The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-07-17
ANOTHER GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.
sixty Acres burned Over-Loss About
S5,OOO,OOO.

Giles of Chicago by the side of the terrible 9tl
of October, 1871, for on that day fire oc
CURED which, in extent Of territory burned
over and value of property destroyed, wal
second only to the conhagration which burned
up that city three years ago.
The east side of Clark street, south Of
Twelfth. is lined with tumble-down, woe-be
gone shanties, which have made the street
unsighty ever since they were built years
ago. Ever since the great fire of 1871, these
tinder-boxes have been the haunt of the vilest
class Of prostitutes, and swarm of Jew ped.
=, ders and junk dealers. Right in the rear OF
tie shanties that front the street is a narrow
alley. closely bordered by shells of buildings,
reekng with filth and refuse, and swarmine
with crowds of Polish and Bohemian
Jews. who filled the little tenements to over
flowing. Between this alley and Fourth ave-
nue. on the east, the space was entirely COW
cred by these pine rookeries. The most in
hammable material was scattered around in
every direction. Heaps of straw and stable
refuse. piles of kindling-wood, shavings and
boards. were scattered around in the space
intervening between buildings. Many of the
tenements were rag-shops as well az dwelling
ceiling of twenty or more of the frail
structures that fed the fire in its earliest
stages. In this district, the worst in Chicago
for cOntagration, on a windy day. where
every foot of ground was covered with finder
boxes. the fire, which reache such unexpect-
ed and appalling proportions, broke out at
O'Clock in the afternoon.
The fire started in little one-story frame
shanty fronting the alley in the rear of No.
527 Clark street. 1t was occupied by Jew
rag peddler, and one of its rooms was filled
with rags. The same building caught fire ex-
actly two weeks before, and it was supposed
to be the work of an incendiary. The fire
seems to have been first discovered by
woman who occupied a room just west Of the
burning building on Clark street She no.
ticed little jets of flame issuing from the
room where the rags were stored.
No one was observed around the building
and the Jewish occupant, who must remain
nameless for the present, as no one there
abouts seemed to know him, was probably
away on his daily rag-pcking tour. Those
who are most conyersant with the place at
tribute the origin of tho fire either to in
cendiarism or TO the spontaneous combustion
of the rag heap. Many believe that the fire
had its origin in vandalism, and they are
strengthened in their conviction by the gen
eral impression that the fire of two weeks
previous was the work of an incendary. The
exact origin of the fire will not, in all prob
to come. If ever
The woman gave the alarm and box 81 was
turned in at o'clock and 20 minutes. Hardly
a minute elapsed before the Undertook was
wrapped in flames. and the stiff breeze from
the northwest was scattering fragments of
burning wood on the acres of dry pine roofs
to the eastward. Nearly east of the shanty
was the large brick oil refinery of Fitch Broth
ers the interior of which, with its large tanks
of oil. was all ablaZe before the arrival of the
second engine. The heat emitted by the
burning of its inilammable contents was in
tense. and when the walls fell. but few min
utes after the first stream began to play upon
it, the whole neighborhood for a radius of
thirty rods around seemed 10 burst forth in
one simultaneous blaze. just north of the
rag shop was a story-and-a-half barn. filled
with hay. which famed up in an instant, and
the flying wsps of burning hay lit roofs nearly
a block away. With such rapldity did the fire
spread after it was first discovered that two
horses in this barn were burned to death be-
fore they could be rescued.
The eight or ten engines in the first dis
trict were speedily on the ground, and the
most of them took their stations on Clark
street, where Marshal Benner attempted TO
check the northern spread Of the flames.
Engine No. 81 and one other were stationed on
Fourth avenue, and vigorous fight with the
advancing foe was commenced at this point.
In ten minutes after the first alarm the pine
SndnJles stretching tdeLNdlu LONdIu IOuILu
avenue were all afame for nearly square.
AT 4:40 o'clock eleven mi nutes after the first
alarm, Assistant-Alarshal Sweeney turned in
the second alarm, and engines from the
greater part Of the South Division and from
several of the West-Side engne-houses were
soon at the scene of peril. The heat arising
from that half-aCre of blazing pine shantie cd
was terrible, and the breeze stihened as the
heat increased, bearing destruction TO the dry
roofs that lay in the path of the destroyer for
rods ahead. A large part of the augmented
fire force was concentrated on Fourth avenue,
halfway between Taylor and Twelfth streets,
where they worked with terrible energy 10
stay the advancing ei.emy. In 30 minutes
after the first alarm, the roofs of the buildings
on Fourth avenue were all atire, for width of
a dozen buildings north of 2S5. At4:51 o'clock,
eleven minutes after the second alarm, the
general alarm was turned in by Assistant
Marshal Petrie. The last alarm brought to
the spot the entire fire force of the city. AT
the time the alarm was struck seven of the
West-Side engines were at small fire on the
corner of Ashland avenue and Iwenty-second
street. and they were thus retarded nearly
half an hour. In less than half an hour the
engines that were posted on Fourth avenue
directly in the path of the fire were compelled
to beat retreat All succeeded in beating a
retreat excepting engine company No 81,
the color9d company of the force, who
DELAYED a minute too long, and the flames burst
ing upon them before Lney nhu dJIacleu Itelr
horses TO the engine they were compelled to
abandon it, and the handsome steamer was
warped and twisted into mass of half-melted
iron and steel in the fiery furnace that girdled
il. The fire had swept diagonally across the
block to the corner of Taylor street and
Fourth avenue. and was rapidly eating its
way through the remainder of the block
fronting on Clark and Taylor streets. The
Marshal stationed number of engines on
Clark street, and every effort was made to
stay the northern progress of the flames along
that thoroughfare. Bat the shanties from
which poured swarm OF fallen women, laden
down with wardrobes and furniture, were ripe
for destruction, and no sooner had the tor
rents OF water extinguished the fire in one
building, than the roof of tinder-boxes still
further TO the north would burst into flame.
But the most of the Marshal's attention was
directed to the front of the fire, and every
energy was exerted be stay its eastern march.
At the corner of Taylor street and
Fourth avenue large amount OF hose
was concentrated and every effort was made
to keep the fire on the west side OF the
avenue. But the driving wind was laden
with burning brands, which lit on the roofs
beyond and kindled them in an instant. The
Olivet Baptist Church was the first building
TO go on the east side Of the avenue. In
little over an hour after the first alarm, the
fire had swept over the space between Clark
street and Third avenue, and had reached
Polk on the north.