The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-11-11
THE BURNING OF BOSTON.

fOLOmE La sNOMDHh
THE BURNING OF BOSTON.
DEsOLATION AND DEATH IN THE
HEART OF TIE MODERN ATHENS.
Five Miles OF Warehouses Laid I'm Asnes
Tho Proudest Trade Palaces In Amer
lea Swept by q whiriwind Of Fire.
The special dispatches printed below bring
the news of another disaster so stupendous In
Its proportions and 30 tragic In its details as
to cause tie heart to slcken and grow faint In
the attempt to form a conception of the ap.
pallIng calamity. The story, told In a few
words, Is That the heart Of Boston, the second
city In commercial importance Of the Western
Hemisphere, has been blottsd out-burned In
destroyed by confagration 30
fierce and furious that 1t has but one parallel
in the history of the world.
The district ravaged by the FIRE was crowded
with long rows of the most costly and substan-
tIal business structures In this country, built
almost without exception of solid granite,
ranging from four to eight stories In height,
and la many cases extending, with Easements,
cellars and nb-cellars, to depth of twenty
five feet under ground. This very section was
elaborately improved about twelve years ago,
Devonshlre and other streets being cnt
through from Milk to Summer street and built
up with extensive warehouses, which were
then the admiration Of the country. 1t com.
prises the whole of the Seventh, and q
part Of the Fourth ward, and forms almost Q
square stretching from Washington street
eastward to the harbor, and from Summer
street soutr ward to State. The southern edge
of this district contained hundreds Of resIden-
ces, thickiy crowded together and sheltering
dense population. This is the Fort Hill sec
tion mentioned in the dispatches below, but
ths residences we're Of an inferior sort, and
will. no doubt, be replaced by far better build.
ings.
The dispatches leave no room to doubt that
this calamity was attended with all the tragic
details and the unnatural crimes that form the
sickening sccomRanlments of every tale Of
disaster. Homeless women, turned to flends
or idiots by the horrors of that night. rushed
shrleking through the blazing streets as at
Chicago, and whole families strayed shelter
less In the pitlless night valnly clutching their
household wares and trying to save some
lares and penates from the cruel wreck.
The brief statement that the prisons over
ran with thieves tells whole chapter of
Rhoullsh crime, and the mind can picture the
scene of these prowllng demons, seeing In
this terrible calamity only an opportunity for
them 10 rob their fellow-men, and adding to
the tarrors Of the confagration horrid proof
of the depth OF mans depravlty.
Tho First Ousbreak.-The Fire Rush-
ing along the Roofs, out OF the Reach
of the Engines.
[sPHCIAL TELEGRAM TO THE NKws.l
BOSTON, Saturday, November 80 P. n.
An alarm of fire was sounded at about half
past seven this evening, followed by second,
third and fourth alarm In rapid succession.
The first engine, however, had hardly reached
the ground, when the flames burst from the
fourth story OF granite building on the cor.
ner Of Summer and Kingston streets, occu-
pied as wholesale dry goods warehouse.
The flames caught In the engine room, rushed
up through the wooden shaft of the elevator,
and were first seen issuing from the top of the
walls, Just under the caves. The buildings In
this Vicinity are mostly four story granite stores
with Mansard roofs. The flames soon reached
the lofty Mansard roofs on the opposite side of
Summer street, far beyond the reach of the
engines, and in less than thirty minutes the
whole city from Summer street to the waters
edgs on the east and north appeared to be at
the mercy Of the flames. which leaped from
roof to roof with frlghtful rapidity. One great
dry goods warehouse after another sue
cumbed, their granite walls falling across the
marrow strests, and forming impossible bar
riers In all directions. The fire is still raging,
and the engines are forced to retreat from
station to station by the intensity of the heat,
which splits blocks of granite Weighing tons,
hurling the fragments across the streets.
Eightlng tho Fire with Gunpowder-
Scenes and Sounds I'm the Streets-A
Night OF Horrors.
BOSTON, Saturday, November 9-l2 P. n.
The aremen are now blowing up buildings
on Lindsll and Congress streets to check the
ppread of the flames toward the northeast.
Beebe's Block, the finest row of business
structures In the city, is totally destroyed.
3tewsrts splendid restaurant and dining sa-
looms served only to feed the flames few
minutes. The scenes and sounds in the burn
ing districts are APPALLING. The Intensity OF the
heat causes fierce upward current of air, and
seams to attract the atmosphere In the vicinity,
which rushes toward the fire with the fury of
q gale. Whole pieces of burning dry goods
start from the bursting walls and are caught
by the gale and sent whist,ing across the
squares, carrying the fire to other stores on
New, ,Devonshlre, Franklin and Federal streets.