The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-11
VIEWED ACRES OF
BURNED BUILDINGS
Thomas Ship, Secretary to Sena-
tor Beverage, Tells Graphic
Story of Disaster.

A graphic story of the Baltimore disaster
is told by Thomas Ship. secretary TO Sen
ator Beverage, who was an eyewitness or
the fire in company with a group OF Wash
ingtOn newspaper men who were sent to
Baltimore Monday afternoon. Mr. Ship ac-
companied Senator Beverage to Indianapo-
lis and said TO a Journal reporter last
night:
"A number of newspaper men that knew
were sent 10 Baltimore, and / couldn't
stand the pressure. had to go with them
the afternoon. before the fire was under
control. Not until then did we fully realize
the extent OF the disaster, in spite OF the
newspaper accounts of the fire that we had
read. And it is impossible for any one who
was not on the ground TO realize what it
was. although the newspaper accounts have
been so full and so complete
SOLDIERS IN STREETS.
THE streets were full of soldiers and the
town was under martial law. so that it was
necessary for us TO go to the courthouse.
where the commander of the troops. Gen.
Riggs, had his headquarters. for passes be-
fore we could hope TO get anywhere near
the fire. The engineer corps of the United
States army had sent men down to Balti-
more on the train before US. and they were
dynamiting buildings in the path of the fire
10 stop Its progress. The shock Of these
explosions shook the courthouse almost
constantly while We were waiting FOR cur
passes.
| Falls, the small stream that saved the city
from total destruction TX is a stream. .
L recollect il, not much larger than the
canal here in indianapolis, but il was in
| strumental in stopping the fire. There were
/ hremen who had been on duty for hours.
| We saw one of these leaning against pile
| OF lumber. holding the nozzle of a hose in
his hands and playing the stream of water
upon the fire.
WORK DAY AND NIGHT.
1--WE asked him how long he had been on
| duty, and he told US since IL o'clock on the
morning of the day before. and that I'm all
that time he hadn't slept a wink, and had
only had an occasional sandwich or cup OF
coffee as it was brought TO him where he
stood. He was so exhausted that his head
nodded between words, and the hose nearly
dropped from his hands. He was a New
York fireman.
by the time that we were ready to leave
the scene or the fire it had grown dark and
We had to grope our way back TO a part
of the city where could find something to
eat There were absolutely no lights and it
was almost impossible TO see our way
Finally. after we had become so tired and
| hungry that we felt we could not stand
much more of it. we found our way to the
was just at the edge of the burned district
| and had been threatened They had hose
| laid on every floor and watchers at every
window.
| EVEN STREETS ARE BURIED.
| I'm the dining room people were not ex-
cited. They were stunned. They read the
papers giving accounts of the fire, or sat
and looked at each other without a word.
After dinner the proprietor of the hotel took
| our party and some other guests up through
the house into the tower above the roof It
| is impossible to describe the scene that we
saw from that point. Imagine yourself up
/ in the monument, perhaps, or on top OF
| some high indianapolis building and then
| imagine that far as you can see in tho
| night there is nothing in two directions but
| burning buildings, and smoke and vapor.
with the flames lighting UP brick and stone
| walls and twisted steel frames that are
| still standing. And all that desolation
| spread over 40 acres. Ii is impossible to
| describe il adequately. but it was a sight
| that L can never forget.
In the party in the tower at the time
were Baltimore business men whose places
| Of business had been in the burned dis
| trict. AS they looked out on ii with they
/ did not know whether all they had in the
world had gone in the flames or whether
| some part of il was left TO them.
| 1.-The newspaper panoramic pictures OF
| the ruins give an excellent idea of what
| the scene looked like the next day There
| is no semblance of street in the burned
| district, for they are buried under masses
of fallen buildings and chared timbers.''