The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-03-05
A Full Account of the Rise and Progress
ofthe Fire-Thc Names of the Sufferers
and their Loss.
rFRoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

MARION, S. c., March 3.
Our village now presents narrowing scene.
Desolate countenances stalk through our
streets, bearing the impress of loss and suffer
inc. Labor Is irksome and men are seen to
assemble in knots to ask each other how and
why was It? And the general opinion is that
the fire which has caused the destruction of so
much property and the loss of life was the
work of an incendiary. For what purpose and
by whom are yet problems to be solved, but
that no accident caused the fire Is sure. There
are many conjectures as to the guilty parties
and their motives, which we refrain from men
tioning, as evidence to support them is want
ing, and the whole matter will be fully inves-
tigated.
On Monday night last DR.. A. Crane, OF New
Orleans, lectured on the subject of phrenology,
and almost the entire population of the village
gathered to the courthouse to hear him. A
few minutes before eleven o'clock the lecture
ended and the audience went to their homes.
At about twenty minutes past eleven, Mr..
Clarke, lwho had not gotten to slcep,) became
aware that something was burning, and rising
to ascertain the cause, became, ION opening
the door leading from the second story where
he resided, down to his store on the first
foor,) aware of the awful fact that the building
had been fired, and himself and family were
already in great danger Calling to his brother,
he seized his wife and child, and ran out into
the open air. The other half Of the building,
arranged in similar manner to the portion
occupied by Mr.. Clarke, was Inhabited by MI.
G. Richard, who also kept store on the first
floor. Mr. Richard and his wife became aware
of their danger about the same time Mr..
Clarke did, and succeeded with difficulty in
getting out of the burning house. Now the
alarm was given and men gathered from all
quarters. Mr.. Iseman, an old merchant OF our
town, hearing that Mrs. Richard was Still IN
the house. ran through the smoke, followed
by q colored man, to rescue her. Half stif1ed
they reached the second floor only to find they
were in danger and uselessly so. They came
to the front and the colored man sprang from
the window into the street and was saved, but
Mr. Iseman, fearing to take the risk, tried to
retrace his way. He reached the back Of the
house, when an explosion Of powder shook
the building. This probably caused his death,
as he was heard to Call no more. The flames
spread rapidly to the store occupied by Captain
w. H. Crawford, and Henry Steel, then to the
law Office of Colonel R. F. Graham, next to
the building owned by Major S. E. Mcmillan,
then to the tenement house OF the estate of
the late Asa Godbold, and lastly to the
drug store of Mr.. w. C. Mcmillan. The
office of Dr. D. S. Price was .ig-
nited by sparks from Major AcMilllan's
house. The kitchens and houses in rear Of the
buildings above named were burnt about the
same time.
The house of Mr.. Manuel Iseman, next to the
store of Mr. Clarke, was saved by strenuous
efforts and tearing down his kitchen. Mr.. w.
C. McMillan's dwelling house (next to his drug
STOREY was also saved, and at one time the
fine store of Messrs. S. A. Durham g. Co. was
in the grt atest danger. All the buildir"s des-
troyed were on the public square, and among
the most valuable in our town. The loss can
only be estimated. 4essrs. Knox & Gill,
of Baltimore, owned the house occupied by
Messrs Clarke & Richard, and were insured
fxs s3O0r Their loss is probably about sl2O0
The next building, occupied by Captain Craw-
ford and Mr.. Steele, was owned by Mr. Baum,