The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-10-12
BULLETIN BUILDING, WASHINGTON AV

I
ly demanded and paid for wagon and
| team Of two horses for half an hour. 1t
seemed that half the people Of this class
| had turned out to be thieves and robbers
OF the most dangerous character. Instances
are known in which backmen agreed TO
convey ladies TO q place OF safety, and
when Il little way from the crowds, delib-
erately robbed them of their jcwelry and
whatever yaluables they might have about
them and then turning out Of their cabs
to take care Of Themselves.
When the fire was raging along Lasalle,
Clark and State streets, and sweeping on
ward toward Washington and Randolph,
toward The North, the great commercial
house, were thrown open and an effort
| made 60 save the most valuable goods.
The harvest Of the thieves began at this
time. The police had lost control. Those
intent on profting BY the fire now went
in with great zest. They loaded them
selves with the richest goods, and sought a
place of conccalment. A banker had II
| cash-boN in in his hand, containing Sj0.-
900, which he wa. endeavoring 10 convey
away. Three dcspersdocs seized upon him
with the intention of robbing him. To
prevent il he threw the box with its valu-
able contents into the fire, rather than
yield 1t to these ghoul, of disastrous fate.
THE STARVING MULTITUDE.
Monday morning broke with the fre-tlend
still sweeping onward in its devastating
course through the North division. The
great building, such as Farwell's, Field,
Letter X Co.'S store, Crosby's opera house,
the court house, fremont house, Sherman
house, post Office Exchange, McVicker's.
TriJme building, and the great blocks
around Custom house place on the South
side, still blazed up fercely, when kindled
into fury by the iiful gusts of wind. The
smoke cloud still hung over the devastated
district. All night the houseless and
homeless people, filled with anxiety and
frequently startled by fresh alarms had
watched the sublime and awful contlagra.
ton rs il hurried forward to fresh con-
quests over the proudest works of man.
Many in the vast throng of anxious
spectators ofthC awful scene had been star
tied by the first alarm, and left their homes
.suppcrless but the night passed and the
day came again, bringing no prospects of
breakfast. Tho sun mounted toward the
zenith, and yet the gnawing, of hunger
was not uppcased. The scene became
pitibic in tho extreme. Thousands of.
children, who had never known what it
was To- want even for the luIuries of life,
now pitiouslv Y cried for bread they could
not get Non with haggard looks, and
blDod-shot eyes, wcaried by exertion and
anxious care UHrefrcshed by slumber or
food, moved about with lislless air, and
If spoken To, frequently returned for Nh
answer n vacant and meaningless stare, as
if reason and power of uttcrancc had van
i,hel together.
The day wore slowly away, and still
thousand, had taken no food. The cries
of the children became more toistcrOus:
women wcpt, and even strong men bowed
in unutterabic Ggoay.
Tho wind blow clouds Of duff, ashes and
smoke into thnirvcry faces, and cnveoped
and covered them up, until they scarcely
worr the -embiance of human beings.
Nothing ever saw; nothing 1 ever read
about; nothing the Imagination ever con-
jured up, ever presented to my mind so
terrible picture of human woe, a, the
scene witnessed by the lakeside on that
terrible evening. There rolled up the
dark, portentious clouds Of smoke, ming.
led with the red tongues of flame, mount
ing high up into the heavens, that told
of q devastated and ruined city. Hero
the inhabitants, hurried out into the streets
almost without warning, away from their
homes, destitute of everything that could
minister to their comfort; crying for
bread, wearicd by watching, and awe
stricken by the extent of their misfor-
tune. It was altogether such scene as
the world has seldom witnessed.
The rcd sun went down behind the
'mokc-cloud. The mantal of night un-
rolled over the ruiilcd waters Of the lake.
The lurid lire-light Of the still burning city |
cast great glare over the scene. But |
never in the history Of man has day |
closed so sadly with SO many hundreds of |
thousands OF people watching by the
smouldering ruins Of their homes. Never
before has night fallen on ruin, so vast, SO
suddenly made.
THE SCENE At NIGHT.
If the day had passed so sadly and so ter
riblEthe night came on with still gloomier
prospects. Toward evening some train
loads Of provisions had arrived, and an ef.
fort was made TO supply the immediate de-
'nands OF the most necesstous. The pangs
Dl hunger were in many cases appeased.
But the smoulderng ruins still ftfull
pldzed here and there with strange. wild |
isht, marking out distinctly the devastat-
"- Nldch ol Tue tOTHNiO OF Hfc tHat had
weep: through it.
Further away loomed up the grand and
flowing light Of the fire cloud, as it rolled
way beyond the river 10 the northward
'hc c'attcr, the noise, the buzz, hum and
onfusion which had prevailed during the
'rcv.ou, night had sobercd down some
What The eyhilerating effects of the first
rcat storm Of excitement had passed
way. Exhaustion had succeeded; the
ithc movement, had ceased. Men moped
round; women ,Obbed themselves into
nea,y slumbcrs wherever they could find
place under the broad canopy Of heaven
The wuliugs of distressed and homeless
hildrcn came borne in -ubducd lnurmurs
n the night wird. Policemen, wrtrici by
heir constant cNcrtun, lost their watch
Ilncs., and moved about with
vacant, I>tlcss air, while the ghoul- that
auntcd the scene of disaster llunicrcd
t will, Devils wearing the form of men,
'cnt about robbiug the hclpc,, and in
Iltug the feeble aud dcfrnrclcs.. The
cb, carried from homes Of comfort aud
id under the trees in the parks aud on
he beach, expired unattended by groups
t sorrowing friends died alone with the
lrth for coach and the sky for tt can
py.
Even amid these .ceueS. which were suf-
cient to move the very stones to cry !
NJ in Hn agony Of sympathy, there moved
Md the wreck and through the smukc.
Hal .trn4ts l,in.,l vp,o r;t,,s h., ,p,ps ,f