Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-11-16
Chicago Items.

-Scvcnty.fye newspapers Of various
kinds were burned out in Chicago during
the Great Fire.
- An approximate measurement Of the
lines of streets destroyed by the Great Fire
shows that about sixty miles of street were
laid waste. This gives the reader fair
idea Of the extent of the conilagration !;
and the fact that nearly all these ruined
streets were literally lined with buildings,
some Of which were among the finest in
the world, will give him fair idea of the
magnitude OF the destruction. - Chicago
Journal.
"A day or two since, while peramhula
ting among the ruins of the North Side,
we met a prominent real estate dealer,
whose business, home, and all other con
sumable property had been swept away by
the fiery tempest He was engaged in
picking up burnt nails, among the debris,
and carrying them away in "a pail, 10 be
used IN me construction Of a little shanty
for the temporary shelter Of his family.
Before the fire, he was rich man. Chi
cago Journal.
About daylight on that fatal Monday
morning Robert r. Lincoln, only surviving
son of the late President Lincoln, entered
his law office in Chicago after The flames
had attacked the building, opened the
vault. and piled upon n tablcCloth the most
valuable papers, then slang the pack over
his shoulder, and escaped amidst a shower
of falling fire brands. He walked up
Mchigin avenue with this load on his
back, and stopped at the mansion Of John
Young Scammon, where they breakfastcd
with a feeling Of perfect security. Lincoln
went home with his papers, and before
noon the house Of Scammon WAS in ruins,
the last which was sacrificed by the lake
side.
In discourse in ST. Louis, few
SUNDAYS ago, the Rev. Robert Collyer, Of
Chicago, thus referred to the Chicago con
flagration " You have no idea OF the sad
ness and the horror, and, let me say, the
glory and beauty of that scene for, while
the flames were sweeping along, and leap
ing like mad beasts, as If with internal in
siinct, there was something about US more
beautiful and noble than any thing j ever
saw in the world before. For this splendid
American character then came out In
beauty such az | never witnessed. ! did
not sec man moaning or woman crying
Of your stock am an EBglishman.' But
these men that were born i'm New England
chung to their children, and their faces
were very white, but there was no moan.
ing-nothing TO distract the quiet, earnest
attention from the thing they had to do
then and there. | did not see a single man
or woman that wasSOt trying To do some
thing for somebody else more helpless than
they were themselves. think this Amer
lean type is the noblest God ever made,
and don't know but that 1t is the noblcst
that hc ever will make"
w. d. KerfOot, real estate dealer,
gives this account Of his escape from the
fire: Being the owner Of horse and
carriage which used 10 60 TO and fro
from nv business, when became satisfied
that my house would soon be enyeloped,
brought my horse and carriage before the
house and placed my wife and children in
il. There was then no room Tor me, so
mounted the back of the animal and acted
as postillion. While driving through the
flames and smoke, which enveloped us on
all hands. came across gentleman who
had his wife in buggy, and was between
the tbils hauling il himself. ! shouted to
him 10 hitch his carriage on behind mine,
which he did, and then got in beside his
wife. then drove forward AS fast as l
could. for the flames were raging around
us. After proceeding a short distance an
other gentleman was found standing be-
side the street, with carriage waiting for
a horse. which was not likely to come |
directed him to fasten on behind the sec
ond carriage, which he did, and in this
way we whipped up and got out OF the
way of the flames with our wives and
children"