illjf Jgmitbficlb XrnUi). mice one dollar per tear. "TRUE TO OURSELVES, OUR COUNTRY AND OUR GOD.' single copies five cents VOL. 22. SMITHFIELD, N. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1904. NO. 49. GREAT FIRE IN BALTIMORE. ; Loss Over a Hundred Million ! I Seventy-five Business BlocksSwept | Away?140 Acres of Buildings Now a /Moulding Heap of Ruin?Fire Raged Thirty Hours. . 1 One of the most disastrous ' tires that ever visited this couu- ' try or any other country in mod ern times broke out in the heart ! of the city of Baltimore Sunday \ morning at about 11 o'clock and raged continuously until Mon- ( day evening. All efforts to check 1 the flames were without avail. The Baltimore firemen with the assistance.of firemen from Wash ington, Philadelphia, New York and other near-by cities, worked valiantly to stop the fire, but their efforts were almost futile and the tire stopped only when it reached Jones Falls creek and the water front. The lire broke out in the whole sale dry goods house of John E. HurAt & Co. Almost the entire wholesale district was destroyed. Ab of the morning newspaper buildings fell a prey to the flames and many of the handsomest buildings of the city were totally destroyed. The following press dispatches tell the story of the fire: Baltimore, Md., Febuary 7.? Midnight.?The most disastrous fire since the great conflagration which wiped out Chicago, has been raging here for the past twelve hours and is still burning fiercely. More than a hundred business houses have gone up in flames and the loss will foot up not less than forty, and may reach fifty millions, accordiug to estimates tonight. The llames, which started be fore noon, in the heart of the bus- j iness district, the store of .John E. Hurst H Co., on Hopkins Place, soon got beyond the con trol of the Baltimore fire depart ment, and Philadelphia, Wash-1 Ington, Wilmington and other towns were called on for tire as sistance, which was promptly forthcoming. A high wind was blowing and despite all the ef forts of the firefighters, the sparks from t he original fire set tire to the surrouuding buildings so rapidly that it looked as though they were being set on tire purposely. Block after block crumbled away as though they were houses of cards. Time and again the fire-fighters, contesting desper ately every inch of ground, were driven back and it was seen that the entire wholesale section was | doomed. The city has been placed under martial law and dynamite is be ing used to level whole rows of buildings in the fire's path. At midnight the flames have laid waste the territory bounded by Lexington, Lombard, Light, St. Paul and Howard Streets. The Equitable building, in which is the Western Union oper ating rooms, has been ordered dynamited, and its neighbors which seem doomed, are the court house, at Calvert and Fay ette Streets, dosting $.'1,000,000; the Calvert building, Fayette and St. Paul Streets, costing $1, 250,000; the Contiential Trust building, at Baltimore and Cal vert Streets, valued at $1,125,-1 000; the general offices of the j Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at j Calvert and Baltimore Streets, 1 value, $1,125,000; the City Hall i and Postoffice and the Monu ment which gives Baltimore its name. All the newspaper offices have been burned out. The Herald j and News are in ruins, the Sun has trasferr<$! its staff to W ash ington. All the retail dry goods j district is in flames. All the electric lights have gone ' out and the streets are filled with i a terror-stricken army. All is!1 lighted by a red glare punctuated I by explosions Overhead for tniles is a canopy of sparks. 1 Many of them are as large as I stones. Everywhere they leave other fires behind. At midnight the fire had con- 1 00 buildings. BEGUN ITS ItESURKECTION. Baltimore, Md., Feb. 9.?Amid ruins still hot and smoking, Bal timore has begun its resurrec tion. With the dawn of a clear winter day, whyse brightness was in itself an inspiration, the apathy of yesterday gave way to energy, and from the Governor of the State to the least private citizen the people of this distressed citv aroused themselves to meet the appalling conditions that con front them. All things considered, the pub lic stocktaking that engrossed the business world of Baltimore today was satisfactory. Put this does not mean that the great tire was a lesser calamity than has been pictured in these dis patches. The bold fact is that 140 acres of business buildings, representing property to the ap proximate value of $125,000, 000, were destroyed within the journey of a clock's hand. History is marked by few calamities so vast and so costly in actual values, but with the passing of the first great shock and prostration, the brighter side is coming uppermost, and a realization of what Baltimore es- i caped is dawning. Had not that Providential shift of wind occur red Sunday night, there would have been another story, a story of death and of thousands who tonight sleep safely in their homes suffering for shelter. Such a sequel would have been written, but for the magnificent last st and of liallant firemen and volunteers i at the little sewer-like stream of Jones Falls. A great cloud was lifted this afternoon when it wasdiscovered that practically all of the vaults j and strong rooms and safes of the financial concerns, whose! buildings were destroyed, are un hurt. A tremendous loss in se curities had been anticipated here, and when vault after vault yielded up its treasures unharm-1 ed, tiie joy of the guardians was boundless. 