The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-14 00:00:00

AWFUL FIRE IN CHICAGO.

The following short aecount of this puma calamity boa
aeon received by telegram, dated from Philadelphia, the 9th
Instant
- -

A great fire broke out in Chicago on Sunday night
in the southern part of the city. The wind was blow-
ing a gale from the south and carried the fire through
the heart of the city for miles. Thousands of buill.
jugs are destroyed; among them are all the banks, the
railway depOts, the Courthouse, the Waterworks, and
the principal hotel and stores, nix grain elevators, and
a multitude of private dwelling houses.
In the central portion of the city the buildings are of
stone, but in other parts chiefly wood, and the street
pavements are also wood. The telegraphs being de-
ranged, it is difficult to get particulars.
One-half of the city Is burnt, including the entire
business section. The fire is still raging. Efforts have
been made to stop the flames by blowing up buildings
with gunpowder, but ineffectually. There being no
supply of water, the firemen are powerless. The loss is
estimated at 500,000,000 dol.
The Mayor of Chicago is sending to other cities for
aid and food for the destitute numbers of people being
homeless. There is great excitement throughout the
country, and aid has been sent from Cincinnati, it.
Louis, Milwaukee, and Detroit The President has
ordered food and clothing to be distributed from the
military store M Chicago.
EVENING.

The burnt section of Chicago covers upwards of two
square miles in the heart of the city. It extends from
Twelfth-street northwards. Everything has been
burnt from the laki, shore inland nearly one mile. The
fire is still raging, but firemen from other places are
arriving and checking its progress towar4l:4 south and
west. 100.000 people are homeless. Many have been
killed. Aid is toeing sent from all quarters.

NEW Yo RE. Ovt. 10.
Advices from Chicago, dated midnight, statei that
twodhirds of the city have been destroyed. 100,000
inhabitants are houseless and starving. Meetings have
been held throu;hout the country for raising money to
buy some clothing and provisions for the sufferers, and
help is coming from all quarters.

The eonflag-ration in Chicago raged until an early
hour this morning, when a heavy rain fell, extinguish-
ing the Names. An area of live sgrare miles has been
destroyed. Hundreds of buildings were blown up to
stop the progress of the lire. It is estimated that over
100,000 persons are homeless.

The cities and t iwns throughout the country are
subscribing liberally in aid of the sufferers by the
burning of Chicago. The railroads are transporting
the relief stores free. Thousands of houseless families
are encamped in the vicinity of Chicago, and the Go-
vernment has sent 500 eoldiers to act assa guard.

(From the ('orregrklivient 1 The Timex.)
TB I LAPELI•III Wr Ist %day. I a 111

The great fire at Chicago began in a stabfe on Sun-
day night. A boy took a kerosene lamp into a stable
in order to milk a cow. The animal kicked the lamp
over, which set tire to the place. The burning fluid
ran on to the w.ei len pavements and caused an exten-
sion of the disaster.
' •

Pile people became crazy with excitement and
many were trampled to destli, others were burnt. The
,4 life is r,tila.tte•l :00
_ . .

Seral ircliuies were canght yesterday, awl
were either sh it or hanged.
The money hot is 'estimated now in Chieam at
300,000.000

.....
The tire is now extinguished in the southern part of
the city, whence these reports rime. Indirect reports
from St. Louis state that the fire is still burning in the
northern part, while crowds of starving people threaten
riot. _

The CI "p Tritame and Jurnal expect to he aVe
to issue a small sheet to-day.

The city which has jut met with such a terrible
disaster is one of the most marvellous features in the
history of the Unfit,' States. Up to 1831 it was
only an Indian trading post, and even in 1840 it,
population dhl not exceed 1,000. From the latter
period, however, it rose rapidly in population and
wealth until it attained an importance second, perhaps,
to that of no commercial city in the world. It has long
been known as the great trading city of the far West.
It is there that the grain of the West and other im-
portant productions are collected for transport to the
sea-board and to Europe. In 1857 the city contained
137 manufacturing establishments, and since then its
progress has continued at an accelerating ratio. Much
as has been said about the rapid development of Liver-
pool within the last centory, it is nothing compared
with the marvellous strides made by 'Meng°. Many
of the leading railways of America converge towards
that city, and the loss in a commercial point of view
arising from the awful fire will be enormous. The popu-
lation of the city in 18:10 WSW 28,209; in 18.17, 130,000;
and probably at the present time the total is little short
of a quarter of °million. With reference to theposition of
thrill-fated city, it may be remarked that it is beautifully
situated on an inclined plain extending along the shores
' of Lake Michigan for many miles. Some idea of its
extent nosy he gained from the fact that an area
of three square miles is now said to be reduced
: to ashes. Chicago abounded in public buildings,
most of which have doubtless perished. Amongst
these were a fine Custom-house, a Court-house,
, an Armoury, a cathedral, several spacious churches,
large libraries, hospitals, and banks. There are
many flourishing newspapers in the city, the Tribune
being one of the leading journals of America.
The offices of many of these journals are included in
the property destroyed. It is gratifying to find that
I the other cities of America are exerting themselves to
assist the many thousands of persons who have been
rendered homeless, and the national character of the
calamity is shown by the fact that the President has
ordered military stores to be sent to the relief of the
sufferers.

