The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1872-11-20

!. marched up Washington street abou
e three O'Clock, and rendered their ser
e vices for police dutv. which were In
: mediately accepted Shortly afte
two o'clock q meeting Of citizens wa
: held in the Mayors parlor. in the
; City Hall, his honor. Mayor Castor
I being present. and chief engineer
r DameFell occupying the chair. On
) motion of Gen. VIM l.. Burt. a de.
: tail Of citizens was authorized TO take
, charge of all the streets leading
| directly To the FIRE and have
. exclusive control of them with the
; assistance of the police, with authori-
J " to take any action they might see
: fit in the emergency. The detail con-
sisted Of General Burt, Alderman
. jerks. Col. Shepard and other well
} known citizens, and each one has con-
troll of intersecting streets, with the
full liberty 70 use powder in the stop
page of the devouring element, in case
they should deem it expedient, and
with the consent of the chief engineer
Of the FIRE department 1t was also
authorized that in case of necessity
I the military should be called out
/ The Transcript building caught
FIRE Just before four O'Clock. the flames
bursting into the rear and spreading
with such rapidity that al hopes Of
saving il were at once dispelled-
At four o'cl-ek this morning the
I FIRE extendcl from Washington street
on the west to the wharves on the
east, and from milk street oathe north
to the Hartford and Erie railroad
bridge ON the south, the area of the
burnt district being roughly estimated
at two hundred acres. The estimate
Of well known real estate man is
that the loss on buildings viii aver
age twelve dollars per foot for this
area, and therefore we have a grand
total loss in buildings alone Of upward
+ of one hundred million dollars
So fierce is the march Of the flames,
ami 30 irresistible. that the merchants
on Oliver street, when they first
were made aware Of the danger es-
saved to move their goods but could
not on account Of the heat, aud there
fore they burned where they were
At an early hour IN the evening
the State printing Office was de-
stroyed.
IL M.-at this hour the progress Of
the FIRE southwark has been checked,
and also in great measure toward the
southeast. the entire limit Of devasta-
ton in that direction being the Hart
ford and Erie Railroad depot, extend
ing however cut on the road and
burning the bridge. Then il runs
along Broad street to India, taking
all the intermediate wharves and de-
stroying a few vessels The fire has
worked around the new post Office
building and reached the northerlv
side Of Water street. The large
building On the corner Of Congress
and Water streets, i5 in flames and
viii have to go. Engines No. l and
and No 4 Of Providence have reached
the scene Of the fire, and there are
numerous hand-engines present from
towns in this State Lynn has sent
two steamers and 8 hose carriage.
No one branch Of business suffers
50 extensively as the boot and shoe
and hide and leather trades. The
loss here must exceed the great one
sustained by the dry goods jobbers-
In the early hours Of the morning
the plundering By the thieves became
general, and firms who had removed
their stock to places Of supposed Sc
eurity out Of doors, were victims Of
these predatory rascals. Arrests by I
the police became so numerous that
it was found impossible TO aceOmo- /
date all the prisoners, and they were
therefore discharged from custody, af- (
ter making restitution Of the stolen I
property.
Contrary to previous reports, all .
the dwellings on Kingston street are
saved.
The same is fortunately the case
on Lincoln stree. All the residences
on the Fort Hill section, so-called, in
GLIDING Gaidley, High and Broad |
streets. have been destroyed, render /
ing hundreds of families homeless and 4
destitute. On Washington street the
fire was checked by FIVE O'Clock this
morning. In a southern direction 4
IT had no; reached beyond Summer f..
street.
Several of the attempts TO blow Up 4
buildings met with the III sueeess
that attended the experiment at the I
corner of MIX and Washington 4
streets, windows only being shat
tered
A visit to the North end Of the FIRE
at seven O'Clock showed that it was
not progressing with anything Ike
the previous rapidity, having all
vanced not more than a hundred feet
into Congaess street, between Water
and State streets, during the Preeed-
ing hour and half The heat had
none of that fierce, terrible intensity
which had been devouring buildings
so rapidly. The SAME state of affairs
was found TO exist on Milk street
The buildings on the southern side Of
the street. below Pearl street, which
had eaucht as early as half past Eve
O'Clock, were burning slowly in CON-
parison with the way their near
neighbors went, and their walls were
all intact. An immense number of
streams of water were being poured
on the FIRE from every possible point.
an engine from some other eity or
town being seen at every corner, and
these seem to be having a good effect
1t was rumured about SIX O'Clock that
Old South church had been mined, in
readiness TO blow up, but on inquiry
il was found that those in charge had
resolved TO risk the matter on that
corner and look to the protection of
the heavy walls Of the Transcript
Office opposite. The proprietors of
the Transcript did not remove any Of
their material. II was packed how
ever and lowered into the cellar, and 4
some Of il may be saved from de-
struction. The Post building viii be
nearly destroyed. although the walls