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PRICE FIFTY CENTS.
®
AND ITS
DESTRUCTION
A HISTORY OF THE
GREAT CONFLAGRATION
A Full and Graphic account of its Destruction by Fire
on the 9th and 10th of November, 1872.
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHED BY
"W^IZLT^IA-lUl FJ-.ITSTX Sc CO.,
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and Atlanta, Ga.
1872.
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n ail^-
HISTORT
OF TnE
GREAT CONFLAGRATION;
OR,
BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
EMBRACING
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT
AND PROGRESS TO DATE:
TOGETHER WITH
A FULL AND GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF ITS DESTRUCTION BY FIRE,
Oth and 10th of November, 1872.
J 7
]
V
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
PUBLISHED BY
WILLIAM FLINT & CO.,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.; CINCINNATI, OHIO; SPRINGFIELD, MASS.;
AND ATLANTA, GEORGIA.
18T2.
Ft3
.5
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
WILLIAM FLINT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE.
♦
The aim of this work is to give a connected and
concise history of the great fire in Boston on the 9th
and 10th days of November, 1872, by which, to use a
vigorous expression, the very vitals of the city were
consumed. This great disaster has no parallel in
modern history, save in the single instance of the
destruction of Chicago. So rapid a spread of the fiery
element, so immense a destruction of property, such
universal and wide-spread suffering, is rare, indeed,
and for this, let us be thankful. In this work,
we take up- the whole subject, and set it forth in
graphic details, presenting an account of the origin of
the fire, its spread, and final arrest, a careful resume
of the losses, and of the effect upon the business com-
munity, the incidents accompanying the calamity, and
such other. facts as will interest and inform the general
render. Nothing of value has been omitted from its
pages.
(iii)
CONTENTS.
Boston. Its Early Settlement and Progress.
A History of the Famous City 19
Its Early Character 21
Down to the Revolutionary Period 22
Troublous Times 23
The Destruction of Tea 24
In the War 24
In 1812, and during the Rebellion 25
Its Commercial Importance .20
Growth 28
The Qreat Fire. Its Origin and Progress.
A Clear and Connected Narrative 31
The Flames leaping from house to house . . . .32
Behind the Barricades 33
A New Terror 34
More Business Blocks Invaded 37
Winthrop Square Invaded 38
Alarm at the Hotels 40
Blowing up the Buildings 40
The Police and the Thieves 42
The Crowds 43
Saving Goods 43
Meeting of Citizens 45
Irresistible March of the Flames 45
The Fire checked in the South 46
Northward . . . 47
A Noble Work 48
Old South Church • • -49
Towards State Street 50
The End 51
Another Account ^
Merchant Princes and Laborers alike Beggared ... 52
" Boston shall be Rebuilt " 55
(5)
6
CONTENTS.
" We must Have still more Help"
Nothing but a Deluge from Heaven
The Blowing up of Buildings
Flames would Overleap the Vacancy
Every One seemed Perfectly Frantic
The Energetic but Exhausted Firemen
Fifty Streams poured upon the Ancient
Colors of the Rainbow .
Congress Block Enwrapped .
The Sub-Treasury of the United States
"Bad! Bad!! Bad!!!" .
An Account by an Eye Witness .
The Burning Building
The Gale
The Streets .
The Explosions
Suffering or Destitution
Tabe
nacl
. 56
. 57
. 57
. 58
._59
. 59
. 60
. 61
. 61
. 63
. 63
. 64
. 64
. 65
. 66
. 66
. 67
Scenes and Incidents.
The Crowds upon the Streets. Terror of the People . . 68
The Engines 69
A Panic 70
Ludicrous Incidents . 70
Incidents of the Fire 74
Heart Rending Scenes 70
Boston Common 77
A Molten Network 77
Terror of the Women 78
Among the Poorer Classes 79
A Wild, Wild Night . . ' 80
Old Buildings Destroyed ........ 81
A Cheerless Sabbath Morning 83
How the Helpers were Received 84
After the Worst was over 84
The Gallant Firemen 85
Boston by Candle-light 87
Viewing the Flames on Saturday night . . . .87
Hard Work for the Newspaper Men 96
The District Burned — Where the Fire Originated — Interest-
ing Historical Reminiscences — The great Business Houses
and Institutions Destroyed . . . . . . .97
Pearl Street . ". .99
Boston stands first .- .99
CONTENTS. 7
Jordan, Marsh & Co.'s Store 10")
Macullar, Williams & Parker 101
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association . . . 101
The 4k Transcript" 103
The Heavy Losers.
Alphabetical List of the Losers by the Fire, with the amounts
in many cases 103
The Insurance.
The Losses by the Great Companies and their Effect upon
the Business 113
Philadelphia Companies 116
Suspensions 116
On General Business 117
A Boston Voice 118
All the Old Boot and Shoe Houses Destroyed . . . 119
Among the Cinders.
The Feeling among the Sufferers
Unprotected Property
Opening the Safes .
Temporary Occupancy of Fort Hill
Recovered from Thieves
The Temporary Post Office .
Removing the Ruins
A Safe with $150,000 in it intact
What is said of Mansard 'Roofs
The Relief Movement .
Aid from Abroad to be Accepted
The Startling News.
How it was received throughout the Country
In New York .
In Philadelphia
In Washington
In Chicago
In Indianapolis
In Detroit
In Hartford
In Springfield, Massachusetts
121
121
122
122
123
123
124
124
127
129
130
133
132
134
137
133
139
140
141
141
DIAGRAM OF THE BUB
^)D DISTRICT OF BOSTON.
>
BOSTON.
ITS EARLY- SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS.
A History of the Famous City.
Of all American cities, Boston has long been the
most universally admired one. To the cosmopolitan
features of New York, it adds the staid and conserva-
tive traits of Philadelphia, overcasting both with a
layer of intellectual culture, and aesthetic refinement.
The courage and enterprise of Chicago, the venture-
someness of New York and the whole American spirit
are combined in its commercial pursuits, savored with
a probity that has made the honor of its merchants
proverbial. The intellectual centre of the nation, its
halls answering to the groves of Athens, where Soc-
rates taught philosophy, and whence came those divine
works of the ancient Greeks — its hold upon the affec-
tions of our people is peculiar. We admire it for
being what we are not, for the possession of those
qualities denied us. We can realize from these facts,
the wide spread consternation with which the Ameri-
can people awoke on the beautiful Sabbath morning
of November 10th, 1872, to hear that one-third of this
famous old city was in ashes ; that its great commer-
2 (19)
20 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
cial palaces were crumbling to dust, its historic treas-
ures being swept away and the old land marks of early
American patroitism effaced. It was the oldest of
American cities, and perhaps the richest of them all
in historic recollections; the proudest and in many
respects the most cultured and intellectual ; the birth-
place of Franklin, John Adams, Hancock and Warren;
the scene of the first battle between the patriots and
the British soldiery; the home of Webster, Everett,
Sumner and Emerson, and the other great lights that
illume the nation's past or present.
Fortunately, however, later news modified the first
wild reports, and relieved the national suspense.
The first was limited, and naught but the business
portion of the city was consumed. This occasion fur-
nishes us an opportunity for a brief reference to the
history of the New England metropolis. Although in
the race for supremacy, it has been surpassed by other
cities, its growth has still been remarkable. Its exis-
tence too has not been so checkered as that of some
others; but it has had, nevertheless, an eventful experi-
ence which, culminating in the great conflagration,
(the subject of the work) has almost the charm of a
romance. The first settlement on the present site of
Boston was made in 1630 by a number of the emi-
grants wandering southward from Salem, their landing
place. The Indians called the place Shawmut; the
first white men, from its geographical conformity, Tri-
mountain. The aboriginal name and the white men's
title were both discarded, and Boston fixed upon, on
the 6th of September, 1630, in honor of the English
ITS EARLY CHARACTER. 21
birthplace of one of the inhabitants of the colony, and
of the old home of many of them. The first settler
was a Mr. William Blackstone, who sold his rights to
the new comers, and withdrew to Rhode Island. The
town soon became the centre and metropolis of Massa-
chusetts, and, ther fore, of all New England. It grew
rapidly, and prospered. Towns sprung up all around
it, and in 1630 we read of a muster of militia on the
Common, in which a thousand able-bodied armed men
took part. In 1674 there were fifteen hundred fami-
lies in the town, and one hundred and twenty thou-
sand white inhabitants in New England.
Its Early Character.
A view* of the quaint little city in the latter part
of the seventeenth century, is afforded in a book pub-
lished in London in 1699, descriptive of a visit to the
New World. The writer says, " that kissing a woman
in public, though offered as a courteous salutation,
was visited with the heavy punishment of whipping
for both the offenders." There were even then " stately
edifices, some of which have cost the owners two or
three thousand pounds sterling," from which fact the
author thinks " that a fool and his money is soon
parted ; and set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride
to the devil, for the fathers of these men were tinkers
and peddlers." Mr. Daniel Neal, who wrote a book a
few years later, found M the conversation in this town
as polite as in most of the cities and towns in England,"
and he describes the houses, furniture, tables and dress
22 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
as being quite as splendid and showy as those of the
most considerable tradesmen in London. These re-
marks— the one rather ill-natured, and the other, per-
haps, too flattering — show the bent of New England
character even at that early date, and th° most ordi-
nary of minds can, from them, logically trace the
growth of the present Athens.
Down to the Revolutionary Period,
Our young metropolis steadily extended its limits and
commerce. In 1700, there were forests of masts in its
harbor, and in 1719, twenty-four thousand tons of ship-
ping w?ere cleared from the port. At this time it was
the wealthiest and most populous city upon the conti-
nent. It had its moral and intellectual growth also.
The early Puritans were God-fearing people, and
churches and schools were reared contemporaneously
with, their dwelling houses. In 1704, the first news-
paper published in the colonies, appeared here under
the name of the Boston News Letter, and two years
later occurred the birth of Benjamin Franklin, the first
great American journalist, and of the great men whose
names shed lustre upon the rugged pages of our coun-
try's early history. The town continued to grow, and
its people to increase. Harvard College was founded,
more newspapers were printed, intelligence spread
abroad, and independence and patriotism were formed.
TROUBLOUS TIMES. 23
Troublous Times.
This hurried review brings us down to 1770, about
which time began that series of incidents that resulted
in the War of Independence and these United States
No part of our history is more interesting, none so
useful to posterity or in shaping the sentiments of the
generations that have sprung from the loins of the
men who fought the first battle of freedom on this
continent. Boston was now a great town, the centre
of a wealthy and prosperous State. Its people were
citizens of no mean city, and proud of the fact. For
long years before the final acts of aggression of the
mother country aroused their indignation to the point
of open resistance, they had resented with force and
feeling, the constant interference in their home affairs.
In 1747 the city w^as the scene of a great riot,
caused by an outrage of certain British naval officers
in impressing the freemen into the service of his
Majesty. The Stamp Act followed, and then March*
1170, came the Boston Massacre, growing out of the
hostility between the citizens and the soldiery. The
funeral of the victims brought together a vast con-
course from all parts of New England, and gave the
press, earnest for the cause of the people, a new text
upon which to base their attacks upon the home gov-
ernment and appeals to the people. The next out*
burst of patriotism was
24 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
The Destruction of Tea
in the harbor. The ships having " the detested tea"
on board arrived the last of November and the first of
December, 1773. Having kept watch over the ships
to prevent the landing of any of the tea until the six-
teenth of December, and having failed to compel the
consignees to send the cargoes back to England, the
people were holding a meeting on the subject on the
afternoon of the 16th, when a formal refusal by the
governor of a permit for the vessels to pass the castle
without a regular custom-house clearance was received.
The meeting broke up, and the whole assembly fol-
lowed a party of thirty persons disguised as Indians
to Griffin's (now Liverpool) wharf, where the chests
were broken open, and their contents emptied into the
dock. The secret of the participators in this affair
has been well kept, and it is doubtful if any additional
light will ever be thrown upon it.
In the War
Boston played a prominent part, and suffered in pro-
portion. General Washington topk command of the
American army July 2d, 1775, in Cambridge, but did
not attack Boston for many months. During the
winter its hardships were very great. On the 4th of
March, 1776, the Americans took possession of the
Dorchester Heights, which commanded the harbor,
and General Howe's position becoming perilous, he
evacuated the town on the 17th of December. No
DURING THE REBELLION. 25
attempt was made to recapture the town during the
war, and it emerged from it the first town in the
country ih point of wealth, if not of population. It
immediately entered upon a course of prosperity which
has continued with few interruptions down to the
present time.
In 1812, and Luring the Rebellion.
The most serious interruption to its general pros-
perity was the war of 1812, Avhich, like nearly all New
England, it opposed. Massachusetts then owned
nearly one-third of our commercial marine, and the
Embargo Act of 1807, out of which the war grew, was
a serious blow to her interests. Boston, however,
liberally responded to the call for troops, and played
an active part in the struggle. Her harbor was the
scene of the celebrated battle between the Chesapeake
and the Shannon.
Again, during the rebellion, Boston, having been
one of the foremost communities in opposition to sla-
very, was a leader on the side of the Union in this
war, in which she only took part by furnishing men
and means to carry it on at a distance, and in support-
in^ it by the cheering and patriotic words of those
who remained at home. Her history is that of Mas-
sachusetts. During the four years of conflict, the city
and State responded promptly to every call of every
nature from the General Government, and furnished
troops for every department of the army, and money
in abundance to carry on the war and to relieve suf-
fering in the field. Boston alone sent into the army
26 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
and navy no less than twenty- six thousand one
hundred and nineteen men, of whom six hundred
and eighty-five were commissioned officers. Boston
retained its town government until 1822. The sub-
ject of changing to the forms of an incorporated city
was much discussed as early as 1781, but a vote of
the town in favor of the change was not carried
until January, 1822, when the citizens declared, by a
majority of about six thousand five hundred out of
about fifteen thousand votes, their preference for a
city government. The Legislature passed an act in-
corporating the city in February of the same year, and
on the 4th of March the charter was formally accepted.
The city government consisting of a Mayor, Mr. John
Phillips as chief executive officer, and a City Council
composed of boards of eight alderman and forty-eight
common councilmen, was organized on May 1st
Its Commercial Importance.
During the last half century the commercial impor-
tance of Boston has experienced a reasonably steady
and constant development. The industries of New
England have, in that time grown to immense propor-
tions, and Boston is the natural market and distribut-
ing point for the most of them. The increase of popu-
lation, and the still more rapid aggregation of wealth,
tell the story far more effectively than words can do
it. In 1790 the population of the town was but
eighteen thousand and thirty-three. The combined
population of the three towns of Boston, Roxbury,
COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 27
and Dorchester at intervals of ten years, is given in
the following table;
Yo;"'- Population.
1800 30,049
1810 40,386
1820 51,117
1830 70,713
1840 ....... 107,347
1850 163,214
I860 212,746
1870 . . . , , . . 250,526
The valuation of real and personal- property in the
last forty years shows a still more marvellous increase.
The official returns at intervals of five years show :
Fear. Valuation.
1835 $79,302,600
1840 . . , . . 94,531,600
1845 "..... 135,948,700
1850 . . • 180,000,500
1855 241,932,200
1860 278,861,000
1865 371,892,775
1870 . 584,089,400
In 1 840 4he average amount of property owned by
each inhabitant of Boston, was less than $900, but in
1870 it had increased to an average of more than
$2,300, and the value of all the property in Boston is
more than seven times as great as it was thirty-five
years ago.
28 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Growth.
The growth of Boston has, notwithstanding these
very creditable figures, been seriously retarded by the
lack of room for expansion. Until the era of railroads
it was impracticable for gentlemen doing business in
Boston, to live far from its corporate limits. Accord-
ingly it was necessary to " make land " by filling the
flats as soon as the dimensions of the peninsula began
to be too contracted for the population, and business
gathered upon it. Some very old maps show how
early this enlargement was commenced; and hardly
any two of these ancient charts agree.
During the present century very great progress has
been made. All the old ponds, coves, and creeks have
been filled in, and on the south and southwest the
connection with the mainland has been so widened
that it is now as broad as the broadest part of the
original peninsula, and the work is not yet finished.
In other respects the improvements have been im-
mense. All the hills have been cut down, and one of
them has been entirely removed. The streets which
were formerly so narrow and crooked as to give point
to the joke that they were laid out npo» the paths
made by the cows in going to pasture have been
widened, straightened, and graded. Whole districts
covered with buildings of brick and stone have been
raised, with the structures upon them, many feet. The
city has extended its authority over the island known
as Noddle's Island, now East Boston, which was almost
uninhabited and unimproved until its purchase on
GROWTH OF BOSTON. 29
speculation in 1 830 ; over South Boston, once Dor
Chester Neck, annexed to Boston in 18' '4 : and finally
by legislative acts and the consent of the citizens, over
the ancient municipalities of lloxbury and Dorchester.
The original limits of Boston comprised but six hun-
dred and ninety acres. By filling in flats eight hundred
and eighty acres have been added. By the absorption
of South and East Boston, and by filling the flats sur-
rounding these districts, seventeen hundred acres more
were acquired, and lloxbury contributed twenty-one
hundred acres and Dorchester forty-eight hundred.
The entire present area of the city is, therefore, ten
thousand one hundred and seventy acres — nearly
fifteen times as great as the original area. Meanwhile
the numerous railroads radiating from Boston and
reaching to almost every village within thirty miles,
have rendered it possible for business men to make
their homes far away from their counting-rooms. By
tnis means scores of suburban towns, unequalled in
extent and beauty by those surrounding any other
great city of the country have been built up, and the
value of property in all the eastern part of Massachu-
setts has been very largely enhanced. These towns
are most intimately connected with Boston in business
and social relations, and, in a sense, form a part of the
city.
THE GREAT FIRE.
ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS
A Clear and Connected Narrative.
