The New York Herald Newspaper, November 12, 1872, Page 7

“41 THE FIRE OUT Furious Struggle and Final Triumph. Graphic, Thrilling and Compre- hensive Picture of the Scene. oo & SABBATH OF SORROW. View of the Conflagration from a Housetop. Interesting Points of Comparison Be- tween the Chicago and Bos- ton Calamities. Firemen and Soldiers m Out with Work. Bosto: oaton's Their’ Places Filled by Volun- teers from Abroad. Men Walking the Strects as if in a Nightmare. ‘PALE AND GHOSTLY FACES ON EVERY MAND. A Pall. of Smoke Over the Ruins of the City. ‘Coolness and Confidence Be- ing Slowly Restored, One Hundred Thousand Stran- gers on the Ground. AN INVASION BY ROUGHS AND THIEVES, ‘Scenes and Incidents During and After the Fire. A Well-Told Tale Well Worth the Reading. Boston, Nov. 11, 14+4 The entire world has already learned somethtug of the visitation by fire which will leave Boston's mame among the most sadly celebrated. The story has been told, so far as cataloguing tne losses goes and sketching under the fearful pres- sure of the moment the impressions left by its splendor and its awfulness, Now, thank God, that the well-worn phrase that the “firemen have got if under control’ has become a reality, I may be allowed to lead you back over the track of desolation. On Saturday evening, as night began to fall, nothing had occurred to alter the easy way of things in this staid city. Saturday night in thig city of the Puritans is the gayest, the most eareé-forgetting of the week. In contrast of the holiday of rest which the Sabbatn is, Baturday night means cheerful household cares in some cases and light-hearted hilarity in others, It had been a delightful day, and the sun never ghone on Boston ina pleasanter mood. It sunk Swey in the west to the music ofa light breeze and the lite hum of the city. Boston, as America playfully knows, is a city of narrow, quaintly crooked streets; the two which may be called prin- cipal are Washington and Tremont, as they run generally cast and west through the greater length ofthe city. On the north of Washington street are tho dwellings of the middle classes and those of the richest lying beyond Tremont street and around the far-famed Common. Along Washington strect are the fancy stores, jewelry, millinery, retail dry goods, ‘doots and shoes, and all the other businesses which create and are created in turn by the tair pro- Menaders, who in the bright afternoon, in all the cities of the world, go shopping. On it, too, are situated most of the daily newspaper offices. If Tremont street is the more fashionable of the two, Washington is a close rival, though more TINGED WITH COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY. Tremont etreet may be described as the Regent ‘street or the Boulevard des Italiens, while Wash- ington is the Oxford street or the Rue de Rivoll. Bunning from Washington street south in the direc- tion of the water are certain streets—Sumner, Franklin, Milk, Water and State, These are crossed irregularly by other streets—Hawley, Kingston—a short street, but not to be for gorten—Devonashire, Federal, Congress, Pearl, Oliver, Kilby, Purchase and Broad, which latter running down in a southwesterly direction from State until it reaches wharves, continues slong the water front and behind the wharves, ‘Within the limits Ihave mentioned—that,is bounded by Washington, State and part of Broad on the orth and west, and by Summer, part of Bedford and the water front portion of Boston on the west south—dies the great wholesale trading portion of the city, and this is where the fire raged, de- voured and conquered. Fortunate it is that the | great beehives, where people of the poor and strug- sling classes nestle and huddle, lay far to the east @nd west of this circle I have filarked, which, too, ‘was indicated for a destruction second only in Affétican ‘Annals to Chicago, or perhaps to Portland. On the streets within this citcle were the proudest and costliest struetures which the hard toiling city had reared—great palaces of granite, piled up so as almost to shut off in their very ambition to reach the skies the daylight from the narrow pavements beneath. It wouid be use- less to detail these buildings or their thrifty own- ‘ers ina sketch, I merely wish to set the scene in the capital of the Bay Island State, the so-called Athens or the Hab of the Universe, as in half-jest, balf-earnest, Its denizens ljove to style it. Whenon last Saturday evening, November 9, at seven o'clock, the fire bells pealed out to ring up the curtain on its greatest drama in nigh one hundred years, clang, clang, they sounted; but Boston, out- side the Fire Department, little heeded, Ah! it ‘was in tones that would not be denied, In a large granite building, on the corner of Summer and Kingston streets, some hand, in carelessness, per- haps, or by that strange thing called accident, had KINDLED A LITTLE MUNGRY FLAME. Inside the massive granite walls it fed fatly on the timbers, roared up through the elevator shaft as through @ furnace chimney and leaped up to the Mansard roof, lapping it around and glaring redly out to the gaze of the silver moon, as a fiery Sappho, pulsed with hot, passionate blood, would glare and gloat beside the ice-cold chasteness of Diana. Crackling, hissing and roaring, it poured (ts burning passion forth and piled dense clouds of smoke between It and the clear, cold light above. {t would have all the great piles around for its owa ! NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1872.-TRIPLE SHEET. ornone, It was the work 6f but few minutes, Men drawing steam fire engines along came down to the spot, and the hissing of the water, the panting of the engines and shouts of the men soon mingled it all, but the hungry fame had grown into a giant and upon high rolled scoMngly along the parapet, clapping its huge hands in glee. That pigmy man below could not master it— nay, could not reach it. Out of every window it came peeping till the thick walls glowed with its flerce embrace. The men below still came troop- ing In to beat it down. It only roared the more, as if it would say, “We shall see.” It called to the light northwest wind for help, and the wind rose responsive at every breath, An atmosphere of black, blinding smoke, interwoven and interlaced with living fire, was swept upon the now brisk breeze over the streets at hand, burning the wooden housetops and seeming to scorch the very air, All this while it was only playing. Crash after crash was heard within the pile of glowing granite. The firemen fied before the portent, and