The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-22
GREAT FIRES OF HISTORY.
The Most Destructive Were i'm Rome,
London. Moscow and Chicago.

The four great fires of history were
those of the City of Rome in the tenth
year of the Emperor Nero. or about
siXty-five years a. D., London in 1866,
Moscow in 1872 and Chicago in 1871. OF
these the latter was by far the greatest
and most disastrous, though statistical
details are not obtainable SO closely for
either of the three preceding it. Those
for Rome are especially meager, the his
tOrian TacituS neglecting to state how
many houses and insulae were destroyed
and he notes but briefly the famous
fanes and monuments which were swept
away. The fire lasted for six days, and
just as the wretched people were begin
ming to take breath and visit the ruins
of their former homes a second fire
broke out which lasted three days. In
that respect the conflagratiOn partially
paralleled our own, as the fire which
began here Sunday night was preceded
by an extensive one Saturday evening.
OF the fourteen regions of Rome three
were entirely destroyed, seven others
were injured more or less severely and
only four escaped unhurt. Whether or
not it be true that the emperor played
on his fiddle while the city was burning,
there is no reason to doubt that the
people were so thoroughly eXasperated
with him that he judged it necessary
to divert their suspicious that he had
deliberately set the city on fire in order
to rebuild it to his own glory. So he
saved himself at last by sacrificing the
little band of alien secretaries, already
the objects of their hatred and revil-
ingS, to whom the vulgar gave the name
of Christians"
The great fire of London lasted four
days and nights, reducing to ashes five
sixths of the whole city within the walls.
the population of which was estimated
to be about 200, 900. 1t had been much
reduced by the great plague of 1860.
The area burned over was 436 acres, be-
ing about one-third Of that laid waste
by the fire in Rome. London was re-
built within the next four years on a
much improved plan. The destruction
in Moscow appears to have been COM
plete except the Kremlin, the city hav-
ing been set fire to by its own in
habitantS the night Of Sept. IA, after
which they abandoned it TO the French
troops, who looted il and probably took
little thought for the fate of the II eco
wounded men that were left behind
when the Russian army evacuated the
place. A few years earlier Moscow had
contained about 5000 houses, of which
one-siXth were stone, 3l4 manufactures
and workshops and nearly as many
churches.
The Chicago fire devastated an area
of 210O acres, or nearly three and a
third miles, destroyed II $50 buildings
and rendered homeless $500 persons.
The number killed was estimated at
about 200. The value of the property
burned up was ascertained to have been
about $192, 900, 900 the day preceding the
fire, and the deduction from this for
salvage was variOusly estimated at from
81, 900 900 to $10,000,000. The loss was not
far from one-third of the whole of
property in the city, and only $44 900, 900
was recovered in Insurance. much Of the
property having been insured in home
companies, the assets of which were re-
duced to zero by the calamity. In a
year after the fire a large part of the
burned district had been rebuilt, and
the volume of business was much larger
than before the event, which drew out
practical expressions Of sympathy in the
shape of material aid from all over the
rest of the United States and from many
places in Europe. The whole amount
contributed in money, provisions and
clothing was estimated at not much less
than $1,000. 900, and the magnitude Of
this contribution alone attests that the
great fire in Chicago was regarded
generally as the most calamitous that
had ever been eXperienced.-Chicag
Tribune.