Star.
London, England, 1820-03-04 00:00:00

PIPE AT CHATHAM.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. •
The fire commenced at 'the house of Mr. Hill, a
biker, residing at 69, High-street. Before any assist-
:nee could be afforded, it had gained such strenoth
as to put an end to all hopes of saving Mr. Hans.
eoese, or that next to it, with which the flames had
e'enost immediately communicated. The attention
et-those who first came to the' spot was then directed
to the adjoining houses, and to those opposite, to-
wards which the flames were di iven by a violent '
errth-westerly wind, which continued to blow
strongly until a late hour in the morning. From Mr.
Bill's house, and from those of Mr. Watson, a linen-
draper ; of Mr. Cohen, a pawhroker ; and two or
three others which intervened, the devout ing element .1
leached the Sun Tavern, a very extensive pile of
eailding, and the principal Inn at Chatham. When
this house caught fire the scene was most awful, for
the ;lames had now been driven, by the violence of
the win 1. to the opposite side of the street, which I
then preehned to the eye a pile of burning buildings,
beween which, from the narrowness of the place, the
p:esiee was in some places impassable, and, in all
etroticely dangerous. About half-past four or five,
de neef of the Sun Tavern fell in with a tremen-
&us crash, and shortly after only a very small part
of the walls were seen standing. At one time the
Brewery of Mr. Best was thought to be in such dan-
ger that its utter ruin was looked upon as inevitable;
providentially, however, by the prompt assistance of
great numbers of the town's-people, aided by the ac-
tive exertions of the military, it escaped with compa-
ratively trifling damage. Mr. Best was not so for-
tunate with respect to his dwelling-home, which, with
several adjoining houses, also his property, were en-
tirely consumed. The walls of Mr. BeA's house were,
then their great solidity, the only pat ts which Were
rot levelled with the earth. At four, and between
that and six o'clock, the confusion which reigned in
the town Is beyond description. From the air-
-1 earance cf the flames at the latter hour, it was
tholieht that all the :maces south•east of that where
0..? lire began, would fall a sacs nice to its rage. So
s;i.mfr was this impression, that many families, con-
sehea'ble removed from the immediate scene ofdan-
rer, lid taken down their bedsteaJs and other ar-
t!cles Gf furniture, and had removed a large part of
them t-.) a greater distance.
About eleven o'--leek, the fury of the flames was
checked by the partial destruction of some houses on
1.-le same side of the street. where it began, and by the
rrqal demolition of one cr two on the opposite side,
the flames had iiez then reached, but which it
er:h judged p: ore; to take down, to prevent a further
spread of the conflagration. The whele cumber of
houses destroyed in High-street is thirty-eight ; and
there were several small buildings destroyed in the
rear of each. The violence of the wind was such,
that large flakes of burning matter were conveyed to
tame hundred yards distance. One of those flakes
uptut a large stack of hay, about 150 .yards from
which consumed that, and two others,
mhich were close by. There was a considerable
caantity of hay besides tht..:e stacks, which fortue
rate), escaped. From the extraordinary rapidity
..v .h which the flames spread, and the danger which
'Oreateneii, in a narrow street, both sides of which,
Ire a great part, on fire, an immensity of property was
t'e.troyed, which, had the weather been more mild,
night have been saved. Several houses, and those
principally belonging to persons whose ruin Must
le the corvquence, were wholly uninsured. It is,
ienvever, a satisfaction, in relating this melancholy
recident, to be able to state that no life was lest on
the occasion. One or two persons were hint by the
falling of a wall, but not dangerously. At an early
hour of the day the news of the fire reached Lon-
don, from which some engines were dispatched ;
but before their arrival the flames had been nearly
subdued. The engines from Rochester and Maid-
stone were on the spot as soon as possible after the
account had reached those places. The Sun fire en-
gine, drawn by six horses, reached Chatham at six
in the afternoon. Great inconvenience was experi-
enced from the want of a plentiful supply of water.
In some places it was conveyed in casks to the spot
where the engines were at work, and there emptied
in:o the street.

Since writing the above, we have learnt that an
unfortunate soldier was killed by the falling of the
trant wall of one of the houses.

The fire is supposed to have originated from the
carelessness of one of the baker's men, who carried
cot some hot ashes, which he emptied near a rick of
faggot., and which was fanned into a blaze by the
eicessi ve high wind.
This is the third severe visitation by fire which
Chatham has experienced within the last half-cen-
atty. About twenty years ago a fire broke out nearly
in the same place as the present one, which consumed
nearly seventy houses ; and about twenty-one or
twenty-two years before that period a fire happened
in the same sheet, to which eighty or ninety houses
fell a prey.