The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Eighteen and a Half CiB Blocks and Three Hundred and Eight
 Buildings Are Destroyed
ONE WOMAN IS DEAD
 AS RESULT OF SHOCK
The Fire Department Is Powerless To Check the Flames-Many People Out of Employment Are Rem
 dered Homeless.

Tampa, Fla, March 1.-The entire ,ex- treme northeastern section of the city proper was destroyed by fire. which 1 broke out at o'clock today and ragged uninterruptedly for four hours. The area burned covered 55 acres, or 1Sia ] city blocks, and sos buildings were de- ! stroyed, with a total loss estimated at ! $600,000. One woman Is dead as a re- ] suit of shock.
 The burned section included four ! large and one smaller cigar factories and numerous restaurants, saloons. boarding houses and over 200 dwellings occupied by cigar makers
 { The factories burned were M. Stachel- 1 berg x Co, loss s10000 M. Perez Ss : co.. loss s50,0OO; Gonzales. Fisher &s Co, 1 loss $4O,000; Esberg. Gunst & Co.,, 1 branch of Stachelberg loss s4o,00o; Fernandez X Brother. loss $2o,OOO.
 Carried Large Stocks. ! All the factories carried large stocks of tobacco and cigars.
 The area swept by fire embraced all 1 that portion of the city between i Twelfth and Michigan avenues and Six 1 teeEth and Twentieth streets. The ire | originated in the boarding house of
 Antonio Diaz, 1714 Twelfth avenue and
 famed by a strong wind. spread fan ! shaped. defyiHs: the efforts or the fa
 department wh ich was crippled by very weak water pressure. to check Il. 1 Occupants of over 200 dwelling houses i thrown into a panic, rushed out, at- i tempting to save but little of their belongings. A Cuban woman in de- iieate condition. dropped dead from shock. her body being rescued from tue burning house with difficulty. In the big factories. it was possible only to save the most valuable of records, books etc. and the valuable stocks of leaf tobacco and manufac- tured cigars ready for shipment was left to the mercy of the flames.
 Fire Chief Overcome.
 Fire Chief Savage was overcome by heat and smoke early in the fire, but | recovered later. .Citizers volunteered assistance to the firemen but the spread of the flames was so rapid that little effeotual work could Le done. Among buildings. other than facto- ries destroyed, were the hotels and cafes Of Perez & Castro, and MaNlmo CaraS, six saloons, 12 restaurants and l1 boarding houses. The car barns of tho Tampa Electric company containing 20 ears, was endangered, and owing .o the destruction of trolley wires cars could not be moved. Ire fire finally burned itself out at the extreme north eastern corner of the city.
 Fully half of the people rendered homeless were out of work, owing to the dull season in the factories, and their shelter became an immediate problem.
 St. Joseph's convent was opened to them by order of the Jesuit Fathers and many found lodgings there, white cthers were accommodated in homes ;hroughou the city. Besides these, thousands of men will be out of work On account of the burning of the fac tories Tre insurance Is estimated at not more than half the loss.
 At the home of Miguel Rodriguez, 0 cigar maker. the corpse of child n q coffin. awaiting funeral services was cren ated. Tie state militia was placef on guard tonight in the burned district to prevent depredations.