Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-05

II certainly looked very much 20 me as
though the fire started from the outside
e. This theory tends @ seivs basis 70 the
belief that the blaze was Of incendiary
origin. In the excitement % the night,
however. nothing definite was given out
by flremen or manageinent as to the cause.
starts IN BurninE Grain.
Employees OF ths, Nye-schnsider-Fowlc
company say that-athe fire seen on the
ground BY Miss Netzel was burning grain
that had fallen from the windows OF the
second floor, where, they assert, the fire
had its origin.
At a. m. It was patent that the Nye-
Schneldcr-F Fowler Elevator. the Nancy mill
and the hundred or more freight cars in
the yards we're doomed to destruction
Streams OF water that played upon the
blaze had about as much effect as would
water from a sprinkling can.
From that time on the firemen centered
their attention to freight cars in the yards
and TO nearby residences Houses on South
Twenty -eighthl street were soaked with
water as thoroughly as the meager force
Of water would7permit. r,
So low was the pressure in the pipe. how
ever, that hosg-lay limp on the ground
with scarcely enough pressure to throw a
stream Of any force. Res dents in the
neighborhood were up In arms soon after
the flames broke out and were busy on the
roofs OF their dwellings with buckets OF
water quenching sparks whenever they
would alght on the dry roofs BY this
single-hand method many dwellings werc
saved from destruction.
steel WIthssands Fire.
] ba ts..
ent Elevator company and the .granaries
Of the Chicago Great Western ralroad
with their steel construction withstood the
flames ana the neat and were thus saved
| from destruction. THESE. structures, how
ever, we're scorcned by the fierce heat and
the paint was warped from the sides oi
! the buildings.
/ Soon after the fire broke out every switch
engine in the Union Pacific yards was
rushed to the scene These were quickly
coupled onto the cars standing in the
danger zone and hauled 10 sidings south
of the Ninton street viaducl.
/ The work Of hauling freight cars wa'
spectacular in itself. In mapy instances
putting little switch engines would dive into
/ the furnace-llke heat and nervy brakemer
would make the couplings secure. Car,
that had been unharned by the flame,
were thus drawn safely away from tn,
fire. Blazing cars that had been draw
away from the fire were then pushed
back into the seething mass as they wert
doomed to destruction. 81
Traffic over the Union Pacific, Burling
ton, Great Western. Northwestern anC
Rock Island tracks was necessarily sus
pended from. the fine the fire broke ou
until all danger was past,
Hundred Chrs Lost.
James Hodge, secretary to George w
Holdrege general manager OF the Butling
ton route, was early on the scene. Idr
Hodge estimates the number OF carr
destroyed by the fire at approximately 100
The loss in rolling stock will be heavy, :
said Mr.. Hodge Roughly, 1 should say
there are about 100 cars OF various kind
on the tracks within the fire zone. How
many of these were loaded or empty 1 d.
not know"
Taking the average cost of a freigh
Z, car at 5000. the f0as 10 the railroads II
rolling stock is estinated approximately a
S2OC, 200.