XI B RAR.Y OF THL UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESENTED BY George R. Ca,rr Class of 1901 1951 977,31 L91-* The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN JIIN 1 9 19 MAR 61 78 WO?'.'" 978 NOV 02080 L1999 -9 Cafe K$;:': MAf >M ' 2 3 2005 MAY 05/98 ~J 9 &*> , :; JUN 1 7 1997 Aim 2 8 1997 39 OFT; 998 HOV 8 1! 99 JUl 2 3 1*9 L161 O-1096 TO THE WHO PROMPTLY RESPONDED IN THE HOUR OF NEED, TO THE NECESSITIES OF THE />* * TO LIP , mm\m, mmlm mid limping, WHO PASSED "THROUGH the FLAMES and BEYOND," > THIS VOLUME THE I_.OST OIT~5T! DRAMA * ^ FIRE-FIEND OB AS IT WAS, AND AS IT IS1 TS Future ! AND ITS A VIVID AND TRUTHFUL PICTURE OP ALL OF INTEREST CON- NECTED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF CHICAGO AND THE TERRIBLE FIRES OF THE GREAT NORTH-WEST. STARTLING, THRILLING INCIDENTS, FRIGHTFUL SCENES, HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES, INDIVIDUAL HERQISM, SELF-SACRIFICES, PERSONAL ANECDOTES, &o., TOGETHER WITH A HISTORY OF CHICAGO FROM ITS ORIGIN, STATISTICS OF THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD, i* t** -O *> .-r* 1" ^ ^ " II Entered, aecorcUng to Act of Congress In the year 1872, by WELLS & Co., in the office of th Librarian of Congress nt Washington. D. C. : i 1 i * >. >IST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, CHICAGO m 1820. A DAY SCENE IN GRACE CHURCH THE PASTOR AND ASSISTANTS SERVING OUT BATIONS FOB THE DESTITUTE. - 243 ' A NIGHT SCENE IN GEACE CHURCH CITIZENS PREPARING FOB BEST. .......... 247 THE YOUNG LADD3S OF CHICAGO MAKING AND DISTBIBUTING SAND- WICHES TO THE HUNGRY. - 9 CHILDREN THROWN OUT FROM WINDOWS IN BEDS. ... 129 PANIC STRICKEN CITIZENS CARRYING THE AGED, SICK AND HELP- LESS AND ENDEAVORING TO SAVE FAMILY TREASURES. 97 RESCUE OF LADIES FROM A BUILDING IN FLAMES. ... 309 WEDDING AMID THE RUINS A ROMANTIC INCIDENT. 165 RUSH FOB LIFE CROSSING RANDOLPH STREET BRIDGE. - 216 HOMELESS CITIZENS IN CAMP ON THE SHORE OF T.ATTF. MICHIGAN. 15 A FERE SCENE ON THE PRAIRIES. ...... 263 REFUGEES FROM WHITE BOOK, HUBON CO., MICH., SEEKING SAFETY IN THE WATEB. - - - - - - - 295 HON. B. B. MASON, MAYOB OF CHICAGO. 53 THE DESPERATE ATTEMPT OF A FATHER TO SAVE TTTH CHILDREN. - "* SWIFT JUSTICE ILLUSTRATING THE FATE OF THE THTKVES AND ESrCENDIABEES. INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CINCINNATI SOUP-HOUSE ON PEORIA 221 STREET. ........... ERD3 RAILWAY DEPOT, NEW YORK CITY, ON THE STARTING OF THE LIGHTNING TRAIN WITH RELIEF FOB CHICAGO. - - 201 VIEW OF THE BUBNT DISTBICT SHOWING PROMINENT BUILDINGS DESTBOYED AND THOSE PRESERVED. 69 AN EXPRESS TBAIN RUNNING THE GAUNTLET IN THE BLAZING WOODS OF THE PBAIBIES. ...... BURNING OF THE OENTBAL GBAIN ELEVATOBS AT THE MOUTH OF THE CHICAGO BIVEB. ' - 265 ^^_ GETTING WATEB FBOM THE ABTESIAN WELL. .... 235 V THE BEV. MR. COLLYEH PBEAOHING ON THE STTB OF HIS OHUBOH. 251 lf\ GENEBAL DEPOT OF SUPPLIES FOR THE SUFFEBEBS. ... 205 J KERFOOT'S BLOCK AFTER THE FIRE. 229 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS (Continued). PAGE. LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF THE FIRST BUILDING AFTER THB FIRE. 297 INTERIOR VIEW OF THE DEPOT FOR SUPPLIES IN THE WEST SIDB SKATING RINK. 257 THE BURNING OF PESHTIGO. ---.--- 265 IMPROVISED SHANTIES ON THE NORTH SIDE. 305 SCENE ON THE ROOF OF CAPTAIN'S BUILDING WHERE THE JANITOR AND HIS FAMILY PERISH. - 71 SCENE IN THE GERMAN CEMETERY THE LIVING SEEKING SAFETY IN THE CITY OF THE DEAD. ...... 197 LADIES DISTRIBUTING CLOTHING TO THE SUFFERERS OF BOTH SEXES. ......... WORKMEN HAULING SAFES FROM THE RUINS. .... 175 OPENING BANK VAULTS, CORNER LAKE AND DEARBORN STREETS. I l^Wfr A LADY BETWEEN TWO FEATHER BEDS ABLAZE. - - - - ]^1 48?" RECOVERING VALUABLES FROM THE RUINS. .... 25 THE COURT HOUSE BELL, AFTER IT HAD FELL. .... 151 BOOKSELLERS ROW, STATE STREET. ..... 227 VIEW FROM THE COURT HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH-EAST. - - 103 VIEW FROM THE COURT HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH. - - - 213 CLARK STREET, SOUTH FROM WASHINGTON STliEET. ... 39 COMMENCEMENT OF THE REBUILDING OF CHICAGO. ... 169 FURNISHING COFFINS TO BURY THE DEAD. .... 275 '-DEPOT FOR SUPPLIES AT THE SKATING RINK. ... THE NEW PACIFIC HOTEL. ........ 37 SCENE IN DEARBORN STREET WHEN THE FLAMES REACHED THE TREMONT HOUSE. -- 81 GRAIN ELEVATORS ON FIRE. ....... JQg BURNING OF THE CROSBY OPERA HOUSE. --'. 87 MAP, SHOWING THE BURNT DISTRICT. ------ % THE FLAMES COMMUNICATING WITH THE SHIPPING, AND DESTROY- ING THB GRAIN ELEVATORS. 5 SCENE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE THE COURT HOUSE IN FLAMES - 75 AN ENTERPRISING YOUTH DISPOSING OF RELICS. ' - J7 SCENE ON THE PRAIRIES. ........ 271 IN CAMP ON THE SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN. .... 115 EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE CINCINNATI SOUP HOUSE. ... 220 TRYING TO SAVE A FAVORITE DOG AND CANARY BIRDS. - - 307 AN EXPRESS TRAIN RUNNING THE GAUNTLET IN THE BLAZING WOODS. AN ENTERPKIZING YOUTH DISPOSING OF EELICS. INTRODUCTION. It is impossible for any mind to grasp and comprehend in one view, the stupendous events narrated in the succeeding chapters of this book. It seems impossible for the ordinary in- tellect to appreciate that these chapters comprise the details of the most tragic and heart-rending calamity that ever befel a people since the beginning of history. It is not yet adequately understood perhaps will not be in our generation that the Conflagration of Chicago, will, in the records of future ages, figure as the crowning disaster of the Nineteenth Century, a disaster not like that which over-took Herculaneum and Pompeii, lor they still lie buried beneath the ruins of their grandeur, but as the holocaust of that wonderful City which sprang into existence at the behest of the very Aladdin of enterprise, and exhaled before a cloud of flame like the unsubstantial fabric of a vision, thai. 18 THKOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. like the Phoenix, has already arisen from her ashes, and is plnm- ing herself for still grander achievements than those which so eminently distinguished her in the past. Her ashes are not yet cold, but they are already surmounted by edifices whose sub- stantial construction would seem to be the result of long and patient toil, and the hum of business is again heard in those streets that but a few days ago were so completely devastated by the Demon of Flame. The new wonder will prove more wonderful than the old, for the fire has operated like the sowing of dragons' teeth, in raising up men equal to the great emer- gency, who will promptly master the situation and command it. "We have more to do with the old Chicago than the new, with stern facts than prediction, with history that is more romantic than the veriest fiction that ever found its germ in the human intellect. The true record of the Chicago Fire, its facts, figures, incidents, hair breadth escapes, miraculous rescues, individual daring, and the noble charities of the world that flowed in upon its victims with a spontaneity as unprecedented as they were grateful and humane, serve as foundation and superstructure of " CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND is "; but dealing, as it does, with real- ities alone, it is almost impossible for the compiler to divest his mind of the impression that he is recording a horrid phantasma- gorical vision, rather than the facts of real life. Away from the ruins, and with all the consequences of the disaster removed from view, it is impossible to realize that in the short space of twenty- four hours the wealth of our North-western metropolis was dis- counted in the sum of near $200,000,000 ; that, worse than the mere pecuniary loss, treasures of art, and accumulations of the lore of ages, that no amount of wealth can replace, were devoured by the flames ; and immeasurably worse yet, that hundreds of precious lives were swept away in the irresistable whirlwind of fire, which respected neither young nor old, beauty nor inno- cence, the strong nor the helpless, but, more implacable than the demons of the Herodian massacre, pursued them to the death, CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 19 without regard to age, sex or condition. It is a chapter of horrors that can only be written as it was, with a pen of fire ; but our task is to clothe in words an approximate idea of its realities, and a true version of the facts, that are destined to occupy a promi- nent page in history. We undertake this task in the belief that an eye-witness of many of the scenes and incidents herein detailed and a person- al acquaintance of most of the actors in and sufferers by the overwhelming calamity, is best prepared to give a reliable version of its remarkable phenomena, adventures and contingencies; of its wonderful escapes, fearful tragedies and indescribable results but it is necessary for the reader to understand, that very few intelligent observers witnessed the scenes and incidents described from the same points of observation ; that many were overcome by fear, personal bereavements or great anxiety ; that before the bewildered gaze of every onlooker, the appalling panorama of flame passed with the speed of the whirlwind, licking up, with its thousand-forked tongue, great blocks of brick and stone build- ings as readily as if they had been mere toy houses of lath ; and that intelligible description is necessarily hampered by these and a hundred other influences that encumber the minds of those who are now seeking to make a reliable history of these astounding occurences. The reader that did not witness these scenes never can picture them to his imagination. The readiest writer that saw and mingled in them will never present the picture as he saw it, to the mind of his reader : for neither pen nor pencil can do it justice. However heart-rending the details, the rent hearts of thousands of bereaved ones will declare them far, very far, short of the truth. The liveliest imagination cannot picture the unutterable sad- ness of such a reality, but to bring the facts right home to the business and bosom of readers everywhere, let them suppose some of the leading incidents and results of the succeeding his- tory to occur in _their own towns and cities. To-day they are 20 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. prosperous, progressive, happy : in the silent watches of the night the angel of destruction comes with his flaming sword and devastates all their substance ; brings death to their loved ones, poverty to their millionaires, dire want to all their people. The rich man of to-day is to-morrow a beggar; the happy wife and mother, widowed, childless, insane; husbands bereft, and lovers separated by the pathless ocean of death. Everything gone at one fell stroke, even before the. fact of the destruction can be realized, and nothutg left but the evidences of utter ruin! The vilest crusts have now become sweet morsels to the pampered children of luxury ; and the fop of yesterday, who criticised his tailor without mercy for the slightest wrinkle in his fashionable habil- iments, accepts in charity a soiled and thread-bare coat as a priceless boon. Dives and Lazarus are equally solicitous of crumbs. The fashionable belle forgets the length of her trail and the style of her chignon in the merciless gnawings of hun- ger, and joins the eleemosynary throng in a chintz wrapper, and without a care for the opinion of " society," anxious to satisfy the demands of nature at any sacrifice of pride. In this slight recapitulation of actual occurrences there is something of the grotesque mingled with the tragic, but it is all sufficiently wpeful, and unutterably sad. It seems impossible to give too much emphasis to the noble humanity of people in all parts of the world, when the cry for help was flashed over the wires from Chicago. It w.as the cry that made all mankind kin on the instant, and the strife imme- diately began as to who should be first in making an adequate response. Those who were most conveniently located, geograph- ically, were of course first on the ground, but supplies were at once started from all points of the compass, and from every local- ity where the emergency was understood. No city can honestly claim the credit of having been first in the work, for action was simultaneous throughout the land, and in a few hours after receipt of the news, great trains of supplies were on the way from New CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 21 York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Louisville and all the cities of importance. It aaay appear invidious to par- ticularize, but it is well known, that Col. FISK and the officers of the Erie Road were especially active in measures for the imme- diate relief of the sufferers A special train was loaded with the miscellaneous contributions of the people of New York including clothing, provisions, blankets, mattresses ; a great collection of substantial goods, the road cleared for the occasion, and all ar- rangements complete under the personal supervision of Col. FISK. The ponderous engine is attached and the colonel stands with watch in hand to give the last directions. "All ready, Sam?" " Ready, Colonel." " "What is the quickest time ever made between New York and Buffalo, Sam?" " 12.20, Colonel." " Make it to-day in 11.20." " Open her, Sam." And Sam Walker, a tall, grey eyed, nervy man just the man for the place, and honestly proud of his position, with compressed lips, drew back the lever, and the train swept away, forty, fifty miles an hour, with help for the houseless, starving hosts of the burned city. A similar incident in St. Louis : " What time shall I make, Mr. Johnson ? " " The best your machine can show." "What stops?" " Only for wood and water." " How's the track ? " "All clear. Everything is side-tracked for this special." An entire railroad line given up to the work of instant relief! MILES GREENWOOD, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Cincinnati, came in charge of the detachment of the 22 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. fire department of that city. He was for several years chief engineer of the department. " Where is your Engineer ?" was his first question. " Gone home, sir, completely exhausted." " Who has charge, then ?" " I am in charge," said a young man, stepping to the front. " Well, the Cincinnati boys are here with their machines. What -do you want us to play on?" " You may play on that elevator over yonder." " Is it on fire ?" " No, sir." " Then we shan't play on it. We came here to put out fire. What is that fire over there ?" pointing in another direc- tion. " That is a Coal Yard." " We'll go and put it out." At it they went and were as good as their word. Then they extinguished the fire in other coal yards and saved near two mil- lions bushels of coal. These Cincinnati boys did not tire as long as there was anything to do,- and accomplished a vast amount of good under the leadership of Mr. Greenwood, and when their work was done they returned, orderly and in perfect discipline to their honored city, proud of having accomplished something in the work of humanity. The relief committees who came to us with the bountiful offerings of noble hearts everywhere, were generally the represen- tative men of their communities, but they proved to be working- men in the great emergency, and took hold of matters with a will that commanded success, and resulted in just what was sought relief. Their works, their offerings, and kindly sympathy, proved the kinship of humanity beyond a doubt. The skeptic can now find the evidence written in letters of love all over the ashes and ruins of the once proud city. Wherever the story of the con- flagration was told, the hearts of mankind responded to theim- CHICAGO AS IS WAS AND AS IT IS. 23 pulse of universal brotherhood. All seemed to act in the spirit of the noble sentiment of Sir Walter Scott : " The race of man- kind would perish, did they cease to aid each other. From the time the mother binds the child's head, till the moment that same kind assistant wipes the death-damps from the brow of the dy- ing, we cannot exist without mutual help. All, therefore, that needs aid, have a right to ask it from their fellow mortals ; no one who holds the power of granting, can refuse it without guilt. " True humanity consists in a disposition of heart to relieve mis- ery. It appertains rather to the mind than the nerves, and prompts men to use real and active endeavors to execute the actions it suggests. Men, women, and even children, throughout the land, responded nobly to this sentiment : and great corpora- tions, that are said to have no souls, felt the thrill of benevolence and responded to its promptings. Bankers opened their hearts and their strong boxes ; beggars pawned their all to give to those whose needs were so exigent. A man in St. Louis gave all he had ; a poor woman gave her cow ; a little negro contributed his only dime ; a poor student sold all his books and donated the proceeds ; a farmer in Northern Indiana auctioned off his hops for the benefit of the sufferers and handed over the entire pro- ceeds to the Relief Committee ; a boot-black announced that the receipts of one day's work would go to the needy of Chicago, and was enabled to make a donation of twenty-five dollars as the re- 4F suit ; an Irish laborer gave his wages for an entire week ; the theatres gave benefits, that proved benefits indeed ; the churches made noble contributions ; even inmates of our prisons were en- abled to do something in the way of relief. Those who did not give are the unenviable few that'have no conception of generous impulses those who cannot appreciate the blessed principle that no amount of giving can ever impoverish true benevolence. Verily it is " better to give than to receive. " 24 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND, We may be expected to say a word regarding the recon- struction of Chicago, but the following extract from an editorial article in the London Neivs is so perfect a reflex of the thoughts and acts of our people, and so admirably expressed, we give place to it instead of similar ideas in our own language : " This is the consolation which already the pride and energy of Chicago offer to the people. There seems to us something admirable and characteristic in the elasticity and courage which thus leap up the moment the storm of devastation has done its uttermost, and cry out. " We are not wholly conquered after all ; let us go to work at once and retrieve what we can." Nay, there are even men in Chicago, who having lost the fortunes of many years accumulations, are heard already to say that the fire has taught a useful lesson ; that all the obliterated part of the city was built on a bad plan, and that it must be better done this time. The vastness of this calam- ity is fully recognized, indeed it is written in letters of blood and flame, which defy any misinterpretation. It is told by the living and Ihe dead ; by the houseless wanderers as well as by the cart- loads of corpses. It is proclaimed by what remains as well as by what has fallen. It is simply a story of sudden destruction which stands alone in history. But the one fact remains Chi- cago still lives ; and the courage which springs up at once from the ground to proclaim that fact is the grandest evidence that the ruins will yet be repaired. Certainly, if any, people on earth ever deserved help, these people do, who are thus so ready and resolute to help themselves. The claim to the sympathy and succor of the English nation which were given to Chicago in her unparalleled misfortune, can only be strengthened and in- creased by her indomitable courage." Near 5.000 building permits have already been issued, and there will be no interruption in the work of rebuilding until the new Chicago arises from the ashes of the old, in more substan- tial grandeur, rehabilitated, immeasurably improved, and all the better for her thorough purification. These are bold words, but their verification is near at hand. This book would be incomplete and unsatisfactory without some general reference to the great fires of history, and especially CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 25 to those which devasted large tracts of the Northwest, almost contemporaneously with the Chicago holocaust. The leading' facts and incidents of these fires are given in their proper place and will be found of no less absorbing interest than the principa event upon which the narrative hinges. In the integrity anC completeness of the work the public may place the fullest reli- ance. BECOVERING VALUABLES FUOM THE KUINS. PIONEER HISTORY. CHICAGO AS IT WAS IN THE EAKLIEB DAYS. FACTS AND INCIDENTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES OF AUTHENTIC INFORMATION. In his masterly essay on History, Dr. "Willmott says that the biography of a nation embraces all its works. No trifle is to be neglected. A mouldering medal is a letter of twenty centuries. Antiquities which have been beautifully called history defaced, composed its fullest commentary. In these wrecks of many storms, which time washes to the shore, the scholar looks patiently for treasures. The painting around a vase, the scribble on a wall, the wrath of a demagogue, the drollery of a farce, the point of an epigram each possesses its own interest and value. A fossil court of law is dug out of an orator ; and the Pompeii of Greece is discovered in the Comedies of Aristophanes. Nothing is unimportant that legitimately belongs to the history of a nation or a great city. That we .are permitted to go back more than two hundred years, to 1669, for notes of our sketch of the history of Chicago, will appear novel to a majority of even the more intelligent of our readers, for the impression is very popular, and has obtained wide currency, that not more than half a century ago the spot where the city now stands was worse than a howling wilderness and a terra incognita, supposed to be inhabited only by Indians, outlaws and beasts of prey. In some respects this view is not entirely foreign to the truth ; but at the time to which we refer it was a trading post of no little importance, t/et us go back, however, to the beginning of its existence as a depot for com- modities, and find what all its greatness arid importance sprang from. The best authenticated records inform us that the first white men who landed here were the French Jesuit missionaries and fur traders, under lead of the celebrated guide, Nicholas Perrot. They were in search of profitable ventures in the way of an ex- change of trinkets and rum for furs, with a little moral teaching 30 THEOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. thrown in by the missionaries to sanctify the transactions and guarantee the quality of the liquor. This initial visit occurred late in the year 1669, when the territory was the property of the Miami tribe of Indians. Subsequently the Pottowattamies con- quered the Miamis, and wrested from them their hunting grounds and all their possessions. Then there was a better supply of furs and a larger demand for beads and " fire water," for the Pottb- wattamies were excellent hunters and terrible drunkards, rather anomalous characters, but remarkably well balanced in this tribe of the noble red men. The records of the succeeding century, referring to this post, offer little of value to the reader of to-day, and certainly do not indicate any noteworthy progress toward its material or moral improvement. Trade with the Indians increased in importance and consequently in profit, and to the few adventurous spirits that were ready to brave its personal risks, this far away frontier settlement proved a modern Djinnestan. In 1795 the Pottowat- tamies concluded a treaty with General "Wayne, by which " a tract of land six miles square, at the mouth of Chicago river," was ceded to the United States ; and this was the original extinction of Indian title to the site upon which the great city was subse- quently erected. Previous to this cession, several of the French Jesuits had taken up their residence here, and had made certain improvements that seemed to give them some shadow of title to the soil, but the Indians ignored their claims and remorselessly sold them out, although the French authority was ^nominally in the ascendant for ten or twelve years previous to the treaty. They made the improvements, built a rude fort near the mouth of the river, erected comfortable lodges, and cultivated a few acres of the soil after a method that yielded them a fair return. Calumet is supposed to have been the head-quarters, or seat of supreme authority, of this strangely mixed population, and their villages were scattered up and down the lake, for several miles, and on the Des Plaines ; and the ranging grounds of the Pot- towattamies, from the head-waters of the Illinois to the Chicago river, was the common channel of transportation for goods and furs between the Indians and the traders ; but the head-quarters of all this primitive commerce, its shipping point and grand depot, was the port of Chicago, by common consent. Dating back to this period, there are a hundred traditions of CHICAGO AS IS WAS 'AND AS IT IS. 31 wil'd adventure, bloody tragedy, savage love, jealousy and hate, to engage the pen of the historian of romantic incidents, wherein he would be enabled to depict a modern Busiris in one of the chiefs of the Pottowattamies, who ruthlessly murdered every stranger that, landing on his territory, failed to bring him a peace offering of five gallons of rum, or an equivalent in trinkets ; a pro- totype of Al Sirat, the bridge over hell no wider than the edge of a sword, across which, according to Mahomedan theology, every one who enters heaven must pass in the terrible ganntlet appointed to stragglers and unaccredited visitors from other tribes, in which delightful ceremony the young Indians were pro- vided with sharp tomahawks and spears and drawn up in two rows, facing each other, when the delinquent was forced to run between them, while every Indian in the lines dealt him, in pas- sing, as severe a blow as he could muster -strength and agility to inflict, killing him at last, unless, as was occasionally the case, he was enabled, by wonderful address, to avoid the death-blow scalping, flaying alive, burning at the stake, treachery, strata- gem, and ah 1 manner of cheats, with only