The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-10-18
cmnant of the South Side left will he fol.

.
FOR many weeks, as all connections with gas
| mains in the burnt districts are open: and
| even If the gus works were not injured. the
necessary repairs would require much time.
The gas service on the West Side Ia intact
which fact alone will be enough to drive
business to that part Of The city, despite
The opposition of those who fcar that If il
goes there temporarily the South Side will
not nc rcbllilt.-LeHer an Ner York Times.
SERVICES IN TIE RUINS.
CHICAGO, October l5.-It appears that
services were held at the ruins OF the fol.
lowing churches in The afternoon, aud W ere
thought to he very impressive by those at.
tending them: st. Jlmcs's Protestant Epis.
copal, Cas- street, Rev. Hugh Miller
Thompson Unitarian, North Dearborn
street, Rev. Robert Collycr; ST. PauPs
Univcrsalist, Wabash avenue, Rev. W. II.
Ryder.
[Collycr is the most distinguished Unlta.
rlan preacher in this country. lie said
Sunday last that lie had preached for sew
enty.1ive cents a year, anu could do it
again. He also caused laugh by referring
to Lots wife rs looking back after her per.
sonal ornaments, &c.l
A CONSUMING FIRE.
There is IN amaZiug absence OF debr7s,
| for the fire seems TO have literally swll.
lowed all these huge houses, leaving no.
thing behind but heaps of ashes and Il few
scraps of iron. | had expected to find tho
streets cncumbcrcd with huge masses OF
bricks, iron, and other refuse, but found
them almost entirely clear, and nowhere
SO blocked as to lie impossible for ycbi.
cles. 1t seemed rs If the tire dcyoured
the buildings SO rapidly that only iusigniti.
cant fragments fell to the ground. and
can readily believe the statement that the
fumes spread from block To block faster
than man could walk. But, complete az
is the destruction III The South Division. il
Is AZ nothing compared with that in the
North Division. There. with one cycep.
ton, everything is lcvclled even with the
streets. Not timber remains, nor ono
single brick in its place. The one cXccp-
ton IS another marvel of this great con-
Migration, rs IL is Il frame house That was i'm
the midst Of the fire, and yet it is scarcely
touched
THE LAND AED COURT RECORDS OF CHICAGO.
Next to the fearful loss Of life and the
terrible destruction OF property the qucs-
tons which most concern the pcople of
Chicago are those relating to the lam! and
court records. On these points The ,Jou1.-
nal OF the 1llh has the following:
-Rcdl ESt0tc TiicS.-All the records of
deeds and mortgages are DESTROYED. Thi.
includes all the real estate not ONLY in Chi.
cage, but in Cook county. with its nllmcr-
Gus suburban towns. Fortunately, the alb
stracts of TILES in the olli"c OF Shortall L.
Hoar, COnYcyanccrs. arc known to be Safe
There is great hope that when the vaults
are opened 1T The other abstract offices the
rppnr1- hook. w ;pto I,I 70,
perfect copies OF every real estate transfer
III the county, are safe. There are several
of them, ard it would he strange il some
Of them beside the one already examined
are not safe. \ lcadinS member of The
Chicago bar gives il Is his opinion that the
title To all The property in the county can
he rcG.Iablishcd by menus OF these alb
stracts. The Legislature will probably
pass some enabling act 10 cover the case
As Ia tho value of real estate it is now en-
tirciy indctcrminatc, because it is imposSi-
bile 10 divine where the future business
centre will he. The latter will DEPEND
upon the location selected bv the leading
business houses, which are already IN con-
sultatlon.
LdTy,r&.-AS 4 specimen al what the
legal profession oi this city has lost, We
may state that General Il, y. Eltlildgc. Of
the firm OF EldrIdgc Il TuurtCIulie, the NJ
turneys loG Field, Letter & Co.. lost all hi,
paper; not Il scrap left after having praC-
tIccu law i"r fourteen years in Chicago.
There l. no, Z law Office nor Il law library lett
IN Chicago, except The few small duplicate
libraries 1T !hc residences OF the leading
lawyers. There i not paper showing
That there Is 4 suit rcutlln. in any ul the
six courts OF record in Cook county, in
Guiding the Federal Court. There is not
an indictment in existence i'm the county
against any onc-not IL Judgment, not Il
petition in bankruptcy. in the Federal
lawyers kept in their oilirc> are AL gone.
A few may have escaped by being taLcn to
the houses c'r Sunday or night work. We
may add that there arc i'll Chicago about
500 lawyers.
Referring to The same subject. The Posi-
says: The fire seized the upper portion rt
the central part OF the urt-holl>c, and
sent the great bell crashing down through
the building to the place where the records
we're kept, and the mass OF ruins thus crca-
ted made it Impossible to preserve the
county records, upon which the establish
mcnt OF proofs of ownership To real pro.
pcrty depended. Nevertheless, one fact
will doubtless prevent the confusion which
must otherwise attend the loss Of these
valuable papers. The two abstract firms,
MeSSrs. Chase, Brothers Il Co., and l.. w.
Jones & Co., succeeded in saving ail Of
their books, which contain III alluslon, by
way of index, TO every pending suit, every
judgment, and nearly every execution.
They have also preserved their map books.
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