The following leader, from The Times, will in a
measure help the reader to form an idea of the extent
of this terrible the, and also of the enormous loss sus-
tained :
We must hope that in the confusion and terror with which
a great lire euvelopes all who are near it the conflagration
at Chicago has been in some dearer magnified ; but there
seems no 1410111 for doubt that it is the Tilost vast add terrible
disaster of its kind ever known. The specific localities nice-
timed enable us, with the aid of a map, to form a rough
coneeption of the extent of the destruction, while the few
details which have reached us indicate the fury of the con-
flagration. The City, we may explain, standing near the
Southern extreniity of Lake Michigan, is built along the shore
of the Lake. faring East. The Chicago river is formed by two
branches, of which one runs from south to North, and the
other, lees directly, from North to South; both are nearly
parallel to the shores of the Lake, and they unite at a point
nearly a mile inland, from which the stream runs due East
to its mouth. There are thus, roughly speaking, a Northern
and a Southern parallelogram, Imniered by the Lake on the
East, by the North and South brancnes of the Chicago river
on the %Veit, and separated teem each other by the united
stream. Ilia city et, etches far away it tile West beyond the
two branches of the river ; but its stoat important buildings,
its warehouses, and chief seats of business are in the 'me-
th ,ns [hue defined. Twelfth-street, in which the flre origi-
nated, is a street running East and West, about a mile
and a half South of the month of the river. Ey extreme
misfortune the whet at the time was blowing a Cole from the
South, and tended, theeefore, to drive the flames directly
over the central perthm of the City. It is clear that they
swept furiously to the North, consuming in their rourse the
great railway depots, the Court-house, the United states'
offices, the vast warehouses alone the bonier of the
fake, and splendid avenues. They then leapt over the
' channel of the river into the Northern block, where,
we are toll, they destroyed the waterworks, and the
last telegram speaks of their having spread far North-
wards. Leen if we suppose, therefore, that the con-
flagration did not extend to the West beyond the
braii,hes of the river, we shall have a space of about three
miles in length along the Lake, by from one mile to
half a mile absolutely consumed. It is as if a fire
ii„.l broken out itt the Lieltlon ,eks while a strong List
wind as blowing, and had swept Westward shag the
Northern bsuk e tile Thames it, enteduning in its
course the wit. he Irtsleesx quart, r of Loial.d., am] dear,,yi,,
all the houses and public buildings beta.. en the line of
Oxforil.street and the Thames. The heart uf the City is Cele
sinned. What reinalus, theugh greater in extent than what
has been destroyed, is as it were, but a shell. The life of
chickgo and all that mede it a great City has been swept
away in sue ten ible night.
The rapidity with which this vast destruction has been
is-reeked indicates the awful fury of the conflagration. It
began on Sunday night, and is Raid to have been extin-
guished by a heavy rain at an early hour on Tuesday morning.
About Ps; hours, therefore, eutticed for the thanes to devour
the wealth and treasure of one of the largest eities in the
Union. Taking the loweet of the figures stated, the devas-
tation is hilly twice as extensive as that of the treat Fire of
London, which burnt ter four days. It is evident that,
besidell the accidents'of the gale, the fury of the flames meet
have boos ted by the large annelid of in the houses and
streets of the cue. in addition to its other merchandlee,
Chicago is the centre of cc ininiense trade in lumber :
it is a young town, and the side pavements are in
great measure constructed of wood, often, as a Cor-
respondent tells us, raised above the ground like railway
platforms. The pubile LuMlings, indeed, were magnificent
, stone structures, worthy id Fier city in the States the
l theatre was finer titan any similar building in London except
j the Covent garden Opera House, and the Wabash aud
. Michigan Av.-tines, running parallel to the Lake, had been
I thought superior even to fifth Avenue in New York. het
there were a sufficient number of wooden buildings to supply
fresh fuel to the furnace at every advance, and, with a strong
gale blowing, it may be easily understood how blaring frag-
ments would have leapt over any euch Intervening spaces
as mild he hastily created lay manna of gunpowder. A
conflagration 119 vast, so sudden, rapid, and furious must
'MVO been a spectacle more tivrhil than anything of the
kind experienced within histerie them and the •lestructive
rage of lire has beta tower mor, appallingly exhibited, We

