The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-21
Mheeliug Register.
Comedy and Tragedy in Chicago.

Comedy and Tragedy in Chicago.
Chicago Correspondence OF the New York
World, October Is.
No sane man would look at Chicago
to-day and laugh. 1t is too grim. Ten
thousand men are bankrupt; $4,000
women and children are homeless and
penniless-nay worse, hundreds of cal.
cined corpses are still entombed in these
CHASTITY cellars, the oily tissue mingling
insiduously with the air we breathe and
the gaunt, friable bones turning to OK
ide oflime. 1t is assuredly spectacle
for tears, unless we are to adopt the
Oriental indifference to the misery OF
our kind. Yet we all remember that
ITALIA AND MELPoMENE
drink from the same cup. Menus
grins over the sections shoulder into
the coffin, and everybody knows that a
comical incident is never so irresistibly
comical as at funeral The risible
nerves spread their ticklish network
over the lachrymal glands. So it is
that tragedy and comedy were elbow
neighbors at the great fire and subse-
luently. 1t was easy to mention strik-
ing incidents. For example:
"Puss IN THE CORNER"
Hath a cat nine lives? That is the
question being earnestly debated in all
quarters today. A ca has actually
been recovered, alive and squalllng,
from the desolate ruins of the Postoffice
and Custom House building. / have
with these orbs beheld that feline sala-
mander. She still wears her royal
vestment OF fur, and retains her lung
power and her appetite, both marvel
lousy improved James NJ. Hubbard,
ESQ, Uncle Sans mail dispatch officer
at this point, was hunting in the rain
to-day for something he thought might
still be preserved.
MEAowl
He distinctly heard the familiar me-
lodious voice, He is a judge Of music,
and could not be deceived. He listened.
Again arose the muflled falsetto. ut
must be a ghost" He stepped lightly
over the crumblng brickbats and help
ed some workmen to eXcavate the ruins
in the corner whence the sound pro.
ceeded. Lo. There, eight feet under
ground, at the mouth of a sewer pipe,
upright in pail of water, sat grimalkin,
with a cold in her head and cinders in
her ewes. Sister of Shadrack, Mesback
Il Co., she had survived tue fiery fur
mace, and
CAME FORTH UNsCATHED.
It seemed, on examination, that she
had exhibited the presence OF mind to
stick her legs in the water and her head
in the sewer, whence she drew air, and
probably also smelt mice; and when
the building collapsed, column fell so
as to shelter her. A million dollars In
gold had melted into bullion within
twenty feet of her. Pussy is an i'm
mense favorite in the Postoffice, and
has resumed her place las regular
member OF the staff.
CHICAGO" TAKEN
Of course, the photographers are
hotlv at work, and they labor under
infinite difficulties. The ruined walls
stand everywhere in irregular and
gloomy phalanx-a forest OF lettering
towers and spires and minarets. For
five sickening miles this quaint archi-
lecture OF fire stretches away TO the
north, and it is impossible for any pho
tographer to get any eligible bird s,eye
view where he can bring more than
few blocks within his focus.
CHAOS DURING THE FIRE.
The painting Of "The Last Judg.
ment" is not an exaggerated representa-
ton of the tumult that prevailed during
the fire. From its scenes of terror,
rapine, and flight, Salvador Rosa could
have drawn some of his favorite con-
tra.ts of flame and gloom, and even
Raphael could have caught new hint
for his Fire in the Borgs. a crimson
CANOPY above, a million Of crinkling
adders below, writhing and gliding
along the Nicholson pavement; a mo-
notonous menacing roar; the ring OF
bells heard family; the scream OF
frightened horses; the shrill whistle OF
engines; wells and oaths; jewelry stores
thick with thieves Saving the trea-
sures; dogs sitting upon their launches,
and bowling like baffled bulls; costly
silks, satins and laces flung from the
window upon the crowd below; the
surging multitude madly Selling aud
running; men who own goods but have
left their money at home fighting hand
to hand with drivers for the possession
Of teams; the fall OF walls; the plunge
of lighted brands; theiwhirl of binding
cinders; the appalling shrek of blown
mo buildings; the loud laugh of disin-
terested sight-seers; pale man shud-
dering along bearing dead body in his
arms that was shrouded yesterday for
burial These things saw and heard
GRIM PROCESSION.
One gravely funny thing ! witnessed
the unloading Of an undertakers store
on Lake street. That stock OF goods
was tolerably safe from burglars but
tho demon of destruction is not afraid OF
the wares of death. The undertaken
stood in his door until the flame at,
tackled the next block; then he hired
twenty men to help, not fearing that
thew would attempt to appropriate the
Goods, and each seized coffin and bore
i, running, down to Lake Park. 1t was
orpaOrn aICuT