only in time, for, putting forth at once its monstrous force, it hurled the solid walls out before it and behind it, sending them trembling in a thunderous rumble all around its feet, Then in THE NAKED MAJESTY OF HELL it leaped forth a very Lucifer upon the city around. It was scarcely half an hour from the booming of the bells that this happened, and happy Boston only turned and gaped and passed on. It was not fer long, however. Once released from its prison of stone the fire crossed Kingston street with a bound tothe westerly corner of Kingston and Sum- mer streets, then over Summer stieet to the corner of Otis street, taking the whole block bounded by Otis, Devonshire and Summer streets and Win- throp square, known as the Beebe block. Then it passed upSummer street towards Washington, on both sides of Summer strcet; on the south side of Summer streot it was stopped by the large store of c. F. Hovey & Co, &® few doors west of Chauncey street, om the northerly side of Summer street, passed up to Washington, taking in Trinity church in its course, and only leaving the building on tiie northerly corner of Washington and Summer streets, occupied by the Waltham Watch Company, and then it took the whole of Washington street on the easterly side down to the corner of Washington and Milk streets, The water was reached by the flames about midnight, taking all the stores on the southerly side of Summer street, the new block of buildings at the junction of Bedford and Summer streets, ending in the destruction of the Roston, Hartford and Erie Railroad depot. At the same- time the fire spread to the right and left, taking as its outer course to the north toward State street. From the corner of Milk and Washington streets the march of the fire was along the southerly side of Milk street until it passed the new Post Oifice building, Long before it had reached this appalling magnitude of tributary re- gion Boston was awakened to the apparent doom that was upon it, Men resting at home from the labors of the day caught the flare in their eyes and the terror of its majesty in their souls. Rich men, with the maddening thought of being rich no longer, rushed from their costly ease on Beacon street down to where the awful beacon of their Gnancial destruction was rushing to the sky; thousands, awed and cowed by the fearful spec- tacle, pressed upon the cordon the police were forming with brave persis®ence, but not with per- fect success; men who had something to snatch away—books, paper, merchandise and money— were seen with teams, or without them, as need commanded, carrying off the littie that was portable at such a _ time; furtive-eyed thieves, like the foul birds that pick out the eyes of the dying lion, wormed themselves 1n amid the flurry. Who at such a time could tell honesty from dishonesty, as both stag- gered out laden with their property or their plun- der? When the fire worked down relentlessly towards the water, where were some dwellings of the poor, scenes of agony, of misery, were wit- nessed, which it is one of the few blessings left that they were not onan extended scale. If the Name called the wind to its ald and was answered with a hurricane, MAN SENT A CRY ALONG THE WIRES for aid, and from all the cities round it came al- most instantaneously company after company of firemen, with their engines, and went gallantly to work, As the great buildings fell around Winthrop square, along Devonshire, Federal, Congress and Pearl streets, it became evident that all that re- gion should be abandoned, and all gforts were made to stay it at Washing- ton and State, to which latter, although it never fully reached, it was rapidly approaching. A GRAND AND FEARFUL SCENE. Shortly after midnight I gained the roof of one of the highest hotels in the city; it commanded a view of the field of demoniac desolation. I cannot say if in such moments, where exceptional emo- tions rise, one should be ashamed to confess him- self awed. AsIclambered upon the roof, some tour blocks distant from the utmost limit of the fire, and felt the flush of the infernal heat upon my face and the wild glory of the exulting conflagra- tion swim in its miraculons brightness before my eyes, my heart leaped with a throb which had in it something of a horrid Joy which all humanity and all reason could not quiet. The tossing ocean of vivid, vengeful fire, breaking around and submerging everything, had in it all the grand emotion of the ocean, but intensified to the sou! in a manner alto- gether indescribable. Here the rioting fire waves broke against a tall building, anon they rose above it like the tiae, then with a reverberation, as the building fell crumbled and frittered beneath it, it sent up a deluge of sparks like golden spray. There was a wealth of sublimity in the picture which, like all things sublime, caught the mind at once. All this time brave men were struggling against what seemed doom. Preparations were being made to fight fire with fire, as water had failed. The marines from Charlestown Navy Yard, in their blue overcoats, came to the ald of the city authori- ties as a guard upon the property. The circle of the fire was roped around, and sentinels forbade the thief to exter or escape. Great masses of in- candescent débris lay heaped through all the burning district; places unscathed, but threatened, were emptied of their valuables as rapidly as possi- ble—all this while the transfixing sight was before my eyes. Among those who stood beside me little was said, and that in low tones, save where a youth, with all youth’s irreverence, talked silly jokes to unappreciative ears, ‘ : THE WIND VEERED ROUND and a mass of acrid, suffocating smoke was carried into our faces, causing the eyes to run with water, as though Heaven had sent an angry breath to tell us that this Was a scene for tears and not for idle gazing or raptured wonder. I descended to the streets, but found them impassable. Every snade of fear, horror and terror was visible in the strange, weird 100.8 and abstracted nervous action of the thousands who hurried to and fro, After endeavoring fruitlessly to pick my way in the direction of the fringe of the fire, Washing- ton street, I returned to the hotel. I met a thin- faced, gray-wnishered old gent.eman at the door, who was smoking a cigar. He seemed the coolest man I had seen, but he was a loser by the calamity to the amount of some hundreds of thousands, While talking toa group in the hall I wag startled by a loud detonation. We rashed out mechanically, but of course learned nothing for the moment, THE