The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-02-12
Baltimore STAGGERING Under a Fire Loss Which no One Has The
Temerdy 10 pvt Into Fievres-City Is Overcast
With Gloom-Famine Is Feared
Flames Rage for twenty Eight Hours TN Spite OF Almost
Supcrhuman Efforts Pvt Forth by Best Fighting Forces
Hall a Dozen Cities Could Muster.
Seventy-Five Squares. Including the Fines! Commercial and
Office Buildings in the City, Turned hto Waste
Of S%molderfna Ruins
sTATisrics or THE FIRE.

sTATisTics OF THE FIRE.
Loss v~ariously estimated at from
$15o,ooo,ooo to $500, 100000.
sevsnty-slx blocks In heart Of bush
ness section completely devastated.
$500 buiIdings destroyed.
Fire ragged for twenty-eiaht hours.
Not q single life lost and not 4 hu'
man being even dangerously injured
Baltimore, Mr., Feb. 10.-Baltimore
Is staggering under fire loss which no
| one has the temerity to put In hgures.
The important commercial district Is
blackened ruins, laid bare by a con-
fiagration which ragged without a mo-
| mentary check from 10:45 q. m. Sun
| day until late in the afternoon yestet-
| day. At 3 o'clock the city officials
| again breathed. 1t was agreed the
| flames were under control. They had
ragged tw~enty-eight hours In spite or
almost superhuman efforts put forth
by the best fighting forces which
more than half a dozen cities were
able to muster.
The city is overcast with gloom.
The only lights in the burned district
are those from
The SmouIderlng Ruins.
The stores are closed In nearly every
street. The darkened are
full Of jostling people talking of n
subject. Apparently there is but n
cause for gladness, and that Is that
there are no homeless. The resi-
dence section of the city escaped.
This phase Of the situation relieved
the oficials from any thought other
than the saving of property.
At 3 p. m. the Associated Press
sem out q bulletin saying the flames
would be held in check at the Union
docks and prevented leaping Jones
falls and placing the entire city east
Of there In jeopardy. At s O'Clock
that bulletin was confirmed. A score
OF times flames of ire were found
tapping the sides OF lumber piles on
| the east bank of the falls. In some
Instances the lumber was tossed into
the falls, and this, with similar heroic
measures
Stayed tho Onswsep ~ Fire.
Throughout the terrible contest In
which nremen and ire waged tor ST.
premacy, humanity was handicapped
by a gale which carried burning
| brands over the heads of the workers
| and beyond the reach Of the hundreds
Of streams of water poured into the
| raging furnaces. But for the work OF
volunteers in seeking out and ex
tinguishing these embers it Is almost
certain the burned ares would have
been twice larger than 1t is. About
seyenty-fve squares, or 140 acres, are
In ashes, extending from Lexington
street on the north to Pratt street or
the south, from Liberty street on the
| west to Jones falls on the east
Insurance companies have opened
temporary Offices in the Lexington
hotel, but their representatives de.
cline to estimate the loss. The an
swer Of one Is typical Of all:
cts too big. We have not figures
to describe 1t. Make 1t
Above One Hundred Million.
That's tho best we can do"
The same indecision was true In r.
gard to estimates concerning insur'
anrn.