The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-07-13
THE MONTH EAL CALAMITY.
FULL PARTICULARS
OF TIE
TERRIBLE CONFEDERATION.
Nearly Eleven Hundred Houses Destroyed.
no., nc, 30.
tFrom the Montrsa, Herald July 1o.l

from the Montreal Herald July l0l
Below viii be found as fully detailed accoun.
have been able 70 collect Of the greatest dis
sster which ever befe this city, Or probably, any
city on the continent. We are writing, on Friday
morning, more than twenty four hours after the
c0nfagration began, and the fire burns as fercdyas
It did yesterday, and promises to stop only when all
the fuel which it may find in its way, shall be ex-
hausted. In the course Of the past day and night,
has trayersed mile in length, by breadth rang
ing from probably something like one eighth to
enc half Of mile.
Postponing the moro accurate statistics Of this
overwhelming misfortune, we proceed, at once, to
give such history of its course may enable the
reader who knows any thing Of the geography, of
what We mast call our late city, to trace its de-
vastating progress
The st Lawrence Main street may be said to d.
vide the city in its length into nearly two parts.
Its direction is about northeast, going out of town;
bat for the sake of cearness shall speak Of it
4 ran due north, accommodating the same typogra-
phical error to the streets which it. On the
east side, then, Of this St. Lawrence street,
number Of other streets, running parallel to it, yz
81. Dominique, st. Constant, st. German, ST. Eli
zabeth, Sangunet, and St. Denis streets. Including
the east side Of ST. Lawrence street, these form the
st. Louis ward. The southern boundary Of the ward
street, and then Lagauche.iere street South of
Lagauchetiere street there was little destruction
but north Of it the whole ward may be said to hav
been burnt quite to the fields, the first of the
in the direction we take the liberty OF caog east
and west, northward of Lagauchetiere street, are
Dorchester, 81. Cathsrine, Mignonne and Fortier
streets. The whole obiong comprised between the
feet, (say half q mile,) north and south from L.
gauehetiere street to the fields, perhaps by ,25o
feet, (say quarter Of a mile,) from st. La.renc-
to Bt. Denis street.
The first outbreak took place either in a house on
the east side Of 81. Lawrence street, imme-
dateiy Mt the back OF is, at a point about midway
between Lagauchetiere street and the fields. Here
1t burned with great fury, among the houses the
east side Of the street, extending itself southwars
to the st. Lawrence market, which, though OF
wood, was fortunately preserved, and northward
as Tar as hgnonne street st Dominique street is
very near ST. Lawrence street, and Just at that
point there WAS lumber yard, owned, we believe, by
Judge Aylwin, and occupied by Mr.. I!sley At 10
o'clock the flames had not yet attained those pre-
Of combating the confagracion. Unhapply there
had been throughout the morning no efficient sup
ply Of water, and no means had been taken for
taking down the piles OF dry wood. 1t was probably
before this place began to blaze. When it did,
the greatest anxiety began to be felt for the gene
raj hospital, situated on the south Of Dorchester
street, where it makes the corner with st. Domi
M qpe street. Happily, between it and the wood
yard there was but one low, wooden house, fanked
by large garden. Several gentlemen here exert
ed themselves with great zeal in covering the in
fammable parts Of the building with blankets,
and eventually the wood yard burnt out,
without having done more than threaten the Hos
pital. The latter had in the meantime done good
service to those parts Of the city lying to the south
of the woodyard for its great height, and the va
cant ground it stands upon, had formed q barrier
against the flying sparks and SO checked the south
ward march Of the flames In the meantime every
thing to the southwark was going as if made
Of matches; a few stone houses scattered through
the ward, generally with wooden galleries and
offices, utterly unable to resist the heat and
fakes Of fire from the whole sheets Of wooden
houses by which they surrounded. The flames,
aided by very strong westerly breeze rushed from
street to street, and from house to house. like water
pouring down rapid. The writer saw it cross St..
Constant street, which it did without stop or hesita-
ton, in one broad sheet Of red flame, many yards
wide. This was probably about noon, and very
shortly after it must have attained the easterly
ward-St. Dennis street-by the wooden buildings
which serve for stables at the back. st. Dennis
street IS, or rather was, throughout nearly its
whole length, built only on one side the eastern
side being occupied by very spacious garden
with couple Of wooden houses standing in it,
where stood the Bishops or st. James Church,
st. James schoolhouse the II. G. Bishops late resi-
dense, and splendid palace, recently built for His
Grace, and only completed within few weeks All
these buildings are contiguous On the side which
formed the boundary of st. Louis ward, there were
rows Of very handsome stone houses one part called
cornwall Terrace, occupied as the residences Of
several military officers, and others Of the most res
pectable families in town. North of these, however,
there were some less buildings of brick and
farther on again, Of wood; large block of the lat
ter kind being directly opposite the episcopal resi-
oence. stone OF wood, however, seemed now to be
alike feeble. The flames came on, a quarter Of a
mile broad and had speedily seized the whole of the
line OF buildings in the street. At the southern end
OF it, there is short street going westerly to the
Unamp De Mars, where are the Generals Office, and
the Town Majors Office. strong party Of the
1Dth regiment were stationed there, together with
all the clerks of the departments and by great ex-
ertlons they contrved to save the street, having,
hAnv 10 - L.
removal of the papers. Northward, everything was
burned. except some deta houses standing in
the fields. It was probably three o'clock in the
afternoon when the wooden block at this part of
the street, took fire. Though the street is very
wide, the flames had sooner mastered these
houses than they rushed to the ecclesiastical
property adjoining The writer was in st. Lawrence
street when this catastrophe occurred and from
thence looking the blank left by the conHa-
grafton, the sight was one of dismal grandeur Sud-
denly an immense column Of smoke, with a round,
dome like top, lowered up into the air, and there
stood for many minutes preserving all its outlines
with great distinctness. The Asiie, a convent for
aged persons, is situated upon the prolongation of
st. Catharine street, eastward from tho st Louis
suburbs. This happily escaped; but directly oppo-
site. fine large stone house, belonging to Mr..
Coffin, the parliamentary was utterly destroyed For
tunatey the flames arrested at that point, for
had they continued along St. Caiharne street,
scarcely house would have been left standing in
the city east of st. Dennis street. While this was
going on in St. Dennis street, the fakes of FIRE had
been conveyed by the wind to distance of half O
mile, and had ignited the timber yard and saw
mills Of Messrs. Sims & Coleman. These wore
situated on the river side; and of course they did
no mischief; but they were entirely destroyed.
About o'clock, all seemed to be over People
summed up tho loss, as the St Louis ward, the
ecclesiastical buildings and Sims & Colemans; but
still they pid not do so without trembling for the
night. Their fears were but too we'll founded To
yards O'Clock, or perhaps something later, it was
discovered that the wooden buildings behind the
east end of Notre Dame street were in flames ami
very speedily that the Hays House was on Gte
Here some further local explanation is necessary
The Hays House Hotel was immense block Of
stone buildings, of four stories, with theatre
the back, extending into narrow lane cllled
Champ &c Mars street. On Notre Dame street it
formed the corner OF large open square, Of which
il made the western boundary. From the houses on