Connecticut western news., 1874-08-07
WHAT FIRE IS LIKE.
Interesting Description of the Great Fire
 in Chicago by an Eye Witness.

Q Interesting Description of the Great Fir 3 in Chicago by an Eye Witness.
 A Chicago correspondent of the N Y. World writes of the fire as follows {: f " As the fire was brought under con , tzol at point after point, the engine , came galloping up and were brough z into position till some thirty-five wer ranged about--a park of water artillery The flames made final effort to cros Michigan avenue. Had they attacked
 the Matteson and Gardner Houses anG the hve-story blocks adjoining, no hu
 man power could save the Palmer House and the Exposition building, and iron this foothold there would have beer
 naught more easy than to creep insidi
 ously through the palaces of trade ol
 to leap across the river into the north
 division and repeat the work of 1871
 It was the charge of Ehe Old Guard al
 Waterloo for empire or defeat, and the
 tiremen whose work, after Harrison
 street was abandoned, compensated fol
 their earlier errors and shortcomings,
 met the furious rush with steady de.
 termination. The roar and hiss of the
 flames as they Tapped, lowered up,
 rolled over each other in fiery pillows,
 made inaudible all other sounds. In
 deed, people had got quiet, and no
 longer yelled and rad madly to and fro
 in causeless panic or excitement. All
 along the streets where it was possible
 to crowd or cling, and upon the roofs
 and at the windows were faces, faces,
 faces. The ruddy light that made win
 dews of lofty houses in the suburbs
 glare as if they were illuminated, and
 at distance of three miles west made
 brevier type legible and faded the street lamps to ghastly white smears, brought out these faces in strong relief, while the bodies of the spectators could not
 be seen. There was on all the faces
 but one regard-a look of intentness, a concentration upon one place and thing such as will, perhaps, be seen on the last day ere it gives way here to ecstacy and there to agony. One way the avenue was paved with binders the other it glowed like a fiery furnace, seven times heated.
 Compared with the roar of the flame the busy Babel within the line of the human party to the strife was unno- ticed, the whirr of engines that vomited
 black smoke and tingling sparks into | the air, the hiss of water from bursting | hose that turned to steam in the air (which was no longer air but fre), the hoarse orders of men who moved en- veloped in clouds of moony vapor such as enveloped King Arthur when he passed forever from the sight of the fair, false queen. The fire sallied fu- riously from it's fortress, but from tenn porary barricades of charred and smok- ing boards, hastily put together as l shelters, the pipemen met it with Q steady volley. Again it fared madly out, and for 8 moment made good it's footing on the defended block, but 8 we'll l-directed stream brought down the leader of the forlorn hope. And yet once again the fire belched out furious ly like dragon of gigantic bulk seek ing to overwhelm it's opponent, but white, shining, slender as sword 8 stream of water was plunged into it 1; there was hiss and hutter the fiery pillows receded for 8 moment the blackened wall was exposed half 8 dozen streams fell on the same spot. Where flame had gone up in livid sheets, only sullen smoke ascended. The fire hung out steaming flag of truce at quarter past twelve, and with a great shout of triumph the crowd, silent and stationary hitherto, poured away to catch late cocktail and the twenty minutes to one car. T
 Con hardly believe that Eastern city readers would take much interest in an attempted description of the "scenes and incidents of the fire. One fire differs from another fire in magnitude, and Chicago fires differ from all other fires in intensity, and this fire differed from all other Chicago fires in tbis last regard. A full report would be full of the stock incidents, most of which are probably false. It runs within my memory that in 1871 the local and for eign press combined to establish lynch law-so many lamp-posts so many pen. dant incendiaries-and prefer to wait till |" the third day after" when truth, like a drowned body, should come to the surface. There were the usual dis plays of personal heroism in the saving of babies, and of personal idiocy in leaving babies behind. There were probably four or five deaths from ex- plosions, falling walls, and neglect. Marrow escapes galore. Instances of great personal sagacity and calmness innumerable. have seen at least thirty men whose advice, if followed, "would have saved the city, sir" Thrilling incidents that specially im- press themselves on ones memory at | such a time-not many. Robbery and incendiarism nothing to speak of, and | drunkenness comparatively little.
 Taken as an aggregate the little Chi cago fire was worth describing. Re- | member that it turned into the streets 4,OO0 or 5, ,O00 people, including an un- usually large proportion of women, and | that almost all of these were of those nationalities and occupations that give most thorough vent to their excitement. Given the streets over which the fire is raging with indescribable rapidity, houses bursting everywhere into flame, barely time to catch up something and fly into the street, and on attempt ing to return finding the house flame instantaneously changing to a puff of smoke and an ember. People 500 or 1000 of these houses with prostitutes, negroes, Celts, Poles. Italians, all ter rified out of their wits. Now, let these all rush into the streets this with the leg of chair !; that with jug; the next with lot of dishes and clothing tied up in quilt, and carrying bird cage one woman carrying child under each arm, with two clinging to her skirts another shrieking for her child, her child, and all the while flying from the place where she left it; Cyprians with all their wardrobes on their backs, and though abominably drunk, scared into decency, and only able to mutter with lips made doubly white by their flaming cheeks, My God my God P the ejaculation by hiccough- ing the popular refrain
 Walk off on your ear, O!
 Germans and Swedes, in tears and seeking advice and assist