The most shocking catastrophe that has occurred in Chicago for a long time took place at the Fair grounds " short time since, and you have of course had reports of it by cable long before this. The cold-storage warehouse wherein were kept all the supplies for the many restaurants the Fair, and which contained an expen-ye plant of the finest ice-making ty, was burned totheground, and seventeen lives were lost in the flames. The building was a large one with a flat roof, above which tower rose to the height of nearly 200 feet. The fire broke out at mid-day on a beautiful day when more than a hundred thousand persons were in the grounds. Of course they tucked to the scene of the holocaust, and there they saw man after man jump to his death from the tower to the roof. Those who were lost firemen and guards who were engaged in fighting the flames. The smokestack of the plant ran up through the tower, and was not properly protected. The fire began in the tower, and when the men went to the top of it to work, their escape was at once cut off. Thea they were compelled to jump to the flat roof below, and the leap was fatal to most of them, though some lived to be burned in the ruins. There were narly inspiring examples of personal bravery and daring, and the firemen did all that could have been done tu save their companions and the property. The place was little more than a fire-trap any way, and had been the subject of criticism for this fact. The enterprise was a private one, and not under the control of the Fair, The coroner's inquest held the owners and the chief of the fire department to the grand jury, but no indictments were returned, Popular indignation wns intense, but it was difficult to place the biune, A popular subscription resulted in the raising ofafund of more than $100,000 for the relief of those families who suffered the uss of their support by the death of the THE SUNDAY OPENING QUESTION, There is an element of humour in the condition of the matter of Sunday opening or closing of the Fair. The last time Iliad occasion to write of this matter was when it was supposedly settled for all time, that the gates were to be kept open, The U.S, District Court had ordered an injunction that the Fair was to be shut, and the olticials had appealed to the Court of Appeals which lad reversed the decision, Ssu the Fair was open on Sunday as on other days, At an earlier date, a stockholder of the Fair, Mr. Charles Clinguan, had secured wu injunction froma lower Court, ordering the same thing, and this with the aid and sanction of the Exposition company, New after the gates were opened on Sunday, the attendance began tu get less and less, until the number of those paying on Sun: day was but some 4,000. Exch Sunday it decreased, until there was actually loss in keeping open on that day, Then the directors wanted to close, and they voted to do s0, and did for one Sunday, and then another, Then their own friend who had before beer: working for them, Mx. Chu; man himself, had them brought before the lower Court, and tried for contempt of Court. A number of the directors and officials were fined therefore, in sum ranging from $1,000 to $100, "They appealed, and given bonds, but are taking good care to keep the gates upon until the matter is settled. They have tried to get Clingman to withdraw from his efforts, and he will not do it, saying that they wanted on injunction to keep open, he got it for them, and now he is going to make them stick it. There is a good deal of amusement over it, though as a matter of fact it isa serious matter. The Fair is open every Sunday at considerable expense, and the attendance is but 10,0C0 or 15,000 on that, day." The conservative element sve in the whole affair n strong evidence of the hold which the American Sunday of rest quiet rather than more noisy forms of recreation, has on the people of the eountry. They wilmot attend the Expositiv on that day. The xppoal case will come trial in some two weeks,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.