The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-09
FIRE SWEEPS BOSTON WHARF Property Loss Over Mil lion and Half. LEAPS FROM PIER TO PIER Vessels Saved by Cutting Their
 Cables. One Person Relieved to Have rer.shea ia Flames sna Many Flee ssr
 Livss-Raiiread Hs.v-
 iest Loser.
LEAPS FROM PIER TO PIER

Boston, Mass. July s.--A Are, bes lieved to have been caused by spoutan- eous combustion or a locomotive spark and famed by brisk northwest wind. swept nearly quarter of a mile of the harbor front of East Boston late today. nearly sl,5oo.0o0.
 Much of the loss falls upon the Bos- ton and Albany Railroad.
 One person Is reported missing ana t is thought that he has perished in the flames. This is Daniel Sullivan, q watchman at the cunard Line pier.
 Todays lire was the bigEsst ana most destructsve that has broken out along the harbor front for many years. The James spread with remarkable rapidity and by the time the irat ire lighting apparatus arrived on the scene they were beyond control and ieaping From pier to pier.
 Within an hour of the time the fire was discovered. feur piers, three ware houses, grain elevator containing &C., 900 bushels Of grain and many loaded freight cars had been destroyed,
 VeNsels in the Flames
 Several vessels and lighters narrow " escaped destruction. The big Ley. land Line steamer pevonian. which ar. rived yesterday from Liverpool waa moored at one of the piers which wal destroyed. The discipline of the De- vonlan crew was so excellent. however, that she was warped out Into inc stream without even having a square Inch of paint biistsred
 Less fortunate were the British bark Belmont of Yarmouth, N, S.. and tha scnponers Paul Palmer. a iivesrrfanked craft and Theo. H. Brown. a four-s masted schooner. The Belmont was mQored by steel cables 10 the pier where the nre started. So quickly did fhs flames envelope. tho wharf and ware houee that 1t vas Impossible to sitp the cables from the moorinG posts. and ss was necessary to resort to the teafoun process Of cutting a haif dozen or more of the great wire ropes
 By the time the Belmont was gotten out into the stream. the paint had been burned on her hull. her cabins had heen practically destroyed. her life boats charred and ruined and her spars, salIs and rigging badly burned. The Palmer escaped with slight damage to her fore top sails and fore rigging. while the rigging. sails and spars on the forward part of the Brown were badly charred
 The burned area includes Piers 1 and 2 or the Grand Junction docks and the pier on which stood the big grain ele- yator, all owned by the Boston ana AL bany Railroad Company. and used by the steamers of the cunard Line: ana Pier No. s. owned by the Leyland Line This property extends along the water front 10 the wharf of the Massachu- setts Coal Wharf Company, which ad- toins the East Boston Ferry slip of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lxnn Raii- road, commonly known as the Marrow Gauee.'s
 The piers destroyed were each about 500 feet long and from 200 to 300 feet vide Piers l, ? and 6 were each eov- cred by large warehouse.
 Started fn . Warehouse.
 The fire started in the warehouse of Fer l, Grand Junction docks. Tn fhis building was stored an immense quan- tity of combustibie material including wool, Egyptian cotton. grease and oil. It is believed that spontaneous com bug. ton or spark from a freight Iocomo- tive along side the warehouse caused the fire.
 At the time there were about 100 la borers at work on the pier and with all of them 1t was a race for life. h each of the warehouses destroyed there were many cars loaded with freight for export. All of these cars and their contents were destroyed.
 Between Pier 6 and the pier of the Massachusetts Coal Wharf Company c wide stretch of water intervened. and here the ire was checked. Several times the coal pockets were OF are but the property was saved.
 On account of the proximity of the fre to the East Boston ferry slips, the ferry boats of the narrow gauge road suspended operations c.npletely Thousands of suburbanites could not reach their homes. nor could thousands of others who had been at the beach resorts return to the city until late to- night.
 The Boston and Albany RaIlroad New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. lessee, are the greatest Ios- CTS It Is estimated that the raiIroaans loss Is $l,000,ooo, covered by blanket insurance.
 The loss of freight and grain burned Is placed at fully $400.000. Practically all of the freight was insured