Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1892 — AFTER THE BATTLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AFTER THE BATTLE.

MILWAUKEE PLUC’KILY BEGINS REBUILDING. Devastation More Terrible than at First Reported Acres of Smoldering Heaps Where Once Was prosperous Activity— Relief, of the Sufferers. . '■ ..r' * , The Fire as It Was. Milwaukee correspondence. No one had a real not'on of the havoc created by our terrific fire till the following Sunday morning. The wind had died down and the day broke under a clear sky. Miles away tho billows ot smoke could be seen rising above the city, and while they did not sweep the business streets, they gave to a distant view the appearance of a heavy fog, rolling under the wind and streaking out in long, 'thin tanners from the heart of the city. Near the Northwestern depot the extensive destruction worked by the fire became seriously prominent From the railway tracks as far as the eye could see through the smoke almost the entire warehouse part of the town was a mass of ashes and broken brick and stone, with here and there the skeleton of a wall or a chimney rising dimly out of it through the clouds. The lake was rolling viciously, and the line of scorched breakwater showed where the fire had bitten down to the edge of the water. For a while during the fire even the piling Ot this breakwater was aflame. From the railroad tracks for blocks a prosperous part of the town lay smoking. At the limits of the fire-swept district thousands of people had gathered and were kept from crowding in by the policemen and four companies of militiamen armed with rifles. Inside this line the tired firemen were still working. Some of them had been fighting the fire for a day and a half. They were grimy from the smoke, and their rubber coats were cased in cinders. A few of them were sitting on piles of brick with the nozzles of the hose in their blackened hands. Many of them were so worn out by the work of the night that they slept beside the engines while men who owned offices in the district and boys

Who volunteered for the fun of the thing played on the embers. Sight; Among the Ruing. At every corner a flattened mass of half-burned wood and brick was pointed out as the site of a big warehouse. Nothing except the brick corners of Iteideburg’s. vinegar factory was left. A lot of galvanized iron sheets and a big hill of malt and grain was a monument to Hansen's malthouse. The folk who saw that building burn thought It was finer than fireworks. For a moment the windows flared like the isinglass front of a parlor stove. Then the lire died out there and a ring of green gaseous flame ran around the building. In another minute the elevator walls parted and the mass of flaming grain tumbled down in a.tremendous cataract. The Weisel Vilter machine shop, where a falling wall killed two of the firemen, was only a lot of brick and plaster, and Bubb <t Kip’s factory,which gave the second start to the tire, had been absolutely shelled. At the gas works the ruins of one end of the holders was still blazing in spite of the flood of water poured in by the firemen, and the machinery was tangled and broken beyond repair. In nearly every mass of ruins men were groping for valuable papers and books and at every corner employes could be seen pouring water on a smoking safe. On the skirts of the burned district the scenes are sometimes pathetic. Little unprotected plies of bed clothing, pictures, and small household belongings had been left by fleeing thousands. Once in a while a shivering boy was seen standing beside the wreckage pt a home—a broken clock, batteied image, a bag ot tableware and some poor clothing. In the middle of Buffalo street a deserted truck stood loaded with one trunk and a little rocking chair decorated with a neat “tidy.” These things were the wreckage ot small homes burned out in the Third Ward, where hundreds of cottages of workingmen were swept away by the fire. The Distressing Feature. The burning of these poor houses was the distressing feature of the fire. Milwaukee can stand well enough the destruction of big warehouses, for the r e are many big warehouses there and many rich men able to put up buildings in the place of those ruined. The cottages destroyed belonged to the poor laboring men. Some of these men squatted along the lake shore years ago, and nearly all the houses represent hard saving and long work. They went like tallow before the Are and left no monumental ruins to mark their site. Family after family applied to the relief organizations or crowded into St. John’s Cathedral and the Northwestern depot. Prompt relief was given to them as soon as the excitement of the night was settled, and there was as little suffering as ever followed a big fire. The hotels fed hundreds of hungry men. Pabst's Hotel loaded up the Chicago firemen with coffee and steaks, and with the other houses sent a patrol wagon load of foed down to the smoke-stained men who were slugging the fire near the lake. The people of Milwaukee had hardly turned out of bed to see the fog of the fire rising before men were hustling around to raise money for the unfortunate folks. Telegrams came in from roundabout towns, from Oshkosh and Madison and Janesville and Racine, all of which are tributary for Milwaukee’s business. These little towns all offered to help as far as they could. A telegram came in from Mayor Washburne, of Chicago. The Mayor evidently thought Milwaukee had teen shoveled clean off the earth, for he telegraphed in a goodhearted way about Chicago rising from Its ashes and hoping Milwaukee would rise from Milwaukee ashes. These telegrams and letters were taken thankfully but Milwaukee went about helping its own people with its own hands. MUwaukec Raises *BI,OOO. Hundreds of business men poured into the chamber of commerce building and

