The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 8, 1904, Page 1

Forecast made o for thirty Prancisco THE WEATHER. t, Pebruary 8: | Cloudy with showers Monday; : light southwest wind | G. . WILLSON, Local Forecaster. | at Saa Pran- | hours ending | and vicinity— OLUME XCV—NO. -70 Alcazar—“The Gay Parisians.” California—“A Night on Broad- vray.” Central—“In Sight of St. Paul’s.” Chutes—Vandeville. Columbia — “Alexander the Great.” Fischer's—“Roly-Poly.” Grand—‘“Whoop-Dee-Doo.” Marching Home.” - SAN FRANCISCO. MONDAY, FEBRUARY &, 1904. PRICE FIVE CENTS. FORTY BALTIMORE BLOCKS BURN JAPAN CASTS THE DIE FOR WAR BALTIMORE, Feb. flagration is spreading and the fire department, | | assisted by engines sent from nearby cities, is || St this hour the fire area is nearly ||| | | powerless. a mile long and from two to eight blocks wide. The loss at midnight was estimated at $40,- 000,000, and since that hour nearly a score of blocks have been laid in ruins. has aided in the spread of the flames. as known no lives have been lost, although || many firemen and others have been injured by | falling walls. 8.—(5 a. m.)—The con- A heavy wind | So far || eatened by 3, 4 2. ts 1s- 1t ),000,000 $ of tures 1 ALL WIRES ARE DOWN. BAL" . Feb. 8 —At 3 ock he fire was ging S as known e bee ported to the police. and electric od S are prostra e been ng furniture the counting uses in the The fire 10w covered an area three- s of a mile in length by 1 a quarter of mile in width, taking in many of Conflagration Causes a Loss ‘I'ha.t‘ Exceeds Fifty Million Dollars. %, | the most important buildings to | the city. 1 | estimate the fl]()fll‘!‘af.\' 1055. _ | from the Union station. a v - - - -~ United States Express offices and 1 | and Ohio Railroad were burned. 1s casualties | Y .1 . | wharves, where much inflamma- in No one will venture to STILL BEYOND CONTROL. WASHINGTON, Feb. 8—A telephone dispatch received from Baltimore at 3 o'clock says the| | Mount ~Vernon Telephone Ex- "change is burning and that the| | St. Paul Telephone Exchange has | | burned out. The Mount Vernon Ll-'_xrhmnge is about eight blocks | | The postoffice building has been 1, also the Courthouse. The r-street Theater has been blown up with dynamite and the burn | central offices of the Baltimore The | Falls, fire has reached Jones the stream, that separates | Baltimore from East Baltimore, and a high wind is blowing. The “ast Baltimore section consists of | small residential houses. When the fire reached Jones Falls the wind changed, driving| e south, and it reached the | | ble material is stored. There have| | been many changes in the course | of the fire since it started. It northerly direction, | (Midnight.)—The " fire | Baltimore street, after having de- { and warehouses in the wholesale [ first took a | swerved northeast until about 4 5 | o’clock and then struck due east. Continned on Page 2. Column &. - ING BUILDINGS IN THE MARYLAND METROPOLIS. VIEW OF THE WHOLESALE DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, AS SEEN FROM THE HARBOR. IN THIS SECTION A CONFLAGRATION HAS MADE RUINS OF MANY BLOCKS OF THE MOST IMPOS- =f Flames Rage Unchecked at Midnight, With a Total of Twenty Blocks Already Destroyed. blocks of the most modern and substantial buildings in Baltimore, involving a loss which cannot now be estimated, but which has cer- tainly already reached thirty to forty milliens of dollars. FIREMEN DRIVEN BACK. Ever since about '6 o'clock, when darkness came, the Fire De- partment, although aided by en- gines from Washington, Philadel- i phia, Wilmington and the sur- stroyed almost all the large stores | rounding suburbs, has been ut- terly powerless to make any ef- district around Hopkins place | fective resistance to the consuming and all the buildings on both sides | element, though for hours as many of Baltimore street from.Howard | as four hundred streams of water to Holliday, and from Charles and | were thrown into the flames. In- Baltimore to Charles and Lexing-| deed so terrific has been the heat ton streets, and on Lafayette|ever since the fire started and so street from Charles to Holliday, | dense and suffocating the volume BALTIMORE, Feb. 7.