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

anu StOEeS Ol tue CUWnloolou LICK
chants who supply the city with fsod.
There are green-grocers and butchers
scattered about the city, Baftimoreans
getting their supplies from central
market The wares for this market
are bought from the warehouse men
and commission merchants. When the
warehouses were threatened the cry
went up that famine might follow the
fire, but the people of Baltimore soon
got over that fright.
The warehouses and the, storehouses
of the commission merchants went up
in smoke, but it is easier to .rep}enish
blocks Of foodstuffs than it is to re-
store human life. Had the fire jumped
Jones' Falls to the lumber y.4rds and
piers beyond, there would have been
a second fire. among Baltimore's tene-
ments, which, like tenementS OF the
lower East Side in New York, are
packed close together beyond ehe east
shore of Jones' Falls. But the New
York fire fighters were on the other
shore Of the creek and the tenements
were saved.
As soon as the New York fire fighters
arrived here Battalion Chief Howe,
who was in command, put one question
to the Acting Fire Chief Of Baltimore:
"What is the exact situation. and
where can we fight for you hardest"
The flames We're rapidly eating their
way to the harbor. To the. question
from New York, the Baltimore Chief
made answers
sour supply of fresh water is low,
and few Of our engines can take salt
water from the bay. Our men are
about played out and the fire Is sweep
ing toward the warehouses and the
docks. If those 60, God help u.s."
"Send us there" said Chief Howe,
"and well do what we can fes you"
To the warehouse district in the
southeastern part of the city and to
the water front the New York appara'
tus went racing. Even the horses ap-
parentiy realized that it was New
York to the rescue, and as they raced
the flames raced after them. Chief
Howe took q good look at the ware
houses, gagged the force Of the wind
and looked back at the soureaching
fame fiend., - T.. i ~ -.
"Those warehouses are doomed" lie
exclaimed, "but weIl save the docks
and the shipping and the lumber yards
or bust" and so he stationed his men
and his apparatus around the big
houses Of the American Ice Company
and the Maine Lake Ice Company, got
his engines quickly into action, and
when the flames leaped from the last
warehouse to the nearest icehouse, the
New York fire laddies were at tlrem.
There they stood fighting hour after
hour and never retreating foot. The
icehouses were pretty we'll done for.
but the great lumber yards and the
piers. where the merchandise Of the
world is laid at Baltimore's feet, were
saved. Just at sunset Chief Howe
hunted up the acting chief of Balh-
more and simply said: '''' =. 49,.
/. II have the honor to report that your
fire Is under control" .Ij' y
The story Of the fire is one OF ruin
and destruction from the business CEN
tre to the harbor. Sweeping down
German, Fayette and Baltimore streets
the flames encountered old, timeworn
structures, and for the next few blocks
their progress was SO rapid that the
firemen gave up all attempt to fight the
flames back. The Sun and American
offices went up in smoke before mid
night. All the banking buildings and
brokerage Offices on South and German
streets were in ruins.
At midnight, after the fire was under
control, the city, almost in total dark
ness. was as quiet as a country VII
lage. The burned district was patroled
by the citizen soldiers Of the First,
Fourth and Fifth regiments and Troop
A, Of the National Guard, and about
fifty men Of the naval militia. The &C.
casional challenge Of a belated traveller
by one Of the sentries was about the
only sound that might be heard in the
place where the commerce Of the city
less than three days ago was in full
swing. : e.. --y :.
Except for the dreadful calamity
which had plunged the city in such
ruin, the town presented holiday ap-
pearance. Every incoming train and
steamboat brought hosts Of sightseers.
The Baltimore and Ohio refused to sell
any more tickets from Washington.
The power house is destroyed and
street car traffic was suspended.
Every sort Of vehicle imaginable was
pressed into service, and millionaires
could be seen riding up and down town
in moving wagons. The city was placed
under the strictest kind of military
rule, and every saloon" was closed as
tight as wax. Troops were on guard
at almost every corner, and only pass
signed either by Adjutant- General
Riggs or by President Upshur, Of the
Police Board, would allow any one
within the fire lines.
The burned district, comprising 14O
acres Of roughly drawn right angled
triangle, is piled with heaps and
masses of brick, stone and twisted iron,
from which walls Of the more substan-
tial structures tower. some seemingly
ready to fall at any instant. Flames
still rising from the ruins on the second
morning after the fire, and the burning
gas from the broken mains gave light
for the firemen, who were pressing
steadily inward from the borders of the
burned region.
Fifty thousand men and women are
out of employment. The insurance
companies have to meet the greatest
losses they have encountered since the
Chicago fire. There are hundreds of
ruined merchants. 1t will take years
to restore the city. And with it all
Baltimore is not cast down.
"We will rebuild. We will become a
greater city. A. new business Balti-
more will rise on the ashes of the old"
That is the sentiment Of the leading
men of the city. They are appalled, at
the calamity that has befallen them,
but they have courage.
The great wholesale and financial
,op+ro oP tho citv tooether with oyster