almost before President Bacon could make a talk $31,231 had been subscribed. It was headed by a whaling big cheek for $5,000 sent in by the Democratic candidates for county offices, who are not rich men; Phil Armour give $5,000 and said he would give a lot more for his old home; the Brewers’ Association subscribed $5,0Q(1; Henry C. Payne, the Republican committeeman, handed in SI,OOO, and the same amount was contributed by Captain Fred Pabst, the ‘Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance Bank, John L. Mitchell, Banker Ilsley, Cudahy Bros., August Uihlein, E. P. Bacon and Mr. Bosseanu. Pong after the meeting money was rolling in and at 5 o’clock

the fund was estimated at near $50,000. It continued to grow until the SIOO,OOO mark was passed. That’s not enough to build up one of the ruined warehouses, but it will make comfortable hundreds of homeless Third Ward people. None of these was permitted to undergo hardship. Every burned-out family was taken care of somewhere and by somebody. Probably no town was ever so badly cut by a Are to come out so cheerful and happy as Milwaukee. The real estate board, which raised a considerable sum in addition to its first donation of $5,000, turned the entire amount over to the relief committee.

concluding not to -distribute the money on its own account. One of the most substantial contributions for the relief of the poor came from Frank A. Lappen & Co. The firm had sold furniture on the installment plan to many of those who were burned out and had over $2,500 still due and secured by notes. In spite of the fact that he was a heavy loser by the fire, having had a quantity of furniture burned in Bub & Kipp's factory, Mr. Lappen announced that he would give rece pts in full to those of the sufferers who still owed him anything. The work of searching for the safes of the -various firms was commenced early. In nearly every case the papers, which alone would enable the losers to estimate correctly the amount of their loss, were in the burning buildings. To get at these a force of several hundred workmen armed with pickaxes and shovels was turned loose. Several safes were found, but it was impossible to open them, as the locks had become so warped and twisted that the bolts could not be turned. Rebuilding the Freip hthouses. The enterprise shown by the big sufferers is exemplified by the work of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. Both the outgoing and incoming freight

houses were burned. Nothing but the bare walls were standing, while inside of them was a mass of smoldering wreckage which occasionally broke out into bright flames. By night of Monday the buildings were nearly all roofed. At one time they were forced to quit, owing to a blaze which broke out in the south end of one of the buildings while they were putting a roof on the north end. An engine was called and the blaze was soon extinguished. Insurance men are doing their best to settle the trouble for the poorer of the sufferers. They are anxious that all small losses be adjusted as soon as possible and accordingly a special committee will have such claims in charge. One incident which has received no attention owing to the excitement caused by the big Are was the burning of seven cottages in the southwestern part of the city Friday evening. The people who were burned out lost everything they possessed, and they will be included in the list of those to be given relief.

Db. James Richabd Cooke, who has just graduated from the Boston University as a physician, is a blind man, but has a record of 96 per cent, in his three years’ study, and on his final examination obtained 98 per cent, in anatomy. He will devote himself especially to diseases of the heart and lungs.

NEAR THE GASHOUSE.

THE BURNED DISTRICT FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

REMAINS OF REIDEBURG VINEGAR WORKS, WHICH OCCUPIED NEARLY A BLOCK.