University of South Carolina Libraries
V t VOLOIE LI1U >T 24 ? ?at ^R,? ?, ?..?. =^E A TOEK) ?u# A YEAli ' I if Flames Sweep f Causin lH Destroys Many Blocks < by Winds of Great Jf Gale Drives Devou J Along Th( Augusta, Ga., March 23.?Fire, fanned by a 65-mile gale, last night swept down Broad .street, destroying 21 blocks of 'buildings on that main thoroughfare of (Augusta and about 14 on other streets. At 1 o'clock this morning the flames were still burning fiercely, with the prospects that it would 'be probably several hours before they can be controlled. miH+io ^nmnanies have bee.l 1 lii laXHWia VVAA-Jr? ordered out and now are guarding the streets. . Thus <ar there have been no fatal accidents, but there were many narrow escapes, notable in the Dyer building, where the conflagation flaci its inception. The loss will run well into the millions, some estimates now putting K k -as high as $10,000,000. The flames swept a straight swat'i down Broad street, skipping only, two | 'clocks, the 600 and 700 blocks, and taking in their career many well known "buildings. Among the structures completely destroyed were the Dyer building, a -O _i. ? ? + . tho A ITCH qf a Hf?r il?t;-i>LUJ V SLl UV.LU1 V , IUV aid building, the Commercial club, the Tubman high school for girls, the Horton grammar school, the cotton \ exchange, with about 10,000 bales of cotton; the Southern railway freight /lormt and historic St. Paul's church. Both the Western Union and the Poetal telegraph offices were destroyed as was the composing room of ttie Augusta Chronicle, an annex of the paper's ten story home. The mam building itself, though badly damaged, . still stands. Telephone connection with the outside world was lost for a time, bat was restored late in the night. ? Fire fighters and apparatus^from Sa.annah, Waynesboro and Columbia are on the scene, the Columbia contin gent havirig arrived about 12:30. Ask sistace from 3iaconr .Atlanta and , Charleston also is on the way. | Some of the handsomest mansions R in Augusta were among the dwellings | destroyed in lower Broad street,^1 ^ * Among these were the residences of J Fedinand Phinizy, Leonard Phinizy, j ? I Thomas Barrett, Sr., Thomas Barrett, j -Jr., and the Gould home. St. Paul's one o; the oldest Bpisco- j pal churches in the South, is a com^ plete loss. On its walls and in its iL aisles were memorials to many men of more than local fame who lay buried within its precincts. J, S. ! i AID FKOM GREENVILLE J ' i Firemen iand Apparatus Sent by Special Train to Augusta. Greenville. March 23.?A special Y train left here this morning at: 2 o'clock carrying 20 firemen, a fire j engine, hose wagon and 3,800 feet of I Vinee trv Augusta The train Is due in Augusta at 5 o'clock. W \ OLI MBIA SENDS AID ? TO GEORGIA CITY j Two Engines With Elee?n Firemen and . Large Supply of Hose Carried. 1 Two hours after Augusta's call to j Columbia * for help reached Mayor Griffith last evening, a special train was under wa5% carrying firemen and apparatus and a number o: -volunteers,1 Alayor Griffith hintsefi! was of the party, as was also J. W. Wassum, superintendent of the Columbia division of #A?I * The Southern railway, i/ispvsiuuus the expeditions handlinging of the special Tcere made. Equipment sent included a heavy TM-r\^ck1J<xrl nnmniner PT1 o'inP WUfc* UlUlUi J/H/|?VllVU ^UlU^'lUQ v?0 ? ., a horse drawn steamer of large eapacity, 3,000 feet of hose and an assortment of attachments. The machinery was in charge of a detail of 10 men from the Columbia fire departV. 