The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-10-19

hlleyS ana cry aloud ncr loss.
The firemen were working with ex
traOrdinary perseverance,. Where
seemed impossible for a man to stan,
: without suffocatiOn, they carried thei
, hose, sprinkling the houses opposite
: and endeavOring to stop its spread il
westerly direction. But It was evi
. dent by midnight that human ingenu
!. ity could not stem that fiery tide. A
; the same time. so burdened were tn
minds of the citizens with the cOnfia
grafton that the question of where /
!. would end never entered their minds
Engine No. "a, which had retreateI
Z gradually north on Canal street Il
Foss' lumber-yard, or rather wherl
! that yard had been two days before
:, was suddenly surrounded in q belt o
s flame, and abandoned TO its fate. A
that time the fire was running almOs
: entirely north, in two solid columns
One was between Clinton and Jeffer
son, the other between Clinton and
Canal streets. In that fearful advance
the fiery cohorts of the southern col.
umn led, and while they made theiI
onslaught upon the barrier Of lumber
and frame buildings on Van BureI
street, bordering on the preceding
nights cOnfiagration, the advancC
on the west had only reached
. West Harrison. Before the roar Ol
the flames in that Iumber-yard the
crowd stood in awe, though even yeI
without thought of the peril to come
II was now about a quarter after One
O'Clock.
But, while it seemed as If the demon
of flame had reached d desert, and
needs must die, anew danger appeared
to threaten the city, From the South
Side, in the neighbOrhoOd OF Adams
, street, whereabouts no one on the
West Side could guess with any de-
gree Of certainty, rose u column OF fire,
not large, but horribly suggestive.
Such engines as could be moved were
called off from the West to protect the
South Side property, and the flames
left to die Of inanitiOn. ~
THE FIRE AS SEEN FROM THE WIND
WARD.
The fire of Saturday burned the re-
giOn In the West Division from Van
Buren street nOrthward to Adams,
and all east Of Clinton street to the
river, Murray Nelson's elevator alone
standing. The light from the burn
ing remnants Of these eighteen actes
Of ruins illumined the heavens on
Sunday evening. Precisely at half
past o'clock the fire bells sounded
an alarm, and fresh light, distinct
from the other only TO those living
west of the fire, sprangup. The wind
at the time, as It had been for the
preceding forty-eight hours, was
strong nom the southwest. This fire
commenced OIL DeKOven street, at
! the corner of Jefferson, and Cne block
north of Twelfth street. The wind
carried this fire straight before it,
! through the block to the next one, and
so on northward, until it reached Van
Buren street, where it struck the south
I line of the district burnt the night be-
I fore. Here this fire ought to have
stopped, and here, under ordinary cir
cumstances, it would have stopped.
But the wind, though fierce and di-
! rect, carried the flames before it, cut
ting as clean and well defined asWath
as does the reaper in the field, the fire
gradually but rapidly extended later
ally, and, in the very teeth of the
wind, worked backward nearly to
Twelfth street, and thence extended
east to the river. 1t worked against
the wind along the west line of jeff
ersOn street TO Van Buren. North Of
Twelfth street it cast its burning
brands across the river firing the tam
yard of the Chicago Hide & Leather
Company. As the fire Widened at its
base, its direct line to the northeast
was also widened, and thus many
hours after the first sheet of flame
had reached Van Buren street, other
lines coming from the base would
reach the same point.
But the work on the West Side, af-
ter the first through rush, was slow,
and, as late as 10 o'clock on Monday,
many houses within the area were ig-
nitGd for the first time. The route of
the fire was distinctly visible. In
five minutes after the first flame had
reached Van Buren street fIOm the
southeast, we could see the incipient
fire i'm the South Division at q point
three blocks to the north. The blaz-
ing brands borne before 1t had fallen
into the sheds and shanties near the
ArmOry, and atOnee the blaze mount
ed high. The food here was in abun- |
dance. From the river to Market
EIIECGf LAlCAlC0 " l1uhAAAA anu w CAAoy
in a northeast direction, il made its
way, as if directed by an engineer, in
an air line, striking Madison street
east Of Wells near LaSalle. But pre-
ceding the actual blaze was a shower
of burning brands, falling upon roofs,
breaking through windows, falling
into yards, and each brand starting q
new fiIe. The fire was In full
blast in the rear of the Union Bank
and Oriental Buildings, before the
actual fire had reached Wells street,
three blocks to the southwest. In
like manner the Chamber of Com
merce building was in flames, the
roof OF the Court House was ablaZe,
the old Tribune office was half de-
stroyed, as distinct cOnflagTatiOns.
For long time the Sherman House
resisted destruction, and before 1t was
abandoned the fire had commenced
in a dozen places on the North Divl-
sion. Any one who will take a map
will see that the line from the point
where the fire began to the Water
Works was the exact line of the south
west wind. The fire was not cOntin-
uous. Standing TO the windward we
could see the fire raging at various
points along this line at the same
time. The intervening gaps were rap
idly overwhelmed by the flames, and
shortly after Lill's brewery and the
Water Works were ablaze. There
was one continuous sheet Of high
mounting flame from De KOven street
on the southwest to the lake shore at
Chicago avenue. No obstacle seemed
to interrupt the progress OF the fire.
Stone walls erumbled before it. It
reached the highest roofs and swept
the earth of everything cOmbustible.
The gale was intense in its severity.
Having reached the lake, we on the
west had high hopes that the destrue-
tive work would be confined to the di-
rect path thus mOWn through the very
heart Of the city. But the same eX-
traordinary fact that had marked it
near the place OF beginning, followed
to the end. Il worked to the east, and
even more strangely, the west. Its
progress west on Madison street was
slow, and it was not until broad day.
light that 1t attacked the distilleries of
Myers & Co., and Boss & Plows, at
Madison street bridge.
The hope that, as the fire had ex-
tended to the lake at Chicago avenue,
and the wind was blowing fiercely
from the west and south that part Of
the North Division westward Of the
line of the fire would escape, was an
idle one. Gradually all Clark street
was included, and thence to the west
until the coal beds at the river were
reached. The scene about daylight
was terrific. The entire North Divi-
sion, from the river to the lake, and
as far north as North avenue, was one
seething mass of blaze. The roar Of
this fire was appalling. 1t proclaim
ed the fury Of the destruction. In the
meantime, all communication from
the West Division to the south, at
any point north of Twelfth street, was
suspended, and we in that division
had to look with signs and tears at
the awful scene before US. Thousands
of fugitives from the other divisions
thronged the streets seeking shelter.
Just before daybreak there was one
continuous sheet Of fame from
Twelfth and Jefferson streets on the
south.
/ THE SOUTH SIDE-THE BEGINSING.
At about twenty minutes past mid