FIGHT OF FIRE WITH FIRE had begun; houses were being mined and blown up to make the gaps wider over which the fire would have to stride if it would go still further, Boldand determined as was the effort, it did not succeed, save in one spot, near the water, at the angle of Broad street. The wind towards morning grew weary of its help to the flames and died away, Some great buildings, like the almost finished Post Ofice, stood boldly out, sheltering their weaker brethren tn tho rear. Water, too, was doing yeomen’s work, and the flames gradually lost their violent sway. Along Washing- ton street, from Summer to Miik street, two blocks on the southern side were laid in ashes, Here the firemen worked like heroes to chain down the fire, To the north lay the portion of the city I have spoken of as containing the dweliings of the moderately well to do. This was a prize worth winning from the flames, and heroically was it wrestled for. Men trembled as they thought of hat might be ifthe fire once leaped that street. It did not. On the corner of Washington and Milk streets was another prize for which the flercest fight was made; on the other side of the street it Was a struggle for home; on this it took a color of devotedness which will not be wrongly statea as patriotic. THE REVERENT OLD SOUTH CHURCH. This battle was for the old South church. It was for the old landmark which bears upon its front in plain, bold capitais the legend, “Old South Church; gathered 1669; first house built 1670, This house erected 1729; desecrated by British troops 1775." Its chaste spire seemed at times, in the profane ambition of the fire, as if about to look for the last time upon the city it had watched over so long— watched in hope when the colonists were praying and working their way to a fulier freedom; watched in shame when Burgoyne’s troops used its sacred precincts for a riding school to train the would-be cutthreats of American liberty, and watched with faith and pride upon almost a century of American independence. Tis was the relic of bitter, bloody and glorious times, for which they battled and battled notin vain. Millions throughout the Union will be glad to learn that the old South church is saved, As it was in hope and trembling to tire people that the moon went down, so after a while the sun rose red and sullen out upon the bay, as if fearing to look upon the havoc the night had made. The fire was burning dangerously in places, but for the most part ina low, lurid way among the rain it could not increase, It was a sad sight to the eye of day. Twelve hundred militiamen held guard over the district through the day. Thousands visited in moodiness the scene of their losses, whether as capitalist or laborer, as the hirer or the hired, When night came down once more over this Sabbath of sorrow to Boston & walk through a portion of the cooling ruins was a carnival of misery to the spirit. Forgetting the grand buildings that twenty-tour hours before Teared themselves where now was the abomina- tion of desolation, the scene outhned so fan- tastically and vay was one of peculiar Enprens veness, Here and there over the wide area among the tumbled chaos, where order and symmetry once reigned, portions of walls, whitened by the intense heat, stood like indistinct ghosts in their shrouds; curling upwards, small bine flames shaped like knife blades were round their feet. It wasa saa sight. Night came down to ind the wind again risin; nd about one o’clock in the morning an explosion was heard. THE SECOND SERIES THREATR. ED. The alarm was sounded, clanging over the city once more, and soon darkness followed. except in the five places where the fire again broke out. The gas had exploded in a store in the burned district, at the corner of Summer street and Washington, LO a) to the front a danger already feared. ‘he front of the store was blown into the street and damaged the windows onthe opposite side of Washington street, There were a great many citizens on the street and a moma stampede was the result, which threatened more serious consequences than the Serionen itself, Detonations followed in quick succeasion and it was with difficulty the crowd, which, finding itself more frightened than hurt, could be kept from actually endangering itself, On Summer street and Central court it was found that buildings were in the grasp of the fire which were believed until that moment free from danger. ‘The Park House was close in the rear of the second conflagration, and the great retail store of Jordan, Marsh & Uo., not tweut: yards from the fames, Here the firemen directe: the water from a dozen steamers. If the fire had passed this pole the tall granite buiidings on the Opposite side of Washington street would be en- veloped, and the end, as pefore stated, no one could foretell, The camped-out thousands of Chi- cago rose before the mind’s eye and nerved the arms oj thousands to assist in the work. The fact, too, that the buildings referred to were stored with highly combustible matter made it a matter of almost life and death to win. The dent zens of Avon street were instantly ordered to turn off the gas and vacate their bulldings, from. the fear of additional explosions. This produced @ scefe of horrible confusion. Half-clad wemen rushed into the streets, carrying their clothes and small valuables in their arms. A great many of the families thus ousted were generously received at the Adams House. At this juncture telegrams were despatched to various points to send on again the engines, which, in the belief that Boston’s calamity had gotten over its worst, had been allowed to return home in the evening. This call, despite the fatigue of the firemen, was instantly answered with the needed help. THE FLAMES BEGAN TO LAP over the Park House, and it was accordingly on the exposed parts deluged with water, as well as the store of Jordan, Marsh & Co. After the first explosion it was found that Mrs. Matha Hudson had jumped from the first floor window of her house in Summer street, injuring herself fearfully by bruises and burns about the legs. In another house on the same street the firemen were just in time in putting up their ladders to rescue a Mother who was about jumping into the street. The thieves again seized their opportunity to rob by rushing into houses. The presence of the mili- tary and an angry and ugly pening, with regard to lynching among the citizens, restrained a great many from their dastardly avocation. The gas in the city had been turned of, and the darkness which followed sent a great many of