Nebraska advertiser., 1864-01-28

thousands Of lamps, msst Of them Of par
aine oil. when from a transparent cres-
cent. at the foot Of the statue Of the Viz
gin. burst forth a jet Of flame. The al
tendant e~ndeavored to extinguIsh il with
his pencho, but the infamabIe liquid pen
etrated the fabric and only increased The
danger. In a msment the flames darted
up the garlsnds Of artificial flowers to
the roof, the immense cupsla caught FIRE
and the lamps suspended from the roof
by strings dropped and exploded among
the densely packed mass of women knesl-
ing beneath. Darling along the wooden
ceiling, already heated to the dryness Of
finder, the flames ran like Kissing SER
pants the whole length Of the church and
rolled down in huge pillows upon the
compact crowd that had ~instinetively
sought the main entrance. During the
first few moments Of surprise and terrier
shrieks Of sorrow fer the destruction Of
their beloved church r%esounded through
the aisles Of the building; but when
rushing to the various outlets, all were
found closed, save one, and that one I'M
passable. loud screams Of horrOr burst
from the despairing multitude. For a
few moments the heart-pisrcing cries Of
/ perishing women were increasing then
gradually grew fainter and fainter, and
soon an awful silence reigned within
that horrible furnace, broken only by the
angry roar of the flames, or the crashing
of falling tewers.
me CRIMINAL neglect 70 take them most
ordinary precautions against fire, or even
alarm, has been fearfully atonsd. Of
the 5000 persons within the pile, but
five or SIX hundred escaped, and most Of
them wounded, scorched and baked
The rest became wedged together, and
painting with heat, terror and pressure,
lost The ability to help themselves or Sc
cond the efforts Of those who risked
their lives to save them. 1t was only by
almost superhuman efforts that some few
were dragged from the tightly packed
mass Of human beings at the tardly
opened outlets and of those fs ", a great
majority emily lived a few hours.
The scene without the church was
heart.rendIng. The streets were filed
with the dead aud dying, and hundreds
rushed frantieally 10 ard fro, calling up
en- the names of loved ones; some kneIt
in the streets to pray, some were carried
off by their friends, raving IN their grief
while some distracted at the thought of
wife er child perishing, rushed frantl-
cally into the church and were seen no
more. Hundreds were taken to the
hospitals and to the n~eighborIng houses.
All the physicians of the city were upon
the spot, milistering to the injured. At
midnight the flames, spent for want of
material TO feed upon, bad lowered, and
by morning had entirely ceased. The
spectacle, by the glaring light Of day,
was ind~escrihably horrible. Tive thou
sand corpSes, in every state Of caTboniza.
ton, frem blackened cinder to the slightest
scorch, lay 10 heaps around the several
exit doors, the last struggle painfully
visible in the eager position, the out
stretched hands, the staring eye-balls.-
The upper portions of the bodies were
with few exceptions, dis6gured beyond
/ ec5@nition-the lower e%x.remitiss were
scarcely touched by the flames.
Deep and loud is the indignation mani
tested by the press and the public At the
criminal indifference Of the priesthood 10
the safety of their congregation, and the
Government has been earnestly beSought
10 raze the ruins of the illsated Com
pania" to the ground, and to forbid 10
future the illumination or night services.
The priests rebel, and insist upon re-
building the iil-fated pile. which upsn
Tuesday last. was Cor the third lime des-
trcyed BY fire. Public Indignation is
rising and threats have been made that.
if the authorities de not demoIish the
hateful walls, the people will do it for
them.