1' rom one trust company's safes alone papers to theamount of more thai, $20,000,000 were recovered. The news cheer d the whole city and encouraged imme diate and thorough investiga tion. Merchants and their as sistants, smoke-soiled find b< I grimed and hollow-eyed from] anxiety and loss of sleep, worked ' like laborers in thesmokingruins to uncover their safes, and in nearly every instance they were rewarded by intact contents. Wreck at Benson. There was a freight wreck at Benson last night about 10 o clock caused from a broken j axle which piled the cars on the track and was not cleared until1 about day this morning. The through train north was delayed and did not pass Wilson until about six o'clock this morning. I W ilson Times 10th. Nearly Forfeits His Life. A runaway almost ending fa tally, started a horrible ulcer on the leg of J B. Orner, Franklin -rove, III. For four years it de led all doctors and all remedies But Bucklen's Arnica Halve had no trouble to cure him. Equally ! good for Bums, Bruises, Skin Eruptions and Files. 25c. at Hood Bros'. Drug Store. If you suffer with* any Liver, i , nelPr B,adder Trouble take July Weed. It always cures. Hood's Drug Store. THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. First Guns Fired Last Monday. ' The Plucky Japanese Made an At tack on Port Arthurand Disabled 1 i Three Russian War Vessels- , The much talked of war in the i Far Fast has begun. All the re- ] sources of diplomacy were ex hausted without a peaceful set- i tlement. The war began Monday I 1 with the bombarding of Fort Arthur by the Japanese. The story of the conflict is told | in the following press dispatches: Che Foo, Feb. 9.?The Japa nese fleet attacked Fort Arthur at midnight on Monday. Two Russian battleships and one Rus sian cruiser were aisabled by tor pedoes. The battle is being con tinued this morning at a-rangeof three miles. There has been no ! further damaga. The steamer Columbia has ar-j rived from Port Arthur with ad- i ditional news of the attack by the Japanese fleet upon the Rus sian fleet in the roads outside of the harbor of Port Arthur. attack on i'ort arthur. St. Petersburg, Feb. 10, 1 a. m. ?The following bulletin has just been issued in the form of a tele gram from Viceroy Alexieff's chief of staff, dated February 9: By order of the viceroy 1 beg to report that this day at about 11 o'clock in the morning, a Jap anese squadron, consisting of about fifteen battleships and crui sers, approached Port Arthur and opened fire. The enemy was received with a cannonade from the shore batteries and the guns of our squadron, which also par ticipated in the engagement. At about midday the Japanese squadron ceased its fire and left, proceding south. Our losses in the fleet were two officers wounded, nine men killed, a,,A -rty-one men wounded. On the stiore batteries one man was killed and three wounded. The battlesDip Boltava and thecrui- j ser Novik each had a hole knock ed in her side below the water line. The forts were slightly i damaged. Maj. Gen. Flug. i Admiral Alexieff's official re port of the attack by the Japa nese is as follows: : 1 most respectfully inform your majesty that at or about mid night of h ebruary 8 9 Japanese |i PORT ARTHUR. RUSSIA'S GREAT STRONGHOLD IN CHINA. It was at Port Arthur that the Japanse struck the first blow to Russia and beached three of her ships in the attack last Mon day night. It is in the southern part of Manchuria, and by right should belong to Japan. In the Chino-Japanese war in 1894-95 Japan captured this stronghold from the Chinese, but llugsia stepped in and compelled her to evacuate, because Russia wanted it herself. It is strongly fortified. torpedo boats made a sudden at-1 tack by means of mines upon thei Russian squadron in the outer roads of the fortress of fort Ar thur, in which the battleships Retvizan and Cesarevitch and the cruiser I'allada were damaged. An inspection is being made to ascertain the character of the dumage. Details are following for your majesty. The action of the Japanese in attacking the Russian fleet with out a declaration of war is de nounced as an outrage by the Russians generally and the re sult, instead of discouraging them, seems to have been to fur nish the spark necessary to fire Russian patriotism. From the larger centers throughout Ku ropead Russia comes information that the country is already aroused by the J apanese action i n breaking off the negotiations. The Czar and his ministers, who jad been informed immediately af the receipt of Viceroy Alexieff's telegram, accepted the gage and prepared