— which broke out at a few minutes before 11 o'clock this morning in the wholesale dry goods house of John T: Hurst & Co. has raged with unrestrained fury contin- ually ever since, and at midnight | it is still unchecked, but is ‘stead- | ily eating its way westward on including a total of about twenty | of flying sparks and burning cin- + ders that it was difficult for the firemen to stand long within fighting distance of the flames, while early in the afternoon sev- eral trucks and engines were hopelessly disabled by timbers. At 7 o'clock the situation was so desperate that Chief Horton decided that the only thing left to do was to dynamite buildings at threatened points and thus pre- vent, as far as possible, a further spread of the flames. In pursu- ance of this plan a number of buildings on South Charles street, between Gorman and Lombard, were blown up. - Subsequently the splendid structure of J. W. Put- back, notion dealer, at Charles and Fayette streets, was dyna- mited and then the Daily Record Continued on Page 2, Column 1, o of Dalny. Special Cable:Dispatch to The Call and New York Herald. right, 1904, by the New York Herald NAGASAKI, Japan, Feb. 7.—Much real ens thusiasm has been created by the mobilization of the Japanese second reserves, who are now marching through the streets to their quarters. The men turned out splendidly. The Russian Nlag is still flying over the consulate here, but the | German Consul will take over the Russian inter: | ests here during the war. Russian men-of-war and transports returned to Port Arthur after visiting a position to the north | Copy- Publishing Company. It is stated that the | ;I'okio and St. Petersburg Gobern: +* ments Recall Their Re- spective Ministers. ; ST. PETERSBURG, Feb. 7.] was already in the hands of Baron —Although the fear was general here yesterday that the presenta- tion of the Russian note to Japan | might be followed by an act on the part of the Japanese Govern- ment which would plunge the two countries into war, the startling action of Japan in severing diplo- matic relations with Russia be- fore the actual delivery of the Russian note came like*a bolt from a clear sky. It was believed that the receipt of the note might have unmasked an ultimatum, but that Japan should sever diplo- matic relations—a step little short of a declaration of war—was .al- most like a blow in the face under the present circumstances, and it is resented here accordingly. The authorities believe this ~action places Japan distinctly in the wrong before the world, and moreover such a “piece of impu- dence,” as it is denominated here, makes easy an appeal to the pa- triotism of the Russian people. The news at any moment that Japan had drawn the sword and that the first clash had occurred would not be surprising. EVENTS BEFORE RUPTURE. The events leading to Japan’s abrupt action have marched with great rapidity. The Russian note de Rosen, Russian Minister in Tokio, for delivery to Baron Ko- mura, the Japanese Foreign Min- ister, when, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, Kurino, the Japanese Minister here, presented himself at the Foreign Office and in- formed Foreign Minister Lams- dorff that his Government, in view of the delays in connection with the Russian answer and the futil- ity hitherto of the negotiations, considered it useless to continue diplomatic relations and would take such steps as it deemed proper for the protection of Japan's in- terests. In obedience to instruc- tions therefore he asked for his passports. Exactly what else passed at this interview is not known, except that Count Lams- dorff expressed surprise and re- gret at this hasty resolve of the Mikado’s Government. Kurino received his passports and, after consulting with Sir C. S. Scott, the British Embassador here, he returned to his legation, where the preparations for his de- parture had already commenced. RUSSIA ACTS PROMPTLY. Another version of the situa- tion at the time Kurino notified Count Lamsdorff of the course his Continued on Page 3, Columm 8y