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12
Spectacular
U " V ' :'.- - . ; h .. . v.-. , -v-'..-. - ;
i fC r''M,' : h . i
A
urpusrd and unurpasable
when it comes to arranging
great tppct&cles. Contrive at
man may with all th reounv
of (tag craft, he can tender do
a the occaaional cataclysm
uch aisht
ill afford
Even the most elaborate
renic effort known to the hiitory of man,
whether In ancient Coliseum or modern
Hippodrome, ara lnlgnlficant compared
to the splendor of a firat-class fire much at
Omaha experienced a few days ago.
Had tome modem Nero lntvct simply on
causing a brilliant spectacla, deliberately
originated this fire he could not hare
chosen a scene which would have afforded
better results. The burning buildings sat
In a deep valley flanked on either side by
sheer hillside, with a viaduct at one end.
completing an amphitheater. reep as the
valley is. the height of the doomed build
ings was such that the flames mounted
much higher than th.B hilltops on which
the thousands of rpectstors watched the
fire.
There is no human being possessed of
the sense of tight to whom a great fire la
not fascinating, and proof of this, were it
reeded, could be found both la the num
bers which the spectacle drew and the
length of time they remained In the neigh
borhood of the fire. The trouble began at
a late hour Sunday eight, at a time when
ml citizens hae gone to bd, and the
scene of the fire was not the most eacily
accessible spot in the city. Neither " of
these conditions deterred many. Men.
women and children came by trolley, by
motor car and on foot, and most of those
who came the first may returned, hours
later, the last.
The crowds behaved after the customary
fashion of crowds and felt the same feel
ings. There was an occasional expression
of regret at the vast losses which everyone
knew were occurring, but sentiments of
this sort except in the minds of those par
ticularly Interested in a property way
have little weight against the pleasure of
visa hf a scene of genuine brilliance.
Practically speaking, most of tha thou
sands who swsrraed to the neighborhood
experienced aa emotion very near to joy.
Walking home later to South Omaha or
cp Florence way, sums change in emotional
tjualily undoubtedly occurred.
llany crept too near ths brink, for fire
lines were an !rr.polbiiily. even had thei
been policemen preent in numbers suffi
cient to have establ.shed and maintained
such boundaries. But though thoughtless
people too eager to get cloe to the ridge's
end risked their necks, no one toppled over
and whole skins were carried home by all.
Tet is was not a n ght of pleasure for
all concerned, fur ors.des the ni-?n whose
property did burn to the grourd. there
were hundreds of others who stood excel
lent ct.ance of the same fate. The hiah
w ind carried the myriad sparks a ling
distant e. At a ccr.servaiive estimate 3i
or more small fires were started blocks
s.sy. all of which were put out is soun
ss ttegaa. Householders epiit a sight of
ig-il on the roof tops, and fur thue there
a anntly Instead of enjoyment of the
iliun-.njitiL ns. Mere bucket brigad.-s fornced
than cunaha ewr before knew, for gurden
Iuk was weil nigh worthless anywhere la
i'e itu.ity vt the fire.
..o fire Omal.a ever had sent ;-arks
f)irg as far tnd in so great juntity.
linings of wheat gram. haled to incan-dee!:c-.
went scaring away in lh strong
Ind ur.icn bice t the northwest, and in
a shorter radius from the die the suction
ut of th canon was powtr.ul enough to
carry fiery mases of wood. ReiJx.ls of
slreeta six and e.ght blotks fi-ora Twenty.
e.ii.Ul aer.ue were occaaioi.ally startltd to
cave dropped In front or b.-k yard ur on
the roofs of their homes, chunks of wood
burning aa brightly as lugs m a grate.
Ths grain sparks neanUme flew as fsr as
three miles from the fire and initialed
hundreds of tittle biases which wvuld
hate developed into real files but for the
wsichf ul car of bctne ownera Some few
mm and women, living not manr blocks
L fiom the fire, slept through It all Xid neit
momtns wondered that they bad tnt been
. awakened hi- fire In their own home.