the curiosity-led multitude to their homes. At two o'clock the building which originaily caught fire fell to the ground. The flames were happily, by the means above described, prevented from spreading to the large buildings behind. Four other houses, how- ever, were added to the terrible catalogue of losses, and at least a million dojlars to the roperty destroyed of total which foots up probably $250,000,000 and includes 930 dis- possessea firms in ewentyatent streets. By five o'clock this addendum to the catastrophe was sub- dued in so far as drawing its teeth for further mis- chief, and the dawn of to-day brought @ feeling of relfef to the sorely tried city of Boston. Accordingly this morning I started on a 7 SURVEY OF THE BUINED DISTRICT. In Washington street crowds circulated freely and wonderingly over the rubbish before the burnt buildings. Several plucky firms had notices posted on the location of their old stands, directing where they were to be found for future operations. Passing Old South church I saw the militia posted at the door of the church. They will stop there to-night, with ball cartridge in their pouches, because the New York thieves are known to have come on in large numbers, as they did to the Chi- cago fire. It is curious to note that this is the first time since the end of the Revolutionary War that troops have been quartered in the Old South church, and the second in its history. Passing the stalwart policeman who kept back the crowd at the top of Franklin street Ientered the burned dis- trict. Here on the right stood the Pilot building, owned by Patrick Donahue, who began life a poor unlettered Irish boy, and who By notiring industry and persevereance became a milllonnaire, owning one of the finest structures in the city, He did not make a cent of his money by selling rum t@his countrymen, a8 many have done. His loss cannot be thoroughly estimated. He bears his misfortune lke thousands of other heavy losers, with equanim- ity, and will rebuild the publishing store which was naturally enough his pride. Ile was at a press dinner on Saturday at the Revere Louse while his building was being laid in ashes. STANDING IN WINTHROP SQUARE the charred remains of the tali liberty pole is almost the only mark by which to identify where so much wealth and architectural magnificence rested two days ago. On the corner of Devonshire street workmen were engeecd in opening the safes of the Revere Bank. One of these was wrought open with wedges and sledges in my presence and $400,000 in bank notes rewarded the gaze of the directors and clerks. On the opposite corner the strong chamber of the North American Bank, eS aed was watched over by the | directors. The President, R. W. Shapleigh, an oid entleman of not very song hysique, but in cellent spirits, was directing the operations of a corp of workmen. All parties seemed cheered and confident that the notes, specie and aoe deposits to the value of three or four mil- lfons_were allright. One could fee clear to the new Post Office builaing, which, at that distance, seemed unharmed, but which, in reality, was chipped and scorched on the side nearest to the force of the fire towards the water front, One | could see as far as the skeletons of the shoe and leather business in Pearl street. I met two decent youths employed up to Saturday in a leather house on Federal street. They said they were out of work now, and were looking wistfully towards the planation. This firm, it appears, had mers !n New Hampshire, who thought they were getting bargains in es apples cheap, and they are roasted now, and the boys could not get atthem. Ithink the Boston drummers as a class will lose heavily by this great misfortune. The stench of burning leather came towards me in warm gusts, and was overpowering in this vicinity. Everywhere among the ruins men were at work digging out from among the hot bricks safes. I saw one safe standing on & solitary column two stories high, with its door warped and smoke issuing out of the interior—a bad prospect for those who owned it. In High street I saw a ung pillar of brick six stories high — standing. t looked as if a gust of wind would send it across my _ path. On the water front there was one fierce bonfire yet burning, composed of 5,000 tons of coal. Firemen were playing on it, causing immense volumes of smoke. I noticed that the great heat attracted currents of cold air towards the burning pile, and ever and anon a tiny, whirling pillar of ashes and smoke would play like a Pari of sport around the devastation. In the United States Sub-Treasury and Post Office build. ing the destruction was confined to the dome of the former and the foreign depot in the latter, The mails were transferred to the Custom House, and business was partially resumed at grand old Faneuil Hall this afternoon. Such is the history of the fire in brief up to the resent. To-night the city is picketed around the Burned district and Jooks as ii in the possession of an enem, From thirty to forty lives have been loat in the conflagration, There is something in the indomi- | table pluck of the American which looks this great disaster in the eyes with a resolute heart, It looks now as if Boston, like the fabled gtant of old, who arose strengthened every time he touched the clay, would lift itself I Bape the ruins of the fire with renewed beauty, iaith and emergy. ABOUT WITH THE MULTITUDE. —-—__—_ The Excitement of the People—Ruffians .\nd In- cendiaries from New York—A Night of Ter- ror—Roster of the Officers of the Troops— The Fire Still Burning on the Skirts of the Devastated District—Esti- mate of the Killed Possible, Boston, Nov, 11—9:15 P. M, Daylight broke upon the third day of the great fire bright and clear and brilliant, with glowing sunshine, Asthe stars paled and the darkness disappeared the immense throngs in the streets had become less and less in numbers; but still, at an early hour this morning, the moving forms in the fitful, shadowy, glaring and unnatural twilight were frequent, and the restless pavé did not cease to echo to the tread of hundreds of anxious feet, Even when the broad daybreak began to stare the scene of ghastly ruin and dreadful desolation full in the face, the incessant noises of tumult and unrest filled the air with a horrible agitation, and slumbers seemed impossible for the sad and wearied multitude, who retired to their couches but to hear atintervals the hoarse clangor of bells ringing out their fearful alarums of fresh outbreakings of the fames and the hurry and tramping in the streets that shook