IN
CHICiGO ANDi Tie WSo,
HISTORY AND INCIDENTS,
Losses and Suferins, Benevolence of the Nations, &c., &c.
BY A CHICAGO CLERGYMAN.
TO WvHICH IS APPENDED A RECORD OF THE G2.EYt'' C0Oh'TLAGRATIO.N
OF THE PAST.
ILLUSTRATED WITH MAP AND SCENES.
PUBLISHED sDY
J. W. GOODSPEED, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, & New Orleans.
H. S. GOODSPEED & CO., 37 Park Row, New York.
B. R. STURGES, 81 Washington St., Boston.
SCHUYLER SMITH, London and Prescott, Ontario.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18t1,
1Y H. S. GOODSPEED,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Lt Washington.
PREIM OF
WYNKOOP & HALLENBECK,
113 FuLTO     STBgiT,.sNr YROS.




" Hear the loud alarum bellsBrazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells I
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire
And a resolute endeavor,
Now-now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells,
What a tale their terror tells
Of despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar,
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!"








HISTORY
OF TUE
GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.
AMoNG the saddest events or history will rank the conflagration which began in Chicago on the night of October 7th, 1871,
was renewed on the night of the 8th, and raged with unchecked
violence, consuming more than one-half of the area of the city,
destroying several hundred millions of property, occasioning
large loss of life, and making homeless nearly one hundred
thousand persons.
The whole business portion of the South and North sides of
the city were laid in ruins, and nothing resisted the appalling
fury of the wasting element. The engines were totally helpless, and many of them scarcely escaped burning; fire-proofs
were consumed as in a moment thle flames lapped over whole
blocks and across the river; the miracle of Mount Carmel was
reproduced. When everything was licked up and devoured by
the fire-fiend, people were caught in their dwellings and burred,
or were overtaken on the streets and destroyed; and only when
the city was consumed in the track of the hurricane did the
elemental war cease, and the assaulting foe rest from his deadly
work. For days the fire smouldered, and night after night the
heavens glowed like the canopy of hell, and threatened univer



8                     ISTORY OF THE
sal ruin.  But, thanks to a merciful Providence, the track of
desolation covered not the whole of the great city, and a portion
was left to furnish shelter for the homeless, and as a nucleus for
rebuilding the Metropolis of the North-west.
Here we may briefly notice the origin and growth of Chicago,
to enable the reader to form some idea of the nature and mag(nitude of the calamity which has befallen a lately prosperous community. Such a sketch may also serve to exhibit the causes of
the almost world-wide and unexampled sympathy manifested
toward her suffering people.  Tile original prairie bordering
Lake Michigan was intersected by a lagoon or bayou extending
half a mile west, and then forking north and south for a long
distance.  This gave room for a harbor, and was the suggestion
of a city. Here, at the shore and near the mouth of the river, in
1804 a fort was built to cover a trading post with Indians and
the incoming emigrants. It was rebuilt in 1816, and abandoned
in 1837, when the entire population was 4,470.  In twenty
years the city had multiplied its numbers so that in 1857 there
were gathered on this level plain 130,000 persons. In 1871
there were, by census returns, carefully made out, 334,000 people
in Chicago. When was there such a growth in so short a time,
and a progress so real and substantial   Evidently Nature
designed the location to be the site of a great city, and a gathering-place of the nations.  Here is one of the best harbors, and
thirty miles of wharves and docks; here centre several thousand
miles of railways; here are accommodations for receiving and
shipping grain unsurpassed in the world; here is the natural
commercial depot of the immense mineral resources of the vast
northwestern regions, and the fruit-market is unequalled anywhere. To many all this seems exaggeration. But hear the
words of IHon. Benjamin F. Wade:" Again I say to you that the importance of this location
transcends what most now think of it. It will never have but




GREAT FIrE IN CHICAGO.               9
two rivals. San Francisco, on the Pacific, may contest the
palm of greatness with it, and New York has got to run fast
to get out of its way. You may deem that an extravagant
expression, but recollect that New York had to struggle for
one hundred and fifty years before she had the population and
wealth Chicago has to-day.  No people of this country have
more of intelligence, more of enterprise, more of the American
Yankee go-aheadativeness than the people of Chicago. I say
again, that there are but two cities on thisecontinent that can
compete with it for the palm of greatness. Thirty-two years
ago it had a few rude buildings, and I have been amazed to-day,
as I passed through and viewed the wonderful progress that has
been made; I am sure I have had no conception of the importance of this point, and, what is still more important, of the
vastness and richness of the great country that lies west, and
which is bound to contribute in the future so much to build up
the second; if not the first city on this continent." Such was the
language of the great statesman of Ohio in 1S66. Five years
succeeding this, and the horrible conflagration finds the city
almost transformed, so that the orator would scarcely have recognized many of the principal localities in the heart of the city,
where magnificent edifices had risen upon the sites of former
buildings, or sprung up on vacant land. Potter Palmer, a
merchant prince, had expended immense sums upon buildings
for stores and hotels which hardly had any rivals in expensiveness and beauty in the old world. He had also commenced a
new hotel, which was to have cost upwards of a million dollars,
for which he had arranged in Europe at a low rate of interest.
The Pacific Hotel was also about completed by a company having
a capital of one million. In giving their grounds of confidence
in entering upon their gigantic enterprise, they said, there are
426 trains moving daily each way on our railways, and some of
our solid statistics are as follows:



10                   HISTORY OF THE
Wheat received, bushels.......................  17,394,3 09
Corn l l     " ".......................  20,189.775
Corn    ".20,189,775
Total all grain received, bushels................  61,315,593
Flour maniuhlctured, bbls............           443,976
Grain siipments (equal to), bushels.............  54,745,903
High-wi nes nmanufactured, gallons.            7,063,34
Iogs packed......                                900,000
" received................................  1,693,158
" re~~c~~ceivedil.  ~~~~~1,693,158
Cattle  received..............................  532,964
Lumber received, feet...................... 1,019,000,000
Value of manufiaetures....................  $88,848,120
Incomes (estimated)...........................  $74,000,000
Internal Revenue collected.....................  $7,94,000
Clearing House returns.....................  $10,676,036
N ational Banks..............................        17
Private  Banks...............................        10
National Banks' capital.......................  $6,800,000
undivided surplus..............  $,715,000
Total bank capital................           $12,250,000
Sales of Real Estate (transfers).................  8,418
Value of Real Estate, total.....................  $37,55,45
Chicago Post-Office, letters and papers delivered..  22,928,343
Righit upon the heels of these grand enterprises followed others
of equal extent and boldness, projected and sustained by men of
brains and energy, integrity and courage, all of which exhibited
the importance of this harbor and centre of commerce, and serve
to help us to realize what devastation the enemy has wrought in
sweepitng all these monuments level with the ground. Not
that all Clicago's buildings are down, but the central portion of
business blocks is entirely gone, and what remains constitutes
but a splecien of the splendor and glory reduced to ashes.
Somle 3,000 acres are wasted by fire, and so utterly ruined that




GREAT FIRE I CHICAGO.                 11
almost nothing but d6bris remains. The city and county had
built and just entered two wings, each owning one, to the court
house in a great square, and these stand partly erect, with the
old buildinri  in the middlc, gloomy and desolate in their destruction. Tlhe lionore block, probably as beautiful a structure as
can be found for business purposes on the globe, built of Athens
stone higllly wrought, having six stories with mansard roofs
extending 190 feet on Dearborn street, and 114 on Adams, was
in the llcat of the battle and is a heap of dust. Farwell Iall,
one of the great lhalls for concerts and lectures, and the seat of
operations for tlhe Young ]Men's Christian Association, the home
of the Daily Prayer Meeting, is ashes and rubbish. And so tile
Board of Trade building perished, along with factories, distilleries,
breweries, bridges, clurches, colleges, theatres, depots, waterworks, warehouses, and private dwellings, all involved in one total
wreck. VWen a glance is thus taken at the ruin accomplished, one
can be prepared in some measure to estimate tlhe appalling nature
of this calamity. But the effect becomes greatly intensified when
it is remembered that many lost their lives in the flames, and
tens of thousands lost all-homes, property, and hopes of success,
and were driven out destitute, to become objects of charity. A
particular account of the origin and progress of the fire, with
reminiscences and actual incidents, will give tlie reader a better
idea of tlhe horrors and marvels of wllat must be pronounced
one of the memorable catastrophes of Time.
It was a period of peculiar drought in tlhe whole western
country, and the dryness of the atmosphere was so remarkable
that an intelligent physician, observing that his plants became
desiccated in a few hours after the most profuse watering from
the hydrant, trembled all day Sunday lest a spark of fire should
drop near his dwelling. There was a strange lack of moisture
in the air, whlich condition did not clange until Monday afternoon. On Saturday evening, October 7, about 11 o'clock, a




12                   HISTORY OF TIE
fire caught in a planing mill, west of the river, and within a
block of it, in the neighborhood of a wooden district fall of
fiame houses, lumber and coal-yards, and every kind of combustible material. Some contend that it originated in a beer
saloon, and thence was communicated to the planing-mill.
In the almost inflammable state of the atmosphere, and under
the propulsion of a strong wind, the tinder-boxes on every side
ignited, and ruin rioted for hours over a space of twenty acres,
and destroyed a million dollars worth of property. Grand and
awful as this conflagration seemed to the thronging thousands,
who crowded every approach and standpoint where a view could
be obtained, it paled and faded away in comparison with that
of the following night; but, as the event proved, this first fire
saved the remainder of the west division of the city, for when
the raging element came leaping and roaring onward it found
nothing to burn, and then paused, and was stayed, while it
rushed across the river, and satiated itself upon the noblest and
best portion of the town, east and north.
This renewal of the fire, or, as it really was an independent
conflagration, began at 9 on Sunday night in a barn, where an
old woman was milking by the light of a kerosene lamp, which
was thrown over and emptied upon the combustible stuff that
lay around.
The starting-point was southwest of that of Saturday night.
The wind was blowing a gale from the southwest, and hurled the
blazing brands and showers of glittering sparks aloft and
plunged them down upon the dry masses beyond. There was a
hope that the river running north and south would interpose a
barrier to the foe.
The fire still lapped along the edge of the river, and still, as in
a savage hate of man, over whom it had for once triumphed,
flung its sparks and brands further, further into the water, trying
to plant some messenger of destruction where it longed to be it



GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               18
self. By the glare of its burning the night became a mockery of
day in its abnormal, shifting light. Was there no foothold on
which it could cross? This was the queion asked by the fire.
" The bridges I the bridges 1 " shouted the multitude, and one by
one their ponderous ligneous lengths were swung around and left
heading up and down the stream. At length the fire answered
its question by flinging a slower of burning brands upon the
Adams street bridge, and the wind, the friend of the fire, fanned
them until the bridge was all aflame. Now it had a shorter distance to leap, and witl a savage bound the fire was in the heart
of the city-in its fat, rich heart, where active wealth had piled
its palaces of commerce and housed its treasures in with iron and
stone, and thought it was free from the sweep of flood or flame.
Eastward the fire journeyed with its fevered stride, eating like a
withering canker through the vitals of the city. It was not long
before the Michigan Southern depot had risen up in smoke
and blaze and fell in ruins, scattering a deeper volume of destruction around than ever before. Now northward the hell angel
strode to the emporium of rich produce it was longing for. Now
it hung around a bank, burst open its doors, shivered its windows,
scorched throughl its roof and toiled and burned its fiercest till
the great safe-ah, the safe! had succumbed to its blasting, melting breath. The fire-bells all over the city were ringing continually-a terrible tocsin, with the one word fire in its scorching
throat. The people had but to wake to know what was the matter. The danger seemed everywhere. Out in the street, hall
clad, dragging wlat could be snatched in the hurry of flight, the
strong man, the half-ftaitintg women, the children with terror
pictured in their wvide-open eyes, all hurrying, with " nowhere to
go."' All the fire foirce in thle city was combating the flames as
fearlessly as brave mtel with their hearths and homes at stake
well might. Without regard to whoml it reached the parting fire
licked and consumed lhotels and stores. Now the Court House,




14                    IISTORY OF THE
now the Slerman lousc, anon tlie Western Union Telegraph
Compally's office, thien tile Trenont HIouse, next the Chamber of
Comlmerce, far-nllled Farwell IIall-whatever lay in its fated
patl —until it flung itself upon tle great Union depot with its
spread of buildings, and lhad sacked with its crenmating arms tlle
cbrn-stored grain elevators by tlhe lake and river side. Again it
met tlhe waters, and again it leaped them, landing on the northl side
of thle town. Iere it llad notlhing to stay its steps, Wooden
holses were but fuel in its way, and greedily it enveloped and
devotured them. Onlard for a mlile it stretched as tle day broke,
fear before and ruin and ashes belind. Animals burst fortl from
keepilg and rushed blind among the flames, adding to tlle terror
of the scene as they gave forth tlieir cries of dread. The homneless began to multiply ill number tlhrough the blackened light of
morning that paled but did not subdue the flames. A horrid
thouglht flashed to the mind of all. " The water-works are in
danger if the wind lives."
lUp to Chicago avenue tlle fire raged unabated in its fury.
Tlhe rumnor that lhuman beings were perishing in the flames becalme a certainty, and what mlade tlle agony deeper was tlhat none
could tell how many. Can it ever be told     Eastward from
Chicago avenue, withl tle whole portion of tle city to tlhe south,
one seethingl, reeking sea of fire, it went and suddenly tlhe water
snpl)ly t;filed. It was said tlhat tle water works were burnted.
It was denied, reaflirmed, and again denied. Tlie men in lpowuer,
witl tlie Mayor at their head, were acting witl tlhe greatest
energy. To the other cities of tlhe West went forth a cry for tiremen, and one and all tlhe cities responded. To the world w\ent
out the simple tragic delmand, whicll, in its brevity and pitli:?lone
tells its lharrowing story:-' Send us food for the suffering. Oar
city is in ashes."  loiuses were blown down that the fire mlight
be arrested, but it seized on tlle d6bris and burned that too.
Would the wilting wind never die? It did not fall, it. only




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              15
changed, as if it had exhausted all the demons whence it came,
and then had called upon the North to send out its vandal breeze.
And yet it was salvation to the West and South Divisions, so
much of which survived, that the wind blew from the same
quarter Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and continually until the fire
had burned itself out. On Monday night there was a gentle
rain, which seemed to many a God-send, and yet added to the
forlorn condition of thousands who crowded out to the prairies
and the groves north and west of the fire. IIere many died from
terror and exposure, and it is estimated that five hundred births
occurred during these two days and nights. Some were confined in the streets and vehicles, and others found a temporary
shelter until more permanent means were devised for their comfort.
The greater part of the fire in the North Division occurred
after daylight on Monday, and the spectacle presented in that
quarter was such as would be presented by a community fleeing
before an invading army. Every vehicle that could be got was
hurrying from the burning district loaded with people and their
goods. Light buggies, barouches, carts, and express-wagons
were mingled indiscriminately, and laden with an indescribable
variety of articles. Others were hurrying to the scene from
curiosity, or to complete the work of rescuing friends and property before the monster could destroy them.
People crowded the walks, leading children or pet dogs, carrying plants in pots, iron-kettles not worth ten cents, or sonme
valueless article seized in the excitement; many looked doleftlly
upon the lurid clouds, still far away, and wondered whethcr
they and their homes were in danger; and others looked as
though they had spent the night in a coal-pit or a fiery furnace.
There was such " hurrying to and fro " as the world seldom see,
with universal agony and distress.
Families became separated and were looking for one another,




16                   HISTORY OF THE
and often in vain was the search-they would meet only at the
great Judgment Day, which seemed to some almost at hand.
That the reader may obtain a clear idea of the course and
progress of the fire from hour to hour, street to street, and block
to block, we begin here a detailed account of this mighty conflagration, from the moment of its inception to its close.
Elsewhere the origin of the fire on DeKoven street is given.
The wind was driving the flames directly toward the scene of
desolation on the previous night, and there it was believed the
present destruction would end. Such expectations were soon dispelled, however, the rapidly widening track of desolation passing
considerably to the westward of the waste of Saturday night.
On it sped until Van Buren street was reached, and then for the
first time were grave apprehensions entertained that the fire had
passed the bounds of control. The first foothold obtained by
the destroying angel in the South Division was in the tar
works adjacent to the gas works, just south of Adams street,
and nearly opposite the Armory. Almost instantaneously the
structure was one livid sheet of flame, emitting a dense volume
of thick black smoke. that curtained this portion of the city
as with the pall of doom. Faster than a man could walk, the
flames leaped from house to house until Fifth avenue (Wells
street) was reached. From the gas works to the point it had now
reached, nearly the entire space was filled with small wooden
structures, and their demolition was the work of but a few
minutes. The first great danger apprehended from the ignition
of the tar was of its communication to the gas works, and in less
than ten minutes the entire establishment was on fire, the
immense gasometer being completely surrounded by a wall of
flame. The grand metre was apparently filled to about half its
capacity. Its destruction did not occur until some three hours
later.
Apparently but a few minutes subsequent to the ignition of




GREAT FIrE IN CHICAGO.               17
the gas works the wooden buildings south of the armory were
found to be on fire, forming the apex of another widening track
of desolation, and very soon joining with the other, the two
uniting like twin demons of destruction, the armory helping to
glut their fiendish cravings.
The armory had lately been raised to grade, beside undergoing a general renovation, but was unoccupied. As a historical
building, so long identified with the growth of Chicago; where
justice was so often judiciously dispensed, and so often burlesqued or dispensed with altogether, out, after all, as having
borne an important part in the history of the city, leaving a
marked impress on the side of good order in the years that are
gone, it deserves more than a passing notice. Our limits, however, will not permit such individual mention.
It might be of interest here to note the peculiarities of the
wind-currents, and their effects, which were such as could only
have been produced by such a conflagration as is being described.
During all this time, as during the entire continuance of the fire,
the wind was blowing a gale from a south-westerly direction;
and above the tops of the buildings its course, from midnight
until four or five o'clock, varied but little, not veering more than
one or two points of the compass. To the observer on the street,
however, traversing the main thoroughfares and the alleys, the
wind would seem to come from every direction. This is easily
explained. New centres of intense heat were being continually
formed, and the sudden rarification of the air in the different
localities, and its consequent displacement, caused continually
artificial currents which swept around the corners and through
the alleys, in every direction, often with the fury of a tornado.
This will account partly for the rapid widening of the tracks
of devastation from their apex to the lake, as well as the phenomenon of the fire-to use a nautical phrase-"eating into the
wind." The twin rioters of flame and wind, with their appetite




18                    HISTORY OF THE
sharpened instead of gorged by the blast among the meaner
buildings of the West Division and the river side, now fell in
dire carnival upon the noble edifices of La Salle street. The
Grand Pacific Hotel, upon which the roof had but just been
placed, and which, like the still-born child, was created only
for the grave, was among the first of the better class of structures assaulted by the fire. Angered at its imposing frollt, and
scorning the implied durability of its superb dimensions, the
flames stormed relentlessly in, above, and around it, until,
assured that it was at their absolute mercy, they left it tottering
to the earth, and crawled luridly along the street in search of
further prey. It was now that the waves of fire began to take
upon themselves the mightiest of proportions.
How it was that, while even a hundred buildings mighit be
blazing, others, far in advance of the track of the storm, could
not be protected, has not been understood by those who were not
despairingly following the course of destruction. It was spartly
on account of the artificial currents already mentione(d, and because the huge tongues of flame actually stretched thlelselves
out upon the pinions of the wind for acres. Sheets of fire would
reach over entire blocks, wrapping in every building inclosed
by the four streets bounding them, and scarcely allowillg the
dwellers in the houses time to dash away unscorched. Hardly
twenty minutes had elapsed from the burning of the Pacific
Hotel before the fire had cut its hot swath thronugh every one
of the magnificent buildings intervening upon La Salle street,
and had fallen mercilessly upon the Chamber of Commnerce.
The Court-house was now faced with a swaying front of fire
on the south and west sides.  But as the building was in
the centre of an open square, and solidly constructed, it was
taken as a matter of course that it would be able to survive, if
nothing else should be left standing around it.
"Talk about the Court-Iouse," said a leading banker, among




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GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               19
the spectators, whose own establishment had already been melted
to the very foundations, " it will show to be about the only sound
building on the south side to-morrow."
And yet, in another five minutes, a great burning timber,
wrenched from the tumbling ruins of a La Salle street edifice,
had been hurled in wild fury at the wooden dome of the Court
House. As if a thousand slaves of the fire-king had hidden
within the fatal structure awaiting this signal, the flames seemed
to leap to simultaneous life in every part of the building, and
soon the hot, smirched walls alone remained.
The course of the fire was now directed almost due east for a
few minutes, and Hooley's Opera-House, the Jlepublican office,
and the whole of Washington street to Dearborn, was consumed.
Crosby's Opera-Iouse came next in order. Renovations to the
extent of $80,000 had just been instituted in this edifice, and
the place was to have been re-dedicated that same night by
the Thomas orchestra. The combustible nature of the building
caused it to burn with astonishing rapidity, and soon its walls
surged in, carrying with them, among other treasures, the contents
of three mammoth piano houses and a number of art treasures,
including paintings by some of the leading masters of the old
and new worlds.
The St. James' Hotel was next fired, and here, at the corner
of State and Madison streets, the two savage currents of fire
that had parted company near the Chamber of Commerce joined
hideous issue once more. The course of one of these currents has
been indicated. The other had swept down Franklin, Wells, and
La Salle streets to the main banks of the river, swallowing elevators, banks, trade palaces, the Briggs, Sherman, Tremont, and
other large hmotels, Wood's Museum, the beautiful structures of
Lake and Randolph streets, and the entire surface comprised between Market, South Water, Washington, and State streets.
Many lives were known to have been lost up to this time. But
2




20                    HISTORY OF THE
in the infernal furnace into which Chicago had been turned, it
was impossible to conjecture or dare to imagine how many.
The heat, more intense than anything that had ever been recorded
in the annals of broad-spread conflagrations in the past, had
fairly crumbled to hot dust and ashes the heaviest of buildingstone. The stoutest of masonry and thickest of iron had disappeared like wax before the blast.
Field & Leiter's magnificent store, second only in size and
value of contents to one dry-goods house in the land, was already
in flames. The streets were fast becoming crammed with vehicles conveying away valuables, and the sidewalks were running
over with jostling men and women, all in a dazed, wild strife
for the salvation of self, friends, and property. The thieving
horror had not yet broken out, and up to this time there had
been a common, noble striving to aid the sufferers and stay the
march of the demoniacal fire. Hundreds of poor families
were being rendered homeless, presenting pictures of squalid
misery most pitiable.  This was the first path that, like an
immense windfall, mowed its way through the heart of the
city to the North division on the one hand, and to the lake
on the other.
The block bounded by Dearborn, Washington, State, and
Madison streets was some little time in burning. Indeed, after
the corner occupied by the Union Trust and Savings Institution
had burned, it was believed that the vacant 150 feet front lot,
created a short time before by the tearing down of the old Dearborn school, would save Mayo's corner and the St. Denis Hotel.
But the fire, in spite of the terrible strength of the wind in the
other direction, eventually contrived to beat up against the gale,
and, by devouring the stores of Gossage and others, on the west
side of State, and the book houses of Griggs, Keene & Cooke
and the Western News Company, on the east side, to blister the
St. Denis to the igniting point, and then McVicker's Theatre and




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              21
the Tribune building formed the northern boundary of the
South di vision.
It was here that the few workers, now left with courage enough
to contest with miserable fortune, made their final stand. The
Tribune building was believed to be fire-proof, if any structure
devised by man could be proof against such a combination of the
elements as was now raging. The Post-office had yielded to the
assault, and was only a smouldering ruin; and from away down to
the devastated depot of the Illinois Central the flames had pushed
back until they interlocked once more at the custom-house with
the fire that had torn its way from the Michigan Southern depot.
Surrounded by the enemy on every quarter, and having held
proudly up against the attack till long after daybreak, there was
the same sad capitulations enacted here that had been the story
of the entire night. M'Vicker's yielded first, and was instantly
a heap of brick and ashes, and the Tribune structure was not
long in following; the walls of this latter structure, with those of
the Custom-Iouse, First National Bank, and Court-House prov.
ing the most stubborn evidences of the worth of the architect's
skill remaining in Chicago. Up to this time the elegant and
costly row of buildings on Dearborn street, north of the postoffice, had escaped. They included the two Honore structures,
the Bigelow House, which was soon to have been opened, and
the De Haven block, the latter extending from  Quincy to
Jackson streets. The two blocks bounded by Monroe, State,
Jackson, and Dearborn streets, that resting on Jackson street,
including the Palmer House and the Academy of Design, were
also intact.
A new line of flame, however, had been formed some distance
to the southward of the armory and west of the Michigan Southern depot, and was sweeping on in its mad, resistless career, and
it was felt that the above-mentioned property was in the greatest
peril. The depo', a noble stone structure, upon which great




22                   HISTORY OF THE
reliance was placed for the safety of the adjacent property to the
eastward, made but a feeble resistance, and soon, with a large
number of passenger cars inside, was in ruins. The large row
of wooden tenements on Griswold street, fronting the depot on
the east, succumbed at once, presenting a wall of fire of the
length of the depot. It burned rapidly through to Third avenue,
but at that point the wind, which had begun to show a changeableness it had not previously exhibited, veered to a point considerably east of south, in which quarter it remained for some
time. Encouraged by this, a desperate fight was made on Third
avenue, and for some minutes-minutes that seemed hours in the
torturing alternations of hope and fear-the fiery monster was
held at bay. The stone-yards on Lasalle street also temporarily
checked the progress of the fire south. Thousands of people,
occupying the large tract from Third avenue and Dearborn street
to the lake, watched the result of the battle that was to decide
the fate of their homes with anxious countenances and bated
breath. The wind benignly continued to blow from the same
quarter, and the hopes that had been raised, slight at first, grew
stronger. It was an awful crisis.
At no period in the history of that terrible day were more
momentous interests trembling in the balance. The occupants
of the Michigan avenue palaces and the humble cottagers were
there side by side, breathing supplications and agonizing prayers
that their hearthstones might be spared. The Christian Brothers'
school, at the corner of Van Buren street and Third avenue, a
massive brick structure, was soon ignited, but its walls proved
sound and strong, and the interior was almost entirely burned
before they fell. New hopes were born of this, but only to be
succeeded by the blankest despair.
And the suspense was not long. Making a clean skip over
the De Haven block, a shower of firebrands, hurled thither by a
treacherous gust of wind, alighted on the roof of the Bigelow




GREAT FIRE IN CIICAGO.              23
House, and that magnificent building was soon a seething furnace of flame, quickly followed by the two Honore buildings.
From these buildings, as if maddened at their slight detention, the flames spread to the standing buildings west and southwest with redoubled fury, enwrapping the block containing the
Palmer House and Academy of Design, and that directly north
in an inconceivably short time. The Palmer House was the
tallest building in the city, being eight stories, three of which
were comprised in its Mansard roof; and the scene of its
demolition, which was more rapid than the account can be
transmitted to paper, was inexpressibly grand. The march of
the devouring element from this point to the lake was uninterrupted, the intervening buildings, including many of the finest
private residences in the city, melting away like the dry stubble
of the prairie.
In concert with the work of devastation just described, from
the track of flame several blocks below, which had long before
cut its way to the lake, as if executing a well-devised military
manoeuvre, the fire had been steadily eating its way against the
wind, the point of junction being at or near Adams street. From
this it was evident that, even with the wind blowing a gale from
the south, unless checked, the entire South division was in danger.
The supply of water had long before failed, except from the
basin. A more heroic treatment alone could save what remained of the city. It was at once and unhesitatingly determined upon, and then commenced the first systematic and
thorough use of gunpowder as the only means of preventing the
continuance of the work of ruin. It was conducted under the
personal supervision of General Sheridan.  Building after
building was demolished, the reports of the successive explosions coming at intervals of a very few moments, and being
plainly audible above the continuous din, each discharge announoing that at last the battle was being fought and won. The great




