The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-08 00:00:00

Ant:RICAN NEW; !'4.

DREADFUL FIRE AT PITTSBURG.
TWELVE HUNDRED HOUSES DESTROYED.
LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
The fast-sailing ship Sea, Captain Edwards, arrived here
this evening, having left New York on the 14th April, two
days later than the last arrival.
There was no news of the arrival of the Great Western on
her outward bound voyage up to ten o'clock on the morning
of that day, or even of her being near the port, although she
had been out 16 days; she had therefore probably met with
contrary winds, which had retarded her arrival; she is, how-
ever, confidently looked for this evening or to-morrow, on
her return voyage to this port.
We have received by this arrival distressing accounts of a
most disastrous fire at Pittsburg, a rising and important city
in Pennsylvania, destroying twenty squares of the city, com-
prising about 1,200 houses, the loss of which is estimated at
2,000,0001. sterling. It is the next largest city to Philadel-
phia in the State of Pennsylvania. Its population is about
25,000, and was becoming a place of great commercial im-
portance. There
.had also been great fires at Boston and
New York.
The following account of this tremendous conflagration is
taken from the Pittsburgh Post of the 11th April:—
"ft is our painful duty to record one of the most terrible fires
that ever devastated any city on this continent. A great portion
of our busy and populous town is in ruin ! The destruction of
property is said to be about twenty squares, and comprising from
1,000 to 1,200 houses ; many of the warehouses contained goods
of immense value—they were grocery, dry goods, and commission
houses, and their spring stocks had been just laid in.
" The fire originated in a frame building over an ice.house be-
longing to William Diehl, near the corner of Second and Ferry-
streets. The wind was blowing stiffly from the north-west, though
It frequently veered to other points, and, owing to its variations,
the fire extended farther than it otherwise could have done. It
was discovered about twelve o'clock, and was not materially
checked till five in the afternoon.
"The councils met in the afternoon, and attempted to devise
some means to stay the conflagration. It was proposed to blow
up houses that seemed in the way of the flames ; the deliberations,
however, were ineffectual In results, and we believe but one or two
buildings were blown up.
" There is abundant reason for thankfulness that so few lives were
lost. There are many rumours of men being killed, and burnt and
wounded—but they are not authenicated. One woman is cer-
tainly burnt, and we saw a poor old man tottering along with the
help of two friends, his face badly burned. The less of life, how.
ever, cawnot be learned in the awful confusion which prevails.
"The following are the principal public buildings,manufactories,
and offices that were destroyed:—
" Globe Cotton Factory, corner of Second and Ferry.streetr.
" Fire Navigation Insurance Office, Market between Second
and Third.
" Firemen's Insurance Office, corner of Market and Third.
" Bank of Pittsburgh, Fourth, between Market and Wood,
" Office of Daily Chronicle, do.
" Job Printing-office, of J. B. Butler, Third, between Market
and Wood.
" Merchants' Hotel, corner of Third and Wood.
" A. Kramer's Exchange-office, do.
"Jones and Sibbet's Exchange office, corner of Fourth and
Wood.
" Win. A. Hill's Exchange.office, between Fourth and Dia-
mond-alley.
" R. and R. Patterson's Eagle and Bazaar Stables, Diamond.
alley and Fourth-street.
" Associat e Reform Church, Fourth, near Grant-street.
"Baptist Church, Grant-street.
" Blackwell's Extensive Glass Works, Water, above Grant.
" The Monongahela House destroyed, with all the furniture.
" The Monongahela Bride entirely destroyed, It is rumoured
that several lives were lost on the bridge.
" The Dallas Iron Works in Pipetown entirely destroyed.
i
" The loss sustained in the destruction of buildings is Immense,
but it is small when compared with the destruction of merchan.
dice The in the
merchantswarehouses d o
itn Water,
iin Impossible to attempt to save anything;
pos Wood, First and Second-streets.
whole blocks were destroyed in a few minutes, and the most they
could do was to make in effort to save their books, and but few of
them succeeded even in that.
" It will be many years before our city can recover from the
effects of this dreadful calamity ; it has cast a blight over the
commercial and manufacturing enterprise of hundreds of our
most worthy citizens, and in an hour has swept from them all the
profits of years of toil and industry."
The jury who tried Mrs. Bodine for murder brought in a
verdict of Guilty.
The papers by this arrival are quite destitute of any poli-
tical news. In commercial affairs business was at a pause
for the arrival of the Great Western,
Foreign Exchange inactive—the rate quoted 109,1 to
1091 on London, and sf. 25c. to sf. 231jc.0n Paris ; the Cotton
Market is quiet, neither holders nor sellers being anxious to
do business.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
CHESTER, TUESDAY NI:HIT.
No meeting in the kingdom has benefited mere largely by
the establishment of railway communication with the south
than Chester. Always attractive, its popularity until late
years was chiefly derivable from local patronage, and the
Cup, as a betting race, was never mentioned at "the Corner."
Now—having been made accessible to all the racing districts
—it is extensively supported by most of the influentials of
the Turf, not only from the south, but from Scotland and the
sister kingdom, and the crack event of the meeting, the
Cup, has become a source of speculation as widely diffused
and as heavy as the Derby itself. If evidence of the truth
of our observations were required it has courted our view this
day in a variety of shapes : every lodging let at " war
prices," and every tavern full to repletion ; a list teeming
with sport, and an assemblage on the course and on the
ancient walls by which it is overlooked, great in
number, variety, and fashion. The racing this after-
noon presented no feature of interest to sporting men,
Alice Hawthorn, as a matter of course, having put
competition for the only event of any importance—her Ma-
jesty's Guineas—out of the question. It commenced inaus-
piciously for that talented light weight, Abdale, his mare,
having fallen with him at the last turn, and broken his collar-
bone, it will be some weeks before he will be again fit
for active service. Before we give the usual returns,
it will be as well to post up the betting on the Cup,
from the date of our last report. Fitzallan, Semiseria, and
Ould Ireland enjoyed a monopoly; the Irish nag, at the
closing of our dispatch, being somewhat out of favour. Aris-
tides and the Era are declared not to start; and Winesour is
very doubtful; and of those mentioned in our last as prefer-
able runners, Trueboy and Sorella alone have any supporter.
a price, but is is purely nominal;
h
created this morning by a statement that a
peer Cataractsonisn
of
considerable has
a
toriA bit of sensation was
ety had been detected tampering
o not ce
r t backed.i nly
n 0
with the boys in William Scott's stable, and that on the
principle that "prevention is better than cure," the lads had
been allowed to " accept the Chiltern Hundreds," and extra
care had been taken of Cataract.