the very earth as if it were laboring in the throes of a flerce struggle against a great dragon of desolation. By eight o'clock this morning, after a short fitful rest, the denizens of the city were again abroad, hurry- ing through the street in a shifting and roaring torrent, whose only purpose seemed a fatal attrac- tion toward the centre of the dreadful calamity, to feast thetreyes and their thirst for the horrible, or to learn and lament the PRESENT PROGRESS OF THE FINK or the terrible display of devastation, As the morning advanced the principal streets showed scenes of @ description never beheld since the great fire of London in 1666, when the whole pop- ulation of a metropolis rushed in one mighty stream away from tho terrible dread and danger that flew after them with lurid wings, sweeping dostruction all along its broad pathway. All Boston was out yesterday, and it was a sight never to be forgotten. Washington street, the great Broadway of New England, the southern por- tion of which is blocked with the ruins of the grandest commercial buildings of the country, was filled from side to side with a dense mass that rest- lessly rolled along with wild eagerness depicted on every face; and above all other sounds arose A LOUD AND HOARSE HUM OF VOICES, for thousands were talking aloud and almost un- consciously of the terrible subject which affected their hearts, their homes and their fortunes, The throng can never rightly be described. It was composed of all the species of human beings that were ever created. No condition or class had re- frained from joining THE POPULAR TIDE that with Irresistible force dashed against the hard, invincible crags of fate, and in its own mad music learned the horror of the terrible trouble that had dashed the sea of human consciousness in such a storm of anxiety, fear and despair to frenzy, as had this tempest of fire. And dashing against the hard, harsh reality, it was hurt, and shrunk, sad and white and weak, from the pictures of devastation that.were presented, so that against the grand onward movement with which the crowds Went toward the burned district there was but a feeble current of return that was scarcely percep- tible. Groups of men stood about the guards, who ane the patrol at the lines which bound the scene of desolation, expostulating and urging, entreating and wildly threatening, with the object of pases | into the dense smoke and the scorching heat to look for the former site of annihilated wealth. The severity of the orders of the militia regarding the exclusion of citizens from the smoking ruins was relaxed quite easily, and they were permitted for about two hours to pass the lines and to wander among the débris and wreck of the once proudest quarter of Boston. Speedily parties were seen curiously DIGGING IN THE RUINS at certain points, and many of these were very Teooking and were clesely watched. Safes lay here and there amid crumpled bricks and broken biocks of granite, and the guards, it must Said to thelr credit, mere jealous eyes upon all ns Who approach them. Nevertheless, about nine o'clock ome safe on Federal street was burst open by plunderers and was rifled of its con- tents. Shortly afterward the order for the relaxa- tion of police restraint was countermanded and the lines were again impassable. The issue of passes was then begun by Deputy Chief of Police Quinn, and about ten thousand persons, who showed good and bs alee reasons for desiring to enter the pale of the burned portion of the city, were given the permit, and this arrangement had the effect of imparting a strong sense of discipline through the whole city. From ten o’clocx A. M, until about six P. M. persons who were interested in buildings near or within the limits of the flames were to be seen wandering about the scene of complete ruin, step- ping trom block to block of the falling granite, climbing over iron pillars that lay among the débris and looking mournfully from side to side, Where the eye rested only on what would make tt shrink with horror. A large number of rowdies, who had arrived by the all-night trains from New York, New Haven and Providence, made repeated attempts to pass the cordons of police and militia that were drawn acyoss every street which formed an seoroect to the fire district, but owing to the mos' PRAISEWORTHY VIGILANCE they were very seldom successful. In the midst of the throngs that swept along the streets these faces might be seen marked by the most repulsive traits of crime, but they were unheeded and their fenan presence unnoted by the citizens in the hurry and eagerness of the moment. A good many of these rufMfans pretended to belong to different fire companies that have arrived from other towns, and supported their pretences by carrying lighted lanterns which they had succeeded in steal- ing. And sometimes the too lenient policemen would be imposed upon. Late last night about six arrests were made of fellows of this description who were suspected of attempts to cause the fur- ther spread of the Names with the hellish motive of plunder, A RUFFIANLY INCENDIARY, One of them was dressed in a soldier's cloak, and had been seen applying burning brands to bulld- ings that hac et been untouched on the margin of the burned district. Great fears were entertained that the incendiarism of some of these roughs would cause a new outbreak of the conflagration in some other and more populous part ol the city. But to-day the fire has been Se aes So far re- duced as to lull all fears of this kind up to the time of nightfall. When, however, the shades of eve- ning began to cover the city and the twilight was deepened by the mantle of smoke that hung in mid-air the startling fact became apparent that there was no gas to be had in about half of the city south of Dover street, and the streets were shrouded in total darkness except where the re- flection of the ames that smouldered in some part of the ruins glowed bags Es and juridly and lighted somewhat the smokey gloom. STATE STREET AS A SAFE PLACE. In State street there are $3,000,000 more of money than yesterday. It has been removed there from other streets, as that is presumed to be a safe place of deposit. The scenes in the hotels to- aigpt are suggestive. The dining halls are thronged with grests aud the lobbies filled with strangers, desiring opportunities, which can be pay ob- tained at any price, to eat something aiter long, weary hours of travel or toll. At the doorway of each’ a sturdy porter 1s always to be found, whose challenge is as sharp and gruff as that of the soldiers