occasionally an instance of faith truly kept. The few white men who were here did not venture for the purpose of settlement, their business was simply to trade with the Indians ; overreach them if possible, and away. The gain from this traffic seemed to overbalance all con- siderations of peril attached to it, and to those well versed in the trade, the profit was very great. Respectable fortunes, for that age, were acquired by the successful operators in two or three seasons ; and there is a tradition that an English adventurer, by a single trip among these children of nature, obtained, in exchange for 50 blankets and twelve barrels of rum, a quantity of fine furs that brought him $160.000 in glittering gold, on his return to the mother land. If the Indian was crafty in a trade, the white man was more than a match for him in that experi- enced bargaining that is the ruling element in every civilized community, and it is pretty certain 1831, arrived at the port of Chicago the schooner " Telegraph," from Ashtabula, Ohio, bringing a number of families that did not however settle here ; but among the pas- sengers was Mr. P. F. W. Peck, of New York, who accompanied quite a shipment of assorted goods, for which he was desirous of finding a profitable market. He was well satisfied with the appearance of things in and about Chicago, and at once decided to remain here and dispose of his merchandize, provided he could make satisfactory arrangements for a warehouse. There were no buildings for rent, as there had been no renters, up to this time, but Peck conceived the idea of occupying a cabin as joint tenant with a family already located, until his goods were sold. With this idea in his mind he approached Mr. J. B. Beau- bien, whose residence was upon the site afterwards occupied by the splendid depot of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and made him a proposition for the occupancy of the principal room in his humble dwelling. Beaubien was of a speculative turn, and of course always open to a trade, but was in favor of making the proposition himself. No ; he had no room to spare just then, but he would build a cabin for Mr. Peck on fair terms, or he would sell his residence and give possession in three days. He would inquire, just for his own information, as to the value of Mr. Peck's stock. "About $4.000." " How would it suit Mr. Peck to trade a half interest in the goods for his cabin and a large lot adjoining?" Mr. Peck did not care to invest in wild lands. " Oh !" says Beaubien ; "it all lies right here inside of the town. There is about twenty acres with the cabin, but I'll put in a hundred acres on the other side of the river [North Side ;] and then the cabin itself is one of the best here all for a half interest in the goods." "No," said Peck, "not if it were twice as much." So he went to work and built a cabin for his stock, and traded it for furs and peltries at good round figures, and wa-i well satis- fied ; but the property he rejected for $2.000 worth of rum and calicoes, is to-day worth not less than $50.000.000 ; and Peck CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 35 remained in Chicago and witnessed all this stupendous advance, and, we are told profited by the lesson in many future transac- tions. Mr. Peck brought an enterprising spirit and good business judgment to the young settlement, established himself perman- ently here, and was active in all improvements that promised to benefit the place. Late in the summer of 1831, western emigration set in largely, and during the fall months the population was more than doub- led by emigrant families seeking homes and fortunes in the wilds of the new territory. These pioneers were hardy representatives of the "bone and sinew of the land," generally intelligent, and prepared to endure the hardships and privations of life on the frontier. They were enterprising and far-seeing in their move- ments, and it was not difficult for the more thoughtful to foresee something of the future of a port location like that of Chicago, commanding, as it must, all the commerce of the immense territory lying to the northwest. Investments in lands there were as yet no surveys of city lots now began to be somewhat active, and property advanced in price nearly four fold within the next twelve-months. Some of the more conservative among the in- habitants declared that prices were inflated, but the "inflation" continued, and kept on increasing in volume from year to year, regardless of financial panics elsewhere, up to the very hour of the conflagation. We learn that in November, 1831, the schooner "Marengo" arrived from Detroit, bringing a consignment of goods of great value for the emigrant population that had taken up their resi- dence in the fort. ' For a time there were great fears entertained of the loss of the schooner, as during her passage a heavy gale prevailed, but she at length arrived safely, much to the relief of the people, for there were not less than four hundred hi the fort ,who depended on these supplies for subsistance during the win- ter. These people were not generally counted as residents of the settlement, as many of them expected to, and did remove into the interior of the territory early in the spring, but their places were rapidly taken by actual settlers during the succeeding year, whose history was marked by many substantial improvements for that early time among which may be mentioned, as a fitting close for this sketch, the erection of the first frame building in the settlement of Chicago ! VIEW FROM CIjARK STREET, SOUTH FROM WASHINGTON STICUST. DTPROVEMENTS TOWN AND CITY ORGANIZATIONS PRICE OF REAL ES- TATE INSTANCES OF SUDDEN FORTUNES, ETC. It was not untill 1833 that Chicago began to excite general atten- tion throughout the United States as a desirable point for resi- dence and investment. Notices in the newspapers were instru- mental in calling public notice to some of its advantages, and the commerce of the country began to show anxiety for a harbor here ; therefore means were taken, to bring the subject before Congress in such shape as would be most likely to induce favor- able legislation. The legislation was reached after long discus- sions in both houses, and a large amount of editorial .comments in the leading journals, which served to call a great deal of at- tention to the place, and a bill passed appropriating $30,000 for the improvement of Chicago harbor. This was, in more senses than one, the key note to our prosperity. People were convinced that the place was of some consequence, else this large amount much larger in those days than now would not have been granted for its advantage, and the tide of immigration set in earnestly. The work of harbor improvement was commenced in the summer of 1833, and pushed with energy till the cold weather caused its suspension for the season. In the following spring there was a great freshet, which effected more than the labor of man had been able to accomplish, for the land between the piers was entirely washed out and carried away, and the harbor effi- ciently opened to the commerce of the lake by the hand of na- ture herself. This was the beginning of that magnificent com- merce which now spreads its white wings over all our inland seas, and attracts to our busy warves the traffic of a world. Its his- tory is practically the history of Chicago's prosperty and fame. The vitality imparted to the business of the place by this im- provement is not easy to appreciate now, at a date when a resi- dent of Chicago is accounted to possess the vitality of a Sala- mander, and the concentrated view and push of at least a dozen ordinary human bipeds ; but it seemed to be sufficient to warrant the people in believing themselves and their " burgh" of suffi- 42 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. cient importance to risk the organization of a town. As the nucleus of a town organization they already possessed an estray pen and a jail, supplemented by a newly appointed coro- ner, whose office had been improvised to serve one of those sud- den emergencies to which frontier settlements were at that time subject. July 22nd, 1834, a meeting of qualified voters was held, at which it was voted, by twelve good men and true, that it would be a rightful and proper thing, and eminently expedient, to incor- porate the town of Chicago. Only one man cast a negative bal- lot. There were at this time twenty-eight legally qualified vo- ters in the settlement, but all did not see fit to exercise their right. The election for Trustees of the new town was held* on the 10th of August following, and five were chosen, who met for the first time on August 12th, at the office of the town clerk, and organized according to the provisions of law. The territory em- braced in the corporate limits comprised only about one mile square of the prairie, and coincided very nearly with the area at present bounded by Jackson, Jefferson and Ohio streets, and Lake Michigan, recently the center of trade and wealth, and, most emphatically, the fiery furnace of the great conflagration. Nature pointed it out as the " business center" of the great city, and those far-seeing pioneers were apt at discovering its advantages and profiting by them ; and we need scarcely predict an event that is even now in process of transpiring, to wit : That after the rehabilitation of Chicago, this original mile square will remain the centre of trade and wealth of our inland metropolis. A prominent citizen has given publicity to the declaration that " the center of trade may be removed to any point where five thoroughly, wide-awake men, with plenty of capital, desire to es- tablish it ;" but we doubt this statement, provided ten " thoroughly wide-awake and enterprising men, with plenty of capital," are equally desirous of establishing it in a different locality ; and, in this instance, the majority of business men and capitalists in fa- vor of the old established center is more than ten to one. CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES OP NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN BY THE POTTAWATAMIE TRIBE OF INDIANS. After the act of incorporation had been legally completed, the town began, in the estimation of its citizens^ to become invested with additional importance, and to desire the respect of its CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 43 contemporaries. Its denizens, in casting about for their real estate, found that the Indians, still dominant hereabout, were disposed to resent the spirit of aggrandizement exhibited by the white man ; and it was resolved that the requirements of civili- zation 1 demanded of our dusky brethern that they find new hunt- ing grounds, to the end that the pale face might be permitted to till the soil, navigate the waters, and {Jursue all the arts of peace for his own special behoof and emolument. This move- ment was vigorously opposed by a few of the old Indian traders ; but the influence of leading men throughout the West was brought to bear in its favor, and after many proposals, much caucusing and plenty of " fire-water," the question was settled by the cession to the United States of all the territory hi north- ern Illinois and Wisconsin, belonging to the Pottowattamie tribe of Indians, at that time numbering more than seven thousand souls. Messrs J. B. Owens, G. B. Porter, and Wm. Weatherford, commissioners on the part of the United States, displayed remarkable tact and ability in concluding this impor- tant and perplexing treaty, which extinguished the title of the treacherous, aggressive and thieving tribe, in an immense tract of the most valuable land in all the Northwest, and threw it open to the settlement and improvement of an industrious and wotthy class of emigrants. The conditions of the treaty were that the Indians should receive an annuity of $30,000, and that they should be conveyed, at the expense of the government to the territory beyond the Mississippi which had been allotted to their use and occupancy. On the 25th of September the treaty was duly exe- cuted, and on the 1st of October following, so prompt was the government in despatching its plans, the train of teams conveying more than fifteen hundred squaws and papooses, started for the destination of the tribe, and consumed forty days in reaching it. This stupendous exodus of the red men and their families is des- cribed by those who witnessed it as a spectacle of inconceivable sadness. They were bidding an everlasting farewell to their homes and their birthright ; to the land where they had tracked the wild beast and conquered him ; to the waters on which they were accustomed to glide in their birchen canoes, hi pursuit of the finny game ; to the scenes of their boyhood sports and bat- tle triumphs ; to the grounds where the ashes of their kindred re- posed ; the soil sanctified to their hearts by the blood of a long 44 THEOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. line of heroic ancestors, whose history was recorded in its forests, prairies and streams ; and it is scarcely strange that heart-pangs were plainly shadowed in the lines of those tawney faces as they turned toward the setting sun to_undertake their weary march. Where they were going they knew not, except it was a far-off lo- cality, where they would be out of the way of the white man, and removed from the temptation of killing him as a trespasser. The Indian of history is depicted as a stoic. He must be a stoic indeed to endure, unmoved, the sundering of the dearest ties of the human heart ; and these Pottowattamie braves were none the less objects of commisseration because they suffered and made no sign. Although such agony cannot be " winked out of sight," they knew " how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong." COMMENCEMENT OF PEOGEESS. "With the Indians away, the great fear of emigrants was re- moved, and people from the eastern States flocked rapidly to the Northwest, not a few taking up their abode in Chicago. Among the business men who were prominent at this date may be men- tioned, John H. Kinsic, P. F. W. Peck, G. W. Dole, S. B. Cobb. John S. Wright, Philip Carpenter, Walter EJmball, K. M. Sweet, John Bates, A. Clybourne, Star Foote, E. S. Kimbeiiy, S. D. Pei&e; B. J. Hamilton ,and B. Jones, several of whom are still among us, and all are well remembered by our leading citizens of the present. Real estate, in the form of both " in" and "out" lots, advanced rapidly in price under the fresh demand, and business generally took a new departure. The great increase in the packing of beef and pork was remarkable Mr. Clybourne alone packing three thousand hogs and six hundred beeves in the winter of 1834-5. This is a small aggregate from our present standpoint, of course, but taking our population and resources at that time into the account, it is wonderful. The valley of the Wabash supplied most of the cattle and hogs that were* packed here for several years, and still remains a great source of supply for our porkers. From this date the business of the town was very brisk, and during the winter it seemed difficult, for several years, to find help eriough to transact it satisfactorily. Beef, pork and grain, from all the new settlements, came here for a market ; and the furs and peltries, from the far-off hunting grounds, that came, in CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 45 exchange for all kinds of products, the lumber and other articles, constantly increasing in number and extent, threatened to over- whelm the force employed to take care of them. Emigration from the over crowded states of the east and from foreign countries, svas strongly urged, but the demand for labor was in excess of the supply for many years, as business continued to ex- pand even beyond the expectations of those who were most hope- ful of the prospects of the town. GEANTING OF THE CITY CHAKTEK. On the 4th of March, 1837, the. city charter was granted, an event that was hailed by great rejoicings of the people, as invest- ing them with power to inaugurate and execute certain improve- ments that could not be encompassed under the town organiza- tion. The first municipal election was held on the first Tuesday in May of the same year, at which Hon. Wm. B. Ogden was chosen mayor. The first census taken in the following July, gave a population of 3,989 white persons, 513 of whom were under five years of age ; 77 colored ; and 194 sailors belonging to the port of Chicago. There were about eight hundred voters, but the poll books indicated that only 707 voted at the municipal election. This census also proved that there were 398 dwellings, 29 dry goods stores, 21 grocery and provision stores, 5 hardware stores, 3 drug stores, 10 hotels, 17 lawyers offices, and 5 churches. Most of this population was the result of three years emigra- tion, and a large majority of the improvements the product of three years of laborious industry. The year 1837 was an event- ful one for our people. It was this year that Congress made an appropriation of $40,000 for the enlargement and improvement of the harbor, and this year that the first cargo of wheat was shipped from the port. These events were big with future promise, and have more than fulfilled the just expectations of those who in- augurated them. RAPID ADVANCES IN VALUATION OF PEOPEETY. The advance in real estate, that commenced to attract atten- tion throughout the country as early as 1833, lies at the founda- tion of most of the wealth of Chicago capitalists, as well as of many capitalists elsewhere. This advance made many rich quite unexpectedly, and even contrary to their anticipations. The veteran John S. "Wright says, in a note to his " CHICAGO ; 46 THRODGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE :" " Although famous for the sagacity t of its citizens, Chicago is not without those who have made for- tunes in spite of themselves ; because they have not been ad- dicted to wasteful benevolence, .and have happened to own real estate which has been closely held from natural habit, and not from any appreciation of the future. One of these millionaires, when efforts were making to start the Galena Railroad, argued against it, because railroads would stop the advent of the ' prairie schooners,' 500 to 1,500 teams then daily arriving, and with their stoppage ' grass would grow in the streets,' was his sagacious declaration. Another one thought my distribution of petitions for the grant of lands for the Illinois Central Kailroad was impolitic. Said he. " ' Why, don't you see that the railroad will enable farmers to run off their produce to Cairo, while the river and canal are frozen, which, if kept till spring, would have to come to Chicago ?' " I replied, 'Don't you see that that gives the farmers of cen- tral Illinois the advantage over others in the choice of markets ? Whatever the course of the carrying trade, you may risk the prosperity of Chicago upon the prosperity of the farmers.' " This, however, is the very place for such men to make for- tunes. If they will only invest their money, berate the tax gath- erer, and never give anything which is not dangerous they will surely become rich if they live a few years, however unwise their purchases." Mr. Wright's reminiscences are peculiarly valuable in this con- nection, for several reasons. 1. He was one of the early settlers of Chicago, having emigrated here in 1832. 2. He invested largely in property from the first, and had a peculiar interest in watch- ing the fluctuations of prices. 3. He subsequently invested largely for the account of others, and enabled them to become rich on the results of his excellent judgment. 4. He has spent the best years of his life investigating the philosophy of real es- tate advances in Chicago, and, therefore, " speaks as one with au- thority." We find his work,* above referred to, more authorita- % tive on the subject under consideration, and more exhaustive, than any publication extant. The extent to which we have used many of its facts and figures is acknowledged in the proper place ; but we cannot resist the temptation to make use of the exhibit * CHICAGO ; PAST, PKESENT, FUTUBE. By John S. Wright. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 47 following, as detailing the experience of a shrewd but thoroughly concientious " operator," and we take the liberty of extracting it from Mr. Wright's book in such detatched form as seems to us to bear most directly on the main question. He says ^ " In 1832, at the age of 17, my father took me to Chicago, with a stock of merchandise. The town then contained 150 people, exclusive of the garrison ; two frame stores, and no dwellings ex- cept those built of logs. After remaining a few weeks, examin- ing the country south and west, and satisfying himself that he had made the right location, he left me to shift for myself. In 1834 he removed his family to Chicago and lived till 1840, hav- ing his first convictions strengthened year by year that it was rap- idly to become one of the largest cities of the country and of the world. "Though a mere boy, I, too,became impressed with the advan- tages of the point which was the western extremitv of the great lake navigation, with a certainty of its connection, by canal, with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and which was the nat- ural commercial center of a country so fertile, so easily tilled, and so vast in extent. In the winter of 1833-4 I induced a wealthy uncle to take some purchases which I had made, expecting to share in the profits. He took them, and has made out of those and other operations, through me, several hundred thousand dollars, but all the benefit to me, directly or indirectly, has been $100. He came to Chicago in the spring of 1835, and, the next day after his arrival, said if I would sell his lot one of those which I had bought about fifteen months previously for $3,500 for $15,000, he would give me one hundred dollars. I sold the lot that day for cash, and the $100 was reckoned into my credit in our final settlement in 1838. ******** " No one could have then anticipated the power of railroads to build up great commercial points, and their wonderful multipli- cation, especially from Chicago. These have not only expedited the development of the West, but concentrated and bound to its great commercial center with iron bands the business and traffic which at great cost otherwise would still have cc*ne here. They have served to fix, beyond all peradventure, what some might then have regarded as problematical : that is, which city in the west is to have the supremacy. " In 1834, I began to operate in real estate on my own account, and in February, 1835, went to New York to buy merchandise, and sold for $10,000, a forty acre tract which had cost $4,000, the profits of which more than paid for all my other purchases. Thereafter increasing my operations I sold in the spring of 1836, to various parties in New York, real estate for over $50,000, re- ceiving about two-thirds of the pay cash in hand, and giving 48 3HHRGWH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. my individual obligations to make the conveyance when I became of age, the July following. My father would have been my heir, in the event of my death, and they knew he would fulfil my contracts.. "Ihad (J then, in 1836, acquired a property of over $200,000, without any assistance, even from my father, never having used his money for any operations, the store being his, and for con- ducting it only my expenses were paid. My uncle was the only relative who could have aided me, and he never would, even tem- porarily. So far from it, he was in my debt continuously from 1834 to our final settlement in 1838. "But 1837 brought ruin to me, as it did to nearly all who owed anything ; though it was not so much speculation in real estate, as engaging in mercantile business, that involved me. At that age it seemed desirable every way to have regular occupation to promote good habits, and in accordance with my father's wishes, I purchased, in 1836, a warehouse and dock lots, to engage hi the shipping business, which cos.t $23,500. My whole indebtedness was about $25,000. I had nearly $20,000 due me, which was supposed to be well secured, it being chiefly the final payments on property of which over half the cost had been paid. To pro- Tide ample means for business, I sold in the autumn of 1836 a tract adjoining the city for $50.000, quick pay. This trade was unfortunately broken up by the merest accident, and thereafter I had no opportunity to sell at what was deemed a fair price. I came in possession of the warehouse 1st of May, 1837 ; and though having small cash resources, I thought best to commence business, hoping there would soon be a favorable turn. But all went down, down, and I was soon inextricably involved. The money used to buy these lots for business, not speculation, would have carried me through. " In 1840, my property had all gone ; one piece that had been worth $100,000, went for $6,000 ; another that had been worth $12,000, went for $900, and so on." ***#*##* " I resolved in some way to get a larger interest in property here, and, in the autumn of 1845, went to' New York to try and obtain funds. Having leisure, I wrote a series of fifteen or twenty articles for the Commercial Advertiser and the Evening Post, about the various agricultural products of the West, their profits, etc., the minerals, manufacturing advantages, the canals, railroads, that would be built, etc., bnt not till the subject of the state debt was reached, was the rapidity of progress realized? Illinois bonds were then only worth 25 to 30 cents on the dollar, and three years of accrued interest not reckoned, so prevalent was the impression that we could never pay the state debt; and such a fearful load was it considered that immigration here was consid- erably affected. But it was shown fairly and conclusively, thu CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 49 by 1858 or '59, our state would pay her full interest without any increase in the then rate of taxation ; and for two years [written in I860] we have done this, and our bonds are above par. " No prediction gives more satisfaction than this. Little as the public were influenced by these views, improbable . as all then regarded them, to look back upon,, they now appotlPplain common sense, just such as any business man who would study the subject ought to