Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-03-23
One Woman Dies of Heart
Failure-Three Persons
Are Cremated.
TWO-TH1RDS OF THE
CITY SMOKING RUINS
Only Two Small Groceries Standing
in Business District After Fire,
Which Was Stopped by the
Use Of Dynamite.

Paris, Tex, March 22.-With the
failure tonight to find Mrs. Carpen-
| ter, an aged woman living at Kauff-
| man and Main streets, the death list
| in the fire which swept Paris last
night and caused loss ranging
from 100000 to $1O,OO0,00O, was
brought up to four, it is believed.
The dead are:
An unidentified negro.
John Straub, white.
Mrs. Carpenter
been killed, but this cannot be veri-
fed.
Mrs. w. J. Bailey, aged so, died this
morning from heart failure caused by
the general excitement.
Prompt Relief Measures.
The citizens mass meeting this
afternoon raised $4,000 for relief
work. Governor Ferguson wired May
or McCuiston, offering state aid; a
message was received from the state
Rotary club, and also from the Red
Cross, offering aid.
The fire area briefly defined is:
All of South Main and South Wall
were swept clean from the Texas &
Pacific depot north, a distance of IS
blocks.
Every business house on the square,
the entire northeast section of the
city out to the old Ryan place, court
house, postoffice, two schools, part of
vile and North Wall were burned.
5000 People Homeless.
1t is estimated 1900 to 1000 dwell
ings were burned. and about 5000
persons are homeless. Approximately
100 business houses were destroyed.
The authorities are maintaining
strict guard to prevent looting of
stocks not totally destroyed.
Box cars will be used as temporary
offices for business men.
Citizens tonight have the food, wa
ter and housing problems we'll in
hand. The mass meeting Of citizens
was held to decide on emergency
measures, and they We're speedily put
into operation.
Begin Rebuilding.
Speeches at the mass meeting today
indicated the returning optimism of
the people and rebuilding will begin
Immediately. In fact, gangs of men
are busy tonight clearing away deb
ris and erecting temporary business
quarters. The latter are of canvass,
and some of them are located on the
public square.
Each of the five banks put out of
business temporarily will open, prob
ably Thursday morning, in the cham
Der of commerce on money sent from
Dallas.
Only two downtown grocery stores
were left by the fire to provision the
city.
Every effort is being made to ship
in bread, potatoes and meat from
nearby towns.
The wind, which was blowing a
gale when the fire started at $3.50 yes
terday, and which had abated consid-
erably shortly after midnight, shifted
at daylight and the fire was slowly
travelling in southerly direction.
spreading the flames throughout the
southern residence district, but, in a
freakish manner, jumping whole
blocks in it's progress.
TwO.Thirds of City In Ruins.
Daybreak showed this city, yester-
day thriving population center of
North Texas, bed of embers, with
fires still burning, in some sections,
and with about one-third of the city
untouched by the flames.
Here and there more substantial
small brick building, or a residence
set apart from the path of the flames,
stood isolated in the charred ruins.
In the business section. gaunt brick
walls. blackened by heavy smoke and
extending into the air five and six
stories, were being RACED by dynamite
with a safety zone roped of. that pas
sersby might not be endangered by
falling walls.
The work of dynamiting these
buildings commenced as soon after
daybreak as a supply of the blasting