New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-12

ROOIS-NIfA(IIOlS
OLD SOUTH CHURCH-EIGHII ACkLS VI
sMOLDERING ASHES.
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIDUNEl
Boston, Nov. 11.-How the great fire began VIII
perhaps always remain q mystery. The first alarm
was given about o'clock on Saturday evening. when
the flames were discovered bursting from the fourth
floor of q large fye-story granite building on tho
corner of Kingston and Summer-sts. The building
was occupied by Tebbetts, Baldwin & Davis dry
goods jobbers A. X. Young d Co., manufacturers
of stays and corsets and Damon, Temple d Co.,
dealers in fancy goods. 1t stood in part OF She city
which is as desolate after dark IS Broad-st.
is in New-York The heavy dealers in domestic
and foreign dry goods had their headquarters near
here. A. T. Stewards great branch concern was
within a stones throw. Jordan, Marsh & Co. have
their wholesale and retail houses close by. james
NJ Becbe d Co. gave their name TO magnificent
block in which they have carried on a magnificent
establishment. Nearly everybody IN this district.
where there are TO dwolling-housCs and few
retail shops, lad gone away for the night,
and the fire might have been burning long
before 1t was discovered. 1t is supposed 10
have caught in the ongiueroOm aud crert mp
the hoist way. This is a very probable theory for
in a few moments from the time il was FIST seenit
was bursting from every floor in tie building Tie
edfce was crowned by that curse Of all our cities q
Mansard roof. Instantly The finder box ornament
was in q blaze end the fame was lcapiug acIoss the
narrow streets to meet similarly iuAammable roofs
on the other side, while showers Of cndcrs and burn
ing fragments bone alof 10y tie blast created in the
hatchway, fell upon the lower buildings On either
hand
FATAL sLOw-,Tss OF TIE TIRE DEPARTMENT,
The alarm was promptly sounded but here &C.
CURED one Of those fatal nishaps which nobody
knows exactly how TO account for. II was GO min
utes before an engine arrived upon the ground The
Boston Fire Department has tie reputation C eff
cheney, and the last two days have proved that is
members in general are men Of the tTuehcrOic stamp
who face danger and do their duty silently and as
matter of course day and night until they fall to the
ground through sheer exhaustion The reason given
for the delay is that the horses were ali sick and the
steamers had to be drawn by hand. Even 50, the
delay was unreasonable. Besides, there were
well horses enough in Boston, and If hacks
and b0rse-cars were all running, it can only be
through grave Encouragement that steam fire.
engines could not run too. BY the time water was
brought to bear the fire had become conhagratiOn.
Both sides Of Kingston-st. and both sides of Sum
mer-st. were blazing, making two fiery lanes in
which heat was absolutely insuppOrtable. Then the
corner building fell, scattering fire in every dTcc-
ton, and the disaster began TO assume the most
threatening aspect. AL the engines in Boston were
summoned and kilograms were cent for aid from
tho ,,eiobb orinG +o---~- 1ie eiodt A'Bhu
,r the warehouses and the naUOWness
of the streets proved serious difficulties. In hardly
any case could q stream Of water be thrown upon
tho back part of the roofs and it was on the roofs
that after the first outbreak the ire almost nYalla-
by caught nor was it possible TO approach in those
lanes very near the buildings. The frcnen put mp
barricades for their protection, Lut the baITicadee
Cd Icco 20 f6a
roofs but the hight was so great that very little
water could be forced through them. After while
some large establishments, supposed to be in the
path Of the flames, were blown up. This did no good
TIE PATH OF TIE FIRE.
The flames followed no particular Path. There
was moderately strong wind but they travelled
right in the teeth of it, They made their own cur
rent of air and followed that now to one side now
to the other. Wherever they went they found a
Mansard roof to feed upon. Wherever brand was
shot into the air it had good chance Of falling on
Mansard roof. To-day it IS the common belief that
Mansard roofs have cost Boston S2500O0OO0 From
the corner of Summer aud KingstOn-gts the fire
travelled simultaneously in all directions.
Southwark it burned about half block. Eastward
it took both sides Of Summer-st, passed Arch,
Chauncey, and Hawley, and thence ran diagonally
10 near the northeast corner Of Summer and Wash
ington sparng the corner building occupied by Rob
bins. Appleton d. Co.. of the American Watch Com
pany, and Andrew c. Nudge, fancy goods but
taking everything at the and side of it, Thence
it ran along the east side of Washington-s as far
north as Milk, that is to say, within few feet of
Schoo-st., the Parker House, the City Hail. and the
Old Corner book store On the west side of Washing
tOn-st., nothing was burned, but many of the
shops were searched and the glass was nearly all
I,roI,on From KinggtOn-St east md west fhe fro
took both sides of Summer and Bedford-sts., and
never stopped until it reached the water destroying
the wharves and depot of the Hartford and Erie
Railroad. Meanwhile it had swept northward along
Devonshire, Federal, and COngess-sts. toward the
water There were here some tenement-houses
liquor shops and other buildings of the poorer class
and before midnight the wTetched occupants
were turned into the street. The general
direction of the flames at this time was north
west, and from about COngressst. to Westinghouse
1t formed an impossible barrier, moving up closer
and closer toward Safest. and the great financial
center of New-England. Milkst. was destroyed by
10 o'clock and toward morning the fire reached the
rear Of the Post Office, the front of which is on
Safest. The mails were removed TO the Custom
house, and thence taken last night to Faneuil Hail.
where the distribution of letters began this morning
nothing having been lost. What stopped the flames in
this quarter nobody seems to know. The buildings
were not whit more substantial than those which
had crumbled TO fragments behind them, but they
were not seriously menaeed until everything else
where was a mere heap of ruins and ashes, and the
fremen were able TO concentrate their efforts here
At any rate, nothing injured except the Post
Office and the Merchants Exchange, on the corner
of Washington and Milk-sts
MARVELLOUS ESCAPE OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Two currents of fame one sweeping northward
from FrankIn.st the other westward along Mifk-st