THE TERRIBLE FIRE AT BOSTON, UNITED STATES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1355, 2 December 1872, Page 3

THE TERRIBLE FIRE AT BOSTON, UNITED STATES.

[meibourne telegraph.] Private telegrams received by Messrs Osborne. Cusblng, and Co., and other American firms, describe the Boston disaster as appalling. They mention that the fire occurred in the most densely populated part of the town, north of Commercial street, which seems to be a well-known locality. Tho enormous ipasa of heat overcame the firemen after the conflagration once fairly got headway. Of the loss of the insurance companies little ia yet known, but the Melbourne manager of the Northern Insurance Company received a message stating, "We are not interested in the fire at Boston," so that the conclusion may be jumped at that some other English companies have suffered. The news made a great sensation in Melbourne. We subjoin some particulars of the ill-starred city. It seems almoßt incredible that to-day, 13th November, we should be reading of the appalling catastrophe which overtook the far-distant City of Boston only three days ago, and by which a large section of the city was destroyed by the terrible ravages of fire. Yet so it is, for on Sunday a fire broke out in th« old part of the city, and gaining ground rapidly was soon raging, almost unchecked, and was, in fact, 'still raging when the cable message transmitting the distressing news all over the world was despatched. This is the seventh • great fire which has ravaged the Gjfefvot Boston since its settlement in low, the first being iv 1654, but no record, has been kept of the damage done. In November, 1676, happened a fire which' destroyed forty-sia. dwellings, a church, and other buildings, but was forttinately extinguished by a heavy fall of

rain. A fire department was then organised, but with liitle itt^eas, for iv 1679 another conflagration took place which destroyed eighty dwellings and seventy warehouses, the loss being estimated at L2C0,000. Again in 1711 a large fire broke out, destroying 100 buildings, including the first church built in Boston. Several persons were killed and others wounded by the blowing-up of houses to check the fire. On the 20th March, 1760, broke out the " great fire in Boston," by which 349 buildings were swept away, and damage done to the amount of 1100,000. The following year a fire broke out which destroyed the celebrated Fanueil Hall (rebuilt in 1805). There have been numerous other smaller fires since, but the one of which we have just received intelligence is perhaps the most terrible and extensive of all, and it is to be hoped that the damage said to be done has been over-estimated — a state of things not improbable when we consider that although the fire took place in the business part of the town, and near the wharves, it was confined to a given area, and that the loss is stated at 100 millions of dollars, or 23£ million pounds sterling. Besides that"! Boston is mostly built of brick, granite, and syenite, and although tbe streets are narrow and crooked, the houses are large and well built. The stores, too, warehouses, churches, and public buildings, are nearly all built of granite or syenite, and there is a well organised body of firemen, consisting of a chief engineer and nine assistants, thirteen companies with engines, and about 700 members, all available by signal at a moment's notice from the fire-alarm telegraph, and forty-nine signal-stations, in the city. The engines work 28,000 ft of hose, there being 1308 hydrants and 133 city and suburban reservoirs communicating with the main reservoir at Brookline, which holds 100 million gallons of water, and which ia fed in its turn by Lake Cochituate, 15 miles distant. Boston is a maritime city of the United States, the principal city of New England, and capital of Massachusetts. It is built on a little peninsula called Tremont, connected with the mainland by an isthmus known as Boston neck. This peninsula runs out into the bottom (W. fine) of Massachusetts Bay. It lies 207 mUes N.E. of New York, in 42deg aimin 24sec N. lat., 71deg Smin 53sec W. long. North Boston is the oldest part of the city, and in this division the streets are narrow and crooked, many of them being only lanes. East Boston is an island lying opposite the part of old Boston ■where the tire raged. West Boston is comparatively new. South Boston is connected with old Boston by two bridges crossing an arm of the harbor. Besides these places are others which may almost be considered as portions of the city, being allied to it as Richmond, Emerald Bill, &c., are to Melbourne. These are Boxburg, Cambridge, Chelsea, Somerville, Winthrop, North Chelsea, and Dorchester. Originally Boston had a territory of only 600 acres, but that territory has been made up to nearly 3000 acres by means of annexation, and reclamation of swamp and tidal beach, which is now "made land." The population of Boston proper, which in 1860 was 177,812, has greatly increased of late years, as has that also of the suburban places round about it. The wharves of Boston are very extensive, the frontage in East Boston alone being 200,000 in length, and. the water deep. Here lie the Canard steamships when in port, and here was built the Great Republic, one of the largest sailing ships in the world. The principal buildings in Boston are the Stake-house, a magnificent brick building, having a froutage totheparksquare, a common of seventy-five acres in extent; Market House, a granite building of two stories high, 540 ft long, and 50ft wide ; the Court House, also of granite, 176 ft long, 57ft high, and 54ft wide ; the Hospital, a granite building lying in a park four acres in extent; Tremont House, of grey syenite ; the Medical College ; the Boston and Fichbnrgh railway station ; and, most noted of all, the Fanueil Hall, apla^e built by Peter Fanneil, a gentleman of Huguenot descent, in 1740, destroyed by fire and afterwards rebuilt in 1805. It is 76ft square and 28ft high, and is adorned by portraits of eminent Americans, conspicuous among them being that of Washington, painted by Stuart. Besides these, Boston contains over 100 churches, two theatres, an eye and ear infirmary, a reformatory, gaol, and a vast number of massive stores and warehouses, the latter mainly situated in that part of the city where the late disastrous fire has raged. Boston does a very large trade with all parts of the world, the chief articles of commerce being all the products of that vast portion of the United States territory as exports, and silk, woollen, linen, and cotten goods, tea, coffee, sugar, «fcc M from Europe, and other foreign countries, besides a very large international trade with other American ports. Boston is also the depot of the American ice trade, and ships off large quantities o£ this luxury to the Southern States and other hot climates. The renowned Harvard University is three miles from the city, and amongst other things of which It has a right to feel proud, is that of being the birthplace of Dr Benjamin Franklin, whose brother James printed the first newspaper in the city. The portion of the city attacked by the fire is, as far as can be learned from Reuter's telegram, the area within the most densely populated and thickly built over portion of the old part of the city, where the narrow tortuous streets and alleys. are studded with warehouses, and the residences of the poorer classes, whose employment lies among the stores, wharves, and shipping. Most of these stores, with their valuable contents of merchandise, must have been destroyed, and the amount of suffering inflicted on the houseless and homeless poor must be something terrible. Nothing is yet known of the loss of life. Fortunately the main wharves lie on the other side of the harbor, at East Boston, with which place the connection is only by ferry-boats, so that, as far as is known, the shipping has not suffered at all. The area destroyed is stated to cover 70 acres of business premises,