have arrived at. " Though no one could see the future of the West and of Chi- cago as I did, my own confidence had never been so strong. The examination incident to the preparation of these newspa- per articles brought more clearly to view than ever before the abundant resources and great na'ural advantages of the im- mense territory tributary to Chicago, and my determination was strengthened to buy property here. "By examination, I found Frederick Bronson, Esq., would sell a block on long credit for $30,000, with only $1,000 paid down. It was upon the river, near the heart of the city, and somewhat improved. I 'made prudent estimates of its present and prospective rental, and found it could be made to pay for itself with a small outlay. But I con Id make no one so see it. There was not the least confidence in Chicago, it having been for ten years a synonym for all that was wild and visionary. Mr. Dyer, of Chicago, also had commenced prior negotiations with Mr. Broason, and not wishing to interfere with him, my endeavors were postponed till their negotiations should be closed. " I had no means of my own to buy with could get no one in New York to think favorably of my projects knew not where else to apply, and, after months of vain attempts, returned home, having purchased nothing. In April, 1846, Mr. Bronson sold this block to Mr. Dyer for the $30,000. A few months after I bought it of him for $37,500, having ninety days in which to se- cure the $7,500 advance, and the $1,000 he. had paid. By much solicitation my brothers were prevailed upon to give this se- curity, and the Bronson contract was assigned to me. " I clung to this block, prefering to pay this large advance, rather than buy other property, because, having no capital, or means of raising any, it was necessary to get such as, by its in- come, would pay for itself. I knew this would do it, and it was the only piece of the sort, in any considerable amount, to be found. This was large enough, 320 by 600 feet, to be an object, particularly as I was confident that by the time it was paid for in ten years it would be worth $200,000 and over. It was actu- ally worth in 1856 over $450,000. # # * * * * * * " In 1846 the best lot on ihe north side, 80 feet on the river and North Water street, and 180 feet on Clark, a bridge street, was 50 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. offered for $6,OCO, and for years I urged friends to buy it. The wner kept advancing his price, till in January, 1850, I induced a couple of Virginia friends to take it at $9,000. In 1856 that lot was worth $110,000, and is now (1860) worth $700,000, and has all the time yielded a good ground rent. "Bm; these purchase^, though apparently so judicious and profitable, were a heavy load to me and my brothers for years. I could not make capitalists see through my spectacles, and none would lend me the aid of their money. The widening of the river cut off rents largely for two years, and the excavations, building of docks, warehouses, etc., had run me into debt, at two to five per cent, a month, and a brother was an endorser, greatly against his will, for $15,000 to $20,000. In the spring of 1850 he insisted upon relief, and having our affairs disentan- gled, and learning the Galena Railroad would buy all of the blocks for a depot, he urged its sale. He had act%d generously towards me few brothers would have done as much and his request was reasonable, notwithstanding- it involved such a sac- rifice of my expectations. The block first bought for $37,500, was sold to the company for $60,000. ******** "In the investigations incident to the writing of several articles for New York and Boston papers, in 1848-9, about western railroads, laying down five or six roads that must be built, I was forcibly struck with the congruity of interest between Chicago and the cities of New York and Bos- ton, in bringing business to the lakes, to make it tributory to those cities and to the intermediate routes. I endeavored to demonstrate the importance of extending to Chicago the east- ern lines of railroads, and thence argued that when once they reached here, competition would insure the construction of all paying roads. Has not the result justified these predictions ? True it is, the competition and railroad mania have done for us much more than was anticipated, but was it not a natural result of interest that eastern capital should build roads from here as from no other point ? That it has been done is a fact, and I see nothing visionary in the predictions." All the above extracts were included in a circular issued by Mr. Wright in 1860, and reproduced in his excellent book pub- lished in 1868. The entire circular, and, in fact, every sentence of the book, is of more interest to the people of Chicago, and to those who own property here, than any other equal amount of printed matter we have any knowledge of, and will be sought after by those who are inclined to be guided by judgment that is tempered by a long, varied and instructive experience. It is also reproduced as a part of the early history of Chicago, as CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 61 reflected in the business life of one of its representative men, and therefore furnishing a demonstration of the persistence and energy that worked so long and faithfully to encompass the pre- eminence of the great metropolis ot the northwest, through the exertions of all who actively participated in the work. To the general advance in real estate, during the years therein referred ta>, above extracts are scarcely a fair index, and to the advance in special localities, they give nothing like an adequate idea ; but their chief value lies in their truthfulness, as applied to the general subject, and their conservatism from a purely busi- ness stand-point. Regarding instances of unprecedented advance and quick fortunes, there were several somewhat like the follow- ing: In the fall of 1866, a friend of the writer, an attorney of large practice, received a letter from an eastern correspondent inquir- ing as to the location and value of a certain eighty acre lot ad- joining the city, and requesting him, provided that in his opinion it was worth $20.000 as an investment, to examine the recorded title and. report its condition. The attorney reported the title clear, and, to give emphasis to his opinion of its value, added that he would give $20.000 for a half interest in it as a matter of speculation, provided it was purchased by his correspondent. It had remained the property of a family in New England about twenty-seven years, and their only idea of its value was probably gathered from what it was rated at for taxation ; and when they offered it for $20,000, it was doubtless with a slight idea that it would bring this sum. It did, however, but not with the attorney as a party in interest. In a few weeks the purchaser came to look at his proper^, and had been in the city but one day when he was offered $100,000 cash for it. This was a sur- prise, but next day $25,000 was added to the inducement. He concluded to " go slow," and therefore made an investigation of values of property correspondingly located. The result was as- tounding to all his preconceived notions of unproductive real es- tate, and he found he had bought a fortune for a very small sum. After remaining in Chicago about fifteen days, he closed an agreement by which he received, then and thereafter, $278,000 for his lot a profit of more than a quarter of a million of dollars on a sixty day's investment of twenty thousand ! Instances like this are not common, even in the annals of Chicago. HON. E. B. MASON, MAYOK OF CHICAGO. PRESENT HISTORY. A BRIEF GLANCE AT BOME SALIENT POINTS OF CHICAGO'S PUB- EMINENCE. The previous pages are designed as a glance at the Chicago of the past, and do not treat of the miraculous advance she made in the last decade in population, wealth, manufactures and trade. A retrospect of the last ten years of her history, pro- perly detailed, would furnish matter for a ponderous volume, and we must therefore remain content with a very brief reference to the most salient points of her eminence. At the head of the immense artery of lake and river negation of the country, with her web of railways that penetrates the whole land, even now binding the Atlantic and the far away Pacific in its iron bands, her facilities and opportunities, in spite of her recent disaster, seem positively unrivalled. It is abundantly demon- strated that the far off western prairie, even among the remotest of the territories, sends its products here, and comes here for its supplies, as well as the vast forests of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota ; that the copper and iron interests of the lake Su- perior country, the lead mines of the northwest, the coal fields of Illinois, and, to a considerable extent, the iron ores of Mis- souri, all find here their best and most natural center. Most of the millions of cattle and hogs that annually fatten in the great West, find their way to the slaughter pens of this city, and thence are shipped to the markets of the world. A greater share of all the mineral and agricultural wealtn of the great West turns toward Chicago with the faithfulness of the needle to the magnet. Our railway system is the most perfect and far- reaching in the world, and the invincible bulwark of our pros- perity. Its great heart lives and pulsates here, and its iron ar- teries are sentient with the intelligent and sleepless energy of ten millions of producers, and with hundreds of millions of con- sumers, all keeping pace in the triumphal march of-* progress, and paying willing tribute to the ability that conceived ' and the en- ergy that has erected our great mart of commerce. It is this admirable railway system that will do more toward rebuilding 56 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND 'BEYOND. Chicago than all other agencies combined, for it represents a capital in its possessions and dependencies, the loss of which would bo sufficient to bankrupt a nation, and that would remain practically dead without the business furnished by the traffic of this city ; therefore Chicago must be restored without delay, and rebuilt so thoroughly that a recurrence of the great disaster is rendered impossible. It is out of the question for any railroad system to succeed without commercial interests to feed it, and where these interests are small, railroads cannot be made to pay. It is an invariable rule, however, that as facilities are increased, business will enlarge. Increasing commercial prosperity always demands an increase of railroads, and as railroads are multiplied, commerce naturally increases. The means of increasing our commerce are incomputable by the ordinary intellect. All the vast regions of uncultivated lands in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and most of the immense undeveloped tracts lying west of the Mississippi, are sources upon which Chicaga will eventually depend to accelerate her commercial growth and raise her to empire as the metropolis of the richest domain the sun shines upon. Neither our grain nor packing interests will be materially impeded by the accidents of the fire, and general business has already resumed its accustomed channels and is prosperous with population and business so alert in the re- bound from a fall that would have proven an overwhelming dis- . aster to at least nineteen of every twenty cities of the world, and with vital interests that demand the utmost energy in the reha- bitation of the city to save them, it is not an astounding predic- tion that at the end of the next decade, Chicago will have doubled in business, population and wealth. It will disappoint her best friends if she does not. Some fears are expressed that real estate will deteriorate now, and that lots in the burnt district will be less, valuable than be- fore the fire, for a year or two to come. Those who are badly in- volved, and therefore obliged to sell, will not realize as much for their property as under more favorable conditions, but prices generally will not recede, and the demand will soon bring about a material advance in really desirable property ; for strangers are even now coming here to invest capital and engage in trade, and this influx will increase more rapidly than ever before in our his- tory when the world is convinced, as they soon will be, of our CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 57 ability and determination to recover from the reverses of the con- flagration. And the world will discover then when we have sur- mounted the temporary inconveniences occasioned by lack of warehouses, elevators, shops and hotels to accommodate our trade, our business will continue to increase in the same or even a larger ratio than that which made us famous and universally envied previous to the events of 8fch and 9th of October, 1871, of which the succeeding pages are a faithful and unbiased record. o oo -i ci e rt > i ; O tO M O 00 -4 O> CT * CO IO M v-/ , Booksellers' Row. . Drake & Farwell Block. . Tribune Building. , Custom House and Post Office. 2 ; 3 i ; (I i i i i j j =J > ~~ ( 5- ; ? '' U 3 c n S S 3 , Opera House. St. James' Hotel. T?ia1>l Jr T.oi4-o'B Ktnvn U. S. Express Office. , Tremont House. , A. M. U. Express Office. Mattcson House. Aadms' Express Office. Briggs' House. Metropolitan Hotel. Chamber of Commerce. Republican Office. Meller's Jewebry Store, and Baker .V Co.'s Engraving Rooms. Sherman House. i MINENT -BUILDIN' M H W CD CO CO CO 01 H* 05 CO ro CO S S (0 to to to to to to O Ol >- CO fcO h- 1 a i__ i . M. Ogdens' House. Not Burnt , Water-Works and Water Tower . Lynn Block. Not Burned. . Turner Hall. , Historical Society. P tf O n g 1 I w S o p S S ' B W o o S S 111. Central R. R. Laud Depart Michigan Southern & Chicago, Island & Pacific Railroad Depo Farwell Hall. Bigelow Hotel. Academy of Fine Arts. Palmer House. Ogclen Hotel. Jones' School. Evening Post and Staats Zeitui E MAP ON OPPOSITE P^ ^ ^ w tei w d H W DESTROYED f* ^ o ~ f y I" T I-H n GO ^j fc* n 1 H i^^ * I* K- bo H^l M i ~i d ra H X P ?" CI1 *- u 10 >^ o o oo -^ o 1 1 1 Tunnels under the River St., connecting N. & S. Washington St., also c S. & W. sides. Bridges Burned. Flovator. Not Bvrned. Methodist Church, (Wabash Not Burned. , Gas- Works. , Elevator A. , Armory Pou'ce Court. , City Hotel. , McVicker's Theatre. Burned. , Milwaukee R. R. Depot. ' North Western R. R. Not , C. &. N. W. R. R. Depot. ^V . Adams' House. . Massasoit House. Q O OSE PRES: t p 2. ^ * ^* o i/j II j I .. I 1 * 3 S M r 1 g. 1 ? S r- o P- fF ^ <^j M ' d A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT THE AUTHOR SAW AND HEAR! , INCLUDING HIS PERSONAL VIEW OP THE FIRE, AND MANY THRILLING INCIDENTS. All intelligent persons that witnessed the burning of Chicago are prepared to testify that nothing is more indescribable than a great conflagration. Nothing is more bewildering, exciting, elec- trifying, astounding and weirdly stupendous. It is a spectacle that forces into activity all the emotions of the heart, but be- numbs judgement and disconcerts action. Its waves and barbed tongues, rolling and darting hither and thither, spangled with phosporic tints, and gleaming against the sky like a surging sea of flame, lashing the shores of the world, and seeking to overwhelm them ; or, again, roaring, dancing, and frolicking through block after block of elegant structures, warehouses, residences and factories, sweeping everything in its torrid pathway with the rap- idity of thought, " As though the lightnings there had spent their shafts. And left the fragments glittering on the field ;" are sights that petrify the intellect and strangle reflection. An- other aspect of the freaks of the insatiable fire-fiend was calcula- ted to impress the beholder with the idea that all the magicians, sorcerers and performers of " devil .tricks" in Glubdubdrib had found their way to this devoted city, and, inspired by its native spirit of excelling in everything it undertakes, were playing pranks to shame the very imps of Hades. And so the panorama of that most dreadful night of Sunday was ever changing, ever stunning with some new and unexpected catastrophe, melting with its tales of woe and benumbing with its horrors. Of all the thousands of incidents that are indelibly impressed upon the recollection of the writer, to remain there while life lasts, and probably through the countless ages of eternity, there is one whose details are painted with a distinctness far beyond artist's cunning, and that stands out in the wide waste of misery like the wreck of a noble ship on a desert shore. Still, it would now seem " like the baseless fabric of a vision," were it not that the evidences of its reality are only too tangible, and constantly before the eyes of every denizen of the city that is disposed to see them. 62 THKOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. It was near day-light on Monday morning, the 9th of October, that passing along Lake street, we discovered an aged citizen, whose reputation for wealth, integrity and remarkable business capacity is well known throughout the land, hatless, coatless, his teeth chattering and his snowy locks tossed by the wind, gazing with tear-bedimmed eyes at his large warehouse immediately op- posite the place where he stood, but which the flames had not attacked. " Do you think the fire will reach my place ?" he asked, as we took him by the hand. The flames were raging within a block of his place, and, by taking a careful view of the probabilities, it appeared that we would not have long to wait for the wreck of this apparently sub- stantial monument to his affluence. We expressed a hope, scarcely felt, that it would not, and . made a movement to hurry along, when he said, imploringly. " Stay with me a little while. I have had-some bad luck. My house and everything it contained is destroyed, and I must try to save the store." " Have you saved your books and papers ?" we asked. " They are in the vault, and could not be safer anywhere. Do you think there will be occasion to remove any of the goods ?" " Where could you put them ?" " On the pavement here. There is no other place." " It would not save them. They would be stolen c' burned. Let us hope the fire will not reach you." We knew it was utterly vain to hope, but what could be said or done under the circumstances ? It was equally certain that we could render no assistance by remaining there, but it seemed cruel to leave our oltl friend in his helplessness. We talked to him very much as one would address a child standing in fear of some threatening injury to its toys, and he seemed to appreciate the attention. The fire was speeding in our direction, roaring, surging and leaping in very madness, bearing down everything before it in crash after crash of ruin from which each reverberation was like commingling of wails and groans for the loss of homes, and lives, and wealth, and the violent rupture of a great city's throbbing heart ! The shrieks and moans of the hurricane were terrific, and doubly so from their weird and unearthly prolongation, until they forced an ' CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 63 echo from some point miles away across the foaming waters of the lake, that came back to us like the exultant laugh of ten thousand fiends. The monarchs of Storm and Flame were hold- ing their highest revels in concert, and no human agency could bar their advance.. It appeared from our position that the flames were still more than half a square away, when suddenly a bright shaft, like lava at a white heat, shot skyward from the buildings on the oppo- site side, and in less time than it takes to write it, our old friend's business house and merchandise were seething in the superheated cauldron of the great conflagration. It was a mir- acle, and little wonder, that he stood motionless, with both hands raised aloft, his tearless eyes almost bursting from their sockets, and the contortions of his features indicating a degree of agony that words can never paint. It seemed as inexplicable as a thunderbolt from a cloudless summer sky, and was certainly quite as startling. The terrible heat and the flaming embers drifting down upon us rendered our position extremely critical ; but the old gentleman refused to move. The loss of his sub- stance was the crowning misery, and the last terror of the ca- lamity for him had passed. As entreaty availed nothing, he was at last borne away by gentle force to a place of refuge. There was a strange commotion in his brain, and the light in his eyes appeared of more than earthly brightness, painful to look upon, and giving him a strange aspect to even his most in- timate acquaintances. He was left in charge of a brotherhood whose charities are indiscriminate as the dew and illimitable as the globe we inhabit ; and he could ot have had kinder care nor more assiduous attention from those of his own blood. Two days thereafter we saw him again. Twenty-five years of toil could not have added mof% to the infirmity of his appearanco than was wrought in those forty-eight hours. At the first greet- ing his mind recurred to the scenes of Monday morning, and he commanded, in a piping voice. " Save the store at all hazards. Blow up every building for ten sqnares on all sides, and do it thoroughly. The store mnst b sav.ed. Hah ! there's the fire now. Where did it come from ? Why didn't you blow up those buildings? Then he com- menced lamenting : " All gone the labor of a life-time ends in smoke. It is a hard fate, for nothing can be more certain than 64 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. that I and my family are beggars d d beggars ! We must go to the poor house or starve." We tried to console him, but in vain. He soon became sul- lenly uncommunicative, and in a few moments sprang to his feet with a sudden start, and strode up and down the room at so ra- pid a pace that ere long he was covered with perspiration, and breathing like one almost exhausted. No entreaty could pre- vail upon him to desist from this violent exercise ; but finally he commenced biting his lips, and soon large drops of blood and froth were falling from his white beard to the floor. He was suddenly bereft of articulation ; tried to speak, but could not. Then his gestures and the contortions of his countenance were hideous to behold, and it appeared that death must end his suf- ferings in a short space, unless means of relief were devised. He continued to stride up and down the room, but with a reel- ing gait, and sudden, momentary stops, striking his forehead with clenched fist, beating his breast, and clawing the air like a blind man in a desert. "He must be quieted," remarked good Dr. H , who had been untiring in his attentions on the stricken man. " How to do it is beyond my comprehension, but we must manage it in some way, or put him in a straight jacket." "Is the case so bad as to require such a measure?" we asked. " One of the worst I ever saw." At this juncture the old bookkeeper of our aged friend en- tered the room and gleefully exclaimed. " Our insurance is all right. We will get every dollar of it." The old merchant turned and stared at him for a momont, then a smile of recognition passed over his features, and to our utter surprise, he inquired. " Eh, J , ? what's wanted now ? Anything the matter ?" " I came to tell you the insurance is all good. It will all be paid," " We had $40,000 on the stock," mused our friend. "It was $50,000," saidJ . "Don't you remember telling me to take out an additional policy for $10,000, more than a month ago, when the new stock commenced arriving ?" . "Yes." ' " Then there's $45,000 on the building." CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 65 "Yes." " And $27,500 on. your house and furniture." "Making , how much does it all make, J ? I'm not apt at figures to-day." " The whole amount is $122,500," "Just so. And that is all we have left. It will scarcely cover what we owe." " We don't owe the half of it, sir ; and then we have three times as much due us as we owe altogether, and every dollar of it gopd." " But the notes and books are gone." " Oh, no ; they are all safe. We have opened the vault and found everything sufficiently preserved to answer the purpose of settlement ; and, unless I greatly miscalculate, we have at least a quarter million left to resume business on." " Is this all true ?" " Every word of it, sir." Such information was medicine to the diseased intellect, and the merchant looked around into the faces of attendants and visitors as though just awaking from a terrible nightmare. He had forgotten insurance, debtors, everything but the fact that the material evidence of his wealth had vanished, and therefore his mind had followed it away into the strange oblivion that swallows up so much of the wealth, happiness and intellect of this strangely chequered life ; but the information that he was not pecuniarily ruined, reanimated that wandering mind, when it was shut and barred to all other intelligence, and the estimable old gentleman recovered his health and much of his former ap- pearance within the next ten days, and has now resumed busi- ness in as good credit as ever. This incident was almost a tra- gedy, and very tragic up to the turning point. Its most valuable lesson points to those precautions against utter loss that every thorough business man avails himself of, and which, in times of disaster, are always sure to save him something as a foundation for a fresh start in his trade or profession. There is still another lesson, which inculcates the rule, that, at the worst, affairs are never as bad as they seem, and that a calm review w r ill always demonstrate the truth of this principle. The account is less sad than a different termination would have rendered it, but no other result could have impressed it more indelibly upon the mind of the writer. 