Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-02-28
Estimates Vary From 100000
to 100000.
FIGURES NOT NOW AVAILABLE
Ruins of tie Big Fire Shoulder All
Day-Firemen Handicapped in Fight
ing the Flames by Closed Street
No Lives Lost
(By Associated Prcss.l

L. Wy Associated tFcSSl
NEW ORLEANS. Feb. 27.-Com-
Dlete figures Of the loss involved i'll
the destruction OF the Sl,iyvesant
docks OF the Illinois Central. it was an
| nounccd by local officials OF the com
pany. Will not be available until an
inspection of the books of the docks is
finished. Fortunatelv all Of these
We're saved
Today local Freight Agent Cousins
! and his Office force went to work on
them. and Mir. Cousins announced to-
night that it might be possible tomor-
| row 10 give the result. The value Of
the wharNcS. sheds warehouses; Gle
waters and trackagc is known roughly,
| but the number of cars ANA the u1lan-
| 'lly Of merchandise dcssttt,rcd cannot
Ec given until the inspection is con
! Guided. In the Iucan,imH estimates Of
the loss vary between SUPERINTENDENT
ounn's figures Of $3,oUu0un ana Gen
eral Freight Agent Perkins aggregate,
OF $lunn.Nun
lhr ruins Of tho fire. S.u.,,lldrrc,i all
day and two engines wCr" kept at tll,,
scene to protect surrounding .resi.lcn-
tial property Including the Crescent
Ice plant, The police have complied Il
! district OF approximately forty build
'ngs occupied by laborers which were
| DESTROYED with an estimated loss Of
Sino.Hoo. Earlier estimates Of ,h"I
! damages 10 shippiil:, wcrH moiie,l
today the principal sufferer being til"
l-cyland liner Indian Head, 81, whc!.
| the less is $4,000
Fircmcn Handicapped.
| Officials Of tho fire department said
lO;lay that tho fire might have been
cXlinsus'!cd in its inception if tlla
streets leading to the stocks had not
been closed by authority Of tho council
and long lines Of freight cars had no,
been packed on the tracks. 1t was i'm
possible for engines or the lircmcn to
get through until too late to be Of scrv-
Ice Chief O'Connor said one OF th,. re-
suits of the fire would doubtless be 10
force the city to provide modern
fire boat for tho harbor ic said the
! disaster could have been avoided ii
there had been one.
| Must distress is reported among the
poorer classes who lost their belong
ing. Tho local charity organizations
iavc asked for funds to relieve it,
! president Fish. Of the Illinois Cen
| tral. was reported today to be at Palm
| Beach. Fla Local officials do not cS-
| pect him here Vice President Flara-
| nan and other officials are on their
way from Chicago ana will be here at
noon tomorrow. They will have full
authority to handle the situation and
discuss plans for the immediate clear
ing away Of the wreckage, the reopen
ing Of temporary tracks on the river
and provisions for handling the grain
business Of the Illinois Central until
the docks are restored The local eX-
changes and business interests will
cooperate with MI. Harahan in any
plans he may have to prevent any
diversion Of traffic now coming here
over the road
NO one is missing, and it is general
~ believed that the fire was without
loss Of life
The Immediate Losses
Conservative estimates figure the
immediate loss by the fire at $4,000, 900,
divided as follows:
Two elevators. warehouses, sheds,
s2.50O.o00: $4,000 bales Of cotton, $500
600; 100000 bushels Of grain. $685.
goo; $1,000 barrels of sugar. $500, 900:
cotton seed cake, $50 carloads, S97. 500:
lumber s16,G25: cement $56,25O:
meal, 20 cars. $4,000: sunder $780,
600; five hundred freight cars. S375.-
600; ships damaged $4,000; city fire
department two engines and six
horses, $4,000; private property ana
other damage. s21G.0OO
The railroad company carried its
own insurance and the contents of tho
various elevators and sheds were in
snred in local and foreign agencies
Ing wharvcs covered 1850 feet,