Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1892 — THE LOSS AT ST. JOHN’S. [ARTICLE]

THE LOSS AT ST. JOHN’S.

One-Half the Entire Town In Ashes and 10,000 People In Tents. A stable at the head of Long's hill in St. John’s, N. F., caught fire. The wind was blowing a strong gale from the west and rain had not fallen, for three weeks. The adjoining houses rapidly caught and in a few minutes Long’s hill was a sea of flames. Flying embers ignited houses hundreds of yards to the leeward, and so rapid was tho work of destruction that there was no time to haul down a sufficient number of houses to break the march of the fire. The Market House, the Commercial Bank, the Athena?um Building, St. Andrew’s Church, the Temple Club House, the Chamber of Commerce Building, the Telegram Building, the Anglican Cathedral (.cost $500,000), the Methodist College, the Masonic Temple and St. Patrick’s Hall all fell before the flames. The waterside mercantile premises were attacked, and the shipping began to get out from the piers to the middle of the harbor. The Anglo-American telegraph office became untenable, and communication with the outside world was cut off. The sea of fire which swept Water street rendered all attempts at saving property futile. A few hundred people who had the temerity to remain indoors were compelled to flee to the rear and make their escape from piers aboard vessels that were waiting,swinging to their lines ready to drop out of danger. The buildings on Water street were built of stone and brick, but those buildings fell almost as quickly as the wooden structures in other streets. Having expended its fury to the eastward, where there was nothing more to destroy, the fire began to edge northward 'up the slope on which the town was built. Cochrane street, leading from the Government house to the harbor, the town’s handsomest thoroughfare, fell a victim, only a few dwellings at the top escaping. The Methodist church on this street escaped, but not so St. Patrick’s hall. Successful efforts were made to prevent the fire from creeping across to the Mercy convent, but the Congregational Church in this neighborhood could not be saved. Two-thirds of the business part of the town and one-haif of the entire town —throe-fourths of the value of the town —has been destroyed. Nearly 10,000 persons are sheltered in the Parliament house and under sheds and tents in Bannerman’s park and other open placee. The town is enveloped in a dense smoke from the surrounding woods, which seem to be all on fire. The Kilbridge Catholic Church, ihree miles out toward Bay Bulls, was totally destroyed.