66 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. The detailed history of the Chicago fire will never be written, because there is an almost inconceivable mass of details that can never be gathered many that can never be known, because their principal actors fell before the advance of the enemy they were striving to repulse and even if all could be readily ob- tained, their voluminousness would prevent publication in any but a book of the most extraordinary size. It is well under- stood that the first fire, on Saturday evening, the 7th of Octo- ber, 1871, would have become historical as " the great Chicago fire," had the calamity stopped with its extinction ; for it burned over more than twenty acres of a densely settled portion of the city, including many warehouses, residences and factories ; and its losses were summed up in an aggregate quite appalling to the insurance companies throughout the country. The fire of the following night was the Jormungundar that encompassed al- inost three quarters (hi money value) of the city, and crushed it in its incandescent embrace. And it was the calamity that to- day stands out on the historic page as the severest that ever be- fell a people through the ravages of the fiery element there- fore the point upon which this narration inevitably challenges the attention of tlic reader. It was about ten o'clock of Sunday night, October 8, 1871, that an ominous alarm rang ouc upon the devoted city from the great bell of the Court-House, booming far above the shrill whis- tle of the angry gale, now fast increasing to a hurricane, and ad- monishing our citizens of more than ordinary danger, in the doubly destructive combination of wind and flame. The bell continued, at short intervals, to toll the deep-toned notes. of dan- ger, which, borne afar upon the angry blast, struck consternation to every heart that realized the peril of a fire under the condi- tions of the city at that date, urged on by blustering Libycus. Hundreds with whom the writer has since conversed felt strange premonitions of disaster mysterious feelings, creepings of the flesh and a great change in the vital circulation as the notes of alarm continued ; and it is probable that many other hundreds were similarly affected. It was really the portent of doom to many brave hearts, of a sort, akin, to that which is described in the following lines of Dryden : CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 67 "A kind of weight hangs heavy at my heart; My flagging soul flies under her owu pitch, Like fowl in air, too damp, and lugs along, As if she wore a body in a body. And not a mounting substance made of fire. My senses too are dull and stupified, Their edge rebated; sure some ill approaches, And some kind spirit knocks softly at my soul, To tell me fate's at hand." When the general- alarm sounded, and all the steamers flew through the streets, prolonging the boom of the bell in shrill shrieks, thousands of citizens rushed out to learn the location and progress of the conflagration. Most of the buildings in De- koven and Taylor streets wore already destroyed, and the great tongues of flame were licking up the wooden structures in that part of the city as though they were the merest tinder boxes, leaving no trace of their form or material to mark the place'where they stood, but a moment before. The crackling of the fire among the dry lumber resembled the regular discharge of mus-, ketry by an army corps in retreat ; but there were still worse evi- dences of panic than are usually displayed by a routed army, in i the hundreds of people, men, women and children, already fleeing to a place of safety, and bearing upon their shoulders such articles of household use as seemed to theni valuable at the mo- ment. They were utterly demoralized, and mingled screams of agony, shouts of alarm, prayers and imprecations, with occa- sional blows right and left, in a jangling noise of words unknown, and gabble without meaning. Eyes blind with blood, and fea- tures wildly distorted with terror, people unclad, half-clad, some wrapped in bed-clothing, women dressed in the apparel of the opposite sex, and some protected only by their night-wrappers, carrying beds, babies, tables, tubs, carpets, crockery, cradles, almost every conceivable thing of household use, formed the most noticeable features of this terrific route. An aged dame, with a dog under one arm and a large mirror across the opposite shoulder, was apparently impressed with the belief that she had saved the better part of her fortune, and marched forward with a smile of satisfaction illuminating her grim physiognomy. An Irishman attempting to drive a pig of a remarkably piggish dis- position, found he had taken a contract too great for his ability, and as the porcine quadruped at length eluded his pursuer, and fled back toward the flames at a tremendous lope, tho porcine biped exclaimed with an inadmissable adjective: 68 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. " To hell wid ye, ye spalpeen ; ye*s poor property onyways." A man carrying a bed and leading a goat met with even worse luck. A horse-cart, evidently driven by a mad-man, came rat- tling through the crowd at breakneck speed, and the goat, docile enough before, was panic-struck at the noise and unusual com- motion, and braced himself to pull away. The man laid his bed on the ground to have the use of both hands in managing the goat, but he was too slow. One wheel of the horse-cart cut the goat in twain, and the other struck, tore and tossed the bed, and scattered it to the winds in a shower of feathers. A drunken brute came swaggering along with a delicate, well- dressed little girl in his arms. The child was crying bitterly, and appeared anxious to escape from her custodian, who addressed her with oaths and threats. " Whose child is that ?" inquired a citizen. , " Mine," replied the ruffian, and he attempted to hurry along, " Not so fast," said his interlocutor, detaining him. " Is this man your father, little girl?" "No sir ; he's a bad man, carrying me away from ma," said the child. The scoundrel raised her aloft and dashed her from him with such force that she would have been killed instantly had she , struck the ground ; but fortunately she was caught in the arms of a gentleman who had stopped to learn the cause of the dis- pute, and who proved to be a friend of her parents and glad to take charge of her as a temporary protector. The kidnapper was summarily sobered by half a dozen blows well administered by a sturdy fist, which was the only means of punishment at hand, but had he ornamented the nearest lamp-post, with a rope about his neck, justice would have been better satisfied. These incidents are related merely to show the general char- acter of the panic, and the nature of the flight, and not for their intrinsic importauce. The picture as a whole, treated by a Ho- garthian pencil, or described by a Dante,might be readily accepted as a " Grand march through hell, of the legions of the powers of darkness." Meanwhile, the flames were keeping even pace with the terrible gale, and spreading fearfully. The efforts of the firemen to stay their progress, although apparently well directed, were futile It was the remark of one of them that they might as well have CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 69 pumped oil as water upon the burning mass, for the water ap- peared to"burn like some intensely inflamable liquid, and certainly had no effect in extinguishing flame. Another declared that three feet from the nozzle the stream was broken and scattered in spray like a heavy dew, or the foam on the crest of a dividing wave, and of course utterly ineffective to stay the spreading of the fire. So the fearful pyrotechnic wall, seething with the power of an inborn, indescribable calidity, and towering sky- ward more than a hundred feet, came rumbling down to the banks of the river, near Twelfth street, and, at a single bound crossed over to destroy the heart of Chicago's business life. The firemen were now completely exhausted, and there were none to dispute the advance of the destructive element, that extended its Briarean tongues and arms in every direction. With the people, it was a race for life, and the stampede that now commenced will live in the recollection of those who witnessed it as long as time shall last. The inclemency of the night had increased, and the temperature was of that disagreeable, penetrating sort that searches the very marrow and chills it to torpidity. Libycus was still in the ascendant, and so the fire struck out, in obedience to his prompting, for the northeast, where its ap- proaches were most to be dreaded. People were now driven from elegant residences, from comfortably furnished rooms on the upper floors of business houses, from hotels, cottages and janitors' lofts, and all at once the streets were swarming with an excited mass of humanity, of all ages, colors and conditions. If the crowd was less motley than the first described, it was quite as varied in nationality, and no less noteworthy on account of the "impediments" with which it burdened itself. Men stagger- ing under large trunks, immense bundles, even bureaus, seemed inextricably mingled with express wagons, carts, wheelbarrows, trucks, drays and buggies, with which the streets were filled, all overloaded with goods and furniture, and making their best speed to escape the approaching destruction. Mothers slightly enrobed, and carrying tender babes, were crying bitterly, while others cherished their young at their panting breasts and were silent in their overpowering agony. Little children, unattended, Jnany in their night-dresses, bare-footed, bare-limbed, heads un- covered, ran about in utter distraction, crying for parents or nurses ; and even the poor dogs added their howls and cries to 70 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. the general dismay, making that night of doom still more hideous and appalling. Still the colossal besom of that holocaust swept down toward them with terrific speed, presenting the appearance of a great wall of glowing brass, and increasing its altitude as it devoured block after block of towering edifices. Many a man and woman sank to the earth in sore affright, many from utter exhaustion, and probably a few from hopelessness of their ability to escape the impending catastrophe. Some were recovered by friends, and others remained and met a fate too ghastly for con- templation. Away sped the crowd, afar off to the bleak prairie, to the lake shore, to parks, cemetaries, any where remote from combusti- ble material, and out of the way of the blinding storm of sparks, embers and smoke. The streets were constantly filled by rein- forcements to the mad chase, and frequently so tightly wedged Jay the great mass of humanity that the weak were trampled, bruised, and some probably killed outright. Persons conveying valuables were ruthlessly despoiled of them, pockets were picked, and one gentleman reported that his coat was stripped from his back in the very thickest of the crowd, and taken away, as by some invisible hand, before he could discover the perpetrator of the outrage. Even women and children were robbed of shawls, cloaks and trinkets, and outrageously abused by the mob of thieves and roughs that now came, like so many vultures, for their prey. Well authenticated instances of remarkable hair-breath es- capes are sufficiently numerous and interesting to form an at- tractive book by themselves, full of startling details and semi- tragic catastrophes ; but real tragedies are scarcely less plenti- ful, and probably deserve precedence in the record, but we must be permitted to intermingle them to some extent, for the pur- pose of avoiding monotomy. At the intersection of Randolph and Market streets stood a large building, rented in separate rooms and suits for offices. On the fourth floor lived the janitor with his wife and four children", and an orphan niece, Marie. When the flames reached the building the family rushed out upon the roof, but all escape was cut off. The mother sank down, with the babe in her arms, smothered by a blinding cloud of smoke and flame, and expired. The father stood up strong and resolute, lifted the little boy of CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 73 four years to his shoulder, placed a protecting arm about his two little daughters, and strove to find his way to an neighboring roof, from which a stairway descended. His efforts were vain. The little girls ran back and fell beside the mother. Then a great cry of anguish went up from the father's heart, and even above the roar of gale and flame his voice was heard by the people below, and piteous, helpless hands reached out in futile sympathy, as if to help him, Then through the smoke and flame, to the very edge of the building, the poor man rushed, and for a moment lifting eyes and hands toward heaven as if in silent prayer, he sprang out from the burning roof and came downward. The .awe-struck people gazed ilpon a shapeless mass on the pavement, which for a moment appeared very still and lifeless, and then a bright little head showed itself, and a child's voice cried out. "You hurt my w'ist, papa. Lif you head up dat a'dood papa." The father was dead, but the child only slightly bruised, and is now well and well cared for. At the corner of Clark and Washington streets, in a window of a third floor room, a man stood serenely watching the general devastation, while the roof over his head was on fire. People shouted themselves hoarse to call his attention to the impending danger, but he merely smiled without moving. " He's crazy," said one ; " drunk," said another ; but he appeared both sane and sober, and was probably inclined to tempt fate a little, and save himself at the last moment. He waited too long. The heavy roof came crashing down through the floors, and he was inextri- cably buried in a heap of burning timber that landed in the base- ment, a perfect mass of glowing embers, within three minutes e from the time the the roof gave way. In one of the larger buildings on Randolph street, a portion of the upper floors of which were used for lodging rooms, men were seen dodging about from window to window, the untold agony depicted on their features, after the basement and first floor had became like " a furnace seven times heated." Two were rescued at great risk before the walls began to totter, but just as it began to seem possible to those outside that all might be saved, the huge walls swayed to and fro, and came down so heavily that they smothered the flames they had fed but a moment before, and buried several lives in the smouldering debris. 74 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. A young man named George Armstrong, a fireman, had been hard at work through many weary hours down town, when some- how word came to him that the fire was sweeping along Ran- dolph street at a rapid rate. His home was on that great thoroughfare. His pretty wife had held up their wee baby to kiss him for the first time that morning. He sprang away like a deer, spite of his weariness, for he must know at once that his loved ones were safe. Beaching the spot, he saw his wife, Jennie, at the window with the babe in her arms. The fire had reached fihe lower part of the building and cut off all hope of her escape. He screamed frantically for a ladder, and, when it was brought, threw it against the window and sprang up the rungs. The flames caught it at the bottom, and a longer one was raised, reach- ing the roof. George swung himself lightly from one to the other, and soon touched the eaves. Quick as light he ran along the already hot slating, opened the sky-light and called " Jennie, darling, come up quickly. You will be safe here." She had fainted when she heard the ladder go crashing down, for she im- agined her brave young husband had fallen a victim to the sea of fire below ; and now, hearing his voice calling her far up in the dim space, she thought him in heaven, and that she and baby would soon join him there. Bat some blind instinct led her to clamber up as fast and far as possible, and soon the fresh air kissed her hot, blind eyes, and ehe found herself in her husband's arms. As he took the babe from her, she whispered, " We can die together,. George. Thank God for that !" Just then a stream of water from a well-directed hose fell full upon them, and through the drenching torrent a brother fireman came and guided them down the slender, swaying ladder, down past win- dows where the glass was crackling and the flames playing in and out like the forked tongues of ten thousand devils, in safety to the firm pavement. And though they had nothing left but each other, no happier people are living to-day than George Armstrong and his sweet little wife, in their humble shanty on the lake shore. And now the fire-fiend ruled the city like a tyrant, and man was powerless. Dismay took possession of the bravest hearts. Some .wildly declared this to be the beginning of the destruction of all things earthly, and railed at those who strove to save life or property. Others, both men and women, besotted themselves ! ! ilV'i. '::&}'"' ^Mi CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 77 with whisky, and indulged in orgies more gross and unseemly than those of the licentious Bacchanals of the old legends. Many of the drunken were roasted alive, and others died in the streets from exposure, or were trampled to death. With those who kept their heads, it became necessary to make quick de- cisions on all questions concerning life, property and a tempor- ary retreat, and especially on means to remove themselves and families beyond the reach of the flames. When the fire attacked the Smith and Nixon block, at the southwest corner of Clark and Washington streets, the panic was at its height ; but some wise acres declared it could not reach the court house, although the block above named was known to be a colossal tinder-box, as it proved. The court house was in a blaze before the spectators were aware that fire had been communicated to it in any man- ner, although the shower of sparks, with which it was en- veloped should have taught them that its tar roof must go and after that its utter destruction was inevitable. The great bell was still thundering forth the note of alarm when the flames caught its frail tenement in the windings of their hot embrace, wrestled and surged for a moment, and then the deep-mouthed brass went tumbling and ominously clanging to the earth. The people had become so accustomed to its boom boom that for a moment after it fell they were startled into silence ; but it was only the silence that proceeded the louder peal, and soon tho uproar redoubled with Babel sounds- and Bedlam outcries. The Sherman House and all the towering blocks in that vincinity were soon ablaze, and the wild retreat of guests and lodgers, in hacks, express wagons, carts, and all manner of vehicles, gave an additional impetus to the motions of those already occupying the thronged thoroughfares thereabout, hustling, maiming, crushing the old and feeble and the poor, trebly excited and exhausted watchers of, and participators in the terrible events of five heurs of continued, everchanging, but bloody and remorseless tradgedy. It was here, amid these scenes of terrible affright, and wild hallo, " confusion worse confounded," that the panic took a new departure, and divided the column of the retreating rabble into two sections, one of which dashed madly up Washington street to escape by the tunnel, and the other rushed in indescribable con- fusion for Randolph street bridge. Both of these points were reached amid tho clatter of heavy wagons and steel shod hoofs, 78 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. the cracking of whips, oaths of the drivers, curses of staid citi- zens, and wild screams of women and children. The crush at the tunnel is said to have been unutterably terrific. The occa- sion had made every point where safety could be sought common ground to all classes and conditions of people, and so there , rushed into the dark, cavern-like tunnel, bankers and thieves, merchants and gamblers, artizans and loafers, clergymen and burgliiz-s, matrons and rag-pickers, maidens and prostitutes- representatives of virtue and vice, industry and improvidence, in every grade, and strangely commingling all the diverse ele- ments of a mixed community, animated by one purpose and seeking a common object. Here the Graces and Gorgons met, Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia', hand in hand witlf Stheno, Eu- ryale and Medusa, seeking the poor boon of life at the utter sac- rifice of all those weak conventiah'sms, that only a few short hours ago were thought to be the sole object and aim of existence. Here Pudicitia mingled her tears with the Lady Godivas and Cyprian nymphs ; and here Mercurius joined (Edipus in suppli- cating the triple throne of Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. There were bruises and groans, blows and piercing shrieks, prayers, imprecations, pocket-picking, and indignities unmentionable : but, strange to contemplate, no loss of life, nor fatal hurt. And so this motley crowd, finding ingress and egress reasonably free, under all the circumstances, and the prospect beyond promising of chances for life, continued to pass through the Cimmerian cavern, with their little savings, and pilferings, their treasures and trinkets and babies, in tolerable order. But the lord of misrule was indubitably the reigning genius at the bridge. The stampede here continued to increase in wildness and disorder until cursing became the only mode of expression, and blows were soon as free as curses. Every imag- inable variety of vehicle had been called in requisition to con- vey the trunks and merchandise of fleeing citizens to a place of safety, and many of the drivers were clerks and mere boys, whose skill at the business was born of the occasion, and awk- wardly demonstrated. Wagons, carts, and trucks were con- stantly colliding, and the shouting of men, the whistling of the steam tugs, the roar of the conflagration, the terrified snorting of horses, and barking of dogs, together with the prolonged CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 79 shrieks of the tempestuous wind, made a discord as harsh, weird and uncouth, as if * * * " all the imps that fell, Had raised the banner-cry of hell." Many persons were sadly abused and terribly hurt in the struggle for precedence, and many valuable articles des- troyed in the shameful contention. To gratify a momentary spite goods were seized and thrown into the river, and a case is reported where the entire effects of a family, including the vehi- cle, a light handcart, were dumped into the water in return for an insolent word. Gunpowder had now been called into requi- sition to stay the further progress of the devouring element, and on every side the heavy detonation indicated the demolition of proud structures that other proud structures might be spared. The great warehouses in Lake street were going down before the fiery "wall as though they .were mere bundles of piece shavings, and among the ruins and impending catastrophes of this mart of commerce is where the present chapter was introduced to the reader. It seems appropriate to present, just here, a strictly histori- cal narration of the fire ; and thereafter its main incidents are detailed by " a cloud of witnesses," as embodied in their per- sonal experience. The Great Conflagration HISTORICALLY TREATED.. THE FIRST FIRE. Saturday night, October 7th, witnessed one of the fiercest conflagrations that had ever previously occurred, not excepting the conflagration of 1857, in the Garden City. At about two o'clock the alarm sounded from Box 248, and ere the quivering boom of the great bell had ceased to vibrate over the empty streets, the sky grew fiercely red in the direction of Canal and Van Buren streets, and soon long bright flames leaped through the glow, and lit ftp the whole neighborhood with wonderous brilliancy before the fire department could arrive at the scene of destruction. Late as the hour was, the glare of the fiery illumination soon attracted vast crowds to the neighborhood of the fire from all quarters of the city, who thronged and choked up all the streets in the neighborhood. The wind rose as the flames gained in strength, blowing strongly from the South-west, ,so strongly, indeed, that blazing fragments of wood of no incon- siderable size shot along on the gale like rockets, to the distance of many hundred yards. Indeed, as lookers on beheld the me- teor shower of white and crimson charcoal sparks raining aH over the space enclosed between the river, the South branch, Wells street and Jackson street, and even flying over the river to the North-side, they began to fear, with reason, that the con- flagration might spread beyond control' of the fire department. The fire had been raging for some time before discovered, and owing to the nature of the substance feeding it, soon converted the building into a furnace. It originated from some unknown cause in Lull & Holmes planing-mill on Canal street near Van Buren, the wind then blowing due North, and the flames conse- quently spread in a Northward direction. But soon after the wind veered to the North-east, and the flames commenced to rush that way. The fire had already spread to the right and left, and burnt a distance of two blocks from Clinton to the river ; but when the wind changed everything combustible from the East line of Clinton to the river, midway between Jackson and 84 THBOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. Van' Buren streets, was swept away by the flames. Unfortu- nately frame buildings lumberyards, and substances inflammable as tinder almost, covered and surrounded the space which the fire was threatening, and the fire department was powerless to quench such a hell of flame as roared over several squares with- in a very short time*. Then the bright waves of fire swept to the North of Jackson street, and seemed as though they would spread in the very heart of the city. Jackson street, between Clinton and Canal, was composed in great part of wooden build- ings, lumberyards, carpenters' shops, frame dw^Jling houses, and saloons, and in little more than a quarter of an hour, the whole of this space was enveloped in roaring flame. Between the rail- road tracks and the East side of Canal street, bounded by Jackson and Adams streets, were several coal and lumber offices, , to the rear of which lay vast piles of anthracite coal to the amount of many hundreds of tons. The slight office buildings were licked up by the flames within the space of a few minutes, and the coal-mounds actually set on fire. And then the fire ran under and over the Adams street Viaduct, licked up the railings and sidewalks of the iron bridge, and devoured the timber freight depot of the United