, 1874-07-27
THE LAST FIRE.
Destruction Of the Michigan South
eyn's Oil~Storehouso.
Tho Total Loss Is only About $40, 900.
Possibilities of Serfous Disaster.

EOSS1D1l1Clc8 OF SortOuH DtSlSter.
Chicago narrowly eacapod another targa cou-
| aagrasion yesterday. At about 8 o'o'ook in the
afternoon tho large ono.ato1y brick oil-stoso.
house Of the Michigan Southern 1lalroad was
found to 10 o, fire. heavy black amoke issuing
through orovfcos III tho roof. Bnt. owing to tho
! iniiammnbio nature Of the oontontB Of tho bni11-
Ing 1t mas In ilaneB before tho arrival OF tho irst
ongino, and sovoral froight-cara had also caught
before thoy conld bo hauled out Of tile way.
THE BUILDING AND IT'S uoHrKNTs
Tero doomed from tho beginning and thoro vns
no usc in trying to save them. Tito efforts Of tho
hlo,non woro tl1osofoto matuly tireutod towattls
Bnying tho largo blind, sash and door atorolouso
81 doss $ rh,ll1ps. abpnt 10 lcet north Of the
burning building. and tho two largo elevators Of
llint Thompson i; Co., about 200 foot west.
Nnn,bcrtoBB STREAMS Of uater woro dircctod OF
theAo buildings, md tho s1aks tllst fell on tho
roofn woro speedily extinEuiahud by tho 1renou
blow q stiff bIoozo from tho northeast, driving
tho hpnt and uuleR directly toward the ofoyatorH
Had those caught fro, tic roault would have
been fearful. In such m ovont nothing could
havo, prevented tho obstruction Of Mum .s
8cotts elevator, on tho othor ssdo Of tho river,
md the nnmber1oaa lumbor- yards In that noigh.
borhood. and probably tho whole southwestern
part OF tho city would haso boon endangered.
THE F1NEMEn
fought nobir and we'll and did tl,o'r utmost 10
smothor tho flames which wero Issuing from Tho
burning building, but, In apito Of tboir efforts,
tho flames 11ops springing forth moro furiounly,
that Marshal Bonner about o'clock, m hour
aftor tho first alarm was given, turned in q aoc-
ond ono. additional onginos were soon on the
ground and placed along the river
TO PROTECT THE ELEVATORS.
Owing to tho snlck and black clouds OF smoke,
Which could be Been all ovor tho city, peop,o
generally believed anothergroat contlagration to
be in progress. and almost everybody wont to
seo tho fire. All tue surrounding ntreots were
1llea with dark mass ot humanity trying to got
glimpse Of tho fire, but Tow could got near
enough to 1nd out tho extent OF tho coutlagra-
sion. It ls said that therc wcro about
e00 pARREL8 OF OILS AND PAINTS
Ia tho building at the ttme thu fro broke out.
or thcso 1,20o barrels Tho Company owned
nevonty-dvo, on which there was no insurance.
Tho roBt Of tho oil was owned by private parties,
but it could not DO learned by mhom, OF how
mitch OF 1t, II any, WAS insured.
The oil stored Il, ths building Ia valued about
SO barrol, which would entail
LOSS or ABOUT 37,200
On tho oil alone. At tho time tho fire broke out
thore was train Of empty fro'ght-cara standing
before they could bo hauled out Of
tho way. Tho three destroyed ears uoro
valued ut about 5000 caoh, aud tho damage On
L.
total loss on cars Of about $3, GOO.
THE DUlLDlNa,
which was one-story nnd basement brick wa1
! about quo feet long by 80 foot wide, and waa
valued by tho railroad officers at about ST, 900.
