The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-02-10 00:00:00

THE CHICAGO FIRE.

mettresi. if
obtain.

The following letter in connection with this terrible
eftlamity, gent to The Times for publication, will
intert many readers :
As many errors prevail in this country respecting the
Vent fire at Chicago—Some of them injurious to personal
reptitation—l beg that you will publish the answer. I
have received to questions which I put to several gentlemen
of Ohleago who are thoroughly conversant with the whole
matter.
Query : Was the stone of which the business portion of
the city was built conilmstible, by reason of its containing
oil or any other inflammable material?
Answer.--No ; it is almost as plod as marble. It did not
give the slightest evidence of containing inflammable
matter. The only building suspected of an oily formation
was the second Presbyterian l'iturch, and Its "oily " walls
are standing today f The destruction of the stone and
flee-proof buildings of the business portion of the city is not
at all inexplicable or mysterious to anybody here, for
the simple reason that no buildings and III) city in the
world could possibly withstand much a fire. Think of the
combination and conceatration of circumstances—such as
the vast area of burning wooden buildings, the headway of
the conflagration driven in from all sides except the lake
aisle by a furious and terrine hurricane, which of itself
would have been destructive, preceded by one of the lougmt
drouchts of many years. It was a light of heat with stone
and iron, and neither stone nor iron could resist The
flames came as from a compound blowpipe of incalculable
power. The city was fired simultaneously in n half-dozen
places miles apart. Great masses of fire at white heat were
hurigil over the city, or assumed the form of huge billows
plunging into windows, or covering an entire block of dwel-
lings or stores. In fact, the conflagration rose and spread
and devoured and died away as if under the sway of some
awful will-power that came and went with the wind. In-
deed. Chicago may be said to have been destroyed by the
wind as truly as by the fire.
Query : Is the Steam Fire Department to Warns I
Answer : No. They were tardy at first Iri im sheer ex.
haustion, for they, as we all thought, had just saved the
city the night before. The men worked like heroes, and did
their utmost, leaving -their own families to take care of
themselves while they fought the flamer. Ihere was a little
disposition to censure the Department at first, but they are
now extolled by the Committee of Investigation and by
everybody else for their teal and self-sacrifice. Six hours
after the fire broke out the waterworks were consumed—to
say the truth, the wonder is that the lake itself did not
burn up.—Such was the inflammability of the wooden section,
where the fire started, owing to the long drought and tile
fierce wind, that in a few hours the fire was 'beyond the
reach of any human contrivance, skill, or ingenuity. The
efficiency and success of the Department heretofore has
always been the boast of the city.
Query Had the "board-walks "(or pavemen t for pedes-
trians) anything to do with causing or promoting the fire?
Answer They burnt, of course, just as the buildings
alongside of them dill ; but they are not worth mentioning
as causing or promoting the tire.
Query: Did the wooden or Nicholson pavement (i.e., the
pave from kerb to kerb) burnt
Answer Not to any considerable extent. Most of it was
not more than scorched, and a small portion only burnt a
little on the surface. It enduryd virtually an well as the
stone pavement

nigest
"One

Query Tithe story of the cow kicking over the kerosene
lamp a trustworthy account of the origin of the tire?
Answer No. It is a pure invention. The Committee of
investigation deny it, and nobody here believes it. It illus•
trarks the alertness sd Use rhetoric mongers, and will, doubt-
less. in spite of all denials, join the 'fiddle of Nero " and
"Newtons dog" on the pages of imagine.tive history. The
precise origin of the tire will, we presume, never be known.
The general opinion is, that it was caused by a spark
stropped by a person who will never know the mischief he
has unintentionally done. Nobody suspects incendiarism
Query Was any of the " relief " money fraudulently ap-
propriated, as reported In this country?
Answer: Not a cent. The rumour was promptly inves-
tigated amd found to be entirely devoid of foumlttlon. The
funds—this is the testimony of shall-demo gentlemen with
the hest means of information—have been moat scrupulously
and judiciously applied.
Query
houses

- -
Query : la there a law against the building of wooden
----- or roofs!
- - ••

Answer Yes, and the " fire limits" will be greatly ex-
tended by anew ordinance now before the City Council.
Query: Was anybody shot or hung for theft or other mis-
conduct f
Am. er : Not one life was lost In that way, and nothing
occurred of a regrettable character except the shooting of a
gentleman who was the worse for Ii nor (excusable under
the circumstances) by a patrol, whore salute (in the dark
was answered by bravado. The patrol was completely exone-
rated by the Jury and by public opinion.—ln fact, the owners
of property told everybody to help themselves, but the fire
was too rapid and ferocious for owner or thief or the
poverished honest. Little could be snatched from the mouth
of the flre•demen.—About 500 persons, it is feared, perished
in the flames, some of them Sisters of Mercy, in the act of
extricating the imperilled, and some of them, the vilest of
the city, struggling desperately with the doom that had over-
taken them at last.

Query.—Are the sufferer. mostly relieved
Answer. —There is still a great deal of suffering. It has
been almost impossible so far to overtake the tide of cruel
distress that has brought 50,000 well-to-do people to absolute I
destruction. We provide the barest necessaries of life -
shelter, clothing, and the plainest food -to thouasude of as
brave and uncomplaining • people ae ever bowed to a great
calearilty.—One room, eoutaining a stove, a table, and a
mattress, is all that some of the most respectable families
can obtain. Some of this claws will probably perish from
being too I*h-spirited to ask for help. There have been
many eases of exceptional hardship, especially among women
in the perils of childbirth, too distressing for repetition.
About 50 children Sr. supposed to have been born during or.
very soon after the fire.
Query—Will Chicago recover her place, population,
trade, Ate.?
•nswer.-11ost aseuredly she wilt. No looker-on here can
doubt it bra munient.--On the three great staples of Chicago
trade there has been no very considerable inroad. Lumber,
not a tenth of the supply burned; grain, only one quarter of
the warehouses elevators stock, untouched—The great
late. and the railways, and the vast north-west, of which
Chicago Is the only outlet and the undisputed capital,
remain. You can count on the complete restora-
tion of the burnt district in four year. at most —The
work of rebuilding Is going forward vigorously. "We "
(written by the heal of one of the largest mercantile
houses) "are in a store soft, by 190 f t., six storeys high, built
of stone since the fire, and built well. Is seems incredible,
hut we have seen in its month " (written on the 28th of
December'. "and have sold nearly 000,000 dole, worth of
goods in it I"
- • • ^

Query.—What is the condition of the banks?
Answer.—Solvent, every one.—The contents of the vaults
were found unharmed. The Comptroller of the National
Currency came and declared that if any National Bank failed
to resume payment by the following Tuesday he would put
Its affairs in the hamds of • receiver. The effect was magical.
The old hulk righted as soon se the National Lank opened
business.