The Penn's Grove record., 1905-02-24

Completely Destroy ed-No Lives Be-
100000 Damage Done.
indianapolis, Ind.--Eight buildings
were wiped out in three-quarters Of an
hour and many more menaced by a fire
that began at night in the big store of
Fahnley & McCrea, wholesale millin-
ers, and shortly before midnight was
threatening the entire business district.
Violent explosions in the A. Kiefer
Drug Company's warerooms helped to
spread the flames and imperiled the
lives of scores Of fire fighters. Walls
rocked on all sides when the chemicals
burst like giant bombs and sheets of
flame shot out from the big drug store.
Practically the whole Fire Depart
ment was ON the spot in a half hour af-
ter the blaze was discovered, but by
the time the last engine got there it
was evident the city was doomed to a
confagrati0n that would stand as a
record in its history. The loss before
the end of the evening was estimated
at $1,000,000, and it was evident that
was only a beginning.
Three hotels the st. Charles, the
Sherman and the ~Savoy-were burned
to the ground in the earliest stages of
the fire. In addition to Fahnley Il Nc
Crea and the Kiefer Company the
principal losers up to midnight were
Griffith Brothers, wholesale m%illiners;
Delmetsch & Co., toy manufacturers,
and the United States Express Com
pany. Parcels and cases containing
goods worth many thousands of dollars
were stored in the company'S ware
rooms, and all were lost.
There was no one in any of the bust
ness buildings except watchmen, it be-
ing night, and it could not be learned
in the evening whether all the watch
men escaped. 1t was believed, how
ever, taere was no loss of life in the
business district. Whether the hotel
men ana their employees and guests
had been saved without exception re-
manned to be disclosed by a personal
anvass. The fire chief thought no
lives were lost.
All the wholesale district inclosed by
Georgia and Meridian streets, the
Union Station and Jackson place was
in danger of destruction at IL o'clock.
When the fire chief saw what was be-
fore him he sent out special alarms
that called to the spot not only every
engine and truck in the city, but doZ-
ems of volunteer companies from out
lying villages. Many hundreds of fire
men were at work at IL o'clock.
Many dozens of streams were played
on the blazing buildings, but they were
powerless to control the uprush and
consequent downpour of firebrands
that threatened to cause additional
fires every minute. Heroic deeds be-
came common before the fire had
burned two hours. Paid and yolun-
teer fremen risked their lives again
and again to check the spread Of the
flames and IA persons who were in
danger of being cut off by the rapidly
travelling wall of fame.
Thrilling rescues were made in the
three hotels that were burned. Women
clad in thin nightrobes were carried
from window after window by ladder
men, who first wrapped them in their
own heavy coats or in blankets to save
them from death in the intense cold.
Several of the women were uncon-
scious when found by the firemen, and
almost all were hysterical. They were
rushed to hospitals or accommodated
in private houses. Society women pro-
vided them with clothing and prepared
hot suppers for them with their own
hands.
The same women carried coffee and
sandwiches to the iremen and helped
the surgeons to dress the burns of fire
fighters. One woman i'll a gown of del
icate color and texture passed unceas-
ingly from line to line distributing food
and coffee to the fremen, her long
skirt trailing in the mud, her light
wrap full of holes from sparks.
Fahnley & McCrea's store was in
South Meridian street. The flames
worked so quickly from building to
building that in less than an hour af-
ter they were discovered the roof of
the Union Station was ablaze. 1t was
feared much of the railroad rolling
stock would be destroyed, and EN-
ployes worked in a rain of sparks and
glowing embers to shunt the passen-
ger coaches and freight cars out of the
yards.