The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-03-02


ness:part Of the city with gas from the
Canton reservoirs. The main was
kept? intact and the city's gas supply
preserved. The tremendous business,
storage and warehouse plants in this
vicinity between South street and
Jones Falls, from Fayette to Pratt, are
mass Of ruins.
Where once were the Sun and Amer.
lean Offices and the entire brokerage
community and banking district Is now
a mass Of debris, almost impossible to
get at. The Wilson and LoWery dis
tilling companies were destroyed about
5 o'clock a. M, the whisky and alcohol
exploding with terrific force. Both
were situated at Lombard and Freder-
ick streets, and with this explosion
many Of the old ramshackle buildings
along Baltimore street, near Gay, went
down In a crashing collapse, burying
Pipeman Jacob Ilgenfritz, Of the York
Pa.) department, under the walls. He
is dead.
Within two doors Of the Sun Office
is safe deposit and trust company
containing securities and Jewels valued
at many millions. Two watchmen were
locked in the building, one being in the
vaults and could not be freed until the
time lock was released. All the build
ings in the neighboorhood were de-
stroyed, but this one, singularly and
providentiaIly, escaped. During the
morning the men were released, half
crazed with fear. The condition Of
this building excited many Of the peo-
pie who had valuables running up into
the millions.
While the fire was at its height tre-
mendous efforts were made to save the
municipal. and National buildings. The
temporary custom house was several
times on fire, but the flames were ex-
tinguished.
The court house had fire on two
sides from tall Office buildings, but was
saved by splendid work. The City Hall
is apparently uninjured, and during
all the time that the flames were swirl
ing around the dome that every Balti-
morean and every visitor to Baltimore
know so well, old Lord Baltimore, far
up above the fiery furnace and the
doomed buildings, was tolling off the
hours to the best Of his ability. Occa-
sionalIy, the mechanism of the clock
became disarranged and some remark
able tolls were heard. g.,
About this time the wind shifted
again and began to blow straight from
the west. It. was then seen that in
about thirty-six hours the fire had
burned thirty blocks out Of the very
heart Of the business part Of the town.
destroyed nearly 1900 buildings ans
more than S10O,000,000. The area of
the fire district has been estimated by
the typographical department Of ths
city at 40 acres, bounded on the north
by Lexington, st. Paul and Fayette
streets, on the east by the creek called
Jones Falls, on the west by Liberty
street and on the south by Chesapeake
Bay.
When the fire started, few minutes
before II o'clock on Sunday morning,
the wind was blowing from the south
west. From Hurst & Co.'s store,
where the fire started, it swept rapidly
toward the northeast, consuming one
great mercantile house after another,
duu "uSu IL udu lCoSuCu bCAiiStoAi
street there was 4 sudden shift Of the
wind. It careened to the northeast,
and the fire chased itself back to st.
Paul street and down and across in.
tersecting and parallel thoroughfares
until every building within an area of
nearly ten blocks except the City Hall,
court house and postofice had either
been licked up by the flames or been
dynamited in the hope of preventing
their spread.
Then came another shift of the wind,
from northeast to northwest, following
soon on a storm warning from the
Weather Bureau. in Washington. 1t
! was undoubtedly owing to this last
shift Of the wind that to the fearful
destruction Of property was not added
a fearful loss Of life.
With the shift of the wind the course
of the fire was toward the warehouses