Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-16
LACK OF FATALITIES
CONSIDERED MIRACLE
SPARK FROM ELECTRIC WIRE ID
NITED iNFLAMABLE MATERIAL
AND COSTLY CONFEDERATION
RESULTS.

at the present to estimate closely the
losses in the fire which last night
swept through the Belgian exposition,
wiping out whole sections OF fairlike
architecture and causing a loss Of two
lives, but the damage will run into
millions of francs. The losses, how
ever, will not be so great as at first
believed, when they were roughly es-
timated at hundred million dollars.
The entire Belgian and British sec
tions, the whole Kermesse Of Brussels
with water chutes, toboggan slides and
other special entertainments and
everything west of the Avenue Des
Nations, were destroyed, but by heroic
work OF the firemen and troops and the
use OF dynamite In blowing up build
ings in the patA of the flames, the fire
was checked. The, British loss alone is
estimated at s5oo,osp.
American secsson Saved,
Practically Everything in the Amerl-
can. Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Aus
trian, Japanese, Turkish and Swiss
sections was saved Only the facades
OF the Italian and Spanish sections
and about one-third Of the entire
French section, the latter containing
valuable art collections, were burned.
Fortunately, most Of the priceless art 4
treasures, which had been loaned 70
the exposition, or acquired by it, in
Guiding 5000 valuable Gobelin tapes
tries, a large exhibition Of jewelry.
furniture, were removed beyond thu
reach of the flames and pillaginc GRIM
inals who attempted to take advantage
of the disaster. If
A reproduction of the House OF Ru-
bens at Antwerp, containing master
pices Of Flemish art Of the Rubens
period collected from galleries of the
world, was not even scorched by the
flames. In the Belgian and British
sections the flames spread with luch
extraordinary rapidity that nothing
was saved except plan Of the COM
ing international exposition at Turin.
Italy in 1911.
British Loss ls Heavy.
A strong gale carried the confagra-
tion through the Kermesse jammed
with Sunday crowd of nearly 100000
at the time Of the outbreak, with such
speed that it is considered miracle
that the panic stricken masses were
gotten out with loss no greater than
two killed and thirty injured. The
British loss is very heavy. It includes
the Tudor panelings from the Toronto
museum, Morlaix tapestries and price
less furniture from the collections Of
Bernard More on which he refused to
set any price. They were insured for
100000. Most Of the French dress
makers exposition, insured for mil
lions, was saved.
A few of the wild beasts In the nle-
nagerie, which escaped suffocation in
the flames, drove back the soldiers and
attendants endeavoring to put them
out of their misery, but we're shot
down by troops, who found them late:
covering in fright in various parts q
the grounds.
Exposition Cost $1,000, 900.
King Albert inaugurated the colo
NAL section of the exposition April 80.
While not on 80 large scale as the
Chicago or st. Louis worlds fair, it
covered 200 acres of ground and rep
resented an expenditure Of more than
$5, 900, 900, Machinery hall, the largest
Of the great buildings, covered an area
OF 35,004 square yards.
The exposition has been visited this
summer by many American tourists
and, although the United States was
not oficially represented in the ex-
hibits, many American manufacturers
had individual displays Of their prod
ucts. President Roosevelt in one OF
his last messages to congress, recon-
mended an appropriation for an Amer
ican exhibit, and the senate foreign af-
fairs committee reported bill for
100000, but the measure was de-
feated.