Year: 1866

w . ItuAEilEo lAt AOlAOhluE uEEtTlpLlDA
r of the great Detroit FIRE of Thursday
5 night from the Detroit papers of Friday.
t The Tribune says;


As We write, the freight and passenger
y depots of the Michigan Southern and
t | Northern Indian, and of the Detroit and
? | Milwaukee Railroads, and the freight
e depot of Great Western Railway Of


Canada, are mass of smoking ruins


The boundaries of the burned tract arc


from Brush neatly to the foot of Hastings


street, and from the river to Atwater


street. The ferry steamer Windsor lies
q charred wreck upon the bank of the
river, her burning having the momnful
accompaniment of the loss of human
: life. The destruction of property is
) immense, and probably exceeds that of
the recent FIRE at the Central depot 1t is
impossible to estimate it accurately at
) present, but there can be no doubt that
the aggregate will amount to fully
sl,0OO,eoo.


THE MAIN FIRE.


Owing to the great confusion incident
to the occasion, it is of course difficult to
ascertain with absolute certainty the
origin Of the fire, but there seems 20 be no
doubt as TO the locality. From the most
reliable sources we learn that there was a
quantity Of kerosene oil Upon the dock
near the ferry landing, under the westerly
end of the freight shed. One barrel, it IS
said, was leaking very badly, and caught
FIRE from lamp carried by one Of the
workmen.


PROGRESS OF THE FLAMES.


The fire originated, as has been stated,
at the westerly end of the freight shed
proper, and spread with fearful rapidity
in almost every direction. In remark
ably short space Of time. the freight sheds
OF the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway
on the east from one end 20 the other
were a mass of burning ruins, and the |
| flames swept along the deck, consuming |
the freight sheds Of, the Michigan South |
ern and Northern Indiana RAILROAD, to- |
! gether with ali their contents. The entire |
depot grounds to the eastern end were |
consumed. The fire also spread to the |
passenger shed of the Detroit and Mil |
waukee and Southern Railroads, taking |
in its way the building used for storing |
baggage, the Southern and Milwaukee |
ticket offices, and omnibus baggage room.
| The freight depot of the Great Western
Railway, filed with freight, the large brick
passenger depot, with all its contents,
including waiting, dining and baggage
| rooms and offices were consumed. All
the buildings save the last named were
wood. The flames were not got under
control till after midnight.


Loss OF THE WINDSOR.


The steamer Windsor was built some
nine years ago, by DR.. Geo. B. Russell,
and has been fer nearly the whole Of
that period employed in Transporting
freight between the Detroit and Milwau-
kee and the Great Western terminus.
She was, We believe, the property Of the
latter Company, was a trim boat, and
great favorite with excursion and picnic
parties, in which service she was frequent
ly employed during the summer season.
She was Of about 400 tons burthen, if we
mistake not.


ON FIRE.


She was unloading freight at the dock,
just opposite the main entrance to the de-
pot premises, when the fire broke out in
her immediate vicinity. In moment she
was in flames, and the escape of many of
the hands on board of her forever cut off.
Ii is believed that one or more persons
were burned to death upon her, but we
have no definite account of such horror.
\ number are known, however, to have
thrown themselves into the river and been
drowned. Our reporter spoke with sew
eral persons who saw the unfortunate
men struggling in the water. Mr.. Ashley,
clerk Of the Philo Parsons states that he
counted ten hats floating in the river.


In short time the boat got loose from
the dock from the burning of the hawsers
that moored her, and gently foated down
with the current, keeping meanwhile close
to the dock. Ere she had gone far, boy
was discovered hanging to the rudder, or
as some say, to one of the braces that sup
port the guards, and was, with some diff
entity, taken eff by some men in boat.


Several Of the crew and hands of the
Windsor were saved by the tug Kate
Moffat, and few saved themselves by
swinging and climbing upon the dock.


The Windsor, now a mass of flames,
drifted down, greatly jeopardizing the
buildings, docks and vessels lying Just be-
low. Between Bates street and Wood
ward avenue she hung fer shorttime to
the dock, setting the latter on fire, but
this was speedily extinguished. just be-
low Brady's dock the Homo Insurance tug
Magnet and the little Clara were lying,
These Immediately attempted to get out
into the stream but the fiery hulk was upon
them. The Clara lay outside, and was
Just missed by the bow of the Windsor as
she swung around her beam to the cur
rent. It was a narrow escape. But the
Magnet, unable to move an inch, aud Of
much greater length than the Clara was,
for moment in extreme danger. The
burning mass just grazed her side and
then, as by this time means were perfect
ed for towing the wreck out into the cur
rent, it slowly moved away from her,
greatly to the relief of the hundreds Of
people that thronged tho dock and the
deck of the tug.


At an early stage of the proceedings,
efforts were set on foot TO attach a line to
the Windsor, with the view of getting her
away from the dock and crowd of vessels
that lay just below, but it was not until
she had passed Brady's warehouse at the
foot of Woodward avenue that the line
securely connected her to the ferry boat
Detroit, which at once began to haul her
off. She was taken diGgonally across the
river and finally beached about midway
between Windsor and Sandwich, on the
Canada shore When towed of her smoke
stack was standing, but all her upper
works were burned down level with the
main deck.


Great apprehension was felt by the
crowd along the dock of the explosion of
the Windsor's boilers, and once quite q
panic seized the throng, which were push
ing and tumbling down Atwater street,
each man, woman and child seeking TO
placethe greatest possible distance between
themselves and the fsncied approaching
catastrophe. But the boilers were located
in the hold of the steamer, and the FIRE be-
ing principally above the main deck, did
not reach it.


STATEMENT OF ONE OF THE wINDsoR's


CREW.


One poor fellow-name unascertained-
newly employed workman on the Wind
sor, informed our reporter that the boat
was lashed TO the dock for the night Cap
tain Clinton had recrossed the river to his
home in Windsor. The boat was in charge
of the mate. He saw the fire when it
started. Men were working on the dock
passing back and forth among a number
of kerosene oil barrels. Suddenly fame
burst from one of them, looking as though
the whole contents of the barrel had shot
up in one solid mass of fame against the
roef of the building. This volume of burn
ing oil was instantly thrown over that
part Of the depot and on to the boat. Be-