' 6uo of tbete bad srur-ged feeing 4-f
vi.t.kX'.Hnfr that they had escaped hav.
U-g U-.tj- bun -a on tlx. a&4 rwgrct that
Grandeur
3
fhey had missed seelr.g a wonderful vision.
The men and women who waUhed all
night to protect the roofs, gave an un
conventional sight, because many of them
did not stop to dress themselves fully. In
the early hours of the fire barefooted men
could be seen mounted on house tops with
buckets in band.
As was to be expected th sparks fell in
greatest Quantity in th neighborhood of
the fire, but even a mile away, in the
direction of the wind, veritable showers
dropped at Intervals and steadily decreasing
quantities came down even as far as Cum
ing street.
Occasionally a spectator could be found
who medltatud reflectively on the utter
waste caused by the Tames. Ilfre was
property worth in the neighborhood of
l.OutMOO vanished completely, going into
r-othingness from the practical standpoint.
Insurance would cover the looses in a way.
but only in a way. Besides the uninsured
and uninsurable losses to the owners of
the destroyed property with respect to
Interruption of business and future profits,
there was a loss to the exact amount of
everything the flames licked up. That
which had been. r.o longer was in ex
istence. Human energies, beginning way
Hewrr WsitterMSi.
HE last of lb great editors.
0T. 1 ranking with Bryant and Gree
I I ley, Raymond and Dana. Pren-
k 1 U .... M Vn...'tk.
Ritchie, was three score years
and ten last month, relates the
Wisconsin Post. His gealus was preco
cious, and In his middle 'teens his contribu
tions to the pres commanded universal at
tention and extorted universal admiration.
When b had scare fulfilled his third
lustrum t was capable of instructing
grave senators upon th philosophies of th
WUraot proviso and other political issue.
A Douglas democrat in 1M0, th follow
ing year Henry Waterson was a south
ern soldier, with printers' ink on his fin
gers, which he employed to make th
charmingest and bnlliantest military
gaaette ever issued the Chattanooga
K-tel, each cumber of which was a trea
tise on the art of war that would hav
astonished Jomini and did amaze Bragg.
The plans wr perfect; unfonunz'ely
none but a Hannibal or a Napolton, per.
haps none out a Joshus. could have car
ried them to successful cxecutiun.
Ere he was 3d. ft'atterson was the most
brilliant political writer connected with
the American press, and since 1 1 1
cam has been a household word, not
only in Kentucky and at the south, but
ill - - c ) ? i! r i's . ft ' U , r
K ' II l . t - r."" I ! ' -L "v--:- , l.;
A ' I , v" . i "-- Sr:'
lrv I''''- -&:.2x - , . r2i ' ' ts
ELLIS LXW1S CASULTSON".
ILLUSTRIOUS POTLITTATE OF A2irW
of a Great Conflagration
back when the se:d of the burned up
w heat w as planted or even before had
been completely nullified. There had been
a cash return to the farmer, the railroad
company which brought the grain hither
bad been reimbursed, but they, like all
the crowd on the hillsides, were losers by
the fire. Immediately, a considerable part
of the burden devolved upon the lnsuranci
companies and on their stockholders. A
step farther back and the loss In this fire,
as In others, was common to society.
The gale of wind which fanned the
flames blew financial profit to a few. Driv
ers of fly-by-night motor cars picked up
many an extra dollar, and at midnight
there was not one of these conveyances
w hich had not been chartered. At Twenty
Fourth and Vinton streets are two small
restaurants which exist to serve street car
men coming off runs. Hundreds of patrons
were on hand for these restaurants that
night and during the morning who hav
never before eaten in there and who may
never again.
