(By United Press)
ATLANTA, 15 A.M. City of the city, The swiftness of the fire took Atlanta by surprise. Had even after it set under way, moving into streets of one of the city's best residence sections, the people were slow to appreciate the rapidity of its approach.
One reporter, telephoning his paper early in the afternoon, set it clear idea of its amazing speed when he said: "It is moving just as fast as I can walk; I can just keep ahead of it."
After the flames had crossed Auburn Avenue, in a negro residence section, a block or so northeast of where it started, and had eaten its way around Atlanta's circus grounds into the white residence section, the departure of families every kind of conveyance began. This moved slowly for a time, because people far ahead of the fair could not convince themselves that it would reach their homes over broad streets and open spaces of lawns and trees.
Gradually as the fire advanced, crumbling frame structures before it, the departure became an exodus with carts, automobiles, and trucks piled high with furniture and bedding.
In the meantime, stopping atop the downtown streets, the fire was raging in the streets, with the women and children in their shirt sleeves who had fought the fire on neighboring houses.  It would not reach their own homes, got away with only the clothes they wore, and many of them finally were forced to seek a safety zone to hunt for hours for their families who had preceded them out of the burning area. 