24                    HISTORY OF TE
fire which was to render Chicago forever memorable in the annals
of history was ended in the South division. The last building to
burn was " Terrace row," a palatial block of private residences
on Michigan avenue, extending northward from Harrison street.
Its destruction required two or three hours, as nothing remained
in its rear to accelerate the work. About 18 hours from the first
discovery of the fire on DeKoven street, the last wall of " Terrace row"A fell. In the South division, north of a diagonal line,
reaching from the east end of Harrison street to Polk street
bridge, there remained two buildings unharmed, one the large
business block immediately north of Randolph street bridge, and
the other an unfinished stone structure at the corner of Monroe
and La Salle streets. The entire business portion of the city was
obliterated. Two-thirds of the territorial area of the city was
unscathed, but Chicago as a great business mart, the proud commercial centre of the growing West, was no more. Was ever
devastation more complete?   Immense as is the burnt area
in the South division, but for a single fortunate circumstance it
might, and probably would, have been doubled. Immediately
south of the Michigan southern passenger depot was a long fireproof warehouse; on the side fronting the fire there were but
two windows, which afforded the only possible opportunity for
the fire-fiend to effect a lodgment. These were successfully
guarded by a small corps of men with pails. The building was
saved, and with it undoubtedly the entire tract north of Twelfth
street.
The North side, in proportion to its size, perhaps suffered more
than both of the other divisions united. Practically, with the
exception of a few streets, which were occupied by retail stores
to a certain extent, as Clark and Wells streets and also North
Water and Kinzie streets, which were occupied by wholesale
stores, commission merchants, wholesale butchers, manufactories,
etc., and a narrow strip along the North branch occupied by lunm



GREAT FIRE IN CIICAGO.               25
ber and coal yards, the North side was almost exclusively a residence portion of the city. In the extent of territory burned,
North Chicago was also the most unfortunate. Doubly unfortunate, also, was it in the fact that when the fire once started
north of the river, its progress was entirely unchecked, all the fire
engines being at work on the South side, from whence they could
not reach the North side, even if they would, except by a long
detour around by Twelfth street and the West division-a raging barrier of flame making it impossible for the engines to pass
over either the Lake street, Randolph street, Madison street, or
Adams street bridges to the West side, and so from that side
over the Kinzie street bridge and other bridges north of that
bridge. In addition to this, the North side was unfortunate in
that its population, moving almost block by block as the flames
progressed north, were at last compelled, with the exception of
a comparatively few families, to sleep out all night on the open
prairie which environs the North division on the west and north;
the fire not ceasing its march of desolation until it had devoured
all but a narrow strip of houses on the west side of that portion
of the North division which lies north of Division street. The
commencement of the fire on the North side seems to have been
at the Galena elevator, which is located on the north side of the
main branch between State street and Rush street, the time when
it first crossed over being about twenty minutes to six o'clock in
the morning. Having once got a start to the north of the river,
the fire rapidly progressed north, east, and west, the back-fire
west being unusually rapid. The corner of Rush and Illinois
streets, three blocks beyond the elevator, where Judge Grant
Goodrich resided, was soon reached. Judge Goodrich's family
immediately started with what few valuables they could save to
the lake shore, being almost blinded with the smoke and heat.
Having reached the lake, they gradually worked their way along
the shore south to the Ogden slip, which has been formed out in




26                   HISTORY OF THE
the lake by piles. Here they found a scow, into which they got
by a rope bridge. The scow was then pushed along till it was
within fifty feet of the light-house. The steam vessel Navarino
was fastened to the dock on the North side at the time, and also
a large barge and another steamer. These vessels were rapidly
filled with women and children. The Navarino, however, was
finally burned up. Finally a tug came along and took the families to the forks of the river, when they were safely landed on
the West side.
The fire then, as above intimated, progressed rapidly west, as
well as north and east, first burning down the old Lake House,
one of the oldest, if not the oldest brick hotel in Chicago. In
its course west it also burned down, in addition to the other
buildings, old St. James' Church, the oldest brick church in
Chicago, which was occupied as a store house. About this time,
other portions of the North side adjoining the river caught
fire, and soon all North Water street, which was occupied by
wholesale stores and large meat establishments, was in flames,
the Galena Depot, the Hough I-ouse on Wells street, and the
Wheeler elevator west of Wells street, being also burned down.
The north-side bridges also were rapidly burned up, the flames
from them helping to communicate the fire rapidly all along
the north shore of the main branch. Not a bridge connecting the
North side with the South side was left. The La Salle street
tunnel also became impassable, the fire from the South side rushing through it along the pedestrian walk, which was soon consumed, and filling the tunnel with smoke. The solid stone walls
of the tunnel itself were cracked and chipped with the intense
heat of the fire, the iron railings which protect the carriage
approaches at each end being literally torn off from the walls
and curved and bent into innumerable fantastic shapes by the
fiery demon. Between Kinzie street and the river all was laid
low and burned in a mass of undistinguishable ruins. Between




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               27
Kiinzie and Illinois streets, from the North branch to the lake,
nearly all was burned. A few fortunate buildings were left
standing, but they only seemed to emphasize the ruins around
them. Between Illinois street and Chicago avenue the fire progressed with irrepressible fury and rapidity, soon enveloping the
whole section, including in it both the most beautiful and the
most forbidding portions of the North division. West of Clark
street and south of Chicago avenue was a section of the city
densely populated, filled with buildings occupied, many of
them by two and three families-a region which in years gone
by was noted for the disorderly character of its elections. East
of Clark street to the lake, between Illinois street and Chicago
avenue, was the pride of the North division. Its streets were
bordered with rows of magnificent trees, beautiful gardens,
elegant mansions, noble churches, all of which fell before the
destroyer. In short, this section of the North division was full
of beautiful residences and gardens.
Before tracing the progress of the fire further northward must
be mentioned the burning of the Water-Works, and the curious,
or rather incomprehensible, manner in which it caught fire
almost two hours before the time that the fire first reached the
north division across the main branch. As stated above, the
Galena Elevator at the edge of the main branch caught fire from
the south side at about 20 minutes to 6 o'clock. At about 20
minutes before 4 o'clock a fire was discovered in the carpentershop of Mr. Lill, built on piles above the shallow water of the
lake. Standing between the burning carpenter-shop and the
Water-Works, extending northwest of the shop, stood one of Mr.
Lill's book-keepers. Turning round toward the Water-Works, he
exclaimed, "!My God, the Water-Works are in flames!"  This
gentleman states positively that the flames from the Water-Works
when he first saw them were issuing from the western portion of
the pumping-works, no flames being seen from the eastern por



28                    HISTORY OF THE
tion of the grounds, which were occupied with coal-sheds, etc.
On the other hand, the employes at the Water-Works say that
the fire commenced about half-past 3 o'clock in the morning;
that it commenced in the eastern part of the Water-Works, and
that it took fire from the shed. Another gentleman testifies that
the carpenter-shop, or the cooper-shop, as he called it, was burned
down before the fire commenced in the Water-Works, and that
when the Water-Works were in full flame, the main body of
Lill's brewery, with the exception of the carpenter-shop, was
intact. The time of the commencement of the fire in Lill's
carpenter-shop and the Water-Works, however, differs one hour;
the last-named witness asserting that the Water-Works commenced burning at about half-past 2 or 3 o'clock. But whatever
may have been the origin of the fire at the Water-Works, it is
certain that when it did commence the whole building was soon
in flames, and in a few minutes the engineers had to rush out of
the building to save their lives. The machinery was very considerably injured. The water-tower, however, to the west of the
pumping-works, was almost entirely uninjured.
Before relating the further progress of the flames northward,
must also be noticed the mingled scenes of sorrow and laughter,
or tragedy and comedy, which were presented on what were
once known as the sands-that part of the lake shore which lies
east of that portion of the north side which has been described
above. This sandy waste varies in width between one and
two blocks, being the widest at the southern end, near the river,
where a frame building stood here and there before the fire.
As soon as the fire broke out along the north side of the main
river, and the rapidity of its progress showed that it would
sweep the north side, or a considerable portion of it, all the inhabitants of the district described, lying east of State street,both rich and poor, both the tenants of the shanties and cottages
which occupied North Water street, Michigan street, Illinois




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               29
street, and the south end of St. Clair street, and the tenants of
the aristocratic mansions north of this locality,-fled to the lake
shore, carrying with them whatever they were able to carry in
their hands, but little opportunity being offered to do more. The
scene was one of indescribable confusion, of horror and dismay,
intermingled, to the mere spectator, with laughable incidents.
which were, however, quickly drowned in the overwhelming horror which surrounded them all. Where the lake shore, or sands,
were narrow, and the burning buildings approached close to the
lake shore, despair reigned. The water was the apparent boundary of the place of refuge. The intense heat from the burning
buildings, even the flames from them, reached the water and
even stretched out over it, and the flying men, women, and children rushed into the lake, till nothing but their heads appeared
above the surface of the waters; but the fiery fiend was not satisfied. The hair was burned off the heads of many, while not a
few never came out of the water alive. Many who stayed on the
shore, where the space between the fire and water was a little
wider, had the clothes burned from off their backs. The remnants of the sad scene presented a curious appearance on Monday.  Scattered over the sands were broken chairs, shattered
mirrors, drenched clothes without their owners, dresses, pants,
coats, a motley array of clothing disowned.  Boys wandered
around picking out of the pockets of the deserted garments
knives, change, etc.
Perhaps the finest street running east and west in the North
division was Chicago avenue. Along its entire length east of
the river it was filled with fine and costly buildings. During
the present season alone several splendid buildings had been
elected or were in process of erection. Among these were the
building which was known, or to be known, as the Norwegian
hall, which contained, besides fifteen or sixteen stores, a large
hall. The building had a marble front and was nearly com



30                    HISTORY OF THE
pleted. To the east of this about two blocks, on the north-west
corner of Clark street and Chicago avenue, was another fine marble front building almost completed. To the east of Clark street
the avenue was filled with fine frame and brick residences.
Among the residences on this street was that of the late Michael
Diversey, the former partner of Win. Lill, and one of the earliest residents of Chicago, his house being perhaps the oldest residence of its size in the city. All these were burned from one end
of the avenue to the other. Nothing was left but the waterworks, themselves battered and torn by the devouring flames.
The probable loss at the water-works on the building alone is
about $40,000, and the damage to the machinery about $20,000.
The pumping works were kept running up to the latest moment,
a full supply of water being furnished until seven o'clock Monday morning. This was, however, not done without great danger to the men, who were almost encircled with the flames.
St. Joseph's Church, on the corner of Cass street and Chicago
avenue, one of the finest examples of the Romanesque style of
architecture in the city, stands as a monument of its solidity of
construction. The walls alone are left standing, but they are
almost perfect, excepting in a few portions; but the splendid
finishings of the interior are all gone. The large parish schools
connected with this church, on the east side of Cass street, were
also destroyed.
At this time, between five and half-past five, the line of the
fire as it progressed north was about a mile in width. Along the
entire line the fire appeared as if attempting to see which portion could surpass the other in its march of destruction. To the
east, near the lake shore, were the large ale and lager-beer breweries of Sands, Hucks, Brandt, Bowman, Schmidt, Busch, Doyle,
etc.; to the west, near the North Branch, was a densely inhabited district filled with wooden houses as dry as tinder. From
the three, four, and five stories height of the one, the sparks and




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                31
burning charcoal from the wooden cupolas of the breweries were
blown blocks northward, setting fire to the buildings on which
they fell. On the west, the closely-built wooden frame buildings, having no brick walls to temporarily stay their progress,
seemed to surrender instantaneously to the raging fire fiend that
did not crawl but seemed to rush upon them with unrestrainable
fury.
Al seemed to be immersed in a hell of flame. No attempts
were made to stem the progress of the fire. All that the tenants
of the houses could do was to save a few of their household
goods, and this, too, at the risk of their lives. The scene was
rendered still more terrible and despairing by the fact that during the earlier stages of the fire thousands of the able-bodied
men had rushed to the South side to witness the fire there, not
then dreaming that it would reach their own homes. Before
the fire on the South side, these fathers, brothers, and sons were
gradually driven across the river, until the rapidity of the progress of the flames convinced them that their own families were
in danger. Being at last convinced, they rushed in frantic haste
to save what little they could. But they arrived at their homes,
most of them, in an exhausted condition. They did their best,
but the best was but little. All that many could do was to aid
in saving the lives of their wives and children. With their all
standing in their houses, many attempted impossible things, and
rushed into burning buildings never to come out alive; for the
wind rushed on in horrible fury, and seemed to envelop three
or four houses at once in one fell swoop.
Until the densely populated district to the west of La Salle
street, and between Chicago avenue and North avenue, had been
wasted, there was no stay to the rapid progress of the fire. All
that many people could do was to save themselves, and perhaps
a few valuables that they could carry in their hands.
North of North avenue no efforts whatever were made to stop




32                    HISTORY OF THE
the progress of the flames, with one exception, which will be
hereafter mentioned. They followed out their course, the only
means that prevented their progress both north and west being
stretches of bare prairie on which there was nothing to burn.
Excepting on Clark and Wells streets, the houses were more or
less separated from each other, occupying, or being separated
from each other by two or three lots, and often more. A small
portion of the district north of North avenue and west of Wells
street was thickly settled. At the corner of Linden and Iurlbut
street stood the vast edifice of St. Michael's Church. Its walls
were left standing, but that was all. Its splendor is gone. A
little church on the corner of Centre avenue and Church street,
a branch of the New England Church, was also burned, as also a
German Methodist church on the corner of Sedgwick and Wisconsin streets; a little church on the corner of Clark and Menomonce, also the sub-police station on the corner of North avenue
and Larrabee street.
Lincoln Park and the old City Cemetery deserve special mention. Lincoln Park-the glory of the North division-has been
almost entirely preserved. But few trees have been injured,
except in the south-eastern portion of the park where the deadhouse stood and where a few trees were burned; the small-pox
hospital to the east on the lake shore being also destroyed. The
grave-stone or rather board memorials of the dead poor are many
of them destroyed, and their relatives will know no more the
place of rest of their kindred. The fences around the graves,
the boards which have told to the wanderer their names, are all
destroyed in the southern portion of the old cemetery. In the
park itself many took refuge, though the great majority, as
hereafter stated, fled to the prairies on the north-west.
At Fullerton avenue, a little over two and a half miles north
of the river, the progress of the fire was finally stopped. A lull
of the wind between 2 and 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning aided




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.             33
in the work of preventing the farther progress of the flames
northward, the only house burned north of Fullerton avenue
being Mr. John Huck's residence, and a building occupied by a
Mr. Felk. Between the hours named Mr. Huck's men turned
out and beat out the sparks that came from the south as they fell
on the ground. A slight rain falling at the same time aided in
the work.
During all this time, however, that the fire had been raging in
the North division, sometimes advancing directly north-east, sometimes progressing westward with a terrible back-fire, people had
been flying north and northwest until the few houses within
reach in Lakeview and beyond the limits were crowded full of
refugees, and the flying population were compelled to take refuge
on the open prairie. Iere were gathered thousands of people,
tired men, delicate women, children in arms without cover, without shelter of any kind; many indeed without clothes on their
backs. Worse than all, here too were compelled to rest from
their long-continued flight the sick and the wounded.
And as if these experiences were not enough to satisfy the demon of destruction that had driven them hither, women were
seized with the pains of childbirth and children were born on
the open prairie. The scene was a sorrowful one. Even water
was denied to the parched lips of the unexpected wanderers upon
the prairie.
The boundaries of the fire in the North division were as follows: With the exception of the few buildings mentioned above,
the fire extended over all the North division from the main branch
to Division street, and from the North branch to the lake; very
nearly 700 acres of territory. The fire left the North branch at
Division street, where it left a few houses standing along the side
of the river. The back-fire then extended to the river again, or
to what is known as the North branch canal, which connects the
ends of a semicircle in the river, which bends over to the west.




34                    HISTORY OF THE
Following the canal or new channel of the river for a short distance, the fire then tended a little to the east as far as Ialsted
street, up which it extended to Clybourn avenue, the back-fire extending along the avenue northwest to Blackhawk street and a
little west until it reached Orchard street,- a north and south
street, excepting at its junction with the avenue, where it runs for
about a block in a north-east direction.  After reaching Orchard
street, the fire proceeded north to Willard street, where it proceeded east along Howe street to IIurlbut street, across a couple
of undivided blocks. Along Iurlbut street the fire proceeded
north to Centre avenue, on which only three houses were burned
down; the blocks around being nearly vacant. It then advanced
up Hurlburt street to within about 100 feet south of Fullerton
avenue. In the mean while the fire had taken all east of this with
the exception of Lincoln Park. North of Fullerton avenue, the
fire burned up only two houses, those being located east of Clark
street. Here the progress of the fire was stayed in the manner
stated above.
MONDAY NIGHT.
The wild fright of Sunday night and the horrors of the day
succeeding, were followed by the hardly less acute terrors of
Monday night.
The wind was still blowing fiercely.
" The North side all gone," was the last definite report received
as the gray twilight on Monday sank into the dull glare of another
night of conflagration.
The terrible, dull red light, which still overhung the city with
its sanguinary pall, terrified the stoutest, and there was no answering the piteous inquiries heard on every side as to " how
near is the fire now?." The fact that the great coal piles near
the river, the glowing debris in the districts already sacrificed,




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GREAT FIRE IN HICAGO.               35
and the buildings still burning in the extreme North division,
gave out this fearful illumination, was not then known.
To all it seemed that the forces of the fire monarch had swept
into and around nearly every part of the city, and were only
awaiting a fair opportunity to close out the full work of Chicago's demolition.
For nearly 36 hours the course of the tempest had been in one
direction, and every building that lay in its broad path was in
ruins. This was known by all to be a long time for the wind to
hold on a certain tack in this part of the country; and of the
300,000 heart-sick watchers in Chicago, there were few who were
not in momentary expectation of finding the gale's course changing dead about. In this case, with the savage fury of the blast,
the fright which had entered into the souls of all, and the fact
that the supply of water was completely cut off, there were none
who failed to realize that their whole city must be blotted from
off the earth.
As it was at the hands of the merciless elements that all of
this disaster had ensued, so it was felt that from the elements
alone must immediate succor come.
Those who had read of great conflagrations in the past producing copious floods from the heavens, based their last hopes
upon this phenomena interposing for the general salvation; while
to those whose knowledge of natural philosophy had not taken
them thus far, there was still the same trusting in fate, luck, or
the Almighty, according to their various habits of faith, that the
desired rain might descend.
And so the terrified hours wore on, with probably not a man,
woman, or child in all Chicago who was not in readiness to seek
the protection of the bleak but kindlier country in preference to
trusting to the chances of life in the seared and smitten city.
Finally, just as the announcement had again gone the rounds
that every house in the North division, to the full borders of




36                    ISTORY OF TFE
Lincmo Park and Wright's (rove, was really in ashes, and just as
the last thought of aid from above was sinking, the welcome
drops came pattering down, and " thank God, it rains at last!"
was the cry.
Women broke out with wild sobs of relief; strong men embraced and burst into tears of thanksgiving upon each other's
breasts, and all who had not actually pledged themselves to remain alert until morning, sank into a brief and fitful slumber.
No narrative could possess more terrible interest than that
which should tell, in the simplest words, the story of the many
wonderful escapes from death in the awful conflagration of Chicago. That many persons perished in the burning is already known.
That the number may have been hundreds is possible. God
alone can ever know the manner or the agonies of their death.
But of thousands of those who escaped from the awful cyclone
of fire, the story is one that finds hardly a parallel in all human
experience since the world began.
The greater number of these terrible experiences occurred in
the North division. The more combustible nature of the buildings in that part of the city gave to the conflagration a wider
sweep and a more rapid movement than in the South division.
Like a mighty line of battle, the conflagration extended its
terrible banners of flame until the right rested on the lake, the
left on the river; then advancing in one awful charge, it literally
swept that portion of the city from the face of the earth. Nothing could penetrate that vast line of flame and live. Before it,
60,000 men, women, and children fled for their lives.
On the eastern side of the district, many persons fled to the
lake shore, supposing that to be a place of entire safety. Many,
indeed, were cut off by the rapidly advancing flames from the
possibility of escape in any other direction. For nearly all who
sought escape in that direction the sequel proved that they had
taken a fearful chance. The experience of Mr. Lambert Tree




GIEA.T FIRE IN CHICAGO.             37
and family "vas in part that of many. Perceiving that his own
home could not escape, Mr. Tree, with his wife and child and aged
father, went to the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. Magee. The
Magee residence occupied the centre of a large enclosure, and was
therefore regarded as a place of probable safety. But the very
fact of its isolation from surrounding buildings soon revealed
that it was the most dangerous retreat that could have been chosen. The conflagration enveloped it completely on all sides before the house took fire. On the side opposite to the approaching flames, the square was enclosed by a high board fence, without openings. On the front, the flames had already cut off all
possibility of retreat. The only way of escape was toward the
north-east, over the fence already mentioned; a barrier which
three aged persons, a woman already fainting in the dense smoke,
and a little child half-suffocated, could not possibly scale. The
fence, too, was on fire. The house was already enveloped in a
shower of burning fire-brands. A horrible death seemed to be
the inevitable doom of the entire party.
At this terrible juncture, a portion of the burning fence fell to
the ground, opening a gateway from the fiery cul-de-sac. Through
this opening Mr. Tree, dragging his fainting wife and child, fled
toward the lake. In the flight from the premises the party became separated. Nothing more was seen of Mr. and Mrs. Magee
until, on the following day, they were found on the prairie northwest of the city. In their flight they had taken a different direction from the others, and had no choice but to hasten on before
the advancing fire until beyond the line of its horrible path.
The aged couple passed the night of Monday on the open prairie.
In an open space, sheltered by the walls of Lill's brewery, Mr.
Tree and his family, with some of their neighbors, again supposed
themselves to be in a place of safety. But from this refuge they
were also driven by the advancing flames. The intense heat
drove them to the beach, and even into the water, in which




38                   HISTORY OF THE
many men, women, and children stood for an hour, throwing
water over their clothing to prevent its taking fire from the
flame and sparks which a fierce wind drove toward them. In
one instance the dress of a lady actually took fire; the wearer,
with great presence of mind, removed it from her person to the
lake. The heat, ever and anon, enveloped the fugitives like hot
blasts from the mouth of the furnace. Dense clouds of stifling
smoke swept over them, threatening instant suffocation. Children fainted, and strong men could only breathe by keeping their
faces to the ground until some new air current, lifting the smoke
or turning aside the fiery blast, gave temporary relief. The situation is described by those who experienced its horrors as one
surpassing all possibilities of conception or belief. But the flames,
finding at length no more to consume, swept on and the fugitives
were saved.
Such is a feeble outline of the experience of many who, to
escape the flames, sought or were driven to the beach of the lake.
Among the number were Mr. Isaac N. Arnold and his family,
who, with one or two others, made their way to the extremity
of the north pier, where they hailed a steam-tug and escaped to
the rear of the conflagration, through a portion of the already
burnt district, by a passage up the river.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
The great conflagration lighted up the ways to thousands of
hearts. It shone into some foul alleys, leading to unfathomable
depths of darkness and horror, and illuminated some broad avenues, bordered by rich luxuriance of all sweet charities and ending in the infinite of love beyond.
A wholesale grocer, residing on the North side, was absent
from the city. His wife, a delicate woman, finding the flames
suddenly upon her house, snatched up a silver cake-basket and.a




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              39
valuable little clock, took one of her two children in her arms
and another by the hand, and fled. As she sped before the pursuing fire, she found her strength failing, and begged the driver
of a passing express wagon, lightly laden, to help her in her extremity. I He would for the clock. She submitted to the exaction, was carried three blocks, and then forced to get down. The
cake-basket bought her another ride of about the same distance,
and then she was forced to finish her flight on foot, her means
of satisfying the rapacity of drivers being exhausted. Finially,
more dead than alive, she reached a place of safety.
On Monday evening, a knot of men, from 35 to 40 years of
age, stood on Michigan avenue, watching the fire as it fought its
way southward, in the teeth of the wind. They were looking
grimy and dejected enough, until another, a broad-shouldered
man of middle height, a face that might have belonged to one
of the Cheeryble brothers, shining through the overspreading
dust and soot, approached them, and, clapping one of their num
her on the shoulder, exclaimed cheerfully: " Well, James, we
are all gone together. Last night I was worth a hundred thousand, and so were you. Now where are we? "-" Gone," returned
James. Then followed an interchange, from which it appeared
that the numbers of the group were young merchants worth from
$50,000 to $150,000. After this, said the first speaker, " Well,
Jim, I have a home left, and my family are safe, I have a barrel
of flour, some bushels of potatoes and other provisions laid in for
the winter; and now Jim, I'm going to fill my house to night
with these poor fellows," turning to the sidewalks crowded with
fleeing poor, " chuck full from cellar to garret! " The blaze of
the conflagration revealed something worth seeing in that man's
breast. Possibly the road to his heart may have been choked
with rubbish before. If so, the fire had burned it clear, till it
shone like one of the streets of burnished gold which he will
one day walk.




40:HISTORY OF TIHE
An instance to show the levelling process of the fire. A gentleman who had $65,000 of annual income from stores situated in
the burned district of the South division, has not to-day $1 of in
come, and his family is talking of taking in boarders to help pay
the winter's expenses.
The interesting incidents attending the fire on the North side
were innumerable.
Mr. C. H. McCormick, the great reaper manufacturer, slept out
on the prairie.
A musically disposed individual, probably filled with despair as
well as melody, on Tuesday commenced playing on a piano standing on the street near to Lill's brewery, and continued the occupation for several hours,
Dr. Weiner, a well-known North-side physician, was seen daring the progress of the fire rushing up North Clark street on
horseback, with a game-cock under each arm.
On one of the streets a cat, being rather too warm to be
comfortable, rushed up a fallen lamp, where it stuck, and was
roasted.
As an instance of the suffering of those who were burned out
on the North side, may be mentioned the case of a newly-married couple who were driven from their home along with the fire
to the prairie, remained out in the drenching rain that followed,
and two days afterward walked miles over to the South division
to get their first mouthful of bread.
A woman, after saving $300 from her house, attempted to return to the building to save something else; but when she came out
again she was in flames, and the only way that her husband could
save her was by tearing off her clothes; not a shred of clothing
being left on her. Her nakedness, however, was finally covered
with a blanket. Her eldest daughter was in the same plight.
Three Protestant ministers and a Catholic priest slept under
the sidewalk at North avenue bridge one night.




