Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1904-02-12
ALT|M0RE HAS
APPALLING Loss
Damage Caused By Fire is
$100,000,000 at Con-
sentative Estimate.
rs BLOCKS ARE RAVAGED
Fully $500 Fine Buildings Have
Been Levelled to the Ground
Fought Back the Flames From
Residence District Of the City.

: -
Seventy.tive blocks were swept
clean by the flames.
Twenty-Five hundred buildings,
including many Of the finest struc.
lures In Baltimore, were destroy.
ed.
Baltimore, Nd, Feb. S.-The fro
which broke out at few minutes be-
lore II o'clock yesterday morning in
the wholesale dry goods house of John
T. Hurst & Company. has ragged with
anrestrained fury continuously ever
since and at midnight it is still un-
checked
Baltimore. Md, Fep 9-rne purned
district Is within the territory bound.
ed on the west by Liberty street, on
the north by Lexington street, on the
east by Jones Falls, and on the south
by the basin. Within this district
were the big structures on Fayette,
Gay, Lombard, Charles, Baltimore, FL.
lott, Hollingsworth and Cheapside
streets. Passing southeast along ,he
basin the following large docks were
destroyed: McClure's, Patterson's,
Smiths, Frederick's, Long and Union.
Small thoroughfares which do not ex.
tend as far north as Lexington street
and which were in the path of the
vames, are Commerce, tIeaericKs
and Mill streets. 4
The district thus swept by the
fire comprises seventy-fve blocks
and nearly $500 buildings.
Baltimore, Md, Feb. 9.-Baltimore
is staggering under fire loss which
no one has the temerity to put in
figures, although insurance men think
it will surely berover s100,000,000.
The important commercial district is
blackened ruins, laid bare py ..n.
ftagration which ragged without a mo.
mentary check from 1914 a. m. Sun.
day until late in the afternoon yester-
day. At o'clock the city officials
breathed. 1t was agreed to that the
flames were under control. They had
ragged twenty-eight hours, in spite of
almost superhuman efforts put forth
by the best fighting forces which
more than half dozen cities were
able to muster.
The city is overcast with gloom.
Apparently there Is but one cause for
gladness, and that is that there are
no homeless. The residence section
OF the city escaped. This phase of
the situation relieved the officials
from any other thought than the saw
ing Of property.
At 2 yesterday afternoon the Assoc
ciated Press sent out bulletin say.
ing the flames would be held in check
at the union docksaand prevented from
leaping Jones Falls and placing the
entire city east Of there in jeopardy.
At o'clock that bulletin. was con.
frmed. A score Of times flames OF
fire were found tapping the sides OF
lumber piles on the east bank of the
Falls. In some Instances the iums.r
was tossed into the Falls and this
with similar heroic measures stayed
the onsweep of fire.
Throughout the terrible contest in
which firemen and fire waged for SUI
premacy, humanity was handicapped
by gale which carried burning
brands over the heads of the workers
and beyond the reach Of the hun
dreds of streams of water poured into
the raging furnaces. But for the
work Of volunteers in seeking out and
extinguishing these embers, it Is al
most certain the burned area would
have been twice larger than it is.
About seventy-five squares, or 140
acres, are included, extending from
Lexington street on the north to Pratt
street on the south, from Liberty
street on the west to Jones Falls on
the east.
Hn INV Sc ~
plete devastation. Numberless build
ings that were the pride of Baltimore,
costly and stately, and occupied for
| different purposes, were Quilted, and
only smouldering debris or walls re-
! main to mark the sites. The Balti-
more American building, one OF the
finest, is now but smouldering debris
save for remnants of front and side
walls. Across South street, where
stood the Baltimore Sun building,
| 1niy tire pillars that mar fkedi the front
remain. Entire blocks Just below
there are wiped out 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 ex-
change at the corner Of German
street. That building, whose walls
tower above the crumbling debris Of
what were adjoining structures, was
Quilted, and the standing walls form
cd cauldron, the flames of which
burst at, times through the windows,
but could cause no further damage.
Like a grim tower in the runs
stands the walls of the fifteen story
h,1i1d
The walls of the Baltimore & Ohio
building are also standing, but the
Pennsylvania railway building, direct
ly across Calvert street, Is RACED.
Only the walls remain or lue ONE
stately Equitable building Only rem
nants of one wall are left of what was
the National hotel at Holiday and
Fayette streets. No buildings are left
standing as far as the eye can see
down baltimore street from this
point All along South Gay street
there is the same picture OF complete
destruction. A broken sign and a tot
tering front wall show where the
Maryland w. c. T. u. building stood.
Adjoining this is the building occu.
pied by the Iron Ship company and
by the British consulate, whose build
ing is a complete loss. The building
used by the German consulate, on this
square, is also in ruins.
The costly United States customs
house, in the course of construction
and occupying the triangular blocs
between Lombard and Water streets
and Exchange place, is SAID TO De
ruined. The marble blocks are badly
damaged, the cornices on the north