Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-08
dairy is midway between Liberty and How

dairy is midway between Liberty and How
ard streets.
Every newspaper office In the city but
that of the World was destroyed. The
court records have ali been removed from
the court house to the northern police sta
ton. two and one-half miles away The
Continental Trust building, thirteen-story
structure. caught at the tenth floor and was
totally destroyed.
The private bank of Alexander Brown To-
Gated at Baltimore and Calvart streets
right in the heart of the fire. has escaped
destruction. The bank is one-story stone
structure.
Heart Of Business Section.
The burned district of Baltimore is the
heart of the business section. including
the entire wholesale trade and a great
part of the retail trade. In the fire dis
trict were all the important business and
ONCE buildings, all the newspaper Offices
two hotels. the Central building of the Bal
timore and Ohio railroad, the city hall. the
court house. the post Office building, the
Western Union and Postal Telegraph Of
fees, the Bell Telephone building. police
headquarters. the Holiday Street Thea
ter and several of the important banks.
baltimore street was the main business
street OF Baltimore and the dividing line
between the wholesale and retail sections
being lined with establishments of both
descriptions. For three or four blocks
south of Baltimore street and from How
ard street on the west to South street on
the east the flames swept everything be-
fore them North of Baltimore and run
ming east and west parallel with II come
first Fayette street and Lexington street
West of. Charles street these two streets
are devoted to retail business, and east of
Charles mainly to Office buildings.
In the burned portion south of Baltimore
street was the famous old Carrollton Ho-
tel, the building of the Baltimore Evening
News, the fourteen-story Continental Trust
building, the Guardian Trust building the
Mercantile Trust Company. the Alexander
Brown d Sons Bank, the National Ex-
change Bank. the wholesale establishment
Of which ex-Postmaster General Gary was
the head John r. Hurst & Co.'s wholesale
house, the Hopkins Place Bank Daniel
Miller & Sons house. r. NJ. Sutton & Co.
Diggs. Curran & Co. and smaller wholesale
establishments.
The loss from the fire will be so gigantic
that it Is beyond estimate at this time. In
addition to the direct pecuniary loss will
be the immense amount of loss by the neces-
sary interruption to business while firms
whose places are destroyed are making ar
engagements to resume business. The Sec
ton destroyed includes all the leading trust
companies, many Of the principal banking
institutions. all the large wholesale houses
many of the principal retail stores and
thousands of smaller business establish
ments.
Many of them carry little or no insur-
anCe. and Ii Is doubtful II many of the in
surance companies will be able to pay their
losses dollar for dollar. and those that do
will probably require time in which to ar
range for the payment
Origin of the Fire.
The start of the fire was In the basement
of Hurst & Co.'S wholesale dry goods
house. After burning for ten minutes or
SO there a loud explosion from the in
terror of the building as the gasoline tank
used for the engine in the building let go.
Instantly the immense structure cola pSed
sending destruction to adjacent buildings
in all directions and causing the fire TO be
beyond control of the firemen.
The first attempt at dynamiting was in the
large building of Armstrong. Gator & Co..
but it failed to collapse, and attention was
turned to the building at the southwest
corner of Charles and German streets.
where six charges of dynamite. each charge
containing 100 pounds, were exploded. The
tremendous force of the explosions tore out
the massive granite columns that supported
the building and left it with apparently
almost no support, but the walls failed to
collapse and stood until the flames had
crossed Charles street and were eating into
the block between Charles and Light streets.
The fire had meantime been communicated
to the row of buildings on South Charles
street between German and Lombard
streets. and all those places. occupied prin-
cipaIy by wholesale produce and grain
dealers, were in flames.
Shortly before midnight the Carroflton
Hotel caught fire and the flames swept to-
ward Calvert street with irresistible fury.
The firemen working on the south side
had succeeded in checking the flames at
Lombard street, and as the wind was blow
ing from the northwest there was no dam
ger of it spreading further in that direction.
The western limit had also been reached at
Howard street and the danger was now to
the east and north.
The progress of the flames toward the
north had In the meantime been so rapid as
to be simply appalling. From structure to
structure they flew, licking up the massive
buildings as If they were composed of paper.
In the block between German and Baltimore
streets they flew along, and almost before it
could be realized the buildings along Balt-
more street were blazing from roof to base
rnent.
For time it was hoped the fire could be
kept from crossing the north eide of Balti-
more street, and the fremen made a deS-
perate effort to prevent it. The effort was
useless, however, and soon the tail, narrow
building of Mullins Hotel began to dart out
tongues of flame, and tie other buildings
between Sharp and Liberty streets wei.
ablaze and the fire began its march to the
north The flames darted rapidly from
place to place, and soon the entire south
side of Fayette street was in the grasp of
the flames. Down Fayette to Charles they
swept, and in space of time that seemed
incredibly short the building occupied by
Puts & Company was evidently doomed.
Blown Up With Dynamite
Seeing that nothing could save it it was
decided to destroy the building with dyna-
mite in the hope of preventing the fire
from crossing Charles street. The explosion
was successful in accomplishing the object;
and the entire corner collapsed instantly.
but this had. apparently, no effect upon the
progress Of the fire, for almost before the
sound of the falling walls had died away
the building on the east side of Charles
street began to blaze. and it was evident
that the block between Charles and st. Paul
streets was doomed.
In desperate, but futile effort to prevent
the fire going further to the east, building
after building was dynamited in this block.
but it was an of no avail, and the fire pro-
ceeded steadily onward. The Daily Record
building was soon in flames, and not many
minutes later the fire had leaped over st.
Paul street and the lofty. massive Calvert
building began to emit smoke and flames.
The Equitable building. just over narrow
alley, quickly followed, and these two i'm
mense buildings gave forth glare that
lighted the city for miles around.
1t was thought that the fire could be pre-
vented from crossing to the north side of
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