The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-13
Thirteen Churches, the City Hall, SeveralsB KS. Manufacturing Establishments and sores of sTenement Houses Burn in Suburb of Boston Leaving Thousands of Persons HomleSS.

house owner would burst through the cordon of militia and marines to dash into a house for some forgotten val uables. but the presence of so many uniformed guards oyerawed the rough CT elements.~ . v
 The fire started on the marshes bor- derinE. the eastern division tracks Of the Boston and Maine Railroad in. the rear of the Boston Backing Company's works. where employees were At work drying out rags. The company's works are situated at the end of West Third Street. half mile northwest of the heart of the city. A series of long, low wooden buildings comprised ths works. stored for the most part with
 Cause Not Known.
 The exact cause of the ire is not known, but 1t is supposed that spofita- neous combustion among the rags was | responsible. A high wind blowing at forty-hve miles an hour from the northwest, drove the flames from the rag heaps directly upon the wooden buildings of the Boston Backing Company. The buildings were soon mass of | flames and as surrounding property l consisted largely of wooden buildings used for storage of rags, the Ire de- partment realized that a serious fire was threatened and general alarm was sounded In the gale, shingles. burning paper and oil-soaked rags. were flung nigh I into the afr and went soaring over the city. Within half an hour, the Ro- senfeit Brothers three story wooden rag factory on Maple Street was, in Car Company works. Tons of tarred paper stored in the latter factory cre- I ated dense smoke. which made the work of the ,ffemen difficult.
 Soon a dozen factories and cheap ten- ement houses west of Everett Avenue were in flames, and the nremen saw 1 that they were untterly unapie 10 cope with the confiagratiorl
 Realizing that the city was appaN 1 emily doomed if the flames could nov 1 be stopped at Everett Avenue ITS \ Chief H A. Spencer summoned neip from Boston and ell the surronnainS 1ls esties and towns Four Siarms were were rung in on the Boston circuit and all | the avafIabl le apparatiis vas sent across l The harbof Early in the afternoon aid l had arrived from Everett, Lyrn. Hav- l erhili, wakefield. Salem. Maiden. Cam
 bridge Winthrop and RevereA
 Occupied Church Ahre.
 The first evidence of the ire on the l east side of Everett Avenue was when 1 the roof of the Peoples A. M. E. church l on Fourth Street, was seen to be abtaze. | The services were in progress inside at | the time and the congregation was un-
 aware that a serious fre was raging l outside.
 Some one notifed the pastor. Rev. | Charles P. Watson. He immediately turned to his people, told them of the l danger and advised them to file slow | ly from the building. Twenty minutes later there was not vestige of the edifce left.
 Forced back down Everett Avenue to | the south the firemen battled with the | flames In an endesyor to. save theheart l of the business section and to confine | the ire to that part of the city be- tween the railroad tracks and Everett
 Avenue. Within an Area of half a | mile square were several churches and
 school houses. One after another | were burned, the Polish Catholic l Church the Fourth Street M. E. | Church and Advent Christian Church
 on Heard Street. -o. When the Polish Catholic Church l caught fire the Rev. Father George S.
 Jaskolski had just closed service and
 many people were in and about the sd-
 ifice.. In fifteen minutes the entire top | of the church was in. flames. All the movable effects and furniture were re- moved. A hundred yards away at the corner | of Chestnut and Fourth Streets the l First Universalist Church caught fire | in exactly the same manner as the Pol
 fish church. It was soon enveloped in 1 flames.
 A spectacular feature of the burn
 ing of this church was the picture of
 the flames as they burned completely | around the base of the great golden cross which tipped the splre. For A I few moments 1t stood out against the
 sky. flaming golden beacon. and then
 with crash tumbled headlong into
 the roof, breaking aA tt struck the roof. one part going into the interior
 of the edifice and the other striking the
 street.
 Selzes Business BIOcka.
 Spreading to the northeast from Ev erett Avenue. the fire seized upon the rows of business blocks facing on Broadway and en"eloIec them one. af- ter another, creeping slowly but stead fly toward Chase Square. the center of the city.
 The Fitz Public Library, a hiaEnin- 1 cent stone structure. was destroyed. and on the flames crept toward the Frest Hospital and the Childrens' Hos pital.
 By requisitioning ambulauces from surrounding towns and cities and call- l ing into service all available carriages the police were able to speedily remove the inmates of the Frost Hospital and the Chhdrens' Hospital outside the city l llinitS LO EelEtdtb OA SdteJy. IL was none too soon for both hosiptal build ings were shortly consumed.
 The fire swept down Broadway to within a block of Chelsea Square, where 1t seemed to be held in check late in the afternoon.
 | In the meantime between Broadway and the water front the southern sec ton of the city was in flames All the fremen were in the center of the city and a half mile square of the residential section was in flames and no protection available or possible. Men, women and children ran around Ethe streets begging some one to call the hremen, but there were no firemen to respond.
 Over Chelsea Bridge into east Boston streamed a long line of fire refugees, lugging what few household effects they were able to save. Push carts, | drays and even baby carriages were piled high with furniture and bedding. Hundreds of persons carrier huge bun ] dles tied up in sheets.
 Cars Burn In Streef6. Several of the large type of cars used by the Boston Elevated Railway