The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-05
THE GREAT FIRE
 oFLoNDoN

Since the beginning of the war many timid householders of London have fearsomely considered the grim possibility of a conf1agration, started by Zeppelins or by German spies. which might destroy the great city. This ominous foreboding was widely prevalent in the early days of the conflict, but the passing of time has brought a feeling of comparative se- curity to even the most nervous of Londoners.
 Although London has been visited . by many confiagrations, that one in it's history which is capitalized as "Tne Great Fire' broke out two and half centuries ago today, Sept. Z, 1866. The facilities for fighting fire were then of the crudest description, and the conf1agration had almost de- stroyed the city. The ruins covered 436 acres, laying waste 400 streets, and consuming nearly 14,OOO oufld- ings. Eighty-nine churches. including St. Paurs, the Royal Exchange, the Guildhall, the city gates. and many public buildings were destroyed. Less than a third of the city was left un- touched by the flames.
 The fire was a blessing in disguise, for up to that time the people had suffered terribly from pestilence and plague, due to the fact that they were densely packed in old wooden houses built along fetid lanes, without any regard to sanitation. The new Lo;.- don that arose on the ruins of the old prvided much more healthful habita- tions, and after its purffication by fire London seldom suffered from such terrible pestilences as had previously been of frequent occurrence.
 Although hundreds of thousands of people were rendered homeless, they took their misfortune with typical English "gameness," if we are to be- lieve chronicler of the time who wrote: 'I then went towards Isling- ton and Highgate, where one might have seen 100000 people of all rangs and degrees, dispersed and lying along by their heapes of what they could save from the fire, deploring their losse, and tho ready to perish for hunger and Restitution, yet not asking one penny for relief, which to me appear'd a stranger sight than any I had yet beheld.'
 The same reporter also wrote of the conf1agration itself:
 "Oh the miserable and calamitous spectacle! such as haply the world had not scene the like since the foun- dation of it, nor to be outdone till the universal conf1agration. All the skie was of fiery aspect. like tha top of a burning oven, the light scene above forty miles round about for many nights. God grant my eyes may never behold the like, now seeing above 10000 houses all in one flame; the noise and cracking and thunder of the impetuous flames, ye shrieking of women and childen, the hurry of people, the fall of Towers, Houses, and Churches, was like an hideous storem. and the air all about so hot and in- fiam'd that at last one was not able to approach it, so that they were forc'd to stand still and let ye flames burn on, wch they did for neere two miles in length and one in breath. The clouds of smoke were dismall, and reached upon computation neer fifty miles in length.
 'The poor inhabitants were dis perse'd about St. Georges Fields, and Moorefields, as far as Highgate, and sevall miles in circle. some under tents, some under miserable hutts and hovells, many without rag or any necessary utensils, bed or board. who from delicatenesse. riches. and easy accommodations in stately and well-furnish'd houses, were now re- duc'd to extremest misery and pow erty"