On Saturday evening, November 9th, 1872, about
seven o'clock, a fire broke out in the large five story-
granite building Nos. 87, 89 and 91 Summer street,
Boston. The fire commenced with great fury. Before
a mere handful of spectators had reached the spot,
enormous volumes of smoke and flame were issuing
from the rear of the structure. This was surmounted
by the inevitable and dangerous Mansard roof, fatally
overtopping all the surrounding buildings. Soon as the
flames began to extend to the story under the roof,
when there was not a solitary^ engine or hose carriage
on the ground, the flames were bursting from the rear
and lower stories of the building. In less than twenty
minutes the entire broad front, extending, for one
hundred feet along Kingston street, was covered with
flame. The Summer street front was at once in the
same condition. The intensity of the heat from the
fire in Summer street was so great that the firemen
were driven from the neighborhood. Then to com-
plete the trouble sprang up a strong wind from the
northwest.
(31)
32 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
The Flames leaping from house to house.
The buildings in the vicinity were all of granite,
four stories high, and each surmounted with a Man-
sard roof, none of them being over five years old.
The detached splinters flew readily as the air was
warmed by the terrible heat, and soon flames began
licking the Mansard roof on the opposite side far,
above the reach of streams directed upon it from all
quarters. Fire was constantly in the air, and one
building after another caught on the roof, and flames
skipped lightly along from one window sill to another,
so that in less than thirty minutes every cheek was
blanched as it became evident that the whole city in
one direction was at the mercy of the flames, which
were leaping gayly from roof to roof and from one
building to another. The second building to succumb
was directly opposite to that in which the fire first
broke out, and was occupied by Mafin, Mullen & Elms,
Harding Brothers & Co., Bowen, Moors & Co., George
Licle, Carter. & Co., and Conant Brothers, all wholesale
dealers in dry and fancy goods. This was at the cor-
ner of Otis place. The heat now became infernal.
The streets ran rivers of water, and * every moment
was heard the sound of granite blocks exploding and
falling in the streets, making them impassable. The
firemen were driven from one station to another, and
many engines were kept nobly at work, while hydrants
were used by hand hose. The engineer could only
hold his place while a stream of water was kept play-
irg upon him. Blocks of granite weighing tons, were
THE GREAT FIRE : ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 33
split as if by powder, and hurled across wide streets,
and planks went flying through the air as if they were
feathers.
Behind the Barricades'
The firemen erected barricades and worked behind
them, but they were burned almost as soon as erected.
An hour had hardly elapsed before it was evident
that Beebe's block, the finest business structure in the
city, built of granite, five stories in height, with Man-
sard roof over all, must go. Within thirty minutes
the flames were coming out in fiery billows from every
window, and up the stairway leading to A, T. Stew-
art's rooms was a perfect column of flames. This
building served but as fuel for the flames. Pieces of
dry goods went whistling across the square, lodging
on the window sills of the magnificent stores on Devon-
shire street. Beebe's block stood a solid wall of
granite, several minutes after the inside fell, but the
heat warped it, and two million dollars soon lay a
heap of stone, bricks and mortar. A hurricane now
raged, and owing to the intense heat and perfect sleet
of coals it drove everything before it. Every building
wTas now heated as if in a furnace, and caught like
tinder. Four story granite blocks seemed like
shavings, and deafening explosions were constantly
heard.
3i BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
A JYeiv Terror
was soon added to the Babel of confusion. Tenement
houses at the upper end of Federal street were fast
being licked up by the flames, and women crazed and
fainting were rushing to and fro, carrying children,
clocks and bedding in their hands. One ran scream-
ing through High street with a stove funnel in her
hands, while another was tugging a large chest which
would have been a heavy weight for a strong man.
Now and then a few pieces of goods might be saved
by volunteers who ran in and spent five minutes, dur-
ing which they could work, in bringing out perhaps
a hundred pieces of cloth. One man, Marshal Cotter,
got out $25,000 worth of kid gloves, and had them
placed on the sidewalk in a damaged condition. He
offered a hackman $500 in vain to take the goods to
a place of safety. In less than an hour die had to flee
for his life, and the flames were not again cheated of
their prey. The fire was now in Federal street, and
the wool houses were going like oil factories, they
could not have been attacked at a more dangerous
time, crammed from cellar to garret with goods. Hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars' worth were on hand that
might have been delivered to customers had it not
been for the horse disease. In one store alone there
were a hundred thousand dollars' worth of wool
stored, which was awaiting delivery. - Minor, Beal &
Hackett had their store packed full, having only put
their winter stock in three hours before the fire envel-
oped it all. March Brothers & Fierce had just put
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND FFOGRES3. 37
tlreir winter goods in the cellar and sent their summer
goods up stairs to be made up. The paper warehouses
came next. With the end of Federal street went the
majority of the large city dealers. It had been hoped
that the fire could be stopped short at Franklin street,
but the stores there were as vulnerable as any other.
Freeman's National Bank went at ten o'clock, and an
hour later the National Bank of North America was
in as bad a condition. The only place where the
limits of the fire were reached is on Summer street,
where the fire began. It swept in a northeasterly
direction from there.
More Business Blocks Invaded.
The fire, communicating from roof to roof, crept
steadily up both sides of Summer street. From and
opposite the Everett block, the following buildings
were reached and destroyed in rapid succession:
Brick swell-front, occupied by A. Folsom & Sons,
floor cloths and oil cloths; George H. Butler, hair
goods ; and Eugene Chapin, commission merchant.
Granite block — Morse, Hammond & Co., hosiery and
gloves; Stiles, Beale & Homer, wholesale clothing;
S. Klous & Co., hats, caps, and furs ; Struckcr
Brothers, hat and cap manufacturers ; Wyman &
Arklay, imported goods and linens ; Ewing, Wise &
Fuller, linens and white goods ; Kothwell, Luther,
Potter & Co., clothing; Mitchell, Green & Stevens,
clothing. At this time — about ten o'clock — the flames
burst from the top of a building on Arch street, a
dozen doors removed from Summer street. Almost
3
38 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
before the existence of the flames in this quarter was
known, they had spread down through the building,
and were bursting in a perfect torrent from all the
windows in the front of the fancy goods store of
Hawley, Folsom & Martin. The fire spread to each
side, enveloping the stores of Thomas Kelly & Co. ;
D. Mi Hodgdon, clothing ; March Brothers, Pierce &
Co. ; Miner, Beales & Hackett, all of which were
quickly blazing. At ten o'clock, the whole roof of
the Everett block was a sheet of flame, sending high
into the air a column of fire, smoke, and lurid sparks.
Having thus gained perfect control of the Everett
block, the fire stretched its arms across the narrow
Arch street, and moved rapidly up towards Washing-
ton street, taking in the establishments of George
H. Law, Brett & Co., wholesale clothing; and
Messenger & Co., dry goods; Edgerton & Gilman's
dining rooms; Chaffee & Whitney, sewing silk; Lee,
Tweedy & Co., dry goods ; Lewis Brown & Co.,
kid gloves ; Mareau & Co., commission merchants ;
Seavey, Foster & Bowman, agents of the Canton Silk
Mills ; Kettle & Jones, commission merchants ; Price,
Tuck & Co., thread and trimmings ; Porter Brothers,
commission merchants; Nicholas & Sons, imitation
hair.
Winthrop Square Invaded.
At the opposite end of Summer street, near the
junction of Bedford street, among the buildings
destroyed were the following: Ileyer Brothers, import-
ers of fancy goods; Gilbert Lovejoy & Co., woollens
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 39
(No. 92); John Cotter, hosiery, gloves, &c. (No. 102).
Winthrop square, the very centre of the great whole-
sale trade of the city, embracing some of the most
costly mercantile buildings ever erected in this country,
and occupied by such great firms as James M. Bebee
& Co., Stewart & Co., Anderson, Heath & Co., and
foity or fifty others, was, before ten o'clock, one mass
of ruins On Kingston street, No. 14, occupied by J.
A. Hatch & Co., commission merchants ; the next was
Nos. 16 and 18, occupied by Claik & Blodgett, com-
mission merchants, and Mellen & Goodwin. The
other buildings on Kingston street were dwelling
houses, and were all destroyed. About eleven o'clock,
the scene in Lincoln, Essex, South, Federal, and other
streets in that immediate neighborhood, was one of the
saddest sights of the night. Hundreds of men,
women, and children were hurrying along, laden with
every variety of household goods. Behind them the
roaring flames, lapping up their houses before they
could get half or a quarter of their goods into the
street. The fire extended on both sides of Lincoln
street. On Hussia wharf, all the buildings, mostly
used by rag, paper, and junk merchants, were
destroyed. There were no vessels lying at this wharf.
At Bobbins' wharf, a schooner was destroyed, as were
the aoal sheds, and a large quantity of lumber on the
pier. The wharf of the Hartford and Erie Railroad
Company was burned, and the passenger station of the
corporation on Broad street, at the foot of Summer
street, was destroyed.
40 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Alarm at the Hotels.
At two o'clock in the morning the fire had not made
much headway on Kingston, Columbia and Lincoln
streets, in the southerly direction, but had slowly
burned along the ends of those streets, making progress
however, over Broad street, to the water front. All
through the South Cove district, where wooden build-
ings are numberless, many steamers were in busy play
and action to prevent the spread of the fire sideways,
and so keep it out of a thickly populated portion of
the city. The United States Hotel was the first and
nearest public building in the sideways line, and being
in evident peril, its boarders and occupants became
apprehensive of their danger. Some little confusion
and considerable excitement ensued among them, but
not to the extent of preventing most of them from
displaying much more than ordinary activity and great
celerity of movement in removing their trunks, valises,
carpet-sacks, valuables and persons to places more se-
cure from visitation by the fire fiend. A walk to Sum-
mer street revealed that the fire had then extended on
the south side as far west as Hovcy's dry goods store,
the upper portion of the building being on fire. The
wind had moderated some, but the fire, nevertheless,
appeared to be fast eating its way towards Washing-
ton street.
Blowing iij) the Buildings.
By this time it had become evident to all, that in
spite of the utmost exertion of the Fire Department,
the flames were gaining. There was then no alterna-
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 41
tive left save to blow up the streets closing to those
already sheeted with flame. At two o'clock this was
done. Chief Engineer Damrill, who had hesitated at
adopting so costly a remedy, hesitated no longer.
He established a cordon round the streets leading to
Milk street, driving off the gazers with the police.
Soon, the measured tramp of the United States marines
was heard, as they marched up Washington street
from their quarters in the Navy Yard, and they rein-
forced the over-worked police. To this combined
force was soon added a column of citizens under the
leading of Mayor Gaston and Gen. William L. Burt,
with Alderman Jenks and Col. Sheppard as subalterns.
And now they took charge of all the streets leading to
Milk, and about three o'clock, the Engineer's Depart-
ment, under Damrill, aided by the marines, laid
charges of powder in the cellars of the south side of
that street. In a few minutes the roar of numerous
explosions was heard, and, though women grew pale,
and children began to cry at the terrible sounds, yet
they were nevertheless dearly welcome, for they indi-
cated that the position was fully realized, and that the
conflagration was being fairly choked. Three more
explosions were heard, and immediately a large block
in Devonshire street was blown partially into the air.
Then came the turn of Federal street, and quickly a
great gap was made in that fine street. A wealthy
merchant, who was working like a Hercules, was ob-
served to be shedding tears silently, and some one
reproached him for crying so much for his money.
"It is not that," he said, with a sigh, "but I saw Paris
42 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
after the raging of the Commune, and these ruins
brought back that scene of blood and desolation to my
mind. I was sorrowing to think that there should be
such a sight in dear old Boston. Bat there is no crime
here. This is misfortune." At four o'clock the re-
mainder of Devonshire street was blown up.
The Police and the Thieves,
Despite the terror that prevailed there were present
in the crowds many thieves, who began their nefarious
operations. Thefts were numerous and were commit-
ted with perfect impunity for a time, as it was abso-
lutely impossible for the police to distinguish owners
from thieves, all being loaded alike with portable
property. Now and then a well-known face would
be recognized by the detectives and the thief arrested.
These were isolated cases, however, and the value of
the plunder secured by this depredatory class must
have been enormous.
The Crowds.
Men and women from every part of the city came
from their homes to see the fire, but before they
reached the vicinity, the confusion that existed in all
of the lending streets, gave them an impression of
terror few will ever forget. It was, indeed, a startling
scene for those who arrived on the ground after mid-
night, fur the new-corners had no preparation, and
were utterly bewildered by the confused noises and
distraction that existed among those who, having
THE GREAT FIRE : ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 43
large interests at stake, had been present at the fire
from an early hour.
The scene at the corner of Milk and Devonshire
streets, down toward Federal and up in the direction
of Washington street, was a terrible one. Nobody
could stand within three blocks of the burning masses,
so the fire had full possession of the buildings within
its grasp. As each edifice took fire from its neighbor,
the flames seemed to devour the contents in a simile
moment, and so the torrent of flame grew in strength
and power with terrible velocity.
Saving Goods.
The merchants, meanwhile, had fully realized the
situation, and those who had goods in stores contigu-
ous to the flames had begun to remove them as early
as two o'clock. Pearl street was crowded with teams
laden with the most costly merchandise, thrown hur-
riedly in and without any covering. It was a scene of
terrible confusion. Merchants, trying to be calm in
the midst of the turmoil, were giving orders with ap-
parent sang fr oid, though with faces tortured with an
anxietv "which the lurid light of the conflagration
brought out with cruel force. Teamsters were swear-
ing at the terrified horses, only partially under con-
trol, and the whole quarter was full of an activity that,
at the first glance, seemed aimless. But there was an
order and discipline under the confused surface, and
soon the vacant lots in the Fort Hill district began
to be dotted with costly articles, piled up in great
44 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
glittering heaps, guarded by the rnilitia and by volun-
teer citizens. Of course, the small boys were equal
to the occasion and pilfered when they couM, refusing,
with impudence, liberal offers of payment if they would
make themselves useful.
The ladies, in many cases, were bewildered by the
noise and bustle around them rather than by cowardly
fear, or even by natural timidity, and did some things
that provoked a laughter in spite of the awful charac-
ter of the situation. One went about with a package
of lace in one hand and a Lisle-thread stocking in the
other, entreating the workers to help her save her
property, which she seemed powerless to designate.
Another threw out large superb mirrors from the
third story, and carefully lowered a china jug by a
rope. Some shivered in silence on the stone steps,
liu&'jni]": their babies to their breasts, and one answered
to a gentleman, who wanted to save her property, "Let
it burn, sir; I've saved my baby, and my husband is all
right in New York."
Much property, no doubt, was saved, but there were
districts where the onset of the flames was so exceed-
ingly fierce that all efforts to rescue goods were b?aten
back by the fervent heat, and the unfortunate owners
were compelled to see their possessions vanish in flames
before their eyes. Notably this was the case in Oliver
street and around about the wharves and the ware-
houses in the vicinity, down to beyond the Hartford
and Erie bridge. Here all was burued without ex-
ception.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 45
Meeting of Citizens.
Shortly after two o'clock ,a meeting of citizens was
held in the Mayor's parlor in the City Hall. His
Honor Mayor Gaston being present, add Chief Engi-
neer Hamuli occupying the informal presidency. On
motion of General Wm. L. Burt, a detail of citizens
was authorized to take charge of all the streets lead-
ing directly to the fire, and have exclusive control of
them, with the assistance of the police, with authority
to take any action which they might see fit in the
emergency. The detail consisted of General Burt,
Alderman JVnks, CoL Shepard, and other well-known
citizens, and each one had control of intersecting
streets, with full liberty to use powder in the stoppage
of the flames, in case it should be considered expedient,
and with the consent of the Chief Engineer of the
Fire Department. It was also authorized that in case
of necessity the military should be called out.
Irresistible *J\larch of the Flames.
By four o'clock the fire had extended from Wash-
ington street on the west, to the wharves on the east,
and from Milk street on the north, to the Hartford
and Erie Railroad Bridge on the south. The area of
burned buildings being roughly reckoned at the time,
at two hundred acres. The estimate of a prominent
real estate man was, that the buildings would average
twelve dollars per foot for this area, and, therefore, we
have accordingly a total loss in buildings alone of
$100,000,000. So fierce was the march of the flames,
46 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
and so irresistible, that the merchants on Olive street,
when first made aware of their danger, tried to remove
their goods, but were unable to do so on account of
the intense heat. At twelve minutes to five A. M., the
progress of the fire southward was checked, and also
in a great measure towards the southeast, the extreme
limit of devastation in that direction being the Hart-
ford and Erie Ilailroad depot, extending, however, out
on the road and burning the bridge. Then it runs
along Broad street to India, taking all the interme-
diate wharves and destroying a few vessels. The fire
worked around the new post office building and
reached the northerly side of Water street. The large
buildings on the corner of Congress and Water streets
were engulfed in the flames and destroyed. Engines
No. 1 and No. 4, of Providence, reached the scene of
the fire about five A. M., and there were numerous hand-
engines present from various towns in Massachusetts.
Lynn sent two steamers, Nos. 1 and 2, and a hose-
carriage.
Trie Fire Checked in the South'.
In the early hours of the morning the plundering
by thieves became general, and firms who had re-
moved their stock to places of supposed security out
of doors, were victims of those predatory rascals.
Arrests by the police became so numerous that it
was found impossible to accommodate all the prison-
ers, and they were therefore discharged from custody
after making restitution of the stolen property. On
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 47
Washington street, the fire was checked by five
o'clock A. M. in the southerly direction. It had not
reached beyond Summer street The buildings on
the southerly side of the latter street remained stand-
ing, and most of them untouched by the flames, with
the exception of the three nearest Chauncey street.
These were burned out, though the walls remained
standing, and 'there was no further danger in this di-
rection. The buildings of the American Watch Com-
pany, on the northeasterly corner of Washington and
Summer streets, were completely gutted, but the walls
remain. North of this on Washington street, the
same side, all were destroyed as far as the Transcript
building, though portions of the walls of some of the
buildings were left. Both Washington and Summer
streets were filled with bricks, mortar and huge stones
to the depth of several feet. A portion of the front
of the Trinity church is standing alone to mark the
location of the late beautiful edifice.
