Litchfield enquirer., 1872-11-14
Ea SEVENTY Z: ACRES .-
 In the Heart of the City Burnt Over!!!


 la43 oi szag gsi,i 14.d5 2aI1Aad ta uoi3cAfsi EzoO oOa Saturday night. .ths1newsa,was tele- lgraphed all over the land that Boston was all afre and that the reoarrsnee of,a, dis aster Ike thasiofa Chicago wass inevitable. The most extrayagant run run of the area burned and of the amount of property destroyed came over the owires., si It swas said that foaf square miles ins the centre todfthe city had been laid s4T that prop. erty tos the amount of lhnndreds of mil lions of dollarsE sEWas in nasheaiEs Finally, yafl ter itwas supposed that aitfuu fur rshsr aevasta- tion was :s atsls a e9l came break ss ing out of the flames in aEnew, plaeeoWith -arecarrefbcsoflthego egold risk szoais. aLa1i The fire connmenced tt about. had past seven Saturday night in a five story gran itesblocl onethe corner of Sunmef sand Kingston St ,snott far from the depot of the Boston Hartford and Erie railroad Cosa This baill build ling n was much higher than thoseaasound ahdasurmounted by Ia Man. sard roof. ;4n less than 20 minutes and before the engines which were much de- layed hysthe siaknassqo qofathe horses) could arrive the entire Kingston Street front of one hundred feet was in flames, flames, Is,' t The heat was so great, the flames So high, and the extent of the fire SO large, that hsfire- men lost control of it: Buildings adioin- ing the burning block, and on opposite sides ofthe street, took fire and asouth wind sprung up driving the flames through the narrow streets of this crowded, business part of the city. .j79 { ys3v a si ,ii>t
 About eleven o'clock the scene in Lin coin, Essex, South, Federal and other streets in that immediate neighborhood was one of the saddest sights of the night. Hundreds of men, women and children were hurryings along laden with every variety ofshousehold goods, behind them the roaring flames tapping uptheir houses before they could get half or g quarter of their goods into the street. The fire ex- tended on both sides of Lincoln street. On Russia wharf all the buildings used by rag and paper dealers. were destroyed. There sweretno vessels lying at this warf. At Robbins wharf 8 schooner was destroy ed, as were the coal sheds and large quantity of lumber on the wharf. The warf efvthe Hartford and Erie railway company was burned; and the passenger station of the same corporation, on Broad street, at the foot of Summer street, was destroyed. , &s-4-z s..,- -14-..z-is ---s . During the whole of Saturday night the fire swept iu southely direction over the narrow, crooked streets that formed the heart of Old Boston. Sunday morn ing the attempt was made to check the speed of the flames by blowing buildings, but with very little success. As the fire drew near State street, however, the wind seemed to die out, and by z A. M. Sun day 1t was evident that the conhagration was not progressing with anything like it's previous rapidity, having advanced not more than.a hundred feet into Con- gress street, between Water and State street, during the preceding hour and 8 terrible intensity which had been devour- ing buildings with such rapidity. The same state of affairs was found to exist on Milk street. The buildings on the south ern side of the street, which had caught as early as half past five, were bnrning slowly in comparison with the way their near neighbors went, and their walls were | all intact --@ '
 1 An immense number of streams were being poured on the fire from every pos sible point, an engine from some other city or town being seen at every corner, and these seem to have the effect. It had been supposed that the Old South Church at the corner of State and. Washington Street would be destroyed, but it was finally saved. The New Postofice was in- iured to some extent but proved able to resist the heat. '.'+ ..@-s-y sF-...'- By noon the fire was substantially un-
 der control It had nearly covered the
 area included between Broad and Sum-
 mer streets, on the North and South; and
 between the Bay and Broad St., on the East, and Washington and State Streets,
 on the West. The. fire. however, never
 quite reached State Street on the West or Broad Street on the North. An import
 ant strip east of Washington Street and
 between Milk and Streets, was saved,
 and also .ar large area on the opposite side of the burnt district between Broad Street
 and the Fort Hill district. .la.so nl-.Ss s /
 On Monday morning the fire broke out again on Winter Street opposite the Mu- sic Hall, but was soon checked with com
 paratiyely little damage. s This second
 fire is said to shaVefonignited with ithe aex- plosion of gas in the pipes leading under the burnt district. , a4zss - s@~@ 2t r. The loss is estimated at between eighty
 and ninety millions, some reports placing itlstilIhigher. The property destroyed was stores almost exclusively. being the heaviest business portion of the city. It
 
 was the seat of the wholesale dry-goods,
 leather, shoe, and wool trades, all which
 are ruined, the loss of wool alone being p1aced by some estimates at eight mil lions. .r41. 9srl~z1. z.s, s.ss., srssf c+;lksss
 Mestsof this property was. insured in Boston offices, many of which are ruined, and they. will not pay. over fifty per cent of their losses on the average. Hartford offices will lose about $2, ,OOo, 600 but none of them seem to be endangered. sl.@a .<@
 During the fire .reinforcements to the Boston fire companies arrived from neigh
 boring cities, some even from this State.
 Gangs of thieves are also reported as go ing on from; Few York and many arrests were made. The esconduct of ofcitizens, of ], ficials, and firenen seems to have been