Ottawa, Ill. 3 Palo Alto, Cal. 1 Petersburg, Ind. 2 Pittsburg, Pa. 1 Plainwell, Mich. 2 Quincy, Ill. 2 Racine, Wis. 3 Rensselaer, Ind. 1 Rock Island, Ill. 1 Savannah, Ill. 1 St. Louis, Mo. 3 St. Mary's, Ind. 1 Thief River Falls, Minn. 1 Tolono, Ill. 2 Washington Heights, Ill. 3 Watertown, Wis. 2 Waukegan, Ill. 3 West Grossdale, Ill. 4 West Superior, Wis. 2 Wheaton, Ill. 3 Winnetka, Ill. 8 Woodford, O. 1 Woodstock, Ill. 2 Zanesville, O. 3 ---- Total 570 This remarkable table shows that victims of the fire were from thirteen states and eighty-six cities and towns. CHAPTER XXVI. THE STORY OF THE BURNING OF BALTIMORE. All the world was startled on Sunday, February 7, 1904, just 39 days after the Iroquois theater horror, by another sickening visitation of the fire fiend. This time the devouring element fell upon the city of Baltimore and all but effaced it from the map. Millions upon millions in property were swept away, old established firms annihilated and miles of streets occupied by business houses laid waste. Fortunately this disaster was accompanied by no loss of life. Twenty-seven hours elapsed before the conflagration was checked. Fire fighters hurried to the scene from a number of near by cities and aided the local fire department in subduing the flames. Strangely enough it was a coal yard that broke the onward sweep of the sea of fire and enabled the firemen to bring the fire under control. Even then it burned for days, feeding on the debris and wreckage that marked its early progress. The greatest danger past troops and police relieved the firemen who sought rest exhausted and maddened by the terrible ordeal through which they had passed. History affords no parallel of the conditions in fire-swept Baltimore on the following Tuesday when its people awoke to the mighty task of reconstruction looming up before them. After having suffered a loss estimated at $125,000,000 a cry of rejoicing went up among them because of the absence of casualties. Not a life was lost in the avalanche of flame and only one person was seriously injured--Jacob Inglefritz, a volunteer fireman from York, Pa. While the hospitals were full to overflowing the injuries sustained were of a minor nature. A strange comparison with the Iroquois theater fire of a month before! In that instance 600 met death and a host were seriously injured in a fire of fifteen minutes' duration confined to one building that suffered insignificant damage. Here in a fire that swept for days over the business heart of a great city not a life was lost. Such is the strange operation of providence.