Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-10-17
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Special Correspondence Of the Milwaukee Wisconsin,
Tuesday Evening

Special Correspondence Of the Milwaukee Wisconsin,
Tuesday Evening"
CHICAGO, Oct. 8, 700 p. M.-The
one O'Clock train from Milwaukee
landed us here at the N. w. depot
at 4 o'clock. We passed miles of
fence, and fields, and woods on fire,
ten or twenty miles north from here.
Five miles out dense masses of
smoke, with tongues of flame were
soon enveloping the whole north Of
the city. Two and three miles out
teams ofhousehold goods were stream
ing in all directions. Every street
and square and corner in the out
skirts of the city were piled with
furniture, around which crouched
despairing families. There was
dense jam at the depot, with stacks
of goods in every open space.
Reaching Randolph st. on the
West Side, | made for the top Of the
great union printing block, Just off
from the bridge. Looking towards
the lake, over two miles north and
one mile south, forming a circuit of
more than five miles, was presented
dense blank Of smoking ruins and
desolation. But two buildings in all
that vast area are saved one river
block on the corner of Market and
Randolph, and the other the grain
elevator, outside of the Illinois Cen
trial depot. On the north side of the
river, extending two miles to Lin
coin Park, not a solitary building re-
mains. Charley Strong, a former
Milwaukee printer, who was with me,
reports the spectacle, seen from the
building top last night, as passing all
description, 1t was more than
Moscow. The Great Court House
bell tolled till one o'clock. At two
O'Clock, the whole roof and windows
were shooting forth flames, when
the great bell and steepel wentdown
with a crash. The walls of the Sher-
man House fell at 4 o'clock.
DEFENDING to the street, from the
building, | determined, ifpossible, to
penetrate the whole distance to the
lake, and see what was what with
my own eyes. crossed the Ran
dolph street bridge, and pushed east
ward towards the Court House.
On either hand, as far as the eye can
travel, is presented vast lines Of
shapeless walls, rising from fallen
masses of brick, and iron, and stone
Every where is binding smoke and
heat, flaming up from burning ruins.
Tho great Courthouse is blacken-
ed shell, peeled and Quilted and ruin
ed 10 every part. The Tribune Of
flee has Jared no better, and should
be blown down at once with cannon
balls The tire-proof Post office, pre-
sents its form without, but it is per-
fectly Quilted and ruined within
All the great blocks, hotels, stores,
are tumbled to the ground, only a
fragment of sides and corners re>
naming. The iron rails Of the streets
are bent up, the pavement burnt in
deeply, and tangled telegraph wires
tripping up passers among the ruins.
| noticed a number of persons DRINK
or asleep about the Court.House
square. Opposite the Sherman |
noticed half burnt corpse Hardly
any large stocks of goods were saw
ed. Drsymen charged $40 a load
for taking off goods, and not one in
twenty of the number needed could
be found at that. The ruin is terrible,
beyond computation. One hundred
and fifty thousand people are home
less and half of them stripped of all.
There are $4,000 poor people squat.
ted on the lake shore for two miles
north. | have seen thousand fami-
lies at least stretched along fences
and yards, with the women holding
children in their arms, and men and
larger children stretched upon the
ground 81 wish | was dead" Sob
bed out one poor woman alone, and
desolate with her child. Shopmen
and merchants are seen by hundreds
cropping among tho ruins. Said one
to another 1T the court house ruin
"Smith, let me congratulate you
Yesterday, l was worth $4,000, to.
day, I've got one shirt for my back
and 81 40 in my pocket | am 60
ing TO leave Chicago tomorrow, but
God only knows where" A mo-
ment after, came up an Irish woman,
inquiring if had seen any directors
Of the State Savings Bank. She had
$4,000, she said, Gin the Bank, the
earnings OF hard labor for twenty
years" These are only two among
ten thosand samples of ruin.