Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1852-04-22
CONFEDERATION
CHTLLICOTHE IN ASlIES!!

$500, 900 TO 100000 property Destroy
ed-S35O, 900 iasured-2OOO people
| houseiessW
/ Yesterday, April /, 1852, was day
of doom for our bossied city. The de-
vouring element, Fire, scourged the An
cient Metropolis to degree seldom suf-
icred by business communities. One
fourth of the property within her muni-
cipal limits, yesterday morning. are dust
and ashes to-day. Nearly onefour,h Of
our whole population are turned out of
house and home, with such trifes as
they could snatch from the greedy flames.
Ch,llicolhe has received blow, from
which ii will require years of energetic
toll to recover.
Al little past noon, yesterday, a
stove in the cabinet shop of Mr.. j..
| Watt, in the vicinity of the Clinton
House stables, bursted, by having been
| filled with shavIngs. In an instant, the
shop, full of infammabie materials, was
in flames. The wind was blowing a
hurricane E. N. E., towards to stables
and rear OF the Clinton House, so that
within fifteen minutes after the first a.
larm, the roof of that large edifice, four
stories high, was on fire. Thence the
cinders aud spires of flame was blown a
cross Walnut street, communicating at
various points, among the warehouses,
stores and other buildings along the line
of the Ohio canal, in that gnarler where
the latter extends east and west. With
in the ne xt hour every building north of
the alley between and parallal with the
canal and Second street, to Paint street,
was on fire.
About this time, too, the large block Of
warehouses belonging to David Adams
and Ma.feld a. Luckeu, opposite the
Clinton House, bursted DOT in flames
They were nearly filed with pork, ba-
con. wheat, &c. The wind continuing
to blow from w. s. W., for long time
the fire was kept north of the line of
stables, on the alley just mentioned; and,
by strenuous exertions, the Atheneum
block was saved. ...
AT 2 P. M, the fire communicated TO
the May corner" thence it spread east
ward and southwark, licking up every
thing before il. Meantime, all the stores
on the ives, side of Paine street, mostly
large brick buildings, and the ROSS
Block" on Second street, were burning.
Huge piles OF goods were IN rown into
the street, and carried off to places Of
security.
Going back TO w alnut street. the bull
dings on Second street, opposite the That
rher's block, were saved The fine
brick dwelling of L. p. kendrick, Esq,
loomed up in the eye of the fire, csugh,
in The roof, and was soon abandoned to
/ the devourer
We might have mentioned that there
was not drop OF water in the canal. and
the scanty supplies afforded by wells and
cisterns were all that was to be had
Early in The fire, by the sudden bursting
of Adams, Warehouse. the Reliance en-
gine, by far the most powerful in town,
and entirely new, was abandoned and
burned as she stood. Another of the
engines was obliged to be suddenly back
ed into the Scioto to save il.
| o. ii. Euckct's, III. Holcomb's, the
old Nj. f. Church, DIR. ID. Wills Office
and house, are the only buildings stand
ing intact between Mr.. Hendricks and
Mulberry street on the north of Second
street. These were saved by the mos.
tireless and heroic exeriions. So also,
with the Woodbridge and Waddle blocks.
The Madeira House corner caught
from Ross's Block directly opposite
At this moment every building on the
east side of Paine street, going north
ward, to the canal, was either burned or
burning. Thence eastward. the tevoar-
er singled out buildings, dwellings, &C.;
in advance, following up with the rest al
his leisure. BY four o'clock there was
not building left unconsumed, on the
large and valuable square bounded ives,
by Paine street, north by the canal, east
by Mulberry and soI,h by second street.
The flames flirted across the space oc.
cupied by the canal, and burned the
foundery Of Shaw g. West. Raper's Ho-
tel, the old Phillips House, and every
edifice of every kind adjacent. Har-
mou stedtn taHNeTf Is Tie Only Duliu-
lng of much value left standing in tina,
quarter.
The covered bridge over the canal on
Mulberry ST., caught early-in fact be-
fore the fire had extended from the Gin.
ton House. The most eastern limit o
the confagraiion was the slaughter.
house of the Messrs. Bakers, on Water
street, east of Bridge street, two-thirds
of a mile from the western limit.
! Stocks Of groceries, bacon, pork, &c.
which had been rolled into the cana
ditch, in expectation of safety, were burn
ed as they lay.
/ The wind lulled towards night. and
the extent of the mischief could be dis
covered. Atnoon to- day, dense volumes
of smoke were rising from various points
in The burned district, and the blackenet
walls left standing appear unspeakabl.
desolaie.
Shame to say. although large polio,
force was organized, thousands OF dol
, lars worth of goods were stolen aud car
ried off to by-places in various parts o