'I ; ; ment, heatietf 'by the Assistant chief, Augusta & Millions Loss >n Broad Street--Fanned Force--Sixty-five Mile ring Conflagration jroughfare. \V. H. Sloan. Conditions in Columbia with a nigh wind blowing were euci. that Fire Chief W. J. May did not feel warranted in leaving the city or in detaching a large complement from his force. Engine 649 hauled the special train, - i. J with'-Pat RiOn ill the drivers seat anu J. W. Edwards, conductor, in charge, i The train consisted of a passenger coach and two flat cars. The apparatus was taken aboard at the west Gervias street cossing, after difficulty had been encountered in loading it at Blanding street, and the coach was picked up at the union station. On the snecia! were a staff corr-e spondent of The State and an extra operator of The Associated Press. Samuel rM. Rice, a conductor of the ~ "' - - i A. + Soutnern Kanway, saici i<i?i mguc i^ai when his train left Augusta at 6:45 oc'lock in the evening the flames in the Dyer building were high and were being spread by a high west wind, i "It looked bad," said Mr. Rice. "Sparks were flying over the river and it seemed as if the cotton on Reynolds street must surely cattch. I heard that there were sevral narrow escapes. The fire is said toxhave started irr the bottom o'. the Dyer building."' 0 * 1 CHARLESTON SENDS HELP TO AUGUSTA Pnmper. Twelve Hundred Teet of Hose and Firemen o On . Special Train. " . O- V' ' 1 - " *" > Charleston, March 22.?A pumper, 1,200 feet of hose and seven firemen * under Foreman Wohjters lift at 15:50 o'clock tonight on special train, about minutes after reeciving a can irom Augusta to aid in fighting the fire raging in that city. . | ' . : /'" ' -- ] I i . " i.i, si NESS DISTBICT FEELS FlTLJ, FORCE OF DISASTER! I I * Fire Sweeps Down Broad Street and Leaps Into Reynold? and Ellis. Burning' Fierce K | Augusta, Ga., March 23.?A confla- j gation which has already resulted in j an estimated loss of $8,000,000 to $10,-! 000,000 is sweeping LAugusta and at 1 j o'clock in the morning is still burning! fiercely. Fanned by a wind blowing in J a southeasterly direction the names j swept through between 20 and *25 city , blocks destroying dozens of business j buildings and rendering thousands homeless. The fire started about 6:11 j p. m., in the rear of a store on the flrst ioor of * "" Lyer bu hl.: f. one of the! I -itys' princ pal oiTiefc bui'd'ngs Ten I ints .">1' the build^'n^ hare v escaped with their lives and a dozen young wo- \ m?n who attended a business college! n tho fi floor a' - 'j forcod to conn* j lowu +he f:re escape at peril of their i lives. \ i I I i The Augusta tire department, with i I i | every available engine, was on the j | scene within less than three minutes j | after the alarm was turned in and I j seeiug that the Dyei ?mildii\g was j | doomed, directed its efforts toward I j saving the Union Savings -Bank building acros the street. The fire, in the i meantime, bau swept across Eighth | treet from tne rear of t.i? I)\cr build! ^H Hqctoti J-nirninor fYvtt/vn rnw I ill auu V-"- - -* W?VVM - ^ ' j where thousands of bales were stored. | The flames began to eat their way i through the warehouses, attacked the | Tubman high school and then swept i toward Broad steet. The firemen had kept the flames from the Union Sav! Ji2s hank building from Eighth street ! side but when the building was attacked from the rear they rouM not fight the flames from that angle also. Big Buildings Lost. On the 700 'block of Broad street the ' Union Savings ibank building, the Postal telegraph building, the Augusta Herald building, the Commercial chit*building and The Chronicle and Em4 I pire buildings, the latter two modern ci hiiilriinprn were 2Utted. D.1 vuttu?UOw w As the flames were uncontolahle at 7 o'clock, an appeal was sent to r? 1 other cities for aid. Atlanta, Macon, o) Savannah, Columbia and Waynesboro d< were cafled on. Waynesboro arrived h< at 10 o'clock and Columbia one hour later. Nothing seemed to be able to check the flames in the patch which a the wind directed them and they de- P' stroyed approimaxtely 15,000 bales of cotton valued at $1,000,000. The tl Tubman high school building was de- b< stroved, as was the Southern railway freight depot. The fire burning the #5 the north side of Broad on the 700 ir block down to the Citizens & 'South- J ern bank building. This granite. s* structure acted as a barrier to the j further progress of the flames and J they swept behind it. The (Citizens j t* & Southern, Planters Loan & Savings 0 and Oeorsria Railroad banks were j saved on the 700 block. j ^ The entire section of the city north j p of Broad and east of Eighth streets seemed to be doomed though the fire- u men fought valiantly to