Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1904 — SOUTHERN CITY FIRE-SWEPT. [ARTICLE]

SOUTHERN CITY FIRE-SWEPT.

Twenty-eight Blocks in the Heart as Yazoo, Miss., Destroyed. Fire starting at 9 o’clock Wednesday morning swept through Yazoo City, Miss., burning a strip of buildings twelve blocks long and three blocks wide. The burnetd district includes the whole business section, as well as many residences. All the banks, business houses, newspaper offices, the postofflce, the court house and the city hall, all churches and hundreds of residences were destroyed. The fire started in Wise Bros.’ general merchandise store, in the middle of the principal business street, and spread in every direction. The water supply was poor and the flames were soon beyond the control of the fire department The devastation of the business district is complete. ■ Twenty-eight blocks were swept-clean by the flames. Of the 200 buildings destroyed fifty were splendid residences, many of old colonial architecture and occupied by some of the wealthiest citizens of the South. The only buildings of consequence directly exposed to the fire which escaped were the court house and the Fannie J. Ricks Memorial library and they were saved only by the sudden shifting of the wind. The buildings of the four banks were completely destroyed, but all money stored in the vaults was saved. The residence of John Sharp Williams, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, escaped the flames. The'city was placed under martial law as a result of the conflagration. Several negroes who were caught in an attempt to steal salvage have been arrested. Two military companies patrolled the burned district. The loss is variously estimated at between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000, and the insurance probably will approximate 50 per cent of the loss.