Northward,
Before five o'clock the fire found its way across
Water street, and caught upon the window-casings
and the roof finish of Simons' block, in which was the
Boston Car Spring Company's office and the Hide and
Leather Bank, and before the hour was passed, the
whole building was enwrapped. At a quarter to six
the building on the opposite corner of Congress street,
where was the Shawmut Bank and W. E. Lawrence
& Co.'s store, caught, and in ten minutes all hopes of
48 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
saving it was gone. Northward towards the post office
and State street swept the flames, and all hopes of
stopping them by water was shut off forever. At six
o'clock the walls of the stone block where was S.
Norwell's store, fell with a crash, which sent the
sparks, dust and flame far heavenward, and just
before this, the fire took directly opposite on the
northerly corner of Federal and Milk streets, and be-
gan its career towards Kilby and Broad streets. State,
Devonshire, Congress, and Kilby streets, and Con-
gress square were, as far as merchandise was con-
cerned, on wheels and afoot, for everybody was
moving whatever was portable. A large party of
men were engaged in tearing down signs in the
vicinity of Milk, Broad and Kilby streets, and
around Liberty square.
A Noble Worh.
The Boston Traveller sent its movable property to
Charlestown, and was thus able to issue an edition
promptly the next day. The Mount Vernon National
Bank, at 183 Washington street, was destroyed. An
attempt to blow up Currier & Trott's jewelry store,
corner of Milk and Washington streets, was unsuccess-
ful, the explosion spending its force through the win-
dows, scarcely jarring the solid walls. The windows
in the neighborhood were all shattered by the concus-
sions, nothing more. Superintendent Ferristall, of °
the city stables, did a noble work in sending out all
the city teams at an early hour, and keeping them at
work all through the night and early morning remov-
THE GREAT FIRE I ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 49
ing goods to the city stable-yards. It is estimated
that at least $1,000,000 worth were saved by the
prompt and efficient action taken by Mr. Forristall.
Several of the attempts to blow np buildings met with
the ill success that attended the experiment on the
corner of Milk and Washington streets, windows only
being shattered. This also happened in numerous
other instances.
Old South Church.
It was rumored about six o'clock that the Old South
Church, so dear to the heart of every Boston ian, had
been mined in readiness to blow up, but on inquiry it
was found -that those in charge had resolved to risk
the matter, and look to the protection of the heavy
walls of the Transcript office opposite. The propri-
etors of the Transcript did not remove any of their
material. It was packed, however, and lowered into
the cellar, consequently entirely destroyed. The Post
building was nearly destroyed, although the walls
remain standing. The flames still progressed with
unabated fury and certainty towards State street. At
a quarter before nine o'clock it had reached in nearly
a straight line from Congress street, through Lindall
to Kilby street and Liberty square, both sides being
on fire. The rear of the post office, on Lindall street,
caught fire. It having become necessary to blow up
the building corner of Congress street and Congress
square, it was mined and exploded shortly before nine.
The large granite front building at the northwest
corner of Lincoln and Kilby streets, occupied by Vin-
50 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
cent & Hutchings, insurance brokers, J. Wiley
Edmunds, and several others, was also blown up at
nine o'clock, though the effect of the blast was appar-
ently of no material advantage. The inside was shat-
tered, but the walls and much of the woodwork were
left standing, the latter in a condition to accelerate
rather than retard the progress of the fire.
Towards State Street.
The flames made their way with grim certainty to-
wards the corner of Broad and State streets. At nine
o'clock an effort was made to arrest its progress by
blowing up the brick building which is the third from
the State street front; but three explosions failed to
make the desired impression. Nearly every building
back of the State street front, between Congress and
Broad, were already ruined ; while kegs of powder,
with the match in readiress for lighting, were placed
under a large number of buildings in the vicinity of
Broad street, ready to rend them to pieces. In the
square formed by Doane, State, Kilby and Broad
streets, at nine o'clock, there was only one building
on fire, and that had just commenced at the corner
of Kilby and Doane streets. By half-past eleven
o'clock the progress of the fire towards the water in
the direction of Kilby and Central streets seemed to
be effectually stopped, and the streams of water were
used in extinguishing the flames among the ruins,
which present an appearance of utter devastation. At
three P. M. the progress of the flames in the direction
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 51
of the water was checked, and the fire was well under
control everywhere.
The End.
All things must come to an end, and after eighteen
hours of trial Boston emerged from her baptism of fire.
In that space of time, it had destroyed hundreds of
the costliest and most substantial warehouses in the
country, and temporarily paralyzed three of the lead-
ing mercantile interests, — the shoe and leather, wool
and dry goods trades. Not a single wholesale estab-
lishment dealing in shoes and leather was left in the
city. The wool trade suffered in an equal degree,
and the dry goods jobbing houses left were few and
far between. The new Post Office and Sub-Treasury
building was for a long time exposed to the fierce
flames and smoke, but was scarcely scarred. This
massive fire-proof structure saved the Boston Morning
Post building, directly opposite, and helped greatly in
preventing the fire from reaching State street. The
Old South Church also escaped, though several times
given up for lost. The costly and beautiful Transcript
Building, and Currier & Trott's jewelry establishment,
on the opposite corner of Milk street, were burned.
The Eastern Express office was saved, though reported
at one time as burned. The following are the general
boundaries of the conflagration . The whole length and
both sides of Summer street, across Federal, and nearly
clown to Drake's wharf, and thence in nearly a direct
line to Fort Hill, along Hamilton and Battery-march
to Kilby street, as far as Land ill and Central streets,
52 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
and from Milk to Summer, on Washington street.
Within these boundaries, an area of nearly seventy
acres, every building was consumed.
Another Account.
Still more graphic accounts of the awful disaster are
furnished by some of the correspondents. One writ-
ing of the awful grandeur of the scene from a dis-
tance, says : The lurid glare of the flames lighted up
the entire city, and newspapers could be plainly read
for miles away. In Providence, which is forty miles
distant, an alarm of fire was caused by the Boston
conflagration, somebody presuming that the fire was in
that city. The fire was also distinctly visible in
Stonington, Northford, Charlestown, Portsmouth, and
other places equally distant. Up and down the
streets, hurried and tumbled a crowd of utterly
demoralized men and women. There were among
these, also, at the tea-table Saturday, those who were
worth millions of dollars, but who are beggars to-day.
Merchant Princes and Laborers alike Beggared.
Merchant princes there were, whose word was as
good as their bond ; men whose single name at the
bottom of a note for hundreds of thousands, would
pass upon the street without an endorser ; but to-day
they scarcely know where to lay their heads. Then,
too, there were thousands of the hopeless poor about
the streets. The dwelling houses destroyed were
nearly all in a thickly settled Irish colony at the South
TIIE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 55
Cove, and the plaintive moans of those who were thus
rudely turned out to battle with the world, destitute,
attracted universal sympathy. On every corner there
was a little pile of household furniture, and every
street was packed with teams. That the city was
surely to be destroyed, seemed altogether beyond ques-
tion, and the haggard look, and wild, beseeching eyes
of the crowds, showed only too plainly the effect which
the assumption of this idea produced upon the little
children who were in the streets, half clad, and pite-
ously imploring the relief which the community was
powerless to render them. Old men, tottering towards
the grave, watched with feverish anxiety the progress
of the destroyer of their accumulations of many years,
rnd young men, heartbroken, speculated mournfully
in regard to their future ; but the despondency upon
the lookers-on was but temporary. With willing
hearts and strong arms, all lent themselves to the work
of helping the unfortunate, and there was a gladsome
exhibition of the principles of the golden rule. In
spite of the terrible reverses, there was a general
expression of opinion that Yankee pluck had never a
better opportunity to show itself.
"Boston shall he Uebiiilt"
was the common cry, and the men who uttered it
meant just what they said. Here is an instance. In
front of a pile of smouldering ruins, in the centre of
what was one of the handsomest blocks of buildings
on Washington street, stands the rough wooden sign,
4
56 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
" The firm of Morse, Sheppard & Co., has removed to
No. 26 Chauncy street." This firm has lost $400,000
by the fire, and there are hundreds of others who, like
them, are determined to recommence business as soon
as possible. Boston is not dead yet, or if it is in a state
of moribundity, it presents a very lively appearance for
a corpse. From the persistent and rapid progress of
the awful conflagration, it became apparent at about
nine o'clock that the Boston firemen were unequal to
the task of subduing or even checking its further pro-
gress ; in fact, the whole city seemed doomed, and
every citizen became sober and serious. The author-
ities immediately sent to the neighboring cities —
Charlestown, Cambridge, and Chelsea — for assistance,
and in the course of an hour the entire departments of
the several cities were on the ground ! The fire fiend
still swept on, and the hundreds of streams which were
poured on the flames were of no more consequence
than a single-scull wherry would have been to the pro-
gress of a Cunard steamer.
ic
We must Have still more Help"
said the Chief Engineer, " or Boston and all its sub-
urbs will be in ruins before morning." Telegrams
were then sent to more distant towns and cities, and
special trains were chartered and the right of way
given for their immediate transportation. Three
steamers from Worcester, and the men belonging to
them, were in Boston and at work within fifty-five
minutes after the call for help reached them. They
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 57
•
came down on a special train over the Albany road,
and made the forty-four miles in just forty-five min-
utes. Assistance was also promptly on hand from
Lowell, Lawrence, Portsmouth, Portland, Manchester,
Providence, Paw^ucket, Stonington and various other
of the cities and large towns in this section of New
England. To say that they all did gallant service
would convey but a faint idea of the energy and deter-
mination with which they applied themselves to the
rescue. But still the fire fiend swept on. One, two
and three o'clock in the morning, and the firemen
were seemingly more powerless than ever. A fresh
breeze wafted over the terrible scene of destruction,
carrying in all directions sheets of devouring flame
and showers of burning embers. It seemed as if
Nothing but a, Deluge from Heaven
would stay the progress of the terrible element. Some
rushed frantic and wild through the streets, some
prayed, some moaned, a few drunken brutes cursed,
but all showed by their horror-stricken countenances
that they keenly appreciated the terrible and critical
situation.
The Blowing up of Buildings.
The last terrible resort in cases of devastating fire
in large cities, was finally determined upon. General
Benham, at Fort Warren, was sent for, and before day-
light he came up with several companies of marines
and thousands and thousands of pounds of powder.
The marines were quickly distributed around the city
58 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
for police duty, and under the direction of General
Benham. Preparations were made for the. blowing up
of a sufficient number of buildings to clear a space in
the probable course of the flames, and thus check the
fire by robbing it of material for its furious passion.
At three o'clock this work of merciful destruction was
begun, and the explosions which followed in rapid suc-
cession were, indeed, welcome sounds to the ears of
the panic-stricken community, for it betokened a fear-
less, honest, radical effort to save what was now left of
the burning city. Three discharges were made in a
block on Devonshire street, and it threw the building
partially down ; but it did no apparent good, for the
flames jumped over it almost instantly again and again.
This work of destruction and demolition went on,
each explosion shaking the whole city and breaking
windows miles away. Portions of Federal and Con-
gress streets were blown up, but still the
Flames would Overleap the Vacancy
created. It was not until daylight that there seemed
to come any good or relief from this wilful, but abso-
lutely necessary, destruction of some of Boston's finest
warehouses, and probably even then all these efforts
would have been abortive but for the concentration of
nearly all the fire engines upon one particular point.
It was about nine o'clock when there came the first
sense of relief, that the firemen might probably save
the northern and western sections of the city, both of
which had for hours seemed inevitably doomed to the
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 59
same fate as the business portion. This feeling, how-
ever, was not universal. The wind was still blowing
fresh, and many shook their heads ominously and de-
clared that the whole space, from the wharves to the
Back Bay, and from the south end to the Charleston
and Cambridge bridges, would be in ruins before night.
No pen can picture, no brain can frame into thought,
the effect that this appalling and threatening prospect
had upon the people.
Every One seemed Perfectly Frantic,
wandering hither and thither in great crowds, and
only adding to the consternation that raged through
the ranks of the firemen and about the more imme-
diate localities of the raging flames. Merchant princes,
who on Saturday locked their doors upon immense
treasures, now found themselves not only impoverished,
but threatened with being made homeless by the ter-
rible fiend. Almost insane, they flew through the ex-
cited masses, but where and what for they could not
tell. All, all was consternation. The ruined mer-
chants, the impoverished mechanics, the helpless and
homeless shop girls, and the thousands and tens of
thousands of other representatives of society, all united
in the general mourning of what had and what might
come. But
The Energetic but Exhausted Firemen
still kept at work., and in the very face of general
despair, fought the flames more determinedly than
60 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
ever. Between eight and nine o'clock was the most
critical period in the whole confl igration. The whole
of the Fifth Ward had been nearly destroyed, and from
Summer street almost down to Milk, a clean sweep had
been made of everything on the east side of Washing-
ton street. The old South Church, the famous sanc-
tuary of many generations, on the northeast corner of
Washington and Milk streets, was now the objective
point. If that succumbed to the furious element, it
was generally conceded that the whole of the north
and west ends would follow. Thousands watched the
old spire with breathless anxiety and prayed fervently
that it might be spared. The firemen worked with a
determination, inspired, it seemed, as if by Heaven,
and for an hour or more not less than
Fifty Streams poured upon the Ancient Tabernacle,
and the burning buildings surrounding it, Steadily
but slowly the brave fellows seemed to get the mastery
of the fiend, and finally, after hours of persistent toil,
they came out triumphantly. The old "South" was
saved, and so was half of Boston. Thanksgivings
mingled with tears, and " God bless you " were show-
ered in profusion upon the timely saviors. But while
this battle was being fought, the fiery enemy was
making a flank movement in another direction.
Devonshire street, already destroyed on both sides
from its southern extremity clear up to Milk, was now
being mowed away upon the west side down to Water
street, and threatened to be, what subsequently was,
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 61
one of the most disastrous features of the whole con-
flagration. At the same time, the flames took a turn up
Congress street as far as Water, dodging around the
magnificent New Post Office structure, and fastening
its fury upon a large new granite building on the north
side of Water street and immediately adjoining the
elegant establishment of the Boston Daily Post. The
heat which now came frona the burning of the sinuous
structure, was of a kind which need not be described.
It was so intense as to cause the streams which were
vainly directed against it to assume all the
Colors of the Rainbow,
and the Water street front of the New Post Office
crumbled under its influence as if it had been so much
glass. The danger winch had before seemed imminent
from the burning of the old South was now repeated.
Both sides of Washington street were threatened, and,
of course, there would follow — no one knew what;
but the wind went down and all apprehensions were
again removed. The flames, however, inclined down
towards Broad street and the wharves, and went with
a speed and destructiveness that were terrible beyond
description.
Congress Block Enwrapped.
About half- past eight o'clock Congress block, a
massive granite building on Congress street, caught
fire and all efforts to save it were futile. The flames
communicated from the rear of Congress block to the
62 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
brick part of the Old Post Office building, facing on
Lindall street, early in the morning, when there were
fears that the Post Office building would succumb to
the fiery element, Every letter and paper in the en-
tire establishment, all the furniture, mail bags, and, in
fact, all the valuable movable property in the mailing
department, were conveyed in teams to the Custom
House for safe keeping.
Nothing was disturbed in the stamp and money
order departments. As soon as the flames entered the
building from the rear they spread rapidly through
almost the entire third-story, which is occupied by
offices, and by the following parties: No. 7, N. P.
Lovering; No. 10, Abel Abbott ; No. 13, New York
Fire Insurance Company; No. 17, H. G. F. Candage ;
No. 21, J S. Abbott; No. 27, Charles Cowley and
Henshaw & Brothers, stock auctioneers and brokers.
Postmaster Burt's private office was destroyed, but
everything of value was removed to the Custom
House. In addition to the offices, the foreiga and
newspaper departments were consumed by half-past
ten. Meanwhile the fiery monster was continuing its
work on Congress street, and attacked the five-story
brick building on the corner of Water street, occu-
pied in the upper story by Baff & Stephens, printers ;
third-story by G. E. Meacham, and the lower stories
by Andrews & Robinson and J. Richardson & Son.
The brick block on Congress street, next to Congress
block, numbered 24 and 26, was next attacked and
soon laid low, as was also the famous Monks building
at the foot of Congress square.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 63
The Sub -Treasury of the United States,
located in the same structure as the Post Office, was
among the institutions ruined, but not destroyed. The
roof was entirely burned off, and also the inside
cleaned out ; but its immense valuable contents were
safely removed to the Custom House. While the
Post Office was fairly encased with lurid flame from
the bottom to the top, while back in the rear of Con-
gress square the large buildings that front on the east
side of Devonshire were bursting out with forked
flames, the writer met Chief Damrill on State street,
near the old State House, and the features of his
blackened, burned and haggard face could be read as
in a book the great anxiety that was stirring his very
soul.
" One word, Captain," said the reporter. " For
God's sake, what of the prospect V3
Shaking his head, and with a gesture that told more
than words :
"Bad! Bad! ! Bad!!!
God help burning Boston ! " said he, and on he went
through a dense volume of smoke to where a corps of
his nearly suffocated and famished men were strug-
gling: with the fiend. At this time the flames were
working rapidly to windward and back into Congress
street.
The fire was not without its humors as well as its
pains. One sturdy fellow, who had never read Hood's
poems, threw a large mirror out of a window on Bed-
ford street and came down stairs on a dead run with
61 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
a feather bed behind him. Another fellow, with
whom I conversed, said his wife had sprained her
ankle, and added, " I don't care much about that
though — not half so much as she does ; the ankle can
be cured by a doctor, but there isn't a surgeon in all
the town can bring me back my 6 black an tan.' He
was burned to death, sir, recklessly, and through care-
lessness. I'd rather have given a dollar than had it
happen."
An account by an Eye Witness.
A Philadelphia gentleman who saw the fire, con-
tributes the following sketch, which may well serve as
a fitting conclusion to this chapter of horrors*
I left Philadelphia for this place on Friday morning
at eleven o'clock, intending to pay a visit to my family
in Roxbury. I took the train from West Philadelphia
to New York; thence by the Fall River line I came to
Boston. I arrived here at eight o'clock on Saturday,
and having concluded to remain all night in the city,
took up my quarters at the United States Hotel. After
supper, I started towards the Boston Theatre, but
before I reached it, and at about eight o'clock, the
number of people rushing through the streets, and
the light of a great fire attracted my attention, and
joining the throng, I soon found myself on Summer
street, within a block or two of
The Burning Buildtiig.
