The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-08

tween Liberty and Sharp was soon
ablaze, then came the next block east
to Hanover, and after that the block
on the south side to Charles street
broke out into flames, the Consolidated
Gas company's building and Oehm's
! Acme hall burning fierce1y.
| Meanwhile there were stores north
Of Baltimore street being similarly
! consumed. Mullins hotel caught and
other buildings near it. West of Lib
erty street, on the south side of Balti-
more the block was doomed, and the
! big Baltimore bargain house also
caught. Down in Hopkins place. where
the confiagration started, Hurst's
building and the other wholesale
houses on both sides of the streets
crumbled and fell.
Flames Reach German Street.
The big dry goods houses of Daniel
Miller & Sons and r. M. Sutton &
Co. were soon aflame and along Ger
man east and west from the Hurst
building there were a dozen build
! ings burning and scores more threat
ened. The spectacle of ruin and de-
! 49, NSNAOAA AAOIii oAAJ POlAIS AL NlACoC
doomed blocks was something awful
i Mass & Kemper's big wholesale store
on Baltimore street quickly succumb-
| ed to the flames and the walls fell with
| a crash that was heard for squares.
| The Hurst building was utterly de-
stroyed, not even wall ten feet high
| being left standing, and was appar-
! emily the center of the caldron from
whence the flames radiated over the
| doomed neighborhood.
On Hopkins place the Hopkins Saw
| ings bank and the National Exchange
| bank were, Quilted by flames, the few
! streams of water that the f1remen
| were able to turn on them proving
utterly Intellectual to even halt the
| destruction. Here were the ruins of
! John F. Hurst & Co, and next to it
| S. Hecht, Jr. & Sons was in flames
Adjoining was the large building owned
by the William Koch Importing COM
pany, which was also quickly de-
stroyed
Across the street the Stanley and
Brown Drug Company building was
| quickly in ruins, while fronting on the
Baltimore street side of this block
were the Roxbury Rye Distilling com
pany, the building occupied by Silber-
man & Todes, the house of Allen
Sons & Co., which has hardly been COM
pleted, while next to it was the estab-
ment of M. Moses & Co. On the cor
ner was the building occupied by
| Messrs. Sugar & Shear and several
other smaller concerns. All Of these
were swallowed up in fame, and in
fact the whole block was nothing but
a cauldron of fire.
| At 1:S0 o'clock Mullins hotel a sew
en-story structure at Liberty and Bal
| tlmore streets, was in flames from
| garrett to cellar, and its great height
and narrowness acted as a sort of f1ue
which converted the doomed building
i into huge and dreadful torch. All
the guests had been ordered out of
| the building shortly after the fire broke
| out in John E. Hursts place. There
was no panic or confusion and none
was injured.
Firemen Ask Outside Assistance.
Though every bit of fire fighting ap-
paratus in the city was called into
requisition as the flames continued to
! spread, the firemen realized that they
had task before them which was too
| great for them to combat. kilograms for
fire engines were sent to Washington
and Philadelphia, and about 1 o'clock
six engines arrived from Washington
and four from Philadelphia, and Join
| ed in the battle with the flames.
| Engines from stations in Baltimore.
Howard, Anne Arundel and Hartford
counties also arrived as soon as posi-
BILE, some of the apparatus travelling
q distance of thirty miles and more
| Water plugs in every section within
radius of half mile from the fire
were in use, and it is roughly estimat-
ed that there were $50 hose all PLAYING
at one time upon different parts of
the conf1agration.
Owing to the great congestion Of fire
apparatus, the crowds of people and
the general confusion, many of the en-
gines from out Of town were unable TO
| find place where they would be of any
service.
With loud roars, wall after wall ton
| pied into the streets and firemen ran
for their lives. All kinds of wires had
to be cut to clear the way for the fire
| fighters. The block bounded by Ger
! AldH, AlOSIty, OHdrp ana Baltimore
streets was early found to be doomed
and the firemen turned their attention
to saving the buildings on Baltimore
street, east of Sharp.
The fire was beyond their control and
/ the flames ran from one building to an
other in spite of the fact that the fire.
men had done their best to check the
progress of the flames by soaking the
! structures with water
| Red-hot cinders ignited the roof of
Front Street theater and for a time
it looked as though that structure
would be burned down The building
is at least a half mile from the main
eonf1agration, and the fact that the
roof caught from falling cinders shows
to what distance the fiery rain fell.
The blaze, which was on the south
west corner, was extinguished by the
hremen, assisted by citizens
City Hospital Threatened.
For time considerable alarm was
felt at the city hospital, where the rain
of cinders was at its fercest. The