WEDNESDAY.
This being the all-important day of the week, on which
the " Tradesmen's Plate" or "Cup" was to be decided, a race
which for months has occupied the attention of the betting
lessta nwdh
hade ra e naelceaendde assembled ythe
t op circles in all parts of the kingdom, it led to the customary
excitement in and about Chester, and although the morning
was unfavourable, from slight but refreshing showers, the
multitude who poured into the ancient city exceeded all
calculation, and when congregated on the course presented
a coup d'erii of extraordinary interest. The stands were all
filled,
vicinity. wh il e
list Anxious the
of
fparsihnicoi
np
inquiriesaa
bl
to the state of the betting, but also as to presence
ntheoflong
the number of
starters which it was finally discovered had been reduced to
were
g graced by
only
n twenty. Several of those nags that had previously stood
high in public favour having been withdrawn, to the great
mortification of those who had pinned their faith on their
presumed merits. The first race was appointed to come off
at half-past two, and The race of the day, that in the result
of which all interest was absorbed, was fixed for four o'clock,
due time being allowed to carry out arrangements suggested
with his accustomed tact, by Lord George Bentinck, who
again undertook the troublesome office of marshalling the
jockies and superintending the start. It was provided that
the competitors should form a double line, the position of
each jock, as last year, to be determined by ballot—and in
order to prevent confusion, it was also provided that " all
vicious, kicking, ill-tempered and unmanageable horses
should fall out of the places assigned them by lot—proceed
to the rear of the second rank, and take up their positions
on the extreme right of the line or most unfavourable part of
the course. As in deference to our readers we have deemed
it desirable to pat them in possession of the result of the race
as quickly as possible, we have at considerable expense
procured "a special train" for the purpose, to meet whichbrevity is indispensable. When our express left the course
the event hereafter recorded had come off. The betting upon
the Cup, just previous to the start was as follows:
2 to 1 agst Fitzallen, 11 to 2 agst Semiseria, 6 to 1 agst
Ould Ireland, 12 to 1 agst Trueboy, 12 to I aget Sorella, 12
to I agst Cataract, 25 to 1 agst Milton, 40 to 1 agst St Law-
rence, 40 to 1 agst Counsellor (t), 40 to 1 agst Queen of
Tyne, and 40 to I aget Intrepid.
Shortly before four o'clock all the starters were drawn up
by Lord George Bentinck, at the back of the course on the
Dee side, and from thence were marched in ordinary time to
the starting post—unfortunately a heavy shower came on
during which the flags dropped, and all were off amidst a
universal shout of excitement. The mist increased in vio-
lence as the race was run, and to the astonishment of all
ended by the favourites being beaten, and an unthought-of
outsider proclaimed the winner, after a severe race from end
to end. There was a long tail, and the jockies thoroughly
soaked. The race was over at half-past four, up to which
time the " decisions " were as follows:—
The Two Yrs old Sweepstakes of 25 sovs. each, colts Bst 51b,
fillies, Bst 21b. Five furlongs. (17 Subs.)
Lord George Bent inck's Princess Alice ( Wlntehouse)... 1
Mr. J. O'Brian's The Traverser ................................. 2

