Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1892 — DETAILS OF A BIG FIRE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DETAILS OF A BIG FIRE.

BAY CITY'S LOSS FROM THE CONFLAGRATION. Forty Business and Residents* Blocks Were Burned The Total Loss Estimated at Over a Million Hollars—Outside Aid Will Be Needed. Many Are Homeless. Bay City, Mich., special: The great conflagration which swept over forty blocks of business and residence property in the south end of the city yesterday afternoon completed the work of destruction at midnight when the flames had reached the eastern limits of the city. At that hour a few houses were still burning, but the wind had gone down and the local Are department, assisted by re-enforcements from West Bay City, Saginaw and Flint, had the conflagration under control. After the adjournment of the Common Council last evening a number of wealthy citizens subscribed several hundred dollars for the temporary relief of families whose homes had been destroyed. A committee was appointed to purchase and distribute provisions. They immediately set to work, and, after purchasing the stock of several restaurants, proceeded to the camp of the homeless with a couple of dray-loads of provisions. Eatables were apportioned among the sufferers, and at midnight, in the glare of flames which lighted the firmament, nearly one thousand people partook of the first food they had tasted since they ate their noonday meal. The scene on the commons, where the people were huddled guarding the few personal effects they had saved, was one of desolation. Such bedding as had been preserved was arranged on the sod and allotted (o women who had infants to care for. To the northward, extending over half a mile and from two to live blocks wide, lay a waste of burning embers where less than twelve hours betqre had stood hundreds of happy homes. At the break of day the scene changed to one of activity. The men left the groups and proceeded to the ruins in a vain attempt to recover property overlooked by the flames, while women and children busied themselves assorting furniture and securing their personal effects from the general mass. Never did a fire do cleaner work than this one which swept through the city yesterday. Within the burned locality not a house is left standing, while every tree is stripped of foliage and left bare. Many trees were blown over by the fierce wind that prevailed while the conflagration was at its height, and which carried the fire brands far to the east, igniting the woods and the .prairies in many places.

Estimating the Losses. lit 'Will require several days to ascertain (precisely how many buildings were oonsumed. -The total loss is somewhere around $1,000,000. This afternoon the most conecrv&tivo estimate places the number of houses burned at 350, while many persons acquainted with the district declare that fully 500 were destroyed. The loss at Miller & Turner’s manufacturing plant will reach $300,000. These figures include 10,000,000 feet of lumber owned by Joseph Turner and Spencer, of Fisher. The lumber was insured for $95,000 and represents a loss of about $150,000. Albert Miller, senior member of the firm, loses everything. His fine residence, situated on Thirtieth street, lay directly in the path of the fire and was reduced to ashes within an hour after the conflagration broke out. Stover <t Larkins, hardware merchants, suffer to the extent of $15,000, with SB,OOO insurance. Trisk & Forcia lose a general stock valued at $15,000. A. B. Gould had a small hotel and five dwellings burned, all valued at $7,000. George Turner, 8. Beards, J. Kelly, Thomas Boiliy, P. M. Whipple, F. H. Mason, Arthur Barker, James Larkin, A. Gosler, Charles F. Webb, Mrs. H. Marble, Mrs. Jane Clarke, Duncan McGregor, Jesse M. Miller, William Wright, Samuel Cussons, Andrew Miller, Mrs. Crompton. William Wfillis, R. McLaughlin, James Stevenson, Mrs. Charles Kandall, C. H. Tuttle, A. J. Stanley, Calqin Hewitt, and Mrs. Southworth all lose houses running In value from SI,OOO to $5,000. Nearly all of these parties are insured. The Baptist Church which was burned was a modest structure worth $2,500, with light insurance. The Methodist Church was valued at $5,000; insured for $2,500. A. M. Miller & Co., lumber dealers, place their loss at $60,000, with an insurance of $40,000. The firm of Miller & Turner lose on mill, salt blocks, docks, etc., $60,000. They claim to be fully protected. There were at least 350 houses destroyed belonging to other parties, each of which, with their furnishings, represented SI,OOO. The majority of the latter belonged to Polish families, and as far as can be learned the most of them were not Insured. Hundreds of families whose homes are not destroyed suffer losses by reason of removing their furniture in anticipation of being burned out. As always happens on such occasions, thieves and burglars were about, ready to ply their nefarious calling when opportunity offered. Five pillagers were arrested by the police, and now lie in the city lockup. So far as is positively known, no lives were lost. Several persons were seriously burned, but none fatally. Relief Needed lor the Poor. A mass meeting of citizens has been called, and means will be devised for affording permanent relief to the homeless. Mayor Linon, of Saginaw, has offered aid in behalf of his municipality. The first fatality resulting from the fire has just come to light. It was learned that Jesse M. Miller, an old and respected citizen, was missing. A search among the debris of his dwelling' resulted in the finding of his teeth and a few charred bones. Lying close by the remains were several gold coins. It is supposed that he arrived at his home to find it in flames, and, rushing inside to rescue his gold, he was overcome by heat and smoke. Searching parties are going about at present among the ruins, but it is not believed that any more persons have perished. Six Men Slirt to Death. Galveston (Tex.) dispatch: Parties in from the frontier report that six of the robbers who recently attacked Quar.y Foreman C. H. Wood near Trespidras, on the Mexican International Road, and who attempted to murder him and afterwar robbed his car, have been arrested by ruralis, or Mexican rangers, who, after identifying the men by stolen property upon their persons, took them out a short distance from the main track and put the entire number to death. The robbers were shot and their bodies left where they fell.

