The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-09-09
BURNING OF oUARAsTINE BUILDINGS,
EEW YORK.


Thursday evenings. e,
The first that was know q of the intention to
destroy the buildings WIS the appe arance of
about five hundred persofs at the upper ga Q,
on the line of the west ', all. DIR. Thompson
was instantly made awart of the fact, when he
ordered the stevedores to be aroused. He had
no sooner given the aboyt. order, than the old
smallp ox hospital (unoc.apied) on the upper
end of the grounds, was discovered 10 be on
fire. Every one within TIE grounds was soon
awake but it was found hat the mob was too
strong for them to attemks to drive them away,
DIR. Bissell, as soon as pc saw the fire, took
| his gun and ran up to tho smallpox hospital,
where he found large number Of straw beds
| piled under the piszzas, end burning at q tre-
| mendous rate. He remot strated with the mob,
but to no purpose, as the instantly drove him
| from the place. They T. ,en proceeded to the
shanties extending along :he west wsll-ten in
cumberland fired eapA of them, first, how
ever, removing the sick among them some of
the smallpox patients, shout fifteen in num-
Der. The mob appearsd, while destroying the
| shanties, in q great state Of excitement. They
would run into the three hanties not fired and
secure straw bed, and ten take it to where
the fire was, setting thp beds on fire; after
which, they would retu n with the burning
beds, and throw then into the shanties.
| In this manner, they destroyed every one,
When DR.. Bissel first we IT out to demonstrate
| against their conduct, he was knocked down,
and compelled to fly for is life.
| After the shanties had been fred, they pro.
ceeded to the burnhou, ;, several small out
houses, the dead-house, ie9house, and carriage
house, all of which they fred, and which were
| totally destroyed. They even took the dead
cart, and another wagon at was on the ground
and ran them into the fire. The coal yard,
| containing about 500 tor !, was next visited by
the mob, and all the coal destroyed. In several
of the shanties were abo It twenty to fifty tons
of coal, which was also consumed. The bag
| gage-house, containing a large amount of bag
gage, was totally destro' ed, together with the
| engine and $50 feet of ose, thus cutting off
any chance for using II same to arrest the
progress of the flames.
The mob, at twelve ocl sex, then proceeded to
the residence of DIR. II ompson Here they
ordered every person GU of the house. Mrs
Thompson, who was c-h ined to her bed, had
to be conveyed from the. ,ouse in chair, and
was taken to the residence of Mr.. Fountain, on
the outside of the wall. u {. Thompson succeed.
ed in getting out portisJ of his library before
the flames drove him frof the dwelling Some
| OF his furniture also taved. The building
was, however, totally Destroyed.
| During the attempt N ,de by the stevedores
| to extinguish the flames one of them, named
Frank Mathews, was 81 OF in the neck with
buck.shot. His recovery is considered doubt
| full. Five others were " Funded, and it is re,
ported that corpse v As consumed in the
| flames. The mob remai aed in and about the
quarantine grounds VI "a near daylight, when
they all left Among fiem were many we'll
known citizens of the island, none of whom
| we're disguised.
| The sick that were rsR,oved from the shan
ties, about sixty In nur her, we're placed by the
mob about two hundl & yards from the 6re.
/ La the morning, howev,r many were yet lying
about on the grass. woman lay up by the
side OF the stone wall, with the small pcx in its
worst stages; piece Of canvas was erected
over her, to keep the san off She appeared to
be suffering very intensely, but no attempt was
made to remove her. n the grass plat neas
the St. Nicholas were Two men with yellow
fever, one of whom was said to be dying.
The dwelling Of DR. thompson, the health
officer, was burned, n01 timber of it remain.
ing; in short, all the iespias, excepting tho
one at the entrance gaze which was used prin.
cipally for ship fever ahe general disorders, are
| destroyed, and into thissone are now crowded
the patients from all tbs hospitals combined.
Some sixty passengers Eom the steamer EN-.
pre City were landed il She afternoon previous,
to remain FIVE days, w5e- made their escape in
the confusion attending the burning. There
five shanties, the dead -h5use, and DR.. Thomp,
sons dwelling, stables and out houses; and
also all the Doctors ptLste papers.
DIR. Thompsons res I8nce presents really
melancholy sight. OF This once beautiful house
nothing now remains hat the shattered walls,
About the gardens ara strewn books, pamph'
lets, medical works, cl,ssicsl authors, and pri,
vate memoranda, tessss by the giddy winds,
about DR.. 7. was int Eed for $4,000. The
loss on the other PROPERTY is estimated at
100000. and no insurance..
The only building sastld was the large stone
hospital, used for the ferale portion of the in
mates, called the st. Nicholas. This building
was used for fever cares, and it is here all the
patients are now huddtsti together. An attempt
was made to burn it, BAG failed.
/ Neto York, Sept. 3-s-rhe remainder of the
quarantine buildings vas burnt last night by
incendisries. There s1s no excitement. A
guard of marines wa, present to protect the
Government property Among the buildings
burnt were six cottages occupied by boatmen
belonging to the ststiGa, and the large mansion
fine brick dwelling .hopss of DIR. Bissell.
The furniture had been removed, excepting
from the last DIR. Brstsll refused to move an
article. No attempt 1~is made to stop the
hames. Soon after mia Eight, the female hosp-
tai was wholly consumed. 1t contained seven
ty five patients, who were previously removed,
and placed on q grass plat, where they remain
ed throughout the nights covered with showers
of sparks from burning buildings.
The seventh REGIMEN. had been notified to
hold themselves in reaiiress for this emergency,
but were not called ogc.,
Three of the sick as quarantine died in the
open air last night, in consequence of the heat
OF the fire, and exposu.&
VI
A proposition is star ed for q series of Allan
tic cables, centering O. the Island of Fayal
A correspondent of tRs National Iptelligencer
Is enthusiastic for the scheme;
The distance frori Bermuda to Fayal is
less than from Ireland 90 Newfoundland. These
J islands stand inyitingy ssf the coasts of Europe
and America. They 5tsnd as Herculeau pill
lars on which to rest t1e cable. If wire was
laid between them, sh ,t5er ones could be car.
ried to the shores Of IKE Old and the New
World. One wire betieep these islands would
serve all practical purposes for long time to
come. The route by sFayal would sccommo.
date England with one .sire, France with one
Spain and Portugal witk- one, aud Madeira and
Africa with one. Onetur side, the Bermuda
route would be convense.t for one wire to New
England, one for the Fiddle States and the
West, one for the Soueafrn States and Cslifor
MIA, one for Cuba and :Mexico, and one for the
West Indies and SoutE America In time of
war, With the batteries, on these islands, we
could all depend upoi the main trunk or big
gun placed between tssm, and find available
some of the small srs1 pointed at so many
p8tions." -
The two slaves vh3 were apprehended at
| Cincinnati, and rems!.ded to their owner in