States and Adams Express Companies at the North-east corner of Adams and Canal. But a compara- tively small quantity of the contents could be removed in time, the greater part of the goods being consumed. To the east of the long shed, then blazing, stood a number of passenger cars belonging to the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Rail- road. To save the cars it was necessary to tear down the shed, which was effected in time to prevent the cars catching fire, in which case the flames must have communicated with the Pitts- burg and Fort Wayne depot, and thence burned as far as Madi- son street bridge. The citizens, however, worked desperately here, for they recognized the possible danger of the fire spread- ing still further to the East and North-east, and the fire depart- ment was unable to operate with any .chance of success in this locality. Here the fight with the flames was successful, and the citizens conquered, in spite of a hail of crimson cinders and clouds of acrid dun-colored smoke, so thick, that it might almost . have been cut with a knife. Meanwhile the firemen were battling with desperate energy against the progressing flames on the South line of Adams street, CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 85 West of Canal, and stretching nearly to Clinton street. The buildings were nearly all frame residences, and should the flame make good its position here, or cross to the North line of wooden structures, the consequences would be terrible. The firemen could, as it was, being but twelve hose-nozzles to play upon the leaping battalion of fire that was marching grandly over the roofs. The heat was so terrible that the crowd, several hundred feet away, shrank further back before the angry glare yet the heroic firemen would stand within a few yards of the blaze it- self, only retiring to take breath. Of course so hot a wood fire must burn itself out to a certain extent, there was no possibility of absolutely extinguishing it, but they subdued the fiery ardor of the flames and prevented them from spreading to the houses on the other side of the street. The crowd that stood upon Madison street bridge, and thronged the thoroughfare itself, were appalled by the spectacle before them. The sight was almost sublime, the heavens were speckled and spangled with flying cinders and vivid sparks, and the flames of the burning coal-heaps and lumberyards threw a vast Bembrandtesque light far down the streets on the North side, upon the rigging of the tall-masted vessels in the river, and upon the sea of awe-struck faces that gazed into the crim- son sky and the tossing sea of flame. Many were obliged to flee for their lives, mostly poor laborers who lived in the consumed frame buildings with their families, or in the cheap boarding houses in the burnt quarter. But happily no lives were lost as far as is known. One old woman was only awakened from her sleep by the entrance of the flames into her bedroom on Jackson street, and was only saved by the heroism of a printer, Robert Campsie by name, who, at the risk of his own life, brought her out of the burning building. Both rescuer and rescued were severely, but not dangerously burnt. Her daughter-in-law, a young woman of the name of Margaret Headley, was left behind, and has not been heard of ; it is, how- ever, probable, that she succeeded in making her escape. One accident of a rather serious nature occurred during this conflagration. A large shed stood at the corner of Clinton and Jackson streets, whose roof afforded a splendid view of the fire, and was moreover easy of access. The crowd continued to gather upon it, until it suddenly gave way beneath the weight of 86 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. about 150 persons, and the whole structure caved in. A consid- erable number of the victims of this disaster were severely in- jured, none we believe fatally. Many of the saloon-keepers in the burning district, distributed their stock gratis to the crowd, when they perceived their prop- erty was doomed. The " Chicago" steam fire-engine was working away at the northwest corner of Canal and Jackson streets, when the side of a burning edifice close by suddenly fell in, giving vent to a whirl- wind of flames which enveloped the steamer in an instant. The engineer and firemen were compelled to desert her as they valued their lives, but shortly the fury of the flames spent themselves in that quarter, and they rushed in and pulled her out of the reach of the fire. The engine was considerably damaged, but was able to continue operations during the latter part of the fire. The heat destroyed the western wires of the Western Union Telegraph Company, as well as several of the fire alarm telegraph wires. In one of the lumber yards a party of eight men found themselves overwhelmed by fire on all sides, and only saved themselves by throwing a quantity of lumber into the river, and paddling across. The only effective method of saving about thirty wagons and trucks belonging to the coal-yard, was by sink- ing them in the river. Altogether the < fire of Saturday night, October 7th, covered about twenty acres of ground and destroyed in the neighborhood of $700,000 worth of property. The insurance cannot cover more than a third of the loss, according to the Chicago Tribune. The following extract from the same paper gives perhaps the most accurate summary of the extent of the conflagration. " The boundaries of the fire may be briefly summarized as fol- lows : Between Clinton and Canal streets, about three-fourths of the area south toward Van Buren street. Between Canal street and the river, about nine-tenths of the area, south toward Van Buren street. Between Canal street and the river, and Adams and Jackson streets, the entire area. . Between Canal and Clinton streets, and Adams and Jackson streets about seven-eights of the entire area, the only remaining buildings being the frontage of about 80 feet on Adamy and 128 feet on Clinton street. On the east side of Canal, north of Adams, about 100 feet in frontage, consuming the Express Company freight sheds." THE GREAT FIRE OF THE EIGHTH OF OCTOBER. Since the day when "tall Troy" crumbled away in flames, no fire has surpassed the Chicago conflagration in its terrible work of destruction. The value of the merchandise alone consumed by tlie flames was at least double that of the goods destroyed in the great fires of Moscow and London combined. No city ever suffered a greater pecuniary loss by fire, whether Jerusalem smit- ten by Titus, Rome when sacked by Alaric, or Carthage when given up to fire and sword by her Roman conquerors. The esti- mate of loss of life, great as it seems, is really astonishingly low when we consider the extent, rapidity and fierceness of the fire whose devastating power was trebled by the furious gale. For two days the city was a rolling ocean of flame, and presented an aspect whose awful grandeur might rival the spectacle of a seething roaring volcano crater. The torrent of fire swept over a space of from five to seven miles in length, averaging a mile in width, and no building, probably in any city of the world could have withstood the typhoon of flame and fire combined. In many instances the action of the fire bore a strange resemblance to that or lightning. Blank walls were pierced in an instant by a vast tongue of flame, as though struck by powerful artillery indeed a sheet of fire would frequently leap from the roof of a blazing edifice over a space of several hundred feet, and dash through the blank wall of a loftier edifice opposite, at one flaming bound. It must of course puzzle the reader to imagine how the fire could make such appalling and rapid progress, licking up marble edifices like wax-work, and sweeping over a space of hundreds of square acres, ah* in a few hours from its commencement. To un- derstand this appalling fact it must be remembered that in the first place the very finest and most solidly built portion of the city was surrounded and sprinkled with a vast number of frame buildings, and were thus, as it were, encircled by fuel of the driest and most inflammable description. Once the wood, tar and shingles were well lit the more lightly built portion of the city was a terrific furnace, and the buildings of iron and marble were as 90 THEOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. nothing to withstand the fearful force of the flames. It is pretty generally known that shortly before the fire, an agent of one of the great English Insurance companies visited the city with the intention of establishing a branch office there, but immediately abandoned the design, upon observing the material of which a great part of -the city was built, and its exposed situation. He ex- pressed his opinion freely enough that were a conflagration once well started the city must be partially if not entirely consumed ; and scarcely had he returned to England when his predictions were verified. If any one desires to comprehend accurately the effect of the flames upon those massive buildings of iron and stone which we considered impervious to flame let him build a small model of such a building with the usual materials, and place it in an iron blast furnace. In the furnace-fire of Chicago the blast came in the form of a strong wind from the south and west, which fanned what might otherwise have been but a serious conflagration into a Phlegethon of looming, flashing, rolling, rushing, crackling billows of furious fire, which hurled a fiery spray into the red bosom of the incandescent heavens above. "iW nearly fifteen weeks," says the Chicago Journal of Com- merce, "there had not fallen enough rain ^ to penetrate the earth one full inch. Everything in and around the city was heated, dry and parched. Indeed, all through the West, fires were devastating extensive forests and destroying ripening crops, driving frontier settlers from their cabins -and even over- whelming entire villages. For days the prevailing atmos- phere of our city seemed ready to kindle* into a blaze." With such surroundings and antecedents, with a hard gale blow- ing over the city from the hot, parched-up prairies, we can hardly be surprised that the fire did its work with such fearful rapidity at the outset, that the efforts of the firemen to master the terrible scourge proved wholly unavailing. Much has been said on the subject of the demoralization, real or imagined, of the Fire Department on the night of the 8th. It has been hinted that several were intoxicated, and that the brig- ade, as a body, were utterly inefficient to accomplish their duty properly. These shameful rumors have happily proved to be without foundation. A more gallant struggle against an over- whelming, all-powerful, merciless league of wind and fire, was never sustained by braver men who freely risked, and lost, life and limb in the terribly unequal fight. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. . 91 The truth is that courage and strength and energy must wither under excessive fatigue consequent on uniutermitting labor and want of rest ; and at the time of the general alarm, on the evening of the eighth, the whole department was almost worn out with the labor of previous weeks. " During the first week in October," affirms the same able periodical, from which we quote above, " our fire department had been alarmed more than thirty times, and within a few previous weeks there had been several very large and fearful fires. The burning of an immense ware- house, in the rear of Burlington Hall, had involved a loss of three-i quarters of a million. When the great calamity came upon us> these ruins had hardly ceased to smoke. On Tuesday, October 8th, the last day of the Chicago of twenty years, our fire department was ' used up'." It appears that in addi- tion to the labors of weeks, weary labors of fighting flame, the entire department had worked unceasingly for twelve hours immediately preceding the final summons of the alarm bells. Human strength, whether constitutional or muscular, cannot endure srtch a strain without yielding to fatigue. Nor is it to be supposed, as many seem to have imagined, that under these circumstances they could compete in vigor and celerity with the firemen of Cincinnati or St. Louis, who rushed to bear aid in the terrible emergency. All such comparisons as those we hint at, are at least cruelly unjust, not to say imbecile. The origin of the fire is not known, or rather we have no means of ascertaining by what agency the first building was ignited. The story about the old woman who went into her stable to milk her cow by the light of a kerosene lamp, which lamp said cow kicked over, is a pure fabrication. No such woman or cow pro- bably existed, save in the imagination of some manufacturer of canards. The fire first broke out, it is well known, in a small stable to the rear of a frame building on the north side of De Koven street, almost half-way between Jefferson and Clinton streets. The cottage belongs, (for yet it stands isolated in the midst of ruin, a strange fact !) to a laboring man and his family. The famous stable at the rear contained their little stock, a horse and several cows. Perhaps we might more properly call the building a barn. They never milked their cows later than 5 A. M., and 4 P. M. in order to be in full readiness to dispose of their milk in time 92 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. for their neighbor's breakfasts and suppers. On the Sunday in question the cows were milked as usual by the wife and daugh- ter, and at an hour when daylight rendered the use of lamp or candle unnecessary. Witnesses prove beyond a doubt that the family were all in bed, without exception, before the fire broke out, when they rushed to the barn only to find it too late either to extinguish the flame or to liberate the animals. It is, therefore, certain that neither old woman, cow or kero- sene lamp had anything to do with the fire whatever. It is also highly incredible that incendiarism on the part of the owners of the frame house on De Koven street should have originated the conflagration. Neither is it at all likely that the fire was any- thing but wholly accidental, notwithstanding rumors. The Jour- nal of Commerce remarks that in a high wind smokers might step aside in the lee of this little edifice to light their pipes and cigars. At least from the situation of the house, they would be more likely to stop there for the purpose of striking a match than at any other part in that neighborhood. A spark alighting on thia tinder of hay and shingles, and fanned by the wind, wonld soon wrap the slight barn in flames. From this point the fire spread East, West, and North, with in- credible swiftness, and when aid arrived the fire had taken so strong a hold upon the slight structures hi tjie neighborhood, that all efforts to check it proved unavailing. All the buildings on De Koven street, from Jefferson to Clinton, were burned level with the pavement, if we except the little dwelling house in the rear of the fatal barn, which stands perfectly uninjured among the charred remains surrounding it. As the fire extended, it gained in strength and fierceness, spreading faster and faster and, as is always the case, the flames seemed to increase the power of the wind which gained power and fury in proportion. The fire department worked bravely and well in this neighbor- hood. The fire did not extend further West than Jefferson street, and all the buildings on that side were rescued, although several caught fire from the intense heat. About two squares and a hah* were saved on the other side of the street through the gallant efforts of the firemen. But the furious wind now commenced to catch up burning shingles, showers of charcoal sparks, and fire- brands of all kinds, carrying them towards the North-east with CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 93 terrible effect. From Clinton street to the South branch of the Chicago River, including Canal street, Beech street, and the railway tracks, the whole space was covered with lumber-yards, wooden buildings, quantities of coal, and, in short, everything that would make a good fire. With the exception of a few build- ings at the corner of De Koven and Canal, and a few on Canal itself, everything was burned to ashes, the very streets being scorched and blackened. But the remainder of the "West side of the city was saved. The fire had reached the portion devasta- ted by the flames in the conflagration of Saturday night. North of Harrison and Van Buren streets was the blank space upon which the fire of the previous evening had spent itself, and the skeleton walls and scorched brick afforded it nothing to feed upon. Were it not for this fact, the south side would have been alto- gether destroyed as completely as the north had been. As it was the fire ate up more than fifty squares of the West Division, also devouring four or five of the bridges to the south side. When the fire leaped the south branch of the Chicago river, it revelled among the very same combustible material as it had devoured on the West-side; coal, lumber, planing mills, frame houses, &c. It attacked the Armory and licked up everything in it, surrounded the gas works and exploded the gasometer, and then the situation really became alarming. Iron and stone melted and crumbled in the terrible heat, and the fire brigade had b'arely obtained a good position, when the flames, rushing along as fast as a man can walk, drove them before it, and it was with difficulty that they could save their engines, so that finally it became extremely dangerous to oppose the fire. "Marble buildings" says a Chicago paper "were burned to quicklime, crumbled, fell and disappeared as though they were mere toys of children. Thus onward rushed the flames, advancing north and east with great rapidity and ' eating,' even against the wind, steadily south." The fire then leaped the stone-yards and open lots to the north of the Michigan, Southern and Eock Island Railroads, and in an extraordinary short time devoured the famous Pacific Hotel, one of the largest in tlje world ; and the huge depot with its lines of cars soon melted away in the flames. Far north of Van Buren street the fire licked up gigantic squares of marble palaces, and approached the court house. This splendid bnild- 94 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. ing occupied the center of a square, and owing to its isolated sit- uation, and its being surrounded by fire-proof buildings, was considered free from danger. But even before the sea of flames surrounded it, the ruthless wind hurled flaming brands and sparks upon the great dome, and the edifice was soon a mass of flames. The watchman started the machinery that tolled the ponderous bell, and fled from the building, the bell boomed forth the news of the terrible catastrophe until the vast dome tottered, reeled, and fell, crashing into the interior with all the weight of its several million pounds. The awful shock shook the burning city, and then the Chief of the Fire Department threw up his arms in despair ; for he felt that' all hope was gone. The prisoners were liberated when it became evident that the court house was doomed, and all escaped with the exception of five murderers who were securely handcuffed and marched off by the police. It is said that the liberated thieves commenced their nefarious trade under the very walls of their blazing prison, and cleared a wagon load of clothing that was passing at the time. The interior of the Post-Office was completely eaten out by the devouring fire, but its walls successfully resisted the raging element, and even checked the flames for a time in a north- easterly direction. Near this were many of the finest buildings; Chicago could boast of, including the elegant hotels between Madison and Lake streets ; and the splendid office of the Chi- cago Tribune, McVickers Theatre, and the Palmer House, all stood within a few squares of the glowing walls of the Post-Office. Soon, however, the flame advancing eastwardly seized upon the Palmer House, wrapping it from roof to basement in a shroud of yellow fire, and the flames bursting from the roof, leaped as- tonishing distances to yet intact edifices. In a very short space of time all the surrounding buildings were blazing as fiercely as the Palmer House, itself, and the Tribune building, as well as McVicker's theatre, crumbled away before the flames which rushed in upon them from the rear. The North division was untouched until a little after twelve o'clock, on the same night, when the fire leaped the main branch of the Chicago river, and licked up everything combustible with its vast tongues of flame. The people dwelling in the North division which indeed was composed mostly of dwelling CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 95 houses soon found themselves compelled to fly to the lake-shore. Many, however, plunged into the North branch of the river, or so aght to cross on anything that would sustain them. This side of the city contained the greater number of the fine churches, pclace residences, shade-trees, several depots, and enormous warehouses and manufactories. The North pier extended far into the lake a thousand feet, and close by were great stores of valuable material of all kinds. One of the finest buildings in the West was here consumed McCormick's Agricultural Imple- ment Works, containing property and stock valued at over $1,000 000. But the chief loss which the city endured was that of the Water Works. It may as well be known, that although the water works were uninjured at the time when the fire seized the North-side of the river, yet soon after they ceased to supply water. This may prove a good lesson to those who believe that a city can always depend upon an engine-supplied reservoir for its supply pf water. Although the Water Works' structure was deemed fire- proof, yet there was a considerable amount of woodwork about it. The Journal of Commerce wisely exclaims : " A few thous- and dollars additional expense on the water works would have saved many lives and much treasure." The flying brands and sparks set fire to the roof immediately above the engine-room, the furthest point from the sweeping surging ocean of flame, that had already traveled at least three miles in six hours. This was instantly extinguished, but soon after the great breweries close by burst into roaring flames, and tongues of fire were darting over the turreted roof of the Water-Works' building. Within the atmosphere became heated to a degree that rendered it al- most impossible for the workmen and engineers to perform their duties through danger of suffocation. At last the fire burst through the roof above their heads, and they were compelled to abandon the building, having first stopped the machinery in or- der that it might be injured as little as possible, and the safety valves were raised in order that the ponderous boilers might not burst. Then the immense roof crumbled in upon the three mammoth engines, and for ten days and ten nights, three hun- dred thousand people suffered from the want of pure water, even for cooking purposes, many being obliged to content themselves with the water from the river. Happily the canal had lately 96 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. been deepened, which caused the cool pure water of the lake to flow towards the Mississippi ; and the South branch of the river was sweet and pure compared to what it had been one year ago. Even at this time, however, it was water only to be used in cases of necessity. Now the fire advanced without enemy to oppose it, a'nd swept on towards the cemetery which bounded Lincoln Park on the South. The fire department had drawn off to the lake-shore, there to oppose the progress of the rushing whirlwind of fire by another mode of attack, while the flames were swallowing all the buildings in the direction of Lincoln P&rk. One remarkably handsome wooden residence, together with a fine conservatory, were-spaued, however, by the hungry element which left no other building standing it its destroying path. The ghoulish flames even battened upon the tombs and monuments in the burial ground, cracking and calcining marble monuments, licking up wooden crosses and signs, and even devouring the trees that shadowed, and the grass that grew upon ihe graves of the dead. It could gain no hold, however, upon the green foliage and shrub- bery of Lincoln Park, whereupon it changed its course to the North-west. It licked up everything until it reached the prairie, and then it burned up acres of prairie grass and trees. All the bridges to the West-side soon disappeared, and the La Salle street tunnel, which communicated with the South-side, was so heated by the surrounding flames, that at the entrances on both sides of the river the iron railings were twisted and bent as though warped by the hands of a fiery Vulcan, and the rocks split and shivered as though by lightning. As long as the bridges remained intact, they were covered with fugitives and vehicles of every description. But soon the only means of communication with the North, South, and West sides of the river was cut off, and fugitives could only obtain succor through vessels along the lake-shore, or by a circuitous route to the re- moter bridges, which were soon as crowded with fugitives as the others had been. And so the fire rushed on with its appallingly rapid work of destruction, until the prairie about the city was crowded with homeless men, women, and children, without shel- ter, food or drink. . As long as liquor could be obtained many men drank freely, and not a few fell in a state of sleepy intoxication upon ihe CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 99 scorching pavement, little heeding the swiftly approaching and their terrible death. Alcohol had deadened their conscious- ness of all things. Then the roar of the red flames grew louder and louder, and the earth-shaking crash of falling buildings sounded nearer and nearer, till the scorching pavement upon which they lay seemed to rock beneath the terrible weight of the falling walls, but they slept on under the red rain of fire, till they became as the ashes which fell upon them. The gutters of the sidewalks and roads were frequently filled with blazing whiskey, alcohol, petroleum, or other inflammable fluids, which ran in streams of curling blue fire, or dancing red flames down the pavements. In several places the tar between the seams of the newly-laid wooden pavements caught fire and blazed from end to end ; yet with few exceptions the wooden pavements proved a success and still remain in a marvellous state of preservation. The flagged pavements did not escape so well, and the huge stones cracked and splintered in the vast heat. Brick is the material that best endured the terrible or- deal ; indeed, the greater part of the brick is still serviceable for building purposes. But marble was burnt to quicklime, free- stone and limestone crumbled and splintered, iron melted and trickled like lava among the glowing ruins, and strong iron pil- lars were twisted and warped into strangely fantastic shapes. The rails of the street-railways were subjected to such terrible heat, from the blazing buildings on either side of the street, that they were raised in the middle from six to twelve inches and even two feet above the ground, the center bolts being drawn and those at the ends remaining undetached. Anything combustible would of course be burnt to a cinder by the mere heat of that awful furnace, even though the actual flames had left it untouched. One curious fact with regard to the man- ner in which 'the various kinds of pavements endured the heat, which is chronicled by the Journal of Commerce, is well worthy of record. " On the north-west corner of the Court-House Square is now to be seen artificial .stone flagging, perfect, while the sand- stone on both sides of it, and also the curbing, are entirely des- troyed.'