Out of all the windows of this, through the roof,
and in the rear, great volumes of flame, running one
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 65
hundred feet high, were bursting forth. The building
had three times the front of an ordinary structure, and
the scene was a grand and imposing one. A high
wind was blowing, and before the firemen were gen-
erally on the ground, or fully at work, the buildings
along Summer and Kingston streets, about one hun-
dred and fifty feet on both, were a mass of flame. The
heat was of course intense, and the inefficiency of the
firemen was not to be wondered at. In less than a half
hour after I arrived on the ground, the flames had
spread upon both sides of the street, and the scene had
become awful beyond description. But the worst was
yet to follow.
The Gale.
By this time the wind had increased to nearly a gale,
and the flames having the entire mastery of everything,
swept from story to story, from roof to roof, from
block to block, and from corner to corner, driving the
firemen from every vantage ground they could secure,
and rendering all their exertions useless and futile.
Wherever the flames reached they rapidly consumed
everything of a combustible character, even melting
granite blocks and iron doors and shutters like so
much lead. As I passed from street to street, without
knowing where I was going, I realized the awfulness
of the burning of Chicago in the red acres whose glare
pained my eyesight beyond the point of endurance, in
the roar and crackle of the mighty molten sheets that
stretched towards the sky, and in the crash and crum-
66 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
ble of the massive walls that fell at intervals of every
few moments.
The Streets,
had now become densely crowded. Men were rush-
ing frantically to and fro in every direction, and what
surprised me greatly, drunkenness was becoming gen-
eral. Thieves were busily at work, but it was difficult
to tell friend from foe. So when one saw a man
hurrying past with a bale of goods, he was at loss to
commend him as a brave fellow, or denounce him as
a marauder. The police were equally active, and
every now and then I saw one or more with a prisoner
on his way to the station house. At about midnight
I thought the whole city doomed, and began to be
anxious for my own safety The crash of the falling
blocks of granite, the hum of the engines, the roar of
the seething flames, the hiss of the steam as immense
volumes of water were poured in upon the burning
mass, and the shouting of the fireman, made up a
Babel of horrible sounds — it was like a pandemonium.
The Explosions.
Soon the confusion was made worse confounded by
the noise of tremendous explosions. At the sound of
these, the trepidation increased, but the knowledge
that they were the report of buildings blown up to
block the path of the fire, reassured the people. Soon,
too, the appearance of patrols upon the street, the fact
that the volume of smoke did not increase, and that
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS, 67
the area of flame remained about the same, added still
further to the confidence of the people, and many left,
only, however, to have their places filled by others,
eager to catch a closer glimpse of the terrible scenes.
About daybreak, worn out with physical fatigue and
mental anxiety, I returned to the United States Hotel,
only to find out that it had been the scene of an alarm
the night before, and that many of the guests had re-
moved their baggage to a safer locality. I remained up
for more than an hour discussing (he awful occurrence,
and then completely used up, retired and slept soundly
until 4 P. M. Venturing out, I found that the fire
was confined to the limits of the night before, and
that all danger of its general spread was past. Du-
ring all this time I did not see a single case of
Suffering or Destitution,
save when some merchant moaned the loss of some
thousands of dollars, or a young jackanapes boasted
that his father had- been reduced from a millionaire
to a beggar. Of women and children deprived of
their homes I did not see one, nor a single case where
household goods were being carried through the
streets. That there were such instances, I have no
doubt; that I did not see them I congratulate myself.
Of the money losses sustained I know little. My
object has been to simply give you my own experi-
ence.
68 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
The Crowds upon the Street. Terror of the People.
Of course there is another side to this dreadful
calamity than that painted in the preceding pages.
When the fire first broke out, most of the people were
in doors preparing for the celebration of the Sabbath,
the observance of which in Boston, is almost as strict
now, as it was in the days of the Puritan fathers.
Those who were in the streets, were mainly hurry-
ing to the theatres or making their Saturday evening
purchases. When the fire was discovered, large crowds,
of course, flocked to Kingston and Summer streets, and
soon these thoroughfares were well nigh impassable.
The big building out of which the liquid flames were
rolling heavenward, soon became a beacon that lit np
the entire city. The dense volume of smoke, illumi-
nated by millions of sparks that rose through its roof,
added to the awful beauty of the scene, and made a
picture of sublime but terrible splendor. There was
little to save in the building, and the spectators be-
thought themselves of the surrounding property.
Axes and every conceivable implement were brought
into play, and soon the massive oaken doors were
crashing under a hundred well-directed blows.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 69
The Engines.
The fire engines were not promptly at hand, owing
to the general dearth of healthy horses, and it was
long before anything like a deluge of water could be
sent upon the burning buildings. Merchants whose
warehouses were scattered all about came running and
driving furiously from up town, and some, trying to
force their horses through the now enormous crowds,
had to be beaten back by the police. Leaving their
beast at any place that came to hand, they jammed and
elbowed their way, shouting themselves hoarse in
their madness to get at the houses in which their
goods and papers were laid away There was no
hope of saving the former, for now the flames had
run away down Kingston street and both ways in
Summer, eating up the heavily built houses as if they
were so much stifbble, or the shanties which occupied
their places ten or twelve years ago. Spectators
merely had become inextricably, and by no means
amicably, intermingled with persons sorely interested
in the conflagration, and there was something very
like a stampede to save what could be saved. Build
ings and stores in the line of the fire were forced
open or unlocked by their owners and lessees, and
goods thrown out recklessly and given to utter stran-
gers to be carried to places of safety.
70 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
A Panic.
Fabulous prices were offered to those who were able
and willing to lend a hand in the work, and, between
those trying to force their way to the fire and those en-
deavoring to fight their way out of it, a scene of confu-
sion which baffles description ensued. The streets are
miserably narrow and unworthy of the magnificent
granite buildings which line them, and when the fire had
turned Washington street, where are many fine shops
and stores, their windows ablaze with silks and jewelry,
a perfect panic seized the crowd that surged northward,
and swept by the goods that looked so temptingly easy
to be obtained ; but, as yet, there was no pillage of any
sort. The shop girls here were in a perfect frenzy, and
in getting away had to take their chances in the crowd,
to be knocked about, and, as likely as not, be trodden
down. The wind had now increased in violence till
it had become a most furious gale, blowing smoke and
firebrands into the faces of the crowd, and beating
back the firemen, who stood as firmly as possible to
their work. The skies were wild with the reflection
of the lurid flames which hissed along the streets and
ran from house to house, licking and lapping them and
writhing about them like fiery serpents.
Ludicrous Incidents,
A ludicrous incident occurred on Hamilton place.
"Major Grant," as she is called, a semi-imbecile
female, with an immense waterfall and pug nose, be-
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 73
came dissatisfied with the view from Fremont street,
and decided to obtain a better quarter. Accordingly
she picked up somebody else's chair in front of a store
and pulled her dress up to her ankles and dusted it ;
then, carrying the chair to the centre of the place, she
sat down and gazed placidly at the progress of the
flames. While she was doing so, however, a rabble
of newsboys gathered about. They fastened a long
piece of rope to the chair, of which Mrs. "Major
Grant" was oblivious, and, after a moment's consulta-
tion, jerked the rope vigorously, leaving the victim
sprawling in a puddle. Mrs. " Major Grant " was
vexed.
Not the least laughable of the incidents, was that
in which a middle-aged lady played important parts.
She was somewhat on the shady side of forty, tall,
thin and bony of aspect. Her sandy hair was
screwed up into numberless rigid curls on either side
of her face, and a cranched bonnet fluttered defiantly
down her back, and was only prevented from falling
off by the ribbons by which it was tied about her
neck.
She pushed her way through the excited crowds
while the fire was raging at its highest, wringing her
hands, and shrieking frantically for " Clara," who
implored, wept, stormed, and moaned for " Clara,1'
enlisting everybody's sympathy. " Will nobody put
out a hand to save the poor thing ?" she implored, in
almost frantic accents. " Oh, dear ; oh, dear ! My lit-
tle darling will be burnt to death."
Even the most hardened felt for the agony that
74 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
seemed to be urging the poor woman to madness.
Firemen stopped their work to ask her where her
"Clara" was, and several crowded about her with
proffers of assistance if she would only be explicit.
But not a coherent explanation could be gained from
her. She continued to wring her hands and to moan,
" Clara, Clara ; my poor Clara."
In the meanwhile a thrill of terror went through
the multitude at the idea that some human creature
was in deadly peril of burning to death, and no intel-
ligence of her whereabouts was to be gained from the
half demented woman before them, who rocked to and
fro, sobbing and refusing to be comforted. Presently,
with a wild shriek of joy, she darted forward, shouting
" Clara, Clara !" and stooped down.
Crouching in a corner was a large white cat, with
singed fur, who, with curved back and swollen tail,
stood hissing and spitting with fearful energy. As the
old lady stooped to pick her darling up, the ungrateful
cat flew at her, leaving the marks of her claws on her
face, and darted off in mad terror amid the jeers,
laughter, and hootings of the crowd,' her frantic mis-
tress darting after her with the bonnet flying ensign
downward like a signal of distress.
&'
Incidents of the Fire.
The. first explosion of gas was heard by Mrs. Mar-
tha Hudson and her aged mother, who resided in
Summer street. Mrs. Hudson rushed to one of the
second story windows in which she lived, and called
for assistance. As none seemed to be at hand, she
THE GREAT FIRE : ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 75
jumped to the pavement. She was severely burned
about the legs, and was taken to the Second Station.
Her mother probably perished in the building, as she
was not seen to escape. A mother and her infant
child were rescued from the sixth story of an endan-
gered building, in Summer street, by the firemen,
who put up their ladders just in time to prevent the
woman from leaping into the street.
The current of air created by the "flames was so
great, that fragments of paper were carried 16 miles
away. Leaves of check-books and ledgers were found
at Quincy, Hanover and East Weymouth. Cinders
fell in Abington, Hanover and Pembroke. A charred
$50 note was picked up at East Abington. The
glare of the conflagration was seen by night at Con-
cord, N. H., and the light was distinctly visible ninety
miles at sea, and was also noticed off the Isle of
Shoals. There are stories of heroism which deserve
to be told over and over again. Two firemen, whose
names have not been learned, rushed into a ruined
building to help a poor fellow half buried by the fall
of one of the side walls. While they were at work
the front wall came down, and they were never seen
again. We are ignorant, too, of the name of the brave
fellow who crawled into a cellar on Congress street,
and let off the steam from three overheated boilers
which threatened every instant to explode. It was so
hot that his comrades kept two streams of water play-
ing on him while he performed this perilous duty.
76 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION*
Heart Rending Scenes^
There were not a few heart rending scenes to record,
which makes the pen falter. A little girl whose name is
unknown, was in one of the upper rooms of a house on
Washington street, looking out of a window at the
fire. She was seen from the street to be struck full in
the face by a piece of burning wood and knocked back
into the room, from which, in an incredible short space
of time, the flames burst forth in great masses. In a
moment or two the whole building was wrapped in
fire. A woman with a child in her arms, and her
clothes nearly burned from her back, came rushing
from the house, shrieking in terror, and calling loudly
for her husband. In a short time she disappeared,
crazy with fright, in the direction of the fire. Unless
turned back by the patrol, she in all probability per-
ished. People were knocked down, and some were
killed, by blazing missiles almost before it was known
that there was any fire where they were, for the wind
carried the flames in almost every direction with fright-
ful speed. Many supposing themselves out of the reach
of it, stood at their doors receiving goods from their
friends, who supposed they had carried them to a place
of safety, and before long, not only had these persons
their own property to remove, but that which they had
received, and which clogged stairways and passages
so as to impede the removal of the others.
THE GREAT FIRE : ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 77
Boston Common.
Boston Common proved itself of really practical
value during the fire, and indeed its uses are still
manifest. From early in the evening of Saturday till
early in the morning of Sunday, baggage vans of all
sorts and descriptions deposited their contents on the
Common. The location of the little park in the cen-
tre of the city, and the fact that there could be -but
little danger to anything placed there, rendered it a
convenient asylum for all sorts of household goods.
Pots, kettles and pans, beds and bedbugs, crying
women and hungry babies were plentiful enough.
A Molten Netzvorh.
Confusion was worse confounded and despair ren-
dered more despairing, as is always the case at such
times. The most useless of articles were borne about
as though of immense value ; silks and satins were
thrown into the street and trodden into utter worth-
lessness, or picked up and lugged away by the passers
by. There was no limit to the goods lost in this Avay,
nor could the police, vigilant as it was, prevent the
robbery, for owners could not be told from thieves.
Carts and trucks dragged by men and horses, dashed and
jammed their way along, breaking boxes and upsetting
in their passage, and making, with the glare of the
light, no bad picture of what pandemonium must be.
On their heads the blazing buildings dropped great
gouts and flakes of fire, as though from the fingers of
78 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
a bloody hand dipped in brimstone. The fire, owing
partly to the state of the wind, did not proceed writh
very great rapidity down Kingston street — it was slow,
but it was sure. What is more terribly grand than
the onward march of a mighty fire in a great city —
its arms outstretched to grasp and wither granite and
iron, which then seem almost to be as easy a prey as
dry wood ? The flames in Kingston street, as they
crept out of the windows and stole solidly on to build-
ings about them, seemed a vast network of molten
iron. The stones cracked and fell hissing with the
water that had been showered upon them, and the
iron bent and doubled upon itself in long loops. The
houses while being gutted were great cauldrons from
which the fire darted and bubbled up, roaring above
the noise of the engines working below, and filling the
heavens with its crimson light.
Tensor of the Women.
As the fire spread through the adjacent streets,
threatening to consume all the lower part of the city,
and, perhaps, should the wind change, the entire popu-
lation become aroused, and far up -town, though it was
now late at night, there was no thought of going to
bed. Women left alone in the magnificent houses in
Beacon street, became so nervous and fidgety that they
could scarcely endure to stay in the house, and a some-
what ludicrous story is told of a Mrs. M., who actually
had her penates, her beds, pictures, and heirlooms,
which had come down to her from the time when her
great-great-grandfather burned witches in Salem, all
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 19
packed up together and placed on the floor in the hall,
condemning her less frightened, and naturally less in-
terested,4 servants from sleeping all night, except on
floors and lounges. Another lady, whose husband
owned a large dry goods "emporium" in Kingston
street, and had left her in bed at ten o'clock at night,
could not endure the excitement alone, and so ordered
up her coachman and kept him driving her about the
lower town till four o'clock in the morning, protruding
her head from the coach window and wildly calling to
her every man who bore the slightest resemblance to
her lost lord, and then dismissing him with, ;; Oh, it
isn't you, is it V9
Among the Poorer Classes.
In the narrow, tortuous streets where the poor peo-
ple resided, the consternation wag, if anything, greater
than in the quarters where the rich had their dwell-
ings. The excitement in South Cove was indescriba-
ble. It was thought at one time, that the fire would
surely reach this quarter, and its denizens ran about
like lunatics, shrieking and bemoaning their hard fate.
AVomen, with babes in their arms, stopped for an
instant to hear and tell the news, and discuss the
probabilities, and then rushed away, crying with fear,
and crazed with excitement. Lost children, forgotten
or abandoned during the turmoil, sat on the curb-
stones, weeping, or fled in terror in every direction,
vainly seeking their lost parents. Women in child-
bed were delivered prematurely ; the sick were left
alone in their bed-chambers, deserted by their friends,
80 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
and filled with apprehension that the fire might at
any moment reach them. In their weakness, ten or
twelve invalids are said to have been killed by fear,
which no assurance could allay. In one of the tene-
ments devoured by the flames, a woman, her new born
infant, and her husband, were burned to death, the
man nobly refusing to leave his family, being unable
to remove them to a place of safety.
A Wild, Wild Night.
The alarm bell sounding, and the shock of explo-
sions which shook the city to its very centre as house
after house was blown up to prevent the further spread
of the conflagration, added unspeakable horror to the
scene. It was a wild night of fear and anguish to
many a poor soul, but it was not devoid of ludicrous
interest. The pedal of a piano was carefully carried
from High street to Beacon, and left with a friend of
its owner, with a note saying that all was lost — pic-
tures, furniture, everything, and only with great diffi-
culty had this been saved. Old women with family
plate to save ran about with it in their hands, and
could not be persuaded by their grandsons and sons
to act in a rational manner. Family pride and love
of heirlooms probably exists to a greater extent in
Boston than in any other American city, and to many
an old woman, and many a young one, too, for that
matter, it would be almost as hard to lose an old tea-
set or cabinet as to lose a fortune. Some of the men
are as bad as the women, and occasionally more crazy.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 81
A well known gentleman, long since retired from
business which he left to his son, insisted on going
down to his ancient counting-room, or rather to the
more elegant one that took its place years ago. In
the safe there there were not only bonds and mort-
gages and other business papers without number, but
there was the authentic document in which the family
pedigree was traced. lie and his son went together ;
the latter succeeded after some difficulty in securing
his valuables, but the old gentleman fixed his atten-
tion only on the pedigree. He secured it, rushed to
the door, but was called back by his son. Fully de-
termined that his descendants should be able to trace
their ancestors, and having the dread of fire about him, ■
he left the precious papers with a man at the door, and
naturally enough he lost them. There are many val-
uable private libraries in Boston, and many most dili-
gent students there, who could more readily lose all
else of earthly good than their precious books. One
of these gentlemen left the packing up of his furniture
and the care of everything else to his family, and
pulled down his books from their shelves, had all of
them which he most highly prized nailed up in boxes,
and sent off to the house of a friend. Then he sat
calmly down on a bed and read "De Contemptu
Mundt" and " Plotinus" while the modern Athens
burned.
Old Buildings Destroyed.