save many of the buildings and succeeded in savc] ing some. 1 - ? Residences Destroyed On the 400 and 300 'blocks of Broad, ij Reynolds and Bay streets, practically all the residences were destroyed. Ivower Broad is one of the most exclusive residence sections of the city. The flames crossed Broad on the 400 block and swept down Ellis and then to Green, burning both eides of lower Green. Thousands of people , were i made homeless and many other thousands are sleeping with their household furniture piled in the street ^ keeping vigil over their, property. > . v So far as is known the fire has i | , i.MMMMi m bPS0H' manJ woman an nity should be i j|| V .\lsSj for Co-operatia IV |g community" Spir / llSI 1 show in cartoon I needs of our SSjPj|l holding it backovercome to pi5 can be accompl 1 We will "Knc % "Boost the Bo: /' ;H'J some of you pr /w . always hurts?I Hj erful ally for ad Jml i interested in th< \)///wwk our home ; reaumg mcoc I and co-opferatinj I this a bigger?b I prosperous com lused the loss of no lives though jmerous firemen have be^n burned u i) id to go to the hospital. It is ?poted, however, that the little child I Firemen Meredith was burned to jath just as her father rushed in the Duse to save her. About Bnrned Ont The fire is practically under control t 1:30 so ar as the business and rincipal residential sections are con irned, though it is now raging near ie city limits, ft is being controlled ecause it has burned out. It was estimated at 2 o'clock that 00 homes have been destroyed, leav ig over 3,000 persons homeless. The re crossed Broarl street at Elbert reet and is gradually eating its way ito the residence section of the city. One of the larger werehouses conlininc: 100.000 bales of cotton is out f the fire zone. Three companies of the National uard have been ordered out and are atrolling the streets. At 2:*-if? o'clock this morning the flro as grarh> illy burning its way through ie reside it.ial section and had touched reen street. The flames have been becked at sevral points by the Au usta augumented fire department. 'he State. Augusta, Ga., March 23.?At 3:15, the wind having died down. 'V ^ ? At?f , ir}( ^reai nre was ^juiupivicijr under control. At 2:30. a second fire l-vcHe out in the southern asction of the city. It was extinguished after having caused about $12,000 !< &s. Prof. D. R. Riser, superintendent of ie city schools of Manning, S. C.f is feitm^ his father, Mr. J. H. Riser, in 'ewberry for the week end. ' I t u $ <r . . t< . n \ r I 1 c _ ; ' ' jd il! " ' ' " ' - j 1/ Iti [ e ; V; It] I? e Ittl Lacti weeK we win r i and tell in story the I community?what is I * ?the things we must I ogress and how this | j g ished by co-cpsration. ; j i j>ck the Knocker" and | | P ^cfor " Wft ma.v hit I , * ' etty hard?the truth . 2^ >ut it's our most pow- ! . t vancement. If you are. e progress and future . wn you can help by h ditorials each weekly with u& in making e letter?happier?more* c imunity. I c j f THE COURT CLOSES. Prese tment of- Grand Jury ? Com- 1 ment by /udge Wilson?I. 0. Bur- ! ( ten Granted Bail. I _ 1 The court of general sessions, Judge i Wilson presiding, adjourned Wednes- ] I day afternoon at 1 o'clock. While ; '' several important cases were disposed i of there were several that wee con- j 1 tinued for one reason or another. The i grand jury made som? very important1; i recommendations as will be seen ' : from reading its presentment, i ' ' j The cases disposed of at this term are as follows: > ' The State against John Glasgow, j charged with larceny c'rom the person ' j (pickpocket), fouud guilty ana sen-1 | tenced to 18 months on the chain, ' j gang or th* penitentiary. ! Jim Caughman, housebreaking and j I laiWCUJ , g un L y , i, \nr i_? j cai o. Bluff Cannon, housebreaking and i' , larceny; not guilty. Jim Robertson, housebreaking and i . ( larceny; pleaded guilty, 18 months. | I. 0. Burton, murder and carrying J concealed weapons; continued to next ^ j term of court. J | Joe Jackson, assault and battery and ^ carrying concealed weapons; pleaded guilty, three months or $100. j Ed Johnson, burglary and larceny; ; court directed a verdict of guilty with trv TTIPrfV The DTIS- ' i oner was given a sentence of five 1 i 1 j years. v Robt. Childs, larceny of bicycle; 1 J I guilty, two years and a fine of $5. ' j Jim. Todd, assault and battery with fl itent to kill; tried in prisoner's ab- i i sence, new trial granted and case con- ! tloued.J: "3"lt X!