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Show ONE HUNDRED FAMILIES HOMELESS I IN TORRENTtAL RAIN SN ROCHESTER Fierce Gale Sweeps Fire Oyer City, Aid SummonecPFrora Buffalo and Syracuse Damage Estimated at Half Million Militiamen Guard Few Household Effects Saved From Ruins Many Quartered in Precinct Houses and School Buildings Heavy Downpour Helps Extinguish Blaze Rochester, April 13. Swept along by a 25-mile gale, fire today destroyed several sections of the city and did damage estimated at half a million dollars. For a time it was thought that a great portion of the city would j he burned, and aid was summoned l from Buffalo and Syracuse. Tonight ; 100 families are homeless and militia- men guard what little the ncoplc saved of their household effects. , Some of the homeless are quartered ! in precinct houses and a large number passed the night in a public school building. A heavy rain set in tonight and while It helped extinguish tho blaze, it was a hardship on tho homeless. home-less. I The Palmer building, a four-story structure, devoted to manufacturing Interests at Hain and Glbbs streets, was tho starting point of the blaze, which spread over a wide area, and started a second scries of fires. The loss includes $CO,000 on the Palmer building; $100,000 on Huntln-ton Huntln-ton & Co., manufacturers of plumbers' supplies; $90,000 on the Jewish temple B'rith Kodesh, which, is in ruins. Fifty residences, the First Reformed church of America, the Ward Apartments Apart-ments and First German Lutheran Zlon church, were destroyed. St. Peter's Presbyterian church was datn-i datn-i aged. I It was erroneously reported that ; one girl was mining and that one , fireman had been killed. Several firemen fire-men were injured by falling walls or I overcome by smoke. ! By the time the fire hose had been ' laid, the flames had Jumped across the : street to the roof of St. Peter's Prcs- j byterlan church. At the same time fire appeared In the belfry of Hie IVrith ! Kodesh temple, on the opposite corner. cor-ner. I During the efforts to save the Pal- mer building, the fire ate down through B'rith Kodesh temple unln-j unln-j terrupted for some time,' and when : the firemen turned their attention there the flames were beyond control. The walls of the Palmer building soon began to fall. Several firemen were struck by the faUlng bricks and a hose cart was burled beneath the ruins. Man. girls employed in the building Toft by the flro-escapes. I The residents were in a great panic j during the blaze. Apparently there was but one thought the city was doomed. Women threw frorn tho windows win-dows of bowses not yet burning, all sorts of furniture and personal belongings. belong-ings. Considerable property thus was needlessly destroyed. From the Palmer building fire the sparks carried a mile and set tho First Reformed church ablaze. Little attention atten-tion was paid to the new fire at first but soon alarms sounded from half a dozen boxes In that vicinity. Chathc-m, Nassau and Kcllv streets are in the Jewish districts This was the last day of the feast of the Passover, Pass-over, and many of the Polish Jews, seeing see-ing the pail of smoke and the fire falling on all sides, interpreted the situation as the sign of the coming of the Messiah. Men, women and children knelt in the streets to pray. Their shouts were terrifying. Still others seized armfulls of articles from the houses and carried them Into the streets, only to have tho goods consumed by the "fire. |
