Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-11-19
BOSTON FIRE.
Vivid Description of its Progress

A special despatch to the Chicago
Tribune says;
How the great fire began will per-
haps always remain a mystery. The
first alarm was given about Z O'Clock
en- Saturday evening, when the
flames We're discovered bursting from
the fourth floor Of large fve-s.ory
granite building on the corner of
Kingston and Summer Streets. The
building was occupied by Tibbets,
Baldwin & Davis. dry good jobbers !;
A. X. Young q Co.. manufactures of
skirts and corsets, and Damon Tenn
pie 4 Co., dealers in fancy goods. 1t
stood in part of the city which is
as desoate after dark as Broad ST
is in New York. The heavy dealers
in domestic and foreign dry goods
had their headquarters near here.
A. Il. Stewards great branch con-
Germ was within a stones throw.
Jordan, Marsh 81 Go. have their
wholesale and retail houses close by
j. NJ. Beebe 4 Co, gave their name
to . magnificent block in which they
have carried on q splendid establish
ment. Nearly everybody in thisdis-
trict, where there are no dwelling
houses and few retail shops, had gone
way for the night, and the fire might
have been burning long before it was
discovered. 1t is supposed to have
caught in the engine room and erept
up the stairway. This is a verS
probable theory, tor e few minutes
from the time it was first seen it
was bursting from every floor in the
dwelling. The edifice was crowded
by that curse of all our cities, Man
sard roof Instantly the finder box
ornament was in blaze, and flame
was leaping across the narrow streets
10 meet similar inflammable roof
on the other side. while showers Of
cinders and burning fragments, car
ried aloft by the blast cseated in the
narrow hatchway, fell up on the low
err buildings on either hand. The
alarm was promptly sounded, but
there occurred one of those fatal mis-.
haps which nobody knows exactly
how 20 account for. 1t was thirty
six minutes before an engine arrived
upon the ground. The Boston fire
Departments had a high reputation of
efficiency, and the last two days have
proved that its members in general
have much Of the true heroic stamp
in danger, aud 90 their duty silently,
| as mat er of course, day and night,
until they fall to the ground through
sheer exhaustion. The reason given
for the delay is that the horses were
all sick, and the engines had to be
drawn by hand Even if so, the de-
lay was unreasonable. Besides there
were we'll horses right in Boston, and,
if hacks and horse cars were all run
ming, it can only be through grave
mismanagement that steam fire en-
gines could not run too By the
time the water was brought to bear
the fire and become contiagration.
Both sides of Kingston street and
| both sides of Summer rect were
blazing, making two fire lanes in
which the heat was absolutely insup-
portable. Then the corner building
fell, scattered in every direction, and
the disaster hogan to assume threat
ening aspect. All the engines in Bos-
ton were summoned, and kilograms
for aid from the neighboring towns
The great height Of the warehouses
and the narrowness of the streets
proved serious difficulties In hard
~ any case could stream of water
be thrown upon the back part of the
roofs, and it was on the roofs that,
after the first outbreak, the fire al>
most invariably caught. Nor was it
possible to approach, in these lanes,
very near the burning buildings.
The firemen put up barricades for
their protection but the barricades
were soon consumed. They carried
hose up to the roofs, but the height
was so great that very little water
could be forced through them. Afo
ter awhile some large establishments
supposed to he in flames, were blown
Up. This did no good. The flames
| followed no particular path. There
was moderately strong wind, but
they travelled right in the face of it.
They made their own current of air,
and followed that, now to one side,
now to the other; wherever they
went they found a Mansard roof to
feed upon. Wherever brand was
shot into the air, it had good chance
of fla ling on a Mansard roof. 1t is
the common belief that the MaDsard
roofs have cost Boston SO, 600 900
From the corner of Summer and
Kingston streets tho fire travelled
simultaneously in all directions.
! Southwark, it burned about half a
block. Westward it took both sides
of Summer streets, past Arch, Chaun-
cy and Hawley; and then ran dla-
gonally to near the northeast corner
Of Summer and Washington, sparing
the corner building, occupied by
Robbins, Appleton Il Co, of the
American Watch Company, and AM
drew c. Mudges, fancy goods, but
taking everything at the rear and
side Of it. Thence it ran along the
east side of Washington street as far
north as Milk, that is to say, within
a few feet of School street, where the
Parker House, the City Hall, and
the old corner book store are situat-
ed. On the west side of Washington
street nothing was burned, but many
of the shops were scorched, and the
glass was nearly all broken. From
Kingston street eastward, the fire
took both sides of Summer street
and Bedford and never stopped until
it reached the water, destroying the
wharves and depot of the Hartford &
Erie Railroad. Meanwhile it swept
northward along Devonshire, FEEDER
al and Congress streets toward the
water. There were some tenement