The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1871-10-25
VOLUME XYIlI-SO. rs.

reason bitber and thi:her, uttering
the most pitifnl groans and cries
OF distress. When the fire seized
upon Lake street, overlapping the
magnificent stores and warehous.
es which extend from Lake to the
river, and iyniting them and all
their costly contents as if they
were so much tinjer, a horrible
sight was presented. for now
thousands weie hemmed in between
the fire and river. The stampede
was sickening beyond the power
OF words to tell. Men and horses
were jammed on the BRIDGES
Women and children clinging
alike to each other and the most
precious Of their household effects:
some. Of them with their clothes
nearly torn from their bodies ran
blindly bout sc, canning and
moaning. All distinction Of class
and nationality was lost. This mar.
rator crossed the Wells street
bridge aud reached the track of
the Galena Road. He does not
remember how he crossed it. 1t
seemed to him afterwards that he
was lifted upon the human waves
and thrown blinded and confused
into the opposite street. Here the
smoke was pouring in dense bill.
lows over the walls and through
Wells, Lasalle, Clark ard Dear.
bon streets. As he turned to look
back a fiery cincture stretched all
round to the south and west, and
through the smoky cross streets
burned the red glare of the on
rushing fiend with distended Jaws
and lurid lips.
At last the morning dawned-
and upon what a scene ! The sun
rose lurid as seen through the
smoke which hung above the city
like a curse That which at night
had been awtnl in its grandeur.
looked desolate and wan in the
early light. The burnt districts
looked like hell with the fires
burnt out. ALI along the path of
the storm was marked With black
and smouldering ruins. AS one
passed down South Water street
and up Market to the river, care.
fully picking his way through the
yet smoking embers, from beneath
which flames would occasionally
start mp "a a motion of the foot
admitted air to the wood below, q
most horrible and sickening sight
blasted the eyes. Men, driven by
that blind instinct which makes
them. though hopeless, return to
the scene of that disaster which
has ruined them, sought the spots
where once their homes had stood, !,
and, sitting down on some pieces
OF fallen timber, actually wept
and wrung their Lands in anguish.
I One OF these wretcbed beings
sought his home, and in stepping
on a half charred beam caused it
to spring up, and from beneath it
came sickly odor. He madly
turned and pried away the timber,
and saw beneath it the dead body
OF his son: a young man of about
twenty years of age, who, proba-
bly, returning to the house to save
something he priced, had fallen in
the flames and been burned to
death-roasted alive.
Throughout the day the confa.
grafton ragged, and all hopes Of
extinguishing it seemed to be lost,
for tine wind yet continued to blow
with terrific force; and when
night again came a new horror
wac added. Bands of drunken
and infuriated men roamed the
streets, chanting ribald songs and
bent on pillage. 1t seems eingu-
lar, yet all experience shows it to
be true, that in times OF great dis
aster men are not chastened, but
the worst part Of their nature is
ronsed to action. They become
moral maniacs. These men and
half-grown boys broke into sever
al stores and houses, probably in
search rather of whisky than of
plunder. In some Instances bar
rels OF intoxicating liquor were
rolled into the streets, The heads
knocked in, and then took place
scenes which battle description
In their after and dise usting besti-
ality. Men drank till they fell
down in their tracks, and then
others took their places, only to
fall and lie he.pIessly on the
bodies of the others who waliowed
In the cutters like hogs. In some
instances the barrels were over.
turned and the liquor ran down
the cutters and took fire, which
leaped along tie street and burn.
ed with a ghastly blue flame. Sew
eral persons were burned to death
in this way, but many werc drag
ged away by their less drunken