Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-12-07
A Romance of the Chicago Fire.

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A Romance of the Chicago Fire.
THE remark that truth is stranger than
fiction has received striking corroboratiOn
in an incident occurring IN the late great
fire. Years AGO a well-fo-sle storekeeper
moved hither from Elnira. IN. Y, accom-
panied by'~his wife and family, and en-
gaagd in business II, this city. He resid-
ed OH Illinois street. in the Nofta Divi-
sion, IardAeonducted d moderately
retail 'crockerv store store on State street. near
Lake. In 1866 he died, 1eavin o his widow
the house in which She lived on Illinois
street, and a small sum of ready money,
which, with the sale Of the business,
amounted to some $ 000 Or 20 Coo This
she loaned to acouple of small tradesmen
commencing business. Mrs. S.t husfound
herself with an income OF 0or. 800
annually, increased to $500 or $500 by
the earnings of her. little son, boy of
fourteen, employed in a lawyers Office in
Dearborn street.
The death of IiftJesHenrvSiu 1869 inst
when his mother was bf,,fiuninp sfo lean
upon him was 4 sad f,loM-ssin every re-
si1ect. but erld,,alf remained for. fl,e. sun-
port, in nodes comfort Isof The widow and
her daughter. now n. Young woman of
twenty-one OF twenty-two. Thus were
matters in the humble household on Hi
noiS street when the fatal Red Monday
came and sWept away our city. leaving
blackened ruins and The ashes of desola
tion where there had been twenty thou-
sand houses. OF Mrs SIS house not a
vestige remained her Lares and Penates
were swept off into the fiery ruin, or
splintered and wrecked in the streets ;
In Cf1lf HrrfI Il
whiri of that night of terror and sought
each other vainiy.. On October 10 Mrs
s., .despairing of ever again seeing her
Helen, save as charred and blackened
corpse, left Chicago, with sorrowful
heart, for the residence of some distant
relatives at Buffalo. Here her pitiful
story was made public in the local prints
and appeal made to any person capable
OF anofdlng any intelligence as to the
fate of her child. to forward sucb news
whether of .iav or woe to ltha bereave5
Hlotnef- Ihe story was widely copied
at that time the papers had room for
nothing lint incidents Of tl,, 1yl,;oooo fro
and response came from the Relief
and Aid Committee. to whom the danoh.
ter, after vainly and distractedlv search.
ing for her mother. had applied for shell
ter and food. She was at once furnished
with a pass to Buffalo. where she reioined
her mother. who welcomed her as.one
risen from the dead. Last week they re-
turned 10 Chicauo to see what tbev had
saved from the wrecl in whieb Tib 20 sn nanu a,,u
prouder argosies had been involved
They found their pronertIr left of course
but who s,yould buy # or If tbev .wonld
rebuild, where would The money come
from !? The insurance was almost worth.
less, the loans made to the tradesmen
could not be collected since thew had
been utter losers on the dav before ves
terday, however. Mrs s received tbe fol.
lowing letter which bad baa, f,rwarded
after her from Buffalo wbera Il bad ar
rived after her denart,Ire .st7-i 5i-'st7 =
(, 74.I.w 66,,rrIcrss on ....i5s[
-. ~ ToPEkA, Kas. =. Noy. lssl. =
mrs, W. -, 3. su .ts5
M.nASn. W. O. bev beS n rad ~ nah9 mao. s,tis
lied us that YOU are the person to- whom our slten
has directed the letter nclosed to be forwarded
Will , nss nSnsy & heTeglae With forWarded to be paid 70,
Chicago for $500 recent Of which an5
obiige, Respectfully, a 4 ~ &z---.
Accompanying this was draft for the
amount, which was duly honored OF
presentation at the bank designated. The
letter, inclosed, to which allusion was made
In the communication of the LAWYERS
given dUUNe, MIS-. .. would not snow II
the reporter ..of the Republican, who wa
introduced to her yesterday, but she mad,
known its contents practically as follows
About fifteen or sixteen years ago
when Mr. S. was in business in Elmira
andemy Helen, here, was some five OF siy
years old-T think it was in 1S56-we lat
a little. girl of fourteen living with us
called Nancy. Who her parents were W,
never knew-Mr. s. got her from the OF
phan asylum in New York when she wa
ten years old. i wanted a little girl t.
save. me steps, run errands and do chore
round the house. She was bright ant
clever, and we all took a liking, to her
taught her how to read and write; sh
knew how to do little when she cam
from the asylum, and we almost made a
much of her as if she had been our owl
daughter. She was as wild as Q. youn.
colt at times, but never could think tha
there was anything wrong about her. On
day she disappeared. Mr. S. lectured he
severely in the morning for some fault O
other, and she seemed sullen OF sulkv al
day In the evening she went to bed a
the usual hour but next morning when
went'up stairs to call her. as she was lat
in getting up, I found that she wasn't there
She must have cot up in the NIGHT an,
dressed herself, and got out by the windov
on to theroof of the porch land dow
that way. What was worst of all, abou
li.lIe wofk,oox YORK o IN |, my room, was missing
We duNoIIlSeu Hef ana informed the DO