Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-02-22
Loss From Six to Ten
Million Caused by Blaze
That Stretches for a Mile
and a Half.
FLAMES CHECKED
ONBANKS OF STREAM
Principal Parts Of City
Saved When Firemen
Concentrate at One Point,
Homeless People Suffer.

concentrate at One Point,
Homeless People Suffer.
Houston, Texas. Feb. 21.--ImpelleA
by a gale that swept in with one OF the
coolest northers Of the winter. flames
swept through the eastern section OF
Houston early today, wiped out
twenty-five blocks Of the city and
caused q loss from six to ten
million dollars.
Scores OF cottages we're destroyed
as well as number of big manufactur-
ing plants and thousands OF persons
We're made homeless.
The greater part OF the loss is con.
fined to the lumber and cotton, in
dustries Forty-five thousand bales Of
cotton stored In warehouses and com.
presses were burned. This, estimate
alone represents loss Of $2,00000C
The fire started in cottage near
the Southern Pacific railroad tracks
soon after midnight. It's origin has not
been definitely established. % A heavy
wind picked up the flames and hurled
them to neighboring cottages and
boarding houses In flash they
! ignited. spouting great columns OF
sparks. SEEKING these. the forty.mile
gale carried them blocks away and
| within hal an hour after the sfiFo
broke out q great area OF small resi-
dences was In flames,
The fire spread rapidly to manu-.
featuring plants that bordered on cot
tages and boarding houses where hum
dreds Of working men lived. The fire
spread 80 rapidly that firemen for the
time abandoned attempts to check the
flames, instead devoting their energies
to warning fonseholders. Possible loss
OF life was thus averted.
| AT the big manufacturing plants and
cotton congresses city firemen and
volunteers had organized to fight the
onrushing flames. Walls and roofs OF
the plants were watersoaked. This
water was licked up in the flash OF IN
eye by the advance guard Of SPARKS,
| and when the great columns OF flame
reached the factories they succumbed
as easily as the rows Of cottages.
Last Stand on Bank Of Stream.
An hour after the flames began their,
advance, the firemen organized for a
final stand at Buffalo bayou, a small
stream that divides the eastern part
OF the city from the main section anu
every piece OF fire fighting apparatus
was stationed along the banks OF this
stream. If the fire leaped the bayou,
/ it meant the destruction of the entire
city.
| AS the advancing towers Of flames
began to hiss toward the bayou banks
hundreds of streams Of water were
hurled into them. checking. little by
| little, their progress. At some Of the
narrower portions Of the stream the
flames leaped across, but the more
substantial buildings they reached did
not afford the tinder-like fuel hereto
fore encountered, and the spread OF
the fire was prevented.
/ Thousands of persons were driven
/ from their homes. In the cold OF the
norther they suffered slightly from ex-
/ posure. Relief work was at once set
under way, however. and food and
clothing provided Tor the refugees.
| Many persons were hurt during the
! fire, but so far as can be determined,
| there were no casualties.
I The burned area is at least mile
4 and/a half long, and at points . quar-
ter of mile wide. 1t embraces the
ashes Of the long rows Of cottages and
/ solid streets Of manufacturing plants.
lit was swept clean by the flames
Nothing was saved.
One OF the first of the more preten.
tious buildings attacked was the brick
Star and Crescent hotel Inmates had
been warned Of the on coming flames
and all escaped without injury.
J Hundreds, Homeless, Are Cared For
The flames roar gave warning OF
the coming, and hundreds Of persons,
/ giving no heed to the chilly wind fed
from their homes clad only in the
night clothes as they heard It, Wom-
en-, carrying babies; women at whose
skirt small children clung, gathered in
homes OF nearby neighbors for refuge,
only to be driven out few minutes
later by the further progress Of the
hre.
Firemen appointed leaders among
men OF the fame-swept district and
4 they, marshaling the refugees. led them
Ito the rear Of the flames and out OF
i danger. Homes were quickly provid-
ed for the stricken people In other
residence sections of the city. Cloth
ing and food was prepared by a relief
Il