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.             41
A woman living on Ontario street, between Market and Franklin, brought out her two children, aged five and seven, safely,
and then went for a baby. The children followed her back and
none came out alive.
The Quinn brothers went into their house while it was untouched by the fire to secure some clothing, but in getting out had to
jump through the windows.
Mr. Malcomb, who died about two hours before the fire reached
his residence, was burned almost beyond recognition.
A story is related of the proprietor of St. Caroline's Court, a
hotel on the West side of Chicago, illustrative of General Sheridan's idea of the eternal fitness of things. The General called
at the hotel and inquired the price of board. "Six dollars per
day," was the reply. "The price before the fire?" inquired the
General. "Two dollars and a half." General Sheridan replied
that he would run that hotel himself, and at $2.50 per day. He
placed an orderly in charge, and at once put a stop to exorbitant
charges.
The following curious incident is well authenticated: Mrs., the housekeeper of a prominent hotel, had made up her
mind to leave the city a few days before the fire. She had not
drawn her salary for some time, and it amounted to $1,000. On
Saturday this amount was handed to her by the proprietor. The
boarders at the same time got up a testimonial, amounting to $150,
and presented her with the money that evening. She deposited the
greenbacks under the carpet in a corner of her room. When the
fire was raging, Mrs. -  rushed into her room and succeeded in
saving a favorite canary-bird. But she forgot all about the money.
The son of Mayor Mason, of Chicago, is worthy of Chicago and
of his large-hearted sire. Everything was swept away except his
wedding presents, which were at the house of his father. This
house was saved. He sold them to Tiffany & Co. for $5,000.
With this money he will now re-establish himself, opening a




4-2                  HISTORY OF THE
stove-store for the time being in the basement of his father's
elegant residence. The young man shows the real Chicago pluck.
A locomotive engineer was on his freight-train, forty miles
from the city, when he heard the fire was raging on Michigan
Avenue. He said, " I asked permission to go on with my train
and was forbidden; I put on steam, and they put down the brakes,
but I pulled my train as near to the depot as I could, and left it
in charge of the fireman. I hurt nobody and did no harm to
anything; I went straight to the place where I left my family, and
dragged out their bones. When I came back to my situation
they told me I was discharged, and I am now homeless and
helpless."
Men were desperate, and deemed almost anything justifiable.
One who saw that he could not escape, opened his veins that
he might not know the horrors of death by fire. Another, probably rendered insane by losses and terror, was found with his
throat cut from ear to ear. Men who were laboring to rescue
their books and papers from the peril, were so involved in the
mazes of the fire, that they tried several streets before they were
able to escape, and then suffered serious inconveniences or injury
in the final struggle that saved them. One, in trying to gather
a few things from his room, fell suffocated, and, recovering presence of mind, crawled to the window, and calling on men to
catch him, leaped from the second story, and was able to rejoin
his family. A fireman brought a two-year old child to a lady,
which was snatched out of the upper story of a lofty building in
the heart of the fire. The little thing was scorched and singed, and
when asked, " Where is papa? " he answered, " Gone to church."
"Where is mamma?"    "Gone to church."   So unexpected
was the fire, that the parents had not time to find their darling
after church. Some 300 were caged up near the river, a-id taken
off by the steamer that lay close at hand. Others, hurried out
of their home and cut off from egress by any street, fled to the




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              43
lake shore, and as the furious element closed around them they
were pressed into the water, and kept themselves for hours by
dipping their heads into the cool element. Children were immersed repeatedly, in order to keep them from being scorched,
and many came from their wet refuges more dead than alive.
A family who had spent several years abroad, and collected
many valuable works of art and souvenirs of their journeys,
were driven from one place to another, and finally took refuge
in a stable. The proprietor begged them to take his carriage
and drive it off to save it. In this they escaped several miles to
a place of safety, having nothing left but what they wore upon
their persons.
A nan at the corner of Division and Brandt streets had apparently secured his household goods in an open lot; but the flames
mercilessly attacked his effects, and seeing there was no further
chance of saving them, he knelt down and offered a brief prayer,
after which he arose, clasped his hands in wild despair, and looking
to heaven exclaimed, " God help me now," and was soon lost to
view in the dense smoke through which he endeavored to make
his escape.
Mr. Kerfoot gives the following graphic account of his escape
from the fire with his wife and children: " Being the owner of
a horse and carriage which I used to go to and fro from my business, when I became satisfied that my house would soon be enveloped, I brought my horse and carriage before the house, and
placed my wife and children in it. There was then no room for
me, so I mounted the back of the animal and acted as postilion.
While driving through the flame and smoke which enveloped us
on all hands, I came across a gentleman who had his wife in a
buggy, and was between the thills hauling it himself. I shouted
to him to hitch his carriage on behind mine, which he did, and
then got in beside his wife. I then drove forward as fast as I
could, for the flames were raging around us. After proceeding
2




44                   HISTORY OF THE
a short distance, another gentleman was found standing beside
the street, with a carriage, waiting for a horse, which was not
likely to come. I directed him to fasten on behind the second
carriage, which he did, and in this way we whipped up and got
out of the way of the flames with our wives and children, thank
God."
A remarkable instance of courage and presence of mind is told
of Mr. E. I. Tinkham, of the Second rational Bank. On Monday morning, before the fire had reached that building, Mr.
Tinkham went to the safe and succeeded in getting out $600,000.
This pile of greenbacks he packed into a common trunk, and
hired a colored man for $1,000 to convey it to the Milwaukee
depot. Fearing to be recognized in connection with the precious
load, Mr. Tinkham followed the man for a time at some distance,
but soon lost sight of him. He was then overtaken by the firestorm, and was driven toward the lake on the south side. Here,
after passing through several narrow escapes from suffocation, he
succeeded in working his way, by some means, to a tug-boat, and
got round to the Milwaukee depot, where he found the colored
man waiting for him, with the trunk, according to promise. Mr.
Tinkham paid the man the $1,000, and started with the trunk
for Milwaukee. The money was safely deposited in Marshall &
Illsley's back, of that city.
Mr. Nathaniel Bacon, of Niles, Michigan, student-at-law with
Messrs. Tenney, McClellan & Tenney, at No. 120 Washington
street, slept in their office. On waking, at about 1 o'clock, and
seeing the Court-House on fire, he saw that the office, which was
immediately opposite, would surely go. Judging that one of the
safes in the office would not prove fire-proof, he promptly emptied the contents of his trunk on the floor of the doomed building, and, filling it with the interior.contents of the safe-books,
valuable papers, money, &c.-shouldered the trunk and carried it
to a place of safety on Twenty-Second street, losing thereby all




GREAT FIRE IN JHIOAGO.               45
his own clothing and effects except what he had on. That young
man is a hero.
In the midst of all that was sad and terrible there was an
occasional gleam of the humorous.
-One merchant, who found his safe and its contents destroyed,
quietly remarked that there was no blame attached to the safe;
that it was of chilled iron, and would have stood, but that the fire
had taken the chill all out.
-A firm of painters on Madison street bulletin their removal
as follows, on a sign-board erected like a guide-board upon the
ruins of their old establishment:MOORE & GOE,
HousE AND SIGN PAINTERS,
Removed to 111 Desplaines st.,'*      Capital, $000,000.30.
*,....  -  -  -..  —.... -. e  -  -  -e  - e -  -.. -  *. -... -  *
-An editor of a daily paper has received several poetical
effusions suggested by the late disaster; but he declines them all,
un the ground that it is wasteful to print anything which requires
every line with a capital, when capital is as scarce as it is now in
Chicago.
-A bride who entered the holy married state on Tuesday
evening, determined to do so in a calico dress, in deference both
to the proprieties and the necessities of the occasion. But she
desired that her toilette de chambre should be, if possible, on a
more gorgeous scale.  Being destitute of a robe de nuit of suitable elegance, she sent out to several neighbors of her temporary
hostess to borrow such a garment, stipulating that it must be a
fine one. So peculiar is the feminine nature, however, that her
modest request excited no enthusiasm in her behalf among the
ladies to whom it came. This is not a joke.




46                   HISTORY OF THE
-A sign-board, stuck in the ruins of a building on Madison
street, reads: " Owing to circumstances over which we had no
control, we have removed," etc.
CHIcAGO, October 12, 1871.
To the Editor of the Chicago Evening Journal:The attention of Chicagoans is called to the 8th chapter of
Deuteronomy, and the clergy of the city are respectfully requested to take the same for a text on Sunday morning next.
MERCHANT.
-One of our merchants, reported insane, was heard from at
New York-where he had gone to bury a sister-in the following noble manner:Mrs. Potter Palmer:
I have particulars of fire. Am perfectly reconciled to our
losses. We shall not be embarrassed. Bave an abundance left.
Be cheerful and do all possible for sufferers. Will return by first
train after funeral.                   POTTER PALMER.
The scene presented on Wabash avenue on Monday, for a
period extending from 4 o'clock A.M. till late in the day, was a
most extraordinary one, calling to mind most vividly the retreat
of a routed army. The lower part of the avenue had, at an
early hour, been occupied by residents of burning quarters, who
sought safety for themselves and their chattels by depositing
them on the grass-plats skirting the sidewalks. For a long dis
tance these plats were occupied by families, mostly of the lower
classes, with their household goods.  They supposed that they
had discovered a place of security, but their confidence in this
regard proved unfounded. As the fire commenced spreading up
the avenue a wild scene of confusion ensued. The street was
crowded with vehicles of all descriptions, many drawn by men,
who found it impossible to procure draught animals. The sidewalks
were filled with a hurrying crowd, bearing in their arms and




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.             47
upon their backs and heads clothing, furniture, etc.  Ladies
dressed in elegant costumes, put on with the view of preserving
them, and with costly apparel of all kinds thrown over their
arms and shoulders, staggered along under the unwonted burden.
Poor women, with mattresses upon their heads, or weighted
down with furniture, tottered with weary steps up the crowded
street. Nearly every one wore a stern expression, and moved on
without a word, as if they had braced up their minds to endure
the worst without manifesting any emotion. Occasionally, however, the wail of women and children rent the air, bringing tears
to the eyes of those who witnessed the manifestations. Poor
little children shivered in the cold night air, and looked with
wildly opened eyes upon the scenes they could not comprehend.
Ludicrous incidents were of occasional occurrence, lighting up
with a sort of horrible humor the terrible realities of the situation. Women would go by with dogs in their arms-their pets
being all they had saved from the ruins of their homes. An octogenarian ran into a yard with a large cat enfolded in his feeble
embrace. Men dragging wagons wore green veils over their
faces to protect their eyes from the blinding dust. Drunken
men staggered among the crowds, apparently possessed of the
idea that the whole affair was a grand municipal spree, in which
they were taking part as a duty that should be discharged by
all good citizens. Trucks passed up street loaded with trunks,
on which sat ladies in costly garb, and with diamonds in their
ears and on their fingers. But one day before they would have
scorned the idea of riding in anything less imposing than a luxurious landau or coup6; but their pride was levelled in the
presence of the universally imminent danger, and they were
thoroughly glad to get the humblest cart in which to place
themselves and their valuables.
The greater portion of the people knew not whither they were
going. All they knew was that the horrible fire was behind




48                   HISTORY OF THE
e.ema and they must move on. Tne stream poured southward
for hours, the broad avenue being filled from house to house
with men, women, children, horses, mules, vehicles, wheelbarrows-everything that could move or be moved. Truckmen
and express drivers were hailed from the steps of houses, or
eagerly pursued by the occupants, with the view of securing
their aid in removing household goods to places of safety. In
many instances the appeals were unsuccessful, their services having been previously engaged by other parties; but when they
were disengaged they chaged the most exorbitant prices, ranging
from $5 to $100 for a load, and turning up their noses at offers
of amounts less than they asked. This class of people made
great profit out of the calamities of their fellow-citizens. Their
pockets may be heavy to-day, but their consciences, if they have
any, should be still heavier. The instances of generosity were,
however, far in excess of those of greed and selfishness. People
from districts which had not already been burned, or who had
secured their own goods, turned in with a will and worked to
assist their friends, and frequently rendered aid to persons whom
they did not know. Good angels, in the shape of women, distributed food among the sufferers, and spoke kind words to those
who seemed to labor under the severest affliction.  Human
nature, God be thanked, has its bright as well as its dark side.
Some of the scenes that transpired about and in the fire were
disgraceful beyond measure. The saloons were, many of them
thrown open, and men exhorted to free drinking needed but
one invitation. Hundreds were soon dead drunk, or fighting
and screaming; many thus fell victims to the flames, and some
were dragged away by main force and rescued from roasting.
Even respectable men, seeing that all was lost, sought to drown
their misery by intoxication.
But worse than this were the instances of theft and coldblooded avarice which occurred and have come to light. A




GEEAT FR'S Dn C.ICAGO.              49
book-keeper engaged in conveying away the firm's records fel
fainting in the alley behind the store, overcome by exertion
and suffocated by the smoke and dust. The shock restored him
to consciousness, and upon attempting to rise he found himself
unable to stand. Just then a man was passing, and he hailed
him with a request for help. The wretch offered to assist for a
hundred dollars. The fallen man said, " I have but ten, and 1
will give you that." For this amount he gave his arm to the
poor sufferer, and saved his life. A girl carried her sewing-machine to four different points, and was forced from each by the
advancing fiend.  At last an expressman seized her treasure,
and in spite of all her efforts drove away with it. Said the impoverished girl, " Do you wonder Chicago burned? "  In front
of a wholesale house the sidewalk was bloody from the punishment inflicted by the police upon sneak-thieves. Trunks were
rifled after their owners had placed them out of reach of fire.
They were broken open by dozens on the lake shore, and the
empty trunks tossed into the water. Pieces of broadcloth were
torn into strips three yards long and distributed among a party
who said, " These will make us each a good suit."  Persons who
saw and heard these things were powerless, and the confusion
was so terrible that no one could look out for any one but himself, or interfere for the protection of others' property. It was a
time when the worst forces of society were jubilant, and all the
villains had free course. The Court-House jail had one hundred
and sixty prisoners, and these were let loose to prey upon the
people in the time of their helplessness and extremity. Such
an event was a public calamity; but humanity would not permit
the poor wretches to perish there, and no means were at hand to
convey them to any other place of confinement.
Speedily upon the appearance of dayligh and the resumption
of courage, the Mayor and a few citizens, like Hon. C. C. P.
[!olden, Alonzo Snider, and others, began to organize measures




50                   HISTORY OF TH
for public safety and order. The following proclamation was
issued, and gave confidence:"WHEREAS, in the Providence of God, to whose will we
humbly submit, a terrible calamity has befallen our city, which
demands of us our best efforts for the preservation of order and
the relief of the suffering.
"     BE IT  NOWN that the faith and credit of the city of Chicago is hereby pledged for the necessary expenses for the relief
of the suffering. Public order will be preserved. The Police,
and Special Police now being appointed, will be responsible for
the maintenance of the peace and the protection of property.
All officers and men of the Fire Department and Health Department will act as Special Policemen without further notice.
The Mayor and Comptroller will give vouchers for all supplies
furnished by the different Relief Committees. The head-quarters of the City Government will be at the Congregational
Church, corner of West Washington and Ann streets. All persons are warned against any acts tending to endanger property.
All persons caught in any depredation will be immediately
arrested.
" With the help of God, order and peace and private property
shall be preserved. The City Government and committees of
citizens pledge themselves to the community to protect them,
and prepare the way for a restoration of public and private
welfare.
" It is believed the fire has spent its force, and all will soon
be well.
R. B. MAsoN, Mayor.
GEORGE TAYLOR, Comptroller.
(By R. B. MASON.)
CHARLES C. P. HOLDEN,
President Common Council,
T. B. BROWN,
President Board of Police.
( CHICAGO. October 9, 1871."




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GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               51
The citizens were organized into a police force, and thousands
patrolled the city with a desperate determination to preserve
their property and to punish with sudden vengeance the incendiaries who were prowling about the city. The demoniac purposes of these villains who were attempting incendiarism were
favored by the high winds and the dryness of everything combustible. The people were dreadfully excited in all parts of
the city, and every rumor was caught up and magnified. But
additional assurance was given by the presence of Gen. Phil.
Sheridan, with the regulars and militia, to whom the burnt district was given up for protection. There lay hundreds of safes,
either exposed or buried in the debris.  When these were
opened, ruffians would be on the watch to see whither the contents were conveyed. Cracksmen came in from other cities to
take advantage of the disaster. But the gallant General was
able to announce as follows:" HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,
CHICAGO, Oct. 12.
To His Honor the Mayor:"The preservation of peace and good order of the city having
been entrusted to me by your Honor, I am happy to state that
no case of outbreak or disorder has been reported. No authenticated attempt at incendiarism has reached me, and the people
of the city are calm, quiet, and well-disposed.
6 The force at my disposal is ample to maintain order, should
it be necessary, and protect the district devastated by fire. Still,
I would suggest to citizens not to relax in their watchfulness until the smouldering fires of the burnt buildings are entirely extinguished                     " P. H. SHERIDAN
" Lieutenant-G eneral."
There were hideous instances of cruelty and wickedness
during the conflagration, which no provision could have prevent



52                   HISTORY OF THE
ed. The inmates of the jail were only released after the cupola
of the building fell in, and while they were howling, praying, and
fighting for escape. Immense battering-rams had no effect on
the fastenings from without, and only at the last moment did the
turnkey let them loose into the heart of the burning city. That
which greatly facilitated the progress of the fire, and kept all
the people in terror, was the burning of the famous water-works
on the north side at an early hour on the morning of Monday.
The query may arise, Why any lack of this fluid when a mighty
lake rolled at the city's feet and a river flowed through its heart?
" Water, water everywhere!"  Probably no city has better supplies of water, now that from the bosom of an inland sea we
draw fresh draughts in boundless abundance.  The tunnel that
connects the lake-shaft with the shore is far below the bottom
and is safe, but the engines which lift the water and force it into
reservoirs for distribution were exposed to the irresistible element, and by some strange fatality, whether accidental or otherwise, they early fell a prey to destruction. The grand tower
stands unharmed, and all the connections underground remain
intact.
But massive stone walls and slate roof afforded no protection,
for the city was doomed. And now, when all was dust and smoke
and fire, suddenly the hydrants ceased to flow, and a pang of
alarm and consternation shot through the breasts of the population.
The public parks had water in their fountains and pools, and
to these the multitudes resorted day and night, with every sort ot
vessel that could hold water. It was almost a ludicrous, but
particularly a pitiable sight. The Artesian wells also sent out
their supplies, in carts and wagons, all through the west division,
and the horrors of thirst were averted. The first copious rain which
fell was on Saturday, October 14th, and every householder made
the most of this heavenly bounty. But the next question after




GREAT FIRE    CHICAGO.                53
water was food. Our resources are all cut off; there is no business, and our hundred thousand people must have bread, and not
for one day, but for many days.
The lurid flames shot up in masses that overwhelmed the city,
and no one could tell when there would be a cessation of the
work of ruin, or how sustenance could be provided. Fears of a
bread-riot arose in many minds, because of the imminent approach of deadly want.
At this hour of our extremity, when all seemed toppling to destruction, a cry was heard like that of which we read in tales of
shipwreck, when the lost discern a sail upon the waters. The tidings reached other towns and cities, and were flashed across the
Atlantic, and instantly, spontaneously, nobly, munificently the
responses came back, not only in words of cheer, but in substantial forms-car-loads of cooked food and provisions of every kind,
good wholesome supplies, better than many of the poor had been
wont to enjoy-clothing in bountiful abundance, and money to
be used at the discretion of the authorities. Men who had not
shed a tear till then, shook with uncontrollable emotion and
wept for joy. The gratitude was equal to the charity, if such
an equalization were possible.
We began to realize how intimately the interests of Chicago
were bound up with those of the whole country and the world.
its losses were not local, but almost universal, so that the words
of Schiller scarcely seemed inapplicable here:
"This kingly Wallenstein, whene'er he falls
Will drag a world to ruin down with him;
And as a ship that in the midst of ocean
Catches fire, and shivering springs into the air,
And in a moment scatters between sea and sky
The crew it bore, so will he hurry to destruction
Ev'ry one whose fate was joined with hi."
The representatives of all nations were here, and of all States,




54                   HISTORY OF THE
and communities in North America-the business world were
here by their money or agencies, and the fall of Chicago sent a
tremor throughout the whole fabric of society. This may account, in part, for the uprising of all Christendom to assist in
the terrific exigency, and roll away the burden that was crushing her into the dust.
We give several proclamations by the Governors of the States
adjacent, whose people were fully roused to comprehend the
calamity and meet the extreme demands of the suffering multitude:
BY THE GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS.
STATE OF ILLINOIS,  1
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
John XL. Palmer, Governor of Illinois, To all whom these
presents shall come, greeting:
Whereas, in my judgment, the great calamity that has
overtaken Chicago, the largest city of the State; that has deprived many thousands of our citizens of homes and rendered
them destitute; that has destroyed many millions in value of
property, and thereby disturbing the business of the people and
deranging the finances of the State, and interrupting the execution of the laws, is and constitutes " an extraordinary occasion'
within the true intent and meaning of the eighth section of the
fifth article of the Constitution.
Now, therefore, I, John M. Palmer, Governor of the State of
Illinois, do by this, my proclamation, convene and invite the two
Houses of the General Assembly in session in the city of Springfield, on Friday, the 13th day of the month of October, in the
year of our Lord 1871, at 12 o'clock noon of said day, to take
into consideration the following subjects:1. To appropriate such sum or sums of money, or adopt such
other legislative measures as may be thought judicious, neces



GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               55
sary, or proper, for the relief of the people of the city of Chi
cago.
2. To make provision, by amending the revenue laws or otherwise, for the proper and just assessment and collection of taxes
within the city of Chicago.
3. To enact such other laws and to adopt such other measures
as may be necessary for the relief of the city of Chicago and the
people of said city, and for the execution and enforcement of
the laws of the State.
4. To make appropriations for the expenses of the General
Assembly, and such other appropriations as may be necessary to
carry on the State Government.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the great seal of State to be affixed.
[SEAL.] Done at the city of Springfield, this 10th day of
October, A.D. 1871.
JOHN M. PALMER.
By the Governor,
EDWARD RUMMELL, Secretary of State.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN.
To the People of.Wisconsin:
Throughout the northern part of this State fires have been
raging in the woods for many days, spreading desolation on every
side. It is reported that hundreds of families have been rendered homeless by this devouring element, and reduced to utter
destitution, their entire crops having been consumed.  Their
stock has been destroyed, and their farms are but a blackened
desert. Unless they receive instant aid from portions not visited
by this dreadful calamity, they must perish.
The telegraph also brings the terrible news that a large portion of the city of Chicago is destroyed by a conflagration,
which is still raging. Many thousands of people are thus re



56                   HISTORY OF THE
duced to penury, stripped of their all, and are now destitute of
shelter and food. Their sufferings will be intense, and many
may perish unless provisions are at once sent to them from the
surrounding country. They must be assisted now.
In the awful presence of such calamities the people of Wisconsin will not be backward in giving assistance to their afflicted
fellow-men.
I, therefore, recommend that immediate organized effort be
made in every locality to forward provisions and money to the
sufferers by this visitation, and suggest to mayors of cities,
presidents of villages, town supervisors, pastors of churches,
and to the various benevolent societies, that they devote themselves immediately to the work of organizing effort, collecting
contributions, and sending forward supplies for distribution.
And I entreat all to give of their abundance to help those in
such sore distress.
Given under my hand, at the Capitol, at Madison, this 9th day
of October, A. D. 1871.               LuciuB FAIRCHILD.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN.
STATE OF MICHIGAN, EXECUTIVE OFFICE,
LANSING, Oct. 9.
The city of Chicago, in the neighboring State of Illinois, has
been visited, in the providence of Almighty God, with a calamity
almost unequalled in the annals of history. A large portion of
that beautiful and most prosperous city has been reduced to ashes
and is now in ruins. Many millions of dollars in property, the
accumulation of years of industry and toil, have been swept away
in a moment. The rich have been reduced to penury, the poor
have lost the little they possessed, and many thousands of people
rendered homeless and houseless, and are now without the absolute necessaries of life. I, therefore, earnestly call upon the citi
zens of every portion of Michigan to take immediate measures




GREAT FIrE IN CHICAGO.              57
for alleviating the pressing wants of that fearfully afflicted city
by collecting and'forwarding to the Mayor or proper authorities
of Chicago supplies of food as well as liberal collections of money.
Let this sore calamity of our neighbors remind us of the uncertainty of earthly possessions, and that when one member suffers
all the members should suffer with it. I cannot doubt that the
whole people of the State will most gladly, and most promptly,
and most liberally respond to this urgent demand upon their
sympathy; but no words of mine can plead so strongly as the
calamity itself.
HENRY P. BALDWIN,
Governor of Michigan.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF IOWA.
To the People of Iowa.
An appalling calamity has befallen our sister State. Her
metropolis-the great city of Chicago-is in ruins. Over 100,000
people are without shelter or food, except as supplied by others.
A helping hand let us now promptly give. Let the liberality of
our people, so lavishly displayed during the long period of national peril, come again to the front, to lend succor in this hour
of distress. I would urge the appointment at once of relief committees in every city, town, and township, and I respectfully ask
the local authorities to call meetings of the citizens to devise
ways and means to render efficient aid. I would also ask the
pastors of the various churches throughout the State to take up
collections on Sunday morning next, or at such other time as
they may deem proper, for the relief of the sufferers. Let us not
be satisfied with any spasmodic effort. There will be need of
relief of a substantial character to aid the many thousands to
prepare for the rigors of the coming winter. The'magnificent
public charities of that city, now paralyzed, can do little to this
end. Those who live in homes of comfort and plenty must fur



58                    HISTORY OF THE
nish this help, or misery and suffering will be the fate of many
thousands of our neighbors.
SAMUEL MERRILL, Governor.
DES MOINES, Oct. 10, 1871.
BY TIlE GOYERNOR OF OHIO.
CHIcAGO, Oct. 12.
To the People of Ohio:
It is believed by the best informed citizens here that many
thousands of the sufferers must be provided with the necessaries
of life during the cold winter. Let the efforts to raise contributions be energetically pushed. Money, fuel, flour, pork, clothing, and other articles not perishable should be collected as
rapidly as possible-especially money, fuel, and flour. iMr.
Joseph Medill, of The Tribune, estimates the number of those
who will need assistance at about 70,000.
R. B. HAYES, Governor of Ohio.
As great exigencies develop great men, and peculiar sorrows
call forth the best elements of human nature, thus compensating
men for labors and loss in some measure, glorifying mankind and
bringing down God's richest blessings, so on the bosom of this
mighty sea of trouble rose a light that brightened into perfect
day, and the people of this and other countries put forth their
energies to relieve distress and provide for the army of sufferers.
No sooner was the melancholy news sent forth, than women began to cook, and night and day they filled their ovens with the
best they could prepare, and sent it hot to the depots from whence
it was conveyed to the desolate city. One man superintended
the unloading of two hundred and fifty cars in four days, and
this was but a moiety of the bounty. Everything that came
seemed to be of the best quality, and the poor were never treated
to such a feast. In the midst of all the terror, confusion, dust,
and smoke, arrangements were extemporized for receiving and




GREAT FIRE IN CMCAGO.                59
disbursing supplies. The school buildings and saved church edifices were thrown open, and the citizens received the provisions
and gave them out. Cushions were freely used for beds, and the
poor homeless wanderers rested in God's sanctuaries. In the
Second Baptist basement hundreds found good sleeping accom
modations, and thousands were fed. While the outside public
were so grandly generous, the sufferers found their more fortunate citizens absolutely unselfish and noble in their devotion and
care. The loftier traits of Christian character shone forth conspicuous through the gloom. This was all the more marked, inasmuch as their own spared homes were exposed to fire every
moment, or to pillage, until Sunday a week after the fire. Saturday the rain fell in copious showers, but even on that night
the alarm was great, as may be gathered from the following description in one of the papers:
"The storm which swept over this city on Saturday night was
the severest visitation of that character which we have encountered this season. Early in the evening a pretty stiff breeze blew
from south-south-west. As the hours wore on, the wind veered
around to the westward and gradually increased in strength.
Toward midnight a perfect hurricane from the north-west prevailed. The reflection on the drifting storm-clouds of the burning
coal along the docks struck terror to the hearts of the dwellers in
the far-western portion of the city, who imagined that the glare
was due to another outburst of the fire. Each house had its
anxious watchers, who kept a steady look-out towards the east
lest the fiery destroyer should stealthily approach and devour the
dry remnant of the city. The solidity of those blocks which
front bleak stretches of prairie was put to a severe test all
through the night. No sleep came to quiet the unstrung nerves
of the excited inmates, for the houses and everything about them
rocked and rattled as if from the action of an earthquake. As
morning approached the storm began to abate in violence, and