1t waa built hbout fifteen yoars ago, md was
tirat used b passongor-depot. afterwards as m
enssgrant-houso, aud Has finally converted into
an ol-warehouBo. The building waa totally unfit
for such purpose, aud tho city authorities
ahonld mover have permitted the railroad COM
pany TO nsoro such inilaininaIo freight there
Tho ,outsido walls wcro Of brick, but
all the inside fixtures wore OF wood
and the roof was OF folt, with gravel and tar
covering. Bosldos, there was wooden platform
eaten slre from the SPARKS OF passing locomo-
t!Yes at any timo. Adjoining tie northeast cor
nor Of tho building was
SHALL wooDEv SHED,
Whlch RRh uacu for 6ome purpose or other.
botuo say that the fire .brulto OUT In this shed,
but this III Improbable, as the smoke was first
heen Issuing through the windows aud creyices
IN the root. The officers of tho railroad-oom~
Ro So sa ansPs II hs ys s ep t sssy s il ire hssf @
day, except one which passed about three
houfs hot previous to the discovery OF the
f;s ss; onsna Il aighs 10 that spark from
that 1t waa tbs work Of al lncondiary. The total
loss OF the rairond-compauY wiil bo about
,ooo, and the loss Of private parties WHO bad
Oh OIL BLuEAE0 VIII also DC about E{,3pu. making
= total loss Of about $4,000,
FORTUNATELY FOR THE oITY,
tue burned building was almost completely iao-
lated from any other, and WAS aiso only single
story in hoig1t- Indeed, no other building stood
aa1iyThero a'5 neas 1t. except upon tho north. In
50 50 afeet, and facing on 0lark street up to
Twe1sh, stood q block OF brick build
ings, perhaps 150 feot in length. These
Tere s occupied by the Gosa 4 philips hIanufao-
turing Company: Tho northern portion was q
combined, and would haye malo spleudil fuel
Tor the tlames could they havo once obtaiued a
ioot1oid. Tho southern end, next to tho do
.stfos1a y. warehouse, was. hovevor, protected,
tioors. Perhaps, howeyor what was Of moro
encacy than these was tho fact that tho wind
was from tile North, thus carrying Nsmos md
olndera tn an opposite direction. At all events,
,3 n9t th9 alghtout dainago Sas done to tho block
This block, as above stated, atood on tho
southwest oprner Of Twelfth aud Clark streets.
oh TIE coRSEh D1AuoHALLY OPPOSITE
stood s1e clump Of low wooden rookerics which
form continuous line eastward 10 tho lake, sud,
Ind tho wind boon in tho right direction, would
hare BID fair to have started another great con-
migration. y. Win tho Wind from tho westward,
!a,d !ns pfSmlso @ TOT clean swoop to TIC lake would
lii-omeneu Bhautios whose like both in that very
spot a1 aud elsewhere, bad twlca threatened By
tnols own the ctty's existence could at tho least
rejoice at the good luck whioh on this occasion
tailed 70 give these f1ra.trapB another opportuni
ty TO oEginato widespread destruction.
WIN the exception OF tho block on tho north,
the oi!-warehouso was seyoral hundred foot from
any other building. 1t stood In the angle botweou
DOZENS or BRANCHING nA1LAoAD-TRAuKs,
with Clark street on tho cast, beyond which
large numbora Of ftcight-oara were resting on
tlio'r tracks. Still beyond thoso waA the long
ntons frelgat.dopot Of the Company reaching
through to tho street noxt below Twelfth.
Oyer to tho west and southwest, but st distances
OF perhaps 300 foat or more, stood Elevators
:" and -" with another wido breadth Of
caf-traoks botTaen.
Takon altogether, thoro wns an abundance OF
material for grand blaze. hadit beou htl1atods
little nearer to tho oil-honso Tho wisdom Of
tllo ordinance which requires distance OF 80
foet between any such building and any other
was on thsH OCCASION domonatrnted and little
more: The intense heat Of auoh blaze as 1,200
barre's Of oil are able to produce It may be con-
suefod, would quite certainly make little dit1l-
Guilty in iguiting wooden buildings only 80 feet
on.
IF THE WIND WE'RE RIGHT