Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-11-21

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When the Garden City of the West
lay in ashes; no community more read
ffy or generously responded to the calls
for aid to the sufferers than the nOble-.
hearted men ahdTWoaaen of Boston, the
"Athens of America" and the univer-i
sally recognized Hub of the Universe
Little did these generous hearted pe0-
pie Then think that In little more than
one year their own beautiful and pros
porous city would be laid low by the
| sanfe sfsery fiend which had in q few
Ish6urs destroyed the, metropolis of the
West. isi'i7stis zA II $50 II.
hii Substantially built of materials usual
+ Ely regarded as fireSprpof, and protected
! by the nnostcemple etc and thoroughly
lSorgAni ized fire depar rfMent in the world, },
almost any iHha bitant of the city would
have secuted the idea that q copfiagra-
ltfon could sweep over It, destroying
everything in its track with the same
! facility with which its flames would
have deveufed the most combustible
materials. i'ri '-ei..'i.'
Boston learned a lesson regarding the
fearfuily destroying power of Hres by
many sad experiences in her earliest
days. The first great fire of which
mention is made in her annals occurred
Iin1654, only twenty-four years after its
settlement; but little of its ravages is
known. In November, 1876, the city
| was again visited by. the fire fiend, and
| forty-sik dwellings, a church, and other
buildings were destroyed. The in
habitants were favored with rain, or
the confagratien would have been more
/ extensive, as there was no fire depart
,ment to contest with the flames tor SUI
premacy. To meet these calamities in
future. a fire department was at once
organized. Probably the preparations
then made for fighting the fiery ele-
ment were far less complete than they
are at the present day. In ,1679, the
third of the series of confagrations oc-
Icurred, and was hardly monument to
the efficiency of the new fire depart
ment, for eighty dwellings and seven
ty warehouses were destroyed, involv-
ing loss estimated at two hundred
thousand pounds sterling. These evils
We're then attributed by the enemies of
the colonies to the visitation of Divine
ProVidencea as a punishment for the
sins of the Coionists. We remember
that a year since Southern paper made
1.-the charge that the burning of Chicago
was retaliation for the burning of At
lanta, Charleston, and Richmond. We
hope that the reconstruction that editor
has undergone at the hands of Mr..
Greeley, will prevent him from making
another such charge at this time.
In I'LL another fire occurred, which
burned one hundred edifices, including
the first:church erected in Boston after
the rude log hut which had witnessed
the earliest devotions Of the Settlers
Several persons were killed and others
wounded by the blowing up of houses,
and number of sailors periShed while
piously endeavoring to save the church
bell. Former fires had given birth to
fire department., and this was the
parent of the first insurance company,
not only in Boston, but in the country.
1t was not, however, put in operation
until 1721. After the establishment of
the insurance company the city enjoyed
long immunity, and was not again
visited until March 20, 1850, when oc-
Cured what has always been called "the
great fire." destroying three hundred
and forty-nine buildings, valued at
more than one hundred thousand
pounds sterling. Relief was sent to
the sufferers from England and The
hetheF colonies rs-'=.-iits'-. 80
& No doubt either of these conflagra-
i tions wa as great blow to Boston in
tfht day as the present fearful calamity
: is in this, bat Boston recuperated from
these ealamities with wonderful rapid
ity, as we. have no doubt she will re-
J.cuperate from this. From these sad
experiences the careful and prudent
people of the old town had learned to
] fear such scenes, and the first thought
! that would occur to them would be
; that, structures should be erected to
stay. To those who had witnessed the
/ erection of these fine granite blocks,
now swept before the fire like leaves
before the autumn gale, and who had
seen the immense blocks of stone used
! used even up to. the roofs, the last
| thought that would enter the mind
/ would be tnat these immense rocks
could fail. to Withstand the fiery ele-
ment until the final confagration, when
\ the, ,werld would be resolved into its old
: elements by fHe heat. :.
! The good people of Boston not only
poured forth their wealth in untold
/ thousands for the gratuitous relief of
the suffering people of Chicago, but,
true to their. generous impulses, they
Asent millions there to be used in re-
storing the fire-stricken city, and many