The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-02-09

swept UPWARD. AS the DAY wore On
the forefront of the fire neared Jones
Falls, a small stream that trends
north and south and divides Balti-
more from that portion of the city
known as East Baltimore. This little
stream was the last stand If the con-
fiagration leaped it and gained foot
hold. its extent could not be fOretOld.
Tremendous efforts were made to
block it. Dynamite was used freely.
The fire apparatus was centered and
all the skill Of the fire fighters called
into play to defeat the element that
had eaten mp millions of dollars worth
of property. And human skill and
pluck and grit and unfaltering courage
won. The fire was checked. But be-
hind it lay great Quilted waste OF
more than lao acres in extent.
Armed Troops on Guard.
The city is under the strictest mill
tary control. All around the burned
area is stretched a Gordon of soldiers,
who hold up all corners at the point OF
the bayonet. Police brought from the
neighboring cities patrol the district
and on every street near the limits
of the fire area pace armed sentlneIs-
The burned area is scene of com
plete devastation. Numberless build
ings that were the pride of Baltimore,
costly and stately, and occupied for
divers purposes, were Quilted, and only
smouldering debris or walls or rem
nants of walls remain to mark the sites.
The Baltimore American building, one
of the finest. is new but smouldering
debris, save but remnants Of side and
front wall Across South street, where
stood the Baltimore Sun building, only
the pillars that marked the front re-
main. Entire blocks just below there
are wiped out, without in some cases
a wall left standing. From Fayette
street down Holiday street as far as
German street there is no building
left save the Corn and Flour Exchange
at the corner of German street. That
building, whose walls tower above the
crumbling debris of what were adjoin-
ing structures, was Quilted and the
standing walls formed cauldron, the
flames Of which burst at times through
the windows, but could cause no fur
Their damage.
Like a grim tower in the ruins
stands the walls Of the fifteen-story
Continental Trust company building.
The walls of the Baltimore & Ohio
building are also standing, but the
Pennsylvania Railway building, direct
~ across Calvert street, is RACED.
Only the walls remain of the once
stately Equitable building, Only rem
nants of one wall are left of what was
the National hotel No buildings are
left standing as far as the eye can see
down Baltimore street from this point.
A broken sign and a lettering front
wall show where the Maryland w. c.
T. u. building once stood.
Adjoining this was the building oe-
cupied by the Iron Ship company, and
hard by the British consulate, whose
building is complete loss. The
building used by the German consul
ate, on this square, is also in ruins.
The costly United States customs
house, in course of construction. is
said to be ruined The marble blocks
are badly damaged. the cornices on the
north side are destroyed, and the mar
BILE is cracked in a number Of places.
The only other federal building dam
aged was the United States storehouse
diagonally opposite. Westward along
Pratt street is only debris from which
flames leap and play.
Down Pratt street, west from Gay,
for several blocks, the oil in the wreck
of the Standard Oil building ignited,
and there was a succession of explo-
sions with the bursting out of flames.
Pratt street for many squares is al
most impossible by reason of huge
piles of masonry. The electric wires
are a tangled network and the trolley
wires are down in every direction. At
O'Donnell's wharf, where q freight sta
ton of the North Central railroad is
located, the flames fed all day on the
infiammable trimmings of the annex
to the power-house of the United
States railroad, the main building of
which was Quilted The Commercial
building, six-story building at the
corner of Lombard and Gay streets,
stretching over half a block, is de-
stroyed but the vaults are safe.
The fire was most remarkable in
many ways, but more so in the lack
of casualties. Only one person was
reported killed and the number treated
in the hospitals will be not more than
fifty. The dead man was a fireman
from York, Pa, who was crushed by
a falling wall. In the city hospital
thirty-fiYe persons were treated during
the progress of the fire, and only one
was compelled to remain in the insti-
tuition, and he was suffering from ex-
posure.
The State to the Rescue.