^ D. A. War ley, assault and battery; \ >leaded guilty, $200 or one year, sen- ^ ence suspended during good behavior. / J. H. Brown, disposing of property mder lien; guilty, nine months or 150. Thomas Byrd, Jr., murder; pleaded uilty to manslaughter, 30 years. John Brown, rape; continued. Tom i.VIcMorris, charged with faflure ) support wife and children, settled n terms that he pay $11 per month t 3r support of wi- e and children. Mack Dawkins, larceny; continued. Jim Todd, violation dispensary law; ontinued. fl T nallmnn nhtainiricr w/vi/le nn. . . er false pretense; continued. Thomas Motes, assault and battery, itent to kill and carrying concealed weapons; nol grossed. T. . J. Davenport, a?aault and -bat =ry, intent to kiii ; noi prossea. Presentment of Grand Jury. ) State of ?outh Carolina-Bounty of iewberry. 'o His Honor, Judge John S. Wilson, "presiding; W7 a tl-io orronrf inrr fnp \" O r T* V ounty- at.the sitting of this term of curt wish to make the following preentations of such matters as have een 'brought before us. or our coniderations. . * First. We wish, tp express to the idge presiding.our appreciations an< y lanks for his charge and instructions . 3 us. ? We have appointed .coiLm-tiees to xamine and audit the books of the arious county officers and. to inspect iie conditions existing at the County r 3 ---1 ci? ~ ill in/ill^ Louie &nu ja,u. oaiuc win uc mnuu" d in our presentment at the next erm of court. v . It lias been reported to tlie Grand5ury that numerous acts of vandaliscf " ave been committed at the two " chock located at Johnstone in No. 12 Ichoo' district. These alleged acts leing the result of friction between atrons of the two schools, according o information i.'urnisTied us. We recommend that some action be taken in his matter by the proper authoriies. t We have received committees maktig complaints as to county roads a*d ave same under consideration. me udve passcu uu a 11 uiiis jjicocuid to '.:s and have returned same to ouri. \ We wish to commend the sheriff and tis deputies for their diligence and ?U >fficers of the county for their '.aitliul and efficient worfc. We recommend that the clerk he >aid the usual fee. W. F. EWART, * . Foreman Grand Jury. Comment by Jndge Wilson. At the conclusion of the reading of :he Dresentment by Clerk of Court joggans, tfudge Wilson commended th9 ?rand jury i.'or its promptness and attention to duty. He then commented ^ upon that portion of the presetment relating to the state of affairs existing it Johnstone Academy, laying great stress upon the gravity of the situation. He suggested that tbe services . of a good preacher, who was not -e? -1 Ka eannroH tft VC\ diicwu tu d'pcdA. vui, uc w QW to that community and do sc.ne "missionary work" among the schcoi patrons who are at outs. The judge paid a tribute to home and foreign ; ? ? ? rfimorVod that h P h)P_ O.UU A VMMV ? ~ lieved that a missionary could accomplish, more than anything else in thie case. v .luQ^e Wilson then suggested to Solicitor Cooper that he have copies of certain portions of the preesntment made and forwarded to the trustees of the two schools, together with a request that the patrons of Johnston? iistrict set* together and put a stop to the existing. friction. If there is a repetition of the "acts of ?vandali6m/ mentioned in the grand jury's presentment, the judge directed that the guiK ty parties be indiced and brought before the court. Judge Wilson was very torccful in lis remarks along this line. He stated that he greatly deplored such a * ? " ? i- it.- ? ? J Jiate or anairs m we grauu uiu wauiy of Newberry, and hoped that the remedy suggested by him would have he desired effect Solicitor Cooper stated to the judge :nat he would have copies of the pre sentment' sent to the trustees of the of the court. .