* But we are also told that even where the rails were lifted from the center of the streets and bent like a bow, from the terrific heat, the wooden pavements remain materially uninjured. The panic of that great multitude was truly terrible. With, in 100 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. some instances, fire on three sides of them, they rushed to the waters of the lakes and dashed the liquid over themselves to keep their garments from being burned by the shower of falling fire or the intense heat of blazing buildings. The cattle rushed blindly about bellowing with terror and trampling upon men, wo- men and children. Rats, cats, pigs, and dogs, rushed among the crowd uttering cries of terror. Flocks of pigeons rose in the red glare and sought safety in flight until scorched by the fearful heat, bewildered and blinded by the terrible rain of fire, and the stifling smoke, they fell back into the blaze. Horses, maddened with terror, shrieked with that horrible shrifek which is never for- gotten by those who have once heard it, kicked and plunged, and often lay down in their harness under the rain of sparks, foaming at the mouth, and shivering in every limb. Perhaps the roar of the fire was even more appalling than the spectacle. The thieves had, as the popular phrase goes, " a fine time." Among the struggling, cursing, praying, shrieking crowd, their nimble fingers worked unceasingly, and we have no doubt they reaped a rich harvest. It is tolerably certain, however, that many of them perished in burning houses, where, in their eager- ness to obtain booty, they remained until after every chance of escape hacl been cut off. The police at such a time were almost powerless to act, and crime was, perforce, permitted to revel in well-nigh unrestrained freedom for a while. Under the guise of friendship, sharpers would frequently volunteer to take charge of valuable goods, which, of course, were never again seen by their rightful owners. The hack-drivers were little better than swind- lers, charging from fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars fare even to crippled invalids. The reports of incendiarism, hanging, shooting, and summary popular vengeance, or mob-law, are probably without foundation, or, at least, may be regarded as imperfectly substantiated. Sev- eral very horrible, and numerous romantically dreadful stories, have been circulated, we believe, by the lovers of the sensational. That a mob, under such circumstances, and in such a state of half-mad terror and frantic despair, would not hesitate to execute summary vengeance upon any parties who might be even slightly suspected of incendiarism, is pretty certain. But the accounts of this nature lack evidence and can hardly be credited for want of proper substantiation. With regard to romance, however, there CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT 13. lt)l have certainly occurred more hair-breadth escapes and thrilling incidents than would fill a large volume, and these, too, of such a nature as would vie with the wildest fancies of the sensation- alist. Twelve hours after the first alarm on Sunday night, the greatei part of Chicago was dust and ashes. The fire soon began to work south against the wind, actually traveling along State street and Wabash avenue with almost as fatal swiftness as where the burning gale helped it along. It is curious, too, that the wind seemed to veer and blow from all points south, east and west as the fire proceeded, but the prevailing point was steadily south. Here, however, Phil. Sheridan led a forlorn hope against the flames, and Jbegan to oppose their progress in a new and yet more efficient manner. Powder was brought from the arsenal and buildings blown up all along the line of fire, but it was only by superhuman efforts that the fire was last checked at Harrison street. The sufferings of the women and children no pen can depict. The terrible shock brought on premature delivery in numerous instances. It is said that between four and five hundred children were born within twenty-four hours after the fire, and, many an infant's first cry was heard by the bleak lake shore, or upon the cheerless prairie, on that terrible night. Many of the little suf- ferers born under a sky of flame, and many a fair and delicate woman, perished before the sun had risen upon the smoking ruins. A great number of children and young women were com- pelled to fly in their night-clothes, and died from the consequent exposure. In the fire itself, probably nearly two hundred souls perished, and the total loss of life, from all causes connected with the fire, must come to nearly a thousand. The telegraph operators stuck to then- posts with an unshrink- ing heroism well worthy of record, until the flames had snapped, curled up, and whitened the wires, consumed the poles, and even destroyed the lamp-posts at the corners of the streets. Before the fire had ceased, except where the coal piles con- tinued to blaze furiously and the shivering thousands returned to look upon the ruins of their homes, the city was placed for a time under martial law. Sheridan brought down troops, the oomrnand of the city being given into his hands, and Allan Pink- erton issued orders to shoot all thieves, incendiaries, or male- 102 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. factors, without mercy. It was a timely order, roughs, thieves, sharpers, swindlers, robbers, burglars, came from all quarters like vultures to prey upon the corpse of Chicago. But after the panic was over, and the authorities were enabled to give their un- divided attention to the preservation of law and public order, these rascals found themselves utterly baffled. When the news of the terrible fire flashed along the gloving wires to St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisvil^ the horror of tho announcement lay like a nightmare shadow upon every heart and brain when even the last means of communicating with the sis- ter cities was cut off, the alarm almost grew into a panic. A whole city on fire* in the North-west ! Five square miles of splendid buildings roaring to the skies in flames! Five hundred millions worth of property destroyed ! Thousands homeless, thousands starving, breadless, dying, millionaires reduced to beg- gars ! The richest city of the west, whose wonderous speedy growth and prosperity was the admiration of the whole land, even of its rivals, turned into a hell of fire ! Such was the news which appeared on the bulletin boards of every daily newspaper office, surrounded by awe-struck, sympathizing crowds. For an instant all was horror, astonishment, and terror. Then the trance was broken by the cry of " gv/e us food, give us shelter, as you are men and brothers. Our beautiful city, of which the world was proud, is gone. Our womou and children are dying, without food, shelter, or money. Help us in our terrible afflic- tion." And then the great sympathy of millions awoke, the sis- ter cities forgot all petty rivalries, and nobly set to work to res- cue the desolate people. Firemen and engines poured from all quarters to the scene of smoke and flame. Money, food, and clothing, came in plenty, and the mother country, too, p poured forth her gold, remembering that the new world had sent succor to the old in the day of need. The Nineteenth century showed it had a heart. The fire consumed nearly 3,200 acres, or nearly 5 square miles. The great fires of London, Moscow, and Constantinople, all com- bined, will scarcely equal the Chicago fire in the amount of space burned over. Nearly twenty-five thousand buildings of all dis- criptions have been leveled with the ground, and the number of human beings rendered homeless is 111,000 at the very lowest calculation, according to the Journal of Commerce. No perfectly VIEW FROM THE CODKT HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH-EAST. ':>' CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 107 reliable estimate of the amount of property destroyed has yet been made, the various reckonings ranging from one hundred to five hundred millions of dollars. Many of the most accurate cal- culations have unanimously agreed on placing the loss occasioned, by destruction of property, and damage to business, at from three to four hundred millions of dollars, on which there was, according to the "Underwriter," nearly $100,000,000, insurance. The richest and finest portion of the city has been, as our readers must perceive, utterly swept away, nothing but blackened heaps of brick, stone and iron being visible. The only buildings left standing between the river and tlie lake, and the river and Madison street, are the Lind block, at the corner of Randolph and Market streets, Hathaway's coal-office and one of the Buck- ingham elevators on the lake shore. The destruction of five of the great elevators alone involved an enormous' loss. THE ELEVATORS. Chicago possessed seventeen elevators at the time of the great fire, with a storage capacity for over eleven millions and a half bushels of grain. The fire consumed five of these with their contents, amounting to 1/100,000 bushels, of all kinds of grain principally corn. The elevators destroyed include the " Hiram Wheeler" with a capacity of 500,000 bushels ; " Munger & Ar- mor's Galena 600,000 bushels ; " Illinois Central A," 700,000 bushels ; and the " Union," 700,000 bushels. The remaining elevators however contain about 5,000,000 bushels which is more than sufficient for all present wants. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The Court-House walls have successfully resisted the fire in the wings, although the central portion must be rebuilt, and the dome, with the famous electric clock, has been completely des- troyed. The massive walls of the water works building are al- most uninjured. With the exception of the Michigan Avenue Hotel, and a few others, the great hotels of Chicago are re- duced to heaps of mortar, calcined marble, bricks and broken iron. The Pacific Hotel had been almost completed at a cost of nearly a million when the huge flames rushed into its four- teen hundred rooms and roared out of its numberless windows. The building occupied an entire square, was eight stories in height, and calculated when furnished to accommodate two 108 THROUGH THE SHAMES AND BEYOND. thousand guests. It made perhaps the grandest spectacle of the great fire. Besides the Pacific and St. James Hotel, the Sherman, Palmer, Tremont, Briggs, Everett, Clifton, Orient, Oldridge and other houses fell a prey to the flames. The brewers suffered terribly, nothing being saved of their huge establishments but a portion of the stock in the beer vaults. Moreover, the insurance on the property was generally light. BREWERIES DESTROYED. LilTs Brewing Company ......... ^. ..................... $500,000 J. A. Huck ........................................... 400,000 Sand's Brewing Company .............................. 335,000 Bush & Brand ....................... ................. 250,000 Buffalo Brewery ............................. . ......... 150,000 Schmid, Katz & Co .................................... 60,000 Metz & Stage ____ ". ......................... ........... 80,000 Doyle Bros. & Co ..................................... 45,000 Moeller Bros .......................................... 20,000 K. G-. Schmidt ........................................ 90,000 Schmidt & Bender ..................................... 25,000 George Hiller ......................................... 35,000 Mitivet & Puoptel .................................... 12,000 John Behringer ...................................... 15,000 j. Miller ............................................. 8,000 \Viliiam Bowman ............................ . ......... 5,000 John Wagner .......... ............................... 5,000 Total ............ $2,025,000 The above loss includes, of course, the destruction of ice- houses, malt-houses, stables, cooper and blacksmith shops con- nected with the establishments, which were utterly reduced to ashes. FIELD, LEITER AND Monster store only caught fire at day break. For more than an hour and a half several hundred men did all in their power to save it from the advancing ocean of flame. The building occu- pied an entire block, and from its isolated position, and its sur- roundings, being all vast structures of iron and -marble, it was hoped that it might be saved. But the buildings on the oppo- site sides of the square, burst into furious flames, melting the great business blocks as though formed of wax and timber, and the heat became like that of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. Then the largest dry-goods house in the West had to be left to its CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 109 fate, and the flames were soon rioting among 2,000,000 dollars' worth of costly winter stock. BANKS &c. There is not a single one of these buildings left intact in Chi- cago. The bank vaults have, however, resisted the flames with success. The principal Telegraph offices were all consumed. All the records of deeds and mortgages all the real estate titles, have been destroyed. The abstracts of titles in the office of Shortale & Hoard, conveyancers, were luckily saved. LAWYERS. There is not a law-office, or law-library, left in Chicago, nor an indictment in existence in the country against anybody, nor a judgment, nor a petition in bankruptcy. Duplicate files of im- portant cases which the lawyers kept in their offices are like- wise destroyed. DISTILLERIES. But three Distrilleries remain in running order. The estab- lishments owned by Thomas Lynch, Graefft, Roclle & Co., Dick- inson, Leech & Co., Keller Distilling Company, Kirchoff and Shufeldt's rectifying works were consumed. COAL YARDS. There is no doubt that fuel in Chicago will be dear and scarce during the winter. Every coal yard in tlia city caught fire, and vast piles laid in for winter were utterly destroyed. The coal stock of Rogers & Co., (lower yard), Robert Law, Dyer & Paynes, Holbrook, "W. Johnson, Sydacker, Goit & Curtiss, Sweet & Wil- liams, Richardson & Pratt Bros. amounting to about 50,000 tons of soft coal, and 10,000 of hard coal, insured was totally lost. Five considerable winter stores of coal were, however, saved, in- cluding Roger & Co.'s upper yards. NEWSPAPER OFFICES. The offices of no less than eighty-five newspapers and periodi- cals were consumed. Several dailies reappeared in very small size soon after the fire, and since that time many of them have attained their former size. The Tribune, Post, Republican, Staats- Zeitung, Mail, Times and Journal offices were amo- 1 ^ the finest offices destroyed. The Tribune Building was the last to succumb to the flames by several hours, indeed it was considered one 110 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. of the most thoroughly fire-proof buildings in Chicago. It was, moreover, one of the chief architectural beauties of the city. Every partition wall in the whole structure was of brick, the -ceilings were of corrugated iron beams. It was erected in 1869, at a cost of not less than $225.000, and was seemingly so thoroughly secure that the Tribune Company had taken no insurance. On the first floor was the fire-proof vault, safes, &c,, and the basement contained the engines, with two of Hoe's eight cylinder presses, with several folding machines, quantities of paper, &c. The building was completely gutted from roof to basement, and the loss of contents alone cannot have been less than $100,000. The fire-proof vault of the Tribune, however, proved perfectly trustworthy, and everything in it, even, a box of matches, was found intact. CITY PROPERTY. The following estimate of losses of city property under the ju- risdiction of the Board of Public Works is given by Commis- sioner Redmond Prindiville, who has devoted considerable atten- tion to the subject. This estimate does not include the school- houses, engine-houses and apparatus, police stations, sidewalks, &c. The item of sidewalks only referring to those in front of city property, together with all street and alley crossings, which are constructed by the Board of Public Works. The item of the City Hall embraces only the west half of the Court-house, the re- mainder being owned by the county. The list is as follows: City Hall, including furniture $470,000 Water Works engines 15,000 Water Works buildings and tools 20,000 Hush strret bridge 15,000 State street bridge 15,000 Clark street bridge 13,000 WeUs street bridge 15,000 Chicago avenue Bridge 26,700 Adams street bridge. . . . \ 37,800 Van Buren street bridge 13,470 Polk street bridge 29,450 Washington street tunnel 2,000 La Salle street tunnel .-'. 1,800 Lamp posts 25,000 Fire hydrants 15,000 Street pavements 250,000 Sidewalks and crossings 70,000 Reservoirs 15,000 CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. Ill Docks 10,000 Sewers ; 10,000 Water service. 15.000 Total $1,085,080 The schooner Stampede and the bark Glenbeaidal, with several other crafts, were burned in the river and in the dry dock, and two steam fire-engines at least, viz., Long John, and A. C. Cov- entry, were destroyed by the flames on the West-side, being caught among the burning buildings. The walls of the Custom House, the First National Bank, and the Tribune building, are yet standing, but it is doubtful whether they will be serviceable again. Nearly all the mail matters were secured from the Custom House building. Bank safes were ter- ribly heated, to such an extent, in fact, that in several instances gold was melted into a solid mass, and notes reduced to ashes. Several packages of postage stamps, worth about $100,000, pre- sented a curious appearance upon being taken from one of the safes. The gum-adhesive had become heated and the sheets were soldered together into masses as hard as wooden or com- position blocks. ADDITIONAL LOSSES. As has been previously mentioned accounts k vary as to the des- truction of property in Chicago, estimates varying from 150,000, 000 to more than double that amount. But certain it is that over sixty miles of streets, and more than 20,000 buildings have been utterly and completely destroyed. Fifty million feet of lumber have been consumed, together with thousands of tons of coal. The stock of leather was reduced about one quarter, $95,000 worth being burnt. Cyrus McCormick the manufacturer of the " reaper and mower machines," was perhaps the heaviest individual sufferer by the fire, losing, independently of insurance, no less than three mil- lions. William B. Ogden, who also lost considerable property in the great Wisconsin fires, suffered to the amount of two millions. Potter Palmer was said to have lost the incredible amount of ten millions, and really loses at least a fifth part of that amount. John V. Farwell and John Young Scammon lost respectively $1,500,000 and $1,000,000. Several other eminent millionaires lost similar amounts. 112 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. The city of Chicago must have lost at least five millions in public buildings, bridges, destruction to fire-engines, s fugitives, and motioning to Milo to jump out, I gave the well-known signal, CHICAGO A IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 167 and lie started off at once as if perfectly aware of what I wanted him to do. Soon after I heard Milo's bark, and as I turned round, Fred Williams and his wife came up pale and weary. To describe their delight on finding little Mary safe, or the manner in which Milo was petted and hugged would weary the reader. 1 pro- posed to take the child to Evanston with us that night, but as they were going to Calumet almost immediately in a friend's carriage, Ethel resigned her charge to them. Then as we drove towards Evanston we cast many a look behind at the flames which roared to heaven, until the lurid light grew into a fainter red in the distance, and the grey dawn broke over the scene of devastation. And the giant pillar of smoke mingled itself with the clouds behind us as Mesty's iron- shod hoofs rang musically over the pavement of Evanston. I soon placed Ethel in the care of her relations, and drove Mesty down to my new house in the suburbs. Old Mary Delany, to whom I had given the charge of things in rny absence, threw open the door as I checked Mesty and leaped to the gate. She was delighted to see me safe, and was terribly frightened at the account of our narrow escape. I put Mesty in the new stable, curried and combed, and washed his graceful black limbs, and having procured some corn and oats, and given him a good meal, I went into the house where Mary had a good hot break- fast waiting for me, which I did full justice to, while I detailed to her the particulars of our race through the burning city. Neither Ethel's father nor I had lost seriously by the fire, his real estate property being situated in the suburbs which the flames had spared. What city property we had lost was fully insured and unless the companies should fail, the catastrophe would finally only occasion us a temporary inconvenience. Two days after the conflagration lie met his daughter, and the meet- ing was what every such meeting ought to be. Ethel's father determined that the marriage should come off next Sunday as had been intended since Ethel would not per- mit him to send East for any wedding gifts. So we had a quiet little wedding in Evanston, unattended save by a few old friends, among whom were Fred. Williams with his wife, and little Mary who had quite recovered her health and spirits. We had no 168 THROUGH THE FLAifES AND BEYOND. white robes, or orange blossoms, or jewelry, or fashion, or gor- geous dinner party but Ethel looked as pretty in her calico dress as she ever did when famous as a drawing room belle at the parties in Avenue and what was very shocking, Ethel allowed two large burned holes to remain unmended in said dress one on the sleeve and one on the shoulder asserting that they were mementoes of the great fire, and that she would not permit them to be mended on any consideration. THE FIRE MARSHAL'S GRAPHIC STORY OF THE GREAT FIRE. STARTLING INCIDENTS FORCIBLY DETAILED. A reporter for the daily press called upon the Fire Marshal for his version of certain matters connected with the fire, and obtained, in a few pointed words, the best history of some of the most startling events yet given to the public. "We are indebted to the Chicago Evening Mail for the following graphic "interview" which will be found intensly interesting, and more exciting than any other account occupying double the amount of space : Reporter. Some of our exchanges have hinted that members of the Fire Department were drunk during the fire, and I have called on you, as one who had the best opportunity of knowing, to have the facts in the case. Marshal. Well, sir, I don't know how it was elsewhere, but I did not see a drunken fireman that night. Reporter. What is the character of the firemen in this res- pect? Marshal. They are a tolerable steady set when on duty. Reporter. Who appoints them? Marshal. The Board of Police. I have not had the opportu- nity of choosing a single one of my men. Reporter. What may have given rise to the report of drunk- enness ? Marshal. I don't know exactly, but I did see a drunken bum- mer with a fireman's hat on, and I took it away from him. He begged me to let him keep it, but I refused to. I took it to the engineer of No 6 and told him to take care of it, and it wasn't long before I saw another fireman's hat walking off with a drunken fellow under it, and I took it away from him also. It may haTje been that others saw these two thieves and swore that the firemen were drunk. Reporter. Very likely ; but these witnesses say they saw the firemen working at the engines, and that they were staggering. Marshal. But bless your soul (and here the Marshal got in- teresting, not to say excited, and raised up on his elbow and threatened the reporter's nose with his finger) the heat was awful ; 'twas like hell, and the firemen's eyes were red with the dust and fire, so that many of them were most blind. The hair was scorched off their faces, and they stuck to their machines like bull dogs, and worked them till they couldn't stand it any 172 THBOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. longer. Yes, sir, and they did stagger, for they were clean beat, and many of them, had to go home for the exhaustion from the heat. They were tired, too, from the fire of the night before, and then to give the same men such a long pull again, why, an iron man couldn't have stood it. Reporter. I hear the firemen were demoralized. Marshal. Well, now, it is pretty hard work for flesh and nerves to gain a victory, and then have to go to work again, and again, and again, and fight it all over. But that is just what the men did. And after" they heard the waterworks were burned down they didn't give up ; and they never quit working till all the water in the reservoirs and mains was used up. I don't think that was being demoralized ; not much. Keporter. How was it that they got the victory ? It looks to me as if it was a defeat worse than Waterloo. Marshal. 