The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-07-31
l.ets~. fr.,,. Chicago.
CnIeAao. Jnly %. 1874.

corner, wliete he will strain his +
eyes in every direction expecting
to see great ire Then ir he is I
fortunately situated enough TO see
four horses galloping up tie
street pulling a steamer, the half |
q dozen firemen on the machine
meanwhile yelling and whistling
through their fingers, and the po-
licemen vehemently shouting and
swinging their clubs to clear the
street for the dashing fire fighters.
he will naturally feel like clapping
his hand over his hat and rushing
after them 10 ''see the fire.
Bnt after ne has been in the city
while he will learn that Just such
events occur every day, and will
be surprised to see the throngs in
the streets unconcerned after the
department has gone by so that
they are in no further danger of
being run over by them. Scarce
ly day pasees without the sound |
of from or. to three alarms in Chi
cago. In most cases they are false.
In the balance the fire is out be-
fore q person can get to it, unless
he happens to be near its origin.
Even if there be pretty large fire
but few people know anything
about it until they see it in the
papers. It takes hours for the
news of Il great fire to spread
through the city, and as the tele-
graph does it all, points miles and
even hundreds of miles away will
get the aews as soon as the people
can who are but few blocks from
the scene.
/ Chicago has had two fires, how
ever, that were different from this
) general rule-such as Il lifetime
might not witness again. But q
few minutes after the last one be-
gan, heavy explosions occurred
which startled people half a mile
away. a man came running into
our office, which is ten blocks from
where the fire started, and cried
, out: "Clark street is all on fire up
at 18th! Don't you hear the ex-
6 plosionp?"
ran up as fast as L could, for
! my family was but four blocks
east of the fire. 1t had not
: spread widely yet, but the oil re
finery that was burning kept ex-
ploding, and water would not
= quench burning oil.
) The papers say u great dea
1 about the fire department. They
did everything that could have
, been done A line of steamer:
was thrown clear about it, but :
solid mass of low frames were full
! |
ed the width of Il block, and whii'
8 the Games, did not shoot up high
: they swept about like Il might,
: prairie fire before II gale. Tn,
: firemen in the narrow alleys il
It front where reckiessly brave il
remaining as long as they did
long enough to lose two Of thei
engines right near the commence
ment You who have seen a grea
! prairie fire sweeping before higl
it wind can appreciate the situation
G of those men who undertook t
l. fight the fire from the front. An'
# yet the papers blame the fire mar
shall because he did not keep a.
: his force there and stop the fire.
" 1t did not move so fast as ! ex
pected it To, and the main sigh
while the fire was in the wooder
= portion was in seeing the immens
"a jam of wagons, carts, and othe
IS vehicles engaged in moving GU
II the families. Every street wa
@ blocked with them.
II When the fire got over into thu
y big buildings on State and Wa
i bash, the scene became grand an'
awful in the extreme. The blow
i ing mp buildings, falling of higl
walls, terrific popping and crack
:, ing of stones and constant thun
der of the dozen of fire engine
: made the earth literally shake.
3 took my family down to the lake
t in Lake Park, as soon as it wa
: certain we were ont of danger
s where we watched the fire until
O'Clock in the morning 1t was :
hard sight to witness the squads 0
devoted men who strove to saw,
= their houses from the approachin:
. flames, and in some cases they re
s manned upon their roofs unit
< they were completely envelopcd il
: the thick smoke and fire.
e The grand finale, when the fir
e was ''cornered'' in great six-stor,
t block between Wabash and State
e and thirty or forty steamers pour
: ed their combined vengeance up in
to it from the steets, and down in
to it from the surrounding roofs
8 was the most cheerful sight of all
C The water ran down the streets Il
: big brooks. The comparative de
8 struction to the city is less over
n whelming than most outsiders ap
n pear to think. Chicago covers an
area of 22,400 acres within the
city limits, while the fire swept
over but about so acres. Most
of this was old, cheap wooden
buildings. The loss of one
J. good building in Efnporia would
amount to about as great a relative
loss to the town as this fire does
r to Chicago. But the moral effect
i is great, as there are scores ofoth-
er places IN the city where just such
= fires are imminent. r.
NORTHWEST.
F1dorado has watermelons, wild