Mobile register and journal., 1845-07-31
THE GREAT NETWORK FIRE.

picture of desohlion which the burnt district pre- senis. is no less submely impressive than distress ing. The ruins of the Waverly House. the Adel- phi, the massive and lofty Granite residence on the west side of Broadwa,, and the shattered and lean ing walls and chimneys, which shoot up from the piles of fragments and rubbish that the ground for hundred acres, are grand monuments Of most terrific calamity.
 The number of ofbudings destroyed given by us on Saturday will, VIC presume, be found 10 be quite ac curate. The particular statement which pub- lIshed setting down the number al 26S, is doubt less the true one. In lhe rough estimate which we made of one hundred and ninety, it intended to include only the substantial and valuable struc. lures which had probably been proslraied. And in describing the eastern limits of the fire, Stone st., east of Broad, was mistaken for South William, which accounts for our leaving out ot that estimate the twenty valuable stores destroyed on the west side of South William street. Though the full list of hotels, dwelling, and warehouses destroyed, which may be set down as among the more valuable and considerable edicss of their class, will we hope not exceed two hundred, yet including the smaller tenements workshops and so iort the aggi egate oi buildings consumed is hardly less than about two hundred and seventy five. On New street, Market field and Stone streets, many, perhaps most, of the buildings des,royed were of small value, and can be replaced at a comparatively slight expense.
 The report that the Croton water had been stop ed is contra liced. The supply was ample. The Post publishes table of the daily supply, and adds
 As to the effects of the fire, the table shows that they were scarcely perceplabe. The water was high on Saturday morning than it had been for some days; and yesterday Sunday morning) Il had gain ed more than one foot, notwithstanding the constant use of it by the engines This morning, il IS 10 be presumed that the head is still greater.
 These facts show ncontrovertablv the adequacy of the Croton for all emergencies. Without il cent losses would have sweed bey ond all calculation. The citizens of New York can not be too devouty altI fort tis oft
 s"The wind must have been very strong from the East in the earlier part of the continuance of the fire, for gentleman states to us that the buildings on the West side ot Broadway wele set on fire by strong sheet of flame suddenly blown across iie street from the East side, and igniting the woOden eaUesroughs, eornces, aud casings of he upper mindoms. And this al point where the street is hundred and twenty feet wide or more. Indeed another gentleman In- forms that he pieces of straw hats and irag- of light silk stll burning, floating in the air at Staten Island ealy in the morning While the flames in fercest career about The rooi oi he Wavery House, much apprehension was felt that the scanold- ing which si surronds the spire of Trinity Church would catch from the sparks. If 1t had done so, this beautiful specimen ol the Gothic style in archi tecIule must have been much injured as 10 require | to be laken down. We suppose however that these uns gs, sticks and platforms will still remain there, becaue, when the town is burning down, they can not very well be removed; and when II Is not, the | work which they deiorm is in no danger.
 The great quantity and weight ol cotton stored in | certain warehouses which has more than once been | the cause of much loss of life and property in this city, tv crushing the buildings containing it, proved on this occasion il means of salvation. The large wheretouse Broad street. which stopped the ra- wages of the fire on the North side, and alone saved
 the public stores ard the millions o property they contained. was filled to the roof with cotton, and the moment the walls begun to yield from the effects of the extreme heat below, down came the whole mass. | The bagging and cords of the bales bursting and snappmg like gauze and tape, the cotton formed an hermeieal covering and barrier through which nei- the flame nor heat could penetrate The same effect followed the coapsing oi the great store Tn Stone street, similarly gorged, the failing of which ares. ted the progress of distraction on that side.
 | From the Express
 | THE ExPLosIoE.-"The first explosion, winch was comparatively moderate, filled the room of the writer of this paragraph. with light intense than al monday, and upon looking out upon Broad- way,a a scene met gaze that can never be forgot ten. Hardly had he reached tue window when the second and grand explosion took place. The build | ngs, as far as ihe eye could reach, appeared one
 mass of flames. while the buildings the west side of Broadway, from the Mansion House 10 the Asor brilliant that the eye could scarce rest upon them. The spire of Trinity Church looked like a | pillar ofire, and the moon which moment before we saw just above the roof, paled under this vivid | light and was invisible. The sky, over the region of the fire, and along the range of Nassau street, was filed with mass of flame from the burning gas, alcohol. and camphene, let loose al the exposlon.- | H gh in the air the eye could range appeared an 1 immense quantity of fire, that had the appearance of serpents dartng spirally upwards like the small rock cts oi frework These tongues of flame, loo. shot out in all directions roa the center, making togeth CT the whole look like mountain of sre, which created ill the air noise like that caused bya flash | of electricity in thunder sorn The panic caused by such explosion, who can descl be! The street,
 from the Wayerly House to our office, on Broadway, presented a thick multitude of men, running as If for their lives, shrieking as though they were in the agonies of death. Those who could keep their feet were fortunate, indeed, for the masses behind, in their terror, oyerran many who fell, regardless of | any thing but their own safety.
 "1'hrough the other streets like scene was ex- hlbited, but ihe others narrow, the confusion was greater. The 6remen and spectators left those parts on ly to in another place the shower of bricks and other missiles forced of by the explosion. The cries ofrightened people, the fall of missiles the roofs of fbudngs, the crash of glass upon the pavements, added to the tunbing of buildings from
 the force of the explosion, and the vivid glare of the flames, assaied the numerous multtuaes now out 10 see the fife, and gave the impression that great convulson of nature had taken place. The windows of the City Hotel, and buildings near us, were in a moment filled with the tenantry of the houses, who, until the great explosion, had remained quiet in bed, thinking the fire an ordinary matter, but not until now thoroughly reused by this awful shock.
 'For miles around people started from their sleep and their beds a the awful shock; most supposng
 it to be an earthquake. In Brooklin many of of the
 inhabitants felt their houses rock to lhe very ounda-
 ion; one gentleman who watching the fire from Brook lin heights, saw the blazing fragments blown
 into the air, above the spire of Trinity Church, two hundred and sIxly feet and He says that they were in circular form, like bow, increasing their circle both as they and fell. Some say that the spire of Trinity shook for nearly minute after the | explosion. We don't know how true ihis may be, but after all that do know it does not seem at all | incredible.
 GA rumor prevailed on Saturday that there was a quantity oi gun-powder in this building received in barter for saltpere. or the truth ofthis cannot at present obtain any satisfactory evidence, though
 it very certain that satpelre in its common slaie, and having undergone no preparation, will not er- plode, though it is highly combuslible. There were about one thousand bags of it in the building. Five or six stores on each side thrown down by the shock Engine No. 22 was buried under ihe ruins, and if all the men escaped with their lives it was almost miraculous. report is current to the con-
 rary. but an eyewitness expressed his belief that they all escaped, the police a,iug kept the ground clear that they had ample room 10 play their en- glne. and 10 at the first sound of the explosion We translate from the Courier des Etats Unis of this day, the 2ls: "We know there always exists a disposition 10 exaggerate the amount and value of mei chandse lost in wherehouses consumed on oc- casions of general disaster this; but when cer,an from authority the indspuable, that in three of these magazines alone, the loss of value has been $500 ,000, and when cite many others which have less than from $lO0, 900 to S200,- l 900 in merchandise and when 10 these marked ex- captions we add the great of sufferers, whose | individual losses are less important, we find il im- possible 10 set down the whole amount of damage at less than s6 900 900. And we shall not be snr- prised, if it be found that the true aggregate of loss is midway between our estimate, and that of SlU OO0 O0O made bv some of our editorial brethren.