on guard, and he admits no one who has any muspiclous appearance of per- son or dress. m Sunday night the fear was almost strong enough for certainty that the hotels would be attacked and sacked by the ruMans who came to feast like ghouls upon the misery of the unfortunate city, and precautions a0 Prnacatons were even more strict than to- night eS ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND STRANGERS, The totai number of strangers here is piaced at about one hundred thousand, and where they ail find piaces for repose at night is a question of doubt. The barrooms all over the city were closed at seven o'clock this evening, owing to orders from the municipal authorities. ‘The burned district is now guarded by a double line of soldiers and police, consisting of 800 militia and about the same number of police. Half of the militia are allowed to rest while the rest are on duty, making the whole number under arms 1,500, ‘The city is under the military command of Brigadier General Isaac Berriil, whose force is composed of the following corps:—The First Massachusetts regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Proctor; the Ninth, under Col- one! Finan; the First battalion of infantry, under Major r; the Second battalion, under Major Gave; the First battalion of cavalry, under Licu- te corner of State and Devonshire streets. The stat omens of General Berrill on duty are Lieussuan ¢ ‘onel He ister and Capta:os bani ma Colling and Gillman. The fire is still burn- ov a the Cg of the desolated district, despite the conun labors of the firemen, and an im- anes | multitude of people are pressing close ad Rartetraaae est autaot doe septa ana em up with lurid glow. At times, when hoes THE BLACK SMOKE Monnts apward, they are darkened; then, aa the flames spring out again, they are disclosed to view, | fixed with intense interest upon the gorgeous | Spectacle and paling with increasing .anxlety | and suspense. The streets are still full of the nightly multitude that will never rest from tts Oy aero to know of all the horrors of the fire disaster, and they push forward in- evitably aa fate, Im all the station houses there are stored immense quantities of goods, which were seized when found in the possession of thieves who have been engaged in pillaging, and the cells are full of the miscreants. The lower floor of these police buildings contain large piles of clothing and cases of shoes. Already to-day about $50,000 worth of this property has been delivered to the owners. One of the most painful records of the calamity is the DEATH OF FIRBMEN AND CITIZENS who were killed by falling walls and othera who were badly injured by thesame, At the time that Walker & Co.’s store, on Federal street, was in flames several firemen were known to be in the building when the walls fell in, but how many were killed cannot yet be ascertained, though four or five men are supposed to have perished. At 168 Washington street a floor gare. way, carrying with i¢ two un- known men, whose residences were not knowa, Charles Morgan was blown up in a building on Franklin street, and two men, supposed to belong to New York, were buried in the ruins, CHICAGO AND BOSTON. oy ae An Interesting Comparison of the Two Fires— Singular Coincidences—Boston tho More Fortunate Snfferer. Boston, Nov. 11, 1872. On Sunday eventng, October 8, 1871, as the wor- shippera in the city of Chicago were returning to their homes from their respective churches, the fire alarm broke upon their ears, It had been ringing incessantly for several days, and the peo- ple had come to look upon it as a dally visitation; and, notwithstanding two entire blocks had boen consumed the previous night, no serious fears were created by the fresh outbreak, This alarm Was the precensius of the city’s doom. The fire Spread with fearful rapidity, continuing all through the Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday, being only extinguished when nothing was left to burn, It destroyed all the thea- tres, all the hotels, nearly all the churches and every public building of note. The loss in property, real estate and personal, cov- ered more than two hundred million dollars; 150,000 persons were rendered homeless; the com- merce of the city was for the time being swept away ; the grain interests were almost killed, and the flourishing and beautiful Queen City of the West was lett MOURNING HER DESOLATION amid the ruins of her greatness, A disaster so sweeping and destructive in the history of con- flagrations swept upon the country like a thunder- bolt, and when the crisis was passed men fervently thanked God that such a visitation came but once inacentury, On last Saturday the mighty heart of the American Continent was shaken by the fear- ful intelligence that Boston, the sedate, the staidand the conservative capital of the New England States, was enveloped in flames in all its business part, that the Chicago tragedy was being repeated, and all that was finest, noblest and best in the far- tenant Colonel Freeman, and batteries of artillery Aand B. Among THE TROOPS SUMMONED in the morning were the regulars at Forts Inde. endence and Warren. These were sent for ‘oy feneral Benham. Those from Fort Independence were commanded by Captain Crabbe and “Lieu. tenant Sage, and those trom Fort Wav%en by Major Rawles, commandant a the {rt, and Lieutenants Bornkley and clea, Some of these troops were placed on guard and @nother at the Sub-Treagury, de- tachment in the Bank of Safe Deposit famed HUB OF THE UNIVERSE was threatened with a sweeping overthrow. In some respects the two fires in the Western and Eastern cities have a wonderful similarity to each other; in others they were widely different, and, as your correspondent has had the good fortune, or bad fortune, to have been present in both cities in the period of their destruction, a comparison between the two and the manner in which they were assailed by the flames may prove interesting. In the first place may be noted the difference in the appearance and construction of the two cities. Boston Is one of the oldest cities on the Continent, teeming with nistorical recollections and impress- edly associated with the growth and the greatness of the American Republic. Built after the old Eng- lish models, its narrow streets, crooked lanes and winding alleys have long been the abomination of travellers accustomed to the more noble thorough- fares of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Its buildings are constructed with a view that they should endure for centuries, and its massive