The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-24 00:00:00

Frightful Petroleum Fire in America.

--
(From the Philadelphia Bulletin, Feb. 8.)
The most terrible conflagration that has occurred
in Philadelphia since the great fire of July, 1850,
took place this morning. Before proceeding to nar-
rate the horrors of the calamity, we will describe the
locality where the dread tragedy was enacted.
Ninth-street, below Washington-street, is lined
with three-story brick dwellings that are occupied
mainly by respectable families of limited means, the
houses renting, we should judge, for from two hun-
dred to two hundred and fifty dollars a year. The
first street below Washington-street is Ellsworth,
and the next is Federal, both of which streets had,
in that vicinity, about the same class of dwellings
upon them as those upon Ninth-street. On the south.:
west corner of Ninth and Washington-streets there is
a coal-yard belonging to Messrs. Daily and Porter ;
and immediately west of this upon Washington-
street, was an open lot, upon which Blackburn and
Co. had between 2,000 and 3,000 barrels of coal oil
stored, on account of various owners. This morn-
ing at about half-past 2 o'clock, a fire broke out
among this oil, and the flames spread through the
greater part of it with almost as much rapidity as
though it had been gunpowder. About 2,000
barrels of the inflammable material were soon ablaze,
and sending up into the sky a huge column of flame.
The families in the neighbourhood sprang from their
beds, and without stopping to secure even a single
article of clothing, rushed into the streets that were
covered with snow and slush. Those that were
most prompt to escape from their threatened homes
got off with their lives ; but those nearest the spot
where the conflagration first commenced, who were
not prompt to escape from their houses, were'
met by a terrible scene. The blazing oil that
escaped from the burning barrels poured over into
Ninth-street and down to Federal, filling the entire
street with a lake of fire, and igniting the houses
upon both sides of Ninth-street for two squares,
and carrying devastation into Washington, Ells-
worth, and Federal streets, both above and below
Ninth-street. An eye-witness who was upon the spot
when the oil poured out into the street, describes the
fierce body of flame as resembling a screw in its pro-
gress ; it first whirled up Ninth-street, and then the
fiery torrent rushed down the street for a distance
of two squares, and then back again at the caprice
of the wind, destroying all living things that came
in its way, burning dwellings and their contents as
though they were so much straw, and even splitting
into fragments the paving stones in the street
ouses,
hpaadreno
whith the intense heat. Fully five squares of
they been placed in a row, were on
c ,
fire at once, and the scene was one to make the
stoutest heart quail. People
.eseapin. g from their
blazing houses, wikth. no covering but their night-
turmoil, were all dreadfuloing .
tsnesseeloinkß; for their children, and ter-
rifiedstill more terrible for safety in the horrid
sceneswitnessed. Men, women,
enough, but there were
and children were literally
little
streets.to Nearly every fromf Washington-
streethusereasted alive in the
distancevaery
burned, with all their contents, nothing° two squares, is
walls remaining this morning. The but the bare
ruin is presented on Washington, Estalme scene of
Federal streets, above and below inths-lAst'orrth, and
Ninth-street. The
entire number of buildings burned is about 47.

NARROW ESCAPE OF A BANK AT MANCRESTER.—
On Wednesday morning a fire was
discoveredcol to
Fountain-srd Co.'s
in which
hi?h
have broken out in Messrs. Hocken, Bird
, treete, warehouse, York-street and
building is situate the Union Bank. The fire wa
dis-
covered at five o'clock, and had commenced in the dining-
room of the warehouse, and burnt through the floor into
the board-room of the bank, which is situated under it.
The fire in the board-room of the bank had been extin-
guished at seven the previous evening. The fire in the
dining-room above is supposed to have communicated with
a beam or trimmer in the floor, and to have been smoulder-
ing all night before it burst into a flame. The fire police
soon extinguished the fire, and it was not allowed to ex-
tend to the business portions of either the bank or the
wa.reh,ouse.