The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-10-19

cl0tnlnS auu llell iifSS' H'e'J
vehicle was brought into requisition tor use,
for which enormous prices were paid, and
the streets and sidewalks presented fearful
sight Thousands of persons and horses,
inextricably commingled; poor people, OF all
colors. shades and every nationality, from
Europe. China and Africa, mad with excite
ment, struggled with each other to get away.
Hundreds were trampled under foot. Men
and women loaded with bundles and their
household goods, to whose skirts were
clinging tender infants, half.dressed and
bare footed all seeking places OF safety
Hours afterwards they might have been:
seen in vacant lots, or on the streets, tar out
in the suburbs, stretched in the dust. One
of the most pitiful sights was that OF q md
die aged woman, on State street, loaded with
bundles, struggling through crowd singing
the Mother Goose Melody, "Chickery, Chick
cry, Craney Crow, went to the well to wash
my clothes" etc. There were many hund-
reds of others likewise distracted, and many
made desperate by whiskey, which, from ez-
cess CT thirst, they drank in the absence OF
water in great quantities, who spread them,
selves in every dircction,, terror to all
they met. .o
1t is fearful to think of the loss of life. 1t
is conjectured, with good, cause, that near
five hundred have been burned to DEATH
We saw four men enter a burning building,
and in moment they were overwhelmed by
II falling wall. There was crowd of men
around the corner of building, trying to
save property, when, the wall yielding, the
whole of them were buried beneath it
About twelve or fifteen men, women and
children rushed into the building of the
Historical Society, fire-proof building, for
safety. In few minutes the flames burst
up, and they were burned to death. Among
those who took refuge in this building, was
the venerable Col Samuel Stone, 80 years
of age, for long time connected with the
Society; also, John B. Gerard and wife, and
Nine. Depclgrove, a noted teacher OF music.
It is feared tn. DR.. Frear and family
were also burned, as they were in the build
ing and have not been seen since. Mrs.
Edsal, whose husband was murdered last
week, and who was firing from illness, was
carried away for protection to a building
which was afterward consumed, and it is
feared that she also perished. All books
and paper of the Historical Society, inclu-
ding the original copy of the famous eman-
cipation proclamation of President Lincoln
s,r which the Soc;etEs9 naid SIS 900. gwere
destroyed 1t is feared that large num-
Der of children, inmates Of the Catholic Or-
phan Asylum on State street, were also
burned, as many ofthcm arc missing.
In Chicago avenue father rushed up
stairs to carry three children away, when
he was ovcrtakc by the flames and persisted
with them. The mother Was afterwards
seen on the street, on the northwest side, a
rayinr maniac. In the same neighborhood
a family of five persons pcrishcd. The list
of such fatalities is very long, and can only
be fully verified after. the smoke shall
have cleared away. There are hundreds Of
families on that side who saved no clothing,
but barely their lives. Among them is the
family of Perry Smith, formerly President OF
the Northwestern Railroad Company.
X = x *
None but an eyewitness can form an idea
of the fury and power of the fire among the
buildings and ware houses on the south side.
The wind blowing a hurricane at times, 1t
seemed but the work of 4 moment for the
fire to enter the south end of the buildings
Oh Randolph, Lake and Water streets, and
rcapncar at the north doors and windows,
belchinc forth in fierce flames which often
licked the opposite buildings, and then the
flames, issuing forth from the buildings on
both sides of the street, would unite and
present solid mass of fire completely filling
the street from side to side, and shooting up
hundred feet above the house-tops. Thus
was street after street filled with flames. Huge
walls would topplc and fall into the sea of
fire without an audible sound. The roar of
the fierce clement was so great that all minor
sounds were swallowed up. Many buildings
situated along South Water street, buried
their red hot rear walls in the water, into
which they plunged with hiss.
The heat was so intense at times that the
burning buildings conld not be approached
within $50 feet. The fire, after reaching
the business part of Randolph and South
| W ater streets, lcapeu inc rNer W Ihe HUI
side in an incredibly short space of time, and
thence among the wooden buildings on that
side. reached the lake shore, after reducing
block after of happy dwellings to ashes.
A scene of such utter powerlcssncss, In
the face Of an enemy, was never presented
than that of this people trying to combat the
fire, for the combat was not of long duration
The people bowed their heads in anguish o.
spirit, and allowed the fire to have untram
meled sway. While there are many instan
ccs of generous devotion of the rich anc
poor, in dividing with the destitute, ther'
are painful instances Of meanncss and selfish
ness. One person was trying to remove val
liable papers from an office, and asked tw'
fremen to help him. but they refused unl"s
he paid them fifty dollars The papers wer
destroyed.
Drivers of express wagons have take1
500 and even $500 for an hours use o
their vehicles in getting the distressed pee
pie away from danger. Among the sa
IL ~ f,,,nn