The cotton in which the fire was started was piled up awaiting shipment. Adjoining it was a pyramid of whisky in barrels. A pay clerk first saw the blaze and screamed a warning. Almost as if an echo to his words the whisky exploded, casting jets of fire in all directions. With incredible rapidity the blazing spirits flooded down the piers, igniting all in its train. Horses and trucks were abandoned in the mad haste to escape.
In every direction screaming men and women scampered for their lives. board the ships the uproar was terrifying. Rushing up the sides of the pier sheds the flames burst their way outward. The great steamers lay at the mercy of the fire. Nearly every port in their flanks was opened to the onslaught of the flames, Their tarred rigging, their canvas awnings were tinder in the path. Their opened hatches yawned for burning brands and a following explosion blew these blazing toagments into the vessels' very depths.
The pier where the fire started is joined to its neighbour on the north by a covered driveway. It acted as a funnel for the fire. Ina flash the fire had traversed this outlet and was seizing upon the cargoes piled high therein. In a minute—not amore than that—the second pier was doomed.
"Suave the ships," was the ery.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.