The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1904-02-10

n
consumed Mullins hotel caught ana
other buildings near il West of Lib
erty street, on the south side Of BaitI
more, the block was doomed and the
big Baltimore Bargain house also
caught. Down in Hopkins place. where
the ccnfagration started, Hurst's
building and the other wholesale
houses on both sides of the street
crumbled and fell.
Great Stores Destroyed.
The big drygoods houses Of Daniel
Miller & Sons and r. NJ Sutton & Co.
were soon afiame and along German,
east and west from the Hurst build
ing. there were dozen buildings burn
ing and scores more threatened. The
spectacle of ruin and destruction from
any point in these doomed blocks was
something appalling.
Mass & Kemper's wholesale store
on Baltimore street quickly suecumb-
ed to the flames and the walls fell
with crash that was heard for
squares. The Hurst building was ut
terly destroyed, not even a wall 10
feet high being left standing. and was
apparently the center of caldron
whence the flames radiated over the
doomed neighborhood.
On Hopkins place the Hopkins Saw
ings bank and the National Exchange
bank were Quilted by flames, the few
streams OF water that the fremen
were able TO turn on them proving W
terly Intellectual even TO halt the de-
struction Here, across the street,
were the ruins of John e. Hurst & Co
and next to it s. Hecht, Jr, & Sons
were in flames. Adjoining this was
the large building owned by the Will
liam Koch Importing company, which
was also quickly destroyed.
Help from Other Cities.
Across the street the Stanley and
Brown Drug company building was
quickly in ruins, while fronting on the
Baltimore street side of this block
were the Roxbury Rye Distilling com.
pany, the building occupied by SLIDER
man & Todes, the house of Allen Sons
& Co., which has hardly been CON-
pleted, while next to 1t was the estab-
lishment of NJ Moses & Co On the
corner was the building occupied ty
Messrs. Sugar & Shear and several
| other smaller concerns with all these
were swallowed up in fame, and. in
fact, the whole block was nothing but
cauldron of fire.
Though every bit of fire fighting
apparatus in the city was called into
requisition as thu flames continued TO
spread, the firemen realized that they
| had a task before them which WAS too
| great for them to combat. kilograms
for fire engines were sent to Wash
| ington and Philadelphia and six en-
gines arrived from Washington and
four from Philadelphia and joined in
the battle with the flames Engines
| from stations in Baltimore, Howard,
| Anne Arundel and Hartford counties
also arrived as soon as possible, some
Of the apparatus travelling 80 miles ami
more Water plugs in every section
within a radius of half mile from
the fire were in use, and 1t is roughly
| estimated that there were $50 hose
all playing at one time upon different
parts of the conhagration.
Owing to the great congestion of
| fire apparatus, the crowds of people
| and the general confusion, many of
| the engines from out of town were I'M
able to find a place where they would
be Of any service.
Hospitals Endangered.
With loud roars wall after wall top
pied into the streets and firemen ran
for their lives.
All kinds of wires had to be cut to
clear the way for the fighters. The
block bounded by German, Liberty,
| Sharp and Baltimore streets was
early found to lie doomed and the Are
men turned their attention to saving
the buildings on Baltimore street east
OF Sharp.
For a time considerable alarm was
| felt at the city hospital when the rain
| of cinders was at its fiercest The
Sisters of Mercy in charge of the in
| stitution we're all at their posts ami
an effort was made to keep the fact
of the confagration secret from the
patients. A few cinders fell on the
roof of the hospital, but were extin-
| guished by the physicians of the house
staff
Eighteen women, two babies and
seven nurses were taken from tho
\ Maternite hospital on West Lombard
| street and given quarters at the city
hospital
At 8 o'clock tremendous explosion
| of about $50 barrels of whisky storei
In the upper floors of "a Hanover
street hurled tons of burning matter
across the street onto the roofs of the
buildings opposite which the firemen
were drenching with water in a vain
hope to make Hanover street the east
| ern boundary line of the conaagration.
The flames quivered for a few mo-
ments under the water. but soon ate
| into the buildings on the east side.
Church Services Interrupted.
The whole city was notified Of tho
| conflagration BY a terrific explosion
which occurred some minutes after IL
o'clock A sharp, splitting roar went
| up with reverberating thunder. This
was followed by a peoulior whistling
noise like that made by shrill wind.
The churches in the central section Of
the city were filed with worshippers,
many of whom became frightened,
and while no panics ensued, hun
dreds of men and women left their
seats and went outside to see what
had happened In a few moments the
streets and pavements all over the
| city were crowded with excited peo-
pie Another deafening crash oc-
CURED and dense columns of cinders
and smoke shot up over the central
section of the city and in a huge brown
column moved rapidly toward the
northeast. Borne on the strong south
east wind, the column of smoke blaz-
ing cinders, and even pieces of tin
roofing, spread over the center of the
city and rain of cinders fell, CON-
pelling pedestrians to dodge redhot
| pieces of wood.
Italians Marry.
Vincenzo Giammateo, aged 40
years, and Miss Maria Muhala San
toro, aged %, both natives of Italy,
were married here February 2.