The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-10-21
THE FEARFUL HOLOCAUST.
Graphic Account by an Active Par
tfcipant.
Instances Of Terrible Suffering ani
PrivatiOn.

Instances Of Terrible Suffering and
Privat1On. .--.
Ineendiaries Strung up to Lamp
Posts and Shot!
CHICAGO, October 1O.-The fol
lowing eloquent and truthful de-
scription of the fire has been
furnished by a gentleman who
participated in the work through
out. No one but an eye witness
can form an idea of the fury and
power Of the fire fiend, as he re-
veled among the palatial build
ings and warehouses. On the
South side, with the wind blow
ing q hurricane, at times it seem
ed but the work of moment for
the fire to enter the south ends of
the buildings fronting on Ran
dolph, Lake and Water streets,
and reappear at the north doors
and windows, belching forth in
fierce flames, which often licked
the opposite buildings. Then
the flames, belching from the
buildings ON both sides of the
street, would unite and present q
solid mass of fire, completely
filing the street from side to side,
and shooting upward a hundred
feet into the air. Thus was
street after street filed with
flames and fire, and the exulta-
ton of the fire fiend was given
vent in a roar which can only be
likened to the noise of the ocean
when its waters are driven by
the tempest upon rocky beach ;
combined with the howl of the
blast. Huge walls would topple
and fall into the sea of flames
without apparently giving o
sound, as the roar of the fiery
element was so great that all
miner sounds were swallowed up
and the fall of walls was only
perceptible to the eye and not to
the ear. If our readers will call
to their minds the fiercest snow
storm in their experience, and
imagine the snow to be fire, as it
surged hither and thither before
tho fury of the storm, they will
be able to form faint concep-
ton of tho scene as the flames
ragged through the streets of our
doomed city. Many of the build
ings situated along South Water
street buried their red hot rear
walls in the waters Of the river
into which they plunged with a
hiss like unto nothing earthly,
throwing up billow which
would gradually subside until
other walls would follow. The
heat was so intense at times from
some of the burning buildings
that they could not be approach
ed within one hundred and fifty
feet, which accounts for the man
ner in which the fire worked back
often against the wind. The
fire, after reaching tho business
part of Randolph and South Wa
ter streets, leaped the river on to
the North side in an incredibly
short space Of time, and thence,
among the wooden buildings on
that side, it reached the lake
shore after touching block after
block of happy dwellings with its
fierce blast. A scene OF more
powerless effort to fight an enc
nv was never presented than
this. The people tried to combat
the fire, but the combat was not
of long duration, and they bowed
their heads in anguish of spirit,
and suffered the fiend to have un-
trammeled sway, and well and
thoronoh1y has he done his work.
AS there is nothing in the history
of civilized nations that chronl-
cles any effects to which this can
be compared, so in all future
time the great Chicago fire, when
mentioned, will bring a pang Of
anguish to the listeners of future
generations. 1t will be a simile
Of everything that is fearful and
terrible. While there are q great
many instances of generous devo-
ton on the part of rich and poor
in dividing with the destitute,
there are painful instances of
cupidity and selfshness. One
was trying to remove valuable
papers from an Office, and asked
! two firemen to help him, which
they refused unless he paid them
fifty dollars. The papers were
destroyed. Drivers of express
wagons have taken one hundred,
and even five hundred dollars for
an hours use of their vehicles
from distressed people. Among
the sad accompaniments of the
calamity were to be seen hum