Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-02-13
BALTIrlORE'S CATASTROPHE.
Burned District Comprises rs Blocks
or $500 Buildings.

or $500 Buildings.
Baltimore is staggering under the
fra which no one has the temerlty 10
mt into figures. The important
commercial district is blackened
ruins. laid bare by contiagratlon
which ragged without a momentary
check from 1915 q. IN. Sunday until
late Monday afternoon. AT 3 O'Clock
the city officials again breathed. III
was agreed the flames were under
control. They had ragged for 20
bours. In spite Of almost superhuman
efforts put forth by the best lighting
forces which more than half dozen
cities were able to muster.
The city is overcast with gloom.
The stores are closed in nearly every
street. Apparently there is but one
canse for gladness, and that Is that
there are none homeless. The resi-
dence section of the city escaped:
This phase of the situation relieved
the officials from any thought other
than the saving of property.
throughout the terrible contest In
which firemen and fire waged for SUI
premacy, humanity was handicapped
bv gale which carried burning
brands far over heads OF the workers
and beyond the reach of the humid
reds of streams of water poured into
the raging furnaces. But for the
work of volunteers in seeking out and
extinguishing these embers 1t is al
most certain that the burned area
would have been twice larger than II
is. About rs squares or about l4O
acres are in ashes, extending from
Lexington street, on the north, TO
Pratt street, on the south, and 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 ans
wer of one is typical of all: tits too
big. We have not figures to describe
1t. Make it above 500, 100000 That's
the best we can do"
The same indecision was true in re
gard to estimates concerning insur-
ance.
Colonel j. Frank Supplee, a com
petent authority on factory stats.
tics, estimates that the number OF
persons thrown out of employment
will reach $4,000. Others have estl'
mated the enforced idleness at great
ly more.
Inspector of Buildings Preston, at
ter making a careful study OF the
burned district. placed the building
loss alone at $4,000, 900.
Not a single life has been lost, and
not q human being has been even
dangerously injured. The hospital
lists consist of minor burns, with the
exception of Jacob IjgenfritZ, fire
man from York, Pa. He has frac'
tured leg and is badly burned. -,
No one dares to guess what would
have happened If the flames had
Jumped Jones' Falls. The struggle
Monday was to confine the fire to the
west side of the muddy little stream
That this effort was successful II
merely the result of the fire burning
itself out and coming in contact IN
front with the concentrated labor'
of nearly 100 fire companies, aided by
the powerful fire tug, the Cataract
Again and again the terrible heal
driven from the burning distrlc
across Jones Falls ignited buildings
and lumber piles. Furious hand-to
hand fights occurred, which, fortu
nateJy for the residents of East Balti
more were won by the fireman. to
several hours in the lumber distric
of the east side, volunteers watched
every ember. Bucket brigades wer'
formed to prevent the destructive
leap of the flames across the marrow
stream. Had the fire gained a foot
hold ip the east side lumber yards, j
is conceded, that nothing could hav
stopped the onslaught, and the de
partments would have been power
less to prevent damage as great as, 1
not greater, than that of the Chicago
| fire.
Dynamite explosions were constant
The program adopted Sunday nigh
of blowing up buildings in an attemp
TO stay the progress of the flames wa
continued until the fire was undo
control. Then the dynamiters turnec
their attention to raZing totterlnl
walls which threatened to collapse
The result was almost constant can
nonading, and the decorating wa
heard in all parts of the city.
With the fire under control; tn
blackened waste which lies in thu
wake of the sea of flames presents
view, terrible in it's pyrotechni'
grandeur. IL can be likeDed best Il
oceans of great coke ovens, shooting
out it's thousand tongues OF flame
from pyramids of brick, stone ant
cement. Where the fire has died GU
nothing remains but waste, from
which rise hundreds Of towering, 10
secure shafts Of the same color. Thes'
are all that is left OF what were once
| handsome office buildings, storage
wholesale and business houses OF al
kinds.
The loss will not be accurately esti
mated for weeks, for business men
prosperous Sunday morning, are poo
to- DAY. Expressions heard amont
these men as they peer into their col
lapsed properties reveal an astound
ling number who were only poor.