The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-04
BOSTON GOT A SCORCHING.
BUSINESS HOUSES GONE upiN SMOKE
The Loss Estimated at From Five TO Ten
Millions s. Insurance Companies Hit
Very Hard-Scenes and Incidents
Many Fremen Hurt.

Boston, Nov. 2s.-The most disastrous fire
from which Boston has suffered since 1872, and
one in which the property loss more than rivals
the great confagration at Lynn Tuesday,
broke out about $3.50 a. m. to-day in the six.
story granite building owned by Jordan, Marsh
& Co., and occupied by Brown, Durrell & Co.,
dealers in dry goods, on Bedford-st, corner Of
Kingston. The great fire OF 1872 broke out at
the corner of Kingston and Sumner-st., and the
alarm Of to-day's fire was runS in from the
same box which did similar duty at 10 p.
on the evening OF Nov. Q, 1872, when the fire
/ fiend broke loose and before being subdued
consumed nearly S1OO,Oo0,OOO of property.
! The first alarm rung in to-day was immedi.
ately followed by the first general alarm in
/ Boston since 1872. To-day's conhagration
ragged for six hours burned over two acres OF
territory covered by magnificent structures.
and entailed loss now estimated at SO, 100000.
The fire was discovered by letter carrier,
1 who noticed flames bursting from the top of
/ the Brown building over the elevator shaft, in
which it evidently originated. This letter car
\ rier notified the nearest police officer, who
sounded the first alarm. As soon as Chief
Weber of the protective department arrived
/ IL became apparent mat n long, naTd ugnt Win
/ the hery element was before the department,
and general alarm was sent out, and this was
soon followed by call upon all neigh boring
cities and towns for assistance. The flames
! were soon pouring from all the windows and
/ the roof of the Brown urrel building. At S-45
| they had spread TO the Shoe d
| Leather Exchange building, another
large granite structure adjoining Brown,
/ Durrell Co., on BedfOrd-st. From
/ both buildings the flames swept in great masses
I DIE 81. aHrNl
4 thence across KiDgstOn-st., along Bedford to
Chauncey-st., where it was stopped In the store
| OF Farley, Harvey & Co., the upper stories OF
which were burned. Three stores along
Chauncey-st toward Summer. were burned.
The burned district begins at Columbia-st
the east and extends two blocks westward
along Bedford-st TO Chauncey-st on the west;
4 on the south side of Bedford-st. the fire con-
sumed the entire block bounded by Bedford,
Kingston, Essex and Columbia-sts. West
ward of this the entire block bounded
/ by Bedford, Kingston and Chauncy-sts., and
| Rowe-p place, and westward OF this the buildings
on Chauncy.st. from Bedford to Exeter-place.
| 1t also badly damaged the building on the
southeast corner of Bedford and Columbia-sts.
/ North of Bedford-st. il consumed the buildings
on both the northeast aud northwest corners
of Bedford and kingston-sts., and damaged
the block at the corner OF Bedford and Chaun-
cey.
The scenes about the fire were replete with
]
prompt in roping of the streets and keeping
back the crowd. leaving ample room for the
| fremen. On every corner engines pulled,
rumbled and emitted torrents of black smoke,
while hose lines by the score lay in
twisted, tangled web up and down
the streets for blocks on all sides
! The territory is bounded by Kingston, Bed.
ford and Chauncey-sts. was the principal
theater of destruction. Here the conhagration
leveled everything. Within an hour after
II a. Ii Ill
structure of Brown. Durel & Co.'s build
ing collapsed with a tremendous crash.
| The flames were darting from doors and
windows and the interior of the block
was glowing furnace. Dry goods and other
cOmbustible materials, with which the floors
were packed, burnt into white heat, Granite
/ crumbled, and iron girders melted away like
| ice. The streams from the engines were cisSi-
pated in vapor before they touched the fire.
Suddenly the cry arose, THE walls are
/ falling Back. back" The crowd
surged back for their very lives
startled by the shout. Firemen dropped their
nozzles and ran to save the apparatus. Great
/ gaps opened in the walls and bricks from cor
niees dropped into the street with an ominOus
| clatter. Three engines and the aerial ladder
and water tower were in immediate danger
/ and their crews buckled 10 the task
/ OF getting them out OF harms way
/ Every moment was one OF peril Masses OF
/ tangled electric wires blocked the wheels OF the
/ desperately attempted to effect a clearance, but
/ it was slow work, and it was by superhuman
/ effort that one engine was alone saved. Lofty
/ walls OF blazing buildings were tottering and the
men were compelled to flee. There a
/ fused and de fleming roar and dense cloud OF
smoke and dust mounted heavenward. When
/ it cleared away, the luxurious palace of trade
/ had vanished, only fantastic heap of bricks,
| shattered stone, twisted iron beams and broken
I columns marking the site Two engines which
I had rfo Rod frr
SITS. still stood upright amid the wreck, but
/ ruined beyond repair. The boiler of No. %
had burst "a monstrous stone tell directly
upon 1t, tiattening 1t out like OF tin.
The machinery was broken and bent, and
/ the wheels and wood work were burned en-
tirely away. It was melancholy spectacle.
The ladder truck was charred and splintered
into a thousand fragments, and the water tower
was smashed into an indistlnguishable wreck.
Viewed from this point of vantage, the scene
was one of thrilling grandeur. Directly oppO-
cite, the towering Ames block, occupied by
/ Taylor Bros, was ablaze from roof 10 base
ment. For a time il looked as though it.
too, would fall, and fremen, police
( Floors fell in with stunning noise, leaving bnt
a mere shell. From this building the fire was
steadily eating its way through 10 Chauncey-st
J despite the thousands OF gallons of water
/ thrown upon it. succession OF sharp ex-
4 plosOns indicated the force of the com
2
rooms and offices, and from the exceedingly
! brilliant flames that continuously darted
/ through the wall of smoke which overhung the
! doomed structures, il seemed that broken gas
/ pipes were playing their part in the confagra
ton.
! The immense stone and iron block occupied
/ by Samuel Williams and Brigham Il Co. on
( tae corner OF Chauncey-st. and Rowe-court
marked the furthest progress OF the fire in
/ that direction. Although apparently fire proof
] as the Alps, it was completely Quilted
On the corner of Chauncey and Bedford-sts
/ the large block occupied by Smith, Hogg &
Gardner and others, was in almost as bad a
/ plight, and the buildings between these two
/ were utterly destroyed. The leaping flames
succeeded in crossing Chauncey-st to the
| upper stories of the huge Allen block
largely occupied by Farley, Harvey & Co.. and
those adjacent as far as ESsex-place.
! Ii was hard to direct streams of water
effectually. and for time it seemed as though
! Westinghouse. might be reached The fire.
men here made grand rally. Many lines of
hose were carried through the stores on Har-
! rison-ave.. the extension of whose rears were
opposite the rears OF those already burning
and the foe was strongly fought. Other hose
| was taken upstairs and used underneath and
/ from windows Bedford-st still
other streams were directed upon the flames,
and finally the further progress of the fire was
| stayed.
A thrilling rescue from immediate death was
made by Officer Charles Maynes of division 2,
\ Officer BENJAMIN OF division Is ard Sleepy"
| the colored attache of City hail. about o: AS
/ o'clock in the building. so Chauncey-st. Ed
/ ward T. WhifinQ a halpod