Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-07-10
.QD6lllyJ 10 States,nro:aSllr.. o:aSllr
LFrOm the New York Tribune. ~ q.
HEP0RTLAND CONFEDERATION
Interesting Details and Incidents
Reports from Eye Witnesses.

| .
The dispatches from the Inflated Forest
City of New England have told the story of
the awful calamity which has oyertaken
that pleasant town. Further dispatches of
yesterday give additional particulars, which
we eondense and present, Two hundred
acres of territory, compactly built with
dwellings and business houses, have been
swept by the tornado of flame, and 10000 or
| l2,O00 men, women and children were turn
ed into the places that had once been streets.
The heaviest loser was Brown, the sugar
refiner whose loss is estimated at $1,000 900,
which includes not only his immense
works, but houses in various parts OF the
city. Fortunately his fine residence was
outside the burnt district. The destruction
OF the new City Hail. the pride of the city
and the State, is generally Iamented. 1t
was not believed tnat this would 90, and
many articles were taken there for safety,
| and were, of course. all lost. 1t caught In
the dome, and this, falling through the roof,
set the interior on fire, and 1t was quickly
burned to the ground. A few of the city
records were saved and great many de-
stroyed. The building cost originally
about 100000, but it cannot now be re-
placed for twice that sum. The Methodist
Church, on Chestnut street, near the City
Hall, the most valuable in the city, was
iron shutters to the windows which it Is
said many of the Society opposed when the
church was erected. 1t is worth about
$4,000. By the destruction of the Natural
History Building that corporation will
lose $4,000, exclusive of the valuable col
ections which it contained. The Custom
House and Postoflice, both in the same
building, were badly damaged in the inte-
rior. Ofthe eight churches destroyed, that
of the Roman Catholic immaculate Con-
ception Society on Congress street, togeth-
er with the parsonage, was the most valu-
able, and the loss will not fall short Of
100000. Seven hotels were destroyed, in
Guiding among others the partially finished
structure known as the Marble Hotel, owned
by the Hon. John NJ. Wood, once a member
of Congress from Maine. The hotels de-
strOyed are the International Freeman,
Commercial, American, Sailors Home,
Kngsbury's and the Marble.
The two principal hotels in the city. the
Preble and the United States escaped, al
though the latter was several times on fire.
The banks of the city, seven in number,
were all destroyed. The opening of the
vaults shows that the papers and money Of
the National Traders and the First and Sec
ond National BANKS escaped unharmed.
The City Gas Works were destroyed, so
that the city now is in darkness when night
comes down upon the widespread desola-
tion. The burning of nearly all the supply
stores renders it impossible also to obtain
lamps and oil to supply the place of the
gas. u-fr .,.
A letter from Portland says that the
greatest apprehension among the business
men is that their misfortune will carry
down many of the insurance companies,
particularly the local ones who have the
largest risks, Ii the insurance losses are
j tpromptly met,very many will resume busi-
ness again. The people are not disposed to
be discouraged if it is possibility to again
establish in business. Mr.. Brown will prob
ably commence the work Of rebuilding at
once, and the propriet0rs of the Portland
Press have already ordered new types and
presses, and advertised for an office or pro-
posals to build one.
i The scenes in the city during the progress
of the fire were such as eye-witnesses will
not care to have repeated in their expe-
rience. All the vehicles obrainable were
impressed into the work of transferring
furniture and effects from buildings burn
ing or threatened, but, in many cases, they
had no sooner been deposited in what was
thought to be place of safety, than they
were again endangered and perhaps quickly
destroyed by the pursuing flames. The
Portland Press publisher, after the destruc-
ton of his office, issued small extra from
the office of printer who had not been as
unfortunate as we're all of his fellow crafts
men who published papers from which we
q extract the following, which shows the
spirit with which the terrible calamity was
met by the sufferers: lE HnI eaE aHI
"If a sermon upon the instability of hui
man affairs were the one thing desirable
now, iC would be easy to dwell in pathetic
periods upon the sudden dissolution of the
solid piles of brick and stone, which two
days ago were homes, shops and haunts OF
men, but have now vanished like dream.
o. The postoffice is solitary in the midst of a
forest of unhoused chimneys, and a laby-
rinth of heated and crumbling walls; its
granite is blistered and shitered by the in
tense flame which swept over it night be-
fore last. The dome Of the city hall and
the spires of our churches, have passed
away like evening clouds sdWhere was
once Exchange street. is now only heap
of ruins. A third of the territorial surface
n of the city lies desolate. A large part Of
the accumulated wealth, the savings ofthis
and former industrious, generations, has
been destroyed. Half of our, population
has been turned into. the Street without
b warnihg-there is the fact, black and terri
bic, without palliation or disguise 2 but il
brick and stone are perishable, and may
y blow away as lightly as a gossamer, there
q is yet something solid and enduring in the
YI world-the patience and enterprise which
built up onr beautiful city. In this disas-
ter, never have the sterling qualities Of oul
people shown forth more noble than now
1t islhard to see the fruit OF so many years
of patient endeavor wasted in q few hours
but the indomitable courage which faces
E, the fact admits the misfortune In all It's
, magnitude and setsepromptly to- work to