60                   HISTORY OF THE
the terrible light of the sky gradually faded away. When day
broke full and clear, the wind had almost entirely subsided, to
the intense gratification of weary sentinels.
" It was most fortunate that no incipient fires made their appearance in any distant portion of the West Division. It is terrible even to imagine the result of such a calamity, with water
so scarce and a frightful storm raging.  No power on earth
could have saved us from  utter annihilation.  Happily but
slight damage was done on land by the wind, though what disasters followed on the lake is not yet definitely known. It is
feared that marine casualties have been numerous.  Several
dangerous walls among the south-side ruins were blown down
during the night. Beyond the demolition of the frail steeple of
the San Francisco church, on the corner of Twelfth street and
Newberry avenue, which fell with a loud crash about midnight,
nothing serious occurred on the west side."
Sunday was a day of perfect loveliness, and the people gathered in multitudes
UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE SANCTUARY.' Those places of worship in the South Division which escaped
the sad fate of so many of the finest monuments to architectural
skill in the city, were crowded to overflowing during the services yesterday morning.  A hundred uncovered heads could
have been seen on the sidewalks fronting the few remaining
churches which rear their spires heavenward in that blighted
section. At the hour for the services to commence it was impossible to gain entrance to the auditoriums, and late-comers had to
content themselves with what they could see and hear through
open doors and windows.
" Those long lines of fashionably-attired Christians who were
wont to exhibit themselves on the avenues on other Sabbath




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               61
mornings were not visible yesterday.  The raiment of the
church-goers was as subdued as their feelings. Earnest, thankful prayer substituted itself for ostentatious display, and reverential attention for the thoughtless demeanor of other times. The
services at the churches were of a dual character-sorrowful and
ioyful-sorrow for the unparalleled disasters of the past eventful
week, and joy that so much of this great city has been spared
from the fury of the flames. The sermons were based on the
most appropriate texts, and in the great majority of instances
were brimful of sound wisdom and practical suggestions to the
troubled people.
" The congregations of some of the devastated churches assembled on the still smoking bricks, and offered up fervent thanks
for the preservation of their lives and homes.
"Many an eye was dimmed with tears as little incidents in former Sabbath meetings were recalled to point out more forcibly
the vast differences between now and then. The most impressive of those gatherings was that held on the ruins of Dr. Ryder's
church. A large number were present, and were visibly affected.
"Mr. Cheney preached at Grace Church to a large congregation,
composed of his own parishioners and outsiders unchurched by
the fire. His topic was of course the lesson of the great calamity.
He inculcated patience, lope, and charity, but most especially
economy. We must, for a long time to come, dress plainly, live
coarsely, and be generous to the very extreme of our means.
" The discourse was eloquent and abounded in practical suggestions.
" The goodly number of the Church of the Unity, Rev. Robert
Collyer, met on the ruins of their late beautiful temple. The
ladies and gentlemen were not fashionably dressed, and some of
them not even comfortably, considering the fresh wind that blew
in from the prairies upon them. The pastor stood in front of
the arch of entrance, upon an ornamental stone fallen from the




62                   HISTORY OF THE
cornice. His congregation gathered in a semicircle in front of
him. The scene was like a convention of early Christians in the
Catacombs. Words of significance were read from Isaiah 54th
and 65th. Then the congregation sang the 100th psalm,'Before Jehovah's awful throne,' the pastor lining it. The hymn
sung was,'Awake our souls, away our fears.' The sermon was
a tearful effort to be courageous under overshadowing discouragements. He only hovered on the edges of the great subject
uppermost in everybody's mind. The speaker said that he had
been trying to find some altitude of soul, some height of sentiment
from which he could look down and thank God for what had
occurred. At some future time he might be able to accomplish
it. He could not thank God now. The sorrow was too near.
After this expression, the speaker enumerated the few things
which were left to be thankful for, and expressed the opinion
that a more glorious future for the church and the congregation
might arise from this dreadful past. He said that he should
stay with his people through their bitter trial, and consider any
offer of a position elsewhere not exactly as an insult, but as
something resembling it.
" A list of the insurances on the edifice was read. It amounted to $105,000, of which at least $75,000 will be recovered. A
place of meeting will be at once obtained, and regular Sabbath
services will be held in the future.
" St. James's Church is one of the historical edifices of the city.
It has also been noted for benevolence, as much as twenty or
thirty thousand dollars having in single instances been collected
at its Sunday services. Services were held yesterday at the ruins,
the pastor, Mr. Thompson, officiating, and the attendance being
good. The excellent choir furnished the music without organ accompaniment. The sermon was brief and delivered in a faltering
voice to weeping, broken hearted auditors. At a meeting of the
vestry, immediately succeeding the service, Hon. I. N. Arnold




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               3
made a brief address, speaking of what the church had done for
others, and saying that outside aid in rebuilding would be gratefully received. A committee of five were appointed to attend to
immediate and necessary business."
R. L. COLLIER said:" I have been busy in a more sacred ministry than that of arranging precise and careful thoughts for this occasion. I have
thrown together this morning such reflections as have come to
me. I thank God that our church still stands, and hope it will
morally stand far more than ever before.
" I have heard not a little speculation about the moral significance of our great calamity, and men who meant better have unwittingly accused God of a great wickedness when they have intimated that it was a judgment of Heaven because of the ungodliness o our city.
" 1. First of all, judgments of Heaven are never retrospective, but always prospective-that is, they are never of the backward glance, but always of the forward.  This calamity, as all
calamities, has a meaning, and its purpose is to work out God's
unchanging will and beneficent design. The individual and
temporary good or ill that may come of it will depend wholly
upon the spirit with which we receive it.
" The chief element visible to our eyes by which the fire was
brought about was the great drought. There has not occurred a
great fall of rain for more than two years, and the whole region
is a tinder-box. Our city of shanties and sheds was in a fit condition for the mingled furies of flame and wind.
"As to the fire being a judgment, in the sense of a punishment from Heaven because of the sinfulness of the people, I
remark:
" God's way is otherwise.  He disciplines without destroying,
and builds up without pulling down. No such punishment could




64                   HISTORY OF THE
possibly do any good if it were only received as a wilful infliction of the rod of Heaven.
"2. Then there was no reason why Chicago should have been
made an example for the rest of the world. Of course, we were
a people of great worldliness and selfishness, of great boasting
and parade; but certainly no city of the Christian world has
ever done more, according to its means, for schools, churches,
and charities.
" The poor have been systematically provided for, and freely
educated in school and church. There have been from the first
saintly men and women whose cry has gone up to God, and he
has heard them.
3. The judgment is meant to look forward, not backward.
" We have chiefly magnified the rights of individuals rather
than of society. We have been shockingly short-sighted, in the
boundaries of our fire limits, in permitting so many or any
wooden buildings within the limits of the city, and to-day the
fire limits should be the city limits.
" We have given full sway to drinking, gambling, and licentious
houses, and have by our moral laxity invited to the city, and
harbored in it a criminal population almost equal to that of
London, which is the worst on the face of the earth.
" We have thus done less to reform this very population, when
in our power, than almost any other city. Our Bridewell and
jail have cried aloud to heaven for help and redress.
"We have had the experience of the whole world back of us,
and yet, in building a great city and centre of civilization, we
have given the work into the hands of greedy real estate speculators, and have selfishly taken care of our own concerns.
"We have drifted, too, into the hands of a set of tricky politicians, the spirit of which is illustrated by our present City
Council, and the only recognized aristocracy of the city is a set
of ignorant and recently enriched social swells and snobs.




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                65
"Now, [ say the judgment of our calamity is to teach us to
cure these evils. We must learn, shortly, economy in our homes
and business management. I am not hoping to see again such
elegant residences and business blocks-I certainly never desire
to. Europe knows better than we in these matters. Let our
civic buildings and monuments, our school buildings and churches,
our public libraries in each section of the city, our colleges of
the learned professions, be grand and impressive as may be. In
these we can illustrate our genius for beauty and sacrifice.
When our business and domestic expenses are less, we can have
more to give to public uses.
" What is lost?
" 1. Our houses.  Thousands of families are houseless and
penniless.
" 2. Our business. This is temporary.
"3. Our money. This is a great misfortune, but one which
we can repair.
"We have not lost" 1. Our geography. Nature called the lakes, the forest, the
prairies together in convention long before we were born, and
they decided that on this spot a great city should be built-the
railroads and energetic men have aided to fulfill the prophecy.
" 2. We have not lost our men-noble, generous, and of
genius.
" 3. We have not lost our hope. This city is to be at once
rebuilt, and the glory of the latter house shall be greater than
that of the former.
" Our duty.-We are in the poetry of the fire as yet. There
is a dreamy, hazy romance about it. Stern reality will come to
us more and more all winter.    The temptation will be to
greater selfishness on the part of those who have anything left.
We must share to the last cent with the needy. Keep courage




66                   HISTORY OF THE
up, and give to others. Our churches must go on, and in them
we must work as never before.
" God is on our side, and has left us something to do, something to hope for, something to love."
Here we may introduce the magnificent appeal made in Bos
ton by Rev. E. E. Hale, at a meeting of citizens held to consider
our calamity.
Rev. E. E. Hale being introduced by the Mayor, spoke substantially as follows:
" MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN:-It is but a single word that I
have to say here. I have simply to remind you that this is no
mere matter of voting in which we are engaged. I have to
remind you that these people, our people in Chicago, by their
munificence, by their generosity, by their strength, by their publie spirit, have made us debtors to them all. [Applause]. There
is not a man here the beef upon whose table yesterday was not
the cheaper to him because these people laid out that worldrenowned and wonderful system  of stock-yards. [Applause].
There is not a man here the bread upon whose table to-day is
not cheaper because these people, in the very beginning of their
national existence, invented and created that mavellous system
for the delivery of grain which is the model and pattern of the
world. [Applause]. And remember that they were in a position
where they might have said they held a monopoly. They commanded the only harbor for the shipping of the five greatest
States of America and the world, and in that position they have
devoted themselves now for a generation to the steady improvement, by every method in their power, of the means by which
they were going to answer the daily prayer of every child to God
when praying that He will give us our daily bread, through their
enterprise and their struggles. We call it their misfortune. It
is our misfortune. We are all, as it has been said, linked together




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               67
in a solidarity of the nation. Their loss is no more theirs than it
is ours in this great campaign of peace in which we are engaged.
There has fallen by this calamity one of our noblest fortresses.
Its garrison is without munitions. It is for us at this instant to
reconstruct that fortress, and to see that its garrison are as well
placed as they were before in our service. Undoubtedly it is a
great enterprise; but we can trust them for that. We are all
fond of speaking of the miracle by which there in the desert
there was created this great city. The rod of some prophet,
you say, struck it, and this city flowed from the rock. Who
was the prophet? what was the rock? It was the American
people who determined that that city should be there, and that it
should rightly and wisely, and in the best way, distribute the food
to a world. [Applause]. The American people has that duty to
discharge again. I know that these numbers are large numbers.
I know that when we read in the newspapers of the destruction
of a hundred millions of property those figures are so large that
we can hardly comprehend them. But the providence of God has
taught us to deal with larger figures than these, and when, not many
years ago, it became necessary for this country in every year to
spend not a hundred millions, not a thousand millions, but more
than a thousand millions of dollars in a great enterprise which
God gave this country in the duty of war, this country met its
obligation. And now that in a single year we have to reconstruct one of the fortresses of peace, I do not fear that this country will be backward in its duty. It has been truly said that the
first duty of all of us is, that the noble pioneers in the duty that
God has placed in their hands, who are burned and suffering,
-hall have food; that by telegraph and railroad they shall know
that we are rushing to their relief; that their homeless shall be under shelter, and their naked clothed; that those who for these forty-eight hours have felt as if they were deserted, should know that
they have friends everywhere in God's world. [Applause]. Mr.




68                   HISTORY OF TIHE
President, as God is pleased to order this world there is no partial
evil but from that partial evil is reached the universal good. The
fires which our fiiends have seen sweeping in their western
horizon over the plains in the desolate autumn, only bring
forth the blossoms and richness of the next spring and next
summrner.
" 1 can well believe that on that terrible night of Sunday, and
all tlrough the horrors of Monday, as those noble people, as
those gallant workmen, threw upon the flames the water that
their noble works-tlhe noblest that America has seen-enabled
them to hurl upon the enemy, that they must have imagined
that their work was fruitless, that it was lost toil, to see those
streams of water playing into the molten mass, and melt into steam
and rise innocuous to the heavens. It may well have seemed that
their work was wasted; but it is sure that evil shall work out its
own end, and the mists that rose from the conflagration were
gathered together for the magnificent tempest of last night, which,
falling upon those burning streets, has made Chicago a habitable
city to-day. [Applause]. See that the lesson for this community,
see that the lesson for us who are here, that the horror and tears
with which we read the despatches of yesterday, shall send us out
to do ministries of truth and bounty and benevolence to-day.
[Applause]."
It was in this spirit that men everywhere looked upon the
woful disaster and its relation to other communities, and a more
appreciative people never lived than the Chicagoans, who poured
out their thankfulness to God and implored His divinest blessings on the benevolent self-sacrificing public. All jealousies
seemed buried and forgotten, and our great rivals-MAilwaukee,
St. Louis, and Cincinnati-were profuse and generous beyond
precedent in their donations for our benefit. Engines were despatched, provisions and money flowed forth fiom their noble:aarts, and thus our sorrow and burden became theirs, and we




GREAT FIRE IN CIHICAGO.               69
were brotllelrs in distress. The feelings of her citizens were well
expressed in the Tribune, wlich said:
" Aid the general gloon, tlhe public distress, and the widespread wreck of private property, the heart of the most ilNpoverished man is warmed and lightened by thle universal symlpatly
and aid of his fellow-countrymen. TIlelre were cities that looked
upon Chlicago as a rival. Her unexampled success had provoked
hostility,-amounting at times to bitterness. In tlhe ranks of
munici)alities Chicago stood pre-eminent, and that eminence had
drawn upon her the prejudices, and often thle ill-natured jealousies of her supposed rivals. But tle fire ended all this.
Hardly had the news reacled those cities beftore our sorrows were
made theirs. Tle noble-hearted people did not wait for details;
they suspended all otler business, each mian giving of his money
and his property to be sent to Chiclgo. Bcibre the fire had
ceased its ravages, trains laden with supplies of food and clotling
had actually reaclled the city. St. Louis and Cincinnati, M{ilwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Louisville were active, even
while the fire was burning, in providing for the relief of devastatbd Chicago. Every semblance of rivalry had disappeared.
Not an ungenerous or selfish thought was uttered-e'verywhere
the great brotherhood of man was vindicated, and our loss was
made the loss of the nation.
"In the light of this experience, how absurd are the crimina
tions and controversies of men. The hospitality and humanity
of those in our city who have retained tleir hlomes, toward their
less fortunate neighbors, though marked by every feature of unselfish charity, has failed even to equal the zealous efforts and
generous actions of the people of the country, who have laid
aside all other business to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and
give shelter to the roofless of Chicago.
" The national sympathy for us in our distress has shown that
in the presence of human suffering there are no geographical




70                   HISTORY OF THE
lines, no sectional boundaries, no distinction of politics or creeds.
The Samaritans have outlived the Levites, and there has been no
such thing as passing by on the other side. The wine and Ail
have been distributed with a lavish hand, and the moneys have
been deposited to pay for the lodging of the bruised and homeless.
"Words fail to express the grateful feelings of our people.
Men who braved the perils of the dreadful Monday, who witnessed the destruction of all their worldly goods, and who with
their families struggled for life upon the prairies during the awful
destruction, and bravely endured it all, could not restrain the
swelling heart or grateful tears when they read what the noble
people of the country had done for Chicago; how the rich and
the poor, whites and blacks, all-men, women, and children-had
done something to alleviate the distress and mitigate the suffering of fellow-beings in far-off Chicago. How true it is that' one
touch of pity makes the whole world kin.'  In some cities the
contributions have exceeded an average of a dollar for each member of the population, and in the abundance that has been given
unto us the aggregate is largely made up from the prompt offerings of the humble and the poor as well as of the rich. Future
statisticians may compute in tabular array the commercial value of
the donations to Chicago; but only in the volume of the recording angel will be known the inestimable blessings of that merciful, generous, humane charity which this calamity has kindled in
the hearts of the whole American people.
"In due time there will be a formal and complete acknowledg
ment of donations, public and private; but in the meantime let
the nation rejoice that underneath all the conflicts in which men
are forever engrossed there is a latent spark of universal brother
hood, which needs but the occasion to develop into the most
genial warmth. Property may be lost, wealth may be obliterated, but that people must be great who have hearts in which




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.             71
charity for human suffering cannot be stifled under any possible
event."
Early in the period of want the more notable contributions
were as follows:A. T. Stewart, of New York, $50,000; City of Brooklyn,
$100,000; New York Board of Trade, $13,000; Gold Room,
$7,000; Corn Exchange, $28,000; Produce Exchange $5,000;
Stock Board, $50,000; A. Belmont, Brown Brothers, Jessup &
Co., and Duncan, Sherman & Co., of New York, $5,000 each;
Fisk & Hall, $10,000; District of Columbia, $100,000; W. W.
Corcoran, Washington, $3,000; President Grant, $1,000; Pliladelphia Commercial Exchange, $10,000; Rochester, N. Y.,
$70,000; Troy (N. Y.) Board of Trade, $10,000; London,
Canada, $5,000; Hamilton, Canada, $5,000; Montreal, $20,000;
Springfield, Mass., $15,000; Pittsfield, $5,000;  IIolyoke,
$2,000; Albany (N. Y.) Board of Lumber Dealers, $6,000;
Buffalo, N. Y., $100,000; Elmira, $10,000; Syracuse, $31,000; Niagara Falls, $10,000; City of Baltimore, $100,000,
besides private subscriptions of $10,000; Robert Bonner, New
York, $50,000; Spragues, of Providence, R. I., $10,000; Cincinnati Elastic Sponge Co., of Cincinnati, 100 sponge mattresses;
the newsboys and bootblacks of Cincinnati, the proceeds of two
days' labor; the Jane Coombs' Comedy Company, the proceeds
of entertainment; Carl Pretzel, the proceeds of a lecture; every
one in the Interior Department, one day's wages; Washington
hacknmen, one day's fares; Stone, of the New York Journal of
Commerce, $5,000; Peoria, $75,000, and much food; Utica,
$20,000; Worcester, $50,000; Toronto, $10,000; St. Joseph,
Mo., $8,000; New York City, in all up to October 11, $450,000,
and immense quantities of provisions, clothing, etc.; Liverpool,
cargoes of provisions; J. S. Morgan & Co., London, $5,000;
Dayton, $20,000; Lawrence, Kan., $13,000; New York dry goods
houses, $20,000; Indianapolis, $75,000, and much provisions;




72                   HISTORY OF TIIE
Louisville, $70,000 in public and private subscriptions, and much
besides; St. Louis, $300,000, and unlimited quantities of provisions, etc.; Cincinnati, $200,000, and much of every needful
thing; Milwaukee the first to help us; Berkeley street, Boston,
$10,000; Baltimore Episcopal Convention, $2,000; Baltimore
Corn Exchange, $7,000; Albany City, $12,000; lMelnphis,
$40,000; Mr. Shaw, of Pittsburgh, $5,000; otlier private subscriptions at Pittsburgh, $40,000; Kansas City, $26,000; Tennessee Legislature, $5,000; Evansville, $16,000; Boston Iide
and Leather Exchange, $10,000.
Herewith come the munificent offerings of foreign countries.
The Common Council of London unaninously agreed to forward 1,000 guineas immediately to the Mayor of Chicago. Appropriate resolutions of sylpathy were passed.
Tle Lord Mayor received contributions fiom private individuals of upward of ~7,000 sterling.
Baring, Morgan, Rothschild, Brown, Shipley & Co., of London,
the Great Western Railroad of Canada, and the Grand Trunk
Railroad, subscribed ~1,000 each. The Liverpool Chainber of
Commerce voted ~5,000. The American Chamber contributed
$13,000. Mass meetings to secure further aid were held all over
England.
The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce unanimously re
quested the calling of a meeting to organize relief.
A committee of the chief merchants of Southampton have
opened subscriptions, and called upon the citizens generally to
contribute.
At Berlin, the President of the Police heads the lists for the
relief fund.
At Frankfort-on-the-Main, the leading banks and merchants
took active interest in the relief movement in securing subscrip
tions.
In the world's history there was never such an outpouring, so




GREAT FIRE IN CIICAGO.                73
spontaneous and immense-not one more sincerely appreciated.
All tlese actual gifts were hicaped upon us in the day of adversity, and at tile same time 1bankls and insurance comnpanies lroffered sympathy and cheering words. So vast were tlhe losses that
nobody thouglt securities of any vallc, and were ready to sell
out their policies for five or ten cents on a dollar. Gradually
the mists rolled away, and better tidings came, whic served
to brace up and sustain tlle flagging spirits of men whlo lhad lost
great sums or little. Men spoke bravely to caic otlher and(l gave
assuring views of the future of Chicago. Thousands fled from
the doomed city to towns in thle vicinity, giving up all, and removed to their former homes. Indeed tley could do nothing
else, as they were little better than beggars. The inajority began
to look about them for new business places, or for sites for
homes, for work, and opportunities of recoveringc their losses.
It was felt tllat the importance of the city in a conmmercial
view had not been over-estimated, and tllat business must seek
this centre, and men live here. If tlhe men who are here, and
have lost, do not seize the opportunity, others will pluck the
golden fruit, for a great city must rise on these ruins. Slowly
but steadily the tide of hope rose, till the volume bore all
upon its bosom, and every one set to work to remove the debris
and rebuild tlheir fortunes. In their confidence they began to
suggest preparations against a recurrence of another similar disaster.  Gross errors were brought to light by the searching element, wllich tried every man's work of what sort it was.  The
arclitecture of the Post-Office and Custom-House building,
which, proving to be a sham and a fiaud of the worst kind, has
involved the loss of an immense sum of money.
Tlhe vault in tlhe Sub-Treasury office, in which Collector McClean had deposited all the funds pertaining to his department,
was built upon the second story. It rested upon two iron pillars built from the basement, with two iron girders of great




74                   HISTORY OF THE
strength and weight connected with the wall. A third girder
connected tle two pillars, forming a framework. A heavy fireproof vault was built upon this foundation, and proved to be
about the weakest in the city to resist the fierceness of the fire.
There were in the vault at the time of the fire $1,500,000 in
greenbacks, $300,000 in National Bank notes, $225,000 in gold,
and $5,000 in silver; making a total of $2,030,000, of which
$230,000 was in specie.
In an old iron safe which was left outside the vault was deposited $35,000, consisting of mutik'ted bills and fiactional currency. This safe was regarded with scorn and deemed unworthy
a place in the vault. But like the little fishes in the net, its insignificance saved it. When the building caught fire, and blazed
with fervent heat, the miserable iron pillars melted, and the immense vault, with its fabulous treasures, fell to tlhe basement,
burying the insignificant safe and its mutilated contents. The
consequence was that the contents of tlhe latter were saved, while
$1,800,000 in currency was burned to ashes and hopelessly lost.
The specie was scattered over the basement floor and fused
with the heat. There are lumps of fused eagles valued at from
$500 to $1,000, blackened and burned, but nevertheless good as
refined gold. The employ6s have been compelled to rake the
ruins of the whole building, and have recovered altogetlher about
five-sixths of the whole amount. It is probable that man)y days
will pass before they will be able to find tlle remainder.
It is a fortunate circumstance tlat only a week ago $500,000
in gold, and $25,000 in silver, had been slipped froml the city.
Tlhe building was, as before stated, a fraud of the most barefaced description, and consequently an everlasting disgrace to
the country. That a vault containing treasure to the amount
actually lost should be supported only on two iron pillars, which
gave way and let it fall' in ruins, and should yet make a boast of
being fire-proof, is a piece of irony the most acute.




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               75
But this vault was only one of the frauds. The fire-proof
doors of the Post-Office vault, in which were stored the records,
proved frailer still. The hinges of the massive portals which
were to protect the government records were only affixed to a
single brick. When, therefore, the walls expanded with the heat,
the sturdy doors fell out of their own weight, each hinge carrying with it the single brick to which it held, while the remainder
of the wall was as firm as possible.
Of course all the records were hopelessly ruined.
This vault was fire and burglar proof. Experts are not the
only persons who can judge of the value of a vault whose doors
had such a feeble hold.
The building is one of a large number built in the same way;
and the condition of the lower vault suggests great weakness in
those erected in other cities. It is probable that the Government will order an inspection of all existing vaults. The accompanying views upon the events of the time and the future Chicago were published, and deserve consideration and preservation.
The unexpected fury of this fire must put in suspicion all precautions commonly used.
" Tlhe spirit displayed by the business men of this city in rebuilding is astonishing, and deserving of the highest praise after
a calamity so terrible as the recent conflagration. That Chicago
will rise again, and not only resume her old position, but become
in time the first city on this continent, seems to me to be as certain as the perpetuation of our government and the increase of
our population.
"It should be borne in mind at this time that there were
certain defects in the plan of Chicago, arising from the rapidity
of its construction, which seemed beyond remedy, except at
enormous cost; but now it is possible, by considering the subjedt in time, and taking advantage of the experience of other
cities, to make such rearrangements as will make tlie plan




76                   IHISTORY OF TnE
and accommodations of this city suitable for the metropolis of
America.
"Tle present burnt district, on the south side, is, by universal
consent, to become the centre of tile city, and every consideration indicates tliat it slhould be so. Were tlhe whlole city to be
laid out anew, tile natural features of tlle country and tlhe railroad
communications would point to the south side as the centre.
The business operations will commence here, and radiate, as
heretofore, to tlme south, west, and north, but more to the south,
owing to tlie fact that the communication is uninterrupted by
natural obstacles. Into this centre hundreds of thousands of
people will pour daily, coming fiom the residence portion of the
city, tlle suburbs, and the whole country.
" Tlere is always, iln great cities, an immense amount of time
lost in going to and from business, and in the absence of proper
accommodations for doing business after the business centre is
reacled. Persons familiar with the city of New York understand this fully. Two or three hours of the day are consumed
in travelling to and fro, and, owing to the crowds in the streets,
the contracted markets and places of exchange, the time required to transact business is doubled and trebled.
( Now, the points which seem to me to be considered at this
time and be fully provided for, are:
" 1. The laying out of certain lines for steam communication
from the centre of business to the suburbs, to be so arranged as
not to obstruct tlhe street travel, or be interrupted by it. Thils
most essential element of a modern metropolis can never be secured or arranged for so well as at present.
"2. The arrangement of commodious and central depots for the
great lines of railroads centering in the city.
"3. A commodious levee along the river for public docks, a
grand market, and a grand plaza, where all can go without paying tribute. Instead of having buildings built close down to the




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               77
river bank, let there be an open space on each side of the river
devoted to the above purposes.
" 4. The great leading lines of business should be consolidated
or concentrated on certain streets running north and south.
There slould be a financial centre, a dry goods centre, a hardware centre, etc.
" 5. An open square for public meetings and out-door business.
The Court-House square suggests itself at once. Let the CourtHouse go further south and leave the present square open.
"Let it be surrounded by banks, brokers' offices, etc., and there
will be room for everybody. Tlese suggestions are hurriedly
thrown out, but they should be considered, and a committee
representing all interests slould be appointed to draw up a
scheme by which these desirable results can be secured. In the
rebuilding of the city these matters can all be arranged for the
benefit of all.
" The business portion of Chicago had already become overcrowded with the street cars, onnibuses, other vellicles, and footpassengers. The limit of capacity had almost been reached.
"You believe in Chicago's future, and a few minutes' reflection
will convince any one that more space is needed for tle future,
and that concentration and co-operation on the part of business
men is necessary to make the best use of the ground now available.             Very truly yours,
"D. C. HOUSTON,
"Major U. S. Engineers, Brevet Colonel, U. S. Army.
" CICAGO, October 13, 1871."
The general prevailing opinion became so favorable to this
view tlat temporary places were provided on city land for present use, in order that where permanent buildings slould be
erected they might be of tlhe most substantial nature and enduring quality. This was strongly contended for in a leading editorial of the Tribuno:




