Arizona republican., 1905-02-26
MILLIONS BURNED
Square Mile of Hot Springs,
 Ark. in Ruins
Three Lives Known to Have Been LOst-Hundreds of Residences and Stores Burned.

Hot Springs. Ark, Feb. 25.-Fire swept the southern portion of this city early today, causing losses variously estimated at from one to two million dollars and three deaths. Three char red bodies were found iR the ruins but Identity of the victims has not been established. One of the bodies is sup posed to be that of a female guest of the Grand Central hotel.
 The fire started at 3:3O this morning and in five hours burned over an area of one square mile. Block after block of business houses, hotels and other buildings were swept away. The fire swept area includes every house on Chapel street, all of Market street from Central avenue west, Orange street to Grand avenue and a portion of Oak street. Among the buildings destroyed are the Grand Central hotel, the Lee House, the Moody House, the Plateau hotel, the Columbia hotel, the county court house and jail, the First Meth odist church, the Jewish church and two hundred and twenty five resi- dences and stores.
 The fire started in the Grand Cen tral hotel and it's origin is uncertain. All the guests had retired for the night and only the clerk and a watchman were on duty when the flames were discovered. A strong north wind was blowing and before the fire department could reach the scene the flames had spread rapidly to adjoining buildings. Bremen and policemen worked va liantly, but their efforts could not check the flames and to add to their difficulty the water pressure gave out at five o'clock.
 Bucket brigades were then formed, citizens and visitors alike volunteering g their services. Many lodging houses and cheap restaurants were directly in the path of the fire and the occupants were hurriedly apprised of their dan ger. Many in their anxiety jumped from windows and sustained severe bruises and shocks.
 At day break the wind increased in force. The fire swept along Central avenue south, eating up building af- ter building. On the west side of Cen tral avenue a strip of woods covering about ten acres arrested the progress of the fire in that direction. The Park hotel, through a favorable shift in the wind, escaped destruction.
 At nine o'clock the fire had practi- cally burned itself out and the work of the rcscuers was begun In the ruins of the Grand Central hotel a charred female body. was found. The remains could not be identified and as the ho- tel register and other records were burned the name may never be known. In a lodging house two unknown male corpses were discovered.
 Mayor Bedding issued proclamation calling upon the citizens to open their houses to the destitute and the appeal was responded to on every side. The large hotels took in hundreds who had lost their belongings and fed hundreds more.
 mass meeting called by the mayor met this afternoon. Mayor Belding asked for contributions to assist the destitute and generous donations were made. Many turfmen subscribed lib- erally to the fund. Mayor Bedding said at the meeting that it was his opinion that the city can take care of the situation without an appeal for outside aid Tonight all the destitute are cared for.
 The telegraph offices tonight are flooded with teIegrams from all parts of the country asking If friends and relatives of the senders are safe. A number of those messages were prob ably Occasioned by sensational reports sent out from here that the loss of