, 1866-04-30
THRILLING DETAILS OF THE CA
TASTMOpIHE.
Burning Of HE Ferry Windsor-Tven-
t3sEfshg Lives Lust.

(From The Detroit Tribune, Aprl s7lh-l
We nre called upon TO record the occur
renee Of second terrible contlagration fn our
city, innicting severe losses upon Our business
interests, and especially upon those OF three
en.erprislny railroad lines centeFing at this
se HSM Mesn nes ssat aseip and 1 aets nana
and Of the Detroit j. Milwaukee Railroads,
and the freight depot Of the Great Western
Railway OF Carnda, are 8 mass oi smoxlng
ruins. The boundaries Of the burned tract
atc from Brush nearly to the foot Of Hastings
Tie ferry steamer Windsor lies charred
wreck upon the bank Of the river, her burning
having the mourniul accompaniment Of the
loss Of humnn Life. The destruction of prop
erty Is immense, aud probably exceeds even
thu. Of the recent A.e st the Central Depot.
ORIGIN OF TIE FIRE
Twenty-Five barrels al oil naptha Or bcnzine
had been received By the Southern Koad. and
was 10 bc slipped on by the Detroit g. Mil
waukee. This had been wheeled down to
the latter depot on trucks, preparatory to
being loaded on. the Detroit & Milwaukee,
one Of the barrels leaked badly,
when an attempt was made to drive
down tie hoops and thus stop the leak.
While this WIS being done, one OF the hands
held a lantern close 10 The barrel TO ascertain
whether The liquid wns still escaping, when
in m instant the whole barrel was In blaze.
Mr. Powell, who had charge Of the gang Of
the men to roll the barrel into the river, but
the words were scarcely ont Of his mouth ere
the whole thing exploded, spreading flame In
every direction.
ITS RAPIp SPREAD.
In remarkably short space Of time, the
freight sheds Of the Detroit & Milwaukee,
Railway On the east 1rom ono end to tho other
t,,ok n In $5a 90
swept nloug the dock, consuming the freight
sheds Of the Michigan Southern It Northern
Indiana Railroad, together with oil thelF con-
tents. Everything In the depot grounds was
destroyed; nor did tho flames stop until they
reached the eastern end Of the depot grounds.
While the fire was in progress in this direction
| IT also spread from the starting potut north
| to the passenger shed Of the Detroit and Mil
waukee and Southern Railroads, taking In its
way the building used for storing baggage,
the Southern and Milwaukee ticket olllces,
and omnibus bagi:agc rooms.
The large frame building on the dock, oc-
cupied as freight depot BY the Great West
! ern Railway Company caught simultaneously
| with those bsfore mentioned, and was soon q
| mass Of burning ruins. This place was filled
with freight Of miicellaueous character. I'LL
| Of which was consumed. The flames soon
| depot, which was also destroyed. The ground
floor was occupied as waiting and dining
| rooms, and the baggage rooms OF both rail-
roads, none Of the contents Of whish was
saved. The upper rooms were occupied o.
general Offices. The heat was 50 Intense and
the spread Of the fire so rapid that It was n,
impossihility to enter the building Ave min'
utcs after the fire broke ont, and tho passen.
etrs in the train Standing ready to leave made
| their escape with great difficulty.
AL the buildings. With tue exception Of the
passenger depot. were Of wood, and being
very dry, tue flames fed upon them Will
great avidisy. There also seems to have beer
| large amount Of combustiblc matcria
stored in the cars, which aided very matcri
ally In the progress OF the flames. Frequent
explosions atteatcd the presence Of the mos
Inf. mmatle substances among the freight
freight steamer Windsor WAS unloading
fleicllt at the dock, just opposite the mail
entrance to the depot premises, when the hr
broke out In her immediate vicinity. In :
moment she was In fumes, and the escape Q
many Of the hands On board OF her forcye
cut of.
! SCENES At THE DEroT.
The watchman Of the Michigan Southern
Freight house, which Is situated Mt the c1
treme upper end of the premises. seeing til
| light at the lower end, ran thttlcr to nsccl
tain the carlec, and Immediately ran back t.
save what he could from the Michigan South
csn freight Office, but SO rapid was the sprca
| OF tAe AaMesy lnat nc ua4 UIt AlHt ~ c.Al4
ont single artnlul1 Of books before oil tntthe
effort wns cut oil.
4 train made up for Saginaw, and consist
ing Of both freight and passenger cars, va
standing IN the depot. Il had three baggage
three ordinary passenger and ono sleeping cal
all Of which we're filed, ready for starti1.
Conductor Gentle Hus in charge Of the tralr
and he states that none Of the passenger
were burned.
John johnson by name, states that there wci
ntsout forty passeuers In HIS car, about l!a1f
whom had gone to bed, W. Whea 3a. the hamt
keep their seats and couches. expecting ths
the train would be drawn out of the depot b
. the engine that WAS waiting to take 1t O
! Finding that the train was nst being haule
, ! ont, and seeing that the names were clio:
upon them, he eSerted himself to get tue pa
sereers out OF the car. Before leaving,
hastily visited each berth, aud bcIicEcs th
| no persons remained. He then welt Aimsel
tha car Icing hy tlts time well on fire.
j, The reason the train WIS not drawn ont Y.
this: The engine was standing upon 81:
,rack short distance Oh, and could not !
Immediately got out on account Of iot
nns made to run out the cars In the depo
, OF 9 By one, by hand, but before more tn
three or four could be removed the resi- VIC
= erveloped in flames. .,..
T An attempt Was n1ado to remove tae cats
c the freight house by one Of the yard ensia. :.
. hui coupling pin coming oqt only q = .
:. were secured, the rest being on tlfe before !
> engine could return Tor them. The engi
c then cudeayored to draw out some Of the g
i hat were upon the tracks between the trclg
j. and passenger depots, bat unfortunately Q
t Of them GOT OF The track and the rest had
- he abandoned, as 1t YVES now too hot to
, proach them ngain.
THE LOSS OF LIFE.
There seems TO be no doubt that the loss
,. life was yerv creat-much larger than was
K first supposed. As is stated above, IT. Is
n lieycd ~ the conductor Of the train that
4. passengers were burned. A merchant nan
- b. III. Gardner, Of Cascade, Kent coun
- however, is among the missing. and 1t Is ST
1t passed may have been burned to death.
IL. | ssna do souaa nutc1nses md frankacfed nf]