The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-10-19
THE GREAT FIRE
DESTRUCTION OF CHICAGO

1,SOO Acres of Property DeVas-
900 Buildings De-
strOyed-SO.OOO People Burn
ed Out-AII the Hotels, Banks,
Public Buildings, Newspaper
Offices and Great Business
Blocks Swept AWay-OveP a
Hundred Dead Bodies RecOV-
cred from the Debris--Tens OF
Thousands of Citizens without
Home, Food, Fuel or Clothing
Organization Of a Local Re-
lief COmmitlee-ReIief ArriV-
ing from Other Cities Hourly
A Lake City without Fire or
Water-3OO,OOO Citizens i'm
Search of Them-Scenes and
incidents of the Great COnha-
grafton.
The awful intelligence of the de-
struction by fire of the noble, mag
nifcent, wonderful city of Chicago,
will be received all over the world
with dismay and feelings of the
deepest sorrow. Never before in the
annals of history can such a parallel
of destruction be found. The burn
ing of Rome, London, Moscow, New
York, Portland and Paris, were un-
doubtedly appalling and disastrous
events; but pale into insignifcanee
before the awful work of devastation
which has resulted in the reduction
to ashes of Chicago, the city of the
world-the spot on which the eyes
of all nations of the earth have been
fixed with mixed envy and admira-
ton ever since she started into exis-
tence. That the great works of de-
struction alluded to were attended
with dire loss there is no question,
but neither of them spread over such
a vast territory and destroyed so
much valuable property, and in so
awfully short a time, as has that
which has just laid waste the pride
not only of America but the world.
No one but those who witnessed the
fire can realize the sad, appalling
character of the conhagration. Fancy
one vast ocean Of flame, five to seven
miles in length and over an average
of a mile in width, those huge bill
lows swept onward, upward, for
ward, roaring, kissing, cracking and
dashing a spray Of lurid, livid sparks
and flashes of fire in every direction,
aided by a terrific gale which had
enlisted itself under the flaming ban
ner of the merciless and cruel Fire
Fiend, to assist in the work of dem
clifton. Steadily and resistlessly did
the fearful scourge sweep forward,
causing thousands of suddenly i'm
.poverished, terror-stricken human
beings to flee before it for safety.
The four elements all combined in
the work of havoc-in the leveling
to the ground, and reducing to hu-
mility the proudest, wealthiest city
of the universe. The wind aided
and encouraged the fire, the latter
kept the water under control, while
the wind again, as if to add torture
to the thousands of fleeing, weeping
men, women and children and to
battle the efforts of citizens, fremeu
and policemen in the encounter,
hurled almost impenetrable clouds
of stinging, binding sand and dust
in their eyes, ears and nOstrils. The
spectacle was appallingly grand, yet
such as to make great strong men
weep like children-nOt altogether
at the losses they had and were sus
tanning, the dark prospects which
shrouded their future, but at the wit
Messing the ruin and demOlishing OF
the city which they had regarded
with pride, and over whose progress
and welfare they had watched with
tho tender care, similar to that with
which anxious, loving parents regard
the career of their offspring. Hun
dreds of millions of dollars worth OF
property have been laid in ashes
Thousands of magnificent buildings
which reared their proud heads
above their more humble frame
neighbors, have been laid low-all
suffering the same fate, in the crush
ing embrace of that great Ieveler-
fire. Thousands Of families have
Iost-sOme, part Of their goods and
hOmes-mOre, homes and every
thing they possessed in the world
many, even their friends and rela
tives, who were crushed, burned Ol
sufFocated during the awful vista
tion. 1t is feared that a great num-
Der of lives have been lost. Thus,
even dread Death lent a helping
hand in the work of havoc.
The glare on the sky occasiOned by
the flames could be seen at night d
distance of many miles, and the
heavens appeared in many directions
to be in a state of calidity, and
seemed as if they would melt anC
pour down on each in a great mas;
of liquid fire. The dense, black
clouds of suffocating smoke, which
under the influence of the gale were
swept lakeward, rendered naviga
tion on that "sheet" of water almost
impossible numbers of miles distant
from the shore, day and night
while on shore, miles from the scene
of devastation, the night was so fal
turned into day by the brightness o
the flames, that the reading of thu
smallest print was an easy matter o
accomplishment. All these attend
ling circumstances Of what in histOr!