The Northwestern standard., 1886-04-03
GREAT FIRES OF HISTORY.
In New y Ork, Chicago
Boston and Other Cilies s

4
Neutrality-suspicious. In New York, Chicago
1 Boston and other Cities 5
i New York has had its share of the great
4 fires of history. AS far back as 1741 there
4 was a conflagration which was traced to
/ tincendiaries, and seven persons were
! hanged. In 1876 fire destroyed 493
houses in Broadway, laying an eighth OF
the city in ashes. Two years later flames
/ which started on an East River wharf, de-
\ stroyed 800 buildings. In December, i SO4,
forty warehouses in Wall and Front streets
were burned. The conflagration of 1885
destroyed the business portion Of the city
east of Broadway and north of Wall street.
Six hundred and forty-elght large ware
houses were burned, and the loss was es-
1 timated at SIS, 100000. In July, 1916, the
same district was visited by another fire.
attended with a loss of 5,o0O,000. In 1S4s,
! 500 houses in Brooklyn We're destroyed by
| fire.
San Francisco was destroyed by fire
about twice a year regularly from the
time Of the discovery of gold in iS49 till
1852 owing to the crowded condition OF
the wooden houses. Columbia, the capital
of South Carolina was burning when Sher-
man entered it Feb IL, 1865, and very lit
| tie was saved. Richmond was fred when
the Confederates evacuated it in April,
1865, and the entire business portion OF the
city was burned. Charleston, S. O., was
| reduced to ashes in 1851 by an accidental
| fire, and in 1865 there was fire, followed
by an explosion Of a war powder magazine
and 200 persons were killed. Portland.
Me. was half destroyed on July 4. 1866,
| by fire which started from the explosion
| of fire-cracker.
The most destructive conf1agratlon
which ever occurred in the United States,
was that of Chicago, Oct. $40, 1871. 1t
broke out in a shed near the lumber yards
in the southwest part of the city. The
legend is that Mrs. O'Leary's COW kicked
over a lamp when young people went out
to milk her at night in order to make an
oyster stew. The confiagration swept over
2, 100 acres, destroyed 17,450 buildings,and
9s, 500 persons were made homeless Two
hundred people were burned or killed by
By falling buildings. The loss was
S19s, 900, 900.
Boston was in 1872 visited by a confa
grafton second in extent only to that in
Chicago. 1t began Nov. and ended Nov.
II. Seventy acres were burned over, and
800 buildings destroyed. The value of the
property burned was ss0,0oo,0o0. Fifteen
lives were lost It was said to have been
started by hod-carrier dropping coal
from his pipe. London, Paris, Yeddo,
Constantinople, Moscow Copenhagen, and
Carthage, Bagdad and Nineveh have also
been licked up by flames in their time.
November, 1885, will long be remembered
by the citizens of Galveston on account of
their great confagration.
The Printer.
A printer is the most curious being liv-
ing. He may have bank and coins, and
not be worth a penny; have small caps
and have neither wife nor children.
Others may run fast, but he gets along
best by setting fast. He may be making
impressions without eloquence: may use
the I've without offending and be telling
the truth While others cannot stand
while they set, he can set standing, and
even do both Mt the same time; use furni-
ture, and yet have no dwelling; may
make and put away pie, and never see
pie, much less eat it, during his life; be a
human being and a rat at the same time;
may press a great deal, and not ask
favor; may handle a shooting-iron, and
know nothingof a cannon, gun, or pistol
He may move the lever that moves the
world and yet be us far from moving the
globe as hog with his nose under a mole
hill; spread sheets without being house
wife. He may lay his form on bed, and
yet be obliged to sleep on the floor. He
may use the I without shedding blood,
and from the earth may handle the = 4.
He may be of a rolling disposition, and
never desire to travel He may have
sheep's-foot, and not be deformed; never
be without case, and knows nothing Of
III
errors, and growing worse every day; have
em-~A--s without ever having the arms of
lass around him; have his form locked
up and at the same time be free from Jail,
watch-house, or any other confinement.
An Awful Calamity.
An old negro, with an air of utter dejec-