The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1904-02-19
Baltimore STAGGERING Under Fire Loss Which 10 One Has the
Temerity 10 put Into Fi9vres-city s Overcast
With goom-Famine Is Fcared
Flames Rage for Twenty Eight Hours in Spite Of Almost
Superhuman Efforts Put Forth by Best Fhtins Forces
Halt ! Dozen Cities Could Muster. NJ y
SeventyFive Squares Including the Finest Commercial and
Office Buildings in the City, Turned hto Waste
of Smoderins Ruins
STATISTICS OF THE FIRE.

STATISTICS OF THE FIRE.
Loss variousIy estimated at from
s15o, 100000 to ssoo,ooo,ooo.
seventy.six blocks in heart Of bust
ness section completely devastated.
$500 buildings destroyed.
Fire ragged for twenty.eight hours.
Not a single life lost and not hu-
man being even dangerously Injured.
Baltimore, Mr., Feb. 10.-Baltimore
Is staggering under fire loss which no
one has the temerity to put in figures.
The important commercial district is
blackened ruins, laid bare by a con-
f1agration which ragged without a mo-
mentary check from 10:45 a. m. Sun
day until late in the afternoon yester-
day. At o'clock the city officials
again breathed. 1t was agreed 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 q dozen cities were
able to muster.
The city is overcast with gloom.
The only lights in the burned district
are those from
The smouldering Ruins.
The stores are closed in nearly every
street. The darkened avenues are
full Of jostling people talking Of one
subject. Apparently there is but one
cause for gladness, and that is that
there are no homeless. The resi-
dence section of the city escaped.
This phase of the situation relieved
the officials from any thought other
than the saving of property.
At 2 p. m. the Associated Press
sent out a bulletin saying the flames
would be held in check at the Union
docks and prevented leaping Jones
falls and placing the entire city east
Of there in jeopardy. At 3 o'clock
that bulletin was confirmed. 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 lumber was tossed into
the falls. and this, with similar heroic
measures
Stayed the onsweep Of Fire.
Throughout the terrible contest in
which flremen and fire waged for su-
premacy, humanity was handicapped
by gale which carried burning
brands over the heads of the workers
and beyond the reach Of the hundreds
of streams of water poured into the
raging furnaces. But for the work of
volunteers in seeking out and ex-
tinguishing these embers it is almost
certain the burned area would have
been twice larger than it is. About
seventy five squares, or 40 acres, are
In ashes, 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.
Insurance companies have opened
temporary Offices in the Lexington
hotel, but their representatives de-
cline to estimate the loss The an
swer of one is typical of all:
cts too big. We have not figures
to describe it. Make it
Above One Hundred Million.
That's the best we can do
The same indecision was true in re-
gard to- estimates concerning insur-
ance.