The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-01
100000
Fire Sweeps Through the Heart
of Bangor, Ne.
ALI Public Buildings But City
Hall Are Destroyed.
THREE LIVES ARELOST
One-Third of the City Is Swept
Away.
Rain Comes to Aid of Worn Out
Firemen.
THREE LIVES ARE LOST

Bangor, Me-, May 1-OIe-l llAN =
Bangor is in ruins, thousands OF per-
sons are homeless and a property loss
estimated at Sc, 900, 600 was sustained as
the result of a conflagration winch
ragged for hours last night.
Starting in a hav shed on Broad
street, the fire swept along Broad ana
Exchange streets through the heart OF
the city, leaving residences, churches,
schools, business blocks and all the
public buildings with the exception OF
the city hall, a mass of smoking asnes;
For many hours the firemen, assisted
by men and apparatus from other
Maine cities, battled against the blaze
before they conquered it. Dynamite
proved of little avail. Buildings were
blown up but the flames easily leaped
the chasms thus made and it was not
until the wind, which had been blowing
almost a gale during the night shifted
and a light rain fell, that there was
any indication that the firemen would
win.
Cheered by the help from this unex
pected quarter, the fire fighting forces
were concentrated near the corner or
Hammond and Central streets, nearly
two miles from the start of the blaze.
and there the spread of the flames was
checked at midnight
But while the rain and the shifting of
the wind to the east saved the rest OF
the city, it only added to the discom-
lOTtS VI lHOuSdnOS VINO Ildu Se6Il LIClI
homes go up in flames, and who were
huddled together in the streets. The
burning of churches and public build
ings left many of the unfortunates
without shelter.
Three lives are known to have been
lost, although the names of none of the
victims are known. A fireman was iE-
jured by falling wall and died on the
way to the hospital; an unidentified
young man was crushed to death when
one of the churches collapsed and an
elderly man from Brewer, who had
crossed the river to watch the fire, also
was buried beneath falling debris.
The problem of housing and feeding
the destitute must be met and will be
a serious one, for the usual places of
refuge in such disasters are in ruins
and there is hardly an eating house,
bakery or other store where food can
be secured. Already offers of help have
been received by Mayor Mullen, but the
offered aid cannot be. expected to ar
rive in time to prevent suffering.
The fire is considered by insurance
men the worst Maine has known since
the Portland fire IN 1866, when a large
part of the business section was de-
stroyed, with a loss of ten million dol
lars.
Bangor has a population of nearly
$4,000 by the 1910 census and the latest
figures show real estate valuation IF
$16,S9S.9
The city was early shut off from
telephone communication by the burn
ing of the central office, and calls for
aid from Portland, Lewiston and
Augusta were sent out by the wire chief
of the company, who climbed a pole
and cut in on a trunk line The tele-
graph companies offices were both
burned early in the econfla grafton but
later established temporary offices out
side the fire zone and and communica-
ton was restored.
Telephone and telegraph operators
stuck to their posts and sent out in
formation and calls for help until they
had not a moment to spare to make
their escape. The Associated Press
operator in the Postal telegraph office
sat at his key sending and receiving
messages while the fire ragged hardly
fifty feet away in the postoffice build
ing.