blocks of brick, granite and marble met the eye of the stranger on every side. No waste ground has been left by the designers, and every available spot is covered with structures of every kind down to the water's edge, the warehouses and stores extended, and the whole city presented the appearance of A COMPACT MASS OF MASONRY and brick work. During all the changes of these centuries the salient features of Boston had not changed until an element burst upon it last Satur- day night which respected not antiquity, dura- bility nor historical associations, but enveloped all in one common ruin. The Chicago of the past was in every respect diferent from Boston. It resembled it not in the formation of the streets or construction of its buildings and public edifices, It was, in the first place, the youngest of all the cities of all the west which had risen to greatness, it having, though youngest in the race, outstripped all rivals in the struggle for supremacy, and gained the proud title of Queen of the Western portion of the Continent. Forty years ago the Indian hunted where one short twelvemonth since stood the monuments which enterprise had raised to science, commerce and art, and a dismal swamp flourished where since a city has been raised on foundations of granite. Modern In its growth, Chicago was modern in its appearance, and though it had many drawbacks in its design, as its sudden destruction had proved, it had many excellent features for the transaction of trade and commerce, Its streets were spacious, lengthy and wide, and the buildings which lined them were elegant, handsome and commodious, The public edifices were erected with lavish but prudent outlay, and were designed to be fireproof, with what result the fire has long since shown. In one respect Chicago was infinitely inferior to Boston, that was in the more fragile nature of her dwelling houses, which, springing up at an early period of the city’s exis- tence, were mainly composed of lumber and boards. ‘This was the fatal cause and origin of the fire, and from it a valuable lesson has been learned by the architects of the new and more flourishing com- munity which is rapidly springing up from the ashes of October, 1871. In another respect it dif- | fered from Boston; it covered a larger areaof | ground in proportion to its population, and the buildings it contained were scattered at wider in- tervals from each other. In hotel accommodation it was superior, and in this feature was unexcelled by any city of the continent. There is A WONDERFUL RESEMBLANCE to be traced in the condition of the weather in Chicago on October 8, 1871, and in Boston on No- vember 9, 1872, The Sabbath evening in Chicago was calm and placid, refreshing and beautiful as a Summer eve. Before the fire broke out @ gentle breeze was blowing, which was delicious after the heat of the day, and the streets were crowded with pedestrians, of both sexes. In Boston, on Saturday evening, the weather wasatrife cold, but not cold enough to be unpleasant. The streets were thronge/a with people, shopping was going on in endless ‘variety, and all went merry a3 @ marriage Ven until the deep funereal knell from the brazey;-mouthed voices of the big alarum bells announc/ad the near approach of danger. It wason # MOONLIGHT NIGHT the fire broke over Chicago. A beautifal moon shor.e in the heavens last Saturday night over tie etry of Boston, The harbor looked a sca ot glass #.nd the tall masts of the shipping stood out like sentinels of the deep. The wind in Chicago was blowing from the northwest and in Boston from the northwest. Neither cities had been visited with rain for several days before their respective visitations, The ground in both was parched and dry and the atmosphere singularly conducive to sudden conflagration and combustion, ANOTHER POINT OF RESEMBLANCE. The Fire Devartment in both citics wag yartially , | Editor New York Her q19 T —— — demoralized for sonte “Me previous to the fires. In Chicago, the Incessany 4e¢mands which had been made upon tie firemen for x10re than & month had gompletely worn them out. The fire petla never onge ceased to ring. The horse attacired to the ateamers had become nearly worth{e3s and (ae mew themselves had lost all discipline and had degene- rated into a disorganized and disorderly rabWie. The inhabitants of the city were throwm into & state of unusual trepidation by thia overtnrow 0! @ department on which the safety of the city so much depended; but in the fire of the 7th of Octo- ber, the night preceding the great conflagration, the Mannerin which they exerted themselves partially restored a confidence which was radely dis#tpated on the succeeding day. In Boston a similar state’ of things, to a great extent, prevailed, but not through any fault of the firemen, The presence of the dreaded horse disease had so weakened ¢he horses attached to the Fire Department that tiey, had to be taken off, and the engines have tor) several days past becn dragged by hand, This wae’ A FATAL BLUNDER on the part of the authorities, Better that the lives of a hundred horses should be sacrifieed than. the city be left to the mercy of an element which is no respecter of time orcircumstances, This bringa’ me to the origin of the fires in the two cities, and here there was a great want of similarity. In Chicago the fire originated in tho meanest and least valuable portion of the city, from thence extending to the wealthiest portion of Boston, it broke out in the richest, and was strictly confined within the business centres. Vhe exact cause of the Chicago confagration haa always been a mystery. Popular fiction attributed it to the actton of MRS. O'LRARY'S COW, which kicked over a kerosene lamp while being milked by tts mistress, setting fire to the barn, from which the flames communicated to the sur- rounding buildings and so spread. This fancifut story has undoubtedly been looked upon as &@ good joke by those who were present in the doomed clty on the fatal night. My own opinion, strongly fortified by corroborative proof, ‘is, that incendia- rigm was at the bottom of the whole thing, aided of course by the favorable state of the weather and the Renteae dryness of the atmosphere. How the fire broke out im Boston cannot at the present Moment be guessed at. When firat discovered, about half-past seven o'clock Saturday evening, it had enveloped a building in smeke and half con- sumed it before fifty people had been attracted to the spot. Directly as the lames began to aproad they burst from about twenty buildings simultane- ously, and before