, 1872-10-09


|t5a5===S:zs zs:=sa@Ef zs5iEa@E:f Hayes Bros, No. 903
:9:E.::9E5E-a{Z {Zz:Ez1==-@ Fulton street, New Yot
7Ese:Z====4== 7Ese:===z:4:33= fitting up Of machinery
:5&.Ga;===zzi:szZ the elevators c. Mason
.naugh & Merriam, the
the West Side, near the &C rner Of Clinton an
Van Buren, streets, and famed by the violen
southwest wind spruad 1api dly toward the mort
aad east, finding in it's pat wooden dwelling
houses, planning mills, and lumber yards. tn
not before tha flames had obtained firm foot
hold. The ftemen fought t1esperately on Clin
ton and Jackson s1-eeta, hut tie confagratio1
swept unhecding. The htl1liancy OF the igh
attracted people from all directions, and th
Violent gusts Of Wind lifted up blazins shingle
and emouldering brands, and carried them TO
blocks. At the corner Of Market and Madison
! streets the sparks fol- almost iucsssans1y- Larg
pieces Of wood, yet red, tell at the eastern ent
Of the Washington street tunnel, and smaller
! ones were carried as far as Wells street bridge
| The sky Vas aliyo with sYterka. There Was al
| incessa1t fall Of meteors, and from moment tt
moment all to windwarG brushed them from
clothes or hat with q lur1ying hand. The won.
der Is that fire did not start somewhere
on the South Side that eve ming. It is true thai
the current OF sparks did not pass to any great
| extent over the frame bu5 dingH near the A1mo-
r., but it 17as the merest accident that the fire
was not then communicated to the South Side.
No one Eeemed to fancy it would leap the river,
and yet there was great reason for fearing it.
Had it happened, the disaster Of the following
| evening would have been. anticipated The en-
glnes we're Tar in the rear and could hardly have
| reached the scene OF action in time to do any
good But it is probable that, bad the fire.
crossed then, the Destruction would not have
been SO CREST Very little, il any, would hnve
burned below Van Buren street, and the build
| ings IN the northeastern portion Of the South
Division might have been, sayed. But it is use-
| lesa to speculate On such g subject. The fro
1 = = ..A 4-.-A III H..
! West Side TIL It reached tie speco occupied BY
| the railroad trucks under the riaduct Of Adams
street bridge, which WAS badly scorched. An
| area Of eighteen acnes was burnt over, and the
| loss w1s estimated that evening at q million
| dollars. The coal heaps On the left bank canght
| fire, and through the early morning Of Sunday,
| end down to noon Of that day, tho steamers con-
| tinued playing upon them.
After the fire Of Sunday night, it WAS .ques-
toned whether that which preceded it had been
| blessing in disguise or an upmitigated eva-
Those who held to the latter opirion thought
that, the fremen had not been wearied By the
labors Of the previous evening, they would have
| crushed the condagration ut the outset. But
that is hardly to ba believed The trouble with
the drenen was not 80 much that they were
tired rs that they were badly handled, which
would have been the case under any circu1n-
staacee. On the other hand, but for the fire OF
checked a@ Van Buren, and Clinton streets, but
would havo worked up along the west bank OF
the South Branch, leaving Canal and Clinton
streets as bare as Wells, and might, considering
the lnfammable nature Of the buildings, have
dono still gre1ter injury. It would certainly
have cut OF all retreat from tho South Side
across Madison, Randolph, and Lake street
bridges, and from the north side across Einzie.
and thus added incalculahly to the loss of hfe-
THE STE OF OCTOBER, 1871.
Sunday evening, about quarter after 8, OF
little later, fire broke ont in q barn used as
cow-shed, in the rear Of house near the corner
Of DeKoven and Jefferson streets and two short
blocks north OF Twelfth street. The South
Branch WIS two-fftl,s OF mile distant, and
Madison street nearly mi1e.. DeKoven was
narrow street, lined with wooden buildings and
populated almost exclusiy ye1y by foreiguersHish,
Germans, and Boheniane. It is commonplace
manner for such q con1agra.ion to begin, and
does not seem half go credible as the story
which WIS told long after the fire that it was the
work Of the international Society,", But tho re-
spectabilty Of q fire depends on itself, and not
its parents, and this one WIS great enough not
to'be ashamed Of it's humble ougin.
It Was Sunday evening, and numbers ofneigh-
bors were up They made no particular effort
to fight the fire, but those immediately east Of
it began to gather mp their yalnah;es while some
turned in the alarm. In abou: ten minutes an
engine was On the ground, but BY the time it |
arrived there, great change had taken place. |
The fire, insteed OF being confined to the place !
where it originated, had extended to the adjoin-
ing sheds and buildings to the north and east, |
and already the swelling wind WIS carrying burn
ing brands along with it. While tho hremen |
were fighting the fire in these 1ow-lying build |
ings, they suddenly discovered that it had jump
ed them, and that Batcham's planning mill, to the |
east OF where they we're, was in flames. Other |
engines aoon reached the ground, but the torri-
tory between Jefferson and Clinton, for two |
and tho fury Of the fire increased as its circuu1-
ference Was enlarged. The frenen. finding it
rsclees to fight it ia rear loft their original posi-
tions, and threw themselves in the front Of the
made their connections and begun working,
than the frightiul heat drove them from their
posts, and they retreated two or three blocks,
leaving behind them here some hose and there
sayen days' fight gone through within >s many
hours, Tho ire, for time, moved ncrthwa1d
in two parallel columns, between Jefferson and
Clinton and Clinton end Canal, leaving almost
untouched the district inmediately along the I:
South Branch, and much of which was exceed-
insly infen1nable. It moved on from Ewing to Ii
Polk, and from Polk to Mather, sweeping over |,
territory entirely built Of wood anu sweIming Il
with life: House after house disgorged its
screaming and frightened inI,atea, who: snatch
ing up what theJ coald Of their miserable pos
sessions, SO poor and yet SO precious, for they l.
we're their a1l ecurlied westward, ti they depos=
tied their loads in what they faccied to be place
of safety. Still the engines toi1ed, and still tha
to the westward with the hope that the fire, h
prevented from extending in that direction, Il
would die cut between the South Branch and the
burnt district, commencing at Van Buren street.
They did not oven then dream Of the possibility
Of the fire crossing to the South Side. It had not
done 60 the evening before, and no one dreamed /
it would then, not thinking that it had started
farther back and had Lad longer run.
THE FIRE CROSSES rHR RIVER. |,
The eastern column Of the fire, ontstripping
the otker, had nearly reaehed TanDuren street
at about 20 minutes past II. The wind had
been increasing in violence with the fire, and
suddenly there came . furious whirlwind, which ]
carried with it masses Of burning wood fully .
quarter OF Q mile il 9 hortheaster1y direction. I
One Of them lodged against the dry clap-loaras
the gss-moska, about midway betNaon Adams I