hear that many lives have been lost, and there le too touch
Tenon to fear that on this point the truth will prove win se
than could at first be realized. It le surpassingly strange to
think of such a conflagration raging unchecked along the
side of a vast lake, stretching swap seine lota hundred
utiles. A city in tlaineA on the shores of Lake Nlieldiran
may almost be compared to a ship bunting at sea. On the
edge id this vast reservoir, we are Lid, "there was no
supply of water and the firemen were !gormless." We
must await with intense Interest the detailed description of
SO CllOllllOll9 a catastrophe hut we may well conceie, the
consternation, distress, and horror of 140.1111.3 100,100 people
suddenly driven by the most furious of elementa front house
and hone', from wealth, business, and luxury, and beholding
the vast pile raised by the industry of a quarter of a century
blazing in oue vast furnace at the edge of a tempestuous
sew
-

The private suffering occasioned by this disaster must be
immense and cruel. Happily, there Is no city in the world
in which the Immediate wants of nature could be more
easily supplied. The very business of Chicago was to vollect
fond for exportation from the last cornfields and grazing.
grounds of the West. Railway and water communications
converge upon it from all sides. and the enemy of the Ameri-
cans sill insure an ample and prompt supply of the neces-
sacks of food and clothing. But the loss in trade and the de-
struction of private fortunes will not be oti suddenly repaired.
We ourselves shall probably stiller some inconvenience from
the diversion of our imports (coin the Western States, and
the very machinery (IT the Mole ot the City must be riveted
afresh before Chicago can resume its extraordinary course of
prosperity. Ills strange that the City which has been thus
suddenly destroyed should have arisen a ith a rapidity
seitrcoly less astonishing. Thirty-IWe years ago Chicago
wus nothing but a military post among Indians,
with whom a handful of white men carried on
a precarious trade in fans. A standard book on
the Western World published at that date male no
mention whatever of the City. Even in 1,40 it con-
tained less than 500 inhabitants. But as the re-
sources of the vast West wore developed, it was seen that
Chicago Was the natural outlet for its trade, and the Ameri-
cans seized on its opportunities with even more than their
customary energy. The side oh the Luke was soon lined with
Immense warehouses, in which elevators lifted the grain
front the railway ears and transferred it directly to the
ships ; and it then reached Europe by direct water
carriage through the Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Mil-
lions of hogs and hundreds of thousands of cattle were
annually collected in extensive pens, killed and peeked for
exportation. By these trades, in Radii lion to that is lumber,
Chicago had become the commercial capital of the West.
It numbered 300,000 Inhabitants, and flanked a ith ally
City in the Union for the wealth, the enterprise, and the
public spirit of Its inhabitants. Not content with a scheme
for diverting the Chicago river intothe alissiasippi, and thus
avoiding the necessity of polluting the Lake with the town
sewage, they were entertaining dreams of turning the
overflow from the Upper Lakes Into the same chan-
nel, and thus materially modifying the whole course
of North - Western commerce. In 1033 a traveller
called it " a little mushroom town." It has risen.
indeed, with the rapidity of a minthroom, and has been
burnt up as suddenly. When Mr. Cobden complained that
English schoolboys were taught all about a trumpery
Attic stream called the llissus, but knew nothing of Chicago,
It should have been remembered in fairness that at that time
Chicago had hardly exiated hong enough to be known by any
but merchants. It now not soon be forgotten. We
may 1* confident, however, that the natural resources
of the place and the make energy of the Americans will
more than repeat the marvels of the original develop-
ment of the City. The novelty and rapid growth of
American civilisation render the people far luore indifferent
to such calamities than dwellers in older countries,
who are conscious that their possessions are the accumu.
lethal of centuries. At the same time with the !WWI of the
fire, the telegraph informed its that its mercantile effects
were already being discounted in New York, and We have nu
doubt there are numbers of enterprising speculators who see
their way to fortune through the speedy reconstruction of
the City. The most cordial sympathy will loe felt in this
country with individual flutterers, and we can only wish the
great mercantile community of the West the prompt re-
covery which their energy deserves.