'Twas water low, that was what hindered us from saving a large part of the North Division. But I tell you we got the fire under ; and if it hadn't been for that awful gale, we would have been all right. When I got down to the fire Sunday night, I got the engines all around it, and had hemmed it in so that it wouldn't have lived very much longer, when one of the men came and said, there is a church on fire north of us ;and, sure enough, there was a church steeple all in a blaze two squares off, so I sent down an engine and pretty soon got two more to work on it, and had saved the long line of cottages just east of it, and the drug store across the road, and though the heat was awful, we had got it right under our thumb, when some one told us that the fire had caught stiU farther north. So I went down and there was the match factory just blazing, and the brick factory was smoking, and Bateham's shingle mills' yard was covered i down to write the true story of the origin of the Chicago fire, and nothing but the sternest sense of duty, and a desire to clear my conscience, of a load that is too heavy for endurance, would induce me to pen these lines. I fancy the sneer of incredulity with which some will greet my announcement that the destruction of Chicago was accomplished by this organization, but, when I have unfolded the details of the plot and the motives that prompted its conception, incredulity will give place to astonishment that human beings could be found who were so blinded by fanaticism as to become parties to so great and overwhelming a crime. The events of the past two weeks have awakened me from a dream so wild and improbable that were it not for the dreary evidences of its reality that I see about me, I could scarce believe, and still more reluctantly can SWIFT JUSTICE. FATE OF THIEVES AND INCENDIAKIES. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 189 I believe, that in the terrible tragedy that has been enacted I was one of the principal actors ; that, though blinded by a fanat- icism more fearful than the worst form of lunacy, I permitted myself to become the cause of so much misery and woe. To begin at the beginning, I must revert to its extent its ob- jects and its plans. The society was organized during the troubulous times that preceded the election of Louis Napoleon to the Presidency of France. A commune, in which all should have equal rights and privileges ; in which the poor should be equal with the rich and the rich equal with the poor, was much talked of at that time, and this organization was formed with that object in view. The election of Napoleon to the Presidency, and his subsequent coup d' etat by which he seated himself upon the throne, for a timo defeated the plans of 'the socialists. Notwithstanding the fact, however, the organization was not abandoned, but was rather more closely cemented and more widely diffused. The evils of the reign of the third Napoleon seemed to add fuel to the fire that was smouldering in France, and the society drew into its ranks all the elements of discontent throughout the empire. The result of the late war between France and Germany was to in- corporate a more dangerous element into the society, and it was determined to seize upon the opportunity offered by the with drawal of the Prussians from Paris for putting the principles of the society into execution. Emissaries were dispatched to all the commercial capitals of the world, and, together with those who had fled from the Ver- sailles government, formed branches in all the leading cities, not only in Europe, but in America. There was not lacking those who were so deeply^ imbued with an insane desire for the tri- umph of communistic principles that they were willing to under- take any desperate plan that gave promise of success, even though attended with infinite misery and suffering. The long existing conflict between capital and labor had pre- pared thousands of persons in every large city, and especially in manufacturing districts, for any desperate work that would avenge the real or fancied wrongs they had received at the hands of the monied aristocracy. In this field the emissaries labored with a zeal that would have done credit to a better cause. The utmost care was exercised to prevent any disclosure of the plans of the organization. While in Paris I became a member of this organization, and it is not surprising, therefore, that on its first organization in Chicago, some eight months ago, I was selected as one of the prime movers. Since I had returned from France I had been in correspondence with some of those prominent in the movement there, among whom were M. Henri Martin, who was among the first to fall a victim to the Versailles troops at the capture of 190 THBOUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. the city ; M. Assi, whose tragic fate is so fresh in the minds of all, and M. Julius Garadine, from whom I learned the progress the society was making, and many of its future plans. The organization in Chicago was formed under the direction of two members who had fled from Paris, and myself. As else- where, none but the most daring and trustworthy were admit- ted. The avowed purposes of the society were harmless in them- selves. They were to endeavor to elevate the workingmen to the level of the rich ; that everybody should enjoy equal benefits, and poverty and want should be unknown. To these declarations there was a codicil binding the members, if it were found impos- sible to secure the results by peaceable means to resort to what- ever measure should be deemed advisable by the directors of the organization. The first two months of the existence of the society were con- sumed in fruitless attempts to stir up strife between the mechan- ics of the city and their employers. But the disastrous conse- quences of the eight-hour strikes in 1867 were yet fresh in re- membrance, and for once the labor unions refused to do the bid- ding of their prompters. This was a discouraging blow, but the members of the society were determined ; for colossal fortunes were being amassed in an incredibly short space of time, and an aristocracy of wealth was springing up that threatened to be- come so strong as to defy overthrow. Plan after plan was sug- gested, and abandoned as impracticable. Finally, the BUENING OF THE BUSINESS PORTION OF THE CITY was suggested. Appalled by the thought of working such des- olation in the fairest city on the continent, I at first shrank from participation in the transaction. I protested that instead of promoting the objects of the society it would only retard them. ]But all the others were firm, and, weakly, I yielded. Gradually the insanity produced by being a promoter of a calamity that would shake the world to its centre, took possession of me. Sleeping or waking, my thoughts were filled with the plan. To mature the details of the plot required the utmost caution. The project of raising a mob by means of some popular excite- ment and to burn and pillage the city was debated at length, but at last abandoned because of its hazardousness and the inevitable loss of life that it would involve, for to take life was not our ob- ject it was only to humble the men who had waxed rich at the expense of the poor. The incendiary's torch was finally fixed upon, and on the ninth day of August preparations were actively begun to carry it into execution. Several times a day was fixed for the awful tragedy, but as of- ten abandoned. The co-operation of the elements was needed. The torch was first applied to the warehouse on the corner of State and Sixteenth streets on the gusty morning of the 30th of A LADY BETWEEN TWO FEATHEB BEDS ABLAZE. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 193 September. It was hoped that the high south wind then pre- vailing would carry the flames to the row of frame buildings to the Northward, but a sudden change in the wind defeated the project by enabling the lire department to quench the flames. Again on the Saturday night preceding the catastrophe a match was applied on Canal street, and for a few hours all seemed to be working well, and but for the failure of one of the petroleum mines to ignite, Sabbath morning would have seen Chicago in ashes. But the doom that was overhanging the city was delayed but a day, and that day came near proving fatal to our plans, for then and only then were we in danger of betrayal. All day long we had been in secret conclave where HO mortal could spy out our doings. Petroleum mines had been laid in a score of places, and trusty men were stationed at each of them to apply the match at the proper moment. The plot had been arranged that all should appear as accident, our part being mainly to assist the progress of the flames, for we knew that, once beyond a certain limit, no agency could stay them. The place above all others in the city which promised the great measure of success was in the barn on DeKoven street. No " old Irish hag " was milking her cow at the time, as the report- ers of the city press are determined to have it. A human being of a different sex was there, however, but had disap^ ired, as if by magic, before any mortal eye had remarked his presence. Before the arrival of th.e jaded firemen at the scene of the conflagration, half a dozen mines had been touched off, and their efforts to subdue the flames were as futile as the effort of a child to stem the raging cataract of Niagara. When the flames had reached the river, work began on the South side. Simulta- neously a mine was sprung at the gas-works, and another near Van Buren street bridge, and two whole blocks were a seething hell of flame in less time than it takes my unaccustomed pen to tell itt From thence onward the fire was assisted by a mine set on Wells street, near Monroe, another a block and a half further east, and still another in Farwell Hall. Few on that eventful Sunday night suspeeted that they were sitting over a magazine that needed but the touch of a match to involve them in a perfect hell of flame. From that point the destruction of the South side, with its massive granite ,piles and well-stored warehouses, was assured. Onward sped the flames, and wherever they appeared likely to skip, a new magazine was fire, and ruin with his fearful front involved the fair city. I had been delegated to explode the powder magazine on South Water street. Our only fear of want of success was that the authorities, failing to stay the mad current of fire by ordinary means, would 194 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. resort to the last and only hope lay a few blocks iti ruinfc by means of gunpowder. To guard against this a tram nad been laid communicating with the magazine, and required but a spark to destroy it. When the work had been fully inaugurated, I hastened to the point to which I had been assigned, wild with a frenzy more terrible than any I had ever before experienced. I reached the spot where the match should have been applied. A huge coal lay within a few feet of it. A slight kick from my foot would have placed it over the hidden fuse, but the streets were thronged with people, and I shrank from committing the act that would have plunged hundreds of human beings into eternity. That moment's hesitation was their salvation. The powder brigade arrived almost upon the instant, and the explosive was removed from the building. Among the first barrels removed were those with which the train communicated, and although a stray spark afterward fired the fuse, no explosion followed. Hardly had I recovered from the momentary flash of humane feeling tnat overcame me, than I was placed in imminent peril of my Hie. The flames had advanced Northward on both sides of where I stood, and were rushing toward me with fearful rapid- ity. Dazed by the various conflicting emotions that had filled my breast, I had. not noticed this, and when I awoke from my trance the most horrible of deaths stared me in the face. Hem- med in on every side in a crucible of fire, I for a moment gave way to despair. But despair gave me strength, and, breaking down a heavy door, I rushed through a store to the river and plunged into its waters. A boat moored at the dock assisted me to cross, although I did not waste time in getting into it, but pushed it before me as I swam. Beaching the North-side, I ran with all my speed through the streets toward the city limits, seeking to escape. In the meantime, my co-workers in crime had not been idle. As the currant of fire passed northward from Van Buren street, it appeared that a large tract bounded on the north by Madison street, and on the west by Dearborn street, including a valuable section of the city, would escape the terrible destruction that had visited the remainder of the city. The flames had proceeded along Harrison and Van Buren streets to Fourth avenue, and here seem to have spent their force. It was a terrible moment. A few brave men battled with the demon and but for the omni- presence of the league would have stayed its progress. But a man rushed into a house that had been abandoned by its occu- pants, ostensibly for the purpose of saving some household uten- sils that had been left, and returned laden with goods ; but a moment afterward the rear of the building became a mass of flame, and a gust of wind carried it eastward to the lake and CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 195 / northward over the district that had thus far been spared, thus completing the universal ruin. ON THE NORTHERN SIDE it had been intended to destroy but few buildings, and these the business headquarters and residences of the affluent. As during the progress of the fire on the South Side, mines were sprung in various localities as the flames advanced, but only where the natural course of the flames was likely to leave the work but im- perfectly done. The fire progressed too slowly. The water-works were in full blast, and there was danger that through their agency some of the buildings doomed to demolition would be saved. The works had been prepared for destruction, but the time had not arrived, as the fire was several blocks away. But, notwithstanding this fact, the match was applied, and the workmen were obliged to fly for their lives. In their flight the man who had fired the mine was overthrown and badly injured, and as the fire advanced he fell a victim to its fury. This ended the work of the incendiaries. The elements' com- pleted the destruction, and the loveliest portion of Chicago was a wasted and dreary ruin. The results are more than had been anticipated, and not yet satisfactory. Many buildings that had been doomed escaped the fiery ordeal, while a large tract that it had been determined to spare is now a ruin. Retribution is not long in following the perpetrators of great crimes. Two of the original founders of the organization in Chicago met death in the terrible conflagration they had instigated, and I alone am spared to suffer worse than a thousand deaths from the stings of con- science. Seven of the men delegated to assist the fire in its progress also perished miserably in the hell they had conjured up, while two others are probably maimed for life. As for myself, I have httle hope of escaping vengeance. The oath to which I subscribed carries with it the penalty of death in a form more horrible than any that has been visited upon mortal since the sun first rose over chaos. The organization is omnipresent, permeating every circle of society, each member being bound to mete out the penalty of the oath to any one who may divulge its secrets. This, its greatest of secrets, has been written under the load of a guilty conscience. Life has lost all its attractions for me, and I scarcely care to live, save to see the damage caused partly through my instrumentality repaired. But if it shall appear that I cannot escape from those who have al- ready involved me in so much misery, I will yet not die at their hands, but will prefer to lie in accursed ground. P. S. Let me add one word of warning. Other cities, both in this country and Europe, have been threatened with fire." 196 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. That many of our prominent citizens Relieve in the genuine- ness of these revolutions, is demonstrated in their daily conver- sation ; and it is by no means impossible that they are founded in truth. C ALL* FOF^ WELP BY N. S. EME15SON. For years our beautiful city Has grown in her strength and pride, Strong as an Indian warrior, Fair as a hunters bride ; But up from her hearts quick throbbing, List to our pitiful cry. "A Demon has been among us, Help! or we surely die. "A 35>emon whose power was stronger Than the strength of our puny hands, "Who paused not to ask for favors, But took the wealth of our lands: We fought him with desperate courage, He laughed at our fruitless pain, We begged him to spare our treasures Alas! that we begged in vain. " Spare us McVickers temple, Home of dramatic art." The demon shrieked and McVickers Was booked for its closing part. "Spare us our Tribune building, Stately and high and strong, "Whence the Messenger birds fly daily. To battle against the wrong." 200 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. The demon crept over the pavement And clutched at the pillars fair, And only a heap of embers And a wreath of smoke were there. " Spare us then Colyers pulpit, He has fought in the Lords good fight," "And every word he utters Is an anvil stroke for the right." "I am no respecter of person," Quoth the 1 demon grim and dread, "And Collyer can preach next Sunday With God's blue sky o'er head." Thus hath the red browed Fire Fiend Stolen our treasures dear, Sucked out our hearts best life blood, And left us to famish here. Gone are our shrines and altars, Gone are the hopes we cherished, All in one hot breath wasted. All in a moment perished, Lost is the grain we garnered, Harvest of years gone by. Help us, for we are starving, Help! or we surely die. STARTING OF THE FII\ST LIGHTNING WITH RELIEF ?OK CHICAGO. BY N. S. EMERSON. From the desolating power, Of the fire fiend, hour by hour, We could see the stricken city, crushed and smothered as she lay, We could hear her children crying, Homeless, helpless, weary, dying ; And we answered, "Of our bounty we will share with you to-day." So the engine dumbly waited, With its strong hot breathing bated, While the twice ten thousand packages and bales and boxes came, Brought in every form and fashion, By our wide awake compassion, For the sufferers who were writhing 'neath their fierce baptismal flame. Since the earliest flush of dawning, Through the busy Autumn morning, Food and clothing had been gathered, and one quaint big box we found , Hustled in among the others, Labelled "For our starving brothers, In the care of 3. F. Jr., God's Expressman ! Westward bound." " God's Expressman !" Each rude letter Told of labor's clinging fetter, [fraught,] On the clumsy hand that traced them', but the heart with love was And we gave our tribute cheery, Honor to the Prince of Erie, Blessings from the weak and weary, on the generous work he wrought. But the cars were packed, overflowing, And the engine puffing, blowing ; While, with hand upon the throttle, stood the stern faced engineer; Tall and strong, all nerve and muscle, Heedless of the noise and bustle, Seeing well the work before him, with no sign or thought of fear. 204 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. "Beady Sam ?" The grey eyes brightened, And the brawny hand clasp tightened, " JBeady Colonel ! every man is at place to-day, I know." Said the Colonel quick and clear, To the waiting engineer, "What's the fastest time on record from New York to Buffalo ?" "We have made it in Twelve-twenty 1" " Do it now in 'Leven-twenty!" "Aye ! Aye ! Colonel!" came the answer with a hearty vim and powei " Start her Sam!" and cheers were sounded, And the first long curve was rounded, And beyond our sight and hearing, Mid the blessing and the cheering, Westward flew the train of treasure, Forty, Fifty miles an hour. Westward still! We hear the echo! "Here is comfort for Chicago;" And through busy towns anil villages, the laden coaches fly. Many a voice cried out " God speed them," And the pitying angels heed them, As upon their Heaven sent mission, quick as light they hurry by. "In the Smithfield light the fires," Said the message on the wires, And we fancy swarthy fireman twice a hundred miles away, Listening for the long, low humming Of the "James Fisk Jr. "coming, Making fastest time on record, on that memorable day. Ye who mourn the lessening stature Of our modern human nature, And the wickedness and weakness of our cultured lives deplore. Cease your scoffing and your scorning, Think of that bright autumn morning, Think of all the generous wishes which the train of treasures bore. Heart and hand had wrought together, Knowing not nor caring whether Friend or stranger would be Miccored by the bounty of their store. Every Iron horse was ready, Every driver firm and steady, Every whistle rang a rally, Through the Susquehanna valley, And the lightning train sped onward, Forty, Fifty miles an hour. RELIEF. HEAVENLY CHARITY SUBLIME SYMPATHY. THE GREAT HEART OF THE PEOPLE AROUSED. IMMENSE DONATIONS FROM ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, ETC. On the morning of the 9th of October, 1871, the telegraphic wires flashed to every part of this nation, and to nearly every portion of the civilized world, the shocking intelligence that Chicago was in flames, hundreds of lives had been destroyed, and ten thousand families were homeless, shelterless, scantily clad, and suffering intensely with cold, hunger, fatigue and fright. The whole world was appalled. The thrilling horror chilled every heart, and for a moment paralyzed every hand. Men stood aghast at -the startling and terrific announcement, that acres of buildings were in embers and men, women and children terror-stricken,- were fleeing for life, from what, but yesterday were comfortable and happy homes. It was difficult to realize the awful calamity. It seemed to be an exaggeration, and all hoped, at first, that it would prove such. But later dispatches more than confirmed the previous intelligence ; and, ere mid-day, Mayor Mason of the doomed city, had telegraphed to the Mayors of the principal cities in the country, the fact of the utter desti- tution of the people, and appealing for food, clothing and other necessaries of life. His touching appeal aroused the people to their senses. The great heart of humanity throbbed with the emotion. Heaven born charity, that divine principle in man, which most resembles the author of his being, and which blesses the possessor no less than the recipient of his favors, in a moment was quickened new- ness of life in every heart throughout the nation and even across the broad Atlantic ; and a sublime, human sympathy, limited to no section, nation or race, to no party, creed or social condition, instantly was displayed in active word for relief. A portion of humanity, was suddenly and sorely stricken and afflicted, and purse-strings were loosened everywhere. In a brief space of time, the Mayors of cities had issued orders for the assembling of coun- cils ; Presidents of Chambers of Commerce, and Boards of Trade, 208 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. Officers of Masonic, Odd Fellows, Temperance and other societies and Ministers of different religious sects had notified their re- spective bodies to assemble for the purpose of taking immediate action in regard to providing for the sufferings of the distressed people of the burnt district of Chicago. With alacrity the members responded to this call and when assembled, although hearts were overflowing with generous sympathy and tongues were let loose in eloquent portrayal of the necessities of the people of a sister city, impoverished in a single night, by the destructive ravages of the fiery element, yet no unnecessary words were spoken, for all felt that not a moment should be lost, if they would succor those in distress, in the hour of their direst need. Action, action, prompt and efficient action was the soul- stirring eloquence on those occasions. In accordance with the object of the gathering, in each case respectively, when some generous member would lead off with a resolution donating a sum, which under other circumstances would have been deemed a most exorbitant demand upon their treasury, ere the member had fairly pronounced the sum, another would spring to his feet and move to amend, by doubling the amount ; a third one would treble it, when a half .dozen, all at once, would amend the resolu- tion by naming a sum at least four times as large as the original motion, so unselfish and generous had they become under the inspiration of this unparalleled calamity. Cities and towns all over the country, in their corporate capacity, made haste to vie with each other, both in the amount of their donations, and the speed with which they should forward both money and supplies to the unfortunate, though brave and deserving city. FIREMEN FROM ABROAD. As the news was received that the firemen of Chicago were entirely overcome with fatigue it became necessary that brave and skilful firemen in other places should volunteer their servi- ces in this time of fearful need ; and hundreds of these unselfish, couragous, and noble men, with their splendid steam fire-engines, from the principal cities within several hundred miles, were quickly on their way to lend their utmost aid to stay the further progress of the devouring flames; and, to encourage and assist the suffering citizens in every other way within their power. As delegation after delegation arrived, they were welcomed with CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 209 loud cheers and heartfelt thanks by the terribly afflicted citizens, who hailed them as friends indeed, because friends in need. But when these noble men, with that cool bravery and discrimina- ting judgment, so peculiar to tried and experienced firemen, sta- tioned their engines, steamed up and commenced their attack upon $he devouring element, they were enthusiastically cheered by the people, who greatfully acknowledged their efficiency and