78                   HISTORY OF THE
"Tle futility of locking the stable-door after the horse is
stolen is proverbial. Equally futile would any suggestions as to
the best preventive of fires seem after the city is burnt up. Any
hints, therefore, which may be made on this subject, in these
columns, must be taken as referring to the new Chicago which
has already commenced to grow up from the ruins of the old
Chicago. The cause which operated most fatally to render the
catastrophe of Sunday night complete is a matter of no question
among those who are acquainted with our city. It was the large
area of inflammable buildings, lumber-yards, and other tinderboxes with which the multitude of really noble buildings of central Chicago were surrounded. Tile magnificent piles of marble
which lined our business streets, and of which we had begun to
be so justly proud, had been seen and admired by so many vis
itors from abroad that the complete destruction with which these
palaces of art met on that fatal night has excited, even outside
of Chicago, no less astonishment than sorrow. Chicago had, up
to within a very few years, the reputation of being the most
wretchedly-built city of its size in America. The miles of marble stores and churches, and public buildings, through which the
visitor of the last year or two has been driven in "doing"
Chicago, have dissipated this unfairorable opinion of the outside
world, and drawn to our city a great measure of credit for its
business architecture. But this architecture had its weak points,
and these have now been made painfully and vividly appalrent.
"The fault of the fire, however, lies more with the public
itself than with the architects. We have been too good-natured
toward those who have, to save a few hundred dollars of their
expenses, persistently kept in jeopardy the safety of the whole
community by maintaining in the heart of the city great numbers of the most inflammable structures. It was the thousand
or so of dry pine shanties and rookeries between the lake and
the river and south of Monroe street which did the business for




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               79
Chicago on that terrible night. With these huddled around them,
and emitting vast clouds of burning brands, which the hurricane
forced into every cranny and through every window, tle fine
stone rows of the avenues and of the principal streets could no
more resist the raging element than the chaff can resist the
whirlwind. There may have been, and doubtless were, occasional weaknesses in the construction of the later-built stores and
public edifices-a too fragile cornice, or windows too much exposed-but the fact that buildings, for which everything possible
to architecture had been done to make them fire-proof, went
with the rest, tells plainly that the only fault-the grand fault to
which the general destructiveness is traceable-was in allowing
the fire so much material on which to feed until it became too
great for human power to resist. We had spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars in spasmodic efforts to exorcise the fire-fiend
from our limits, and yet we were all the while furnishing him
with the material and the space with which to organize for his
deadly work. We had been industriously feeding him on the
only rations wherecsi. ne could thrive.
" Let these. lons be cut off from this time forward. One of
the first duties which the Mayor and Common Council should
attend to is the enactment and strict enforcement of a comprehensive ordinance for the protection of the city against all future
general conflagrations. In the business quarter now devastated
there must, of course, be some temporary structures thrown
together for the accommodation of business until better quarters
can be provided. But the permits for these should be strictly
confined to a certain limit of time-say six months fiom this
date. It should then be ordained by the Council that the fire
limits, within which no frame building, lumber stack, or other
inflammable structure shall be erected, shall be extended very
considerably, so as to embrace all sections of the city which are
now, or are likely to become, central. And the ordinance should




80                    HISTORY OF TIE
contain a rigid prohibition against roofs, facings, or cornices of
wood, or of such flimsy material as to be easily penetrated or
displaced.' It should be ordained, furtler, for the encouragement of thorough building in all parts of the city, that no fram-e building
or out-building, of no matter whlat dimensions, shall be erected
within fifty feet of any brick, stone, or iron structure, and that
all livery-stables, planing-mills, factories, foundrics, sliops, or
other buildings, wherein furnaces, steam-boilers, or otler machinery or apparatus requiring much fire, or endangering explosions, shall be built of brick, stone, or iron, and that no division
walls therein slhall be of wood.
" To these precautions should be added a system of waterbasins, or low reservoirs, to be supplied with water, independent
of the general I Tmping wolrks-perhaps by direct inflow from
the lake or river-perhaps fromr artesian wells. It will not take
any extravagant outlay to obviate, by such means, the possibility
of any such calamity inl the future as the failure of the water slupply wlile a conflagration is yet raging.
" Otler precautions will doubtless suggest themselves to
practical men on a careful examination of the subject. None
should be omitted which are necessary to make Clicago the
most indestructible city in the world. Our fire record lias been
hitherto-even l)efore the late calamity-the worst in America.
Let it be hlenceforth the best. We must not, wlile suffering
the manifold curses of the great fire, lose any of the blessings,
of which the greatest are unquestionably the lessons and the
opportunity wlicl it affords us for fortifying against future
calamities of the kind. We cannot expect that we will not
have our daily quota of half a dozen or more incipient fires.
We cannot be sure that severe droughts will not come, followed
by gales like that of last Sunday night. But we can take care
that those exigencies, over which the city as a community has




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                81
no control, are guarded against by all the measures which are
within our control.  San Francisco has suffered grievously by
fires, which raked her from west to east, leaving notling but
ruin in tlheir track. She is subject, during a considerable period of every year, to botli droughts and gales quite as severe as
those lwhicli contributed to our present misfortune; but slie i
now able to defy them all, having, by the means similar to those
which we have now suggested, secured a system of fire-proof
buildings-fire-proof streets, we might say-which are not only
the pride and trust of all her citizens, but the admiration of all
visitors. It is important that the burnt district of Cllicago be
rebuilt as speedily as possible; but paramount to that and all
else is the necessity that it be built permanently and well.
Chicago must rise again; and not only must she rise, but rise
to stand as long as the world revolves."
If deep moral lessons could be conveyed and impressed by
any calanity, it would certainly seem that this was tile dispensation for such a schoolirp as men never got before. The North
Division was thoroughly ruined, only Ogden's house and the
Grant Place nI. E. church remaining.  Here, on this bumrnt district, Pandemonium seemed to reign on Sundays; here were the
breweries and distilleries.  Hence the opposition to Sabbath
laws. In the South Division all the brothels, gambling-hells, and
theatres were swept clean, as with the besom of destruction.
All the monuments of human energy and skill were levelled
and destroyed. Now, will men rage and thirst for riches as they
have done, when at one fell swoop the fire demon has melted their
idol?  Will vice and crime riot as they have done, eating out the
very vitality of the city? In the presence of death and woe will
men forget the better part? How insignificant seemed man as
we stood by the dead in the Morgue! Mere pailfuls of charred
bones and flesh indicated the existence of those who but the day
before were full of lusty life. Oh t helpless man, call upon God,




82                   HISTORY OF THE
the living God. Here lay the body of a beautiful young girl, of
perlaps two and twenty.  This poor victim has a wealth of rich
brown hair, and brown eyes; she is four feet in height, and possesses a handsome figure. She must in life have been exceedingly
lovely. Not being burned at all, she suffocated in the smoke, as did
many of the other victims whose remains were afterwards consumed by the flames. A father lying on his face was recognized dy
his motherless children as they looked upon his head. We turn
from these sad relics of humanity to gaze on the wreck of wealth
around us. No city can equal now the ruins of Chicago, not even
Pompeii, much less Paris.
Tens of thousands have come in to view these remains of a
once proud metropolis, to which no description is adequate. They
are bleak and lonely. It is a phantom city.
The little one-story fiame shanty, in the rear of which was the
barn in which the fire originated, on De Koven street, stands today alone and uninjured. The flames swept around it on every
side, igniting everything else, while that miserable structure
stands-a monument of the place where the fire commenced.
Under the light of the sun, wandering among the ruins of a
day, the beholder cannot dispel the illusion that he is the victim
of some Aladdinic dream, and that he has been transported with
the speed of light, by the genius of the lamp or ring, and set
down among the ruins of the Titanic ages. Arabia Petra looks
upon us from the stone walls of the Post-Office, and the Catacombs of Egypt stare at us from the embrasure-like windows of
the Court-House wings. Cleopatra's Needle and the Tower of
Babel find duplicates in the water-tower and the smoke-stacks of
ruined factories. Tadmor of the desert, with its sandy tumuli,
appears on every hand in the crumbling piles of brick and mortar; the walls of ancient Jerusalem arise in the ruins of the great
Central and Rock Island depots, and the pillared ruins of Cairo
and Alexandria in the roofless front of IHonore Block. The puz



GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              83
zler Sphynx is doubly reproduced in the one-time green lions ot
Ross and Gossage; while the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and the
gladiatorial arena of ancient Greece and Rome find their counterpart in the fire-built ruins of last week's palaces. Here all
time is reproduced in a moment. The destroyer works by earthquake, by storm, by the attrition of the ages, and by fire. Time
works slowly, and takes a thousand years in which to make an
ornamental ruin; fire works with lightning speed, and sets before our eyes the ruins of a world in the compass of a single night.
A night of more grandeur can scarcely be imagined than that
of our ruined city after nightfall. As far as the eye can reach
to the north, east, and south, the smouldering flames, scarcely
perceptible during the day, give just enough light to render
indistinctly visible the ruined walls of the one-time busy palaces,
teeming with life and traffic-now not even a fit abiding-place
for bats and owls. Away in one direction appear the walls of a
marble-front row on Wabash avenue, the spectre windows of
which are lit up by the blazing ruins on the other side, looking
like the fire-demon with a hundred burning eyes, crouching for
a spring across the South Branch, to bring destruction on the
remainder of the doomed city. Looking away through the iron
stays of one of the few remaining bridges, to the northward, an
immense heap of burning grain and coal lights up the background, against which everything is clear-cut and definite-a disjointed skeleton stretches its bare and bony arms toward heaven,
as if chained in an attitude of supplication by the fire-fiend.
Here and there blue, red, and green lights flit like spectres and
hobgoblins over the graves of buried commerce. Ever and anon
a falling wall pitches headlong to the earth with a heavy, deadened thud, like the drum-beat of the destroying angel, calling a
rally of his sooty cohorts for a fresh and final charge. Against
this threatening host a wall of stout hearts is the only thing
opposed.




64                    HISTORY OF THE
Soon all this scene will be changed and the ruins disappear.
To some places a ruin is a God-send, as travellers find in the Old
World. Here we want no such mournful mementoes, and the
people say let us put away the doleful spectacle as soon as possible. The following suggestion is certainly original, and appeared in the journals:
" Chicago will be rebuilt. Nature designed this site for the great
internal city of the world, and time will remove every trace of our
present unparalleled calamity. When that time comes mankind
will be incredulous as to our present greatness or losses. It is
possible now to build a monument that will stand for ages. Let
the safes which are rendered worthless by the fire be collected
and piled into a pyramid in one of our public parks. It would
be higher than the dome of the Court-House, and would be in
the future the greatest curiosity of the city.
" The prevailing spirit of owners of real estate may be fairly
indicated by the way in which a Vermonter, who had just arrived,
viewed the situation. He was standing on Wabash avenue, in
fiont of his particular pile of bricks, and thus manifested himself:'When I heard of it I thought I would come out and see about
it. I made my money here, and I lost part of it there; I've got
some left, and by to-morrow night I'll have a brick block started.'
This seemed to be the general sentiment, and the only regret was
the inopportuneness of the season and the lack of skilled labor to
carry on the immense amount of business necessary."
God helps those who help themselves, and the world will lend
their aid to us when they witness the determination with which
our city rises again.
I saw the city's terror,
I heard the city's cry,
As a flame leaped out of her bosom
Up, up to the brazen sky!




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                       85
And wilder rose the tumult,
And thicker the tidings cameChicago, queen of the cities,
Was a rolling sea of flame I
Yet higher rose the fury,
And louder the surges raved
(Thousands were saved but to suffer,
And hundreds never were saved),
Till out of the awful burning
A flash'of lightning went,
As across to brave St. Louis
The prayer for succor was sent.
God bless thee, 0 true St. Louis!
So worthy thy royal nameBack, back on the wing of the lightning
Thy answer of rescue came.
But alas I it could not enter
Through the horrible flame and heat,
For the fire had conquered the lightning
And sat in the Thunderer's seat!
God bless thee again, St. Louis 1
For resting never then,
Thou calledst to all the cities
By lightning and steam and pen.
" Ho, ho, ye hundred sisters,
Stand forth in your bravest might!
Our sister in flame is falling,
Her children are dying to-night!"
And through the mighty republic
Thy summons went rolling on,
Till it rippled the seas of the Tropics
And ruffled the Oregon.
The distant Golden City
Called through her golden gates,
And quickly rung the answer
From the city of the Straits.




86                        HISTORY OF TIHE
And the cities that sit in splendor
Along the Atlantic Sea,
Replying, called to the dwellers
Where the proud magnolias be.
From slumber the army started
At the far resounding call,'Food for a hundred thousand,"
They shouted, "and tents for all."
I heard through next night's darkness
The trains go thundering by,
Till they stood where the fated city
Shone red in the brazen sky.
The rich gave their abundance,
The poor their willing hands;
There was wine from all the vineyards,
There was corn from all the lands.
At daybreak over the prairies
Re-echoed the gladsome cry"' Ho, look unto us, ye thousands,
Ye shall not hunger nor die! "
Their weeping was all the answer
That the famishing throng could give
To the million voices calling
"' Look unto us, and live! "
Destruction wasted the city,
But the burning curse that came
Enkindled in all the people
Sweet charity's holy flame.
Then still to our God be glory 1
I bless Him, through my tears,
That I live in the grandest nation
That hath stood in all the years.
Strangers perceive and acknowledge that this point is naturally designed for a great city, and the testimony of our sister




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               87
city St. Louis is a generous recognition of our geographical
supremacy. Said the Missouri Republican: —" Chicago, though
stricken in purse and person as no other city recorded in history
ever has been, is not crushed out and destroyed, and her complete restoration to the place and power from which she is
temporarily removed is only a question of time. It would be
sad, indeed, if a conflagration, though swallowing up the last
house and the last dollar of a great commercial metropolis, could
fix the seal of perpetual annihilation upon it, and declare that
the wealth and prosperity which once were should exist no more
forever. Such might be the case, perhaps, were there none other
save human forces at work; but into the composition of such a
city as that which the demon of fire has conquered, enter the
forces and the necessities of nature. Chicago did not become
what she was, simply because shrewd capitalists and energetic
business men so ordained it. That mighty Agent, who fashions
suns and stars, and swings them aloft in the boundless ocean of
space, marks out by immutable decree the channels along which
population and trade must flow. When the first settlers landed
at Jamestown and Plymouth, and began to hew a path for civilization through the primeval forest, it was as certain as the law
of gravitation, that if this continent were destined to be a new
empire, fit to receive the surplus millions of the eastern hemisphere, and contribute to the progress and enlightenment of
mankind everywhere, there must and would be a few prominent
centres, so to speak, around which the vast machine could revolve. Those centres were determined by the geography and
topography of the country; and when the advancing tide of immigration touched them they began to develop as naturally and
irresistibly as the flower does beneath the genial influences of
sunshine and showers. For practical purposes neither Jamestown nor Plymouth were of any special consequence; therefore
the one has ceased to exist altogether, and the other remains an




88                    HISTORY OF THE
insignificant town. But the inner shore of Boston harbor, the
island of Manhattan, the site of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, St. Louis, and San Francisco, furnished the
required facilities, and we see the result to-day. Nature declares
where great cities shall be built, and man simply obeys the
orders of Nature.
" The spot where Chicago river empties into Lake Michigan
belongs to the same category as those we have mentioned. It
was designed and intended for the location of a grand mart to
supply the wants of the extreme north-west-that portion of the
central plateau lying on the line and to the north of the Union
Pacific Railway, and the western part of the British possessions.
The trade from these sections seeks an outlet there, and finds it
better and more available than anywhere else. This fact was
settled before the first brick was laid in Chicago; was settled
when Chicago rose to the rank of the fifth city in the republic,
and is settled just as firmly now, when, to all human appearances, her destruction is wellnigh accomplished.
"Natural advantages, then, must compel the reconstruction
of Chicago, even though every foot of its soil passes out of the
hands of the present proprietors. And if we examine what the
fire has spared, it will be found that the nucleus of a new and
rapid growth is not wanting. Nor more than twenty per cent.
of the lumber supply has been consumed, thus affording ample
material for building; the largest elevator and perhaps one or
two of the smaller ones are safe; the stock yards are uninjured,
and with these avenues for business open, business itself is sure
to come speadily. Indeed, it is announced that several vessels
received full loads of wheat from the elevators as early as Wednesday, and departed on their accustomed voyages to eastern ports.
There is also good reason to believe that at least one-half the
insurance will be paid, and as this cannot be much less than
$100,000,000, money will not be lacking. If we add to these




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                        89
resources the railway lines converging to that point, which represent an aggregate capital of $300,000,000, and remember that
every railway is directly interested in the process of reconstruction, and will aid it in all possible ways, it may not be difficult
for even the most incredulous to see why and how Chicago must
grow again. That she is absolutely ruined or permanently disabled is a sheer impossibility which no sensible person will for a
moment credit."
It may here serve to show that all is not lost, and to convey
some impression of the extent of losses, to append the statement
of liabitities and resources of insurance companies doing business
in Chicago:NEW YORK CITY AND STATE.
Companies.                             Gross Assets.    Losses..Etna, City..............................  $442,709    $200,000
Adriatic, City............................  246,120       5,000
Aglicultural, Watertown..................  550,843......
Albany, Albany..........................  264,978......
Albany City, Albany......................  396,646     Suspended
American, P., City.......................  741,405        25,000
American Exchange, City.................  277,350   15,000
Astor, City..............................  405,571       500,000
Atlantic, City...........................  556,179      250,000
Beekman, City...........................  261,851      Suspended
Buffalo City, Buffalo.....................  370,934  500,000
Buffalo Fire and Marine, Buffalo.........  473,577      500,000
Buffalo German, Buffalo..................  270,081        5,000
Capital City, Albany......................  293.766......
Citizens, P., City........................  684.798       25,000
Clinton, City............................  392,704       3,000
Columbia, City...........................  451,332        3,000
Ccmmerce, Albany.......................   692,877         10,000
Commerce Fire, City.....................  249,372        15,000
Commercial, City........................  306,002         5,000
Continental, P., City..................... 2,538,038     800,000
Excelsior, City..........................  335,744     Suspended
Exchange, City..........................  183,959......
Firemen's, City.........................  369,961      15,000
Firemen's Fund, City...................  173,477       100,000
Fireman's Trust, City....................  226,269       20,0tO
Fulton, City...........................  363,002 Ad   700,000
Germania, City.......................... 1,077,849     225,000
Glenn's Falls, Glenn's Falls...............  571,123     10,000
Guardian, City...........................  279,688       40,000
Hanover, P., City.......................  700,335       225,000
Hoffman, City...........................  235,242         10,000
Holland Purchase, Batavia................  171,496......
Home, City............................ 4,578,008 Ad   2,000,000
Howard, P., City........................  783,351      275,000
Humboldt, City................    251,186         10,000




90                         HISTORY OF THE
Companies.                        Gross Assets.      Losses.
Importers' and Traders', City.............  $302,589    $22,500
International, City....................... 1,329,476    400,000
Irving, City..............................  321,745     Ref's risks
Jefferson, City...........................  411,155       47,500
Kings County, City......................   262,573        30,000
Lafayette, L. I. City......................  214,751      7,500
Lamar, City.............................   551,402       200,000
Lenox, City............................  240,801        30,000
Long  Island, P., City.....................  334,002........
Lorillard, City...........................  1,715,909   800,000
Manhattan, City......................... 1,407,788      500,000
Market, P., City.........................  704,634  Susp'd.
Mechanics, L. I., City....................  218,047     22,500
Mechanics' and Traders, City..............  460,002.......
Mercantile, City.........................  273,399      100,000
Merchants', City.......................   442,690        15,000
Nassau, L. I., City.......................  391,518.......
National, City...........................  232,671       15,000
New Amsterdam, P., City.................  432,638   40,000
N. Y. Central, Union Sp'gs................  201,864.......
New York Fire, City.....................   392,278        15,000
Niagara, City............................  1,304,567     225,000
North American, City...................  770,305  250,000
North River, City........................  467,426
Pacific, City.............................  443,557     12,500
Peter Cooper, City........................  295,724.......
Phoenix, L. I., City...1,890,010                         350,000
Relief, City..............................  310,908       10,000
Republic, City...........................  683,478      225,000
Resolute, City...........................  252,452       75,000
Schenectady, Schenectady................   93,737     Wound up.
Security, City............................  1,880,333  Ad.  1,000,000
Sterling,  City............................  247,027       7,500
Tradesmen's, City........................  423,181       25,000
Washington, P., City....................  774,411       400,000
Williamsburgh City, City.............    539,692         70,000
Yonkers and N. Y. City...................  863,963      300.000
Western, of Buffalo......................  582,547       600,000
MASSACHUSETTS COMIPANIES.
Eliot, Boston..........................   672,212         12,000
Hide and Leather........................ 419,000        700,000
Independent............................. 646,000        Suspended.
Lawrence, Boston......................... 262,502        12,000
Manufacturers'........................... 1,480,464     350,000
Merchants'.............................  958,000         10,000
National............................... 821,844         500,000
People's, Worcester.................. 887,750           300,000
New England Mut. Marine................. 1,030,973      700,000
Washington, Boston.......................  35,975        25,000
OIIO COMPANIES.
Ale'nania, Cleveland...................   285,000        25,000
Andes, Cincinnati................... 1,203,000       300,000
Cleveland, Cleveland......................  530,000       175,000
Globe..................................   178,143        25,000
Home, Columbus.....................       637,947       150,000
Sun, Cleveland.......................... 301,340          75,000




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.                        91
MISSOURI COMPANIES.
Companies.                      Gross Assets.      Losses.
American Central, St. Louis................ $254,875   $350,000
Anchor...................................  121,974       27,000
Boatmen's..............................  51,788        20,000
Chouteau.........................   21,808        25,000
Citizens'...,.............. 271,000         25,000
CONNECTICUT COMPANIES.
AEtna, Hartford.......................... 5,762,635    2,000,000
City, Hartford...........................  544,237       225,000
Charter Oak, Hartford...................  251,951  200,000
Connecticut, Hartford....................  405,069     Suspended.
Fairfield County, Norwalk................  216,358        30,000
Hartford, Hartford........................ 2,737,510   1,200,000
Merchants', Hartford.....................  540,096     350,000
Phoenix, Hartford........................ 1,717,947    700,000
Putnam, Hartford..................   785,788       425,000
RHODE ISLAND COMPANIES.
American...............................   374,069        400,000
Atlantic................................  326,614       275,000
Hope..........................   211,673        150,000
Merchants..............................   372,199         13,000
Narraganset.............................  792,947  33,000
Providence, Washington..................  415,149        550,000
Roger Williams........................   279,946        100,000
American, New Jersey...................  300,000         10,000
Wheeling, West Virginia, pays in full. Sun, of Cleveland, will pay in full;
Pacific, Peoples', Firemen's' and Union Insurance Companies, of San Francisco, promise to pay in full; Baltimore Companies announce they will pay in full.
MAINE COMPANIES.
National, Bangor......................... $241,000     $17,500
Union,  Ban or...........................  421,000       5,000
MICHIGAN COMPANIES.
Detroit Fire and Marine............       273,000         30,000
WISCONSIN COMPANIES.
Brewers' Protective......................  183,681       75,000
N. W. National..........................  191,202         90,000
St. Paul Fire and Marine..................  280,000       60,000
Aurora, Covington, Ky...............  163,000    35,000
FOREIGN COMPANIES.
Commercial Union....................    4,000,000        65,000
Imperial...............................  5,438,665       150,000
Liverpool and London and Globe, Eng.... 20,136,420     2,000,000
North British and Mercantile...........  4,104,593    2,000,000
Queen................................  2,347,495      Nothing
Royal.................................  9,274,776        93,000
PENNSYLVANIA COMPANIES.
Franklin................................  3,087,000     500,000
Alps, Erie...............................  265,524        12,000
Boatmen's, Pittsburgh.....18...........                   18,000
Eureka, Pittsburgh...................                   18,000
Artesia...............................                   17,000




92                      HISTORY OF THE
Companies.                    Gross Asets.     Losses.
Allemania...............................          18,000
Monongahela...........................            12,000
Pittsburgh..............................           10,000
Union..................................           5,000
Western...............................              5,000
Federal.................................             7,500
Alleghany...............................            2,500
Merchants' and Manufacturers'............          6,000
Enterprise, Philadelphia..................  611,000  125,000
Insurance Company of Noith America..... 3,050,000  600,000
When steamboats or railway trains, for instance, for many
years pursue their roads in safety, the awful crash of an accident
becomes the exception, nor does it deter the travelling community
from running the same risk with a feeling of comparative safety.
In the first place, there seems to be no rule in fire insurances of
the amount of risk taken as to the proportion of capital paid up
or held. Thus, for instance, some of the very best offices have
a liability of nearly forty times their capital.
The ~Etna company gives her statement on the 1st of January, 1871: Gross assets, $5,782,635; amount of risk on 1st of
January, 1871, $237,874,573; yet this office is perfectly able to
meet its liabilities. The total capital of all the insurance companies in the United States is:In the State of New York, companies' assets.... $53,722,665 41
Mutual companies in State of New York, assets..    2,575,077 36
Companies in other States, assets.............. 23,171,101 00
Mutual companies in other States, assets.......    5,696,226 22
Total assets of fire insurance companies.... $85,065,060 06
The amount of risk on the 31st of December, 1869, was: —
New York joint stock fire insurance companies........................... $2,714,198,776 31
New York mutual fire insurance companies.        42,504,145 00
Companies from other States.............      1,740,650,S7 97
Mutual fire insurance companies...........        33,748,782 41
Total amount of risk............... $4,530,658,591 69
or twice the amount of the national debt, with assets of
$85,000,000.




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.               93
Considering that for the last generation the insurance companies have really only been called upon twice to make good a
loss of over $10,000,000 at one time and in one place, viz., the
fire in'35 and'45, we must confess that, as a general thing, fire
insurance is a lucrative business, as there is no business that can
do fifty times the amount of its investment in a year. The above
figures do not include the foreign offices, which insure very
heavily. The American branch of the London and Liverpool
and Globe Insurance Company had, on December 31, 1869,
$90,936,126 fire risks, and the risks during the year written, besides this, was $220,302,506, or a total of $311,238,632.
These gigantic figures certainly remind one of the distance to
some planetary body, or the amount of yards of cotton fabrics
manufactured in Manchester, yet all of this immense property upon which the prosperity of a whole nation depends,
has very justly been looked upon as safe and secure. It, mnnst,
however, not be supposed that the surviving insurance companies will very long feel the loss sustained in Chicago, as it can
easily be seen by our very figures, that the increase of premium,
which some have already put in force, of only thirty per cent., will
give the total corporations in the United States $12,000,000 additional premiums, and consequently profits. The drygoods store in
Maine, and the cotton-press in New Orleans, will alike be called
upon to contribute to the loss of the insurance offices sustained
by the Chicago fire.
On the week following the fire the National Banks resumed
business as usual, and an immense number of men were again
set to work, and hope animated all faces. The labor of removing
rubbish and tottering walls seems Herculean to one riding over
the streets along which the columns of flame rolled like swollen
torrents of lava; but persistent skilful effort will soon accomplish
wonders, and rear again the stately buildings and restore all the
magnificence.




9T4                       HISTORY OF TIE
Fair she rose,
Lifting high her stately head,
Victor-crowned,
Stretching strong and helpful hands
Far around;
Full of lusty, throbbing life,
In the strife
Dealing quick and sturdy blows.
Sudden swept
Through her streets a sea of fire;
Roaring came
Seething waves, cinders, brands,
All aflame;
Blood-red glowed the brazen sky;
Far and nigh
Smoke in wreaths and eddies crept.
Oh! the cries
Shrill, heart-rending I Oh! the hands
Frantic wrung!
Oh! the swaying buildings vast!
Pen or tongue
Ne'er the awful tale can tell,
How they fell
Underneath the dizzy skies.
Low she lies,
Bowed in dust her stately head,
Desolate;
Yet by all her glory past,
Let us wait,
Stand beside her firm and true;
Built anew,
Watch her, help her upward rise.




