Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1889 — RAVAGES OF FLAMES. [ARTICLE]

RAVAGES OF FLAMES.

DESTRUCTIVE CONFLAGRATION A T LOUISVILLE, KY. Over Two Million Dollar Dow in the • Wholesale District-Five Firemen Meet Tlielr Death in the Flame —Chicago and Bt. Joe Expositions in a Blaze. A Louisville (Ky.) dispatch says: Six lives were lost and over S2,oOO,O'KL worth of property destroyed by a fire which reduced the large wholesale dry»goods and notion house of Baraburger, Bloom & Co. to ashes. The biggest house of any character in the city is that of Bamburger, Bloom & Co., wholesale dry goods and notions. Their immense store stood on the south side of Main street, between Sixth and Seventh, and was six stories high. Private Watchman Charles McGrath discovered fire in the cellar of the building. The watchman gave the alarm quickly, calling out the entire fire department. In the meantime the fire had gained great headway. Bamburger, Bloom & Co. were stocked .from basement to roof with dry goods of every description and thus furnished material for the flames. It was evident at once that the big building was doomed and no efforts of tho firemen could save it. In an hour it was a complete wreck, carrying with it a loss of $750,000 in stock and $200,00') in building aud fixtures. Next door to Bamburger, Bloom & Co. was the wholesale boot and shoe house of William Coye & Co., with a stock of $50,000. This was burned out from cellar to roof, but the front walls stood. South of this, on the corner of Main and Seventh, the St. Charles saloon and restaurant was gutted at a loss of $5,000. Immediately east of Bamburger, Bloom & Co. was the wholesale hat house of L. Bretzfelder & Co. Thair building was a four story brick. The flames made quick work of the hats and caps, and left nothing of the building but a skeleton. The saloon of Isaac Bier and the wholesale cigar store of Virgil Wright, immediately north of Bretzfelder & Co , were gutted. Their loss was comppratively* small and was covered by insurance. The sensational feature of the fire was the tragic death of five firemen. They were: Capt. Ed Early, Samuel Starklighte-, John Onahan, Ed Wheeler, and Pat Foley. In the face of imminent peril they had run a ladder up the Seventh street wall of Bamburger, Bloom & Co. ’s building and had boldly scaled it for the purpose of getting a stream on at the rear. The wall shook as they ascended, the long ladder trembled ominously, and the crowd in the street shouted a hoarse warning, but it was too late.

Just as the first ladderman was about to leap upon the roof with a line of hose the wall fell with a great crash and the three brave men went down with it to their death. An hour later their mangled and blackened corpses were gotten out of the debris and sent to the central police station for the inquest. Firemen Penny McGrath, Frank Best, and Edward Wheeler were caught by a falling wall in the rear and are believed to be fatally wounded. The scene of destruction was ghastly and appalling. Bamhurger, Bloom & 00. did a business of $5,0j0,000 a year, and were in the midst of a big fall trade. Their loss of $1,000,000 is covered by insurance in local and foreign companies, and tlriy will loss nothing except their fall business. The total loss is about $1,51)0,000, and the insurance companies will stand the biggist part of it. Chicago dispatch: A red flake of carbon sputtered from an electric light in the booth containing Gossage’s CoTs exhibit in the exposition building. The spark lit on a napkin, and a feeble flicker soon appeared. In a moment the blaze ignited other fabrics and ia less than a minute $50,000 worth of the finest linens, silks, and embroideries was ablaze. The booths in this part cf the building contained the exhibits of Marshall Field & Co., Gossage & Co., James H. Walker &; Co., Schlesinger & Meyer, the leading dry goods houses of Chicago. Many pieces of costly fabrics imported, and having no duplicates in this country, were on exhibition. Costumes from Worth’s furniture of the most exquisite make, pianos and frail stained glass pieces, were near by. In the building was ssoo,ooo'worth of valuable goods and machinery, and within 200 feet more than $500,000 worth of paintings and statuary. Rarely was so exquisite and costly a spread laid before a fire. Ten thousand people were in the building, and 5,000 lost their wits. The big doors in the center were wide open, and the people near them stopped to watch the fire. Those at either end of the building and farthest away went wild. They smashed windows, climbed over each other, and burst open doors. Several ladies fainted and were bruised in the crush, but no one was reported as seriously hurt. The fire was quickly put out. The j anitor of the art gallery closed its doors before the alarm was sounded, and not the slightest damage was done the works on exhibition. Except the booths in the immediate vicinity no damage was done either by water or smoke. The tarpaulins and the care of the fireman prevented the usual destruction by water and the smoko drew out of the skylights like chimneys. St. Joseph (Mo.) dispatch: The main building at the New Era exposition, containing all the fine exhibits, burned Sunday night. About 10 30 o’clock in the evening, just as the entertainment in the great ampitheater had closed, a fire broke out in the main hall, a magnificent building, 1,100 feet in length and filled with all manner of exhibits. The entire building and contents were consumed in spite of the most heroic efforts on the part of the fire department. It is understood that nothing was saved but the carriage which was built to convey Gen. Lafayette during his visit to this country in 1842. The exposition grounds are located two miles from the city, and at this hour details of the fire have not been received. The origin of the fire is said to have come from the electric lights. The exposition will continue but shorn of its vast exhibit iu the main hall. The loss will exceed a quarter of a million dollars. Hundreds of people vyill be losers, as everything belongs to different individuals. There were 20,000 people on the grounds Sunday, all of whom visited the place. When the fire started there were 4,000 people ,on the grounds, and at this time no one has any idea how the fire originated.