The Portland daily press., 1865-09-19
THE GREAT FIRE AT AUGUSTA.

5We;copy from the Star the following ac-
count Of the fire at Augusta on Sunday. Tits
from an eye witness of the scenes -'s'1 y ~
ssAbout four o'clock Yesterday, (Sunday)
morning, a fire broke out in the new wooden
building just erected by Dr. Hill, nearly oppo-
site the Stanley House Everything was So
dry that the sparks and cinders spread the fire
rapidly in all directions. Pieces of the felt
{, roofing, all Iablaze, floated about at random in
! the air, and were perfect torpedoes Of destrue-
ton. Wherever they alighted, new. fires.
were made, and soon the confagration was
Fearful The HalloWell and Gardiner fire en-
gineS were sent for, and coming al once, did all
that could be done lin connection with the
machines of the city, in arresting the progress
of theT fafaes:s but for hours with apparent
little effect Forty two buildings were burned
to the ground, in which over one hundred firms
were doing business. iihi saht n
The fire extended along State street from
the kapothecary store of Charles K Partridge,
corner of Market Square, burning everything
on both sides of the street up as far as Bridge
street, with the exception of the stores of
Messrs Hedge, Hills and Hunt on the river
side, next to the passenger bridge. On the OPP
posite side it extended above Bridge street and
consumed the dry good stores of Nason, Ham,
len d Co. and of Kilburn & Barton. 1t extened
up the bill ON Bridge street and destroyed Co
ny's Livery Stable and some small wooden
dwelling houses. The Stanley and Franklin
Houses, the Eastern Express Office, Post OH
I &c, the new railroad depot, which was nearly
completed, the Granite, Augusta, Freemen's
and State banks, Pension office, Age newspa-
paper Office, every lawyers and war claim
agents Office, the Bookstores of Messrs. FennoE
and Stanwood, three drug stores, and many
other buildings are among the buildings burn
ed. + q ~ - - ,.&5D
The assessed value of the property burned
is $444,0 900 In addition to this, the loss of
goods Is very heavy. Some whole stocks were
burned, portions Of others, while some few
saved their entire stock. 1.-The whole contents
OF the Express and Telegraph offices were saved,
as well as that iof the Post Office. The con-
tents OF the Telegraph and Post Office was at
once removed to the Kennebec journal build-
ings, and are now in operation, there The.
banks also saved all their papers and money
The fire is supposed to be the work of an in
cendiary. The Home Insurance Company. of
Of New York, loses considerable, and Hart
ford Company some $4,000, ann told. ,,f. ,.r
Il doubt ifasly town In the Atlantic States.
ever suffered SO heavy a loss by fire in proper
ton to its valuation. Water Street presents
lamentable spectacle. Here and there part of
a wall standing, the Street completely covered
with, bricks, pieces of stove pipe, cap pieces,
old timbers still smoking and the fires still
bazing up all around. Some parts of the ru-
ms are still dangerous, as walls still standing
are liable to faal. Safes still remain where they
were rolled out, and everything looks deplora-
ble., It was by the utmost Iexertien the Ken
nebec Bridge, Former, Gospel Banner and AS
sistant Provost Marshal Generals office wee
saved. There were many narrow escapes from
falling walls but it was remarkable that no
one was killed or injured during the day. y
Several persons helped themselves to such
goods as they found convenient, and made away
with them. Some were found with packs and
bundles almost over to Winthrop and other dir
rections. Evidently some Of the crowd pat
ronized the stock of the liquor stores principal
ly, and were none the better for it. One fire
man was, found by comrade asleep on the
bridge and on being awakened and asked why
he wasn't helping subuue the fire, rubbed his
eyes and after moments hard thinking re-
piled that it was necessary for some one to look
out for the bridge! = -
One Englishfnan met another at the end Of
tne bridge, and they began to comment on the
siluanon. "Orrible" says one, every orrible,'
lep.,es tne other, great deal Of property being
destroyed, yes, but considerable is saved,s
says the INST, and opening his coat displayed
the meek Of a dark colored bottle. The two
went under the bridge, hid a moment behind
alarge post and returned with very red ia
ceS. ,,, 1870.
= Achambermaids at the Stanley House who
had two bonnets, put on her best one, to make
good appearance on the street, put the other
in bandbox and Started As She went oyt
of the door, some one threw mattress ont Of
an upper window, which dropped directly upon
her heal, knocking the luckless bonnet into a
acocked hat" much to Bridgets disgust. ii'a3asEf
IA late Lieut. Col, Of one OF our gallant
Maine regiments, who is now war claim agent
and has Just made trip to, and invested in
SOME Canada oil stock, threw his'books out Of
the back window, and very carefully carried
two handstands down the front stairs.
A jealous Jehu with D load of efockery in q
Jlgger, drove through the Street at furious
rare, seattering the wares in all directions and
only jigger left. ~
Ah,otner gallant oficer,-a CAPTAIN in the
regnar army-made herculean endeavors to
save some of Safford's hardware stock MALI