Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1894 — Lucky Incendiarism. [ARTICLE]

Lucky Incendiarism.

“The destruction of the Fair buildings by fire is regretable from an artistic or sentimental standpoint,” said Mr. John D. Hamlin of Chicago at the Arlington, “but it was very lucky for the stockholders. The buildings were fully insured, or nearly so. If they had remained standing they would have been nearly a dead weight upon their owners. They could not have been sold for the cost of the lumber in them, and as revenue producers they would have been very expensive failures. As it is, the stockholders Will get something like their approximate value. One or two attempts to fire the remaining buildings have been made. Of course there have been ugly rumors. There always are in such cases, but wise men take no stock in them. There is one thing about Chicago that the outside world does not

appreciate: Every man, woman and child in it is heartily tired of Columbus and everything that has the Columbian tang. Steel Mackaye’a latest enterprise, the ‘Scenatorium,* a successor to his uncompleted ‘Spectatorium,’ has failed, because it gave scenes from the life of Columbus, including, of course, the inevitable landing and meeting with the awestricken but joyful Indians. The people simply would not pay to see it.”—-[Washington Star.