of the business houses
can even approximate their losses.