The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-10
REBUILDING OF BALTIMORE
THE CITY ALREADY BEGINS ITS
 RESURRECTION.
Governor, Mayor and other oaieials Meet and Decide That for the Present No Outside Assistance is Nssdsd-Los. Probably slas.ooo, ,ooo-orig,n of Fire ssiIi a Mystery.

No 0utstde Assistance fs Needed-Loss
 Probably sla5, ,ooo, ,ooO-origtn of Fire
 stiIl Mystery.
 Baltimore. Feb. 9.-Amid ruins still hot and smoking Baltimore has begun it's resurrection. With the dawn of a clear winter day whose brightness was in itself an inspiration, the apathy of yesterday gave way to the energy of aroused effort and from the governor of the state to the least private citizen the people of this distressed city pulled themselves together to meet the appalt- ing conditions that confront them.
 It was day of conferences. The gov ernor, the mayor and various municipal officials met and threshed out the prob- lems that are theirs by virtue of public office. From this conference came 9 decision that Baltimore for the present needs no outside help, but will endeavor with her own resources and those of the state to meet the emergency At this conference also was developed the ma chinery for an advisory legislative conl- mission to act in conjunction with the legislature.
 The military officials also had unusual problems to decide and solve them in a military manner, for tonight every pass that has been issued giving en- trance to the fire lines was revoked. No civilian may pass the gordon of citizen soldiery which after forty-eight hours of continuous duty tonight stretches around the fire swept desert, where lay safes and vaults containing untold treasure. These were the chief events of a governmental character.
 With equal promptness the Chamber of Commerce held a general meeting and issued a formal announcement that reflected the prevailing hopefulness, de- claring there are already such evil dences of recuperation that encourage all in the hope of the early restoration of every branch of trade"
 The stock exchange members, keyed to the same pitch Of energy, met and decided to rebuild as soon as possible. The same story can be told of practical- ly every commercial body, while on every hand is evidence of private effort toward rehabilitation.
 Old buildings long unused, private residences near the business section, in sact every available structure bear crudely lettered signs on board or cloth Iannouncing that within is the ternpora- " office of a firm. The names on some lof these signs are those that rank high lin the financial and commercial circles of the world and In these temporary of- fees men who for years have known
  tables and plain boards.
 Labor is in demand and the newspa- Ders already contain display advertise ments for men to begin the work of clearing the ruins.
 All things considered the public stock taking that engrossed the business world of Baltimore to-day was satis- factory. But this does not mean that the great fire was a lesser calamity than has been pictured in these de- 1 spatches. The bold fact is tha 140 acres of business buildings, represents I ing. property to the approximate value of $125,OO0,oO0 was destroyed within the l journey of a clovck's hand.
 l A great cloud was lifted this after-s noon when it was discovered that prac- ltically all of the vaults and strong rooms and safes of the financial con- cernss are unhurt. A tremendous loss in securities had been anticipated, and when vault after vault yielded ID it's treasures unharmed the joy of the guardians was boundless
 From one trust company's. safes alone papers to the amount of more than $200,0Oo00O was recovered. The news cheered the whole city, and encouraged thorough investigation. Merchants and their assistants worked like laborers in the smoking ruins to recover their safes land in nearly every instance they were rewarded by intact contents Another surprise was the discovery that three financial concerns whose homes were di.. rectly in the fercest swept of the flames, were practically unharmed. These were the Continental Trust com
 pany, Brown Bros. Bank and the Fi- financial Trust company. No one ven- lures to offer an explanation of the re-
 markable escape of these buildings in I the center Of a heat so intense that metal trimmings of the skylights melted
 and dricped through on the desks. In the Mechanics bank the time locks on the vaults were still running.
 As yet no figure on loss and insur- lance that can be regarded as official are obtainable. A careful canvass of ill- lsurance experts, builders and business men place the loss in round figures at
 $125, GOO, 900, and the insurance at from 1 $S0, ,000, 900 to $90, ,000, ,000. Much valuable property that lay in Mondays fire path
 was saved by the prompt efforts of merchants.
 Tn declining aid proffered the city of dcials have taken pains to define their position. The blow that has befallen
 Baltimore has aroused an intense civic pride in an effort to fight out it's sal- vation, but as Mayor MeLane expressed it ''the city will not hesitate three min- utes to ask for assistance if it becomes necessary
 l To-day gave opportunity for careful investigation as to the cause of the original fire in the Hurst building. It Twas first reported that the blaze start ed from the explosion of a gasolene en-
 zine in the cellar, but this theory is T given an emphatic denial
 Henry s. Hurst, of the John E. Hurst & Co. said there was no gasolene in the building and that the fire did not have it's origin in an explosion Of this Iliquid in the Hurst building. This state
 lnent was subsequently, corroborated by l.