In the vicinity of Milk street were still standing a
few old houses whose inhabitants, being their owners
82 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
as well, and mostly old unmarried ladies, refused with
tenacity to leave the spot where their fathers had been
born and died, and where they hoped to end their
days in the same quiet and peaceful manner. They
had become attached to the place and declined to
leave under any inducements. To speculators and
tempting offers they were deaf and immovable ; but
who can resist the commands of fire'? Sitting in their
parlors they awaited, pale and trembling, the approach
of the flames. Like veritable descendants of the
Puritans, they would not fly until the last moment.
But when that last moment came, their only thought
was to rescue the precious relics which had been religi-
ously handed down for generations. One of them
rushed into the street tugging away manfully at a
huge carved oaken table, which, by dint of almost her-
culean efforts — for her — she had succeeded in getting
as far as the sidewalk. Here, with the accustomed
total depravity of inanimate things, it defied her, and
despite all her exertions she could move it. but a few
inches at a time. Behind her the flames roared and
crackled fiercely, but to all recommendations to leave
she replied that the table had " come over in the May-
flower," and that she would sooner lose life itself than
the memorable piece of furniture. Another, of a
stouter build, shouldered a large clock and trudged off
with it manfully, the disarranged machinery beating a
perpetual alarm as though protesting wildly against
such sacrilegious handling.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PKOGRESS.
83
A Cheerless Sabbath Morning.
Early in the morning of that sleepless night of men
and the elements, nearly the whole of the lower busi-
ness part of the city was in ashes or in flames. Walls
fell with a sullen roar, sending up showers of sparks
and cinders, and the lurid smoke that rolled above the
town. The rising sun was scarcely noticed in the un-
earthly light as of the day of doom. Between four
and five o'clock the gas gave out down town. Houses
and whole blocks of buildings were being bio wed up,
and this noise added the effect of bombardment to that
of the devastating fire. The streets were surging with
people running and riding, and getting at trucks and
carts to carry away things. In Broad street, where for
some reason or other, numbers of people had congre-
gated, goods were thrown and fell into the harbor, the
sight 'from which was most gloomily magnificent. It
was Sunday morning, but no one except a few devotees
thought of attending church, and as the day went on,
services were generally abandoned. The streets were
crowded with carriages and cabs, and nothing could
recall the old-time Boston Sabbath. From the neigh-
boring towns the firemen began to come, and there was
need of them, for the firemen of the city were all but
exhausted to death by the terrible ordeal through which
they had passed, and m which not a few of them had
perished.
81 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
How the Helpers ivere Received.
Steam engines arrived from all parts of the State,
and from New Hampshire. Two came from Portland,
with four hundred citizens, to lend their aid, and as
they made for the scene of action they were greeted
with cheers and even tears. The police, too, were
exhausted, and the military had, to some extent, to
take their place. They had worked hard during that
awful night, when it was no easy task to keep the city
in order. Thefts and robberies of the most barefaced
and outrageous sorts had been committed in the open
street. Women had been knocked down, and the valu-
ables they were removing had been taken from
them. The already crowded jails and station houses
were taxed heavily, and not less that between two
hundred and three hundred arrests having been made.
" What is to be done ?" was on every body's lips, and
curses were freely given to the authority which re-
fused to allow the horses to be used at the first alarm
of fire, because they were just recovering from the
epizootic disorder. But every feeling was subordinate
to that of the dread of the fire, which was still raging
with unabated fury. Food and drink were brought to
the firemen who bad worked so long and so well, but
many of them wef£t60 sorely exhausted that they could
not eat or drink, and worked on mechanically.
After the Worst was over.
As there was a dark side to the picture of the Bos-
ton disaster, so also was there a bright one. The tele-
THE GREAT FIRE I ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 85
graph wires that on Sunday flashed the news which so
startled the nation, on Monday brought the cheering
words that the greatest city of all New England had
been rescued. Boston saved ! saved from the terrible
fate of total destruction by fire, which but a few short
hours before threatened her, was the glad tidings that
greeted the people of every city on Monday. The
flames had at last been conquered ; the brave and
energetic firemen finally proving more than an equal
to the furious element. Thousands heard of the
grand achievement for which the gallant men battled
so hard, and thanked God that their efforts had been
successful.
The Gallant Firemen.
No words can picture the sufferings of these bold,
self-sacrificing men during that long, long night.
Holding their ground amid the terrific explosions of
gas, they did their duty grandly Saved ! saved ! was
on every lip as daylight appeared, and that fearful red
glare, which had kept the father, the mother, and the
child from bed during the entire night, was no more
to be seen. Well, well were the firemen repaid for
their determined efforts to stay the flames and save
the tenement houses. The " God bless the brave fel-
lows" was heard on every hand. Women came from
their homes, sometimes distant a dozen squares, bring-
ing warm coffee and bread for those that were hungry,
and nothing that the firemen needed but was quickly
secured for them. The night guard, who had patrolled
the streets, watching for the skulking thieves, were
86 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
not forgotten. They also came in for a share of the
praise awarded by the people. The policemen of Bos-
ton will never forget the scenes they witnessed while
the flames were leaping from street to street, sweeping
every thins: before it. The man-vulture seeking for
prey, the frantic merchant, almost crazed by his sud-
den fall from wealth to poverty, the frightened mother,
with her babe in her arms, the careful and cool father,
watching the chances of his home escaping, all came
under the eye of the guardian of the peace. Here he
would see the merchant prince, who, on Saturday,
locked his doors on immense treasures, roaming
through the streets, well knowing that he had not
only been impoverished, but that he was threatened
with being made homeless by the terrible fiend. Men
almost insane he would see flying through the excited
masses, where and for what he could not tell ; all, all
was consternation before him. The ruined financier,
the impoverished mechanic, the helpless and homeless
shop girl, and the thousands and tens of thousands of
other representatives of society, all united in the
general misery, is a spectacle which he can never
efface from his memory.
Many interesting stories are told of hairbreadth
escapes and daring ventures which transpired during
the conflagration. In deeds of individual heroism the
inhabitants of Boston showed themselves to be worthy
of their ancient fame, and the fortitude with which
they bore up against their overwhelming losses, ex-
cited the admiration of the thousands of strangers
from all parts of the country who crowded the streets,
THE GREAT FIRE*. ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 87
gratifying their curiosity, as much as the sentries and
soldiers would allow, with a view of the ruins.
Boston by Candle-light.
Without gas, and with only the flicker of candle-
light to facilitate locomotion, the city presented a
lonely and desolate appearance by night after the fire.
The streets were dark and sadly gloomy, and the ter-
rible force of the calamity was brought nearer to the
hearts of the people than it was when the fire was
fiercest and hottest. Twelve hundred of the State
militia were on duty all over the city. Every street in
Boston was guarded by bayonets, and the burnt dis-
trict was encircled by a double line of soldiers. The
tramp, tramp of the sentinels, as they paced their
lonely beats, and the dangerous click of the gun locks
as they challenged those who manifested a desire to
encroach upon their domain, brought back the days of
the war. Really, in fact, if not by public proclama-
tion, Boston was literally under martial law Monday
and Tuesday nights. Here and there a squad of the
horse patrol dashed through the streets, in and out of
the burned district, and the dark blue coats and brass
buttons of the city police were omnipresent.
Viewing the Flames on Saturday night.
Many persons viewed the ravages of the flames
during Saturday and Sunday nights, from the highest
points of observation in the city. From the roof of
the Parker House, the sight was simply terrible.
88 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Sheets of flame and dense clouds of smoke overhung
the whole southeastern prospect, and in the great
whole it was impossible to distinguish clearly any one
point which would show precisely where the limit of
the fire was. Up Franklin street the fire came, one
building after another pouring flame out of its win-
dows, and in a short time crumbling down and giving
place to its neighbor, by that time fiercely burning.
The scenes in the Parker House were of the
utmost ccnfusion. When the Transcript building
went, and further up the Marlborough Hotel was
reported on fire, it was thought by many that it was
merely a question of hours before the Parker House
should be consumed ; and although scarcely an inmate
of the house was not up viewing the scene, every
room was visited, and the occupants admonished to
have their baggage removed, and be ready to vacate
on a moment's notice. Trunks and boxes were carted
away, and all the hacks were in constant motion car-
rying boarders away to safer quarters.
In South Boston, during the whole of Saturday
night, nearly all the men whose business interests had
not called them to the city proper, spent the weary,
anxious hours in watching the progress of the
destroyer, and in efforts to preserve their own and
their neighbors' property from ruin which threatened
from the sea of sparks that deluged the outer portion
of the peninsula. Gazing cityward from any of the
eminences, as the Blind Asylum Hill, Independence
Square, and Telegraph Hill, the sight was inexpres-
sibly, magnificently terrible. The eyes were almost
BURNING OF THE •• BOSTON PILOT" BUILDINGS.
TOE GREAT FIRE; ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 91
blinded by the seething, surging sea of flame, its hun-
gry tongues leaping eagerly upward from their with-
ering encounter with their prey, soaring to the zenith,
and thence away to the southeast, wrapped in densely
rolling clouds of lurid smoke spangled with myriads of
vivid sparks. The ears were deafened with the steady
horrible roar of the flames and the almost incessant
crash of falling walls. Showers of shining cinders fell
thickly all about — even blazing brands as large as one's
hand, were wafted over by the breeze, and threatened
destruction to the wooden buildings with which this
portion of the city is crowded.
All South Boston east of II street, and particularly
between I and L. streets, wTas directly in the path of
the sparks and brands. Flakes of granite from some
of the magnificent buildings destroyed, fragments of
slate and even whole sheets of roofing tin wrere borne
across the harbor by the strong currents of heated air
and smoke and fell thickly upon the house-tops and
pavements. There were many narrow escapes from
damage by fire in the vicinity of City Point. One
building near the gas house on K street, which was
occupied by several families as a dwelling house, was
fired, but fortunately discovered in time to be ex-
tinguished. Two or three firebrands, a foot or more
in length, fell upon the roof of a house on Broadway,
three or four doors beyond K street, and one on the
roof nearest K street, where it burned for several
minutes. Both these roofs being slated no damage
was done, though in the former case there was a nar-
row escape from the ignition of the woodwork of
92 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
«■
several dormer windows. In both cases, and among
nearly all the residents in this vicinity, the owners and
occupants of dwellings sat through the night wrapped
in rugs or blankets upon their roofs, with pails of
water at hand, or patrolled the streets and yards,
watching the falling missiles and promptly extinguish-
ing them as soon as possible.
Nearly all night crowds occupied the places on the
hills whence, through open spaces or cross streets,
views of the fire could be obtained, and mournfully
gazed at the destruction taking place. Even Sunday
night many people occupied these points of observa-
tion, and watched with satisfaction the gradual dead-
ening of the flames. The sight was a peculiar one at
this time. The fierce blaze, the wild flames leaping
from building to building and wrapping stately blocks
in a scarlet winding sheet, were gone. In their place
huge fields of glowing ruins, covered with smouldering
lambent fires, occasionally broken by piles of half-
di'stroyed debris or standing wralls, up which the blaze
climbed and played, while over all hung a dense,
murky pall of smoke, slowly floating to the southward
in rolling, heaving billows, borne by the gentle breeze.
The elevated site of old Dorchester Heights, now
generally known as Telegraph Hill, was visited dur-
ing Saturday night and Sunday by hundreds of persons,
who there obtained a grand view of the great catas-
trophe. The scene of the fire when at its height,
w7as most vivid and distinct, and left an impression
which the beholders will never forget. The march of
the fire in certain directions was clearly traced, and
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 93
the brilliant skeletons of once magnificent structures
came out fully in the background, while the roaring
of the flames, the whistle of the steamers and the
crash of the engines were plainly heard and even pene-
trated every home.
After ten o'clock Saturday night, and when it had
become evident to every one in South Boston that a
second Chicago calamity was impending over the city
proper, a busy scene commenced in Wards Seven and
Twelve. The curious and the pecuniarily' interested
began to throng on foot the streets leading to the con-
flagration, while the South Boston horse cars were
filled to their extreme capacity. The streets (generally
so free from vehicles at this hour) also beo-an to ring"
with the clatter of carts and express wagons of every
description, some of the drivers taking over teams be-
longing to firms, in order to be ready to convey goods,
if necessary, to a place of safety, while other express-
men had in view a prospect of reaping a rich harvest
from panic prices.
From the suburban towns, the homes of many of the
prominent business men who are beggared by the fire,
the scene was grand and terrible. Huge volumes of
smoke rolled up from the burning buildings, while the
horizon was as light as at midday. Occasionally the
flames would throw themselves to a great height, and
then the sight was truly magnificent. But there were
few who could enjoy the scene ; there were too many
anxious hearts, too many fort nnes at stake, the sup-
port of too many families endangered. Those who
were fortunate enough to secure transportation to the
94 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION".
city were surrounded on their return by an anxious
crowd of inquirers — none of whom could sleep, and
only passed the night in gloomy forebodings. Hun-
dreds walked to the .city, and the thoroughfares and
railroads were filled with pedestrians on Saturday
night and all day Sunday, who were unable to reach
the city by any other way. Many of these returned
Sunday only to announce to their families the fact that
they were utterly ruined, their property all gone, the
accumulations of years of earnest toil, and industry
scattered to the four winds of heaven in one single
night. ' Others there were who returned with more
cheerful tidings, and were received by their families
* with expressions of gladness. Those, however, who
witnessed the grand and terrible scenes of Saturday
night from the suburbs, will never forget it ; the danger
was, if anything, magnified by the distance, and the
fearful rumors which were momentarily received raised
the excitement to its highest pitch.
The light of the fire was seen at a distance of a hun-
dred miles, and it cast over the surrounding country a
glare which seemed like the lurid light of a burning
cauldron. The church steeples, and especially the
dome of the State House, stood out in brilliant magnifi-
cence, while every street which centered upon the vast
conflagration was radient with the light of the great
fire.
The buildings destroyed were so vast, and erected of
such heavy material, that the whole space over which
the fire swept is literally choked with broken blocks
of granite, fallen iron columns and huge masses of
THE GREAT FIRE . ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 95
bricks. In Chicago where the streets were wide and
the' heat so intense as to -crumble marble and brick
into powder, the thoroughfares were cleared with com-
paratively little labor, where they were encumbered
at all, which was seldom the case. But here the streets
are narrow and crooked, and the buildings were com-
posed of so much better material, that the wreck is
much more difficult to get out of the way. All the
streets after the fire were covered with the fallen ruins,
so that it was impossible to take a horse and wagon
anywhere in the burnt district, and the whole of the
sixty acres were so thickly strewn with the debris that
he who explored the area had to clamber over granite
blocks, hot piles of bricks, and stumble against the
projecting ends of iron columns half buried in the mass
of rubbish.
Most singular of all these fragments was in the case
of the Purchase Street Church. This was an ancient
edifice, built in the most solid manner of stone, but
the sides had, nevertheless, fallen in, and the front
wall, surmounted at the apex with a massive square
stone tower, alone remained upright. This wall had,
however, been eaten out at the top by the fire until
the tower seemed perched in the air, balanced upon a
single stone hardly three inches through. Every one
who passed stopped to wonder at this marvel, and there
was no one, probably, who did not expect to see the
tower fall;, but it did not, nor did many others which
seemed to have the least right to be remaining
upright.
96 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Hard Worh for the JVeivspaper Men,
Newspaper men and telegraph operators had a bad '
time of it. Early in the foregoing evening there "had
been a reunion of the members of the city press at
the Revere House, and it had been attended by large
numbers of the journalists, who were suddenly called,
out to attend to business, which was far. from being
congenial with the state of mind they were in. They
hurried to and fro, gathering news and thinking of
how to write it up, and when some of them returned
to their places of labor, they found them burned to the
ground, or requiring their immediate attendance to see
about the removal of their appurtenances. Between
four and five o'clock the Transcript office was on fire,
and soon went down ; and the office of the Post, Globe,
and Traveller, were in imminent peril of experiencing
a like fate. The whole of Pearl street was in ruins,
and in Washington street the heat was so intense that
the firemen had to retreat before it. At the office of
the Western Union Telegraph Company, which at six
o'clock was yet untouched by fire, the operators had
been forced to throw off their coats and work in their
shirt sleeves, on account of the heat. At nine o'clock
the buildings were yet being -blown up, but there
seemed to be no hope of suppressing the fire in that
way even, for their destruction seemed but to add fuel
to the flames. Work went on till, at one o'clock, as the
wind had died out, there seemed some likelihood of at
length beating the fire, and at three o'clock it was
certain that this* could be done.
T1IE GREAT FIRE I ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 97
The District Burned— Where the Fire Original
Interesting Historical llcnuui scenes— The great
Business Houses and • Institutions Destroyed.
The locality in which the fire originated is all his-
torical ground. There stood the houses of Edward
Everett, and in the front corner, commanding a fine
view of Summer street, towards the common, was the
study wherein he was wont to slowly compose and
elaborately polish his celebrated eloquent impromptus.
The building was large and expensive, in those days
dignified by the sounding title of c' mansion." Even
now it would pass muster in this city as the residence
of some wealthy and cultivated gentleman, who cared
more for solid comfort than pretentious show. The
immediate neighborhood was inhabited by descendants,
and in some instances founders, of the " best families."
On the right of Mr. Everett's house stood that of Mr.
John Tappan, brother of Arthur Tappan, the celebrated
abolitionist, and so well known as intimately con-
nected with him in his revolutionary movements.
This house was set back from the sidewalk some forty
feet, occupying the corner of Summer street, and run-
ning back some ways along Arch court. It had in
front a well kept garden, and behind a spacious yard.
In its parlors could often be seen together the three
brothers — Charles, Arthur and John — all equally
engaged in abolition, though the two former were by
far the most prominent. The latter was generally
contented to be the " silent partner" and pay the
Larger portion of the expenses < f the movement. At
one time he, in common with many others of the more
98 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
enthusiastic Bostonians, would use no sugar, as it was
the product of slave labor. Only within a very few
years was the old-fashioned building torn down,
crumbling under the advance of business as its succes-
sor has crumbled before the advance of business'
master. Within a stone's throw stood the old house
in which lived Mrs. John Hancock at the time she
issued her celebrated order that her handmaidens
should go forth and " milk all the cows upon the com-
mon." In Arch court, a few feet below the termina-
tion of John Tappan's grounds, was a library, old-
fashioned and quaint as the locality in which it stood,
partly on one side of the lane^ — it was no more than
that — and partly above the arch which sprang across
the street, giving it its name.
