Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-09-25

Particulars of the Last Great Fire Mt New
Orleans Men Buried Beneath the Ruins
by an ExPlosiOn-Heartrendin Scenes.
Saturdays New Orleans Picdy,ne gives
these particulars of the disaster in that city,
already telegraphed to the DAILY Press:
Last night, about a quarter to eight
o'clock, fire broke out in Karstendeik Il
CO.. large liquor warehouses, Nos. 10l and
103 Tchoupitoulas-street, between Lafayette
and Girod-streets, running back to Foucher-
street. How it originated, and from what
cause, we have had no possibility of ascer-
tanning amidst the dreadful excitement pre-
duced by the appalling calamity which en-
sued.
The two warehouses; four stories high,
filled with liquor, were soon in flames
from the ground-hoor to the roof, and
explosions followed explosions as the
fire reached new tiers of whisky or
brandy. The burning buildings were
bounded at the corner of Lafayette-street by
Evans's warehouse, three-story building,
lately filled with flour, whisky, and other
goods belonging to different firms, and on
the upper side by the store of Messrs. Bree-
dow & Wursthoff, wholesale grocers.
There was no immediate danger to Evans's
warehouse from the fact of the building be-
ing much lower than the burning one, but
the owners of the goods on storage and the
insurance agents employed gang of men to
roll out the goods. Meanwhile the efforts
of the fremen were mainly directed to Bree-
dow h Wursthof's and to the warehouses
on the opposite side of Foucher-street.
Many of the fremen occupied the upper part
and roof of the corner warehouse (Evans's) J
The FIRE reached the fourth story of Kar-
stendiek' S store, where large lot of liquor
was piled, and a terrible explosion took
place. The tall wall shook and tottered,
and fell with a tremendous crash on the cor
ner warehouse. The force of the explosion
at the same time forced out the partition
wall, and the warehouse, yet untouched by
the flames, came down, forming one mass of
ruins from street to street.
No battlefield, no steamboat explosion
could exceed the horror of the scene There,
under that enormous mass of smoking ruins,
thirty or forty men lay buried. The stu
pendous cry that arose from the crowd was
terrific. 1t was followed by death-like
silence q breathless suspense of minute;
and some brave men-five or six firemen,
whose names we regret we could not learn
rushed to the smoking pile, calling upon
others to follow them. There were many
strong arms and willing hearts, but the at
tempt was next to mpossible-hundreds
rushed forward, and had to run back,
sCOICuSu anu sluBSuj 81 luJeuSG was lue
heat.
The half dozen brave prime movers,
nerved to their noble task, did not seem to
feel the heat, but went to work pulling out
the hot bricks and breaking the half charred
timbers. They were followed by others, and
as the great heat subsided, the crowd of
workmen increased. The first man taken
out was Mike Sheehan, member of No. Is.
He was badly cut in the forehead. The
brave fellow shook off the dust and ashes
that covered him, and the first words were:
'There are others there p With this he
turned to help throwing out the bricks, but
had to give up after awhile.
Every now and then the groans of the suf
ferers would reveal where they were to be
found. AS the rubbish was cleared away,
some spoke and told their names. Each new
announcement was received with gladstone
cheers, and gave new courage to the work
men.