Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-09-15

At8:f5. the wall between Lafiins and
Farwell's falls with a loud report into
Messrs. Farwell & Co.'s basement, and
uprise the sparks and the flame, the latter
sending forth heat that reaches across
the street and threatenes the buildings
there. A strong wall falls inside, giving
the flames more food in Lyons & Healy's
building. Ali this time the hose Is burst
ing, rendering the efforts of the firemen
futile. They can do nothing anyway, for
the devoted block, which an hour ago
stood in all its pride and beauty. The
heat again threatens the buildings on the
opposite side of the street, and the water
| is turned on them to cool the fronts.
| Water IL also thrown on the roofs OF sew
eral buildings in the vicinity to prevent
the sparks from setting them on fire.
$40. The side walls of Lyon 81 Healy's
| building. fronting on Michigan avenue,
fall on Mr.. Wilder's barn, in the alley
way, crushing and destroying it utterly.
| The entire block is now ablaze, present
| ing a magnificent spectacle. The flames
rose all over, just as the moon came out;
the heavens were lighted up by an IN
natural glare; the smoke and steam rose
| in dark and curling masses; the walls
| cracked, with report like pistol, and
SO the scene increased in grandeur every
moment
1t is fifteen minutes of Z, and the wall
| of Kirkland, Ordway g. Co comes down,
| and demolishes dwelling house. the ru-
| ms of which Immediately catch fire. The
firemen let it burn they have all they
can do to save the corner where Lyon
d Healy's pianos are stored; but even
that they cannot do, for in halt an hour
more, the fire has completed the work Of
destruction, and that noble pile OF build
ings, and nearly all their valuable con.
tents are destroyed.
| The origin Of the fire is not definitely
known. 1t was first discovered in the
rear of the upper story of Latin, Butler
| d Co., and is supposed to have been
CAUSED by spontaneous combustion among
| oiled rags which had been stored there
The flames were first seen by q servant
girl employed in family residing on
Michigan avenue, in house the rear of
which faced the burned buildings. She
told little boy, and he ran into the alley.
way shouting fire" The cry was taken
! up by several hostlers in the vicinity, one
| of whom ran to the corner and turned in
| Box 10. The first engine on the ground
was the Ellsworth, which was quickly
| followed by the engines in the district. A
second alarm was turned in fifteen min
utes after, and in the course of the next
half hour two other alarms summoned
| every engine in the city, including the IL
linois and the Winnebago from the SUBJ
urbs.
LOSS OF LIFE
What will render this fire more mem
orable than others in the annals of Chi
cago, is the terrible loss of life which it
has caused. The destruction of q noble
edihce, and the less of millions of dollars,
are misfortunes which may soon be re-
trieved. But the immolation Of many
human beings, their consignment to a
doom the most awful, perhaps, that the
imagination can conceive, is calamity
which must be followed by mournful re-
membranes in all hearts for many years
to come. TIE scene which was wit
messed at the moment when the walls fell,
as before. mentioned, was one which will
leave an ineffacable impression in the
memory of all who were spectators of the
awful sight.
| It was about q quarter 10 six o'clock.
The fire was at its height. Vast pillows of
fame were surging through portions of
the building, sweeping everything rap
idly into mass of red ruin. 1t Yves evil
dent to all that the walls could not long re-
sist the force of that fiery hurricane, and
that grand crash WAS at hand. Still the
men were seen, through the red lighted
windows, working bravely in the effort to
| save property. Orders had been given
some time before for people to rush liz and
carry off goods, and the orders had been
obeyed. But now il was seen that danger
| was too near, and that in few moments
the lives of all who had gone within the
| building had been sacrificed. The spec
| tators became wild with terror and excite
| ment. One Assistant Engineer, seeing
| that the heat was intense, called frantical-
| w to the men to come out. Policeman
Brown rushed into the building, at the i'm
minent rick of his own life, and loudly
| called TO them TO make their own escape
He returned, and barely got from the
door into the street, when the crash came
It WAS the side wall between Thatcher's
and Farwelps building-125 feet between
the two stores 1t fell with one prolonged
and deafening crash, and the men went
down with it to their fiery graves.
Avail went UP from the crowd a strange,
| indescribable cry, or sob, that spoke of
horror and dismsy. A moment before,
and the men and boys, fifteen or twenty
| of them-some said thirty-had been seen
on each floor, with boxes and bundles on
their shoulders. In an instant they dis
appeared, crushed beneath the ponderous
walls, and sufocated in the flames. Hor-
rlble to hear and see. The wall went
clean through to the very basement. Not
soul escaped of all who had been within.
The terrible catastrophe seemed for a
time to deprive people of their reason.
Shrieks Of women were heard from balco-
MES where they were standing to look
upon the dreadful scene. Men clutched
one another in sort Of wild delirium.
Several persons, horror -stricken at the
spectacle, were completely overcome, and
swooned away. The rumors which cir
culated as TO the number Of men who had
fallen beneath the walls gave them all
the way from fifteen to fifty men. 1t was
impossible to tell how many were there.
Many a home will be in state OF dread
full anxiety until the list is filed, and
many q hearth will be desolste when the
names are made Chicago Tribune,
Sept. 8.
Epitome OF Events at Sedan Septem-
Der / and 2.