The Penn's Grove record., 1904-04-22
TORONTO SWEPT BY FIR
Heart Of City's Wholesale District
Burned Out.
.EsTIMATEDloSS IS 100000

FIremen Handicapped by Strong Wind
London. Montreal, Hamilton and Bnf-
falo Send Assistance-Chief Thompson
Leaps six Stories and Escapes with
Broken Leg.
Toronto.-Fire swept through a Sec
ton of Toronto's wholesale business
district, causing a loss which is es-
timated at over &c. OO, 1000.
The fire started in a factory in
Wellington street. In less than an
hour the flames had spread from build
ing to building on both sides of the
street, until the whole block was a
mass of flames and the fire was
utterly beyond the control Of the local
department.
Appeals we're sent to every sur
rounding city. where fre-ighting APP
paratus could be obtained, asking for
assistance. Montreal, London, Hamil-
ton and Buffalo at once responded.
The Fire Department was almost
overwhelmed, s 10 rapid was the spread
Of the flames, famed as they were
by the wind, and finding ready fuel
in the big wholesale houses and their
infiammable stores. They hardly knew
where to use their water, being driven
back again and again from the stands
they endeavored to hold.
The tremendous heatprevented them.
in many instances, from taking po-
sitions near enough to the burning
buildings to use their apparatus eff
fectiyely, and walls fell with loud
crashes and heavy rumbling, making
their work extremely perilous.
The following places are among
those that have been destroyed: Gill
lespie, Ansley & Co., hats and furs:
Dignum & Moneypenny, importers;
Comfort Soap Works; Davis & Hem
derson, wholesale %stationers; Jessop
Steel Company's building, occupied by
R. B. Hutchinson & Co., wholesale
woolens; Alcott, Sargent & Westwood,
fishing tackle; Dodd's Medicine Com
pany; Western Steamship Company;
Richard l.. Baker Company, agents;
e. I. Corset Company; G. III. West
wood & Co., fishing tackle; Garland
Manufacturing Company, It. H. Cragg,
agent; Rothschilds Brothers & Com
pany, manufacturers; c.. w. Bangard
& Co., brokers; Richie & Ramsay Com
pany. paper manufacturers; Thomas
Hoskin, manufacturers agent; Kin
leith Paper Company; Andrew Muir
head, wholesale paints; E. w. Gilmore
& Brother, silverware; w. H. Payne
& Co., commission agents; r. NJ. Slater
& Co., wholesale dry-goods; Interna-
tiOnal Brokers, Limited; Gale Manu-
featuring Company; Whiteman &
Brown Brothers, wholesale stationers;
Ralph Smith & Co., photographers;
George H. Hess, Son & Co., window
shades; Menzies Manufacturing Com
pany, window shades; HI. F. Sharp
& Co., photograph supplies; Crown
Hotel; Office Specially Company.
At that time the fremen believed
that the fire was under control. but
a shift in the wind sent the flames
roaring down Bay street, destroying
every building on both sides of the
street, from the National Club down
to Front street.
Nothing could resist the force Of
the flames as they swept down Bay
street toward the lake, and the fire.
men fought back the fire from the
side streets, confinings the fire zone
to the one thoroughfare wherever pos
sible: Several frame buildings which
threatened to cause a spread of the
fire were blown up with dynamite.
Chief Thompson of the Fire De-
partment and George Dowkes of Mon
treal were cut off by the flames while
directing the work of iremen from a
roof. Thompson jumped six stories
to the ground and miraculously es-
capped with a broken leg. A mass of
tangled wires broke his fall neal the
ground.