The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-05
FIRE IN FORT WORTH


Fort Worth. Texas. April ITO a
party Of small boys and a careiessly
thrown cigarette Is generally credited
the IRE OF yesterday which destroyed
property In South Fort worth valued
at $2,ooo.000, caused the. death OF one
the serious injury OF six others. rem
dered 400 families homeless and Will
cause the temporary idlcness OF sever
oil hundred workmen employed In the
manufacturi&s plants and business
houses burned.
All Of today and tonight the burned
district is under the guard OF state
troops to prevent footing. and although
worn out by their continuous labors.
the entire IRE hIghting force Of the
city 10 still engaged In distinguishing
finally, the burning embers which. with
the wind stsll high. spasmodicaify
springs intoa blaxs.
This morning mass meeting OF cit-
liens WAS held and relief committees
named. However, because OF the fact
that the burned district was populated
largely by those In comfortable cir
cumstanoes, the monetary relief needed
was small
rh& firs originated ina Barn near the
corner OF Petef Smith street and yefi,
nings Avenue. Driven BY 4 Kaie BOW
quickly spread to adjoining buildings.
quick to ignite because Of the extreme
dryness of the wood following a pro-
Ifracted drought, and-within o few mo.
menfs the confiagration was beyond all
control Spectacular in the extreme,
the flames would leap from building to
building across broad avenues and at
times. for a block at q time. the rapid
ity Of the fires progress rendered Inn
- - -. ~ 80
fects. ana, In some Instances. even
trankets- and Jewels had TO be aband.
oned.
After eating its way through the
residence district. after reducing to
ashes 400 pretentious dwellings. three
church buildings, the Broadway Pres
byterian and Baptist Churches and the
Swedish chapel. and the Walker SAM
tarium, the flames. spreading to the
South, attacked the manufacturing
plant Of the Sawyer Electrical Comp
any.
This building was quickly DESTROYED
ana fve large warehouses; and several
smaller business houses suffered ike
fate.
The yards Of the Texas and Pacific
Railroad were next In the pathway o.
the DIRE. The roundhouse. repair shops,
coal chutes. and several hundred boz
cars were destroyed, and twenty loco
motives were reduced to twisted
masses Of steel and Iron. TO the south
OF the yards II an open space. known
az the preservation" which prevented
a further spread southwark.
TO the east. the stone and steel de-
pot building proved barrier to an en-
croachment toward the wholesale DIS
triet., and. although several times. NY
ing sparks would dgnite roof or floor
ing in this section. as quickly would
one Of q hastily formed band OF volun-
teer firemen be on hand to cheek ~
in its incipiency.
Thus, after burning for four hours.
the fire was finally brought under con-
troll.
The burned area Is approximately
a mile and a half In length and hair
mile wide, and while It Will require
DAYS to accurately compute the indf-
vfdual losses, a careful estimate places
the aggregate at about 100000 mark.
The largest Individual loss was sur
fered by the Texas and Pacific Rail-
road. officials of the road placing the
damage at $4,000.
shortly after the Are began assist
ance was asked OF Dallas and spe-
ciaI train brought apparatus and de-
tachments from the IRE department OF
that city,>b even thus reinforced the
fire had gained such Roadway that the
efforts of the firemen were without re-
suit until practically nothing remained
on which the flames might feed.
Temporary abodes were found for
those rendered homeless wherever
available. -