Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-11-15
Boston in Ruins +!
A conaagration onlv Sec
ond to that Of Chicago,
Last Year.
$1Oo.OOO,OOO of Proper
ty Destroyed.
SIXTY ACRES BURNED
OVER!
$50 Business Houses and 60
Dwellings Destroyed.
Lo - - OF h1F II.

T. q = - q II Il Z rs II !
just one year and one month from
the time when Chicago was involved
in a confagration unparalleled in
the history of the country, the tele-
graph brings the appalling details
OF similar and nearly as extensive
a calamity at the east. Sixty acres
in the very heart of business, in
Boston, the capital cty of New Eng
land, week ago occupied by state
ly, granite business palaces, stored
with rich and costly goods, now
presents to the eye of the beholder
nothing but dreary waste Of smo-
king ruins. Millions upon millions
Of property of all kinds melted away
before the hot blast of the fiery tenn
pest, or went up to the. skies in mnr-
Ky clouds. The only alleviatlng
circumstances in the terrible TRACE
dy of fire and desolation is that
comparatively few lives fell sacri-
flee to the fire demon, and that not
many are rendered homcless-sev-
en-tenths of the territory burned be-
ing occupied 10y business blocks.
AS in the case of the Chicago ca
lamity last year, the active sympa-
thies of the whole country are going
ont to the suffering Chicago was
among the first to move, and sent
$4,000 as the voluntary contribu-
tons of her citizens. All the other
principal cities are following with
generous donations. The following
dispatches will give our readers
some idea of the character and OK
tent OIL the calamity:
New York, Sunday morning, Nov. 10.
Dispatches from Boston, midnight,
say that the greatest fire ever known in
New England is at this hour raging
among the large wholesale stores in the
very heart of the business portion of the
city, and it will not cease until it reach
es the wharvcs. There was hardly a
breath of wind stirring when an alarm
was sounded, about 7:3O o'clock, follow
ed by second, third and fourth, in
rapid succession, but the first engine
was hardly on the ground when the fire
broke out from the fourth story Of a
large four-story granite store, on the
corner of Summer and Kingston streets,
occupied in the first story by Tcbbets,
Baldwin & Davis, wholesale dry goods
dealers. 1t had caught in the engine
room and the flames spread with light.
ming rapidity up the large elevator, and
were first seen climbing underneath the
wood worn of the roof. The engines
were out and fairly at work before an.
other store had caught The buildings
in the vicinity were all Of granite, four
sLOIIGS tuCu W IL IL
Mansard roofs, none of them being over
five years old.
Detached spIinters flew readily, as the
air was heated by the terrible heat, and
soon the flames began licking Mansard
roofs on the opposite side, far above the
reach of streams directed upon them
from all quarters. The fire was con
stantly in air, and one building after
another caught on the roof, and the
flames skipped lightly along from one
window-sill to another, SO that in less
than thirty minutes every cheek was
blanched as it became evident that the
whole city in one direction was at the
mercy of the flames, which were lcaping
gaily from roof to roof and from one
building to another. The second build
ing to succumb was directly opposite to
that in which the first fire broke out,
and was occupied by Mafin, Mullen s.
Elms, Harding Bros & Co., Bowen,
Moors & Co, Geo. Lidc, Carter & Co,
and Conant Bros, all wholesale dealers
in dry and fancy goods. This was at
the corner Of Otis place.
The heat now became internal, the
streets ran rivers of water, and every
moment was heard the sound of granite
blocks exploding, and whole frames fell
into the streets, making them impassa
bic. The lremen were driven from one
station to another. and many an engine
was kept nobly at work. while the hy-
drant was wet down by hand hose, and
the engineer could only hold his place
while stream of water was kept play
ing upon him. Blocks of granite, weigh
ing tons. were split as if by powder and
hurled across wide streets, and planks
went flying through the air as if they
were feathers.
The iremeE erected barricades and
worked hehinl them, but they we're
burned almost as soon as erected. An
hour had hardly elapsed before it was
evident that Beebe's block, the finest
business structure in the city, built of
granite, five stories in height, with the
cursed mansard roof over all, must go.
Within thirty minutes the flames were
coming out in fiery pillows from every
window, and up the stairway leading to
A. r. Stewards rooms, was Il perfect col
rmn of flames. This building served
hut rs fuel to the flames. Whole pieces
Of dry goods Yent Whistling across the
square, lodging on the window 7sills of
the magnificent stores on Deyonshire
street.
Beebcs block stood solid wall of
granite several minutes after the inside
fell, but heat warped it, and $4,000, 900
soon Law a heaD of stone. brick and NOR
tar.
A hurricane now ragged, and owing to
the intense heat and perfect sleet OF
Goals, drove everything before it. Ev-
cry building was now heated as IL in a
furnace and caught like finder. Four
story granite blocks seemed like shay
ings, and deafening explosions were con-
stantly heard.
A new terror was now added to the