Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-11-05
The Great Calamity.

oblitersted. ana the sympatbies of men were
lqaiekened into painful life. .a.g Is .
Yesterday opened with bright October morn.
ing, and The sun shone as brilliantly, as If i,
looked upon no such thing as a bighted hope
and speeches. sorrow. And when in the
heart OF the city, the alarm of fire rung out
there was no thought but Of some individual
| loss, thar ight be remedied; some personal eff.
fort that might be put forth, and all should be
well again No thought of desolaied homes, OF
| new made graves, of unrecognized dead of a
public calamity. It would be only the incident
| OF a morning; the tide of busy life would eddy
| around Il for a moment, and then the curren,
| flow steadily on.
But the persistent bells summoned the Fire
Department, company by company, and the
flames rapidly made their way; tn hungrily
eat out old places of business; they Tapped up
goods of price; they touched embroidery, and it
fell apart; painting. and il crisped; oil, and it
roared like a furnace. Tens of thousands of
| books went up in bursts of fire; clothing for
regiments of men, rolled away in great black
teeces of smoke, and put out the beauty of the
morning. The flames grew crimson and yellow,
and changeful as a chameleon as they devoured
| their way from store to store they cured in red
Corinthian round the roofess walls of marble,
and Haunted from unglazed windows, in drapery
OF hre. They flashed across the Alley, as if
hey were winged; they went down, story by
story as if they had been anchors 'iet go in the
| deep sea; they cracked and roared, and tapped
III the veeriDg wind as ifthey had been banners
so many oiitianmes indeed: they shot up IN
spires and turrets, and Knocked the backened
and lettering walls; they ran along the laden
shelves, like living things, and their ashen trail
was over the costly and the beautiful
Still the bells rang on, and yet from every
section of the city, the multitude came throng-
ing on Many idly, curious to see; many fear
| inily, and few with deep and anxious interest
Boys were shouting as they would around a
| bonfire; loud jokes and even laughter rose amid
| me dln some turned away with secret thought
OF gladness, that they, at least were safe.
The steady clank Of the busy engines was as
eeaseless as he beat of great stout hearts. The
eathern arteries sent their rushing currents
Kissing intO the red bosom of the flames.
And then amid all this, there rose a dull
| snouidering sound, and then a wild shout, and
over I'll cloud of smoke and cinders. A wall
| lad fallen, and buried men beneath it. The
Erunor thru led from group to group, and gath
cred strength by going 1t was five men--it
was htieen-it was twenty. And now they
were named-and now they were unknown
and now the unanswered question swelled more
hearts than we shall ever know; was il one Of
minel Were any of them anything to me!
| The scene was changed, rs with the waving
| Of q magic wand. The laughter and the shouts
subsidized into silence; that indescribable nurInur
| that betokens the presence of a multitude was
| iOr a moment hushed, and the rustiing vo.ce of
flame. and the claDh of brakes rose with start
| ling distiTctness on the air.
Not face wore look of indifference now;
not heart that closed itself in selfish rratula-
lion. Our common humanity asserted its supre-
macy, and burning to death, wrapped in that
shroud of fire, sulfocaied beneath that pail of
sinoke-this was the thought-they were not
strangers; they were not acquaintances; they
4 Iyar
! With what a mysterious, noiseless swiftness.
do such tdings make their way. Like the con-
centric circles of lake in which one drops a
pebble. they widen even 10 the HORIZON No
note of victory could have hoated so fast and
| Jar; such words do nos seem TO need an ear to
| near for the heart listens and stands still.
How many there were that counted up their
| living treasures, as the tidings came. Heads of
households, brothers, more than friends. had
gone forth to the fire, and had not returned
! And so as the hours erept slowly on the multi
tude increased. Up aad down Dearborn. far
along on Lake, away mp Clark, and in South
! Water street, the crowd grew. Women were
! there's mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. Chill
dren. We're there, but not as fiji were gallant
day, and that, pageant, but tearfuily, tearfully
| and hall understanding and sharing the suspense
| that held still. Older AID stouter hearts than
theirs-stW, as ii they had been G-asped in an
| IRON vice.
1
upon the living, a gallant rush was made by
! lhose near by, TO rescue. but what armor was
| ;here against the rushing, roaring tide OF FIRE
But there was a quicker play of the engines,
and in upon the fatal spot. sparkling like bows
of hope in the light of sun and fame, the water
bri,kty played.
One had been seen here: another lsboriuc
! there; a group III posts of honor and of danger.
| there; ana where were they now! Not al the
head of his men, the trumpet to his hps not
among the living; not responding to the call,
| wi;h an all weii.'
| How slowly crept the minutes then. True,
The destruction WAS stayed at last; the territory
OF disaster was bounded; palaeehkes stores OF
marble had been turned into empty chlmneys,
black and grim; thousands OF dollars worth of
| goods had been rescued, and hundreds of thou
sands more dritted away upon the smoky bill
| lows and melted into air; but what of that
what of all THAI
All, even in times like these. when fortunes
sotter TO their tail, and the sky is overcast and
Poverty is at the door, ard even Want, her pen-
soner, is no praying Publican, to stand affair off
there as q thought that can make us forget them
al, that can bring US, helpless and human.
upon the humble platform of a common broth
eThuud again From The standpoint how do
he prizes for which we struggle; while our
hearts grow bitter glitter out of sight; how burst
the bubbles our fevered breath has bswn, and
melt III tears upon the very cheeks that flushed
20 see them float and shine.
There stood the multitude, hour after hour
ike mourners round a grave And by and by
but hew long II was!-the flames lay timd
and ;eebe along the ehaned timbers. and the
smoking heaps heaps wherein were hidden
disguised beyond the agonized glance Of Afec-
tiOn's self. 10 name and claim, who could dare
who could bear to think whail
Though treacherous walls pierced through
and through, yet lifted themselves around. yet
men boldly ventured in. and the matted mass
gave mp its dead. One by one, Were they borne
aut, the bodies Of those hapless men, crisped,
blackened marred in the fair image OF hunani-
ty, as it makes the heart sick to think OF, AID
me pen reluctant to record.
There was no shout, while gently lifted, as If
they only slept to wake TO morrow, those forms
were brought out to the plea ant light, and borne
away. Il was not !escHe; it was only zoos
ing, one by one, the tense strings OF suspense
that corded many hearts, and we cannot help
thinking, that there was thought of something
like Teiiet, the poor wrecks OF something they
had loved aud cherished, were claimed Tor kill
! ired or for friend.
| Noon had long passed, and the quick shadows
# the Autumn night were beginning to be
| felt, and yet the melancholy work went on. 1t
was not safes of gold they sought among the
ruins, but Just arrnfuils of dust shat once had
been so many men. They would hare turned
| aside FROM cases Of untouched silk, If only the
| fingers Of a backeued human hand, had seemed
| 20 turn in silent suppca;ion from the shoulder
/ ing heap.
1t was solemn piece OF work; it was more
| fearful than dying; 1t was sadder than bnr-
| ial Aud those recogDltiOns, it is net tor us 10
picture; how the quiel eye of something al
| most phgenzy dscerDed through the dreadfa.
visor Of the fire, the INVESTMENTS it had loved to
| dwell upon; now sometimes the reluctant heart
refused to be convinced, and turned again as
! aGrrying mul,itudes came and went, If by some
| miracle OF delay. it might behold him coming,
whom they yainly sought.
| These scenes are for no idle study Of pen or