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Show VICTORIA HAS FIRE British Columbia Aetro-polis Aetro-polis Suffers a Loss of Millions Victoria. H. C Oct. 27 Fire, which iiarted ln.-t nlpht find burne 1 with uLsba'ed fury "nt)1 !"nK after mid-r'shU mid-r'shU swept throuch tho heart of the rUy' business c-ctlon, wiping out m. v-ral v-ral of th'' finest buildings In thM ,lty and Inflicting a loi-s roughly estimated es-timated at from Jl.COo.OOO to 2.0uo,. Huge f.rebran I floated on lh" hU'h ini which swi pt toward the waterfront, water-front, and It was with great dlfflrultv rat the firemen, aided by the mill' In ia1 the garrUon of Work P'dnt bat rt'V.. kept the flani'-s from swerplriK itr.ial path to the wati-r's e.ige. ilia blazing embers were carried out oitr the wa'er, etnlutiperlng the ship-I'-X In harlxjr. Several uriiro- tect-d pleasure yachti cauyht fire ni burted like floating beacoDs In tte lav. , The fire rtarted nhortly aftr 1 0 : 3'" cclock in lh department store of rul.l Spencer & Co., Limited, on of tf:e larpent retail establlshmenta In ; Victoria. Fanned by a high wind, the ; fn:rs spread with alarming rapidity, line recently organized ftr brigade f, und Itself unable to cope w ith the conflagration and the troops were failed out. The t-oldiers Dot only aided in keeping order among th frightened, half-clad crowds. ' but j niannJ the fire app&ralus and helped j the fire brigade combaf the flames I Among th buildings burned weie the Times cfllce, and the Five Sinters building, ft fire-story office building, t The flve-tory Pernberton building iind tte Driard hotel trere threatened, but j both were aved. The hotel, bow- ever. as badly corched. sustaining r lc of $K.'.0'iu. All the guests were turned Into the streets, maay of them j hariDg without etopplng to save their rffeCts. The telephone yitcm was put out j of commission, and tho city light sv- I tnn was endangered. No fatalities have been reported, although al-though several firemen were badiy hurt by falling walls and many peo-j.le peo-j.le had thrilling escarps. The district burned was in the tiKirt of the retail section. It Include In-clude all thf buildings betw ec n tlov irnnient and Ptoid streets, extending extend-ing Irom Fort street to the alley back el Trounce avenue. In th square bounded hr Hrnad, Fort. Goverrim-nt i ?nd Trounce streets, only thove build-If build-If pi hieing Trounce CFCRped total destruction. |