New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-12


Office, occupying the block between Milk Water
Devonshrc and Congress-sts. 1t was Of beautiful
granite, with iron beams, and had cost thus lar
S1,5C0O00 The roof was not on, and tho floors were
not laid and there was no woodwork about it except
the scaffodng. Tho Milk and Congress-st. sides
and pant Of the Water-st. front arc ruined
by the heat, but the building itself
did not burn, and it prevented the
fire from spreading any further north-wcstward. IL
stands now. however. a conspicuous example Of the
defects of granite as n building material The stone
has crumblod and split like lime when ii is saked
The streets are heaped with fragments finer than
gravel, and IwMkmen are creeping along the cor
nices and balconies throwing off the pieces when
threaten to fall. 1t is supposed that nearly thld
Of the building viii have to come down. Opposite
on Water-st, is the building Of Tie Post newspaper
That caught fire. but was not much injured. and
from there westward Water-st. is safe.
SUBSEQUENT DISTINCTIONS.
Such was the condition of things on Sunday morn
ing. II seemed TO be then reasonably certain that
the fire had reached itsnoIthern and southern limits
and 80 the dwellings at the South End and tie banks
and various moneyed institutions on Safest, rs
well rs the business district beyond, were considered
safe. There WAS still an unframed region how
ever between Congress and Brcad-sts and along
The water which was almost cut OF from the Iost
of the city by the flames The fire now turned
back and began to devour this. All Gay Sunday and
all Sunday night the destruction went on. Nothing
is left cxcept some Of the wharvcs for though it Is
commonly said the flames were only stopped By the
water il is 4 fact that they reached the edge ony IN
n few places and the stories OF the destruction OF
chipping are not true. Between II and 1odock,
Monday morning, a fresh alarm was sounded
mt tho corner Of Washington and SummeT-sts,
where terrible explosion, Of gas threat
cned for q time 10 carry the disaster
across Westinghouse. in the direction Of Music
Hall Hovers's dry goods establishment and tho
two buildings of Jordan, Marsh & Co., were
menaccd ly this occurrence, but the Gremen sue
ceeded, after several hours hand work in combining
the destruction TO four or, five stores one of which
was the great iewclry store Of Shrcvc, C7lmp &
Low BY Sunday noon the fire was said to be under
control BY 8 o'clock this morning it was entirely
checked, and we were able 10 consider the losses.
EIGHTY ACRES COMPLETELY DESTROYED.
In the whole district have described, embracing
co to S0acres. not building remains. Tho dcyasta-
ton is absolute and universal. Here and there
to,tering wall or tan chimney rises above the mass
Of cindeIs blackcned with the smoke, but there Is
nothing that can be eaycd in the process
of rebuilding, except bricks aud foundation
stones The granite especially, which was
the favorie material in this district, is reduced TO
dust and fragments II viii only be tit to grind up
for garden walks. When Chicago was burned the
fire capricousy spared many Cdiices in the very
midst of the ruined district but it is not so here.
As far as / can learn everything has gone COM
pletely as if the whole region had been converted
into a furnace.
UNUSUAL VALUE OF The BUILDINGS DESTROYED.
The buildings tins swept ont Of existence in day
were the gTandest Of their kind IN the United States
In Chicago there were acres Of wretched wooden
structures destroyed, whose removal was III one
sense a benefit TO the city; but here the loss has
fallen upon the most sGbstantf''' c raoion
over toward tho water Of which l have
already spoken there were no poor quarters in the
blackened waste. The great dry goods hOusce, wool
houses and leather houses were all here. For years
past the pride of Boston business men has been the
erection of commercial palaces in this district and,
except for the terrible fault 81 construction
the use Of bad material and the prevail
ing disorder OF MansMd T3ofS-the result has
been magnificent. There was Wnthrop-square, with
Beebe's splendid building and other structures of
the same class. There was Tanklin-st. with its
famous architecture. There were numerous impoS-
ing blocks along NashingtOn-Et. OF late years the
dry goods jobbing houses have been gradually NOV
ing toward Chelsea aud many Of them conse-
qucutly escaped this disaster. But the heavy
commission houses, which cell entirely by
the package, all remained, and all have gone
down. with perhaps one or two exceptions Pearl-st.
was the chief leather mart of New-England, and
that too is swept. The most Of the wholesale cloth
ing establishments were here, and those that have
gone employed no fewer than 10000 girls The great
wool houses all in the burnt district and held
enormous quantities of wool, no less than million
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, aud had just taken in an extensive
Summer stock also. Wool, dry goods, and
leather are the staples Of Boston trade.
How complete is the destruction, you may
imagine from the statement made to me on
good authority this afternoon, that there remains
not one wholesale wool house. not one wholesale es-
tablshment in shoes, or leather or hides or hard
ware, or paper not one type foundery and only ono
wholesale crockery warehouse. Printing houses and
periodicals have gone by the score.
NEWSPAPERS BURNT oUT-PUBLIC BUILDINGS coz
sUMED
Only one daily paper was burned ont and that
was The Transcript, which lost its beautiful new
building on Westinghouse. Ii has gone back to its
old quarters and appeared this afternoon as usual.
But about twenty weekly papers have suffered. The
Pilot establishment, one of the most complete
of the kind in the United States, COM
prising n stereotyping and book printing house,
and occupying a splendid building. was entirely
destroyed. OF public buildings besides those have
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 world
where a fire of the. extent of sixty acres
could ruin 80 many magnificent concerns.
You will gather from these statements that