GREAT FIRE I CHICAGO.               95
NARRATIVE OF REV. T. W. GOODSPEED, OF QUINCY, ILL., AN EYFWITNESS.
THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF SCENES, INCIDENTS, ETC.
It being announced that Rev. T. W. Goodspeed, of the Ver
mont Street Church, who was present in Chicago at the time of
the fire, and had witnessed many of its scenes and incidents,
would give a narrative thereof at his church, an immense
crowd was early in attendance, filling all the space in the
building, while hundreds of others were unable to gain admittance. Mr. Goodspeed took no text, giving simply a narrative
of what he saw. He commenced by saying:It was my fortune to be in Chicago when it was destroyed. I do
not propose to give you a complete history of the conflagration.
You are getting that from day to day through the newspapers.
Many have said to me, " Tell us all you saw."  This great calamity is in all hearts. We are not prepared to speak of or listen
to anything else; and I have thought there was a sufficient reason for giving up this service to telling my congregation what I
saw of this unparalleled conflagration. Sympathizing with this
feeling, Mr. Priest has given up his service to be with us, as
has also the congregation of the First Church. I fear you will
be disappointed in listening to me, as I design to tell you only
what came under my observation, and there were a thousand
things I did not see.
The Chicago river runs directly west from the lake almost a
mile. It then branches north and south. That part of the city
lying south of the main river, and east of the South Branch, is
called the South Side. That part lying north of the main river,
and east of the North Branch, is the North Side, and all west of
the two branches the West Side. Each of these divisions is
about one-third of the city.
You are aware that the great fire of Saturday night, which
destroyed several blocks, was on the West Side, near the South




96                   HISTORY OF THE
Branch of the river. The fire of Sunday night and Monday
began also on the West Side, near the scene of the other, destroying, with that, forty blocks on the West Side; swept across
the South Branch, destroying a mile square of the South Sidethe entire business portion of the city-crossed the river and laid
in ruins almost the whole of the North Side, about 400 blocks.
Sunday evening I preached in the Second Baptist Church,
which is nearly a mile west of the South Branch. We stopped
in the study about half an hour after service, and started for my
brother's home a few minutes after nine. It was then that we
first saw the fire, a mile to the south-east. We continued to
watch it from time to time till eleven o'clock, when, supposing it
under control, we retired.
We were aroused a little before four in the morning. Hurrying
on my clothes, I went out. The fire had got far up on the West
Side of the South Branch, and had evidently crossed the river to
the South Side, and was beyond all control. The wind was
blowing fiercely from  the south-west.  The whole city was
lighted up by the flames almost like day. As I hastened toward
the river I noticed that the stars were all obscured as effectually
as if the sun were shining, and the moon gave a feeble, sickly
light. It was almost gray, altogether unlike itself.
As I proceeded the streets became more and more crowded.
The whole West Side was gathering and crowding toward the
river. I stopped to rouse my brother, but he had long been
gone. A woman stopped me on Washington street and said,
"My husband's place of business is destroyed, and we are ruined."
Reaching the river, I found that a large part of the South
Side was still unharmed. Here I saw the massive blocks of the
South Side in flames, and saw vessels being towed north to escape
the fire. I followed the South Branch up to where it joined the
North Branch and the main river, and looked down the latter to




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              97
the lake. Three or four blocks away the fire had crossed the
river. Wells Street Bridge was burning. The spectacle was
grand and awful beyond description. Great billows of flame
swept clean across the river, while countless myriads of sparks
and burning brands filled the air.
Proceeding, I crossed the Kinsie Street Bridge to the North
Side. Here I met the fugitives-thousands of people, indeed,
were going both ways-spectators to see, fugitives to escape.
The streets were filled with merchandise and furniture. Women
were everywhere guarding their household goods. The air was
filled with a thousand noises. The screaming of the steamers,
the whistle of the tugs, the cries of children, the shouting of
men, the howling of the wind, the roar of the flames, the crash
of falling buildings.
I went on as far as Wells street, and the wind was here a
hurricane. The buildings on Water street and the south bank
of the river caught, and almost instantly they were one vast volcano, throwing up great volumes of flame that were caught up
and carried bodily across the stream. The river seemed a boiling caldron. We stood under the great elevator at the Wells
street depot and saw on one of them a man wetting the roof.
He had hose, and must have saturated the entire building with
water, yet within fifteen minutes the building was aflame. I
returned to the West Side. The fleeing people were carrying
off articles of every description. Two men were wheeling away
the Indian figure that had stood before their cigar store. One
man was hurrying off with two whiskey bottles. I stopped
again to look down the main river toward the lake. The scene
was even more magnificent and awful than before. This was
indeed the grandest spectacle of all. The whole length of the
river was then one broad sheet of fire.
With every fresh blast of wind great billows of fire would roll
across toward the doomed North Side, as if filled with a mad




98                   HISTORY OF THE
desire to sweep it away in ruin. Then for a moment they would
subside and show the three bridges wreathed in flames (the water
apparently boiling underneath them), the black walls of the
buildings on either side, and here and there tongues of flames
shooting out from doors and windows and roofs. Then again
two walls of fire, extending a mile away to the lake, would flame
up toward heaven for a moment, to be caught by the gale and
tumbled in fiery ruin to the ground, or carried in great masses of
fire to spread the conflagration.  Going on from here I took my
stand on Lake Street Bridge. The line of fire extended a mile
or more down the South Branch.  Several bridges had already
been consumed.  The great coal-yards were beginning to burn,
and almost all the magnificent blocks of the South Side were in
flames.  From the slight elevation of the bridge, I could see
almost two square miles of fire.
Looking toward the north-west, and seeing how directly toward
the water-works the flames were rushing, it crossed my mind that
they would be destroyed.  I turned and hastened to my friend's
house, a mile on the West Side, and immediately tried the water.
I was too late, it would not run, and the great city of 300,000
people was without water.
Before seven o'clock I went to another friend's house and
found him just returned from saving his books. and wl at merchandise he could. He had got into his place of business by the
back way, and had been driven away by the swift demon of destruction. I went to another friend's house to inquire if his store
was safe. He had visited the fire at half past-ten and gone home
confident it was under control. At three he had tried to reach his
business place, and been driven back by the fire that raged between him and it. I got into his buggy with him and we started
to find it. Reaching Twelfth street, which runs across the South
Branch, a mile and a quarter south of the Court-House we found
the street crowded with people and vehicles, and all pressing to



GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.              99
ward the South Side. It was a little after seven o'clock, and of
course daylight. We made our way to Wells or La Salle street,
and tried to go up, but the flames stopped us. We went on to
Wabash avenue, and found it to be so crowded as to be utterly
impassable. We crossed to Michigan avenue, fell into the stream
of travel, and worked our way up to the Michigan Avenue Hotel.
My friend asked me to hold his horse five minutes, while he went
to see what he could find. Left to myself I had time to look about
me. I despair of describing the scene to you. It beggars description. It was here that my friend Sawyer, who is with me in the
desk, joined me. His clothes covered with dust, his hair filled
with dust and cinders, his eyes red from smoke, his face black,
so unlike himself that I hardly knew him.  Michigan avenue
was burning from within a block of where we stood a mile away
to the river. The magnificent residences and great business
houses were going up in flames and down in blackness before our
eyes. Great volumes of smoke rolling away before the gale concealed the North Side from view. But at every break or lift of
the smoke, the great Central Depot could be seen all in flames. The
fire was creeping away out on the piers, and had reached one of
the immense elevators that stood near its end, and the flames were
soon reaching up one hundred and fifty feet into the air. Every
moment we expected to see the great Central Elevator, standing
very near the burning one, fall before the conflagration that had
devoured everything else in its path. But the wind seemed to
veer suddenly to the south, and remained there an hour, and the
great elevator was saved; with one exception, the only one on
the South Side north of the line of fire. A steamer had reached
the mouth of the river, but here the fire caught her, and I saw
it run from one end to the other in little lines of light, and so
over the rigging till the ship was all ablaze.
Meantime I was in the midst of the wildest confusion I had
ever witnessed.  The open space between Michigan avenue and




100                   HISTORY OF THE
the lake was filled with every variety of household goods and
merchandise. There must have been the furniture of a thousand
families crowded into this narrow space. Rich and poor, white
and black, were together. Over every pile of goods stood some
one to guard it. Meantime other fugitives were every moment
crowding into the already overcrowded space, and seeking room
for their goods as well. Thousands of people.pressed along tle
walks and filled the open slaces-some coming to see and others
fleeing.  The avenue was for hours one solid mass of teams.
Up and down tile street they pressed endlessly, going up empty
and returning full. At length the press became so great that the
street was completely blockaded, and the police began to turn
the still on-coining multitude of vehicles backward. They chose
the spot where I stood to accomplish tlis. Then began cursing
and shouting; the teamsters insisting that they must go on,
every one of them having valuable property just alead; and the
police insisting that to save men's lives they must turn back.
The more determined teanmsters went through in spite of tle police, wlo were strangely inefficient. The more timid or reasonable tried to turn back in a street where there was hardly room
to move forward. One lbacked into my buggy wheels as I crowded the sidewalk and waited; anotlher ran into one of thle shafts.
Twenty feet allead of me a llorse tried to run away, starting
directly toward nce. lie 1ran a(bout ten feet and smashed two
butggies. A rod to my left a driver ran against a bu.ggy wheel
and crushed it, regardless of tlie otlier's load. I grew more and
more nervous, expectinlg every momenlt to liave the horse and
buggy irtined. Two llourls anld a half passed and still I waited.
I had p lenty Ot timne to look about t ine.
Eve\ry variety of veclce pa,:ssed Ime, loaded witll every variety
of article. I saw one (ct our ftri,,ner' citizenls, Mr. Pearson, carrying o011e end of a lonllg'1a;ss case tilled witlh his goods-hair done
up in manya fojrls. A tdozvn i  twenty cows picked their way




GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.             101
among the wagons. A woman found her way across the street,
when there chanced to be an opening, leading a great black dog.
The confusion was beyond all description. Up and down the
}Michigan Central track locomotives were constantly moving,
drawing heavy trains, or alone, and, it seemed to me, blowing
their unearthly whistles all the time. The fire-engines, a block
away, added theirs, which were worse still. The v(ices of the
police calling to the teamsters, the responses and often curses of
the drivers, their impatient yells to one another, the cry of
distressed citizens to the expressmen, the voices of the crowd,
the roaring of the gale, the howling of tle conflagration, the
crackling of burning houses, the crash of falling walls, the ringing of bells, the shouts that greeted some new freak of the flames,
and suddenly the sullen thunder that told us buildings were being
blown up only a block away. The conflagration of the great
Jay will hardly bring a confusion worse confounded.
The fire still made progress towards me until the people in all,he houses above and below me removed their goods and fled.
Xgain came the thundering and shaking of the earth tlhat accompanied the blowing up of a building. It seemed ominously near.
I could see the fire on the Wabash Avenue Miethodist Cllurch, and
was sure it was going, and that was behind me. At length tlle
vast crowd, men and teams, precipitated themselves down the
avenuelike a falling avalanTche, and the cry went up tliat the
building on the corner just above us was to be blown up. Waiting no longer I joined the fleeing multitude and nmade my way
aR fast as possible a block farther away. After three hours my
firiend returned; his coat gone; his face so black and his eyes so
nearly put out, that, for a moment, I did not know him. Ile took
his horse, to my great relief, and I proceeded up tlhe Avenue
toward tlhe Central Depot, to see wlhat good I could do. On beyond Terrace Row I went, and ha.d the whole horrible scene before me. Not long, however, could I see it. The magnificent




102                  HISTORY OF TIE
Terrace Row was in flames, and the air was filled with smoke,
and dust, and cinders, and live coals, and faggots of fire. The
middle of this great row fell first, the ends following, covered in
one black cloud of smoke, and ashes, and dust. It was almost
past endurance.
Meanwhile the inflammable material in this narrow space
caught fire in a hundred places. Beds, pillows, quilts, carpets,
sofas, pianos, furniture, and it seemed to me that everything
must be burned. With a small tea-chest I spent hours bringing
water from the lake, helping to extinguish numberless incipient
fires which broke out continually among the heaps of goods. I
returned home at 3 P.M., having had nothing to eat since 6
o'clock Sunday evening. Helping to carry a mirror up stairs, I
asked a woman on the way down to give me a drink from a full
pail she carried, and she refused. In the evening, Monday evening, I took my station in the cupola of a four-story building to
view the fire and watch, and for hours witnessed a scene which
no language can describe.
Mr. Goodspeed visited the scene of the fire the next day and
described many interesting scenes which he witnessed, most of
which have become familiar to our readers. We regret that oar
space only allows of the foregoing imperfect synopsis of the address, but we must make room for the following thrilling incident:While Madison street, west of Dearborn, and the west side of
Dearborn were all ablaze, the spectators saw the lurid light appear in the iear windows of Speed's Block. Presently a man, who
had apparently taken time to dress himself leisurely, appeared on
the extension built up to the second story of two of the stores.
He coolly looked down the thirty feet between him and the
ground, while the excited crowd first cried jump! and then some
of them more considerately looked for a ladder. A long plank
was presently found and answered the same as a ladder, and it




GREAT'FIRE IN CHICAGO.            103
was placed at once against the building, down which the man
soon after slid. But while these preparations were going on
there suddenly appeared another man at a fourth story window
of the building below, which had no projection, but was flush
from the top to the ground-four stories and a basement. His
escape by the stairway was evidently cut off, and he looked despairingly down the fifty feet between him and the ground. The
crowd grew almost frantic at the sight, for it was only a choice
of deaths before him-by fire or by being crushed to death by the
fall. Senseless cries of jump jump! went up from the crowdsenseless, but full of sympathy, for the sight was absolutely
agonizing.  Then for a minute or two he disappeared, perhaps
even less, but it seemed so long a time that the supposition was
that he had fallen, suffocated with the smoke and heat. But no,
he appears again. First he throws out a bed; then some bedclothes, apparently; why, probably even he does not know.
Again he looks down the dead, sheer wall of fifty feet below him.
He hesitates, and well he may, as he turns again and looks behind
him. Then he mounts to the window-sill. His whole form appears-naked to the shirt, and his white limbs gleam against the
dark wall in the bright light as he swings himself below the
window. Somehow-how, none can tell-he drops and catches
upon the top of the window below him, of the third story. He
looks and drops again, and seizes the frame with his hands, and
his gleaming body once more straightens and hangs prone downward, and then drcps instantly and accurately upon the windowsill of the third story. A shout, more of joy than applause, goes
up from the breathless crowd, and those who had turned away
their heads, not bearing to look upon him as he seemed about to
drop to sudden and certain death, glanced up at him once more
with a ray of hope at this daring and skilful feat. Into this
window he crept to look, probably for a stairway, but appeared
again presently, for here only was the only avenue of escape,




104                  HISTORY OF THE
desperate and hopeless as it was. Once more he dropped his
body, hanging by his hands. The crowd screamed, and waved
to him to swing himself over the projection from which the
other man had just been rescued. He tried to do this, and
vibrated like a pendulum from side to side, but could not reach
far enough to throw himself upon the roof.  Then he hung by
one hand, and looked down; raising the other hand, he took a
fresh hold, and swung from side to side once more to reach the
roof. In vain; again he hung motionless by one hand, and
slowly turned his head over his shoulder and gazed into the
abyss below him. Then gathering himself up, he let go his
hold, and for a second a gleam of white shot down full forty
feet, to the foundation of the basement. Of course it killed
him. le was taken to a drug store near by, and died in ten
minutes.




FIRRES
IN OTHER
STATES AND TOWNS.
WHILE we were engaged in our own o dreadful agony, neighboring States and communities were also visited by the raging
monster, and suffered equally with, or more severely in proportion than, this metropolis. The drought which had desiccated
everything, and even the air in our vicinity, was very general.
In Wisconsin and Michigan occasional conflagrations in the
woods were occurring, which greatly multiplied and increased
till the whole of northern Wisconsin seemed inundated with
smoke from the burning woods, and western Mlichigan has been
run over and almost completely devastated.
The loss of life and the actual suffering have been far more
fearful than in Chicago, on account of the protracted nature of
the visitation and the difficulty of procuring assistance.
Here we have had every comfort that a world could pro
vide brought to our doors; but there, aid came more slowly, and
the Governor of Wisconsin was obliged to check the flow to
Chicago and divert it t itits own legitimate channel. The f1ltollowing is his appeal to the people of the State:"The accounts of the appalling calamity which has tfllen upon
the east and west shores of Green Bay have not been exaggerated. The burned district comprises the counties of Oconto,
Brown, Door, and Kewaunee, and parts of Manitowoc, and Outagamie. The great loss of life and property lhas resulted from
the whirlwind of fire which swept over the country, malking the




106                  HISTORY OF THE
roads and avenues of escape impossible with fallen timber and
burned bridges.  The previous long drought had prepared
everything for the flames. The loss of life has been very great.
The first estimates were entirely inadequate, and even now it is
feared that it is much greater than present accounts place it. It is
known that at least 1,000 persons have been either burned, drowned, or smothered. Of these deaths, 600 or more were at Peshtigo
and adjacent places, and the others in Door, Kewaunee, and
Brown counties. Men are now penetrating that almost inaccessible region for the purpose of affording relief, and I fear that their
reports will increase this estimate.  From  the most reliable
sources of information I learn that not less than 3,000 men,
women, and children have been rendered entirely destitute.
Mothers are left with fatherless children, children are left homeless orphans. Distress and intense suffering are on every hand,
where but a few days ago were comfort and happiness. Scores
of men, women, and little children now lie helpless-they are
burned and maimed-in temporary hospitals, cared for by more
fortunate neighbors. These suffering people must be supplied
with food, bedding, clothing, feed for their cattle, and the means
of providing shelter during the winter. The response by the
good people of Wisconsin has already been prompt and generous.
It is meeting the immediate need, and is being faithfully and
energetically distributed through the relief organization at Green
Bay, but provision must be made for months in the future. There
are wanted flour, salt, and cured meats-not cooked —blankets,
bedding, stoves, baled hay, building materials, lights, farming
implements and tools; boots, shoes,and clothing for men, women
and children; log-chains, axes with handles, nails, glass, and
house trimmings, and, indeed, everything needed by a farming
community that has lost everything.
" To expedite the transfer at Green Bay, all boxes should have
cards attached to them, stating their contents, and all supplies




GREAT FIRES N THE WEST.             107
should.be sent to the Relief Committee at Green Bay. Money
contributed should not be converted into supplies, but should be
forwarded to the committee. Depots have been established at
Green Bay, under the management of a committee of publicspirited and energetic men who have the confidence of all, for
the receiving and despatching of supplies. They have organized
a system of sub-depots contiguous to the burned regions, and
steamboats and wagons are being sent out with supplies. Let us
uphold'their hands in the good work, and see that their depots
be kept filled to overflowing. It is fortunate that we live in a
wealthy and prosperous State, blessed with prosperity in business and overflowing harvests, and that thus we are, by a wise
Providence, endowed with the means to help our less fortunate
neighbors.
"I am urged by public-spirited citizens of the State to call an
immediate extra session of the Legislature to provide for this
calamity. I have given serious attention to this suggestion, and
have concluded not to do so, for the reason that the expense of
such a session would be likely to equal the amount which the
State would be asked to contribute. Believing, therefore, that
the people and the Legislature will endorse my action in this
emergency, I have, in conjunction with the State Treasurer, decided to advance such a moderate sum of money as seems to be
appropriate, in addition to that contributed.
Lucius FAIRCHILD,
Governor of the State of Wisconsin.
Mr. Joseph Harris writes to the Mayor of Milwaukee confirming all tidings of the disaster:"MY DEAR SIR-I sent a despatch to you by steamer this
morning (the telegraph line being down), telling you of the
fiigl tful calamity at Peshtigo and Minekaune on Sunday night




108                  HISTORY OF THE
last, and calling for medical aid for the sufferers. I now send
you extras from both the extras here, in which the half or quarter of the suffering is not told. - The suffering is and will be terrible, and, in addition to medical aid, we need, for the survivors,
food and clothing. Mr. Isaac Stephenson has just come in from
Peshtigo, and says they gathered up in one place the remains of
nearly fifty bodies, besides about thirty in the sugar bush, and.that other parts of the late village and adjoining woods have yet
to be searched for more. Mr. S. says that the loss of life at Peshtigo by fire, and the drowned in the river, cannot be less than
four hundred, and may be more. At Burch Creek, seven miles
north from here, the whole settlement was burned, and fourteen
or fifteen lives lost. Five of one family are just brought in here,
presenting a spectacle sickening to behold.
"The steamer has just come across from Sturgeon Bay, and
brings news of another horror there, in which Williamson's mill,
ten miles south of Sturgeon Bay, was burned on Sunday night,
and fifty-five lives lost, only five or six escaping. That fire has,
no doubt, spread to the settlements near, and great suffering must
exist. No one can describe or exaggerate the horrors of the
Peshtigo and Sturgeon Bay calamities. Those who escaped lhave
lost everything, and the destitution at this season willbe great.
"In order to understand the geography of the burned district, it is only necessary for the reader to open a map of Wisconsin and find Lake Winnebago, Fox River, Green Bay, Wolf
River, and the west shore of Lake Micligan. Between Lake
Winnebago, Fox River, and the long, narrow Green Bay on the
west, and the great lake on the east, it is one unbroken forestland. The narrow peninsula between bay and lake is covered
with pine and cedar, while to the southward the timber is mainly
hardwood.   The narrow peninsula is peopled chiefly by Belgians, and the region south of them by Germans, 1Bohelnians,
and Americans.




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.              109
"West of Lake Winnebago, Fox River, and Green Bay, the
forest has its southern edge near Oshkosh; about midway of the
length of the little lake southward of Oshkosh, tlhe prairie prevails.  This region has a much larger share of Americans
among its population.
Now, all over this tract of country, as well as everywhere in
the Northwest, there had been no rain to wet the soil since the
1st of July.  Both man and beast have suffered by lack of
water, whilst field and forest alike have been parched to tinder.
In this state of things-everything being ready to kindle and
easy to.burn, with no water to quench a fire-fire was set in
many places by sparks fiom  locomotives, by droppings from
pipes and cigars among dry leaves and sawdust, and by camp
fires of railway laborers, and straightway the whole country side
began to burn, and the burning spread and overmastered man
and his struggles, until now the flames have travelled over at
least three thousand square miles, killing and consuming the
timber, burning fences, bridges, stacks, barns, farm-steads, orchards, with many thousand head of cattle. From these burntout farms the people fled into the smnall villages that fringe the
rivers and shores of the bay and lake, hoping to find there
food, employment, and shelter during the bitter winter of that
high latitude. Scarcely, however, are the villages thus crowded
with the flying wretches, when the fire attacks the towns tlemselves, and almost in a twinkling dwellings, mills, lumber yards,
and even the very acres of logs floating in the still water are
whirled into smoke and ashes. Many poor creatures have the
life scorched out of them whilst running to leap into the water;
whole families dropped dead on the sand within one or two
yards of the lake or the river; others drowned or were licked
off the logs by sheets of flame that leaped from bank to bank of
the streams. Furthermore, everywhere, both in town and country, all food is destroyed, all clothing is ashes, all shelter has disap



110                   ISTORY OF THE
peared. And what is worse, the terrible sub-Arctic winter sets
in about the 1st of November, with its deep, drifting snows and
its long and bitter nights."
The Milwaukee Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association add their testimony to the awful nature and extent of
the ruin and woe.
" In accordance with the instruction received from the Association, your committee of relief, accompanied by S. J. IH. Thompson, of Milwaukee, with a quantity of supplies, reached Green Bay
late on the evening of the 11th inst. We found that the relief
committee at this point had discontinued their labors for the day,
and that we could not ascertain that night doiinitely the condition
of the country over which the fire had swept, but the impression
given us was that all the immediate necessities of the destitute
people had been supplied. We were much disappointed in not
finding something for our hands to do immediately, and, not
being quite satisfied with the reports given us, it was decided
that Dr. Nichols, who was familiar with the location of Peshtigo, should immediately proceed there and report upon the necessities of the people. The next morning Mr. Childs ascertained
from Captain Hart, of the steamer Northwest, that the sufferers
of the district lying between Peshtigo and Oconto were reaching
the latter place in a deplorable condition, and that there was an
urgent demand for immediate supplies of food and clothing at
that point. Captain Hart kindly gave permission for the committee to ship a large quantity of our supplies at once by his
steamer, and Dr. Thompson and Mr. Childs proceeded at once to
Oconto upon their own responsibility. A portion of the supplies were left at Pensaukie, to be sent across the bay to Little
Sturgeon Bay, from whence a cry for aid had just come.
" Proceeding next to Oconto, these gentlemen found that tLh
story of suffering and destitution had not been half told. They
met, however, with a hearty co-operation from Mayor Smith and




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.             11
Messrs. Cole, Ellis, Goodrich, and many other citizens, who were
already doing all in their power to alleviate the suffering. The
ladies, as usual, were working nobly, and had fourteen sewingmachines constantly employed, furnishing 200 per day with clothing, some with whole, others with parts of suits.
"Dr. Nichols, on his arrival at Peshtigo Harbor, examined as
rapidly as possible the situation there, thence proceeded to Peshtigo village, seven miles up the river, and from there crossed
over to Marinette, six miles away to the east, on the Menomonee
River. Here the larger portion of the sick and burned had been
taken.
"At Peshtigo Harbor were a considerable number of those
who had fled from the village after the fire. Some were severely
burned, and all deplorably destitute.
" At Peshtigo village there remained only a few engaged in
searching for and burying the dead. At Marinette fifty of the
sufferers were found in the Dunlap House, which had been converted temporarily into a hospital.  Many were distributed
among the homes of the citizens. These were attentively cared
for by Drs. Jones and Brunschweiler, assisted by a corps of volunteer physicians fiom different parts of the State, who had come
up to render some assistance in the emergency.  The Relief
Committee at this place was active and efficient, and with the
concerted action of all parties everything was being done that
was possible for the comfort and restoration of the sufferers.
"About fifteen per cent. of those injured are so badly burned
that it is impossible for them to recover. The others will be
able to return to business in a month's time, or less. The burns
occurred most frequently upon the feet, hands, and face, and nearly all suffer from the inhalation of hot sand and cinders, and
from the usual pulmonary complications of burns.
" The fire which destroyed Peshtigo occurred on the evening
of the 8th inst., and history has never furnished a parallel of its




112                  HISTORY OF THE
terrible destructiveness.  Shortly after the church-going people
had returned from the evening service, an ominous sound was
heard, like the distant roar of the sea, or of a coming storm.
This increased in intensity, and soon tlhe inhabitants becaine
alarmed and apprehensive of coming danger. Balls of tire were
observed to fall like meteors in different parts of the town, igniting whatever they came in contact with.   By this timie tile
whole population were thoroughly aroused and alarmed, and
caugllt up tileir children and what valuables they could hastily
seize, and began to flee for a place of safety. Now a briglt llight
appeared in the south-west horizon, gradually incrasitng till the
heavens were aglow with light. But a foew mlomenets elapsed
after this before the horrible tornado of fire caine upon tile people, and enveloped them in flame, smokle, )urlning sand, alnd cinders. Those who had not now reached the river or sonic otlier
place of safety were suffocated and burned to a cinder before
they could advance a half dozenl steps further. God onlly knows
the horror and terrible suffering of the whole town of Peshltigo
on that memorable Sunday nigiht. It seemed as if the love of
God lad been witldrawn fromn tlhe place, and tle fiery tiends of
hell lad been loosened to wantonly vex and torllent tlhe 1peo(lle.
" No tongue can tell, no pen can describe, no blrush can (lepict
the realities of that niglt. Exaggeration would be utterly imnpossible. It defies hulnan inlgernity. It was tlie destrucltion of
Sodomn re-enacted. It seemled as it the wickedness of tl{he place
1had mocked God until his fiery thlunderbolts were looisenel for
its destruction. But now lie wvlo liad been boldest in sin was
first to call upon his Maker for succor.
" The character of this fire \as unlike any we lhave ever seen
described before. It was a flame fanned by a hiuiricae, and
accormpanied with variotus electrical lp)lenoilenla. Tholse that
survived the terrible ordeal testify that they receive( electrical
shocks, while they saw electrical flames ftlas in thle air and:. dance




