A COLOSSAL FIRE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1800, 3 June 1891, Page 6

A COLOSSAL FIRE.

A CHICAGO MUSEUM IN FLAMES. Tbe fiercest and most destructive fire that has occurred in Chicago since the great fire of 1871, which resulted in the destruction of the city, broke out on April 14, and swept through West Madison street. The extensive retail furniture house of Mr John M. Smyth, which was perhaps the largest in the world, was totally destroyed. The Dime Museum of Messrs Kohl and Middleton was also so completely consumed that nothing is left. Five buildings on the north side of the street, from Union street to the Haymarket Theatre, were likewise destroyed. The block of buildiDgs of which the theatre forms part, and the public school adjacent, were badly scorched. No fewer than thirty-six fire engines were upon the scene to combat the flames, while eight hundred firemen and three hundred police were engaged in combating the conflagration. The damage and loss occasioned by the fire is estimated at not less than 2,000,0t)0dol, of which 900,000d0l will be lost by the destruction of Mr Smyth's furniture warehouse. Although several firemen and others are unfortunately reported injured, no lives were lout. The fire originated in John M. Smyth's waggon sheds at the back of the furniture warerooms, adjacent to the back portion of tbe Dime Museum. Tbe actors on the stage at Kobl and Middleton's Museum were startled by flames leaping through the windows behind the scenes, which opened on to the back premises. They became panic-stricken, and jumped wildly over the footlights into the auditorium. Here there were about three hundred people attending the hourly performance in the theatre. They caught the infection of blind terror, and tore down the stairways howling and stamping like a trihe of Indians on the warpath. Women and children, who formed over half the audience, were crushed underfoot and jammed against the door-posts in the narrow exits. Policeman Sheeny made his way through the smoke and succeeded in releasing twenty caged monkeys that were chattering and screaming in terror. Some of the poor beasts rushed straight for the flames, and were burnt up in a flash. Others reached the streets and were soon lost to sight along the cornices and awnings over the business places, disappearing in every direction. The "freaks" were all terribly frightened, but all succeeded in getting all alive. Mdtne. Carver, the 9001 b "fat woman," dragged herself to one of the back windows, and was about to throw the " Midget," who is billed on the boards as her son, into the street, when she was stopped. Dola Lorenzo, the albino, was so blinded by the smoke that she was found rushing wildly about, and was caught and rescued only with great difficulty. The " pig-headed boy " had to be dragged out forcibly, as he was unmanageable through fright. An enormous boa-constrictor was burned, the firemen being afraid to release it. The reptile lashed about savagely but vainly, trying to smash the thick plate glass window which formed its cage walls. The building was soon blazing and roaring like a blast furnace. Tbe walls fell inwards within an hour, and there was nothing left of the fine block of buildings but a heap of bricks and cinders.