Within the last few years, however, with the decease
of the ancient residents came the removal of their
descendants to Back Bay, and the removal of ancient
landmarks themselves to the dilapidated Gehenna of
contractors' rubbish. Tall buildings arose upon their
sites extending from Washington street to Broad.
Granite usurped the place of gardens, and Mansard
roofs rose far higher than the superseded mansions
ever durst' aspire. These buildings would remind one
somewhat of the Equitable in New York city, though
they were much less ornate, being for the most part of
a plain, unrelieved surface. As the telegraph has told,
they were occupied principally by large and extensive
dealers. Summer street was one of the narrowest in
that city of narrow streets, the roadway being not
much more than thirty feet wide.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 99
Pearl Street
was the greatest boot and shoe market in the world —
with the exception of a restaurant for boot and slide
dealers, a newspaper devoted to the boot and shoe
trade, and other establishments as intimately connec-
ted with the business, there were no buildings on the
street not occupied by merchants in this special line of
trade. Here were the city headquarters of the vast
manufactories of Lynn and the other leather towns on
the line of the Eastern and other railroads going out
from Boston, and the effects flowing from the destruc-
tion of this street alone will be felt as much outside of
the city as they will be in it. On Franklin, Chauncey,
Summer, and the streets in their immediate vicinity,
were the great establishments — depots of the mills
throughout the Eastern States — that made Boston the
leading market for American dry goods, and the
destruction of the goods stored in these buildings will
be felt quite as widely as will be that of the loss of
the boot and shoe houses of Pearl street.
Boston stands first
among American cities in its receipts and sales of
wool, and the dealers in this staple were clustered in
the very heart of the burnt district. Here, too, were
the wholesale dealers in iron, groceries, clothing,
paper, fancy goods, stationery, books, and pictures,
music and musical instruments, jewelry, tobacco, wines
and liquors — in fact, in all the articles that are the
necessities or luxuries of our modern civilized life. The
100 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
great transportation companies had, too, their offices
here and near by ; the city express companies had also
branch offices. This mere sketch will serve to show
how valuable were the contents of that portion of the
city which is now in ashes. To give a particular
description of all the buildings destroyed would be, of
course, impossible, but a few of those, which were and
are not, are worthy of special mention.
Jordan, Marsh fy Co.'s Store.
At the corner of Washington street and Central
court was the elegant building occupied by Jordan,
Marsh & Co., as a retail dry goods store. It had a
fine front of dark freestone, eighty feet long on Wash-
ington street and five stories high. The street floor
and basement only were at first occupied by the firm.
The second fhor was used as a wareroom by Chicker-
ing & Sons, the rear being finished off into a beautiful
hall, while the upper floors were let to lodgers. The
whole building was, however, eventually occupied by
the firm, and the wholesale department was removed
from Devonshire street to a new building in the rear.
The two structures covered a surface of from twenty
thousand to twenty-three thousand square feet, and
were connected by an excavated passage-way. Each
building was furnished with a passenger and a freight
elevator, all of them operated by a stationary engine
in the passage way between the two buildings.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 101
Macullar, Williams $ Parker.
A magnificent marble structure on Washington
street, built by the trustees of the Sears estate, was
occupied by Macullar, Williams & Parker, for their
great wholesale and retail clothing manufactory and
salesroom. Its marble front was one of the finest in
the country, and its internal arrangements were as
perfect as its architecture. It was built especially for
this firm, and was arranged to suit them. At the time
it was erected, it was the largest building in the world,
wholly devoted to the business of clothing manufacture.
It fronted only forty feet on Washington street, but
extended back to Hawley street two hundred and fifty
feet, and was five stories in height.
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association.
The fine hall of the Massachusetts Charitable
Mechanic Association stood upon the northwest corner
of Bedford and Chauncey streets. This association, of
which Paul llevere was the first president, had been
agitating the question of erecting a hall for more than
half a century before the steps were finally taken that
resulted in the building of this structure. The land
was bought in December, 1856, for $31,000. It
fronts ninety-three feet on Chauncey street, and sixty-
five feet on Bedford street. The building was imme-
diately begun upon a plan designed by Ham matt
Billings, and was completed and dedicated in March,
1860, at a cost, including land, of about $320,000. It
was constructed of dark freestone, in a modification of
102 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
the Italian Renaissance style of architecture. The
large hall and the accompanying rooms. on the second
floor have for some time beep used by the Boston
Board of Trade* and the National Board of Trade.
Within the limits of that portion of the city over which
the fire extended, was situated the office of one of the
leading journals of Boston —
The " Transcript."
The office of the Boston "Transcript" was a hand-
some granite structure, four stories high, with a double
French roof above. As with most of the other Boston
papers, the basement and street floor were reserved for
press-room and business office, the second, third, and
fourth floors were let, and the two upper floors were
used as editorial and composing-rooms. The " Trans-
cript" was the pioneer evening journal of Boston, and
is, next to the "Advertiser," the oldest daily newspaper
in the city. It was first published in July, 1830, and
the senior partner of the original firm is still the head
of the house. The experiment of an evening paper
was for some time one of doubtful success, but the
" Transcript" grew in popularity, and now no paper in
Boston is more firmly established. During the more
than forty years since its first publication, it has had'
but four editors-in-chief, of whom the present editor is-
now in the twentieth year of his service. The paper
has always maintained a high tone, although, aside
from its news matter, it has been chiefly devoted to
literary gossip and criticism.
THE GREAT FIKE : ITS ORIGIN AND PKOGKESS. 103
THE HEAVY LOSERS.
Alphabetical List of the Losers by the Fire, with the
amounts in many cases.
The following list shows the principal firms who
sustained heavy losses by the fire :
Abbott, Dexter.
Aborn, Fay & Co.
Allen, Lane & Co., $250,000.
Anderson, Heath & Co., $400,000.
Armstrong & Co., lithographers.
Baldwin, S. P.
Bailey & Jenkins, wool.
Barnes, Ward & Co., $300,000.
Brown, Dutton & Co., $300,000.
Bowen, Moore & Co., $10,000.
Bennett, B. F. & Folden.
Brewer & Tiles ton, publishers.
Bennett & Tilden.
Beaver & Co., leather.
Boone, Connell & Co., $75,000.
. Brodenbrown, Steeper, Fisk & Co.
Bliss, Whiting & McKenna, $100,000.
Bramhall, Otis.
Bothwell, Potter & Co., clothing.
Brewer, A. & Co.
104 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Brown, Lewis & Co., $50,000.
Boyd, George W. & Co., $100,000.
Boyce, Tuck & Co.
Burr, Taft &.Co.
Burrage, J. C. & Co., $200,000.
Barr, Brothers & Co . trimmings.
Burr, Brown & Co.
Byas, E. C, $50,000.
Bigelow, J. B,.
Benedict & Barnliam.
Banfield & Farwell.
Boston & Sandwich Glass Co.
Bliss, F. D. & Co.
Brown, George B. & Co.
Bingham, O. A. & Co.
Coley & Co., commission.
Clark, Geo. T., morocco.
Chaffee & Whitney, $20,000.
Champney Brothers & Co., $150,000.
Chamberlain, Currier & Co., $100,000.
Chandler & Boynton.
Converse, Harding & Co., $300,000.
Chick & Andrews.
Cobb, Isaac B.
Commonwealth, Bank of.
Cushing & Blair, $75,000.
Cook, J. B., cut glass.
Cutler, E. P.
Cooper, J., plumber.
Clark & Warren.
Damon, Temple & Co., $100,000.
THE GREAT FIRE I ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. Iu5
Danforth, Clark & Co., $250,000.
Daggett, F. K.
Despeaux, Blake & Co.
Deming, Rice & Co.
Denny, Rice & Co., $300,000.
Dennison & Co., tags.
Donahoe, P., Biston Pilot.
Dubue, J. P. P.
Dimphy, Phillips & Sherman.
Eastern Express Company.
Eager, Bartlett & Co., $200,000.
Eugenie Chapine, $40,000.
Emigrant's Saving Bank.
Ellis, F. D. & Co.
Ewing & Fujler, linens.
Erving, Wise & Fuller, $56,000.
Flint, Thomas & Co.
Fisher, Sidney & Co.
Franks, Wheeler & Co., trimmings.
Farley, Anderson & Co., trimmings.
Farwell, N. W. & Co., $50,000.
Field, Thayer & Co.
Flint & Claton.
Flint & Hall.
Freye, Phillips & Co., $200,000.
French & Coffin, saddlery.
Folsom, A. & Sons, $30,000.
. Floyd Brothers & Co.
Francis & Wallon.
Gardner, Brewer & Co.
Garrage Brothers.
106 B( STON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Glazier, George M., $200,000. *
Gordon, Poyen & Co.
Goff, J. J.
Goning & Grear, $75,000.
Griswold, D. C, $200,000.
Grinnell, C. B. & Sons.
Grinell, B., $20,000,
Hamilton, A. & Co.
Hallowell & Coburn, $40,000.
Hallo well, I. N. P.
Harding, Brothers & Co., $250,000.
Hager & Co.
Hickley, William, straw goods.
Heiyer & Bro., $200,000.
Houghton, Perkins & Wood, $400,000.
Hodge, Davis M.
Holbrook, Floyd & Co.
Hogan & Co.
Hendrick & Co.
• Holt, Twitchell & Co., leather.
Home, J. C. & Co.
Hewins, William & Peed.
Homer & Wyoth, hides.
Hosmer & Co.
Hathaway, C. L. & Sons.
Hilton & Co., wool. '
Hayden & Co.
Headdock & Briof^s.
DO
Heanny, Cormeran & Co.
Hood, M. C. & Co., shirts.
Hoyt, Wheeler & Bradley.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 109
Hathaway & Sons.
Hilton & Co.
Howe, Pierce & Co.
Harrison, Clark & Andrews, crockery.
Hepgood & Co., shoes.
Hunt & Russell.
Leeland, Allen & Bates, $300,000.
Leonard, Rice & Co.
Lovejoy, Gilbert & Co.
Lowrey, N. & Co., carpets.
Lenox, H. & Co.
Lindsley & Gibbs.
Lyons, D. & Co., $40,000.
Lewis, Broom & Co., kid gloves.
Lockwood & Clork, wool.
Lampkin, Foster & Co.
Leeds & Iloss.
Lackborn, G. B. & Co., wool.
Mann, Bowers & Sawyer.
Moore, Andrew J. & Co.
Mack, Hood & Co.
Marr Brothers, $100,000.
Marshall, J. P. & Bro.
Maxlin, Mullan & Ellres, $200,000.
Macintire, Laurie & Co., $150,000.
Mason, Tuck & Co., $175,000.
Mitchell, Green & Stevens, $250,000.
Morse, Hammond & Co., $150,000.
Miney, Beale & Hackett, $250,000.
Messenger, E. F. & Co., $200,000.
Miller & Tilson, shirts.
7
.0 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Melerdie, Hixon & Co.
Morse, Johnson & Co.
McEnnis, John & Co.
Maxwell, John.
Mandell, Dwinnal & Co.
Marvin, S. R. & Sons, printers.
Morse, Denny & Co., wool.
Marion & Co., commission.
Mitchell, Green & Stephens, clothing.
New England Glass Co.
New England Type Foundry.
Nelson, A. M. & Co.
Nichols & Miller, painters.
Nichols, J. N. & Co. chemists.
Niles, J. B. & &., printers.
Nicholas & Sons.
North, A. B. & Sons, $100,000.
Ordway Brothers, millinery.
Ordway, Blodgett & Co., $300,000. "
Page Betting Co.
Parker, Wilder & Co., $250,000.
Parker, Nichols & Dupee, $100,000.
Palmer, J. B. & Co.
Phillips, Sampson & Co., $80,000.
Parker & Co.
Peck, A. D. & Co.
Pierce, Hardy & Co., $200,000.
Putnam, G. P. & Co.
Pratt, E. B. & Co.
Pratt, Albert S., $20,000.
Prager, Boek & Co., $200,000.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS, ill
Priest, C. C. & Co.
Proctor, Thomas E.
Price, Tuck & Co., thread.
Porter Brothers, commission.
Quinn, Daniel A. & Co.
Pand, O. J.
Peed & Bowen, commission.
Powe & Waugh.
Pichardson, Doyle & Co.
Pichardson, Bird & Co.
Phodes & Pipley, $150,000.
Pichardson, Geo. C. & Co.
Pice, Kendall & Co., paper.
Pice, Goddard & Co., printers.
Pogers & Co., $200,000.
Pogers, J. L. & C.
Say, Richard L.
Sampson, Hall & Co., $75,000.
Salomons, B. L. & Sons, $250,000.
Sawyer, Mansfield & Co., $125,000.
Safford, Nate & Wilson, $250,000.
Sargeant Brothers & Co., $500,000.
Simons Brothers, $100,000.
Smith, Pichardson & Corson, $80,000.
Smith, Stebbins & Co., $200,000.
Skinner, James & Co., $20,000.
Stewart, A. T. & Co , $200,000.
Styles, Bale & Homer, $150,000.
Seavey, Foster & Bowman, $125,000.
Stephenson Brothers.
Sticker Brothers, $75,000
112 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Spagney, Thomas.
Stows, Amariah & Co., cards.
Sprague, Thomas & Co., saddlery.
Spaulding, E. & Johnson.
Soathwick & Sands.
Spinner, W. B. & Co.
San ford, Soule & Co.
Sherberne & Co.
Samuels, H., cigars.
Tappan, J. H. A. & Co.
Terrace & Milliken, $7,000.
Tibbetts, Baldwin & Davis, $30,000.
Tracy, J. II., Son'& Co.
Tyler, Thomas H., $5,000.
Tyler, James.
Tyler, J. L.
Tyler, J. S., trunks.
Villa, James & Co.
Walden Brothers.
Walker, C. & Co.
Walker, Joseph & Co.
Washington Glass Works.
Watson & Clark, painters.
Watson, Geo. B.
Way, Hewins & Reid.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 113
THE INSURANCE.
The Losses by the Great Companies and their Effect
upon the Business.
It is too early to state, or even estimate the insur-
ance losses at Boston. Enough, however, is known to
warrant the assurance that while the companies have
received a severe blow, the majority of them will
withstand the shock. The Chicago fire was a greater
calamity than the catastrophe at Boston. Moreover,
the losses were distributed over fewer companies.
Now, as then, the strong companies will emerge with
improved credit and distinction. They have been
improving steadily since the Chicago fire, and, having
received increased rates all over the country, are now
in a better position to sustain the blow. As for the
smaller companies, it will be found, in most cases, that
the proportion of their losses to their resources is
smaller than that of the companies which transacted
an agency business. The lists which are given else-
where, show the names of all companies which were
regularly admitted to do business in Massachusetts.
Of course the brunt of the disaster falls on them.
But in addition to the companies which were regularly
authorized to write risks in Massachusetts, it will be
found that there are many other companies not so
authorized, which have lost (though in most cases
inconsiderably) on risks offered to them by brokers at
114 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
their home offices. It is not unreasonable to suppose
that nearly every stock insurance company in the
United States has lost something, but the great bulk
of the losses, it is to be remembered, falls upon the
companies whose names appear in the lists as author-
ized to do business in Massachusetts. These are as
follows :
American, New York, $80,000
American, Exchange, . 10,000
Arctic, 100,000
Black River, .- 35,000
Brewers' and Malsters', 50,000
Capital City, none
Citizens', New York, 250,000
City, New York, 130,000
Clinton, 50,000
Columbia, 15,000
Commercial, 80,000
Eagle, none
Gebhard, 22,500
German-American, 100,000
Germania, 275,000
Glen's Falls, ,...>. 50,000
Greenwich, 20,000
Hamilton, none
Hanover, 275,000
Howard, none
International, 300,000
Jefferson, 10,000
Kings County, 15,000
Lafayette, 5,000
Long Island, none
Lorillard, 80,000
Market, 60,000
Manhatten, . 35,000
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 115
Mechanics' 5,000
Mechanics' and Traders', 25,000
Nassau, none
New York Equitable, 15,000
New York, none
Pacific, 15,000
Relief, • 00,000
Rutgers, none
Standard,, 357,000
Star, 150,000
United States, 5,000
Williamsburg City, 100,000
Liverpool, London and Globe, .... 1,639,500
Washington, N. Y., 90,000
Farragut, 20,000
Commerce, fi2,000
Fireman's, 122,000
Republic, 200,000
Importers' and Traders', 32,000
St. Nicholas, 15,000
Westchester, 75,000
Manufacturers' and Builders', .... none
Lamar, heavy
Exchange, . 15,000
American Central, 15,000
Farmers' of New York, ....... 5,000
Lancaster, * none
Pennsylvania Underwriters, 15,000
Niagara, not over, 300,000
Springfield, : 250,000
Tradesmen's 240,000
Traders', Chicago, 30,000
Commerce,. Albany, 50,000
Alps, . 34,000
New York and Yonkers, 70,000
Lancashire, 125,000
National, New York, 140,000
116 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Firemen's Trust, $5,000
Amazon, 50,000
Triumph, 50,000
St. Paul Fire and Marine '. 20,000
Girard, 50,000
Globe, 15,000
Moutauk, 5,000
JEtna, Hartford, 150,000
Hartford, 550,000
Connecticut, 20,000
Orient, 160,000
National, of Hartford, 125,000
Phoenix, Hartford, • 450,000
Philadelphia Companies.
North American, $900,000
Franklin, 600,000
Delaware Mutual, . . . ' 400,000
Pennsylvania, 300,000
State of Pennsylvania, '. 100,000
Union Mutual, 34,000
Fame, 20,000
American, 300,000
Girard, 50,000
Total estimated and ascertained losses, . $2,104,000
/
Suspensions.
