The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-10-12
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DESTRUCTION.
The Tornado Of Fire In Chicago
Origin and Progress or the Aw-
fui COnfiagratiOn.
Pcn-E'iciurcs Of the Ex,raor-
dinarJ Stree. Scenes.
Sublime and Awc.Inspiring
Spectacle.
Fleeing Before the yirc.ClOud.
Fleeing Before the Eirc.CIOud.
The 1T0IneIe.s Multitude.

CHICAGO Ills, DCr 10. ls1l.-Ihc
| great coniiagration Of modern time. has
been raging in this city since 10 o'clock
on Sunday night W. have been visited
! By an appalling calamity. Only two
days ago this was one of the prpudcst
! cities on the American continent: today
more than one.third in extinct, and two
| third, in value, Of thi, great city are but
I Gshc'. and broken wall. and rubbish.
Those at distance can have not the mos.
remote conception of the extent of the ruin
| rought. Even the coolest intellect, are
awe stricken at the magnitude ug the di.-
a-tcr. Language /. in cquute t, describe
the scenes by which we are surrounded.
| Dispatche, could have given you but II
| faint conception Of the vast cxscnt Of the
| district devasted, and the value Of the
property destroyed. Your correspondent
fea!ize- the utter impraclicaLility ofany
eiort to give your readers anything like II
Onpletc account Of the great conhagra-
tlOn which has destroyed this fair city.
ln the midst Of confusion, Of the widest
scenes, with smoke cloud, over me. and
| black and smoking ruins before and around
me, undertake 10 as -uccinct an account
of the origin ana progress of the fire and
describe such scenes connected with il as
the circumstances ofthe case seem TO re-
quire. Perhaps nothing like the disaster
of which | write has occurred since men
began to keep record. Of events.
SCENES DURING THE FIRE.
In catastrophe Of this character it is i'm
possible that anything like a full present.
inent of details can be made or indeed
ever will be made. As in great battle.
even spectators Of the whole progress of
the terrible devastation are poor reporters
of what they actually saw. The excite
ment the magnitude Of the panorama of
horror 80 absorb-, - fascinutes the facul-
ties, the incident. and particulars Of each
minute are forgotten even if clearly seen.
Standing IN comparatively safe spot
near the u, c.ion Of the North and South
rivers, | surveyed a waste Of ruin and
flames extending 10 the lake in front. and
on either hand far beyond what it was
/ possible to see, and then, perhaps, more
than al any other time, the magnitude Of
the great calamity burst upon my mind
| The contiagration was still furously pro-
! gressing, but | looked not 50 much at
the fiery line fighting so iercely, as at the
wilderness of ruin over which il had
remorselessly swept. Where are the
proud structures, the magnificent stores
and business palaces which had been the
III
before the breath Of an enchanter.
Nothing left even toindicate their charac-
ter-nolhing but the reverse of their great
ness and beauty. Here, where stood a
proud, cXultant city--hcrc, where throbbed
the heart oft commercial energy-isMo-
thing but rugged chaotic cxpance of
desOlate destruction an un-ightly broken
plain, still hot with un,ubdued flame and
rolling upward, dun, colOred cloud Of
smoke. Here and there were walls in
which We're huge gaps, and the jagged
peaks rose with bleak uneven profile, while
between such stark sentines were wide
spaces covered with that black and horri-
Bile debris which only IL tempest Of flame
can leave behind. The lines of streets
were obliteratcd, for so intense had been
the action of the heat and the force of
miles Of flame. Tanned by "A wind-storm.
that houses not merely crumbled and fell
but burst open and scattered the materials
Of walls on all sides, while the lighter
wooden stuff Of the interior was torn up
into the air as by an awful suction and she'd
abroad from great hight. Before the
power of such fire even the biggest struc.
tures yielded up its whole space-it SEEM
ed as if in a moment. Walls fell outward
or inward as if melted or uprooted and
the flames bounded onward with a speed
inconceiyable. The extraordinary speedy
demolition Of buildings was owing mainly
to their being attacked On two or three
sides by flames AT the same time and the
terrible heat that preceded the immediate
coming of the fire. The wind blowing
strongly bore the breath of miles q. fire !
and actually parchcd and scorched all tim
Der and brick while the actual conf lgratiun |
was yet blocks distant, So that all nlama- |
BILE material became SO heated and dry that /
II sprang into flame wi .hout other contact. /,
The vast extent of tue fire front bewildered |
and confused persons fleeing for safety and |
often they found themselves circumvcntcd /
by roaring hell aIl of II sudden ana per- /
ishcd in moment.
THE CONFUSION.
But while the eye dwelt on the horrifvinr /
scenes what mingled tumult smotc the .
ear. The voices of excited multitudcs |
near and in distance blended into a dull |
rushing sound, while the progress of fire
gave up noise like the roar OF a burning
forest and the heavens gloweh as il trans
muted into brass. 1t was "A spectacle,
time words cannot portray. The unultera-
bic pathos of the ruin was forgotten in
tho spell of its appalling grandeur and
all that was great in a splendid city.
HOW THE FIRE ORIGINATED.
1t is now pretty we'll settled in the
minds OF tho people that the fire origin
nted in one oftwo ways. The first Of the
theories is based upon the statement of Il
little girl who resided on the West Side
some blocks south of Jackson street. She
states that some boys were playing with
matches in building where there WAS
collection of light combustible materials,
that the flames OF the matches coming ia
contact with these shavings, they were ig-
nited, and in an incredibly short space Of
time time the building was one pyramid of fire. \
The wind at the time was blowing per-
feet gale from the south. The alarm was
given, but before the fire department could
get in position to effectively work against
II further progress Of the fire IL number of .
buildings were in flames, and the wind
was sweeping the deyouring element
north hwa ri with unptnrf,l roNi1;,,,