, 1866-03-22
;THEMINNEAPOLIS CALAMITY:
~ i
A Turtle Conhagratiou-Eorty
-. Buildings Burned ":
onq 4ua11s1 OF the Business Portion OF
Town 1AAAnced to 4Ashc-Total Lows
NrS14w0 0ne Hundred Thousand Doll

~ t1lNEn Lie Sl- EaHl 1Ieeb 1AAas AshosJ -
At about halE.past ten o'clock last NIGHT ;
fire in the dry goods store Of J: J. Couchman.
Bridge street, east side, and Immediately:
broke open the door. They found the fire to
be in among lot. Of paper boxes on the top
shelf, against the wall. which separates the
fI1e sip'e occppied ,p spice of' about Two fsst.
Searching tor water, the premises were foaud
to be without drop, and before any could Be
procured the flames had made considerable
hcadWayi In the meantime, efforts were
made to stif1e the blaze with shaWls, but It
crept aMay beneath the studdlngs, and when
water arrived, the quantity vas 80 small and
the fire SO hidden that 1t was useless. At the
open CouchmA1i's store door, Mr, Patterson,
Who had occupied the rooms back Of
IcFaz1ane, Burk l. Co.'S insurance and real
estate Office second story, :.apprehensiTe,
from A. smell OF burning pine, that
danger. WAS near, jumped from his
bed and threw open the door IN the partition
which separated the sleeping room from tho
Office. andsaw fire just breaking through The
partition will between Chase's office and that
Ii which he stood. Chase's office Is about
eight feet In Width, and Is on the ground floor.
TAe fire had caught in Chase's Office, which
separated Couchman and AtcEarAne, Burd j.
Co., and had worked both ways, by mems Of
appeared in two: places simultaneously.
Ii q few moments the entire wall in Nc.
Farlane, Burd: & Co.'s Office. was ID,
flames. Patterson With difficulty rescued his
wife trom the sitting atmosphere, aud friend
attempted clearing the office Of It's valuable
books and papers. In Couchnan's stdre the
advance OF the ire WIS so rapid es to defy the
slender mems used to extinguiah it, aud the
officers, assisted by the cltizena, III ho soou
came thronging to the spot, began I'd bring
out 'ormsfM Of goods; but the derce heat
scGrched the cheek aud paralyzed the eye;
cleared the store OF the excited crowd, and
consecrated its contents to Itself. =:
Efforts were then directed to the stores on
each side Of. the flames, With view to eaye
last etore below tha fire, and On the corner Of
Bridge and First street, WIS soon cleared Of
the contents which were On the 1rst floor, but
the flames were too rapid in their progress for
eyen the quick hands, and feet Of the busy
workers, aud the goods In the second loor
and cellar were abandoned to their fate.
The devourinY element now advanced It's
left wing round First: street, and having its
centre IL the baking pile where It frat com
meneed its raynEes. hurled its right wing up
Bridge street, towards the long line Of wood
e e. structurss Which .S escnRy Tie front lots Of
fire was now perfect. The biting wind blow
ing briskly from the northwest, carried mil
lions of glowing cinders far up into the black
midnight sky, nud distributed them far and
wide over q sleeping populatfon-for many
slept on unconscious Of the fearful work, till
morning aawned.
One thought alone seemed to have taken
possession OF the busy crowd at the fi1e-that
the entire block must soon disappear before
the terrible onset, aud they accordingly leut
themselves to the work OF saving the con-
tents
The market place in front Of the block was
soon flled up with merchandise Of every de-
attached to one Of the smaller wooden struc-
lures, and stout men manned the ropes and
pulled with all their strength, ia hope that by
demoiishing building or two, the salvation Of
the remainder Of the block might bo ACCOM-
plished.' But all to no purpose, large pieces
Of THE front wall only coming away, and the
flames, as If maddened By the attempt to de-
prive them of their prey came roaring On
With renewed y1gor, and the wrecked build-
ipg WAS abandoned to Its fate. Powder Ens
then procured, but the roofs, chambers and
aoors Of Tho. other buildings were thsonged
with men, and the idea of blowing up the
building was abandoned as dangerous So
1t was after midnight. a dozen houses
on First street had fallen. The end Of the
block On Bridge street remained. This huFe
form Of Flctcher's store had boiled away. An
Inetfecfna1 attempt had been made to tear
down the three~story building on the upper
Second streets, and-it WIS fired, that the
flames might work down and meet those ad-
:vancipg. that the fierce heat might be little
removed away from the building across Sec
ond street, which had been covered with wet
carpets md ,b]onkcts, as at1ordinG the only
means OF protection to the next block
: One O'Clock came. Forty buildings on the
entire block Tere In flames or had fallen be-
fore the fee. The crisis was approaching
which should determine the safety Of the
other block. Not m engine was Oh the
ground We had none. i hand engine could
not long work IN an Atmospheric a. zero. A
steamer only would have beaten back the
The tail, three e-story building occupied by
Udly's dry goods store nnd Beale's gallery
was entered BY the roflicking tongues Of fire,
and the heat became intense. The saturated
carpets and blankets began to send forth
chords Of steam. Two, bundled and df1y
Ing their liquid contents npon the roofs and
wooden coverings neToted men stood up
aga1nat the Internal heat, and calmly launched
the winter upon the most exposed part5. It
Was moment offptense anxiety. The EAte Of
another block was trembling In the bal.
huge pile Of FIRE on the corner topp1ed end
fell: cloud Of sparks streamed to the sky
er !; The fire could moi cross the street-it had
burnt itself ont. The next block was saved,
aud the expressions Of relief which came FROM
the exhausted crowd will never be forgotten
by thousands.
'Bnt alas i Forty buildings had fallen. The
centre block Was In ashes. Compassed by
four streets It was red-bot heap of ruins.
But no lives had been lost. A man named
Major Eagse had indeed fallen with the baz-
Ing roof 81 F1etchsr's store, down forty feet,
lnt9 the cenar,yet hecame torth nnha.med ;
ioasiy saved. .,
tnolnE places 70 ttofc gpoo3 ~. flaces are
scarce. Sadness prevails In the town. ::
A. Keyy rEoeer,e, ,sss us sDsnowp aDs bat YER,
oss no1
f j j C conebmsn. dTg enoaa: -" atoct saoco. 1os,
t sso6d: % iats = ooo. d" s4s'@ s' 'H'a''s '''
,r1ss1! 6s,!,ass owned b, B. F. Baker; sasoo go In
| Cnnner: tour uextnp machines foea sam :.
: lis! Brssfs'. tB.Esr building; dressnsEes; to
cbsss e1Tnss ~ mis-. tot,1 ,oaa NJ storp and nv
n,sn1a hTiid;1s o,16e 1a s . an4 4axn II
% ls.a5aaSs Ssa%a ,.. =, - :: ,.,,, sss "s. s,''
ssoe5 A o. 1o,s ,othlFa' insured Tor
f.; IN NJ wssst, s1d4ss r.
spred Il No,t5 AmeTjcan e., for R,o1 ' o''~ -
Walroit hutinr. ynlne II III: insured fnr ssnno
i. " santoni. cnnfactonerv and resisurSnt.
] ns1t1ai ioss
's W. H. q. Leonard i Co.. spotheearies; part o.
~ ice eata hoot I'D n ssos 4sSer: % stock ssved
Jones b Emmeft. dTy goods and groceries: etoc.
$iS0o0; half saved IN damaged condition; tnsuree