Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-11-15

1n Dt0te street.
No language can picture with sufficient
vividness to give the reader who did not see il
m adequate conception Of the grandness Of a
great Gre like that Of Saturday night and
Sunday morning which the writer Of this wit
messed from the roof of the Journal building.
At ten o'clock, so much of the vicinity Of
Summer street was in flames that a great
glare of light filled the air for miles around
and liz up the whole surrounding country.
The great distance which the ERE was seen,
gives faint idea Of the magni6cence OF the
spectacle to the beholder who was near the
scene. From the Journal Office to Summer
street il is perhaps four minutes walk The
flames were working toward us with stead
iness which was alarming. The night was
an otherwise beautiful one. The air was re-
markably clear, the sky cloudless, and the |
almost full moon looked down on the COM
bat of man and his terrible enemy with a |
cool complasance. To the south great clouds |
of smoke, dotted with flying sparks, filled the
whole heavens. A mass of flame, making
the air warm about us. hung over the doomed
structures. Great throngs Of people packed
the Streets dotted the surrounding housetops,
aud were hustled here and there by the hur-
rying fremen, horse cars, engines and teams
removing goods from the buildings in the
path Of the fire.
Preparing 60 Move and Moving.
At midnight the streets were full of NOV
ing. Hurrying here and there were people
Of all classes and conditions, with bundles
and baggage Of all kinds and hurrying IRON
the advancing flames Everywhere was to
be seen men with the books of their firms
under their arms, with the remark " that is
all we could save" Thieves with their plum
der Of every conceivable kind, and good
natured foragcrs with articles which had
been given them, tugged along the sidewalks
with their forage. In advance of these the
note of preparation to move was everywhere
sounded, and every team possible was pressed
into service. Early in the evening Messrs.
Jordan & Marsh and Chandler & Co., and
other large business houses, who were fortu-
nate enough to escape began the removal
of their immense stores with the aid of nu.
merous teams which with difficulty forced
their way through the streets. SO great was
the uncertainty which hung over the march
Of the fire and what direction il would take
that persons at a considerable distance from
the fire deemed it prudent to move. Occu-
pants of the Studio Building packed up their
effects. Valuable records in the offices of
the City Clerk and City Engineer and Street
Commissioners and other offices in the City
Hall were carefully gathered and were con-
sidered safe at no nearer point than the State
House. Indeed, at midnight there was no
way of judging where the FIRE would stop.
There seemed no possible means of staying
its progress if it crossed Milk street. west of
Devonshire street, except by blowing up the
whole square bounded by Milk, Washington,
Devonshre AMI Water streets. With an
anxiety which no one can understand, except
under the circumstances, the occupants of
buildings north Of Milk street awaited the
course Of the fire, which in manner that
seemed almost miraculous turned its course
othe northeast fthe new Post Office building
and passed down toward State street at about
7 o'clock yesterday morning.
Gas Explosion. and Falling walls.
Added to the inccssant roar and crackle
of the vast volume of fame, the rattle aud
hum of engines, and the shouts Of fremen arose
the rumble Of falling walls aud the sharp
defamation Of exploding gas pipes. The spec.
tacle of the falling walls was one of the
grandest Of the sights Of the great fire. The
scene became so common that it almost LOST
its attractiveness. Wall after wall tottered
and fell with crash which Jared the whole
surrounding territory. As each wall fell
the flames which had been confined within
these bounds concentrated in the centre o.
the pile and belched forth their hot breath
in greater volume than before, and sent ou
heat which invariably proved the means o
igniting the adjoining buildings. At thes,
times the flames would rise clearer and NOR,
. terrific, and defed all efforts of fremen t
check them. The gas pipes added to tn,
fuel OF the fire, being broken off by the hea
and running in full streams. In some place.
/ gas lamp. posts were seen broken off near th,
, tops and giving out large volume Of fame
, The whole scene was one which is seldom
paralleled and will never be forgotten by thos
who beheld it.
, The Dry Goods and Leather District.
The district bounded by Summer, Broad
Oliver, Milk aud Washington streets, com
D prised the most valuable portion of War,
Five, including as it did the splendid gran
: tie warehouses which were justly the pride o
0 Bostonians and the admiration of strangers
Q In this section was concentrated the immens
5 wealth invested in the wholesale dry goods
7 wooden cloths, furnishing and clothing boo
!, and shoe and leather business. Untold mil
: lions of the wealth of the capitalists and mer
! chants Of the city was piled in the street
included within their boundaries; streets i
t the widening and extension of which the cit
: has expended millions of dollars to accom-
v modate the great currents Of mercantile trail
, fc which constantly flowed through them
= The stores on Franklin, Summer, Pear
Federal, Congress aud High streets, erecte
= upon the site of what in olden time consti
: tuted the residences Of the wealthiest an
= most aristocratic portion OF the inhabitants
we're the finest and most substantial in tn
city, and their architectural beauty chaleng
ed the admiration Of all beholders. Upo
y this territory stood the great commissio
IS houses,which were the receptacles of the prod
i ucts OF the mills Of Lowell, Lawrence, Man
. chester, Lewiston and other cotton and WOO
: en- manufacturing towns, and the loathe
!, stores supplied by the busy hives {
d industry in Lynn, Natick, Arlington, HoT
9 kinton, Milford, BroOkfeld, Marlboro an
i other towns, the leading business of which
g the manufacture of boots aud shoes, the case
ofwhich contained in the splendid warehouse
Of Pearl, High and adjacent streets, wer
r. counted by hundreds Of thousands. Her,
: too, were cehtered extensive establishment
: for the manufacture Of clothing, in whic
= thousands Of females found employment
a Nearly all the great wool dealers in Bosto
. were located within these precincts, Fedora
Congress and intcrsecting streets.
4 The COnnRgratIon Renewed.
n At midnight Sunday three and then anott
n | or maxine four alarms wara runo ont fro,