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.               113
over the surface of the earth around them. But the fury of the
flash was past in half an hour, though the fire continued to burn
more or less fiercely during the whole night.
"Tlhe full effects of the storm were not apparent until daylight returned, and the survivors could come forth fromn their
retreats. A party of one hundred and fifty fortunately rall together upon a low meadow below the bridges, and all were saved.
A filllily of five persons saved themselves by jumping iuto) a
shallow well. Anotler family of tlhe same number were all suiffocated inl a like resort.  A large number threw themselves into
the mill-pond and sustained tlhemselves by clinging to the boomn
and floating logs, at tle same time continually wetting the head
to prevent it friom roasting.
" We saw many children, some only one month old, wllicl hlad
been kept in the water tlie wlole nlight, and yet survived. Some
who were too ill to walk were taken from their beds and thrown
into the water.
"A large Ynumlber were drowned, some by being trampled
upoil or thrown off tleir legs by tlhe cattle and horses that, lmaddened by tlte tire, rushed into tlhe water. Many entire famiilies
perisled. Eleven were lost out of one fianily.
Sole of tlhe bodies were so thloroughlly blhrned and consullled
that they could be scooped up and held in tile double lhands.
But tlle details and incidents are too lIarrowingl to relate.
"'lTle tornado came fromn the south-w-est, anld swept ovt(: a
tract of country eilght or ten mliles in width, and( of indefiiite
lengthl. The- timber irn its course wast felled Vb), tie wind;.iid
bulned by the lire, and every vestige of fence anld bulilding, w-as
swept away, with two or thlree excepltiotns. Somletimest tlle wind
struck tlie eartht with suchl force tlhat thle sniall u(i(leg'tl'rowth was
torn u1p,atl il eIt il \winrows\, while aLt othler tinlies it would skip
away froml tlme enrtli. T'le w\hole poplulation of PI sltigo village
and of the favi'11-lanlds in its vicinlity was 2,)000, and fully one



114                  HISTORY OF THE
third of those perished on that fearful night. On the east shore
of the bay reports place the loss of life fully as high as at Peshtigo, making the entire loss of life reach the fearfully large number of 1,200.
" The immediate wants of the survivors are nearly supplied,
but no inconsiderable amount will be required to enable them to
live through the winter. The proclamation of Governor Fairchild of the 14th states truthfully the demands these persons
have upon us, and is meeting with a hearty response from every
part of the State. Let the good work go on, for if ever there
was a case for sympathy surely this is one. The people have
been literally stripped of everything. Not a vestige of house, or
fences, or anything of a combustible nature, remains. A more
desolate spectacle than the present site of what was once the
pleasant village of Peshtigo cannot be imagined or described."
Other accounts glow and thrill with the horrors of the fiery
days which consumed so much wealth and so many lives.  The
fire tornado was heard at a distance like the roaring of the
sea. Balls of fire were observed to fall, igniting whatever they
touched.
To one visiting the locality after the fire, the great wonder is
not that so many people should have perished, but that a single
individual remains to describe the fearful scene through which he
passed. Certainly no one of the few that did escape expected
anything but certain destruction at the time. The deadly,
withering fire of the battle-field appals the stoutest heart, even
though there is a hope that a victory and triumph may be gained. But the enemy that came down on the miserable people of
Peshtigo was irresistible. All efforts to oppose it were futile.
Hope fled from every heart at the very onset of the storm.
Several families sought refuge in a large boarding-house, but
it quickly took fire and burned. A few of the inmates succeeded
in reaching the river. Many were burned in their flight, and a




________~ ~ ~~~~ci il
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a
THE 3 BURNING OF, PESHTIGO.








GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.             115
mother was consumed in the building, with her five children,
which she would not desert.
Mr. Beebe and his family were at the store, and attempted to
flee to the water, which was only half a dozen rods distant, but
all perished in scorching flames except a little boy.
Several, seeing the hopelessness of escape, in their desperation
attempted to take their own lives.
Many families became separated in the general confusion that
followed the first alarm, and those that survived suffered the
most intense anxiety concerning the fate of the others. Some,
gaining a secure position, afterward lost their lives in their vain
search for their friends.
A family from the East was visiting with Mr. May, and the
whole of both families were burned up together.
Many who were saved owe their lives to the exertion of others
who were near them, and a score of heroic deeds were narrated
to us. In contrast with this, we heard of human hyenas who
prowled over the ground as soon as the danger of the storm was
passed, plundering the dead and helpless. Can human depravity
ever find a better illustration a
There are other tales of suffering and anguish told of that terrible night that are too harrowing to write or think of. Verily
the Peshtigo horror will long be remembered.
There is little heart to write the tales of these sad and fearful
times. Eye-witnesses cannot describe them by word. The pen
can only give an idea, and hardly even that, of the woe, the
weeping, the wailing, the homes ruined, the lives lost! Early
Wednesday morning, every available horse and wagon was
brought into requisition for the purpose of reaching the sufferers
in the different settlements within the range of the tornado of
Sunday night's fire.
Too much credit cannot be given to the citizens of Oconto for
the active sympathy displayed upon the occasion. The different




116                   HISTORY OF THE
supply teams reached their destination during the afternoon.
Parties of men with axes were employed in advance of the teams
to chop away the fallen trees and render the roads passable. The
bridges, culverts, etc., were burned, and much time was taken
up in actually building a way through.
We say we cannot describe the scenes; we cannot. Infants
clasped in mothers' arms; fathers, brothers, sisters, stiff in their
last r ibrace; actual lines of dead from the once happy farmhouse to the adjoining creek; charred groups, blackened corpses,
crumbling bones, lacerated and torn members; the smiling babyhood a few hours past, the adolescent, the old, in one horrid heap
of death, is all that is left of the country travelled over. The
roadsides are strewn with dead horses, oxen, cows, swine, fowl.
Even the untamed beasts of the forest flew towards civilization
for relief, but only to find death in their flight.
Deer, bear, rabbits, were discovered in profusion burned to a
crisp. And all this within a few miles of the city. From the
few left to tell the tale there can be yet little obtained in their
half-crazed situation. We ourselves saw the father consign to
their last resting-place all that was left of a family of six. We
cared little about questioning, and he seemed to care as little
about speaking. Having given him a few morsels of bread for
necessary subsistence, we passed on, and saw the babe in its
mother's arms, the boy, the girl, in nakedness, the young woman,
the mother, the father, in one sad group of death. Again, a
family, apparently, for there was nothing left but the bones, and
hardly bones at that. Yes, there was one of that family of which
there was a little left. It was the baby. The poor mother, forgetful of herself, clung to her innocent offspring, and her last effort must have been to save her young one's life. The mother's
hand, or the charred remains thereof, was on the babe's head, as
if engaged in pressing it to the ground, face downwards, to save
it from suffocation; the little face, that was all that was unin



GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.            117
jured. A prominent young man was found with his throat cut,
and his knife lying alongside him. Ie must have been crazed
by tortures, or preferred immediate death to lingering agony.
Hundreds of such cases could we cite, but to what use? Let us
merely take, if possible, into the mind's eye a tract of desolation,
suffering, death, poverty, want and loneliness, ruined homes,
burned corpses-perhaps happier than the living-and may the
always wise Providence have mercy upon their souls.
Yesterday morning, in company with several gentlemen from
Marinette, Wis., and Menominee, Mich., we visited the site of
what was once the beautiful and thriving little village of Peshtigo. It contained about 1,500 people, and was one of the
busiest, liveliest, and one of the most enterprising communities
along the bay shore. Standing amid the charred and blackened
embers, with the frightfully mutilated corpses of men, women,
children, horses, oxen, cows, dogs, swine, and fowl-every house,
shed, barn, outhouse, or structure of any kind swept from the
earth as with the-very besom of destruction-our emotions cannot be described in language.  No pen dipped in liquid fire can
paint the scene; language "in thoughts that breathe and words
that burn " gives but the faintest impression of its horrors.
From the survivors we glean the following in reference to the
scene at the village and in the farming region commonly known
as the "Sugar Bush:' Sunday evening, after chIuch, for about
half an hour, a death-like stillness hung over the doomed town.
The smoke from the fires in the region around was so thick as to
be stifling, and hung like a funeral pall over everything, and all
was enveloped in Egyptian darkness. Soon light puffs of air
were felt; the horizon at the south-east, south, and south-west
began to be faintly illuminated; a perceptible trembling of the
earth was felt, and a distant roar broke the awful silence. People began to fear that some awful calamity was impending, bat
as yet no one even dreamed of the danger.




118                  HISTORY OF THE
The illumination soon became intensified into a fierce lurid
glare; the roar deepened into a howl, as if all the demons from
the infernal pit had been let loose, when the advance gusts of
wind from the main body of the tornado struck. Chimneys
were blown down, houses were unroofed, the roof of the woodenware factory was lifted, a large warehouse filled with tubs,
pails, kanakans, keelers, and fish kits was nearly demolished,
and amid the confusion, terror, and terrible apprehension of the
moment, the fiery element in tremendous inrolling billows and
masses of sheeted flame enveloped the devoted village.  The
frenzy of despair seized on all hearts, strong men bowed like
reeds before the fiery blast; women and children, like frightened
spectres, flitti:ng through the awful gloom, were swept away like
autumn leaves. Crowds rushed for the bridge, but the bridge,
like all else, was receiving its baptism  of fire.  Hundreds
crowded into the river; cattle plunged in with them, and being
huddled together in the general confusion of the moment, many
who had taken to the water to avoid the flames were drowned.
A great many were on the blazing bridge when it fell. The
debris from the burning town was hurled over and on the heads
of those who were in the water, killing many and maiming
others, so that they gave up in despair and sank to a watery
grave.
In less than an hour from the time the tornado struck the
town, the village of Peshtigo was annihilated!
Full one hundred perished either in the flames or in the water,
and all the property was wiped out of existence!
In the " Sugar Bush" the loss of life was even greater in
proportion to the number of inhabitants than in the village.
Whole families are destroyed, and over a thickly settled region
in the heavy hardwood timber, consisting of two or three townships, there is scarcely a family but is now left destitute, and
mourns for the loss of some of its loved ones.




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.            119
Hon. I. Stephenson, of Marinette, went yesterday a short distance on the road leading to the upper bush, and counted thirtyseven dead bodies!
Another party informs us that he found over fifty dead on one
road, and over forty on another.
In the lower bush the trunks of the fallen trees, lying in every
conceivable direction, are strewn so thickly over the ground that
it must be many days before the entire region can be thoroughly
penetrated, so as to bury the dead and succor the living.
The number who have perished is not yet definitely ascertained,
but enough is known to place first reports far in the background.
At Peshtigo village over one hundred were either burned to death
or drowned in the river in their efforts to escape the flames.
The "Sugar Bush " is divided into what is known as the Upper,
Middle, and Lower Bush. From what we can learn, and by
gleaning our information from all possible sources, we are quite
certain that over sixty were burned to death in the Upper Bush,
about seventy-five in the Middle, and fully one hundred and
twenty in the Lower Bush, miserably, terribly perished.
Hundreds are maimed and helpless, many of them rendered
cripples for life. Thus, in one short hour, whole townships were
devastated by the fire-fiend, nearly four hundred human beings
were hurled into eternity by one of the most awful visitations
ever known in the history of the world, and the wretched survivors left with nothing to subsist on but such supplies as are and
may be contributed by the charities of the people. To the despairing cries for help, the people, having their sympathies fully
aroused, have been and are responding nobly.
The whole country is a scene of devastation and ruin that no
language can paint or tongue describe.
There is only one farm of any note in the entire bush that has
escaped. This is the fine farm of Mr. Abram Place, in the uppel
bush. He, having an immense clearing, and protected by the




120                  HISTORY OF THE
roads, was enabled to save his house, barn, and nearly all of his
stock and supplies. His house has been an asylum for the suffering ones of that region, and he has rendered them all the assistance in his power.
Yesterday, Mulligan, having in his charge a gang of railroad
employes, was engaged in gathering together the remains at
Peshtigo and in the immediate vicinity, and identified all that it
was possible to identify, and arranged the charred and blackened
corpses for burial. He was assisted by his wife and several men,
and his efforts have been noble and heroic. He deserves much
credit for the good and efficient services he has rendered.
Nearly all the buildings of any value in Nenekaune were consumed in spite of the most energetic efforts, and we are safe in
saying that had we been visited by such a tornado of wind and
flame as our neighbors at Peshtigo, nothing could have been left
of our town.
At Peshtigo and in the Sugar Bush all the cattle, sheep, swine,
and poultry are destroyed. Miles of country, where but a few
days ago existed pleasant farms and an abundance of the necessaries of life, now lie devastated with not a living thing left.
Crowds of people, with teams and supplies, have gone to-day
to gather such of the remains of the dead as can be found, to pay
the last sad tribute to their memory, and perchance succor the
few who may yet be living, but whom no aid has yet reached.
While our blinded eyes witnessed the destruction of our homes
and business in the Garden City, the same heart-breaking scenes
were transpiring in other places on either side of Lake Michigan,
in Indiana, and Ontario. There was a carnival of death. A
Chicago man, who lost heavily, had a small farm in Michigan, and
there were his wife and son. The forest igniting, fire drove
through his beautiful timber and land, roared around his dwelling, almost compelling the desertion of all to the flames. It was
saved only by heroic exertions, and the farm was a waste. It




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.             121
seemed as if sorrows were never to cease, and yet he held up
his head like a Christian hero, trusting in God the good provider. More fortunate he than thousands whose all was stripped from them as the autumn winds disrobe the trees. Like
these, thanks to God, the miserable victims will put forth life
and vigor, and yet stretch out their thriving beauty to IHeaven,
and bask in the summer of His mercy who heals and restores
whom He has smitten. The accounts of whole regions smoking like a volcano are not exaggerated, as no pen can fitly describe the occurrences of that memorable week from October 7th
to the 14th. As a record of the state of things during this time
the following items are worth preserving as material for the
future historian. From Manistee came this intelligence-on the
western shore of Michigan among the vast pine forests.
The fire which broke out in the pineries north-east of here,
last week, was almost subdued, when a heavy gale sprang up
from the southward, driving the flames and cinders toward Gifford & Ruddock's mills. This the fire company checked; but on
Sunday evening a fire broke out near Canfield's mill, which is
situated at the mouth of the river, and so intense was the heat
that men could not get within a thousand yards of it. In less
than half an hour the mill, together with about twenty dwellinghouses and boarding-houses, were totally consumed. A hill intervening between this and the town, the fire could run no further, and people were already congratulating themselves upon
the narrow escape of Manistee, when a bright light was noticed
north-east from the scene, and repairing to the spot, we found a
number of dwellings wrapped in flames, and a regular equinoctial gale blowing-thus making it beyond human control to stay
the conflagration. The damage at present is inestimable; but
the largest part of the town, which is on the South Side, is destroyed, while so far twenty-seven buildings are totally gone on
the North Side.




122                  HISTORY OF THE
The loss, as near as I can learn, amounts to $1,300,000, with
only about one-fifth insurance.
The swing bridge is entirely destroyed; the schooner Seneca
Chief is burnt to the water's edge. Every building on the North
Side (excepting the Fourth Ward school-house, the residence of
George Thorp, and a Catholic, church) is completely consumed.
Several serious accidents occurred, and some lives have been
lost; but there is such tumult and excitement that no one can
give a fair answer to a question.
Where six mills stood yesterday, not a vestige remains except
bungled up machinery-the woodwork and logs having burned
out entirely. Blackbird Island is no more. The distress is great,
and if food does not come forthwith there will be starvation.
Nothing can be heard from the north or north-eastern villages,
as the heat prevents communication. The roads are so dry that
sawdust burns like powder.
Special meetings of the council were held to devise means for
meeting any emergency, which seemed momentarily to be ready
to burst upon them with an intense fury. One fire in East Saginaw destroyed some hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth "of
property, and several lives. Fires encircled the city on Wednesday, and grave apprehensions of total destruction were felt.
Corrollton, the seat of the great salt-works, it is feared, was
totally destroyed.
Between East Saginaw and Bridgeport the woods were yesterday one mass of flames and smoke. Beyond Bridgeport the scene
is much the same. At Eggleston a large amount of property
was consumed. A saw-mill, four houses, a store, and several
little buildings of various kinds were destroyed. A fire took
place about ten o'clock Tuesday morning, and it did not slacken
in the least until the whole village oi Eggleston was wiped out
of existence.
On the Jackson, Lansing, and Saginaw line the fire is terrible.




GREAT FIRES IN THE WEST.             123
Houses, portable mills, barns, timber, and crops are being consumed; the families have to leave their all, in many instances,
and flee for their lives. At a point a short distance south of St.
Charles, quite a number of buildings were destroyed, including
boarding-houses and private residences. At St. Charles the fire
is raging fearfully, the mills are all closed, and the men are working steadily and faithfully to prevent the spread of the flames.
At Pine Grove the entire property, including a mill and several houses, were destroyed. The property belonged to McArthur & Co., of Corunna, and was worth probably $30,000. All
that was saved from the lot were two small piles of lumber and
one shanty.
A despatch from Lexington, Mich., says:
White Rock, Forestville, Elm Creek, and Cato are entirely de
stroyed by fire. Hundreds are without shelter or food.
The loss at White Rock can safely be estimated at $250,000,
while at Forestville it will far exceed this amount. Thomson &
Brother, of White Rock, alone lost $60,000.
The steamer Comet, while coasting along Lake Huron, found
the woods on fire at many points, and the smoke on board the
steamer so suffocating as to compel them to retreat to the cabins.
Large cinders from the burning shore were driven far enough
out on the lake to land upon her decks, rendering it necessary to
wash the decks down at frequent intervals. From Lexington to
Point aux Barques the shore, to all appearances, was a continuous flame, which was wafted along with a strong westerly
wind.
From Bay City, Michigan, the news is: "Fires are raging in
the woods in every direction, and the atmosphere has been so
smoky in consequence that it has been difficult to distinguish
objects at even a short distance. Navigation is also extremely
difficult. Reports from the timber region north, state that a
vast amount of pine timber has been entirely destroyed."




124                  HISTORY OF THE
We hear from Lansingburg that "the greatest excitement
prevails here on account of the fire in the woods surrounding
this place. To the west is a large marsh, which is now on fire,
and is fast approaching the village."
The town of Owosso was in great danger of being consumed
by fire.
The dry weather still continues, and fires are raging in the
woods in all directions. At the village of Mt. Morris, Mich.,
the citizens turiad out in large force to arrest the progress of
the fire that is burning near that village. I am informed, says a
correspondent, that valuable pine lands at the head of the Flint
River and its tributaries are being run over by the fire, which is
destroying thousands of dollars' worth of timber.
What a period of terror and destruction for the North-west,
unparalleled in our history, and quite unexampled in the annals
of time, if we consider the brevity of duration and the immense
losses of property and life! In order to give a comparative
view of the present calamity with others occasioned by fire, we
annex an account of several of the great conflagrations of the
past:HISTORY OF THE GREAT FIRES IN THE PAST.
THE BURNING OF MOSCOW.
We reproduce from the pages of Sir Archibald Alison, whose
history is deservedly ranked as standard authority, the following
description of the burning of the ancient capital of Muscovy, an
event which, more than all others combined, broke the power of
the first Napoleon:At eleven o'clock on the 14th September, 1812, the advanced
guard of the French army, from an eminence on the road, descried the long-wished for minarets of Moscow. The domes of
above two hundred churches, and the massy summits of a hun



GREAT FIRES IN THE PAST.             125
dred palaces, glittered in the rays of tile sun-the form of the
cupolas gave an Oriental aspect to the scene; but, high above all,
the cross indicated the ascendancy of the European faith. The
scene which presented itself to the eye resembled rather a province adorned with palaces, domes, woods, and buildings, than a
single city; a boundless accumulation of houses, churches, public edifices, rivers, and parks, stretched out over swelling eminences and gentle vales as far as the eye could reach.  The
mixture of architectural decoration and pillared scenery, with
the bright-green foliage, was peculiary fascinating to European
eyes. Everything announced its Oriental character, but yet
without losing the features of the West. Asia and Europe met
in that extraordinary city.
Struck by the ma niificence of the spectacle, the leading
squadrons halted, and exclaimed: "Moscow! Moscow l' and
the cry, repeated from rank to rank, at length reached the emperor's guard.  The soldiers breaking their array, rushed
tumultuously forward, and Napoleon, hastening in the midst of
them, gazed impatiently on the splendid scene. His first words
were: " Behold at last that famous city!" the next, "' It was full
time! " Intoxicated with joy, the army descended from the
heights. The fatigues and dangers of the campaign were forgotten in the triumph of the moment, and eternal glory was
anticipated in the conquest which they were about to complete.
Murat at the head of the cavalry speedily advanced to the gates,
and concluded a truce with Milaradowitch for the evacuation of
the capital. But the entry of the French troops speedily dispelled the illusions in which the army had indulged. Moscow
was found to be deserted. Its long streets and splendid palaces
resounded only with the cla ig of the hoofs of the invaders' horses.
Not a sound was to be heard in its vast circumference; the
dwellings of three hundred thousand persons seemed as silent as




126                  HISTORY OF THE
the wilderness. Napoleon waited in vain until evening for a
deputation from the magistrates or chief nobility. Not a human
being came forward to deprecate his hostility, and the mournful
truth could at length be no longer concealed, that Moscow, as if
struck by enchantment, was bereft of its inhabitants. Wearied
of fruitless delay, the emperor, on the morning of the 15th, advanced into the city, and entered the ancient palace of the czars,
amidst no other concourse than that of his own soldiers.
The Russians, however, in abandoning their capital, had resolved upon a sacrifice greater than the patriotism of the world
had yet exhibited. The Governor, Count Rostopchin, set the
example of devotion by preparing the means of destruction for
his country palace, which was splendidly furnished, and adorned
with the finest works of art, which he set fire to by applying the
torch with his own hands to his nuptial chamber; and to the
gates of the palace he had affixed the following inscription:
"' During eight years I have embellished this country-house and
lived happily in it in the bosom of my family. The inhabitants
of this estate, to the number of seventeen hundred, quit it at
your approach, in order that it may not be sullied by your
presence. Frenchmen! at Moscow I have abandoned to you
my two houses, with their furniture, worth half a million
roubles; he-m you will find nothing but ashes."
The nobles were prepared, in a public assembly, to have imitated the example of the Numantians, and destroy the city they
could no longer defend, and Kutosoff had promised to give
Rostopchin three days' notice before he evacuated the city, in
order that it might be held. But owing to the advance of the
French being more rapid than had been anticipated, the notice
was not given or the meeting held, and the governor was left to
act on his own responsibility. Everything, however had been
prepared for that noble sacrifice. The authorities, when they
retired, carried with them the fire-engines, and everything capa




GREAT FIRES Im THE PAST.            127
ble of arresting a conflagration, and combustibles were disposed
in the principal edifices to favor the progress of the flames. The
persons entrusted with the duty of firing the city, only awaited
the retreat of their countrymen to commence the work of de
struction. Rostopchin was the author of this sublime effort cf
patriotic devotion, but it involved a responsibility greater th n
either government or any individual could support, and he was
afterward disgraced for the heroic deed.
The sight of the grotesque towers and venerable walls of:he
Kremlin first revived the emperor's imagination, and rekindled
those dreams of Oriental conquest which, from his earliest years,
had floated through his mind. His followers dispersed over the
vast extent of the city, gazed with astonishment on the sumptuous palaces of the nobles, and the gilded domes of the churches.
Evening came on, and with increasing wonder the French troops
traversed the central parts of the metropolis, recently so crowded
with passengers, but not a living creature was to be seen to explain the universal desolation. It seemed like a city of the
dead.  Night approached; an unclouded moon illuminated
those beautiful palaces, those vast hotels, those deserted streetsall was still; the silence of the tomb. The officers broke open
the doors of some of the principal mansions in search of sleeping
quarters. They found everything in perfect order; the bedrooms
were fully furnished as if guests were expected; the drawingrooms bore the marks of having been recently inhabited; even
the work of the ladies was on the tables, the keys in the wardrobes; but not an inmate was to be seen. By degrees a few of
the lower class of slaves emerged, pale and trembling from the
cellars, showed the way to the sleeping apartments, and laid
open everything which these sumptuous mansions contained;
but the only account they could give was that the whole inhabitants had fled, and that they alone were left in the deserted city.
But the terrible catastrophe soon commenced. On the night of




128                  HISTORY OF THE
the 14th a fire broke out in the Bourse, behind the Bazaar, which
soon consumed that noble edifice, and spread to a considerable
part of the crowded streets in the vicinity. This, however, was
but the prelude to more extended calamities. At midnight on
the 15th, a bright light was seen to illuminate the northern and
western parts of the city; and the sentinels on watch at the
Kremlin soon discovered the splendid edifices in that quarter to
be in flames. The wind changed repeatedly during the night,
but to whatever quarter it veered the conflagration extended
itself; fresh fires were every instant seen breaking out in all directions, and Moscow soon exhibited the spectacle of a sea of
flame agitated by the wind. The soldiers, drowned in sleep or
overcome by intoxication, were'incapable of arresting its progress; and the burning fragments floating through the hot air,
began to fall on the roofs and courts of the Kremlin. The fury
of an autumnal tempest added to the horrors of the scene: it
seemed as if the wrath of Heaven had combined with the vengeance of man to consume the invaders of the city they had conquered.
But it was chiefly during the nights of the 18th and 19th that
the conflagration attained its greatest violence. At that time
the whole city was wrapped in flames, and volumes of fire of
various colors ascended to the heavens in many places, diffusing
a prodigious light on all sides, and attended by an intolerable
heat. These balloons of flame were accompanied in their ascent
by a frightful hissing noise and loud explosions, the effect of the
vast stores of oil, resin, tar, spirits, and other combustible materials with which the greater part of the shops were filled. Large
pieces of painted canvas, unrolled from the outside of the buildings by the violence of the heat, floated on fire in the atmosphere,
and sent down down on all sides a flaming shower, which spread
the conflagration in quarters even the most removed from where
it originated. The wind, naturally high, was raised by the sud



GREAT FIRES IN THE PAST.            129
den rarefaction of the air produced by the heat, to a perfect hurricane. The howling of the tempest drowned even the roar of
the conflagration; the whole heavens were filled with the whirl
of the volumes of smoke and flame which rose on all sides, and
made midnight as bright as day; while even the bravest hearts,
subdued by the sublimity of the scene, and the feeling of human
impotence in the midst of such elemental strife, sank and trembled in silence.
The return of day did not diminish the terrors of the conflagration. An immense crowd of hitherto unseen people, who had
taken refuge in the cellars and vaults of their buildings, issued
forth as the flames reached their dwellings; the streets were
speedily filled with multitudes flying in every direction, with
their most precious articles, while the French army, whose discipline this fatal event had entirely dissolved, assembled in
drunken crowds, and loaded themselves with the spoils of the
city. Never in modern times had such a scene been witnessed.
The men were loaded with packages, charged with their most
precious effects, which often took fire as they were carried along,
and which they were obliged to throw down to save themselves.
The women had often two or three children on their backs, and
as many led by the hand, which, with trembling steps and piteous cries, sought their devious way through the labyrinth of
flame. Many old men, unable to walk, were drawn on hurdles
or wheelbarrows by their children and grandchildren, while their
burnt beards and smoking garments showed with what difficulty
they had been rescued from the flames. Often the French
soldiers, tormented by hunger and thirst, and loosened from all
discipline by the horrors which surrounded them, not contented
with the booty in the streets, rushed headlong into the burning
edifices, to ransack their cellars for the stores of wine and spirits
which they contained, and beneath the ruins great numbers
perished miserably, the victims of intemperance and the sur