The street car company picked up a few
extra nickels, or, more strictly speaking,
dimts. for a number of extra cars were
put en after regular hours to haul home
spectators whom weariness of foot and
throughout the entire union. Greeley was
2t when Watterson was born, and it may
be that per thousand of clientele 'the
philosopher of the Tribune" wielded a
greater influence than the editor of the
Courier-Journal, but Watterscn spoke ta
millions more than Greeley, and it is
probaly true that in his time he shared
and led more public opinion than any man
of his day certainly more than any other
editor.
it is not too much, to say that Watter
uti brought the south to accept the con
ditions the war made inevitable. Certainly
he nomination of Tilden in lfcTC. and th
folly his party committed four years later
was over his vigorous protest and in spits
cf his herculean txertiona
la connection with the birthday of Feb
ruary 16. it hs been suggested that Ken
tucky contribute a statue of the great
editor to the national Valhalla. There are
two objections. One. Mrse Henry will
have to die first, and the other, that Ke
tucky produced both Lincoln arid Davia
and many Ktntu.kians hae chosen them
for statuary bail.
We xpect twenty years mot of Mars
Htnry in tiie fcarneas. .
The Leiskle Lsagfellsw.
The chapters of Mni. Moujeska's "Me
moirs" in the March Century abound
with renuniscecces and anecdoles of the
Sunny Episodes in the Lives of Prominent Men
TIIE 05LUIA SUNDAY BEE: .APRIL
ever Increasing sleepiness had relucttanily
caused to start homeward. But most of the
crowd had to walk, nevertheless. Some re
mained all night and took -cars home or
to work when these had begun regularly
running again Monday morning. The small
boy was among those who stuck. He ar
rived among the first and only quit when
hunger pangs had begun to grow strong la
small but Insistent stomsch. A consider
able percentage of the people who mad
their way down into the valley was made
up of boys who raced from one end to the
other of the long stretch over which the
fire swept. Down here the sparks literally
fell like rain, but this only added to the
pleasurable excitement of th situation.
Burned holes in clothing. t be proudly
shown next day, were almost like scars of
battle. For others of juvenile years the
fire engines exerted an even greater
fascination than the fire itself. There is
an element of noise about a throbbing,
chugging fire engine which appeals force
fully to the young ear.
But the most excitted children were those
whose fathers and mothers lived on the
brow of the hill tack of the burning ele
vators. These helped to carry out bed
steads and sewing machines, chairs, books
notable and interesting pec pi she met and
made friends with in New York and Bos
ton during her first isit to America. What
she herself calls "one of the most important
even'.s of my stay" waa the meeting with
Longfellow on her first visit to Boston:
"Although I was forewarned of his visit."
she says. "I was Quit overcome with
emotion when his card was brought to my
room. One look of his kind, deep-set eyes,
and a warm handshake soon restored my
mental equipolw. snd put me at my ease.
The presence of this true, great poet, this
man, endowed with the finest qualities a
man can possess, was a spiritual feast
for me.
"He spoke to me of Boston ard its celeb
rities, and acquainted me with the names
of Oliver Wendell Holm's. Thomas Bailey
Aldriih. James T. Fields. Ceiia Thaxter
and othtrs. chaffed me about going up
Bunker Hill monument and asked me how
I compared ihe t'aiiforni weaiher with
the tieautifu! climate of j.ssach ai-eits. He
rert on spc-aking in the manner of a per
fect ma .f the uonc, aaci simuly tharaied
tie. Then mv son taiuc in and we were
Vtn mvited to luncheo.i hi the p tt s house
in Cambridge.
"Longfellow's great charm wait just that
perfect simplicity, so rare in celebrsted
men. There was not a shade of the patron -ix.ng
air so frequently assumed by people
of superior Harding, not a particle of the
pomposity I had more than once obser ed
A2IF18 ALL SHaiNIRS BAUD OP TAC07-IA .
10. 1910.
VTH?iT YTAfc LEFT
and tables and other household goods. Info
the front yard, or across the street, and
for these children there was some feeling
of danger, as well as of ordinary excite
ment. Again, when mounted guard over
articles thus exposed, there came a ntlle
satisfaction through Importance of the
post.