anything could be done the work of the Fire Department was almost neutralized. The direction taken by THE FIRE IN CHICAGO was from west to east and then from north to south, In Boston it first burned from north to south and then went in an easterly direction, The numerous houses of shingle and wood in Chicago fed the flames and sped them on tn their nay spath with terrific rapidity. The more substantial structures in Boston withstood the consuming element a little ‘more tenaciously ; but when the fre got ey under way stone walls and granite fronts offered no more resistance than did the laths and shingles of Chicago, In Chicago the course of the fire wasa tortuous and inexplicable one. It appeared in three several di- rections, at distances of more than @ mile apart, travelling like an epidemic in the air, Districts which were congratulating themseives on their safety were jught before they could realize their danger. The fire passed over entire blocks without touching them, only to return te envelop them in the deadly embrace of devasta- tion and ruin, The wind blew in every direction, and its roar could be heard above the noise of crackling timbers, burning flames, falling beams and exploding walls. Boston was @ repetition of Chicago, though not in as great a degree. Like the latter city, the fire went in every direction, and a singular fret may be mentioned—where the flames were fiercest they were burning against the wind, Like Chicago, numerous buildings were first passea over untouched and unharmed, but the flames re- turned in their wrath to destroy what they had left in their haste. In Chicago the conflagration ex- tended down to the water's edge, setting fire to the great railroad depots, the extensive grain eleva- tors and the shipping in the harbor. In Boston THE ONLY BEPOT BURNED is the Boston and Hartford and Erie Railroad pase senger one, and this wks an unimportant wooden Ssructure, The depots in Chicago were, with the exception of the Grand Central in New York, unsurpassed for comtort, elegance and slen-, dor, and their loss alone could only be covered by millions of dollars, The quan- tity of shipping ba aia og in the Western city wis very considerable. In the Eastern city it is comparatively msignificant. No grain elevators have been burned in Boston, although it contaia@d CONTINUED ON TENTH PAGE. Mintature IRTED COLORED BOXES. containin admirably adapted to the T anteau, ACUEPTAB. by druggists’ suadry men every- where. A.—For a First © HAT go direct to the manu! ESPE. urers CHIED, 118 Nassau street. A.—Herald Branch Office, Brooklyn, coruer of Fulton avenue and Boerum street, Open from 4 A. M, to8 P. On Sunday trom 3, to 8 A.—Herring’s Patent CHAMPION SAFES, 251 and 252 Broadway, corner of Murray street. A.—For a First ass Hat, at Populse prices, call at DOUGAN’S, 102 Nassau street, corner of: Ann. tna Fire Extinguisher Saves Your house from fire, without damage by water. The strong- est, best and cheapest Extinguisher. Agents) wanted every wher E. T, ELLSWORTH, General Agent, 257 Broadway. A.—Royal Havana Lottery.—Prices Rb duced, J, B. MARTINEZ & CO., Bankers, 10 Wall street, box 4,685 Post offi York, A.—Cleaning and Dyeing, E. Lord's offices; tin city. 630 Broadway, near Bleecker street. 934 Broadway. rls A.=<Solemn Truths—Coughs Sow the seed of Consumption. Then comes the reapers death. Stop the sowing with HALE’S HONEY OF HORE- HOUND AND TAR, No cough or cold can ever prove ngerous or long remain troubl ne it this pleasant antidote is taken. CRITT! 'ON'S oO 7 Sixth avenue. Sold by all druggists. PIK TOOTHACHE DROPS cure in one minute. Bakers, Attention! A Revolution in Cracker, Pie and Bread Baking will he wrought by CRUMBIES’ 'PERPETUAL OVEN, This la the opinion of the oldest and most experienced bake the country, but go and see for yourselves one in cou: operation at the NEW YORK PIE BAKING COMPAN Sullivan street. Communications d MATHEWSON & SON, No. 4 Phi Cure for Cough or Cold.—As Soon: there isthe slightest uneasiness of the chest, with dim— culty of breathing, or Indication of cough, tike diing the day a lew “BROWN’S BRONCHIAL TROCHES." Corns, Bunions, Enlarged Joints and all discasegof the feet cured by Dr. SEAGHARIE, 27 Uniom square. Express to erry The NORTH ATLANTIC EXPRESS COMPANY, 7% Broadway, Circulars giving tull tariff rates tor Gener Merchandise, large and small Pascels, Valiables, & sent free on application, by post or otherwise, to the ge eral office as above, The only express corapany doing business between tates on the through rate plan. urope and the United Scud for circulars. , y Fire Insurance.—Intormation furnishe® to policy holders by T. J. TEMPLE, 163 Bre adway. Halt Horse and Half Man /—Rheum: tising, Swellings, Lameness and any kit sd of Flesh, Bo Muscle Allment upon manor beast 1s cured by ¢ R LINIMENT, the most wonde gful discovery of ancient or modern tines.—(Communte ated. | I Was Cured of Inflam matory Rheus matin by Dr, FITLER'S RHEUMA $IC SYRUP, office 28 John street. MILDABERGER SMI JH, 35 West ‘Tenth st. On aera Ibe ppy Reltef for You Men. Remarkable reports sent / . Address HOW at. ASSOCIATION, Philadelphia, Phe Havana Lotte ry.—Prizes Cached, 4, information turn shed, highest rates pald tor Spauish Buk Bils. TAYLO'£& CO., Bankers, 1s Wall st. The Drea Bat, ‘pt the Seasons Tout ill find Itat KNOX’S, 212 B “Tell me wher Winay bredr™ We cant, byte know. tne RNOR, 2 Broadway. makes 4 sp'tndid display of FANCY FURS. This factis peculiarly inderyming to the ladies, The New Wikre, Under-Feed Lattin MACHINE jis the machiwy. thatis to-day—with its perfect operat beautiful, © , Noiseless movement and un~ paralleled range of woe’ <—making firty friends and adv cates in hundrs ands of faupiites in all. parts the globe; it is ne to buy Af you want the best. Salesroom at vay, New Work, and in all othe: nitiea in the United Jotatos: The Césepaby want ag@ute i pi a émpany want agqnts im Wedding‘ and Ball Datei arde—Latest Paris styles; Orderwof on EVERDE 9 J S02 Proadway (established 1840.) 114 Broadway, Kew York, Nov, 11, 18726 ‘The following des Ateh from the Fireman's Fand Tr surance Company * , th the insuring publi yak pate Test to our patrons and &x SAN PR | Tasxners & Povanrox, Managers Pant dot Zet onr Boston losses promptly, Let yo zeal and Co Avage be unabated. p D, J, STAPLBS, President. sa TA goRT NING tcago losses. 1f 4 thisl Writ pal 000 of Chicago atte Nor Boston it will readily sore how C1900, Nov. 10, 1872. Md $5.0 Der eallcal Tethe Indematty which its policies yours, very truly, “ UGHTON, boon pel Managers,