Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-11-16
Fire IN the Air-A Remarkable
Theory.

A writer in the New York Evening
Post sets up remarkable theory in re
gard to great fires. He says: On the
night Of the 9th of December, 1885,
was sitting with literary friend. about
O'Clock, in one of the private boxes OF
Hamblin's magnificent Bowery Theatre
Suddenly the big bell of the City Hall
doomed loud and long over the metrop
oils, and Fire. Fire" echoed around
and within the thcater. We were all, in
an instant, rushing out of the slammino
doors, and onward toward the scene OF
the confagration, which was "glaring
on Nights startled eye" away down
town.
When we reached Wall street, near
Water, the Tontine Coffee House had
caught, and dark smoke in huge masses,
tinged with Pickering flashes of bright
fame, was bursting from all the upper
windows. The night, as all who were ont
i'm il will remember, was intensely cold.
There was but little wind, but as the fire
advanced there was plainly perceptible
the food Of fire" in the air. as | firmly
believe there always is in all great con
flagrations; something mysterious as yet,
and uncxplainablc. II was so in our
great fire, for saw its evidences myself,
and ] see that reports of the same evil
dcnccs are mentioned rs features of the
still more terrible and vastly greater con
f. migration in Chicago, which has "rOused
the world Science. there is but little
doubt viii find out, by-and-by, what this
mysterious power Is, ana tell us now II IL
worked and how it may be guarded
against if not conquered. Whether it Is
atmospheric or electric, or whatever else
il may be, is yet to be determined. A
word or two more concerning this a
little further on.
Our great fire travelled south and west
faster than II man could walk. Water
frozc in Mi the cutters; thick ice coated
all the hydrants, crunched in the hose
pipes that encountered the streets, and
lay in "ilocs where there was a shadow
from the heat and the flame. But in "a
little while no water was wanted En-
gincs were soon useless; and no encr-
gctic "Sykcsy" was required to take
the butt" Clouds of smoke, like dark
mountains suddenly rising into the air,
were succeeded by long banners of flame,
rushing to the zenith, and roaring for
their prey. Street after street caught the
terrible torrent, until over acre after acre
there was rolling and booming an ocean
Of flame "All of this ] saw, and part
OF it was" The printing Office of the
Knickcrbocker, NJ first in South William
street, was moved three times far beyond
the prevailing fire, but was gradually fol-
lowed by the raging enemy, and finally
dcyoured.
As we were standing upon the roof of
the Exchange, looking down upon the
scene when in mid-progress, buildings
far beyond the line Of fire. and in no
contact with it, burst into flames from
the interior. The same thing, ] observe,
happened in Chicago, and was attributed
to incendaries but there were no in
cendaries suspected in our great fire.
What latent power enkindled the inside
of these advanced buildings, while ex-
4 ternally they were untouched? A scien-
4 tific writer at the time contendcd, think
i'm the old Daily Advertiser, that mt GER
tain period there is what he called an
infammable vacuum" I'm the air, which
is self.igniting and Irresistible. Perhaps
hundred years or SD from now, some
safeguard against this mysterious ele-
ment, now lying latent and sleeping in
nature, may be discovered. 1t Is not so
very long since the old tea-kettle first
lifted is lid to the science Of steam, and
talking round the world under water is
II much younger wonder.