In New York, as a result of the fire, the Humboldt
and International companies have suspended. In
Philadelphia all will weather the storm safely. All
the Providence, H. I., companies say they will come
out straight. The American and Mercantile, of
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 117
Boston, will go on. The Boylston must stop. The
New Jersey companies lose only trifling amounts.
The Continental Insurance Company of New York,
has assets amounting to over $2,000,000 ; if the entire
amount at risk within the district is a total loss, one-
half of its surplus will pay for it. The loss of the
Hartford companies will not exceed the following
amounts: JEtna, $1,400,000; Hartford, $522,000 ;
Phoenix, $500,000; National, $175,000; Orient,
$170,000; Connecticut, $100,000; total $2,867,000.
The iEtna officers think by salvage and over insur-
ance deductions their loss will be reduced to $1,300,-
000, and the National company think that theirs will
be reduced to $150,000 from the same reductions.
The amount at risk in the burned district exceeds the
above figures somewhat in the case of most of the
above companies, but allowing a very small percentage
for salvage, it is confidently believed that the losses
will not exceed the amounts named. All the Hartford
companies are perfectly sound. The iEtna's assets on
November 1st, were $5,000,000. The other companies
are also in. good condition to meet all their losses.
On General Business
the fire has not, up to the hour at which this volume
is <nven to the press, had the disastrous effect that was
feared. Confidence is being rapidly restored, and all
apprehension of a panic is now past.
118 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
A Boston Voice.
The Boston Advertiser sums up the fire and its re-
sults, as follows :
All the domestic wool in the city has been burned,
and the total number of pounds of foreign and domes-
tic fleece and pulled wool destroyed by the fire cannot
fall short of 8,000,000 pounds, while the entire stock
remaining in this market consists of foreign wool, and
is less than 8,000 bales. The destruction of boots,
shoes, and leather has been quite as complete as that
of wool, although the stock of boots and shoes in
warehouses is much lighter at this season than it
would have been about a month later, and the loss will
consequently be less to the owners. Besides this,
large quantities of boots, shoes, and leather were
saved, which will materially lighten the loss of the
sufferers. The wholesale clothing houses, with one or
two exceptions, were completely burned, although a
considerable quantity of goods were saved, and the
stocks on hand were not very large. With a very
few exceptions all the commission dry goods houses
are burned to the ground, not even the walls of the
buildings being left standing. The destruction of the
jobbing houses has been nearly complete, and the
agent of the largest mills in the country says that but
one of all his customers in the city has a place left for
business. The fire did not reach that portion of the
city occupied by the provision, produce, and flour and
grain trade, nor were there any losses to the fish or
salt dealers, and but slight damage to the wholesale
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 119
grocers. None of the hotels have been destroyed, and
the railroads, with the exception of the Hartford
and Erie, have not suffered, as the fire did not extend
in that direction. There is not likely to be any such
serious interruption to business as a view of the burned
district would at first suggest, and with characteristic
energy, a large number of the merchants who have
been burned out have secured rooms and offices, and
will resume business at the usual hour on Monday
morning.
All the Old Boot and Shoe
and commission firms are solvent, and even strong as
before the fire, and by their solvency will preserve to
Boston, unimpaired, their very valuable line of busi-
ness. Very many of the jobbing firms also in the
same line came out of the fire witli large losses, it is
true, but able to meet all their engagements, and to
continue their business. The same may be said in
general terms of the large manufacturers and dealers
in clothing. Their stocks in hand are consumed, but
their surplus of assets in bills and amounts receivable,
together with what insurance they may be able to re-
cover,-will save them. That there will be failures in
several of the leading lines of business is probable,
but in the ca-e of many firms, we believe, it will be
found that after a suspension of payments until
they can ascertain how much of their insurance can
be realized, they will resume payments and go on as
before.
The area of the burnt district will be found, when
120 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
carefully estimated, slightly to exceed sixty-four acres,
or 2,787,840 square feet. Deducting the space covered
by streets, the area occupied by buildings is a little
less than two million square feet. The structures did
not cover all the remaining space ; but assuming that
they did, and they were worth $10 per square foot, the
entire loss in buildings will amount to $20,000,000, an
estimate to the correctness of which we have the testi-
mony of many sagacious holders of real estate. The
total number of buildings consumed may roughly be
stated at about seven hundred. The loss in merchan-
dise is set by the most competent experts at not over
three times the amount of the loss of buildings, it
bein^ borne in mind that in a number of streets the
structures were used principally for offices, and con-
tained nothing very valuable, and that in many ware-
houses the stocks of merchandise were low, some of
the dry goods commission houses, for example, having
hardly any goods in store.
T1IE GREAT FIRE : 1T6 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 121
AMONG THE CINDERS.
The Feeling among the Sufferers.
As sufferers by the fire become better acquainted
with the nature and extent of their losses, the feeling
of confidence grows stronger. The salvage is found
to vary from fifteen to sixty per cent, in proportion to
the loss, and as schedules of property are being made
out with promptness, and policies and proofs of loss
are in some cases already in, the work of adjustment
will be an easy matter. Many of the policy holders
in Boston offices have expressed their intention of re-
turning to their favorite companies when they shall
have obtained new charters, and are able to take new
risks. The loss among the mutual offices in this city
will fall heavily upon a class that can ill afford to meet
their premium notes. A. careful estimate shows that
between seventy and eighty per cent, of the total
amount of insurance effected in the burnt district will
be at once paid. •
Unprotected Property.
On Monday morning there were $308,000,00:)
worth of property left uninsured by the bankruptcy
of the companies which protected it on Saturday, and
some of the parties interested are carrying their own
risks until new companies can be formed and char-
tered.
122 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
Opening the Safes.
A large number of the safes opened to-day contained
nothing but ashes. This was the case with safes of
various makers. The safe of Palmer, Batchelder &
Co., extensive jewellers, on Washington street, which,
when the fire was approaching the store, was filled
with watches and much valuable jewelry, there being
no time to take them to a place of safety, was found
to contahi, when opened, melted gold, and the safe of
a safe-manufacturing company also contained, when
opened, nothing but cinders. The contents of the
brick vaults have, as a general thing, been found to be
all right. Some considerable loss has been occasioned
by the opening of the safes too soon.
Temporary Occupancy of Fort Hill.
The lands on the Fort Hill territory asked for by
the shoe and leather dealers burned out, for temporary
buildings, have been granted by the city authorities.
The structures must be fire-proof, and not over twenty
feet high. Occupancy is given from the 1st of Decern
ber to the 1st of June next, the lessees to pay six per
cent, per annum on the assessed value of the land.
Recovered from Thieves.
•
That thieves from some quarter operated diligently
during the fire is shown conclusively, by the fact that
beween $300,000 and $t00,000 worth of stolen prop-
erty was recovered by the police officers within five
days after the fire.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 123
The Tempoj^ary Post Office.
The work of remodelling the venerable and sacred
old South Church for a temporary post office, to be
used until the new post office is ready for occupancy,
will be immediately begun. It will be entirely over-
hauled, and its familiar look will forever disappear.
It is now the intention of the pew owners to dispose
of it, so soon as the postal department gets through
with it, for business purposes. So another old Boston
landmark is doomed. Probably before long the old
State House will be removed, and ten years hence no
one will be able to find, except in the guide books or
city histories, any reminder of the Boston of the carry
days. The new post office cannot be occupied for a
long season, for a large portion of it must be rebuilt.
The terrible heat of the flames which raged around it
on every side has cracked and crumbled the granite of
the vast pavilions of the Milk and Water street facades.
It is said that arrangements will doubtless be made for
extending the edifice to Congress street, thus covering
the entire square. In this event it is proposed to make
Congress street a grand avenue seventy-five or a hun-
dred feet wide, extending from State street to one of
the new bridges across Fort Point Channel. A broad
belt across the city would thus be given, where a suc-
cessful stand could be made against a fire. Should
this broad "Phoenix avenue" be constructed, and the
post office building be extended, the principal front
would be on that side and the United States Courts
probably located in the extension. Should this be
124 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
done, and the proposed Central Exchange and the
new County Court House be located on the same
avenue, there would be a noble group of fire-proof
buildings, which would be as effectual a protection to
the neighborhood as was the new post office to the
buildings around it.
Removing the Ruins.
The experiment of blowing up the wall of W. H.
Gleson's granite building, in the square formed by the
junction of Summer and High streets, proved per-
fectly successful The first charge, of five pounds,
was effective in blowing out the northerly wTall only,
but the second charge, of twelve pounds (one pound
to a cartridge), lifted the massive walls from their
foundations, and they dropped perpendicularly into
the cellar and upon the sidewalk, scarcely a stone
verging from a direct downward course so far as to fall
into the street.
A Safe with $150,000 in it intact.
The safe of Westcott & Co., on High street, was
recovered and its contents of $150,000 found unin-
jured, after sixty-two hours' exposure to the intense
heat. The locality had been guarded by a detach-
ment of dragoons.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 127
What is said of Mansard Roofs.
The fury against the Mansards is especially general
and violent, and the intense feeling has found ade-
quate expressions in the various journals. Upon
this subject, the Advertiser says :
" The French architect, Mansard, is liable to have
some injustice done to him by our careless way of
speaking of the work which boars his name. The
peculiarity of his roof was the curve which lie gave
to a style of roof-structure much older than himself
of which our ancient gambrel roof was one modifica-
tion. The Mansard curve is, we believe, now little
used, and is not in favor with architects generally.
But the name sticks to the kind of roof which lie only
modified, without regard to the shape, or to the mate-
rials of which it is made. Now, it is certain that the
real Mansard roof, built of iron or of incombustible
wood, might not be objectionable on account of any pe-
culiar exposure from fire, and also that the innumerable
modifications, which Mansard himself would never
have recognized, built of inflammable materials, and
beyond the reach of ordinary engines, are the real
offenders in our case, against which every citizen
who. wishes to sleep in peace and security should wage
unceasing war."
But these expressions are quite mild, compared with
those of the Post, which cries " Down with the Man-
sards," in this vigorous style :
" Looking over what there remains of B >ston, one
marvels that the fire did not go on forever. A view
124 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
done, and the proposed Central Exchange and the
new County Court House be located on the same
avenue, there would be a noble group of fire-proof
buildings, which would be as effectual a protection to
the neighborhood as was the new post office to the
buildings around it.
Removing the Ruins.
The experiment of blowing up the wall of W. H.
Gleson's granite building, in the square formed by the
junction of Summer and High streets, proved per-
fectly successful The first charge, . of five pounds,
was effective in blowing out the northerly wall only,
but the second charge, of twelve pounds (one pound
to a cartridge), lifted the massive walls from their
foundations, and they dropped perpendicularly into
the cellar and upon the sidewalk, scarcely a stone
verging from a direct downward course so far as to fall
into the street.
J. Safe ivith $150,000 in it intact.
The safe of Westcott & Co., on High street, was
recovered and its contents of $150,000 found unin-
jured, after sixty-two hours' exposure to the intense
heat. The locality had been guarded by a detach-
ment of dragoons.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 127
M licit is said of Mansard Roofs.
The fury against the Mansards is especially general
and violent, and the intense feeling has found ade-
quate expressions in the various journals. Upon
this subject, the Advertiser says :
" The French architect, Mansard, is liable to have
some injustice done to him by our careless way of
speaking of the work which bears his name. The
peculiarity of his roof was the curve which he gave
to a style of roof-structure much dlder than himself
of which our ancient gambrel roof was one modifica-
tion. The Mansard curve is, we believe, now little
used, and is not in favor with architects generally.
But the name sticks to the kind of roof which he only
modified, without regard to the shape, or to the mate-
rials of which it is made. Now, it is certain that the
real Mansard roof, built of iron or of incombustible
wood, might not be objectionable on account of any pe-
culiar exposure from fire, and also that the innumerable
modifications, which Mansard himself would never
have recognized, built of inflammable materials, and
beyond the reach of ordinary engines, are the real
offenders in our case, against which every citizen
wTho. wishes to sleep in peace and security should wa<*e
unceasing war."
But these expressions are quite mild, compared with
those of the Post, which cries " Down with the Man-
sards," in this vigorous style :
" Looking over what there remains of B >ston, one
marvels that the fire did not go on forever. A view
8
128 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
from the housetop reveals a forest of Mansard roofs?
stretching up angles and towers, and cornices of sea-
soned wood, like so many hands rapacious to clutch
the flames. Tawdry with meretricious products of the
jig-saw and the machine lathe, incrusted with a pro-
fusion of jumbled ornaments chiselled out of white
pine, and supported by wondrously wrought pillar and
capital, and frieze of the same material, they sit atop
of lordly granite block?, like the old man of the sea,
to ride them to the death. Each paltry scroll offers a
position for the flying brand to rest and be fanned
into flame. Each boss, each panel, and each individual
outrage of architectural detail that fondly clings to the
Mansard roof presents a seat for the spark borne on
the wind, and a veritable coign of vantage for the
long leaping flames. Once grasped, the fire will not
leave the Mansard for a deluge, but revels and riots
there, and sends out fresh emissaries of destruction to
the detestable kindred far and wide. The thousands
who enjoyed the mournful privilege of witnessing the
great fire of "November 9th, saw the Mansard in its
glory. Far up in a Mansard roof, beyond the reach of
the hardest puffing engine, the fire first -asserted its
power. It spread along over the stout granite beneath.
It leaped the streets and licked up a block of Mansards
on the other side. From housetop to housetop it sped,
compelling all beneath it to aid in the chase, until the
name of the architect of Louis XIV. was written in
the shattered and smoking ruins of Boston's noblest
edifices. An acre of pine wood goes to make the
Mansard roof of one of our fine modern blocks, and a
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 129
fine fire it makes. This is no fancy or prejudice, and
we rejoice to learn that the property owners are taking
measures to insure the absence of this abomination in
any structures to be erected on their land There is
little to be said for the Mansard as regards architectural
beauty, when constructed in the cheap and tawdry
manner usual; and if these roofs may not he built of
honest and enduring material, as is the case of that
now going up on the new post office, we doubt not
that the community will join in the cry of ' Down
with the Mansards ! ' "
The Relief Movement.
The Relief Bureau, in the Chardon street City
Building, found more business than it expected.
About five hundred people were receiving aid. Nearly
every case was one of utter destitution, but all that the
greater part of the sufferers asked was time. They
were mostly of the sturdy working class, and so soon
as they got a lift could abundantly take care of them-
selves. The applications was for food, clothing, or fur-
niture, and these were promptly granted. The members
of the Bureau estimate that at least 4,000 people had
been deprived of homes, and that the greater portion
of those, with many others, would be forced to apply
to them for aid during a large part of the approach-
ing winter. The total number of killed in the fire is
given as only nine, five of whom are unknown. But this
is probably an undor-estimate, for there are a number of
missing men and children, who, it is generally believed,
130 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
perished in the fire, or are buried under the ruins. The
number of seriously and slightly injured was stated
to be not over a dozen or fifteen. One of the seriously
injured firemen, Albert C. Abbott, of Charlestown,
was to have been married on Thanksgiving day: his
brother, Louis Porter Abbott, was missing, and was
supposed* to be buried in the ruins on Washington
street. He left three little children in the care of his
a^ed and widowed mother.
o
Aid from Abroad to be Accepted.
The Citizen's Relief Committee, at their meeting
rejected a resolution, offered by Mr. Gray, .the Presi-
dent, declaring that while the City of Boston was
profoundly grateful to the people of ail parts of the
country who had extended their sympathy, and ten-
dered their assistance to it in its calamity, it is able to
recover from its great loss without assistance from *
abroad. Mr. Gray, in moving the resolution, said,
that when the telegram of the Mayor was sent to the
Mayors of other cities on Monday, informing them
that pecuniary assistance would be gratefully received,
the extent of the calamity was not known, and the
ability of the city to meet it was not comprehended.
The objection to the passage of the resolution was
mainly made ' by Nathan Matthews, Mayor Gaston,
Josiah Quincy, and others, who contended that the
merchants of the city cannot afford to relieve the
sufferers, and consequently relief must come from
abroad. A substitute resolution, announcing that
THE GREAT FIRE I ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 131
pecuniary aid would be gratefully received, was almost
unanimously passed, and an Executive Committee was
appointed to take charge of the funds received. Com-
mittees from Philadelphia, Chicago, and other western
cities were present. The Chicago Committee insisted
that its hundred thousand dollars should be accepted,
whether the resolution rejecting aid was passed or
not.
Aid to he Accepted,
The following resolution was passed at the meeting
of the Citizens' Relief Committee :
Resolved, That the Committee on behalf of the citi-
zens of Boston return most sincere and hearty thanks
to their fellow-citizens, in all parts of the Union, for
the warm expressions of sympathy which have been
tendered at this time of calamity, and for the friendly
offers of pecuniary aid which they have made, and that
their friendly offers be and they are hereby accepted.
(Signed,) Wm. Gray, Chairman.
The resolution to accept contributions from other
cities will afford immediate relief to many poor fami-
lies who lost their all, and to thousands of persons
thrown out of employment. The noble generosity
exhibited all over the country is calling forth thanks-
giving from thousands of grateful hearts.
132 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
THE STARTLING NEWS.
How it was received throughout the Country.
The news of the terrible blow which had fallen on
the greatest of the old New England cities was re-
ceived throughout the entire breadth of the land with
incredulity at first; but as the full truth of the fright-
ful disaster broke upon the people, all were aroused
as by an earthquake. Men in every city rushed to
their places of business to learn if they had lost their all.
The papers were read with even quarrelsome avidity
to find what and how much had been destroyed. The
hotels, the clubs, the telegraph- offices were filled with
excited beings, all brimming over with one absorbing
topic. The insurance companies opened their offices
as on week days, and, in fact, the scene in every sec-
tion was one universal pandemonium, in which self-
interest was all predominant.