to face the reality of war. The Czar's manifesto -da daring a state of war to exist is ?x pec ted to be issued tomorrow morning at the latest. Feverish anxiety reigned at all the minis i tries and war preparations were pushed in all directions. The Russian Red Cross Society already has sent out 2,000 beds to the Far Fast, and Sisters of Mercv are leaving. "CZAR OF THE EAST." Aloxeieff, vice admiral of Russia'* navy, is the czar's right hand man in i 1 VICEROY ALEXEIEFF. the far east. In Manchuria and Si beria he is in command of the army and navy and at tho head of civil affairs. The latest return-: of Russian warships in t he Far Fast total ninety-four, including eight bat tleships, sixteen cruisers, seven zunboats and fifty-six torpedo boat destroyers and torpedo boats. I hree more battleships and the nine torpedo boats are to go to the Far East in the spring. The Russian battleship Ketvi zan was built by the Cramps at Philadelphia. She is of 12,700 tons di placement, has 1(5,000 indicated horse-power, and has a meed of eighteen knots per hour, iier armor is of Krupp steel from our to ten inches in thickness ind her armament consists of our 12-inch guns, twelve (!-inch ?uns, twenty .'1-inch guns and wenty-six smaller rapid-fire ?uus. The Cesarevitch is a battleship if 13,110 tons, built in France In armor, armament and speed ihe about equals the Itetvizau. The Pallada is a cruiser of 5,030 tons. She was built in Jermanv and was completed in L902. Her armament consists >f Bix 6-inch fjuns, twenty 3-inch runs, and eight 1-4-inch guns, ler speed is estimated at twenty inots. ALL, ENGLAND IS ELATED. London, Feb. 9.?All England s glad that first blood in the mighty struggle between Russia and Japan ban been drawn by her allies. U ith the feeling of elation comes one of amazement at the splendid audacity of t he Japanese sailors. That Japan would at tempt against Russia the tactics which she so successfully employ ed against China at Wei-HaiWei was not imagined. That these tactics should have proven sue cessful to the extent ol disabling two of the first battleships in the Russian navy with the attacking llotilla, getting away practically unscathed is regarded by experts as still more amazing, 'it is held >.v British naval and military men that the action at Port Ar thur establishes Japan's superi 9ri}y Hpu, gives her a free hand in the landing of her troops in orea and .Manchuria and im measurably increases herchances of winning the fight. London, I eb. 10.?A special dispatch from Tokio today says the Japanese havecaptured three Russian transports having on board about 2,000 troops. London, Feb. 10.?Baron Hay ashi, the Japanese minister here, has received official confirmation from Tokio of the destruction at Chemulpo of the Russian first class cruiser Variag, and the third-class cruiser Jvorielz. A. summary of the losses sustain ed by Russia in the first twenty four hours' of the war with Ja pan show that ten Russian warships were placed out of ac tion in one way or another, and that the Japanese did not lose a ship. The losses were as follows: Battleship Betvizan, torpedoed and beached at 1'ort Arthur. Battleship Czarevitch, torpe doed and beached at Port Ar thur. Battleship Poltava, hole below water line at Port Arthur. Armored cruiser Boyarin, dis abled by Japanese fire, at Port Arthur. Cruiser Pollada, torpedoed at Port Arthur aud beached. . Cruiser Novik, hole below water line, at Port Arthur. Cruiser Askol(j,hole below water ! line, at Burt Arthur. ( ruiser Diana, hold below water | line, at Port Arthur. First-class armored cruiser Vra riag, destroyed at Chemulpo, Korea. Torpedo gun vessel Korielz, de stroyed at Cheiuulco. | b hi dob blown li' 30 killed. London, Feb. 11?The Shan ghai correspondent of the Daily Mail says an important bridge on the Manchuriau railroad has been blown up anfi thirty men have been killed. seoul occupied, London, Feb. 11.?Special dis patches from Tokio this niorn ! iug announce the arrival of Jap ; anese troops at Seoul, the Kor ean capital, but beyoud this the j dispatches published in the news papers here this morning add practically nothing to the know ledge of the actual situation. Death In Selma Selma, N. C., February 9.?Mrs. Hiram J. Howell died at her home in this place about seven o'clock last night. She had been in poor health for quite a long while, but was able to be up and do the most of her work. She leaves a husband and one child, a boy about ten years of age. He husband was engineer at Selrna Oil Mills. She was buried in the cemetery here. Escaped an Awful Fate. Mr. II. Haggins, of Melbourne, Ha., writes, "My doctor told me 1 had Consumption and nothing could be done for me. I was giv en up to die. The offer of a free trial bottle of Dr. King's New Discovery for Consumption, in duced me to try it. Results were startliug. I am now on the road to recovery and owe all to Dr. King's New Discovery. It surely saved my life." This great cure is guaranteed for all throat and lung diseases by Hood Bros., Druggists. Price 50c and |1 00. Trial bottles free.