The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-10-14
1.-THE BURNING OF CHICAGO.
4 FULL md CONNECTED ACCOUNT OF
THE AWFUL DISASTER.

Il FCLL dND CONNEC1EA aCSVS-'A NA
THE AWFUL DISASTER.
Origin and Circumstances OF the Great
Fire-An Eye-Witness'a Sketch OF the
Appalling Scenes of Sunday Night
Flight OF the Panic-Stricken People
before the Furious ConhaSration-
Sights on Monday-A Thrilling Narra-
tive, &c.
We are new able to give the public some
thing like succlnct account OF the origin pro-
eress and termination OF the most disastrous
fire which has ever been known on this con-
tinert. From various sources of information
we have received comparatively full particu-
lars of the destruction Of Chicago, and although
the horrors of the two nights and two days
duriug which the devoted city was wrapped
in flames can never be entirely known, yet
enough is known to-sotten even the most OBJ
durate heart, and fill the most unfeeling soul
with pity anc, sorrow.
At about 10 o'clock Sunday evening the fire
broke out il the western division of the city,
at the corner of Dekoven and Jefferson streets,
place than which no worse could nave oeen
iound, for the houses for blocks around were
wooden tenements, as dry and crisp and ready
to be burned as If they had been prepared Tor
that purpose And they had been prepared.
For weeks an almost unexampled drought mad
plagued the West, more particularly the neigh
borhood OF the city. The prairies were pare
and brown, the water-courses dried up. the
fields parched almost as if simeon had swept
over them In various sections OF the West
and Northwest most dreadful aud unheard OF
Mes had ragged, In which thousands upon thou
sands OF acres of forest and had been Destroy
ed, and the prairies swept as with the oesom
of destruction. Chicago was like llnder, walt,
ing only for spark 10 set 1t In names, ana
when that spark came, 1t came in that quarter
Of the city which, more than any other, was
ready TO be acted upon by 1t.
Then the scene in this quarter was terrible,
but only the beginning ofhorrors Whlcn were
soon to come. The wind had set 10 from the
southwest early In the evening, and just about
the time when the confagration began it
freshened, and soon increased in violence
till it became furious gale. The city hre
engines came to the scene with all possible
dispatch; the ftemen were almost WORE out
with their eXertionS in suoduing the nre OF tne
previous evening, and even had they been
fresh they could have been OF Ii avail, for
the flames had got under headway and were
not TO be stopped. In few minutes they had
extended to adjoining houses, and spread like
wildfre In northeasterly direction. The
poor people who occupied the tenements
sprang in alright from their beds, and with
cries Of terror ran down into the street. Beds
and furniture OF all descriptions were thrown
from the windows, and lay IN heterogeneous
coafusion on the sidewalk, obstructing the
passage to and fro Of the fire companies, and
thus preventing what little chance there mad
been otinpe ding the onward rush OF the 1Ie,
and soon tie whole district, as far down as Van
Buren, street, was one sheet OF flame. roaring
and Kissing and licking about piles of lumber
and rows Of dwellings, which cracked ana fell
crashing to the ground. The sky was lighted
up for miles around, and the river Looked hke
stream Of blood. Hardly had the families
which occupied the district time to escape
with their lives, and as to saving their house
hold furniture, which to most Of them was
their all, II was o thing not to be thought Of.
Women, halfclad, ran screaming through the
streets, a baby In one arm, while little chill
dren clung to them and whimpered with ter
ror. At every attempt to stay the flames the
,.dremen were driven baff1ed and disheartened,
Let they worked msnfully and disputed the
ground inch by inch. Over the furniture
which strewed the streets all went running In
the widest confusion, each person bent only
on saving himself and bis family and caring
nothing for his neighbor. Many In their
wild endeavors to escape were knocked
down and trampled upon, and some even
killed. Many of these laborers-for the quar-
ter was mainly inhabited by people OF that
class-wers cartmen and draymen, and natu-
rally they strove to their utmost to save their
horses. ut 10 cases OF fire horses seem to
lose all the Instinct which, under ordinary cir
cumstances, would save them from danger,
and stand stock still In their stables, their
tanks and sides shaking In the agony OF terror,
and utterly refuse to be taken or driven from
their stables which, poor beasts, they have
always considered their place Of safety where
no harm can reach them. On this awful night,
. above even the roar OF the flames and the
crash OF falling timbers, could te heard the
shrieks Of the horses ringing out on the night
air., They would not be driven away, but
stupefed with fear. fell down in their stables
and were roasted alive, and the sickening
stencil of burning flesh was added to the
indescribable and nauseatiDg odor which
always accompanies burning buildings when
wa.er has been showered upon them. Seeing
that 1t would be impossible to save the city
with the force at his command, Marshal Will
liams telegraphed TO neighborng places, ask
allpossible dispatch. But 1t came slowly-at
such times every minute Is an age-and before
engines could arrive from Milwaukee triple
work was to be done, and, to add 10 the hor-
rors Of the time, it was feared that the water
would give out In three hours over twenty
blocks of houses had been burned to the
ground and lay smouldering In ruins. The IRE
had spread more THAI mile from the place at
which 1t had started, and was making directly
for the heart of the city. 1t had made clean
SWothe from UekOVen street 10 van DuTeu,
and from The river 10 Jefferson street, mile
in length and nearly mile in breadth.
The fre-bells changed and clamored, and
from the steeples the church-bells beloved IN
the drowsy ear of night, waking the citizens
far down town who had slumbered through
the early hours of the night, while In another
section the fire had been driving helpless wo-
men and children from their homes Into house
lessness and despair. And stl the bells rang
on as IL legion OF devils had taken possession
O. belfries The whole city awoke In ter
rof and rushed into the streets, only to ind
them filed with people running to and fro,
with women sitting on curbs and stoops cry
ing with grief, aud sobbing over their children
who lay in their arms asleep, ard all uncon-
scious Of the dread disaster which had befalen
them, or looked up with wondering eyes at
their mothers faces. What was 1t all about
What made the sky so red Why were
the streets 80 full OF people They couldn't
make it out at all, and then they went to sleep
aeasn, while their mothers wept and prayed
aud wondered what had become of the chds
father.
line. bi,. left some houses-as fires will do
almost unharmed In the midst Of the flames.
A ,entleman who was in house in Market
street, Just beyond the river. describes the
scene as he saw it from his housetop. Up to.
wards the burning district and far beyond the
a.a. fha nnHc ira,