In connection with this terrible conflagration, the
following letters have beer sent to The TiIIICS
If the reports are not exaggerated, the tire at Chicago
already exceeds in devastation the great Me of London.
These ruins, from the Tower to the Temple, diii not cover
more than 440 acres. The bunt section of Chicago is said to
cover upwards of two square miles in the heart of the city.
Almut the same number of houses, 12,000 to 13,000, are reported
to be destroyed as in the London tire, anti as great a number
of families made homeless. Chicago, like inti London, is largely
constructed of wood, but the great public buildings, hotels,
theatres, and churehes (above 10) are stone. The peculiarity in
the American city, which accounts for the fearful rapidity of
the conflagration, is that nearly the whole of the side-walks
of the streets are plank-ways. Not 00 miles out of above
lkai miles of sidewalks an, stone pavements. The main
streets, such as Clark-strect, are also paved in the
roadway with wooden blocks. These are less com-
bustible but the plank side-ways, many of which are
raised considerably, anti admit a sweep of air beneath,
rapidly spread the dames, and niay give the appearance
of greater ruin than probably has occurred. There was
a great tire last year, also attended by great loss of life,
but the total destruction of property did not exceed
3,000,000 dols. One great block on Wabash-avenue, corner
of Washington-street, was then demobsheil. The present
fire is said to have drstroyol '.lO or 40 blocks, many of them
as substantial and imposing as the buildings in our Cannon-
street. There must be nmeh distress for a time, mot the
Its of life is deplorable lint for Chicago this will be only a
temporary check. A city Which ill 4..1 years has ricoh to a
population of 300,000 has strength and sidrit for a greater
future. fine fact alone is worthy of noting to Its honour.
The eommon sato. da are equal 1,. tin se in the oldest States of
the Union, and the average attendance last year—voluntary,
lot etaimulsoty—was uti per cold.
JAMES MACAULAY,

I doubt whether your readers who have not visited Chicago
are able to realise the extent of the frightful calamity that
has befallen it. The extent of the devastated space is :
enormous. Assuming It to be confined by the Chicago
River, it is 11.011011 M on the east by Dike Michigan, south ,
lty Twelfth-street, n'est by the south branch of the
Chicago Liver, and north by the main river, all the streets
running north and south, or east and w not. Thirteen of
the streets in this space run fumi east to west of
len,dles varying from half to three-fourths if a mile,
commencing with Sooth ater street, silnicti abuts lin the
1113111 river, a Mie clii street iii great warehouses, and
followed by Lake Randolph, Irashiegten, Mailbon, ami
Monroe StreeM, all lined with huge bbrksof stone loniiilings
containing shops rivalling or surpassing New ork and Paris.
The Uottea States' Rove] :uncut a few years since erected it
large 61:ale building. at enormous expense. in limiroe-street,
to a,•commo late the Federal Omit A. the Custonrhouse, alit
Pest.ittliee, a model of stately architecture, worlimanahip,
and adaptation to the uses for whieh it was designed. The
eity Court •Inonse stands in the centre of alarm. public square,
between Randolph and Washington Streets—a huge building
holding all the State Courts, the Laud Records of priceless
value of Cook county, and a large and valuable law library
belonging to the liar of Chicago. Many of the streets in the
burnt space running north awl south are a mile mid a half
long from the river to the point where they are inter-
seeted by twelfth-street ; two of them, Nlielligan and
Wabash AVOlllell, bordered with handsome villas in ganiena
and lined with old trees. The eluirelies, hotels, theatres,
and railway stations comprised 111 this space are all worthy
if a great, populous, and metropolitan city. 1 Haside this
space the city extends mitre than four ndles north, south,
and west, nearly the whole laid out In streets. and covered
with houses, the part abutting on the river well built and
populous. The telegrams state that the band sec-
tion oi:etudes twit square miles In the heart of
the city. This stands incredible, when it is borne
mind what two square tulles of buildings cover but
a map ladore me (nullities materiala for arriving
at a correct conclusion on this point The land of
cideagto is still described in retch-nee ti the old United
States aurvey, which divided it into townships running in
ranges from meridiana and subdivided into sections of one
square mile, or 040 acres each (I think the exact acrin, of
the city Of London). one of which was always devoted to
aehool purpose. They are marked on a map of Chicago to-
fire me anti one-balf of the school section 10 , or half a
square mile, covers more than half the space between the
late Twelfth-street and the river, the remaining part if
this space is a little under half a square mile—fin arca as
large and as well covered as the while eity of London des-
troyed by fire Init the Mind district probably includes
streets across the river on its north and west batiks, which
comprise some of the railway depOts.
Any information or particulars which may havelieen re-
ccivril by private telegrams as to the actnal extent and effect
of this terrible disaster WOUtli Inc 11109 t thankfully received
by many who, like myself, have relatives in Chicago, and
are not likely to be relieved from a painful state id suspense
until the arrival of the mails. I should personally be omit
grateful for any information that may Inc sent to the address
given below.—l till. eve. It. T.
0, John-street, Adelphi, Strand, W.C., Oct. 10.

The brief accounts received of the tenible conflagration in
Chicago have created a feeling of intense regret in Liverroml,
between which port awl the great grain emporium of the
West R vast and increasing trade exists. Several private
telegrams which have been received In Liverpool from New
York fully bear out the public despatches as to the terrific
and unparalleled fierceness of the fire, and the immense
amount and value of the property damaged and destroyed.
It is feared that many of the insurance offices in Liverisml
awl LOWIOII, having branch offices in Chicago and otker parts
of America, will be losers to a very considerable m: Tent.