Year: 1871




We are now able to give the publ
something like a succinct account
the origin, progress, and termination o
this, the most disastrous fire that ha
ever been known on this continent
From various sources OF information VI
have received comparatively full par
ticulars Of the destruction Of c bicago
and although the horrors OF the two
nights and two days during which the
devoted city was wrapped in flames car
never be entirely known, yet enough l:
known to soften even the most obduratt
heart and fill the most unfeeling soul
with pity and sorrow.


1t is not alone the great commercial
METROPOLIS Of the Northwest, the m osl
distinctively American cityin America
ard the largest interior grain market oi
the world that has been destroyed, it is
rather for the time being destruction
of trade itself, to great extent, in the
West, and the unsettling OF values
which We, simply in regard to our com
mercial interests, have now to regret.
But were this all, the trouble would be
but temporary in such a acountry as this.
1t is the shock given to our finer feel
ings by the thought OF all the misery
occasionei by this awful calamity-the
thought Of the many thousand children
and women and men thrown helpless
and despairing upon the charity of
others-roused from their beds at mid
night by the wild alarm Of the fire bell;
and hur7ying into the streets, half clad
and crazy with lear, and with no place
Of safety to which they might fy-it is
such things as these which give the
disaster its most terrible and heart
rending aspects.


At about ten clock Sunday evening


THE FIRE BROKE OUT


in the western division OF the city, at
the corner of De Koren and and Jeffer-
son streets, place than which no worse
could have been found, for the houses
for blocks around were wooden tene-
men,s, as dry and crisp and ready to be
burned as it they had been prepared Tor
that purpose. And they had been pre-
pared. For weeks an almost unexam-
Piled drouth had plagued the West, more
particularly in the neighborhood OF the
city. The prairies were bare and brow q,
the watercourses dried up, the fields
parched almost as il a simeon had swept
over them. In various sections OF the
West and Northwest most dreadful and
unheard Of fires had ragged, in which
thousands upon thousands OF acres oil
forest land had been destro! ed, and the
praires swept as with the besom OF de-
struction. Chicago was like finder,
waiting only for spark to sci it in
flames, and when that spark came it
came in that quarter Of the city which,
more than anyl other, was ready 10 De
acted upon by it.


Then the scene in this quarter Was
terrible, but


ONLY THE BEGINNING or HORRORS
which were soon to come. The wind
had set in from the southwest early in
the evening, and just about the time
when the conhagraton began it fresh
ened, and soon increased in violence
until it became furious gale. The city
fire engires came TO the scene with all
possible dispatch; the tiremen were
almos, worn out with their exertions in
subduing the fre OF the previous even
inc, and even had they been fresh they
could have been OF little avail, Tor the
flames had cot under headway and were
not to be stopped In few minutes
they had extended to adjoining houses,
aud spread like wildtire in 4 northeast
erlv direction The poor people who
occupied the tcnemcnts sprang in az
fright from their beds, and with cries
of terror ran down into the street. Beds
and furniture OF all descriptions were
thrown from the windows and lay
in HETEROGENEOUS confusion on
III" silewak X, obstruc.ing the
passage to and fro OF the fire companies,
and thus preventing what little chance
there hal been OF impeding the onward
rush Of the IRE, aud soon the whole
district, as far down as Van Buren
street, was one sheet OF flame, roaring
and kissing aud licking about piles Of
lumber and rows OF buildings, which
cracked and fell crashing TO the
ground. The sky was lighted up for
miles around, ard the river looked like
a stream OF blood. Hardly had the
famil e. which occupied the district
time to escape with their lives, and as
10 saving their household furniture
which to most OF them was Their all, II
was thing not - be thought Of
Women, halfclad, ran screaming
through the streets, baby in one arm,
while little children chung to them and
whim pered with terror. At every al
tempt to stay the htme- the fi!emen
were driven


BAFFLED AND Dl>HEARTENED,


We, they worked maniuiIy and disputed
the ground inch by inch. over the
furniture which strewed the streets all
went running in the widest confusion,
each person bent only on saving him
self and his family, aud caring nothing
tor MS neighbor. Many in their wild
endeavors to escape were knocked down
and .rampled upon, and some even
killed. Many OF these lsbo7ers-to'
the quarter was mainly inhabited by
people OF that class-wete cartmen and
draymen, and naturally they strove tc
taelr utmost to cave their horses. But
in cases OF fire horses seem to lose al
the instinct which under ordinary cir
cumstances would save item from dan
ger, and stand stock still in their sta
bles, their fauks and sides shaking il
the agony of terror, and utterly refuse


L.