Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1905-03-01
FIERCE FLAMES SWEEP DOCKS
New Orleans Suffers a Five Million Dollar Loss
BY Rayaging Flames

rushed to the Wharves and hundreds
OF box ears loaded with freight were
drawn to points above the upper end
of the terminals before the fire reach
ed them. Many hundreds more, how
ever, were consumed.
The wind was blowing down the
river and the blaze spread with great
speed in that direction. By 9 o'clock
the lower elevator and sheds and
Wharves from Amelia street to Louis
II avenue, a distance of six squares,
had fallen in. Fortunately, Louisiana
avenue is a very broad thoroughfare,
and the further spread of the fire be-
yond that point into a residence Sec
ton was checked. Between those
points, however, the flames swept to
complete destruction many cottages of
the poorer classes, the occupants in g
great many instances losing all they
possessed. With the wind in a favor
able direction, the river boats, the
able direction, the river boats, the en-
ployes of the road and the fire depart
ment concentrated all their energies
in an effort to save the upper elevator
between Austerlitz and Constantinople
streets and to check the fire at that
point. The fire, however, gradually
worked past the point occupied by the
elevator. He~roically, the forces kept
at work, but ultimately they were
beaten, and the big steel structure,
covered with corrugated iron suddenly
burst into flames at 1880 and in a half
hour was a complete wreck.
BLAZE OF TERRIFIC FURY.
At midnight more than nine squares
of the terminals had been completely
destroyed, and it seemed unlikely that
the fire would be checked until it
reached Napoleon avenue, which also
is a very broad street. During the fire
a heavy wind blew. and the blaze was
of indescribable fury, carrying brands
to great distances, driving back the
crowds Of sight-seers. Immense pieces
of corrugated iron. torn from the sides
OF the upper elevator were carried
through the air as if they were feathers,
and, dropping in every direction, con-
stantly endangered the lives of fire
men and spectators.
The weather was bright and warm,
10000 people visited the scene during
the progress Of the fire. Aside from
the tremendous loss involved in the
destruction Of property, the fire is a
calamity to New Orleans in the tenn
porary abatement of the immense eX-
port business Of the Illinois Central,
partly in the matter of grain ship
ments
Later Estimates.
New Orleans, Special.-CCmplete
figures Of the loss involved in the de-
struction of the Stuyvesant docks OF
the Illinois Central Railroad, it was
announced by local officers of the COM
pany Monday, will not be available
until an inspection Of the books of
the docks is finished. Fortunately all
these were saved. Local Freight Agent
Cousins and his Office force went to
work on them, and Mr.. Cousins an
nounced that it might be possible by
Tuesday to give the result. The value
of the wharves, sheds, warehouses,
elevators and trackage is known rough
ly, but the number Of cars and the
quantity of merchandise destroyed can
not be given until the inspection is
concluded. In the meantime, estimates
of the losses vary between Superirten-
dent Dunn's figures Of $4,000, 900, and
General Agent Perkins aggregate OF
5000, 900.
Destructive Fire at Hot Springs.
Hot Springs, Ark, Special.-Fire
swept the southern portion of this
city early Saturday, doing immense
damage and causing the known death
of three persons. The losses are var
icusly estimated at from $1,000, 900 to
81 600, 900. Sunday was a day OF
gloom in Hot Springs. The first esti-
mates of the damage done by the great
confagration were not exaggerated.
More than forty blocks were eaten
away by the flames, and the most con
sentative estimates place the loss at a
million and a half dollars, and several
insurance men state that the figures
will reach two million. The three un
known bodies recovered are the only