Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 107, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1899 — FIRE IN STOCK YARDS [ARTICLE]

FIRE IN STOCK YARDS

HORSE PAVILION AND TRANSIT HOUSE ruined; Flames Attack Julldinga Over Area of Many Acree-Aggregate Loss to a Scire of Structures s294,ooo—Hundreds of Horses Stampede. For the second time in three years fire has wiped out mammoth horse sale stable® at the Chicago stock yards. The Dexter Park pavilion, two residences and three detached horse barns were destroyed. and the old stock yards hotel, the Tiansit House, was badly damaged. For awhile it was feared the flames would spread to the stock yards proper, but hard work on the part of the fire department, aided by a strong southwest wind, which carried the flying embers in the opposite direction, averted this danger. The property loss is estimated at between $300,000 and $400,000. About 2,500 horses were in the pavilion when the fire broke out and these were turned loose. In the stampede whieh followed three persons were injured, none, however, seriously. Two hundred guests of the hotel were forced to rush from the building, many of them leaving their effects behind in the scramble for places of safety. The fire was discovered at 4:30 o’clock in the afternoon in the southeast corner of the huge pavilion. The first alarm brought four engines and a hook and ladder truck, but by the time they arrived the fire had gained such headway that a 4-11 alarm was sent in. This was quickly followed by two special calls, each for ten more engines, and in a short time thirty-four engines were at work. Within fifteen minutes after the discovery of the fire the huge building, with its dome towering nearly 200 feet, was enveloped in one seething, surging mass of flame. The long speedway in the center caused - a draft, which carried the flames far out beyond the building, communicating with the hotel 150 feet away. Seeing that the pavilion could not be saved, the firemen turned their attention to the hotel. The fire started in the hotel in the rear near the elvator shaft, and up this the flames shot high above the roof, communicating the blaze to each of the four floors. After nearly three hours’ work the flames were subdued, but not before the building was left almost a shell. The total loss to the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, according to the estimate of J. A. Spoor, vice-president and general manager of the company, will reach the sum of $294,000. All of the property was insured, but with the exception of the hotel the insurance was not equal to the value of the property.