Mrs. P, T. Barnum, the widow of the (Treat showman, has been appointed a member of tffe’‘Board of Lady Managers of the World ’ £ fair, Mrs. Barnum, since the death of her husband, has resided In Bridgeport, Conn., where she lives in the hixjiry befitting a princess. Her apartments are a litle bit of Versailles, the and furnishings being fine samples of the most exquisite French act.i Bbe is a comely young matron, with a winsome presence. The story of her marriage to Mr. Barnum is full of romance, and their wedded life was singularly foMoiteus.

Alice Mitchell insane. * The Mnrdprc.it May Spend the Rest Of Her Day. in a Madhouse. Alice Mitchell, the murderess of Freda Ward, has been declared insane by

a jury in the Shelby County Criminal Court at Memphis, Tenn. After receiving the charge of the ju ige It took the jury just twenty min>utes to arrive at a conclusion. The verdict carried with it the opinion that it would endan-

ger the peace of the community to 6et Alice at liberty, so she will at once be conveyed to the asylum for she insane at Bolivar. This veidiot does not absolve the defendant from being yet placed on trial for her life at some future time, should she recover her reason and the Attorney General should see fit to prosecute her. The verdict has nothing to do with her sanity at the time she killed Freda Ward. It touches her present sanity alone. The only question involved was: “Is the defendant. Alice Mitchell, now in such a mintal condition as to enable fc e .r Ifi confer with her counsel so as to intelligently conduct her defense on a trial for the murder?” The jury’s answer by its verdict is “No,” and as the law forbids the trial of an insane person the Indictment against her must toretired until such time as she Is declared sane, or it may* be nolle prossed at the discretion of the Attorney General and the court. If the defendant does not recover sanity her confinement will be for life. If at any time she is declared sane she is not io be set at liberty until action Is taken on the indictment pending against her.

Detailing Ihe Murder. Without a tremor in her voice and with a coolness that was remarkable, Alice Mitchell told on the witness stand how she deliberately cut Freda Ward’s throat. She said: "I took the razor out while going down the hill. When I reached Freda I cut her with the razor. I cut her throat first; that was the first cut I gave her. As I cut her throat she tried to say ‘Oh,’ or something like that. Then I heard a scream. I don’t know who screamed; it was Jo Ward or Miss ’Purnell. Then Jo hit me with an umbrella and said, ‘You dirty dog.’ I saw she was going to hit me with the umbrella again and I struck at her with the razor in my hand. I cut her, I thought, on the chin. I didn’t mean to cut her. When she said ‘You dirty dog’ it made me mad, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I intended to cut Freda’s throat and then cut mine, but Jo made me mad and I ran after Freda and cut her again. I didn’t mean to cut her up that way. I had cut her throat, and all I wanted to do was to cut her so as to kill her. ” When a6ked by Attorney General Peters if she did not know it was wrt ng for young ladies to marry, she replied: “Yes; but I thought if I dressed like a man no one would know the difference. I intended to take her to St. Louis and work lor her.”

WHAT CONGRESS HAS DONE. Little Accomp i.sliecl Aside from Pasnlng Appropriation Bills. The future compiler of the official history of the laws of the United States will not need much space in which to inscribe the really important laws enacted by the first session of the Llld congress, says a Wasliiugton correspondent. The session has not been remarkable for its actual accomplishments so far as respects large legislation. Efforts more or less vigorous have been made to pass through both houses of Congress bills dealing with questions that occupy a large share of public attention, but these, with a single exception, Buve failed of accomplishment. The sole measure of the first class in importance, not counting the appropriation bills which have become a law, is the Chinese exclusion bill, and political expediency has much 1o do with its rapid Congressional progress. This bill, the Inman registry bill, the Black Hawk and Seminole Indian wars pension bill, the eight-hour bill, the bill to enable the President to enforce reciprocal canal arrangements with Canada, the army nurse bill, the intermediate pension bill, uud the bill to increase the pay of life-savers are about the ouly measures of much general interest enacted into law. Free silver, the tariff, the anti-option bill, retrenchment of appropriations and a $5,000,000 loan to the World’s Fair have been the live topics of the session. The first three subjects have been kiiled, at least until after the election, while the last is still before Congress. The House passed approximately 475 bills, of which 284 were passed by the Senate and sent to'the President. Of the bills i assed by the House 220 were public bills, including measures relating to the District of Columbia; 151 private pension bills; 48 bills to remove charges of desertion; and 41 private bills of a miscellaneous character. The Senate passed 691 bills, only 113 of which succeeded in running the gantlet of the House and reaching the President. Two of the latter number the President vetoed, viz., the bill to send the famous McGarrah in claim to the Court of Claims for adjudication and a bill to amend the Court of Appeals act. Three bills the President permitted to become laws without his signature. The noteworthy feature of the private bills which became laws was the large percentage of them relating to services in the Mexican war, the Indian wars and the war of 1812, the beneficiaries be.ing chiefly Southern men. The Bering Sea trouble with Great Britain wa9 the ugliest complication the Senate had to consider behind closed doors, and a peaceful solution of it was found in its reference to an arbitration commission. The Chilian muddle also occupied some of the Senate’s attention in executive session. The total number of bills and joint resolutions introduced in the House was 9,835, and in the Senate 3,604. In the House 2,106 reports were made on bills, and in the Senate 1,097 written reports were made, no notice being paid to unwritten reports. Aside from the passage of the regular annual appropriation bills the most interesting feature of the Congress has been what it did not do rather than what it did.

ALICE MITCHELL.