First Reports of the Million Dollar Fire: 3 Editions of the Knoxville Tribune (April 8, 1897)

In the early morning hours of April 8, 1897, the press at the Knoxville Tribune's office located at 701-03 Gay Street was turning out that day's edition of the paper as a burning inferno erupted three blocks north inside the dollar a day Hotel Knox. Although the fire would burn for nearly a week as the fire department kept a steady stream of water on the smoldering ruins, the conflagration, which was soon christened the Million Dollar Fire, consumed most of the 300 and 400 blocks on the east side of Gay Street. 



Original edition of the Knoxville Tribune for April 8, 1897.

The Tribune's editor, William C. Tatom, quickly dispatched his reporters to the scene. Among the Tribune's staff was Matthew J. Nesseler, a young artist whose pencil sketches would document the harrowing escapes of guests of the Hotel Knox and frantic efforts of the firemen to fight the fire before the photographs of Kodakers such as James (Jim) Thompson could be developed. Within four hours the Tribune had hastily put together a 7:30 a.m. special edition with its first page devoted to the first reports of the fire and survivor accounts.  This edition sold out within minutes as thousands of onlookers snagged up the special prompting the Tatom to run another edition at noon filled with additional survivor accounts and reports of the heroism exhibited by Knoxville's firemen and a group of nine firemen from Chattanooga that had arrived via a lightning iron horse with a steam fire engine and additional hose to help assist the shorthanded Knoxville Fire Department.

Three editions of the Knoxville Tribune ran on April 8, 1897. The original edition (above), prepared before the Million Dollar Fire appears first, followed by the 7:30 a.m. & 12 p.m. special editions, which were both rushed to the press to sell to the thousands of onlookers who assembled on the west side of Gay Street to watch the raging inferno and the crumbling ruins of the fire that devoured most of the 300 and 400 blocks of Knoxville's central business district along the east side of Gay Street.

Note: the second special edition (12 p.m.) estimates losses at near two million dollars. The final estimate assessed by insurance agents placed the total damages of the fire at approximately $1.25 million (or $37,375,000 adjusted for inflation, 2016).




             

The Tribune's first special of the day, its second issue of the day, sold out within a few hours.

The Tribune's second special of the day, which, like the 7:30 a.m. edition, sold out within a few hours.