Even to young minds there was some
thing impressive about the way the steei
bound granaries of the Independent Ele
vator company withstood the beat. To the
most prosaic and least fanciful the black
walls seemed to stand stem and grim
against the impotent attack of myriad
sparks. It was not easily realixable that
the terrific heat was bound to hav some
chemical effect andd that within the steel
cylinders graiD was cooking and steaming,
swelling with force of generated gas unul
a great portion of the whole waa rendered
worthless.
Alongside of this comparatively lmpreg
cable citadel had stood a long line of wood
clad freight cars. The hillside crowds saw
flames attack and eat these with astonish
ing speed, saw switching crews on tiny
engints dive into the midst "of the tcene,
and coupling up thefe flaming ii. draw
them out of the fire zone. The fist mov
among much less known writers A celeb
rity without conceit is a tare thing to be
hold, he did not sc-em to care much for
"When 1 attempted to sptak about hu
compliments.
poems, he inierupted me. and, pointing to
a handsome armchair standing in his study,
drew- my attention to it by remarking jok
ingly trial ;h children liked his verses, be
cause lie l-.j'l received that present from a
school oa Hie here he paused, and added
with a iuui;h 'centennial' anniversary of
my literary activity.
'Then, aa if r-.grett ng that h had spoken
lightly of the gift, he grew suddenly ser
ious, and stroking the back of the chair
with his hand, t.- said almost tenderly 1
pr tie it highly.' "
Jaelare Belford's Coarage.
Judge James P. Belfo.-d. formerly of the
sjjTerre court cf Colorado, wjiose death
occurred January 7. is mourned as the last
cf the "-!d gu-ird" which has survived
that states earlier days As a campaign
orator, a judce ard a statesman he was a
remarkaMy urililjnt and well informed
man. That he was r: U uan'ir.j in courage
is Illustrated b the following anecdote told
by Judge E. T. Wells, his colleague on the
territorial supreme bench:
"He was a mn of nerve, who would take
a chance with tis life in following out a
course he believed to be right.
an Inspiring: Sigfht
Or OMG- TRAIN" 6 JST CARS
ing masses of Tame thus hauled rapidly
away was perhaps the most unusual sight
of the whole fire. Oiher cars burned too
fast to be hauled. Th-re was nothing to
hook up to but white-hot couplers lying
on the ground.
Those lucky enough to get at the f.re
early saw and heard the Maney mill ex
plosions. Two of these occurred, one being
a dust detonation and the other due to th
bursting of the boilers. The first was the
more noteworthy. Inide the building the
particles of dust risen in the air were
reached by the flames and the sudden gen
erated gas exploded as violently as will
gasoline similarly confined. Accompany
ing the detonation there flashed up a red
dish glare, dull and sombre compared with
the whiter flames of the fire proper.
Seven falling walls at the Maney mill
yielded satisfaction to the sensation
hungry. The wall" of the Nye-Schneider
buildings crumllei away without spec
tacular effect, tut at the other masses of
word axd brick were vomited forth in
terror strikir.s fashion w hile a great shout
went up from the 'thousands in range of
vision. Thit wlikh was most impressive
to se the whole night was the showers of
suddenly released grain at the Nve-
"I saw him sitting on the bench In a
lawsuit at cieorgetown with a double bar
reled shotgun across his knees. 1 forget
the title of the case now. but it was oti:
involving large interests in a wealthy
mine tf the district. Both sides had en
ggrd the services of noted grun men to
make a demonstration in the town and
later in his courtroom. Judge Belford had
given a great deal of study and delibe.tion
to the issues raised and he was satisfied of
the soundness of his decision.
"It had got noised around that on that
particular day he would read his decision,
and the little courtroom was packed with
partisans of the llngiii.ts. Belford tcxik his
place on the be-ich, adjusted tiie shutgun on
his knees, unfolded tils manusL-rift and be
Sn to read His Judgment was entered on
the record, court adjourned and there was
no bloodshed, but before he entered the
room he did not k-iow but that they would
carry him out feet first "
Slrattay.
The conductor put h.s h jd througn the
doorway.
"Can yuu tnuveljp to the front a l.tlle?"
he pathetically Inquired.
