Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-11-22
not much injured, and from there west
ward Water street is safe.


Sunday morning. II seemed to be reason
ably certain that the FIRE had reached its
northern and southern limits, and so the
dwellings in the South End and the banks
and the various money institutions on State
street as well as the business district be-
yond were considered safe. There was
still an unharmed region, however, be-
tween Congress and Brown streets, and
along the water, which was almost cut
off from the rest of the city by the flames.
The fire now burned back, and began to
devour this. All day Sunday and all
Sunday night the destruction went on.
Nothing is left except some of the
wharvos; for, though 1t is said the flames
were only stopped by the water, It is a
fact that they reached the edge only in O
few places, and the stories of the destruc-
tion of shipping are not true.
ON MONDAY.
Between twelve and one o'clock Mon.
day morning a fresh alarm was sounded
at the corner of Washington and Sum-
mer streets, where terrible explosion of
gas threatened for time to carry the dis
aster across Washington street in the di-
rection of the Music Hall; Haveys dry
goods establishment and the two build
ings of Jordan, Marsh & Co. were meH-
aced by this occurrence, but the firemen
succeeded, after several hours hard work,
in confining the destruction to four or
five stores, one of which was the great
jewelry store of Shrieve, Crump & Lowe.
By Sunday noon the fire was said to be
under control. By three o'clock this
morning 1t was entirely checked, and we
whole district I have described, embrac-
ing sixty to eighty acres, not building
remains. The devastation is absolute and
universal. Here and there tottering
wall or tall chimney rises above the mass
of cinders, blackened with smoke, but
there is nothing that can be saved in the
process of rebuilding except bricks and
foundation stones. The granite, espe.
cially, which was the favorite material in
this district, is reduced to fragments. 1t
will only be fit to grind for garden walks.
When Chicago was burned the fire capri
ciously spared edifices in the very midst
of the ruined district, but it is not so
here.
CHARACTER OF THE BUILDINGS DE.
sTRoYED.
The buildings swept out of existence
in day were the grandest of their kind in
the United States. In Chicago there were
acres of wretched wooden structures de.
stroyed, whose removal was, in one sense,
a benefit to the city but here the loss
has fallen upon the most substantial part
of Boston. With the exception of the
region over toward the water, of
which / have already spoken, there
were no poor quarters in this
blackened waste. The great dry goods
houses, wool houses, leather houses, were
all burned here. For years past the pride
of Boston business men has been the cree
tion of some real palaces in this district,
and except for the terrible fault of con-
struction, the use of bad material, and the
prevailing disorder of Mansard roofs, the
result has been magnificent. There was
Winthrop Square, with Beebe's splendid
building, and other structures of the same
class. There was Franklin street, with
its famous architecture. There were
numerous imposing blocks along Wash.
ington street. Of late years the dry
goods jobbing houses have been gradual.
ly moving toward Chelsea, and many of
them, consequently, escaped this
disaster; but the heavy commission
houses, which sell entirely by the pack.
age, all remained. All have gone down,
with, perhaps, one or two exceptions.
Pearl street was the chief leather mart of
New England, and that, too, is swept
away. The most of the wholesale cloth.
ing establishments were here, and those
that have gone employed no fewer than
ten thousand girls. The great wool
houses were all in the burnt district,
and held enormous quantities OF
wool-no less than 100000 pounds;
for trade had been dull The
same thing may be said of the
dry goods houses, which still held large
quantities of unsold winter goods, and
had just taken in an extra summer stock,
also. Wool, dry goods and leather arc
the staples of our best trade. How com.
plete is the destruction you may imagine
from the statement made to me on good
authority, this afternoon, that there re-
mains not one wholesale wool house, moi
one wholesale establishment in shoes, OF
leather, or hides, or hardware or paper
not one type foundry, and only one whole
sale crockery warehouse. Printing
houses and periodicals have gone by the
score.
Only one daily paper was burned out
and that was the Transcript, which lost ts
beautiful new building on Washington
street. 1t has gone back to its old quar-
ters, and appeared this afternoon as usual
Still, about twenty weekly papers have
suffered. The Plot and its establishment
one of the most complete of the kind ir
the United States, comprising stereotyp
ing and book printing house, and occu
pying splendid building, was entirely
destroyed.
OF public buildings, besides those
mentioned, there were few, except ST.
Stephens Episcopal Church, and the
House of Refuge for the Poor connected
with it, and Trinity Episcopal Church
Perhaps there is no city in the worlt
where fire of the extent of sixty acres
could ruin so many magnificent con
Germs.
PRIVATE AND DOMESTIC LOSSES.
You will gather from these statements
that, ,Hwhile the pecuniary loss has been
enormous, the individual distress has
been comparatively light. We have had
none of the heartrending scenes thai
signaliZed the Chicago disaster. Perhaps
100 families in all have been turned into
the streets, but there are hospitable doors
open to them, and they will not starve.
CONFUSION AND INCIDENTS.
During the first night there was, oi
course, terrible confusion, but not much
disaster. Very little property was re-
moved from threatened buildings, be
cause no conveyance could be hired to
take it, Most of the horses were sick,
and perhaps it is we'll that they were, fol
if the narrow streets had been blocked
any more with wagons and drays the dis
order would heve been frighttul. AS il
was, the firemen were crushed for room
and, long before the fire had reached itt
height, the streets were nearly impass
able. A few piles of goods may still be
seen on the Common, and small valuables
were often carried off by hand. l saw
one man, for instance, going off with his
wife under one arm, and the broken foo
of China vase under the other. But, az
a rule, it may be said that the goods in
store were too bulky to be removed, ever
had the fire not very soon cut off com
munication. The loss, therefore, is il
almost all cases total one.
The courage of the people is magnifi
cent. When passed through the burn
ing streets, at two o'clock this morning
found men who had lost everything
urOpino THAR Uau fhrounh tha on, oh "a