Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1845-07-26
From the New York Papers.
Another Great Fire.

AnofhT "udN burnt dtsfrict troops or |
dered out for The protection Of Property
The Battery again concerted into Ware.
house.
New York has fallen again. we sesret to say.
into the line of great connagratiens. Within a
few years the catalogue of terrific burnings Oh
our side efthe Atlantic has nc1udcd New York,
Philadelphia Mobile, Wilmington, Pttsbure and
Quebec-and now the name OF New York 10 adj
ded 10 the list for the seooad time.
A fire broke out between three and four o'clock
this Saturday morning, in New street--a mar
row passage betweca Broad street and Broadway
extending from Wall street TO Beaver--and
spreading with fearful rapidity among the dense.
~ built edi6ces Of that neighborhood has already
swept through to Broadway on the West and
South, acress Broad street nearly to William on
the East, aud is still burning with scarcely
percePtible check. An inmense amount of pro.
pertv has been destroyed, and, more to be de-
p'orea, 1amentable ,oss Of life has added to the
scrrors Of the occasion.
The sidewalk in Broadway, above Trinity
Church, on the West side is filled with furniture,
pianos, looking glasses, mahogony bedsteads.
rich tables, and other articles Of household
penishing and hundreds Of men are still busi!y
employed in removing goods from the ware
houses and dwellings within reach Of the fire.
We have two or three reporters on the spot, ga.
thcring materials for full account, and in the
mean time we give such information as we have
been able TO collect
At about four o'clock, Crocker L Warren's
store, in New street, in which was stored very
large quantity Of saltpetre, blew up with one of
the most tremendous explosions ever heard or
fest ia The city. That building itself was OF
rourse, scattered in fragments ia an instant, and
those near it weie little better off. The explo-
sSen created one of the most frghtful spectacles
IL was ever Our misfortune to witness and the
noise and uproar could only be equaled by the
explosion Of a magazine.
The first explosion was comparatively mode
rate, filled the room ofthe writer of this para.
graph with light more intense than at noon day,
and, upon looking oat upon Broadway, scene
met our gaze, that can never be forgotten Hard
~ had he reached the window when the second
and grand explosion took place. The buildings
far as the eye could reach, appeared one mass
of flames, while the buildings on the West side
Of Broadway, from the Mansion House to the
Astor, were SO brilliant that the eye could scarce
rest upon them. The spire Of the Trinity Church
1ooked like pillar of FIRE, and the moon, which
moment before Just above the roof
p,led under this vivid light, and was invisible
The SKY, over the egion Of the fire, and along
the range OF Nassau street, was filled with mass
OF flame ftom the burning gas, aichohol and cam.
phine, let loose at the explosion.
High in the air as the eye could range appear
ed an immense quantity of fire, that had the ap-
pearance Of serpcnts dartng spirally upwards,
like the small rockets of fire work. These
tongues of fame, too, shot ont in all directions
from the centre making together the whole look
like a mountain Of fire, which created in the air
4 noise like that caused by a flash Of electricity
ia thunder storm. The panic caused by such
an explosion, who can describe ? The street
from the Waverly House TO our office, on Broad
way, presented thick multitude OF men, run
ming 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, over-ran ma
ny who fell, regardless of anything but their owr
safety
Through the other streets like scene was ex
hibted, but as the others were narrow the con
fusion was greater. The ktemen ard spectators
left those parts only to receive in another plac
the shower of bricks and other missiles forced OF
by the explosion. Soawful was the shock tina
the thick plate glass in nearly all the building
in Wall street was broken in fragments an,
strewed over the pavement, in many instance,
the substantial window sashcs themselves being
broken in The cries ofirghtened people, tn,
fall OF missiles OH the roofs of buildings tn,
crash Of glass upon the pavements, added TO tn,
tnmbling OF buildings from the force of the ex
plosion, aud the vivid glare Of the flames assaii
ed the numerous multitudes now out to see tn,
fire and gave the impression that great convul
sion of nature had taken place. The windows o
the City Hotel and buildings near us were in ;
moment filled with the tenantTy of the houses
who, until the great explosion, had remained qui
ct in bed, thinking the FIRE an ordinary matter
bat not until now thoroughly reused by this aw
FIJI shock
The conclusion in the Courier Office was s.
severe that the substantial stone walls of tn
building shook 10 their foundations and the peo
pie there thous ht for moment that they wer
tumbling 10 their base. The workmen in tn
composing room in the fifth story found the ston
Oh which the form Was making up, rise severa
inches from. its testing place the gas all WEI
out Instantly, and dnring the darkness that 70