Smyrna times., 1904-02-10
MUCH LOCAL EXCITEMENT
OVER THE BAL LTIMORE FIRE
SOME SEVERE LOSSES SUSTAINED WHICH
ARE OF MUCH INTEREST TO SMYRNA
Business Place of Joseph j. Jauney, Brother
OF W. Il. Jauney, of Smyrna, Wiped Out
as Was Also that of J. Allen Moore

Business Place of Joseph j. Janney. Brother
of W. Il. Jauney, Of Smyrna, Wiped Out
as Was Also that of J. Allen Moore.
Much local interest and Excitement
was wrought up in Smyrna bv the aw-
full fire IN Baltimore, which IN thirty
hours time wiped out the heart of the
business section of that city leaving in
its wake ruin, destruction and desola-
ton. The news that Baltimore was
burning did not reach here until early
Monday morning and the unsatisfac-
tory telegraph reports produced so
much excitement that there was an
eager rush for newspapers on the ar
rival OF the first mail train. During
Sunday night, after the report was re-
celyed by wire at Clayton, several
watched the Western heavens and saw
the illumination plainly. There are
number of former Baltimore people
living IN Smyrna and quite few who
have relations and friends there in
whom they had a decided interest.
President W. H. Janney of the Ma
tlonal Bank, former resident of the
tated city, did not wait for more de-
tailed reports. Finding that he was
unable to get phone connection with
his relatives, he took the early train
for Baltimore and was an eye witness
to much of the awful confederation.
The business place of his brother. Mr..
Joseph j. Janney, treasurer and stock
holder of the Stabler Coal Company,
with offices in the building directly ad-
joining the Baltimore american, was
burned out. Fortunately he with the
assistance of his clerks, were able to
save the books and business records of
the company and stored them at their
branch office up town. The fire did
not reach the coal and wood yards.
Rev. Peregrin WrOth's Church Destroyed.
Another serious loss of Smyrna in
terest was the Church of tie Messiah,
corner of Gay and Fayette streets, of
which the Rev. Peregrin Wroth, SON
in-law of L. w. Counselman and
brother-in-law of Mrs. Hirons Den
ney, of this town, is the beloved rec
tor. The church was one of the old
landmarks of Baltimore and its de-
struction is greatly deplored 1t was
only recently that Rector Wroth was
instrumental in erecting a $4,000 organ
in it, The offices of j. Allen Moore,
formerly of Smyrna, with Armour
Fertilizer Co. in the Continental Trust
Co.'S Building, was wiped out in the
onrush of fire. The office of Edw. w.
Tudor, brother-in-law of Mrs. j. Z.
Hof'ecker, who is fnancier for Wilson,
Coulson & Co., bankers, Baltimore
street near Calvert, was also destroyed
The new drugstore of Mrs. W. d.
Hudson's brother, corner Calvert and
Liberty street escaped. 1t is reported
that the place where Miss Mary Stew
art is employed is in ashes.
Heart of Baltimore City in Ashes.
The burned area is peculiar in form,
describing an interrogation point, the
upper curve being the wholesale dis
trict, where the fire started at 10 80
o'clock Sunday forenoon and continu
ed until last Monday night. The
space burned over is about 143 acres.
More than 24OO buildings have been
burned. This does not include
freight sheds of the marine trauspOr
tations companies along the water
front, where thousands of tons of
freight were consumed and millions
of feet OF lumber. Jones' Falls the
stream cutting the city into segments,
has been it's savior. Several times the
fire would cross it. but at last was con-
fined to the west bank, thus saving. a
large territory of small homes and i'm
mense industries, reaching down TO
Canton, where the Standard Oil
Works are. Virtually every whole
sale business house in the wholesale
section proper was burned. Every
line of business suffered. All the
trust companies, with the exception
of the Fidelity, were burned out OF
their offices. Two banks occupying
their own buildings were burned out,
and others in trust company or office
buildings went under. The Protes-
tant Episcopal Church of the Messiah
was the only church destroyed.
Loss VIII Reach slOO,OOO,OOO or More.
Marvellous, indeed, has been the
situation since the John E. Hurst es
tabIishment originated and sent upon
its way the greatest destruction by fire
in the country for more than thirty
years. Fire-fighting apparatus from