"Impossible." a clear voice called back.
"There's a fat man wedged in the aisle"
Whereupon, a hti!y move up the a.sle
ensued, and tiie situatljri was promptly
relieved Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Schneider plant. Ti e flame would urjvli
conipartment after coriifartmenl ajid His
gran start downward into the mass of
flames. Before the particles has def ended
any distance, the intense heat would have
rendered them incandescent and the shower
would swirl upward In luminous kaleido
scopic phantasms go.-.a. No srtifliial
pyrotechnics could vie with it for a minute.
To firemen working through the night
the scenic effects ma ie no at peal, and
their chlefest sensation was of sorrow that
the- could not fight harder Some phvslcal
punishment they did experience, but not so
great as at many a smaller fire. On the
other hand th regret that mora could not
be done was a keener feeling than bodily
suffering from standing close to the flame.
Some water they threw from a Jew streams
and aside from th;S there was rot enougii
in the neighborhood for them or any in
else to get even a drink unless a well waa
found in a yard.
Work of salvage went on, beginning
Monday. Of the approximately 17&.0H0
bushels of grain which were in th tw t
elevators 15 per cent can be ultimately put
on .the market. No loav ta if bread will
ever be baked from it because Its grade -has
been lowered far beind the flour
point. It will be subjected to cleaning
process and after being ground up and
saited will be sold as stock feed. Ulti
mately this grain may again find its way
to this vicinity in the form of beef sinew.
Mschinery is, of course, utterly ruined.
Some of the twisted steel may he sold f r
junk, but that is all. Fans and conveyors
must be replaced and all the other expen
sive apparatus used in the elevators.
With prospect of loth elevators being
replaced the fire will in no way endanger
Omaha a? a grain market. Plans for re
construction were started even before th
ruins ceased smoking and th pen of tt,
draughtsman was busy tracing plans,
while foremen yet worked m the dtstroed
buildings. These are not the on.y men for
whom the fir has meant extra work.
Section hands have been busy pulling
ruined steel rsils from the ties and tele
phone and telegraphic linemen have been
active putting imo order a badly tangled
mass of wir;s and conduits. For several
da after the fire there was work day
arid night for the m ri who use climbers.
Instead of extra hours for the elevator
rands the fire means to s-ome loss of
Jobs for a time. However the fir started,
whether by crossed wires or by unknown
and undiscoversbl carelessness or by that
ratli.r meaningless phrase, "spontaneous
combustion." the fire means for these sep
aration for days and. perhaps months from
the weekly payroll. Temporary woik in as
salvage way has been found for some of
the mill and elevator emploj es. but this
cannot ast long at best. Some are al
ready at woik in other grain plants. 6ut
not ail can thus relocate themselvea
Bad as the fire waa it is th biggest
Omaha had ever known it does not even
spproach in extact of damage what con
flagrations hav don in sister cities , in
reent years. Not to refer to the awful
latoc in 1W6 at San Francisco, there Is th
great Baltimore fir of a ear previous
tn that, and there hav been lumber l ard
flies in Mississippi river towns, the total
loss of which 1 considerably in advanc
of the amount her. Locally th fir of
April X has not been surpassed in a spec
tacular, not even by the burning of th
Carter Lead Works tutu years ago Ther
were highly Inf.ammabl chemicals in that
and these burned wiidly enough. Never
theless, the qusntity of flame visible waa
leas in amount than whea th grain waa
consumed.
HuesKes at th six of the crowd which
gsthertd at th acane run from 141.00 to
IttM. Nothing but guesses are possible,
for th people were spread over too great
a territory for any estlmater to se them
all at oner, and the spectators were rarely
still, but constancy on the move.
How many thousands mor saw the light
lu the heavens would be even more diffl
cu l to guess. The brilliantly lighted sky
was visibi for miles and mile from th
city of fciuth Omaha Far out tn th eoajn
li) . p opi gaied at the brilliant skie and
wondered whether it was a fir ox tf U.
coiutt Lad co ahead of Um
i
