The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-04-13
SUFFERING AND DISTRESS ;
FOLLOW $12,OOO,OOO FIRE
TOWN OF CHELSEA, ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SU-
BURBS OF BOSTON, is NOW A MASS OF SHOULDER
ING RUINS AS THE RESULT OF THE RkVAGEs OF
THE FIRE DEMON.

DeeH lHJuleu. / he nOSpltdlS dit -i.lSu
TO overflowing Scores of injured
are being brought into Boston in au-
tOs, and neighboring towns are vieing
with each other in caring for the sick
and dying.
Over 1000 buildings have been de
strOyed. An area TWO and one-half
miles long by a mile and a half wide
is covered with ruins. Starting in
the very western point of Chelsea,
famed by a western gale blowing at
40 miles an hour, there was nothing
that could stop the flames.
For hours firemen from a score of
cities and towns battled until many of
them fell in their tracks, only to be
moved aside TO have their places TAX
en- by others. In many instances they
stuck TO their post until the very hose
in their hands took fire and the car
rails beneath their feet curled up like
SO much wire. From building to
building the flames spread, jumping
the widest street Massive iron grid
ers crumbled before the intense heat
and fell blazing mass in the streets.
Block by block the firemen We're driv-
en- back, and first one building and
then another was abandoned.
Started by Locomotive.
The fire started at about 10 O'Clock.
A grass fire from locomotive spark
is given as the cause. In half an hour
aid was asked of Boston, then of Cam
bridge, Arlington and one after an
other until almost every town or city
in the state contributed her share of
fire-fighters. And all to no purpose.
From the starting point, in a fan
like shape, the flames burned their
way Dynamite was used as a last
resort. Two blocks across the very
heart of the town went in one big
explosion in a vain effort to save the
finest resident portion of the city
These two blocks were like a little
street. The crumbling mass of ruins
from the explosion was so much kindl-
ing wood and the flames jumped over
doomed
The militia was called out. At least
two looters We're shot before the lines
were SO placed that no one could en-
ter the fire district. Companies of the
Coast Artillery were ordered out
They aided in the dynamiting, that
lasted all the days.
An Island Of Darkness.
The city last night was in darkness.
To make the work of the firemen SAT
er, all electric currents were shut off
soon after noon. Cars were stalled
and burned in the street. All night
long thousands of men and women and
children thrOnged the streets and
parks, with no place to lay their
heads.
Chelsea is almost an island. sur
rounded by water on every side but
one. That leads to the interior of the
state. For few hours after the con-
flagration started people could get
away. Then the ferry boat service
went out of commission. Horses and
autos were at premium for hours.
Crazed men and women loaded their
things in any conveyance they could
find. Autos were forcibly taken from
drivers and filled with house hold
goods. Teams and wagons Jared the
same way. But few of these loads ev-
er got out of the city AS they drove
down the flam-filled streets. from fly
ing embers they caught afire, and.
with wagons and horses, burned in the
streets. The telephone and telegraph
offices were soon out of commission.
With all communication shut off. with
egress almost impossible and ingress
absolutely so, it seemed that the
whole city and all in it were bound to
perish.
1t will be days before the full story
is told. This much is sure, 10000
are homeless. Almost all of a city
has been wiped out, nothing g-nothing
whatever-is left Of goods or clothing
or valua bles of what they originally
had. At the best of the 10000 home
less, and what the holocaust really is
can be realized when it is considered
that in all of Chelsea there were but
81, 600 people, that only 1000 have
homes.