THIRD WARD, MILWAUKEE

On Oct. 28, 1892, a wind-driven fire swept Milwaukee's Third Ward, devouring 16 square blocks and claiming five lives, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The blaze, which broke out at the Union Oil Company warehouse, left 2,000 people homeless, injured dozens and burned 410 buildings and 215 railroad freight cars.

The fire was prematurely declared under control. An explosion at a furniture sent flames shooting into the sky, extending the blaze.

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By The Associated Press.

MILWAUKEE, Wis., Oct. 29.  - In the great fire which swept over this city for ten hours last night forty-six acres of business and residence property, valued at $6,000,000, were burned, upward of 3,000 persons were made homeless, and four lives were lost. The dead are:

HENRY PEDDENBROCH, fireman, 552 Reed Street.

CHARLES STAHL, fireman, 550 Fourth Street.

Woman supposed to be Mrs. ANNIE M'DONALD, wife of a butcher.

Mrs. KALABAN died from the effects of shock.

Henry Peddenbroch and Charles Stahl, the firemen who were killed, were in the alley in the rear of East Water Street, where the walls of the Waisel & Vilter Machine Shops fell. When the crash came they were buried under the falling walls.

Several men were injured, including one member of the life-saving crew. Those injured, as far as could be learned, are:

RICHARD GARDNER, machinist, twenty-two years of age, injured about head and neck seriously.

J. H. ROESCH, patternmaker, sixty-seven years old, broken leg, and injured about the head; serious.

WILLIAM WITTE, finisher, about twenty-five years of age, injured about the head, and broken leg; serious.

HENRY BERGENTHEILL, distiller, aged forty-five years, injured about the head; serious.

At 3 o'clock this morning the fire was under control and practically out. The territory burned out is in the shape of a slightly obtuse triangle, with the apex at Blade & Co.'s on the river, one side Detroit Street, another Menominee Street to Milwaukee Street and then to the Milwaukee River, and the base Lake Michigan. Roughly, it is a space two-thirds of a mile wide and three-quarters of a mile long.

The most brilliant feature of the conflagration was the burning of the towering elevator and malt houses of the Hanson Malt Company. The elevator, after smoking from the upper windows, suddenly burst into flames, and from the lower windows to the top of the high ventilating house it was all ablaze. As a heavy blast of wind struck it the flames swept clear across the street, and in an instant the malt house proper, with its tall tower, broke out in spots of flickering fire. The elevator was so strongly built that it maintained its form long after the hottest period was past, and from the lower floors the burning grain poured into the street like the downpour of Niagara.

Then from the windows of the large malt house and from the caves came jets of bright green flame - gas from the heated malt. It was not long before the entire building was ablaze and the roar was tremendous. A large ventilating wheel in the upper story was burning and whirling away like a huge St. Catherine's wheel.

The scenes along Buffalo Street when the fire was just beginning to sweep that thoroughfare were exciting in the extreme. The residents came rushing from their houses to gaze upon the mountains of flame which were rolling down upon them, many of them not seeming to think that the fire would come near to them. They had in many instances scarcely time to change their minds on the subject. With the speed of a race horse the flames come on, and then the man who had thought his house was safe could catch a glimpse of it wrapped in flame as he fled around the nearest corner.

In one place an old man was seen desperately tugging at some furniture, trying to get it through the front door. A passing fireman hurried to his aid, and by the time he had reached the doorway the street behind him was filled with fire, and both men narrowly escaped through the rear door. In some places people were more fortunate, that is, they managed to have their household goods consumed upon the sidewalks or in the gutter instead of in their houses. Many were forced to drop their parcels and run for their lives.