The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-02-09

! 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
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 II caldron
whose flames burst at times through
the windows, but could cause no fur
Their damage. In numerous other
wrecked buildings the flames played
| about the debris and threatened to
weaken the foundations of even what
few walls were left.
Like a grim tower in the ruins
stand the walls of the fifteen stored
Continental Trnst cOmpany's building.
| The walls of the Baltimore and Ohio
building are also standing, but the
Pennsylvania railroad building, direct
| ly across Calvert street, is RACED Only
the walls remain Of the once stately
Equitable building. At the corner OF
Baltimore and Holiday streets only
remnants 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. All along South Gay street
is the same picture of complete de-
struction. Here a broken sign and a
| totterlng front wall is all that is left OF
| the Maryland W. G. T. U. building.
Adjoining this was the building occu-
pied by the Iron Ship company and by
the British consulate, whose building
is a complete loss The building used
by the German consulate on this square
is also in ruins.
While there were no casualties to
| speak of, the great army of fire fighters
performed man. daring feats in their
desperate efforts to stay the flames.
Many times they were driven out of
close and hot places just as walls came
| topping down. The last large building
! TO fall prey to the flames down along
Jones falls nearly caught five men.
| They were on the roof and directing
their efforts TO an adjoining structure
| when a warning shout was sent up that
| the interior Of the building on which
they were standing was mass OF
flames. They found their way to tin
| gutter, where, one by one, they hung
on, stretched out their arms and grasp
| ed a telegraph pole which was planted
close TO the structure. They slid down
and had not reached the ground when
the roof fell in with roar. This was
only one instance. Columns could be
written Of hairbreadth escapes made
during the twenty seven hours battle
| with the flames.
All the out Of town fire companies,
/ because Of the utter exhaustion of the
local men, were given a free hand.
More than a score of companies were
here from New York, Philadelphia,
Wilmington, Washington and small
towns within radius Of fifty miles of
Baltimore Their duty was to check
the flames in their onward march
| southwark This was a rather difficult
/ task, as both sides of Jones falls are
lined with lumber yards and old build
ings. which proved TO be no better
than finder boxes. At every street the
stream is spanned by small bridge,
| and on each bridge two and sometimes
three engines were standing taking wa
ter from the creek Stationed at vari-
Gus points in the lumber yards were
other steamers, clsO taking water from
| the stream. In this manner the travel
ing fire lighters stood side by side and
| strove to check the flames. The lum-
Der yards ON the eastern side of the
creek were saved by the companies
stationed in them throwing great guam
| titles of water ON the great piles of
lumber while the companies on the
west side of the narrow creek poured
water into the burning buildings The
engines on the bridges also rendered
valuable aid
The New York french, who were the
last TO arrive, owing to the long dis
lance they travelled, were the last TO
stand the brunt of the flames and
I
when the fire began to burn itself out
in the coal yard Of the American Ice
company seven of their steamers were
backed lip $Rninst a bulkhead Of the
Patapsco river.
Five fresh companies of New York
Rremen and a hundred members of
the Atlantic City volunteer depart
ment have arrived and relieved the
most exhausted of the earlier detach
ments. The wind is falling, and the
temperature is falling also. The city
is absolutely orderly.
The fire now is entirely under con
troll and confined to the blazing heaps
of the ruins The firemen are steadily
forcing their way inward from the
outer limits Of the burned area, max
ing use of tugs along the water front.
A late estimate is that $500 build