The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-12-19
cALvEsroN's GREAT FIRE.

Description ofthe Conflagration by an Eye
The city of Galveston was visited by ter
rible conf1agration on the 18th ult., which
DESTROYED 568 houses, entailing loss OF
about 100000 and rendering homeless
1000 families, comprising between 4OOo and
5000 souls, four-ffths of whom were left en-
tirely destitute. Relief measures were at
once instituted throughout the country, and
more than 100000 has been subscribed
for the purpose of supplying the sufferers
with the necessaries of life.
The burnt district covers an area Of forty
seven squares in the heart of the city, ex-
tending from near Water street on the
north, to Avenue o on the south, distance
of sixteen blocks, and reaching in the latter
direction within four blocks of the Gulf.
The eastern limit of the district is Sixteenth
street, the western is Twenty first street, Its
average width being three blocks.
young gentleman residing in Calves
ton writes graphic description Of the con
f1agration to resident of Donaldsonville,
and we avail ourselves of permission to
print the following extract from his inter
esting narrative:
81 had worked until o'clock that morn
ing, and was sound asleep when the alarm
was given. Aroused when the fire threat
ened the whole city, rushed to the scene
the grandest, most terrible and awful / ever
witnessed. just imagine a sea of flame
majestically sweeping along i'll monstrous
tidal wave, literally engulfng everything in
its path. and you have an idea of the fire.
Strange to say, however, there was no noise,
no confusion. calm spirit of resignation
seemed to pervade all. Not voice heard
above whisper-the silence was as awful
as the vail of the winds and the cracking
of the flames. There was none of that roar
SO mistakenly accredited to great fires. It's
advance was steady and irresistible. The
populace had fled long before its coming.
and stood passively by watching its deyas-
tation. There was no weeping or wrlnglng
of hands-none of those outwards signs of
great grief or disaster. The misfortune
was so great that the average mind seemed
to fail in conception of what it all meant.
Actually, saw people who had lost virtually
everything they had in the world and who
next, laugh as they gathered together their
little belongings saved from the general
ruin It was new side to human nature,
which I, with all my experience, had never
dreamed of. 1 watched the reaction and
failed to see at the end any lack of the same
cheerfulness which had characterized them
as whole at the beginning. can only &C
count for it on the hypothesis that great ca
lamities blunt the sensibillties with the very
force of their crushing weight.
The grandest sight of the whole fire was
when the flames crossed Broadway. Broad
way is the central street running east and
west. 1t is $50 feet in width. When the
fire reached the north side of the street it
stopped for moment as if to gather
strength. Then it reared itself aloft, high
in air, and darted halfway across the street.
Again it shot forth only to again fall short.
The heat was blistering. The houses on the
south side were smoking. Then a long
tongue of fame reaching out from the great
mass, which fosted poised in mid-air, sep
arated from its body and licked the fronts
of the doomed dwellings. At its first touch
the shrivelled paint ignited, and responsive
flames sprang forth, in the very face Of the
wind rolling north, back to the main body.
There was perfect archway of fire as they
met overhead and then, growing denser,
the flames lowered until, like blasts from
the furnace of hell, they swept across the
level of the street in solid sheet of fame"