The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-07-08
DAYS AGONE.
cou,inu,d from nrst pnao

hnmod over Simon's store was m
exchange and law Office of Messrs. Mich
olson n Feuos-ther whole library
many valuable papers and some occoun
books were burned, but the contents "a
their iron safe were saved, over DIR
Thomas drug store was the law Ollie,
of Mr. Phillip IIay-part of librar
saved
The total loss is Nmiously estimated
Some say beEeen two and three hun
bred thousand dollars, and others oyoI
that amount. The destruction was near
~ total and complete Happening al
mn hour when largo majority OF th,
citizens were en- dcShdJWo 20 take an
nlerdnner sicSta, no one was ready IL
save his property. Some saved A few
things by dragging them into the
streets, leaving them there only to be
burnt in few moments, as the flames
surgod down tho wide openings between
the houses and in some instances catch.
ing on fire nearly one hundred wards
ahead of the flames,
The loss of TuE HERALD Office was
complete-printing presses large
amount of new and valuable material, A
large quantity of paper, files of rnE
DALLAS HERALD, important documents
correspondence, letters and the entire
library and furniture. We had barely
lime to save the business books of the
Office before the rush Of fire and smoke
and an intense heat drove us out and
prevented all attempts to save ANYTHING
more. Our entire wardrobe-a very
slim concern by the way; large
amount Of old boots, shoes, hats, gloves
and such like paraphenalia, peculiar to
a bachelors establshment-went glim.
mcrng and left Us sans culott san. son.
tier, ct sans habits, tout suite,
We are indebted to the friendly Off.
eos of our generous neighbor Of the
Mckinney Messenger for the issue Of
this extra. We take this opportunity
to return our thanks for the kindness
shown us and the kind offers of mates
rial aid from our numerous friends It'll
almost reconciles us to our mislortunes
when they prove to us that we have
iimdS on whom we can rely in the
hour of adversely. Such acts of kind
ness and sympathy rob mislortunes of
half their stings. We wish to say to our
subscribers that as soon as we can get
new material, which we have already
ordered, The DALLAS HERALD will APP,
pear again, and we hope that in two
months from the present time, we will
be as large as life again,
The indomtable spirit and energy of
our people are manifested on this try
ingoccasion Our merchants will re-
build, Immediately, larger and better
houses than they had before Messrs
lirsh, Caruth, Shrek Stackpolc, Sim
ons, Smith and Murphy, Fletcher and |
others, we learn, will commence res
building in a short time, There is AIDE
mand for carpenters and lumber and |
brick, especially the latter
Misiortuuesneyer come alone. Du,
ring the fire many Of our strongest and |
energetic citizens became overpowered |
10y the heat and the almost supcrhuN
man efforts made to assist each other,
and many of them fell exhausted, and,
fora time new horror was added to
the rest The courthouse u handsome
brick building in the center of the pub
lie square, was alone saved 10y the con,
slant eXertions OF few spirited indi-
vidu,.ls. The heat was so great that
the curtains on the inside of the wins
dows caught fire through the glass,
The beautiful grove OF trees thatadornN
ed the square, was completely ruined.
On Monday, the 9th instant, the
dwelling house of Mr.. John j Eakins,
one and half miles from town, was
totally destroyed by fire, together with
the entire cOntents-supposed to have
been the work OF an incendiary. 1T is
also reported that there were fires,
about the same time at several places
in the surrounding counties, but our
accounts are contradictory.
The refusal of the negroes to assist
in checking the fire, coupled with the
mysterious burning of MIR. Eakin's
residence and numerous incendiary
fires in the surrounding country,
aroused suspicious which eliminated
in an investigation, the result of which
revealed the details of an CmGWe,
which, had it been contaminated,
would have surpassed In horror the
servile insurrection of San Domingo.
THE PLOT
Deeming that it would be matter
of great interest to the present inhabi-
tanta Of our city to know the history
of this plot, together with the Incl
dents connected with the affair, our
reporter set out on a tour Of investlga-
ton among the older citizens who
were actors in this drama of fire aud
blood. Our first visit was to Captain
lIarwood, and thence to w. w. PEAK,
Obtainingaome information from them
we sought out Colonel John c. Mccoy,
whose memory of the affair was COM
rete, and who kindly furnished us
with the, following succinct account OF
the transactions, in which he was III
active participant;
, A month or six weeks before the fire
i man named Mckinney had been
preaching to the negroes and holding
secret meetings near Judge Hords
place and in other localities. This
had the effect Of making the negroes
Disconnected, and it was observed that
they were becoming affected. The
citizens, fearing an insurrectiop, held
a meeting and passed certain resolu'
tions requesting this man, Mckinney
to cease his practice of talking to the
darkyes in secret meetings, and had