In New York,
on Sunday, the 10th, the startling intelligence created
the wildest excitement, which was largely intensified
by later despatches announcing that the entire city of
Boston was threatened with destruction. Hundreds
who had before on previous Sabbaths resorted to the
1HE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 133
churches to listen to the eloquent dissertations of their
popular clergyman, for once gave him the cut direct,
and, instead of devoutly wending their way to their
plush-covered pews, hurried to the newspaper offices
in anticipation of later particulars. The bulletin
boards had a large number of readers, and the lobbies
of the hotels presented an appearance of life and ac-
tivity seldom equalled on the Sabbath. Persons who
had friends in the strickened city, without waiting for
their steaks, swallowed their coffee hurriedly and re-
paired to the telegraph offices to communicate with
them by means of electricity, and the look of anxiety
that was visible on their countenances clearly showed
that such a catastrophe as that which had fallen upon
the Hub thrilled the hearts of thousands in sister
cities. The general remark was "Great God, this is
fearful! When will our turn come? The fire god
has laid Chicago and Boston under contribution. Will
it be Mew Yoik, Philadelphia or Washington next !"
The vicinity of the telegraph office was the centre of
attraction for the masses, and the struggling for place
and position near the desks was as fierce and as violent
as though each man's life depended upon getting his
despatch to the operator. Indeed, at one time, late
in the evening, the anxious ones, whose all in the
world probably depended upon the direction the lire
had taken since the night previous, and who wore de-
sirous to learn independently of the newspapers what
hope was really left them, fought among themselves
like crazy men to get their despatches off first. It was
in vain that the operatives protested that they already
134 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
had hundreds of despatches lying on their desks await-
ing their turn ; no one would take " No" for an answer,
and every one insisted — some with wild profanity,
others pleadingly, almost with tears in their eyes —
that his particular despatch was the first handed in
and should consequently be sent first. While chairs
were being overturned, and the general confusion
made worse confounded by the struggling of the
crowds, certain of the operatives were busily engaged
in calling out the names of those persons for whom
they had received despatches from Boston. It was
really painful to see with what brutal violence each
one whose name was called, and who happened to be
present, dashed his way through the crowd, and to
witness the wild, eager look that came over his coun-
tenance as he nervously tore open the envelope, and
with staring eye and bated breath glanced over the
contents. One only had to watch the faces of these
men to learn where the hope was crushed, and where
ruin was beyond a doubt.
In Philadelphia
the picture presented was as sad and startling as
that to be seen when the Queen City of the West was
being reduced to ashes. So startling in connection
with Boston above all cities, had been the first rumor
of a gigantic fire sweeping up within its colossal arms
of flame, the interests not only of individuals, but of
an entire city, that the first impulse was astonishment,
then, soon after, came the second impulse of curiosity.
TIIE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 135
Then came that sympathy that, in our American
Republic, springs in the presence of a great misfor-
tune— that co-holds the throne with curiosity, and that
finally ends in that grand exhibit of national generosity
which, sooner or later, flows to relieve the ruin of a
sister American city and the wants of a sister American
community. It would not be easy to calculate the
number of people stopping at the bulletin-boards, the
crowd generally would be too large for all to see within
a reasonable time. Then came the reading aloud.
Sometimes, at the board, or at the corners it was one
who knew Boston. To-day such an one's words were
golden. When he vouchsafed a remark as to the
character of the burned district — as to the safety .of
certain parts of the city well known to himself — as to
the probability that certain prominent commercial
firms and business firms, known only to himself, were
in the fire-limits, or had barely escaped them, the crowd
listened as unto a prophet. The more intimately
acquainted he was with the highways and byways of
the city, the more reverently he was listened to. It
was cheap to get up a comer-reputation just then.
Say only that you knew where Summer, Federal, State,
Washington, and Bedford streets were, and you had
the crowd stationary in transitu. There were many
that held the throng in this manner. Others there
were, however, who, knowing Boston well, revealed a
darker tale. They belonged to the city; their fami-
lies were there. Mere curiosity did not move them,
but an active, keenly anxious interest in the blow that
136 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
has struck a great city with which we are affiliated
in the "hooks of steel" of a common nationality.
The comments on the streets began generally with
the great fire of Chicago in 1871. One must always
have in real life as in algebra, some known quantity
to begin with. The moment the first reports of the
Boston fire were announced, people began to speak of
Chicago. That fire had been so lately devastating a
great city of the West, that when another fire began,
no one knew how, gathering its forces no one could
tell whence, struck the great city of the extreme north-
east, the public mind at one quick bound connected
the two. People talked of the association in the
streets, and when walking along. It beats the Chicago
fire, seemed generally the impression. . Among the
insurance men the anxiety was painful to behold.
Most of the large offices held behind their closed doors
a number of frightened officers, from presidents clown
through the. various grades of vice presidents, actuaries,
directors, and even clerks, all having a moneyed inter-
est in the despatches arriving from the stricken city.
Chestnut street and the Continental Hotel were
crowded with men representing this line of business.
Among the dealers in money the general fear was
expressed that the banks and money lenders would
enact the same ill-advised role of last year, viz.: the
sudden and universal demand upon their debtors to
pay at once, and to the uttermost farthing, what they
owed. This course, which increased the widespread
disaster which necessarily ensued upon the Chicago
fire, without attaining any corresponding good end, was
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 137
feared and deprecated. It was clearly to be seen that
the great fire had touched the city to the heart. Filled
with sympathy with one of the historic cities of the
Union, deeply feeling the loss to human life and the
destruction of property, whether meeting on the street
or in the places of assembly, the citizens, in breathing
a wish for the security of Boston, had not forgotten the
prayer that the wofnl calamity of fire might not fall
upon their own city of Philadelphia.
In Washington
the entire community were startled by the news of
the conflagration. Men rushed wildly through the
streets, and the desire to learn further particulars was
intense, especially among citizens of Massachusetts,
including Secretary Boutwell. Hundreds of them
daring the day thronged the offices of the telegraph
companies in pursuit of further intelligence. Maps of
the city of Boston were produced in order to trace the
limits of the burned district, and the explanations
given by those familiar with the locality — Secretary
Boutwell among the number — increased the general
interest. Crowds also gathered at the hotels where
the despatches received from time to time were the
subject of comment. The excitement was at least as
great as at the time of the Chicago fire. Extras, giv-
ing the latest details, were issued by the leading news-
papers, and were eagerly purchased by all classes of
the community.
138 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
In Chicago,
only thirteen months ago herself almost laid in
ashes, the fated news from the Queen of Massachusetts
and New Englard was received with feelings of deep
sympathy and profound regret.
The confirmation of the dire intelligence caused
universal excitement. Crowds of citizens thronged
the sidewalks and besieged the newspaper offices.
The Chicago Bostonian element, numbering several
thousands, felt the blow with even keener force than
those who were not natives of the doomed city. The
disaster was discussed in all its forms, local, general,
monetary and commercial. Insurance men, merchants,
builders, bankers and grain shippers paused aghast at
the frightful spectacle of another American emporium
swept into utter ruin thirteen months after the burn-
ing of old Chicago. Men said that war could hardly
have brought more destruction along with it, and the
causes which, in a solidly built city, could have led to
so tremendous a catastrophe. In a word, the disaster
brought back to every mind the awful days of Chica-
go's own fiery trial, and it required little effort of the
imagination to picture the blazing roofs, the exploding
walls, the waters of river and bay lurid with the furious
flames, the overwhelming gale, sweeping the shoals of
sparks and cinders in its track, the burning shipping,
the tolling of the alarm bell, the vain efforts of police
and firemen, the affrighted populace flying in disordered
mass before that irresistible foe, the ruined merchants
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 139
and the outlying fire departments crowding into the
suburbs to aid their Boston brethren in fighting back
the flames. The ninth of October, 1871, seemed to
come again, and, with that coming arose in the minds of
the Chicago citizens grateful memories of the generous
deeds of Massachusetts' capital in the day of their afflic-
tion. The hotels were thronged and maps were every-
where in requisition, while each telegram that arrived,
mentioned old land marks forever swept away. The
trains going east were filled with New Englanders,
hurrying to their much-loved metropolis, to aid, by
work and word, the thousands of their friends made,
for the time being at least, desolate, if not despond-
ing.
In Indianapolis.
the tidings of the terrible calamity caused universal
sadness. But there was one class of citizens to whom
the subject was one of deep personal interest. The
representatives of the large Eastern fire insurance
companies heard the news with blanched cheeks and
fast beating hearts, for who of them could tell how
their companies, already crippled by the Chicago fire,
would bear this fresh blow] And the business men
of the city generally reflected with no pleas ant feelings
upon the effects of the probable withdrawal of the
vast capital which these companies have invested.
These and similar reflections contributed to deepen
the general gloom, and Indianapolis was a sad city.
140 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
In Detroit
the news caused almost as great excitement on the
streets as did the Chicago fire. Although the citizens
of Detroit generally, are not so familiar with Boston
as with Chicago, there are, nevertheless, very many
who have personal friends there, and are more or less
acquainted with the city, and many more who have
business relations with the merchants of Bostor?.
Detroit is more intimately connected with Boston in
business relations than with almost any other city on
the continent. Aside from the thrilling and terrible
nature of the catastrophe, it was natural, then, that
the people should feel an intense interest. The partic-
ulars were eagerly read, and produced a great excite-
ment. The terrible nature of the catastrophe was the
subject of comment by most of the ministers on Sun-
day, in their sermons, and a shadow of profound anx-
iety and sorrow rested upon every face. Early in the
day, crowds of people besieged the telegraph and
newspaper offices for further particulars. But such
news as was received rather tencTed to increase than
to allay the excitement, which soon rose to fever heat.
Never before or since, except on the receipt of the
news of the assassination of President Lincoln and of
the Chicago fire, was seen such a profound sensation
and such painful anxiety. Throughout the entire day
the streets in the vicinity of the telegraph offices and
the bulletin boards were thronged with an eager,
surging crowd.
THE GREAT FIRE: ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. Ml
In Hart ford
crowds thronged through the streets, flocking around
the bulletin boards, the most eager curiosity depicted
on their countenances. Business men were almost
wild, for well they knew that the great insurance in-
terests of Hartford were again put to the test; persons
holding insurance stocks were seriously affected, and
seized with avidity upon every fresh piece of news
that arrived. The feeling was even more intense, if
possible, than at the time of the Chicago fire, because
then there was a sense of security felt in all the com-
panies, which had large surpluses ; but now the com-
panies were but just rallying from the terrible losses
of that great fire, and there was more uncertainty felt.
Besides, stockholders became all the more nervous in
consequence of not being able to ascertain whether the
companies were largely interested or not in Boston
risks.
In Springfield, Massachusetts,
on the night when the flame first burst forth to
soon sweep away block after block, despatches floated
across the wires every few minutes, detailing the rapid
march of the fire demon, and the deepest sympathy
was expressed by all, as one well known street after
another was known to have been left a mass of ruins.
Telegraph repairers, with all the wire and tools they
could lay hands on, were sent forward* by the Young
Owl train. At four o'clock Sunday morning the wires
ceased working, and did not resume until after the
142 BOSTON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
company's office at Boston had been abandoned, and •
new connections were made and a temporary office
had been opened in another part of the city. About
ten o'clock the bulletin boards announced to the early
church-goers the startling facts of the fire, and for the
remainder of the day eager crowds blockaded the side-
walk, and at times the streets, anxious to learn what
friend and relative had been ruined and how fared the
light. At the churches strong amens responded to
fervent prayers that the progress of the devouring
element might be stayed.
Firemen and insurance agents dashed excited about
the streets, the former snuffing their enemy afar off,
and only restrained by the wisdom of their chief from
a general stampede to the fire. As the train arrived
at the Boston depot, the depot was thronged; men
struggled to get on the cars only to be pushed off on
the other side of the platfrom ; the train men were
bewildered by a thousand meaningless questions, and
the commotion and roar of the multitude drowned even
the noise of the train. Still the spirit of Chicago
animated the sufferers of Boston, and more men
laughed than cried or looked sad, from the revulsion
of the tremendous calamity. Since the war there was
no such scene witnessed.
In every other city of the Union the excitement
was intense. The insurance men, the investors in
Boston real estate, the financial men, and the resi-
dents absent at the time, were beyond doubt the most
alarmed, and will never care to remember the calamity
only as a horrible dream.
We have issued two beautiful Chronio- Lithographs,
" Companion Pictures," size, 10x24 inches.
One, The City of
CHICAGO AS IT WAS,
AND THE OTHER
©Hl©4^@) WS W&AMM
These are correct views of the ill fated City of Chicago ; one, representing the city
as it appeared before the fire; and the other, on the nights of October 8th and 9th, 1871,
when wrapped in flames. These pictures, as gems of art, cannot be surpassed, drawn
and executed by Duval & Hunter, who are so widely known throughout the country
the very best chromo-lithographers in the United States. We have in the first of these
pictures the CITY OF CHICAGO, looking from the lake, as she stood in all her glory,
the wonder of the world. Here we see her magnificent buildings, great grain elevators,
immense passenger and freight depots of the railroads that centre there, whose vast
net-work of rails cover the city and environs like a huge grid-iron. We see the city
as it was and will never appear again, for in this age of advancement, new Chicago
will be vastly different from the old, which makes this view of her past glory all the
more valuable.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO IN FLAMES is awfully grand. There is always grandeur
in a large fire, though it be attended with loss of life, destruction of property, and
consequent misery. Fire is our greatest enemy, when allowed to get beyond our
control ; likewise our best friend, when we are able to keep it within its proper limit.
How awfully grand was this the greatest conflagration of modern times, when, in a few
hours, five miles of the doomed city were swept away, millions of dollars worth of
property destroyed, hundreds of the inhabitants burned to death, thousands rendered
homeless and penniless, who a few hours before were living in affluence. No one can
picture all the misery that has been cast upon the people of Chicago, or form any idea
of the immensity of this great calamity, but those who saw and experienced it. From
this picture we get a clear idea of this destruction, "sketched by an artist who was
an eye-witness." Here we see the devouring element reaching forth its outstretched
arms and lapping up with lurid tongue the great city ; first, house by house, and this
not satisfying its thirst for destruction, it laps up block after block of the most magnifi-
cent buildings in the world, which are crumbled and crushed by this groat mora
until the most valuable portion of the city is a heap of smouldering ruins.
These views are invaluable as souvenirs of the greatest fire that ever visited any
city of the known world. The publishers feel, in presenting these beautiful chromos,
that they are furnishing that which every family will desire to possess, and have isa
them in a convenient and handsome size, on paper 19x24 inches, at the following low
prices :
VIEW OF CHICAGO AS IT WAS, - - $1.00
VIEW OF CHICAGO IN FLAMES, - - 100
To whom are granted the most liberal terms.
Union Publishing Co.,
PRINTED IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN.
HISTORY OF THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION.
ftttttt ii fill
To which is added a carefully prepared statement of all the Great
Historical Fires of the World, and a full and detailed account
of the Fires of the Northwest,
BY JAS W. SHEAHAN AND GEO. P. UPTON,
In presenting this work to the public the Publishers, in connection with the
Authors, intend to furnish a Complete History of Chicago from its earliest period,
when a Ilude Cabin marked the site upon which afterward grew a mighty city, tracing
year after year its gre it growth. They have sketched the little " FORT DEARBORN"
on the river, from which the city took its name, manned by but fifty men, to keep in
check the raids of the hostile Indians ; giving thrilling sketches of the hardships, toils
and endurance of the early pioneers; tracing by degrees the wonderful growth in
population and wealth of a City on an area which only Thirty Years ago was a waste
of swamps and marshes ; giving the wonderful statistics of its pork, lumber, grain
and other branches of business, portraying the indomitable energy of the people, who
could build the most magnificent public buildings, churches, store-houses, grain
elevators and private buildings as could be seen in the land, who could encourage and
procure the co-operation of the wealth and genius of the nation as to make the city the
great railroad centre of the great Northwest, whose vast net-work of rails resemble
a vast grid-iron, and through all the stages of her wondrous progress, unparalleled in
the history of the world, bring the reader down to those terrible days and nights of
October 7th, 8th, and 9th, 1871, in which time the Fire Desolator laid waste the most
valuable part of the Great City. A monument of human energy and labor.
The Authors being on the spot at the time, and with feelings intensified by the
fact that their homes and substance and that of their fellow-beings and neighbors
were being remorselessly consumed by the fiery demon, put themselves to the task of
depicting the awful scene. They give the origin of the fire. THE FIRST AIARM.
The feeling of indifference, as it was but a COW SHED. Again, the SEOOXD
ALARM. The fire spreading. THE LURID GLARE which lights up the whole city.
The relentless fury of the flames. Its spread in all directions. The unavailing efforts
to stop its progress. The terror and dismay that seizes upon the inhabitants. The
hurrying to and fro of men, women and children. The removal of the aged, sick and
decrepid. The tokens of exhaustion and despair of those who had by unremitting toil
labored in vain to stop the march of the Scorching Simoon that was sweeping away the
work of a lifetime. The crash of falling walls. The crumbling of rock built edifices.
The explosions in buildings. The march of the fire from street to street. Its leap
across the river. Its irresistible spread among wooden buildings. The scenes when
the Public Buildings, Churches and Breweries were on fire. Narrow escapes. Scenes
of terror on the streets. Of pillage and plunder. The battle with the flamei on the
Lake Shore. The retreat of the people. The checking of the fire. Heroic efforts to
rescue the wounded and the dead. Sheridan's noble efforts throughout the fearful
time. All depicted by master hands, and presents a history of the most thrilling interest.
The Publishers intend to make this volume one of the handsomest of the season,
and to this end have taken ample time in its preparation. It will bo printed on fine
paper, elegantly bound, and profusely illustrated with maps, diagrams and views of the
principal buildings both before and after the fire. They intend to make it a fitting
souvenir of the great calamity, and one which every person will wish to preserve.
It will be sold through canvassing agents only, and not in Bookstores, and delivered to
subscribers at the following prices :
Beautifully Bound In Fine Cloth and Gilt Centre Stamp, - - $2 50
Beautifully Bound in Leather, Library Styla, ----- 3 00
UNION PUBLISHING COMPANY,
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