, 1866-06-11

Great Connasratlon on soatA Water
Street---Three Largo Establish.
ments Burnt to the GroHHd~..
Three Men In fured.
TOTAL LO3$->S9O7,O 1000,

TOTAL LOyS--e9O7,OOo.
A Ere broke cut On Saturday morning On South
Wafer Street. which has proved much more dis
aslrous In its resulA aban any OF recent occurrence
In this city. A large back building. containing N
immsnse quantity OF ols, and o'hef valuable
stock. Vas reduced to u,tes run the loss nnnouat-
tnc 10 oYef tnu hundred thor.ana dolisrs. walie
several human llyrs were placed IN lnnntnent p11!,
South W.tt Stree; Il An 1n:or .tc Locality foF ase.
The it1gc 1toacs Of enutu< sable material which 1t
cantaine, rendtf It one OF the most dan-ctous
vtctu,fies wh,ch could possibly be selected by tne
tre-acnd tor one Of hta dreadful rereis. sneh
tklne =, snail eona1fraston u unsnown Ihsrs: a,:
Wholc Structures are ieseled with The ground.
1o1one Il snon fooxed 5, ass. sns VS.
No. 1ss South Wa,cr Street, occupied By the Pcon-
what ras since bea:u e41ued, he cau.c Of The fnt
il % he bslemen. ven n1 r}anesrs I'D Ssea en-.
Ppss Papss. faToarh s5s ~ peeieet the =. bad besa
allowed to escape, and when The wosk.nen
entered on Saturday moEulns a. explosion took
tne. Tne alarm vas not given from tbs CouH
House I'll len minutes after The a1st dltcoreEJ Of
thc nfc, md although the engines responded nth
20 .er he Whole rer rart of lie building 6'azing
furiouely, in ihc co1rse Of few minutes The
NhoIc siorr. from attic to basement and from the
The e1taordinny rnpidty with which the
Ere travelled, md the terrific force Of the imes.
IKE that q 4 hundred tasnaee;. Was enough 10
rounding hutldngt were rapidly heated 10 such
degree that the occupants hastcued to the street
ths IN tss 1aa sSon
two terrific .exploeions occurred IN Succession.
The fnt shook the walls, and caused soms
O. ,n he assnen' who vs1e r. sy , this u linz
the pipes In obedience 10 m order from the Chtef,
ard descend Mle ripe spples from uet. Tho
,ns ssn ~ ths % 81 Rq5ss
sway portions Of stock from the doors. Two of
as I'd nsE a: hive ssea a,.a 0fRsaA sss o tss
tut,otatlon had i not bcen for ,he c1ertious
Of officer Van Fleet who succeeded In
e1trsGsine thep from tne debris. Almost timulla-
nor Ct the building collapsed and tell with ter
r1fc cra.h. Then the GLOWING mass OF flames shot
upwards gneontTol!ahie. Ihe water seemed 70
fels were heard IL quick succession. like The sound
OF mutketry. while nnw and than 4 Gull thunderinc
1 pi The
everything except the oil Al the rear, the nanet
hurst mp With renewed Nsor toward the front OF
.hs building o. senth Water sssst nsse re IRE
hui wih ittie effect, othes than preventing them
from tp1eaalng into The adjacent tenemeuts~
D de'f o Ha Kmb,rs paa
wu1e etoEe Nos. 1873 md 1s5, also cared .a letting
the copteufs. comprising iron OF every descnp ion
through to tbr celhrt, where. getting saturated
with The oil which meanwhile Wis spreading In
every direction. new impetus was given 10 The
The nYe department acted on this oe>ssion with
most prafsewotthy courage and daring. It wns a
teasiul!y pesiious position which nost OF the men
zFzuA$n ATf&n tkArx -
only 6y the .heeF fofcc Of TIC IRE t,orm. they
were fctn On The top Of the very walls which
tetmed 1o be ionp!ine over. under the ehak!nE
pipes. Although the,1 efforts were Ia vain
10 sase = particle Of the siose fIm utter
@ 'h, f,as'oa aaa Of na co s oot Has .iole
which seemed ., ore time 10 hare :. GONG np'' like
II reichboe. One OF the men belonging, to The
rum flying fragment Of Eood, but fu,thei than
| thlf, none oi the fsemen sustaincd any serious
hnrt, which WAS almost miraculous Under thu c1-
ssaa e se eeB = ss
spo; on The occasiop Of fire abont tue sane Time
Inst ye1r. The ssEistaDt hre marshal, Frank Aynew,
the rcsy waits, ron hene4!h .be RUNS Of which he
was sssen that night nel!-nieh crushed 10 pieces.
The IRE ~ss Of shot duration, the worst being
in that brief Rpace Of time IN immense amount Of
property "a. dess1oyed. The building. which wss
one Of very slight constrncnon. was literally tc-
front wall, winch managed to carry its hesa nigh,
though In very feeble way.- Great fears were en-
e1,atned that hi. portion would clye way willie
he stone CPS over lie WINDOWS aud
doofs were quite crumb1ed army in mapy
place. while e1ety successive strrsm Of watcr cent
anis occa11es. md ths rren were eit tosa 10 esy n
only one poor comrade 10 the grave. who had taIen
two days before, without ADDING smother to The