The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1861-07-26

The Great Fire Ia LeoAen. 7
The ere which broke ont in London o,
Saturday. June 22d, seems to have been on
" surpassed in destruction by the grea
confagration of 1866. The loss has beer
estimAted at sf2.0OO. 900. The sceEe o
tho catastrophe was on the water side por
ton Of Tooley street, nearest London bridge
locality which has been singularly unfor.
tunats during the last twenty 1--WE years.
some Of the largest fires having occurred
there.
The outbreak took place in the extensive
range OF premises known ss Cotton's wharf
and the bonded warehouses of Messrs Sec
veil. They had IN extensive river frontage.
and the whole space on the land side. ex-
tending to Tooley street. was covered with
eight or nine warehouses. six stories in
height. some Of which had formerly been
used as ordnance stores. and the whole oc-
cupying about three acres.
These buildings were filed with valuable
merchandise Of every description. There
were some thousands Of chests OF tea and
bales Of silk stored in the upper floors. while
10 the lower was an immense stock Of Rus
sian tsllow and tar. oils, bales Of cotton,
hops, and grain. Every portion OF the es
Enlistment might be said to have been load
ed with goods, and Of the whole of this
properly not Yestige remains but the bare
walls To be added to this very serious
lost is the destruction Of the whole OF the
western range of Alderman Humphreys
warehouses fapking the new dock. known
As Hay 'Swharf, the burning of four ware
houses and quay. comprising Chamber
lain's wharf. adjacent to St. Olave's Church.
beside many other buildings IN Tooiey
street.
The Gre was discovered about half past
four p. NJ, and spread so rapidly that at ten
o'clock it had reached its heighth. Proba
bly, between eight and nine there was
greater body Of fame than at any subse-
quent period. but the broad light Of a sum-
mer's evening drowned its hideous glare
Il vas not till night Tell that the sremen-
dous terrors of the spectacle could be ap.
preciated in all their horrid grandeur. The
whole south bank Of the river from London
bridge 70 below the custom house seemed
one stupendous pile of fire. glowing At it's
core with an intensity that made is painful
to look At. aud casting rudy glare above
on every thing far and near. At this time
The only hope Of the fremen lay in the
night still continuing calm. Their efforts to
check the flames they felt aud knew were
utterly hopeless. All the engines of Lon
don. and al that coald be brought by rail
Or road from the suburbs. were a. useless as
squrts against these acres of burn
ing ruins. The efforts Of the most power
Fui engines could only sprinkle, at rare in
srvals, the outskirts Of the buildings. for :
he heat was SO great that none could ap-
,roach near and live. All the worst masses
# flame were thus quite out of reach. !.
though. so great was the bulk Of the glow .
ing ruins, that, even had they been under
no water power the firemen could
procure could have made the slightest i'm :
preston. II seemed rs il nothing could =
top the fire. There were great warehouses 6
which were called fireproof. with massive !
brick walls, iron roofs, aud stone Aoors-- y
But against such intensity of heat nothing !
walled. To the eye they were seen to get y
'edhot. like shells of furnaces, until their
contents poured out through doors and win !,
lows in great streams of flame.
As warehouse after warehouse caught, :
he barrels Of saltpetre and tar with which .
oms were stored exploded, and came pour =
ng forth in streams Of liquid FIRE, which
loated out upon the water in great sheets.
md broke up at last into little islands Of .
lame, which went drifting up the river
Nj the vigilance and activity of the Thames !"
'olice was necessary to beat and scatter :,
l,ese ont IS they Hoated through the bridge.
But all these exertions would have been in
rain to check the devastation which must u
AVE been caused by these floating masses ie
{ the remains Of the ships burnt earlier in
he evening had not acted rs a kind OF break q
water to their movements. The grea, mass .:
therefore,. of this liquid fire gathered round
he fragments of the Lulls. and kept their 70
haired ribs glowing. y
On Wednesday the fire was still burning :,
nth intensity in some portions Of the DIS az !,
riot, and the firemen had been constantly a.
eluving it with water, but did not ap,ici- v
ATE to entirely extinguish the last remnants !"
Or several days. 9
The casualties were few con sidering tn, G
Magnitude of the couhsgaton and the rapid
royress Of the flames. Besides Mr.. Brad
rood. one man was killed by the chain of :
be floating engine getting around his neck. y y
nd another by being burnt by the blazing
allow. Four others were wounded in vari-
US ways.
Very little was known at the time Of the :,
leamer's sailing Of the kinds Of goods des-
owed, but ut HAYES wharf alone. there
ERE Ia 900 barrels and Zoo sacks Of -four; :, =
80 tons OF chicory; 500 bales Of hemp;
6 900 bags and 800 hhds. sugar; $500
ockets of hops and 5000 bags OF sum.c.
esides large quantities Of rattans. rosin. 5
ides, gut,a percha, &c. There were also
other places large quantities Of saltpe,re
nd not less than Is, QUO casks Of tallow.
IxpoRrASr REVOLUTIONARY PESsIoS a