Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-11-21
,spec,.l Washington Letter.l


81 read with interest An interview
Nth nv late colleague, Senator Petit
grew" said ex Senator Moody. Of South
Dakota, this morning. ~ was particu-
larry interested In his graphic descr'p-
non OF the burning Of Deadwood; but
he did not tell you all about it. The
hero,sm of those people in that frontier
town was unparalleled They rose TO
the occasion and evinced independents
charac,eris,ics which surprised even
me. although was their ncighbor and
friend"
please tell me some OF the Incidents
senator. 49,,
both during and after that dreadful
Are they manifested courage and fear
iessuess which were truly heroic.
From my home on the hillside saw
score OF determined men carrying Kegs
of powder through the burning streets
TO a place Of safety Over ton OF pow
der had been stored in what was ce'
Neved TO be fireproof vault, but when
adjoining buildings were burning some
| of the men feared an explosion, SO they
entered the vault and carried the pow
| der, in kegs. through the streets, While
| IN each side Of them for two or three
| blocks the fires were raging most tern
bly,
| WAS there only one powder house IN
the city,
| mo, there were several. One OF
them was filed with giant POWDER
which was used in blasting oy o"i
miners in the hills. You know giant
powder explodes only by heat and con
cuss,ou. Well. the house in which the
giant powder was stored burned 70
ashes, the boxes containing tho giant
rowder we're burned. and the powder
itself burned without an explosion
There was no conclusion, ana hence no
explosion But, in another vault, which
was presumably freproof, there were
more than two tons of giant powder,
which could not be removed. About
five O'Clock one side of that vault
| cracked with the heat, few Of the
bricks fell in on the powder, and the re-
sul,ant explosion threw the debris OF
| the building over three hundred feet
! into the air Nv residence is about two
hundred feet above the town. on NIL
side and the white bluffs opposite are
nearly four hundred feet high could
see the embcrs, bricks, timbers and
| flooring sailing away up the White
bluffs nearly TO the top of them.
How did the great fire originate
cit started about one o'clock in the
morning in a bakery The flames ex
tended to an adjoining drug store
which soon was wrapped in flames
Some chemicals and oils exploded, ant
when that occurred | knew that TIT
town IVES doomed. I could see the PEG
ME running out of their homes holdin!
little pieces Of wearing apparel o
blankets in their hands; while some Q
them, almost wholly naked, carrle'
little children and buried TO the hill
for safety. My premises were crowde
ali night. and at least four hunure
cauped in my yard. fed over thre
hundred at my breakfast table; IN fat
fed every body who came until my Pre-
visions were exhausted, and then ser
for more"
Were there many people killed?
"Not a single life was lost tt
, alarm was sounded. the bells rang, an
citizens rushed from house to hous
! looking after their friends, SO thu
every body escaped"
You say that when your provision
were exhausted you sent for NOR
Were not provisions pretty high ju'
then?"
ION the contrary, not single con
modify was increased in price by II
- circumstances Of the calamity Flo'
I would have easily brought fifty dolla
l per barrel, but nobody thought OF raj
ing the price Of anything. We Sci
teamsters across the Sioux reserv
ton, q distance Of about two hundrt
miles, to bring provisions to us o.
merchants were obliged to get ever
thing by teams in those days, for y
had no railroad nearer than Pierre, {
the Missouri river. They soon hi