Norwich bulletin., 1911-05-01
Fire Wipes Out Business Blocks and Resi- dences, Entailing Loss of $6, 100000
WORST FIRE IN MAINE SINCE 1866!
Three Lives Snuffed Out by Falling Debris-Ran at Midnight Aided Bremen to Check Flames Which Had Been Raging Seven Hours--Dynamite Proved Ineffective-Homeless People Camp in Streets

farther ito the north and preparations were mnde to blow up other buildings and malle a wider breach.
 FIremen Had No Control. At 10. 30 the fire was raging as fierce ly as aH any time since the outbreak and theA firemen had absolutely no con troi of it. A large part of the whole ] sale fstrict as we'll as the entire retail district was in flames and few if any of the buildings seemed likely to es- cape.
 People Move from Homes. In 7 all sections of the city people wer ? moving out their beiolfgings and hur lying to places of safety. Many wete already homeless and with the chl riches and public buildings in ruins gre were few places where they could be- cared for.
 Photographers Stick to Their Keys.
 Telephone and telegraph operators Btuck 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 l operator, in the Postal Telegraph of 1 fee sat at his key sending and re- | ceiring messages while the fire ragged i hardly fifty fest away from him in the | pos.offi,e building.
 l The Stearns building. Graham build 1 ing, high school. Universalist, Central | and First Congregational St. Johns | Episcopal, Advent and First Baptist I churches, Kenduskeag building, Nor l umbega hall, in which was located the 1 Gaiety theater the Exchange building. containing the University of Maine 1 school of law, and central fire station were soon added to the list burned | structures.
 Rain Helps the Firemsn. About midnight a light rain began ! to fall, and this, combined with a shift ] in the wind to teh east, enabled tine -firemen to check the progress of the i fire, though it still burned fercely in many places.
 Wide Path of the Flames. The burned area follows the stream i for nearly two miles north of the start ing point. and spreads out to a width 1 varying from one-eighth to a quarter of a mile at different points. People Camp in Streets.
 Thousands of people spent the night in the streets, some from choice but many because of their homes being either burned or in danger. Outside the danger zone they gathered about l fires built in the streets and there canaped for the night. getting what little sleep they could curled up on quilts and blankets that they had gath cred up in their nasty flight Mane's Worst Fire Since 1866 The fire is considered by insurance people as the worst that Maine has known since the Portland fire in 1866 when a large part of the business sec tion of the city was destroyed with a loss of s1o,000,oe0.
 Bangor's Population is 25,ooo Bangor has a population of nearly | 25.0o0 by the 1910 census, and the lat est figures show a real estate vaIua tion of s1s,sss,967. Special trains from l Portland, Augusta and Lewiston brought fire apparatus and firemen during the evening, greatly to the re- lief of the Bangor firemen and volun- teers.
 Third of City Laid Waste.
 At il o'clock the fire had swept west l ward ne4,lx to Hammond street on Franklin. <The fire fighting forces con- | modern fire wall on the rear of tha l Bass block. and halted the onward march of the flames. All the territory to the north and east of that point is Ia mass of blazing ruins. At least a third of the city has been laid waste. Large Residential Section Laid Waste.
 Most of the best residential section Of the city was swept away when the fire left the business section. It spread out like huge fan, with it's widest part among the homes of the people. | Just outside the fire zone the furniture is stacked along the curb and guarder by the stricken houheholders-x City hall escaped destruction, the fire being apparently checked within 150 feet of it.
 Fire Under Control.
 At midnight Mayor Charles w. Mui- len, in reply to proffer of aid of May or Fitzgerald of Boston, wired that he relieved the fire to be under control
 Bangor Will Come Back
 To the Associated Press he said The city has suffered a terrible blow, but have every confidence that Ban- gor will come back"