, 1866-07-13

THE PORTLAND CALAMITY.

A Curious Statement AZ to Its Of1sin-A
Warning 10 other CIties-PrevlouA
rfsie4sions Ia 1Iaine-Some Facts aa
10 safes and vaul1s-The Insurance
List.
Correspondence Of tho n. T. World, July 1u.1
Tho boat-builder's shop, from which the
flames, bursting forth about Ak o'clock 0.
houses Of Mr. Brown, had been .ockcd up
md left By its proprietor, bent on ..celebrae
ting the Fourth" Ike ill tho rest Of the
world. A small boy similarly engaged, cast
on lndia cracker Ia at IN open window of
the shop. The India cracker fell upon . pile
OF shavlngs, and In few moments the ffail,
combuatiblc building WAS In y blaze. People
who happened to be In the neighborhood,
hurried up to the place, md were on the
point Of breaking open the door when po-
licsman appeared: Upon the sonl of this
refused to allow the door to be broken open,
insisting that the hoat-bui1der's castle,
though In flames, should be entered
only with the boat-builder's key. Some
one went for the key; but before that
itself had gone TO return no more. The
adjacent sugar houses we're on fire within half
an hour Of the original discovery of the flames.
Bnt no one then dreamed that the conuagra-
tion, beginning thus by the water-side, would
only rest from its awful work mile and
and It vas not till the fire had become lite
1al ocean, flood rather than IRE, sweeping
in Irresistible surges before a wind which
lifted md tossed It on with leaping billows
and spoon OF horrible smoke, and roar a.
Of the sea ITSELF :hat the city rose en- u,asse 10
meet peril, become as wide as the city. All
manner OF complaints are made Of the Mayor
and Of the authorities charged with controll-
ing and directing the action Of the people md
the fremen- The failure of the water supply,
which went go fur toward mixing resistance
to the fire impossible, must be carried, hcw-
rally, which has been hesltatfng TOR years oYer
q project most easily feasible for supplYivg
Itself with IN abundance Of water from Seka-
go Lake.
Correspondents Of the Boston journal, 10th instl
The citizens Of Maine have suffered unsc-
eountably BY large fires within the past t1ven-
ty.one months, Or less than two years. in
the molning Of Oct. g, 1861, q fire broke OFT
in Eastport, burning eight houses and de-
troyin:: sixty-two buildings or the entire bus
ines portion Of the placc, save seven or cistt
sest stS5st D,a.oas aha e'' on Sas ooSsq G,b f.
lowing year, nearly the entire business POI
ton Of Belfast wns destroyed by IRE, With
also burned eight hours. consuming oue hu1-
dred and twcnty.ave buildings, with lossof
about half million Of dollars, one titih co..
cred oy insurance.. In Augusta, on the mor-
aw,ui coptlacration which bestowed tIrr-
qunrte1s Of The business portion of :hat c,t7
also. In about eight hours time, Consuming
nearly haIf milton dollars ahoa.
one-half insured. and now Portland hu
been called upon to pass throueh tha anna
terrible ort1eal. with loss oY brtwcen tra
ana tw.1ye rr;1,,ons nhont onn.b.If 1nsn,sss
~ ms~ ~ hc wntth4 r n,Ico ona Nv ar;nm sutu
f1res H. T. y Eastnot{ y Refa.t % ma % boetI.Hd o 10y
frs.b strone pInI WAS os hioxinas I vhIch sn1,,s
ne ao 9eouE ~ "ad thn.a Nv. s Spsea.
t ene 44, a .a w. pa1,.at M naeo * yi1se n.
6ASee s~~.eA+y " "E - 10y Wv