130                  HISTORY OF TIE
rounding fire. Meanwhile the flames, fanned by the tempestuous gale, advanced with frightful rapidity, devouring alike in
their course the palaces of the great, the temples of religion, and
the cottages of the poor. For thirty-six hours, the conflagration
continued at its height, and during that time above nine-tenths
of the city was destroyed. The remainder, abandoned to pillage
and deserted by its inhabitants, offered no resources to the army.
Moscow had been conquered; but the victors had gained only a
heap of ruins. It is estimated that 30,800 houses were consumed, and the total value of property destroyed amounted to
~30,000,000.
THE GREAT FIRE IN LONDON.
We must go back more than a couple of centuries to find a
parallel to the terrible fire which has wrapped the city of Chicago in a sea of resistless flame. On the 2d of September, 1666,
the city of London was almost entirely destroyed by what has
since been known as the Great Fire. This awful conflagration
gained headway with the same terrible rapidity as that of Sunday night, and in five dreadful days of ruin and terror and panic
laid two-thirds of the English metropolis in ashes. Like the fire
at Chicago it broke out upon a Sunday, though at a different
hour-two o'clock in the morning. It originated in a bakehouse,
kept by a man with the quaint name of Farryner, at Pudding
lane, near the Tower. At that period the buildings in the English capital were chiefly constructed of wood, with pitched roofs,
and in this particular locality, which was immediately adjacent
to the water side, the stores were mainly filled with materials
employed in the equipment of shipping, mostly of course of a
highly combustible nature. To add to the conspiring causes of
the immense mischief in which the fire ultimately resulted, the
pipes from the New River-the source of the water supply of the
city-were found to be empty, and the engine which raised water




GREAT FIRES IN THE PAST.             131
from the Thames was among the first property destroyed. The
vacillation and indecision of the lord mayor aggravated the confusion. For several hours lie refused to listen to the counsel
given himn to call in the aid of the military, and when the probable proportions of the fire were plainly apparent, and wlhen it
was clear that the destruction of a block of houses was absolutely
necessary to the preservation of the city, he declined to accept
the responsibility of destroying them until he could obtain tho
consent of tleir owners. All through Sunday the wind increased
in violence, and the fire sped with incredible rapidity from house
to house, from street to street, on its work of havoc. We cannot
now do better than transcribe the account of the further mischief
caused by the fire, given by Mr. John Evelyn, in his " diary."  It
reads as follows:Sept. 3. The fire continuing, after dinner I took coach with
my wife and son and went to the Bankside, in Southwark, where
we beheld that dreadful spectacle-the whole city in dreadful
flames near ye water side: all the houses from the bridge, all
Thames street, and upwards towards Cheapside down to the Three
Cranes, were now consumed.
" Tlhe fire having continued all this night (if I may call that
night which was as light as day for ten miles round about after
a dreadful manner) when conspiring with a fierce eastern wind
in a very drie season; I went on foot to the same place, and
saw tle wllole south part of the city burning, from Cheapside
to the Thames, and all along Cornehill (for it kindled back against
the wind as well as forwards).  Tower street, Fenchurch street,
Gracious street, and so along to Bainard's castle, and was now
taking hold of St. Paul's church, to which the scaffolds contributed exceedingly. The conflagration was so universal and the
people so astonished, that, from the beginning-I know not from
what, despondency or fate-they hardly strived to quench it, so
that there was nothing hearde or seene but crying out and la



132                   HIl'STORY OF TIH1
mellt tatio:ns, runutling about like distri;cted creatures, witllhut at all
attem ltiig to save even their good(., such a stralge conlsterina
tio:; titere was upon themt-so, as it hurned bothl in length and
breadltl, the chlurcles, public halls, Exchange, hospitals, ionumenlts antd ornamlenlts, lea pintg after a pirodigiols lmanntier froml
houlse to house alld streete to streete, at greatte distance one from
ye othler; for ye lieate, with a long set of fair and warle weather had1 even igiited the air, atd preplared the materials to
colccive tlie lire which devoured tttter an incredible mallnier
houses, furniture and everytlhing. Here we saw tlie Thanles
covered with goods flo.ating, all tle barges and boats ladell with
w-hat soine had tine and courage to save, as ol ye other, ye
carts, &c., carrying out to tile iellds, whlich for many miles were
strewed witll mtoveables of all sorts, and tents ercctilng to shelter
both people and whllat goods they could get away. 01, tle miserable:and calamitous spectacle such as haply the world had not
scenet the like since tle foundatioi of it, lor to be outdone till
the universal conflagration. All tlhe sky was of a fiery aspect
like tle top of a burning oven, the light fscene above forty miles
round about ftr many nighllts. God grant my eyes navy never
behold the like, now seeing above ten thousan'd hlouses all in one
flame; the noise and crackling and thunder of tle ipl)etuous
flamnes, ye shriekingl of womenl and children, thle hurry of people,
the fall of towers, houses and churchles w'as like an hideous
etornle, and the fire all about so lhot and inflamled that at last
one was not able to approach it, so that tley were forced to stand
stille andl let the flames burn on, whlichl they did for neere two
miles in length and one in breadth. The clouds of smoke were
dismall, and reacied upon computation, neer fifty lliles in length.
Thus I left it in the aftcrnoonc burning-a resemblance to Sodom or the last day. London was, but is no m1ore!
"Sept. 4. Tlhe burning still rages, and it was now gotten so
far as the Inner temple, olde Fleete strecte, thle Olde Bailey,




ttmCA'rT l],:tS IX Trl.: PAST.         133
Ludate Iill, Warwick laile, Newgate, [aull's Chain, Wattling
streete, 11w I   ngti 1  llit:l Illost (,f it rtcdi(ced to ashes; thle stoles
of'Pan;lls lew like' reitadels, ye eitie itng lea(td rt'niingl dowtne tile
streetes ill a streatUlle andll thle very pavelletits gl(will g withl tiery
]'edn11e'se, so as t1o 1hlorse or' a11  was able to tread on tlhem,:ld
tle deml,,litioul htad stopped al, tlie passages, so that 11o hIelpl c(o,uld
be applied. T'lle eastern widild still 11re' itlpettuouslyv drove tlte
fltialtes florward.,Notlhilln buit ve almi.igltt powers of God Iw -as
able to, st;ay themli, fr vaie was ye hilpe of nlla.
"s'Sept. 5. It crostsed tow\ards Whlitehalle; o11, tile confusiion
there was thell at that colurt! It plleased ilis ltaljesty to coinmatld tu]e a;olllt l  the rest to looke after the qlienclinig of Fetter
lanle, land to iprese'rve it' possible tlhat part o  tf loullborne, while tite
rest of'ye gent lemten tookel tlh-,ir several I,,sts andl beganl to c(,lsider tliat liotliig wa\s so likely' to lput:t stolp b)ut thle blowinig ulp
of so imamt.l l.,uses as ai^-lt. t, ake a wider.ap tltan any th lt had
yet tleelt tlade by the ordinallry method o, t pllill, themt down I)y
cengilles.'
lThen:after:A descriti-on of tle Iabating of tie windt, ant tile
grad ial dying out of tle fire, tlhe quaint old diarist continues:llThe poore inlhlabitlants were dispersed ablout St. (eorgel
Fieldts:atd Moorlields, as t far as Hliglhgate, and several,nyles in
circle; somne 1under tents, somIe under miserablle butts and hovels,
manliy without a rag or any ncessary utesllils, bed or boa:t'd, who
firon dellic(atcllesse, richles ant d easy accomninodation in stately and
well fill'uished h0ouses, were reduced now to extreal:uest lisel'y
and poverty."
And again:I tlhen went towards Islington and ITilgate, where one
migllt hlave scene 200,000 people of ranks and degrees dispelse




134                   HISTORY OF THE
and lying along by their heapes of what they could save from
the fire, deploring tlheir losse, and though ready to perish fiom
hunger and destitution, yet not asking one penny for relief,
which to me appeared a stranger sight than I had yet beheld."
Iow vivid an idea of the suffering and misery entailed by this
terrible visitation we find in-this simple but expressive narrative!
Nearly two-thirds of the entire city was destroyed. Thirteen
thlousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and many public buildings were reduced to charred wood and ashes. Three hundred
and seventy three acres within, and sixty-three acres without
the walls were utterly devastated. Well might Mr. Evelyn
compare the fire to that whicih overwhelmed Sodom and Gomorrah, or that other and yet more awful one which will engulf the
entire world at the day of doom.
NEW YORK'S GREAT FIRE.
Tllat great event in the history of New York, the "Great
Fire," occurred on the night of the 16th of December, 1835. It
was declared by the croakers of the time a damper upon the
city's prosperity and a clog to the wheels of its progress towards
its present position. But though the people lost a great part of
their capital, they did not lose their strength, energy, and enterprise, and the proper application of those qualities caused their
city to rise, Phoeniilike, from its ashes more beautiful, stronger,
and fuller of life than before.
At between eight and nine o'clock of the evening above stated
the fire was discovered in the store No. 25 Merchant street, a
narrow street that led from Pearl into Exchange street, near
where tlhe Post-office then was. The flames spread rapidly, and
at ten o'clock forty of the most valuable dry goods stores in the
city were lburned down or on fire. The narrowness of Merchant
street, and tlle gale whichl was blowing, aided the spread of the
destructive clement. It passed from building to building, leaped




GREAT FIRES I THE PAST.              135
across the street between the blocks, urged by the gale and in
no wise deterred by the feeble forces opposing it. The night
was bitterly cold, and, though the firemen were most energetic,
the freezing of the hose and the water in their defective engines,
combined with their sufferings from the weather, made theix
efforts of little avail. The flames spread north and south, east
and west, until almost every building on the area bounded by
Wall, South, and Broad streets, and Coenties' slip, was burning,
gutted, or levelled to the ground. There was not a building de
stroyed on Broad street, nor on the block on Wall street fromn
William to Broad street, the fire taking an almost circular course
just at the rear of the buildings on the streets named. The
scene in the night was one of indescribable grandeur, the glare
fromn tlhe three hundred buildings that were at one tine burning,
brightly lighting up the wllole city. In all five hundred and
thirty buildings were destroyed; they were of the largest and
most costly description, and were filled with the most valuable
goods. The total loss, estimated at about $20,000,000, was afterwards found to be about $15,000,000. Of the buildings destroyed
the most ilmportant were the Merchant's Exchance, the Postoffice, tlle offices of the celebrated bankers the Josephs, the
Aliens, and the Livingstons, the Plienix bank, and the building
owned and occupied by Arthur Tappan, then miuch despised for
his anti-slavery sympathies. TlIe business portion of the city
was alone that burned over, so tlat few poor were rendered
otherwise than witlout employment.
NEW YORK, 1845.
The greatest fire since that of December, 1835, that has devastated property in New York, began on the morning of the 20th
of July, 1S45. The fire originated in the sperm oil store in New
street, near the corner of Exchange place, about 3 o'clock on the
morning named, and spread over a great part of the territory




13                    IIISTORY OF TIIIT
wllich had been the scene of the conflagration of 1S35. Tho
flames were communiicated to a chair factory adjoing and nearer
to the corner of Excllange place, whence they passed alonlr Exchange place to Iroad street. There tley enwrapped a building
in lwhich was a quantity of saltpetre, or gunpowde, oil stlrage.
When the building had been buining flr about fifteeln linilltes a
most awtil explosion took place whicll shook the city like an
eartlquake. The building was blown up, and with it some other
buildings. Ilmmediately after thle explosion fire was disco\ered
in foulr differenlt places, and shortly tle rear of the entire bllck
was blazing. Soon the lire leaped to tlle south side of Broad
street, passing at the samle time to B3roadway. All this time tlho
firemen, althoiuglh Iaking tile most stetinnous eftorts, had effected
but little toward suppressing tlhe flames. Onl Broadway they
spread downward toward tlme Bowling Green; and on1 Broad
street north tow'ard Wall street and southl to Beaver street, along
which they passed to New street, both sides of which liad been
devasted.  Tlhe fire was clecked ere it hlad reacledl tlhe,marnificent Merchants' Exclhange on its way to Wall strect. Both sides
of Exclhange place, from Broadway to Broad street, and halt wXay
down to William, were burnied. Every building ol Broadway
from Exchange place down was levelled, and tliel tlhe flamtes
turned into Marketfield street, whlere they were chlecked. Altogether about three hundred bu1ildinlgs were destroyed, amnong0
which were the costly shrines of colmmerce and fitlnce aldi tlmo
abodes of the poverty stricken. A liberal estimate of tlhe total loss
is made at $6,000,000, but tils is belittled when the lamenitable
loss of life of which tlhe explosion was tlhe occasion is tholughlt of.
The number of persons wlIose lives were destroled never was accurately ascertained, but it was generally believed at tlie time
that about six persons perished.




G1REAT'- FRiES IN THE PAST'.           1 37
pi,''IIs:G!. 1845.
P'ittslurx. Pa.. was visited by a mlo(st (lestructive colfl:,,r:atiou
the 10th of April,i 1845.  By it a very lhirge portiOl onf tlle city
was Iail waste, all1 a great   her nlulle]f thoullses (dest(,oed tha11 by
all tlhe fires tlhat htad o(curreled previonuly to it. T'wently F(jlIre'Cs
conltainilngl' albot 1,t)00 lbild(iilns were lirnlied over. 0)t' ti eso
buildillns tile (greater par t were lbsinessi lolues econtai linll'ood
of inmneise val1nc-gro(elry, dry (ood, s  11ad1 colillissi, n lonscsand ttlc sprl'i stocks of tire litter 1lad jiut been laid il. The
tire conlllenl(ed in a famte buildil. at tlec corner of Second and
Ferry streets, and tle prevailin   stlro(n  win 1d urged it wit  I tbarful rIapidity tllrougll tlhe city. So shiort was tlhe time between
the discovery of tile flames nand tleir. splrea;d Itr-nlng'll. tlie city,
that mialy persons were iunable. to save any. of their lhouiitsold
goods, while otlers, hlavin i^(,t tleirsto tile walk, were colielled
to flee:ald leave tlhem to be seized 1an destroy'ed by tile elmelnt.
Thie mierlcants were equally iunsuccessfiul il saxvill, anytliug
fromn tileir warehouses. Tile loss was estilmlated at; 10,))00,000.
I'1TLLADEPIIIA, 1850.
A conflagration by whichl an inmense amount of property waS
destroyed, took place in lPhiladelphia, on tlie 9th of Juily, 1850.
It )begall atbout fourl o'clock on thle afternoon of that day, in a store
at TS Nortl Del aware avenue. TIle fire was beyond conetrol,
when discovered, and soon spread, despite tlhe mcllt stlre'ullous
efforts to prevent it, to tile storehouses adjoiningll. When tlle fire
had read(lhed tlie cellar of tile building( il \wlichl it lhad orilinated
two explosiols occlrred, whlichl rent tlie walls of tlie buildii' and
threw flakes o(f colmbustilde matter in all directions, settinlg fire to
maln ottler buildirgs. I)claware avenue iand Water street were
covered witlh personts w lo exhibited little fear at these evidencca
of datier(uc s substances beinlg stored in tle building. Suddenly
a tlirl and most terrific explosion o(ccurred, by whichl a numiber




138                   HISTORY OF THE
of men, women, and children were killed, and several buildings
demolished. This disaster caused a panic among the firemen and
spectators, and in the efforts of all to escape from danger many
were trampled upon and injured. Some were thrown into the
Delaware, and others jumped in to get away fiomn the falling
bricks and beams sent up fiom the burning building by the explosion. Th1) number of persons who lost their lives by the explosion was about thirty-nine persons who jumped into the river in
a friglt were drowned  and about one hundred persons injured.
The area over which the fire spread contained about four hundred buildings. Its locality was one of the most densely populated in tlhe city, and a large number of the rresi.ents having been
poor people, the suffering caused was immense. The loss was
about one million dollars, and the fire would be a comparatively
small one had there been no loss of life.
rIILADELPHIA, 1865.
The most terrible conflagration of whlich Phliladelphia was
the tleatre, after tlat of July, 1850, occurred tlere on the
morning of February 8, 1S6. Like its predecessor, it brought
death to mlany, and in the most horrible and painful manner
Thle fire originated among several thousand barrels of coal-oil,
lttat was stored upon an open lot on Washington street near
Nintl. Thle flalnes spread through tlhe oil as if it had been gunpowder, and in a very slort time, 2,000 barrels were ablaze, and
sending, a hluge volume of flame and smoke upward. Tle residents of tle vicinity, awakened by the noise of tle bells and
firemen, and affriglted by the glare and nearness of thle fire
ruslhed in their niglit galrments into tlhe streets that were covered
witli snow and slush. Tlhe most prompt to leave their homes got
off witll tleir lives, ut those near the spot where tlhe fire commelned, talld not prompt to escape, were met by a terrible scene.
The blazing oil poured into Ninth street and down to Federal,




GREAT FIRES IN TE PrAST.             139
making the entire street a lake of fire that ignited the houses on
both sides of the street for two blocks. The flames also passed
up and down the cross streets, and destroyed a number of houses.
The fiery torch was whirled back and forth along the street at
the pleasure of the wind, and as it passed destroyed everything
in or near its course. People leaving their blazing homes, hoping
to reach a place of safety, were roasted to death by it. Altogether, about twenty persons were roasted in the streets or
houses. Firemen making vain endeavors to save the poor creatures from their horrible fate were fearfully burned. The loss
of property amounted to about $500,000, and fifty buildings were
destroyed. From Washington street to Federal, on Ninth, every
building was burned.
SAN FRANCISCO.
The city of San Francisco was retarded in its progress toward
its present proud position by many causes, but by notling more
than fire.  The most destructive of the many conflagrations
which have occurred in that city began on the 3d of May, 1851,
at eleven o'clock P.tr., and was not overmastered until the 5th.
The loss that was caused by it amounted to $3,500,000, and it
destroyed 2,500 buildings. The fire began in a paint shop on
the west side of Portsmouth square, adjoining the American
House. Although but a slight blaze when discovered, the building was within five minutes enwrapped with flames, and before
the fire-engines could be got to work the American House and
the building on the other side of the paint shop were also burning. The buildings being all of wood and extremely combustible, tlhe fire spread up Clay street, back to Sacramento, and down
Clay street towards Kearney with fearful rapidity.  Soon the
fire department was compelled to give up every attempt to extinguish it, and to confine their work to making its advance
less rapid.




140                   HISTORY OF T'HE
Pursuing this plan tley checked the flames on the north side
at Dupont street. But in every otler direction it took its own
course, and was only arrested at tle water's edge arid the ruins
of thelouses tlat had been blown up. The shipping in the
harbor was only protected by the breaking up of the wharves.
Thousands of persons were made homleless, and for a long time
after lived in tents. Tlhe cstom-louse, seven hotels, the postoffice, the offices of the steamslip company, and tlhe banking
house of Page, Bacon & Co. were destroyed. During tile continuance of the fire a number of persons were burned, and others
died fiomn their exertions toward subduing it.
Another large fire devastated a great portion of San Francisco
in June, S151. It occurred on tle 22d of that montlh, and 500
buildings were destroyed by it. The loss was estimated at
$3,000,000.
PORTLAND (ME.), 1S66.
The terrible fire which laid in ruins more than half of the city
of Portland, 3Me., commenced at five o'clock on the afternoon of
the 4th of July, 1S66. Beginning in a cooper's shop at the foot
of ligh street, caused by a fire-cracker being thrown among some
wood shavings, it swept through the city with frightful rapidity.
With difficulty did the inhabitants of the houses in its patlh escape
with their lives. Little effort was made to save household goods
when tlli3 saving involved a possilility of death. Everything in
the track of tlhe flames was destroyed, and so completely that
when they had been overcome even the streets could hardly be
traced. For a space of one mile and a half long by a quarter
of a mile wide there seemed a straggling forest of chimneys, with
parts of their walls attached. From the place of beginning the
fire was swept by a violent gale in a devious way, sparing nothing
in its passage until it was checked by the ruins of tlhe houses
which had been blown up. The utmost endeavors of the fire



GREAT' FIRES IN TlE PAST.               141
men of the city, aided by those froml other cities and towns, were
of little avail until tie plan of llowing i)p lhad been cartried out,
and tllell only to prevent the fire. from spreadingl, and cautlse it
for want of fuel to burn out. Ole-halft of tile city, aind the
one, which included its business portion, was destroyed. Every
bailk and all the newspaper offices were burned, and it is some\wlat singular to note that all tlhe lawy.ersl offices inl the city were
swept away. Tile splendid city'and county 1bilidinrg onl Coligress
street was considered fire-proof and safe, and Vwas tilled with furniturle ftrom( tlle ileighll)olrilgc 1o()Cses, afitd tlh:l tlhe flamles catchling
it laid it il ruins. All tlhe jewelry estallisllhenlts, the whole(sale
drv1'-oods Ihotises, several chlureles, tile telegraph offices, and the
mlajority (t of ther business ple aes  (stroyed.  Tiee Customhouse, tlhoughl'l badly l urned, wa:s tnot destroyed. ALMst singmlatly,a building on Midldle street, occupied by a lardware firm,
was left tunseathed by the sea of iflaml  which surged a:ld devastated all.around it.
r\Two tlousanld persolls were ren dered houseless, and were shoel
tered ill ct\hu'rches andr tents erected for tllem.
Itl all, tile loss was esttimated at $10,000,000, which was but in
small plat covered by insurance.
CnARnLESTrox, 1S38.
Cllarleston, S. C., was, on tlie 27th of April, lS3S, visited by
one of tlle most destructive fires that have ever occur'red ill any
city ill tills country. A territory equal to allmost onle-lIalfl of the
entire city wats made desolate. Thle fire broke out at a quarter
past eight o'clock on the mlorning of tlhe day imentioned, in a
paint shop on King street, corne' of l3eresford, and ra1ged until
about twelve A.-M. of tlhe following day. It was tlhen arrested
by the blowing up of buildings il its path.  There wele 1,158
buildings destroyed, and the loss occasioned was about $3,000,000.




1423                 HISTORY OF TIE
The worst feature < f the catastrophe was the loss of life which
occurred wlhile the houses were being blown up. Through the
careless manner in which the gunpowder was used, four of the
most prominent citizens of the city were killed and a number
injured.
ChICAGO, 1857, 1859, 1866, 1868.
On the morning of the 10tl of October, 1S57, a fire occurred
in Chicago which, though notable from the amount of property
destroyed by it, was made awful by the loss of human life which
it caused. The fire broke out in a large double store in South
Water street, and spread east and west to the buildings adjoining, and across an alley in the rear to a block of new buildings.
All tlese were completely destroyed. When the flames were
threatening one of the buildings, a number of persons ascended
to its roof to there fight against thlem. Wholly occupied with
their work, they did not notice that the wall of the burning
building tottered, and, when warned of their danger, they could
not escape ere it fell, crushing tllroulgh the house on which they
were, and carrying them into its cellar. Of the number fourteen were killed and more injured. The loss in property caused
by the fire amounted to over half a million of dollars.
A lire, the most disastrous after that of October, 1S57, took
place on September 15, 1859. It broke out in a stable, and,
spreading in different directions, consumed the block boullded
by Clinton, North Canal, West Lake, and Fulton streets, on
which the stable was situated. From this block the fire was
communicated to Blatclford's lead works and to the hydraulic
mills, whence it passed to anotlher block of buildins, all of
which were destroyed. The total loss was about five hundred
thousand dollars.
Property to the amount of $500,000 was destroyed by fire on
the 10tl of August, 1866. The fire originated in a wholesale




GREAT FIRES IN T''E PAST.           143
tobacco establishment on South Water street, and passed to the
adjoining buildings, occupied by wholesale grocery and drug
firms. The first two buildings and contents were utterly, while
the otlier was but partially, destroyed.
A fire, which destroyed several large busincss houses on Lake
and Soutlh Water streets, took place November IS, 1S6a. It
originated in tle tobacco warehouse of Banker & Co., ai.1 the
loss caused by it was about $500,000.
The fire which occurred on the 28th of January, 18S8, was
the most destructive by which Chicago had ever been visited.
It broke out in a large boot and slloe factory on Lake street, and
destroyed the entire block onl which tlat building was situated.
The sparks from those buildings set fire to others distant from
them on the same street, and caused their destruction. In all
the loss was about $3,000,000.
TABLE OF FORMER GREAT FIRES.
Norfolk, Va., destroyed by fire, and the cannon-balls of tho
British. Property to the amount of $1,500,000 destroyed. January 1, 1776.
City of New York, soon after passing into possession of the
british; 500 buildings consumed. September 20-21, 1776.
Theatre at Richmond, Va. The governor of the State and a
large number of the leading inhabitants perished. December
26, 1811.
City of New York; 530 buildings destroyed; loss, $20,000,000.
December 16, 1835.
Washington City; General Post-Office and Patent Office,
with over ten thousand valuable models, drawings, etc., destroyed. December 15, 1836.
Philadelphia; fifty-two building  destroyed; loss, $500,000.
October 5, 1839.




144       nls'rorY OF TIE GREAT FIRES IN TIIE PAST.
Queblec. Canada; 1,500 buildings and many lives destroyed.
M.ay 2, 1845.
Qllebcc. Canada; 1,300 buildints destroyed. June 28, 1S45.
C'ity ouf New York; 300 buildings destroyed; loss, $(;,000,00(. Jmlle C20, 1845.
St. Joll's, N. F., nearly destroyed; 6,000 people made hlomeless. Jullte  1S2846.
Quiel ec. (Caa:da; lTheatre loval; 47 persons burned to death.
June 14, 1846.
X'iittltuket; 300 buildings and otlher property destroyed; value,
$80(,0(0. July 1 3, 1840;.
At Alban;l; t6'JO bIuil(ditns, steamboats, piers, etc., destroyed;
loss. $3.0u)J,00. August 17, IS48.
B],roklnl1  300 buIlildimngs destroyed. SeptemCber 9, 1S48.
At St. Loui,;s 15 bIlocks oft' hlouses antd 23 stealllboats; loss estinmated at ($3,(00,000. May 17, 1S49.
Frel'drl-l;kton, N. B.; about 300 buildings destroyed. November 11, 1850.
Nc'vadla, Cal.; 200 buildings destroyed; loss, $1,300,000.
March 12, 1851.
At Sltcktonl. Cal.; loss, $1,500,000. May 14, 1851.
Ciilclord. N. II.; g'reater ilart of tie business portion of the
townl (desttroved. August 24, 1550.
Co,:'ressiolm:l Jibrar -WasVhintgton, 35,000 volumes, with
-works otf;art, destroyed. December 24, 1851.
At Moitreal, Canada, 1,0]00 houses destroyed; loss, $5,000,000.
July 8, 1852.
iI ar'er l:r othlers' estallislhlent, in this city; loss over $1,000,00(0. Dece(ber 10, 1853.
Mit rotliu;i 1Hall and Lafarge Ioulse, in this city. January
S, 1S54.
At Jc reey City, 30 factories tand houses destroyed. July 30,
MNre hI1lm 100 houses and facolries in Troy, N. Y.; on the
sam1c day  large l part of Milwatukee. Wis., destroyed. August
25. 1 ";54.
At Syra\ luse, N. Y., labout 100 buildings destroyed; loss, $1,
00(,O.tiu., xNoveIber 8, 1856.
5New Y'tk Crystal Pala.ce destroyed. October.5 1858.
Ci:t otf Charieston, S. C., almost destroyed. February 17,
18, Cnd                   oss dstroed; loss, $,50,
At Quelec, Canada, ~,500 houses destroyed; loss, $2,500,000.