The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-09
FIREMEN GO BACK
 OVER BURNED DISTRICT,

! When the advance of the flames had l been checked the fire companies started back over the course of the district, at
 tempting to diminish the flaming ruins
 and prevent another outbreak. Moving vans, push carts and vehicles of all | kinds fill the streets, carting household | effects and valuables to safer points.
 Col. Frank J. Supple. a competent au- | thority on factory statistics estimates | that the number of persons thrown out of | employment will reach 50,0O0. Others have | estimated the enforced ideness at great | ly more.
 Inspector of Buildings Preston, after
 making a careful study of the burned district, placed the loss on buildings alone at S150, 100000
 Tonight it Is feared that aid must come
 from adjacent cities and partial famine
 will be an added phase of the situation Restaurants are entirely without food and the destruction of the commission houses along the wharves has shut off the means of supply.
 Hotels are but little better off and though they say they will be able to feed their guests, it Is admitted the variety will be lessened at once. Preparations are being made to rush supplies from New York in order to avert suffering in homes.
 Local fire officials extend unstinted praise to the fire companies from New York for the brave stand they made at the eastern end of the fire belt Time
 and and again they were driven from their position, but at the American Ice company's yard they made last stand
 and won.
 The plueky fre-fightng by four of the
 Baltimore fire companies saved the city from another serious fire this evening. A ! burning brand fell on the roof of the Maine Ice company's plant at Wells and Philpot street, across Jones Falls, in East Baltimore. The tar roofing of the frame structure became quickly ignited and in a short time the building was in ruins.
 So great was the heat from the ice com pany fire that the Somnebaum Chemical | eompany's plant next door caught fire and was soon destroyed. In the cellar of the Chemical company was stored many | thousands of gallons of gasoline used in l the business. The firement were aware of | the presence of the gasoline and were | driven back by the fumes of the chemicals
 and they fought gallantly and prevented
 the explosion.
 Cheering News Spread Rapidly.
 The cheering news that the confiagra- tion had been checked, spread rapidly over
 the city. and the great crowds that all day had surged against the tighly drawn 1 fire lines, began to turn homeward
 Unless the wind which now blows
 briskly from the northwest should
 change, 1t is believed that there is no
 further danger. But the firemen are taking no chances. All over the burned
 district they are tonight fighting the
 fierce flames that still live in large piles
 of ruins. These fires are no menace.
 however for they have nothing to feed
 upon, outside their present limits. | During the afternoon the fire ate it's way in a southerly and westerly direc- ton toward the water. Sporadic fires | sprang into existence and caused the withdrawal of apparatus and men from
 the line of battle and the fire swept on ward.
 Little Stream Stopped Flames. { As the day wore on the forefront of the l fire neared Jones Falls, small stream | that trends north and south and divides | Baltimore from that portion of the city | known as East Baltimore. This little | stream was the last stand. l If the confiagration leaped it and gain | ed foothold, Its extent could not be fore l told.