important and praiseworthy efforts. Each delegation of firemen also received public acknowledge- ment of their invaluable services. UNEXAMPLED LIBERALITY OP CITY GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATIONS. City councils everywhere throughout the country, convened with the utmost promptitude and voted and forwarded donations of money and necessary articles, with unprecedented liberality and extraordinary dispatch ; their hearts seeming to lie in their hands and their hands thrust deep into the treasury of the peo- ple, who, for once, not only approved of the lavish expenditure, but were ready to urge their councilmen to give still more gener- ously. Every Chamber of Commerce probably in the Union, on receipt of the frightful intelligence of the terrible fire, immediately held a special relief session and voted large sums of money, which were promptly forwarded to the proper authorities. Boards of Trade all over the land also convened with alacrity and poured out their treasures abundantly ; swelling greatly the funds which were to partially relieve the distresses of those who had thus suddenly lost their all, and were afflicted, as were never before so many persons in so short a time. Committees from the City Councils, Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of each city, were generally appointed to co-ope- rate with each other in the distribution of their donations, so that their charities would be the more effectual and speedy in relieving distress. The overflowing sympathies and munificent charities of the people all over the country, sublimely portrayed the generous impulses of humanity, and the grand fact that an occasion only was needed to show that much of the angel still inhered to man. Majestically did the American people, upon this occasion, portray their relationship with angels. Masonic societies all over the country, prompted by the ties of brotherhood and holy princi- 210 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. pies of charity, were not tardy in convening nor niggardly in their donations of relief, and not dilatory in forwarding them to the sufferers, with brotherly assurances that those were but an earnest of what they would do in the future, in case of need. Odd-Fellows Lodges, inspired by the heavenly principles of " friendship, love and truth," responded nobly in behalf of the sufferers, sparing no efforts, and making no delay in dispatching their abundant contributions, while offering words of consolation and hope, and expressions of earnest and tender sympathy. The societies of " Good Men," " Bed Men," Order of Pythias, Son of Temperance, Good Templars, and mutual benefit socie- ties of every other name, all made generous donations, forget- ing, for the time being, all selfish ideas and feelings, and having before them only the idea of a whole city in dire distress, ap- pealing for succor. They all offered words of cheer, flanked by grand donations of money, or what was equivalent. Corpora- tions, for once, if never before, proved that they were not de- void of souls, but stirred by human and generous sympathies, alive to the sufferings of humanity, and ready and willing to give liberally to relieve their distress. Though thousands of our citizens were houseless and hungry on the desolate prairie, yet so utterly were we paralyzed by the stupendous shock, that people at a distance seemed to compre- hend our situation more readily and thoroughly than we did our- selves. We knew not what to ask for, but hundreds and thousands seemed to know by intuition what to give, and assistance flowed in from the most unexpected sources and with the. most unpar- alleled munificence. As early as daybreak on Tuesday morning the farmers and merchants from the towns near, as well as from the unburnt por- tions of the city, emptied their cellars and storehouses for our relief, and right grateful were we for their prompt and generous bounty. All day long car-loads and wagon-loads of provisions were being brought in, while the active Belief Committee, organ- ized as by magic, received and distributed with wise discrimina- tion these truly wonderful gifts. Soon contributions came from greater distances : for days and weeks the tide flowed in, bearing almost unlimited supplies of food, clothing, and money, and for two months every day brought CHICAGO AS IT WAS "AND AS IT IS. 211 its quota. The whole amount from the different states may be summed up in round numbers, as follows : LIBEKAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE VARIOUS STATES. Massachusetts, five hundred and fifty thousand. New York, four hundred thousand. Pennsylvania, two hundred and fifty thousand. Maryland, two hundred thousand. New Jersey, one hundred and eighty thousand. California, one hundred and sixty thousand. Connecticut, seventy thousand. Rhode Island, fifty thousand. New Hampshire, forty thousand. Ohio, fifty thousand. niinois, fifty thousand. Virginia, thirty thousand, Kansas, twenty-eight thousand. Indiana, twenty-five thousand. Minnesota, twenty-five thousand. Tennessee, twenty-four thousand. Maine, fifteen thousand. Louisiana, fifteen thousand. And every other state and territory in the Uuion gave propor- tionately, until the amount of money received by the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, up to December 1st, reached the grand sum of three millions. ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. Governor Palmer called a special session of the Legislature, to convene on the 13th of Oct. According to the constitution of the State the Legislature could not appropriate more than $250, 000, but that, in addition to the millions outside, added much to relieve the terrible distresses of the people. They passed a bill to relieve Chicago of taxes for the present year, to the amount of $3,000,000. As this amount would have to be made up by other portions of the State, it is creditable to the State that there was nO more grumbling from the press and people ; and that they generally so cheerfully acquiesced in such a law. 212 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. RAILROADS. MAGNIFICENT LIBERALITY. The railroads gave free transportation to all who wished to leave the city, and thousands of people availed themselves of the privilege thus offered, either to find shelter under friendly roofs, or seek relief elsewhere. All our Railroad corporations did noble and generous work. Railroad companies in -every part of the country, through their officers, at once announced to the public, that their roads were ready to transport goods of all descriptions, donated for the benefit of the sufferers, together with the properly appointed committees for their distribution, to Chicago, free of cost. And they all promptly and faithfully fulfilled their promises. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. The Committee on Subsistence and Railroad Trains on behalf of the General Chicago Relief Committee desire to return thanks to J. McCreighton, Assistant Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, for the interest taken by him in relieving Chicago suf- ferers, he having passed through, free of charge, over one thousand persons, and expressed a willingness to aid the Com- mittee in every way he coul$. They were also indebted to Mr. Unger, Manager of the Union Depot Hotel, for kindness shown and assistance rendered in taking care of the sufferers, he haying furnished meals to over one hundred free of charge, and provided many others with meals at a rate merely covering cost. JOHN MOORHEAD. REUBEN MILLER, Chairman. Secretary. All the roads leading out of Chicago, for days, carried free of charge such of the homeless as had friends in other places. And in every way possible for them to facilitate the distribution of charities, by carrying either donations, or authorized persons connected with the Relief Committees, to or fro, they responded promptly and liberally. The same should be r said of all the ex- press companies, they promptly aiding in transporting goods to Chicago from all points of the country. Indeed, they were mighty auxiliaries in the gigantic work of feeding, clothing, and otherwise rendering comfortable a hundred thousand people, who in one night were stripped of their all. VIEW FROM TiiJi COUBT HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 217 At sunrise, the Eleventh of October, only two days after the fire, Col. James Fisk, Jr. mounted one of the splendid express wagons connected with the Erie Eail Koad, and gathering up the reins, drove six in hand about Now York City, receiving contri- butions, which were freely offered, and the more generously giver as the personal magnetism of Col. Fisk inspired every one t met with something of his own enthusiasm. At ten o'clock that morning, seven cars heavily laden with supplies of all kinds were ready to start from the Erie Depot. It was there that the mammoth box was found marked, " Care of James Fisk, Jr., God's Expressman." Mr. Crouch, who went with the train as super-cargo, as well as the engineer, Samuel Walker, testify that all along the route crowds of enthusiastic people gathered at the principal depots, bidding the train God speed, and even attempting to throw par- cels upon the cars as they hurried by. This was the first light- ning relief train, and made unprecedented time. The name of the engine used on this occasion, in starting from New York, was the "James Fisk, jr." On the evening of that day, Col. Fisk wrote to the Mayor of Chicago as follows : "We have received, since the departure of the Lightning Belief train this morning, over ten thousand consignments for the sufferers at Chicago. It is quite impossible to enumerate either the contents or the value of the packages gathered, but a person competent to judge, who inspected the goods forwarded by that train, estimated their cash value at not less than one hundred thousand dollars. We have, from appearances, as much, if not more, to receive to-mor- row, which we shall forward by our regular express trains. MUNIFICENCE OF NEW-YORKERS. On the next day, the people of New York, not in the least having abated their interest in the Chiteago sufferers, poured in contributions from every quarter. Immense supplies were fur- nished for consignment by the railroads, large numbers of persons of every age and both sexes came to the railroad depots with packages of various sizes and descriptions. At the Erie depot clothing came in bundles, bales, trunks, valises and cases. Boxes and barrels formed by far the largest part of the offerings. Pro- visions were also contributed in abundance of every kind. One firm in Williamsburgh, a sugar refinery, gave one hundred and four barrels of crushed sugar. The contributions received by the 218 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. Erie company alone amounted to about $100,000 per day for several days. At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of New York City, held on the llth of October, $109,243.50 were raised, and 832,082.00 reported for the day before, making a total of $181,325.50. Five thousand dollars were contributed from the funds of the Gold Exchange, and in addition the members subscribed quite liberally, especially, as many of them, as members of the Mer- chants' Exchange had previously subscribed large sums. Their contributions and those through the Drug Exchange Committee, were $12,086. The Wholesale Coal Traders, at a meeting on the same day subscribed $4,300 and a Committee was appointed to obtain further contributions. The total subscriptions by the Exchange up to the 10th, were $27,000, and of the Cotton Ex- change, $14,000. The Jersey City Board of Finance and Taxa- tion voted to issue one year bonds for $50,000 for the relief of the sufferers. In the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, a mass meeting was held for the purpose of raising means for the relief of the sufferers. The amount of all the subscriptions, from every source, thus grandly commenced, reached an enormous figure. In thus giving some of the initial work in raising funds for the Chicago sufferers in the Metropolis of the country, we give only what was done in every other city of the country, in proportion to its size, population and commercial and manufacturing importance. The total amount raised by the Chamber of Com- merce Committee of New York, reached the enormous sum of $905,095,46. DONATIONS BY THE PRESS. Robert Bonner, publisher of the New York Ledger, presented $10,000 to the publishers and news dealers of Chicago who had suffered by the fire, and Street & Smith of the New York Weekly sent a private agent with $10,000 to seek out and assist individ- ual dealers who had lost their all. Such generous deeds can never be forgotten. They merit and receive reward. These large-hearted men will find that they sowed seed in good ground, which will bring forth fruit a hundred fold. When the news Of the fearful catastrophy reached Philadel- i phia, Gep. W. Childs, proprietor of the Ledger, was absent, not EXTERIOB VIEW OF THE CINCINNATI SOUP-HOUSE AT CHICAGO. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 223 having returned from his tour in Europe. His friends, however, knowing his benevolent nature, subscribed $5,000 in his name. A few days thereafter, Mr. Child's returned, and his first act was to ratify the act of his friends in respect to the donation. Few men are so proverbially liberal, that friends would dare to display such generosity in their names during their absence. But in this case it was perfectly safe, there not being a shadow of doubt but he would approve of it. All honor to Geo. W. Childs. MUNIFICENCE OF CINCINNATI!. Cincinnatti, agreeably to her generous antecedents, on the occasion of the great calamity, sounded the depths of her benev- olent impulses and munificently poured forth her charities to alleviate the distresses of the suffering citizens of Chicago. Her city council was immediately convened by order of Mayor Davis, and with noble generosity voted to appropriate $100,000. The Chamber of Commerce held a special meeting, as did the Board of Trade, to institute measures of relief, at which the members subscribed generously, which, together with the dona- tions of citizens in their private capacity, reached the splendid sum of $125,000." Immediately, on the receipt of the terrible news that their sister city was in flames, several of her best steam-fire engines were dispatched to Chicago, with a competent force of experi- enced firemen to manage them, under the efficient management of Miles Greenwood, which on their arrival did admirable service. Then, with ah 1 possible celerity, twenty car-loads of provisions were forwarded, with an efficient committee to super- intend their distribution. In order to make their contributions more efficient and lasting, so as to serve during the entire winter, they erected a spacious soup house at the rear of the freight depot of the Great Eastern Railroad. To convey to our readers an idea of this splendid charity, we give below a description of the CINCINNATTI SOUP HOUSE. The Cincinnatti soup-house, was located at the cor. of Green and Carroll streets. The building, a plain frame structure, 30x50 feet, erected at a cost of $2,500. The machinery essential to its operation was simple and cheap. The soup was cooked in six large tubs, each filled with pipes, through which the steam was admitted. The ingredients of the soup were beans, rice, barley and vegetables of all kinds. The cooking was thorough, and the 224 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. soup produced was not excelled by that of the same kind furnished at the best hotels in the city. The establishment has a capacity to furnish 16,000 gallons daily. The rule was to give each person one-sixth of a gallon. About 3,500 were daily served. This soup-house was the only point of supply. There was, however, another point of distribution at the barracks, corner of Centre avenue aud Harrison street, where about half the amount was dealt out. Another place of distribu- tion was established on the North side. At the central soup- house it was furnished from 7 in the morning until 7 in the evening. At the barracks from 9 until 5. Seven-eighths of all those who ap- plied were women and children whose husbands and fathers were, to a certain extent, occupied in the various industries of the city. The low rates at which people were fed will perhaps aston- ish most people when they learn it. The entire cost of running this establishment was only $241.60 per week, including all con- tingents. For this sum they furnished 24,500 rations a week. This makes the soup about one cent per .ration, or six cents per gallon. By increasing the amount it can be furnished for four .and one-half cents per gallon, making the entire expense of feed- ing one person for a day not more than four cents, supposing the diet to be entirely of soup. The institution was under the especial superintendence of Rev. Bi. Frankland, formerly connected with the Cincinnati Bethel and many other worthy charities. It was supported by a fund of $25,000, set aside for that purpose from the special appropria- tion made for Chicago relief by the Cincinnati Council. The advisability of selling this soup at a very moderate rate to those who do not desire to receive it as a charity, has been considered and it is possible that some plan to accomplish that end may be adopted. It will thus be seen that the charity of Cincinnati was not only upon a grand scale, but conducted with intelligence, and upon such economical, and wise principles, that their benefits were timely, effectual and likely to continue as long as the necessity for them existed. ST. LOUIS NOBLY GENEEOUS. The people of St. Louis, also proverbial for their generous sym- pathies, came up gloriously to the work of relieving the distressed. Mayor Brown promptly convened the city council which voted to appropriate $50,000. But this sum was but a fraction of what her liberal citizens contributed. The ladies of St Louis, with commendable earnestness and indefatigable energy, set themselves to work in every way in their power to alleviate the CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 225 distressed. They gathered large quantities of clothing and other necessary articles, and promptly forwarded them under the charge of a committee of ladies., SISTERS OF MERCY. The executive committee received a letter from the Sisters of Mercy, residing in Twenty-third and Morgan streets, offering to accommodate one hundred girls, seeking situations, if beds were provided by the committee. This was referred to the Ladies Executive Committee. The following correspondence ensued by telegraph : MEMPHIS, Oct. 12. HON. Jos. BROWN, Mayor : Persons rendered destitute by the Chicago fire will be passed free, from Hum- boldt to Memphis, on certificate issued by your authority, or by the superinten- dent of the Iron Mountain or St Louis & Cairo Short Line railrauls. J. F. BOYD, Supt. LEAVENWOBTH, Oct. 12. HON. Jos. BBOWN, Mayor, St. Louis : Thanks for your dispatch. Have sent to Chicago four car loads of provisions and clothing. Committee leave immediately with ten thousand dollars in cash. All classes are at work in behalf of the sufferers, and I can promise with safety that Leaven worth will swell her contributions to twenty thousand dollars. JOHN A. HALDEMAN, Mayor. BEPLY. OCTOBEB 13. JNO. A. HALDEMAN, Mayor, Leavenworth, Kansas : Your dispatch received for the Chicago destitute. You are doing nobly. You are fully up to St. Louis in proportion to your population. Every one is now re- alizing that it is more blessed to give than to receive. JOSEPH BROWN, Mayor. OEO. FBANCIS TKAIN. LEAVENWOBTH, Ks., Oct. 12. Mayor BEOWN, and Citizens' Committee for Chicago Sufferers : Will lecture 19th. Dollar tickets, donating entire proceeds to Chicago. GEORGE FRANCIS TKAIN. ANSWEB. Oct. 13. GEO. FBANCIS TBAIN, Wyandotte, Ks. : Your dispatch received proposing to lecture for benefit of Chicago sufferers, at one dollar each, signed Geo. Francis Train. The executive committee desire me to say that our people are in no mood to listen to lectures, but will gladly receive and forward any money you may wish to donate. JOS. BROWN, Mayor. The work thus promptly begun in St. Louts, was continued for days until the most pressing necessities were passed, she nobly doing her full duty. LOUISVILLE. Louisville did not fall behind her sister cities, Cincinnati and St. Louis, in active deeds of charity, but through' the action of her city council, public meetings, benevolent societies and efforts of her generous hearted citizens, made large contribution, merit- 226 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. ing and receiving the public thanks of the authorities of Chicago. If it were not to repeat, in nearly the same language in each case, we might donate several pages to each city in the Union, in presenting to our readers the grand uprising of the people in this hour of frightful need. Every city did nobly, and of course, to a great extent, earned out nearly the same programme, bringing into requisition the municipal governments, Merchants Exchanges, Benevolent Socie- ties, Theatres, Ladies' Belief Societies, etc. As so terrible a catastrophe tended to demoralize everything, and produce the utmost confusion, by request of the Mayor, General Sheridan assumed command of the city, and through his wise, prompt, and energetic movements, brought harmony out of discord. We give below an order of the general : "HEADQUARTERS OF MILITARY DIVISION OF MISSOURI, CHICAGO, October 12. To his Honor, the Mayor. The preservation of the peace and good order of the city having been intrusted to me, by your Honor, I am happy to state that no case of outbreak or disorder has been reported, that no authenticated attempt in incen- diarism has reached me, and that the people of the city are calm, quiet, and well disposed. The force at my disposal is ample to maintain order should it be neces- sary to protect the district devastated by fire. Still, I would suggest to citizens not to relax in their watchfulness until the smouldering fires of the burned build- ings are entirely extinguished. P. H. SHERIDAN, Lieutenant General. HOUSES OF WORSHIP. As most of the houses of worship were destroyed, and funds called for to rebuild church edifices as well as to relieve individ- ual cases of distress, an appeal was made to the Churches in all parts of the union and nobly responded to. At St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, the very Eev. Dr. Starrs, Yicar General, read the following circular addressed to the Catholic Clergy : To THE REVEREND PASTORS OF CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN THIS CITY . The cry for help which comes to us in such piercing tones from the thousands of our fellow beings in Chicago, seated amid the ashes of their desolated city, without food or shelter, appeals so forcibly to every human heart, that there is not one, I am sure, having in his power to give relief, be it much, or be it little, that will not promptly do so with willingness and generous hand. In order that greater facilities may be offered to all the members of our flock, for the expression of a great act of Christian charity, I hereby recommend that a collection be made in all the Churches of the city on Sunday after next, 22d inst. ; due announcement to be made on next Sunday. The sums collected should be sent immediately to the chancery office, that they may be remitted without delay to succor the distressed. t JOHN, Archbishop of New York. Given at New York, this 10th day of October, 1871. The Churches generally, throughout the country, did good work in this hour of dire necessity. BOOKSELLEBS BOW, STATE STKEET KEKFOOT S BLOCK AFTER THE FIKE. CHICAGO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 231 The American Bible Society generously signified its intention to supply all sufferers from the fire with a copy of the Holy Scriptures, gratuitously. Kev. Dr. O. H. Tiffany's Church, St. Paul's, Newark, sent $1,500. Mrs. Tiffany coming to Chicago to assist in the distri- bution. The Ladies' Relief Committee of Philadelphia sent six large boxes of clothing, and two containing women and children's shoes. Philadelphia sent $500,000 to Chicago, and Quincy, 111., $20,000 and a train load of provisions. Quite a number of the students at Yale College are from Chi- cago. One student of the College is said to have lost $200,000, which he owned in his own right, while another, an orphan, has been reduced to penury from opulence. ACTION OF THE OFFICIALS AND CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, Oct. 11. The following was telegraphed to Boston to-day, viz : EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, Oct. 11. To the Hon. Samuel Hooper, Boston, Mass : Would it not be well for the good people of Boston to dispense with the cere- mony and expense of a public reception on the occasion of my visit to your city, and to appropriate such portion of the fund set apart for that purpose as is deemed advisable for the relief of the sufferers by the Chicago disaster? I am .yours U. 8. GRANT. The following was received here to-day : CHICAGO, Oct. 11. To K D. Townsend, Adjutant-General, Washington: There was some excitement here yesterday and last evening, but it is now quiet- ing down. Some of the troops from Leavenworth and Omaha are coming in. I have taken all the necessary steps to meet the condition of affairs here. P. H. SHEKIDAN. Supplies of tents from Jeffersonville, Ind, on Gen. Sheridan's requisition, were forwarded. Gen. Van "Vliet sent at 7| this morning Major Hodges, of the Quartermaster's Department, in charge of a special train from Philadelphia, with blankets. They will reach Chicago on Thursday, and Gen. Sheridan has been advised that there are more tents at Jeffersonville at his disposal. Every effort was made at once to prevent any delay in mails for the North-west. George S. Bangs, Superintendent of the Rail- way Mail Service, one of the oldest and most efficient Post-office men in the country, reached Chicago, and everything possible was done to reorganize mail service at once. Several Thousand dollars were raised to-day among the clerks and employees of the Treasury and other Departments. The Secretary of the Treasury, this morning, received tele- 232 THROUGH THE FLAMES AND BEYOND. grams from London and Canada, inquiring if clothing, blankets,