Lord Chesterfield's Curiosity .. ............................... 3
The following also started, but were not placed :—Mr. S.
Standish's Amelia (J. Howlett), Mr. Worthington's c by
Stockport, out of Manilla (Oates), Lord Eglinton's Sotades
(Marson), Mr. Mostyn's ch c by Hetman Platoff, out of Miss
Thomasina (Marlow), Mr.W. R. Ramsay 's Queen Mary (Lye),
Mr. Thompson's f by Tory Boy, out of Miss Fitz (F.Butler),
Sir J. Jerard's Brutus (Holmes).
Betting.-5 to 2 agst Princess Alice, 4to 1 agst Manilla
colt,
hTve
srt.olr
sagst,era
Sotades,
7
tol
4 agst to l
Missa gs Curiosity,tThom as Thomasina
6 to 1 agst
Tc.
Princess Alice made nearly all the running, and won
easy
by a length ; Traverser beating Curiosity for second place
by a neck ; Sotades fourth.
The Tradesmen's Plate of 200 sovs., added to a Handicap of
25 sovs. each, 15 ft, and 5 only if declared. Twice round,
from the Grosvenor post to the coming-in chair. 123
Subs., 52 of whom paid 5 sovs. each.
M 1
3 rr..
GS lut ellrer3„atst 'ss
t. Intrepid,
Lawrence,(h aged, 8
b)4yrs,
t6;lb ........
t fib . . . ... (Arthur) 1
......
..... 2
Mr. Mostyn's Milton, 4 yrs, 6st 81b . ................... ... 3
Mr. Ileseltine's Fitzallen, 3 yrs, sst .................. ...... 4
The following also started, but were not placed :—Mr
Meiklam's Trueboy, 5 yrs, Bst 51b—Mr. Westley's .
Coun-
sellor, 6 yrs, Bst 21b—Mr. Osbaldeston's Sorella, 4 yrs, 7st
121b—Mr. Jaques's Semiseria, 5 yrs, 7st 81b—Mr. Cuthbert's
Queen of Tyne, 6 yrs, ist 51b—Mr. Armstrong's Beatrice,
6 yrs, 7st 21b—Mr. Scott's Cataract, 5 yrs, Est 101b-111r. S.
Standish's Little Ilampton, 6 yrs, fist 9th—Sir R. W. Bulke-
ley's Hemp, 4 yrs, Gst 91b—Mr. Osborne's The Old Maid,
5 yrs, 6st—Lord March's Strathspey, 4 yrs, 6st—Mr. A.
Johnson's Obicurity, 4 yrs, sst 121 b--M
Nodd •r. Heap's Staley,
4 yrs, sst 71b—Mr. Robinson's April y, 4 yrs, sst—Mr.
Irwin's Ould Ireland, 3 yrs, sst—Mr. Shafto's Porto Bello,
5 yrs, 7st 51b. Won in a canter. .

EAST SURREY RACES—TUESDAY.
The Ladiss',Gup of 101., Three-quarters of a mile, was won
easily, in two heats; by Mr: Werninck's Arrian, Bst (Hardy),
beating Mr. Mallard's Unknown, 7st 71h; Mr. Edwards's
Miss Fidget, Bst; Mr. Jerry's Cinderella, 6st 71b; and Mr.
Knowles 's Little Quo Minus, Sit.