The Late Fire--Its Origin--Bravery of the Firemen--The High
Wind--The Fire's Career--Fighting the Flames--Almost Lost--
The Escape from the Burning Building--Destruction of Dock
Street--Smyth Street in Flames--The Wharves--Demolition of
Market Square--Something about the Business Houses there--
The Banks--Fire checked at North Street.
The great fire, for we must distinguish it by that title, since in
vastness it overpowers all other similar calamities which have befallen
St. John, originated in the late Joseph Fairweather's building, York
Point, Portland, at half past two on Wednesday afternoon, 20th June. The
writer and Mr. Frederick R. Fairweather were walking down King Street at
the time of the alarm, and, in company with hundreds of others, visited
the scene of what promised at the time to be a very small affair indeed.
When the place was reached, McLaughlin's boiler shop was in flames and
all efforts of the firemen to put out the fire were checkmated at every
turn by the fierce north-west wind which was blowing a perfect gale. In
a few minutes the fire spread with alarming rapidity, and houses went
down as if a mine of powder had exploded and razed them. The wind lifted
from the roofs immense brands and sparks, and by three o'clock the city
was in flames at a dozen points. Lower Cove was on fire, and the dryness
of the houses rendered them as useless to withstand the blaze as bits of
paper would have been. The huge blazing brands were carried along in
the air for miles around, and where-ever they dropped a house went down.
The engines were powerless, and the firemen, though they worked like
heroes, availed but little. The wild, mad flames, now in sheets, now
with a million tongues of angry fork-like columns, dashed against the
wharves, levelling them to the water's edge, ripping up the pavements of
the streets, and crushing houses out of existence in a single swoop.
Nothing could be done. The leaping demon swept all before him. Hare's
Wharf with its buildings bowed before the destroyer, and with a roar
which thrilled every heart, and unnerved every man who stood there, the
whole force of the fire dashed into Smyth Street and shattered every
building in it. J. W. Nicholson's wine vaults, Harrison's flour
warehouse, Logan & Lindsay's storehouse, Robertson Place, which exceeded
in value half a million of dollars, were snapped up in a second. The
flames spread into Drury Lane and Mill Street, and soon both sides of
Dock Street were in the common ruin. But while this was going on, the
rear of the London House, in Market Square, was threatened and the old
barracks in Lower Cove were on fire. A reinforcement from Carleton and
Portland fire departments came to the assistance of the firemen at this
juncture, and every man worked with a will. The hose was directed with
admirable expertness but the high wind baffled the efforts of all who
stood before it. It could rise higher than the water, and it could
travel faster than man. A mass of flames at the end of Smyth Street and
Drury Lane burned close to an engine, but the dauntless firemen,
holding boards over their heads to protect their faces and eyes from the
heat, gave battle to the relentless foe. It was a fight of water and
human endurance against fire, and fire prevailed in the end. The unequal
combat lasted some minutes, and it was only when death seemed imminent
that the men drew away, and even then they only yielded the ground inch
by inch, till they could no longer stand up before the charging enemy.
The fire was now going with headlong speed down Dock Street. Frantic
women wildly sobbing filled the roads with the few sticks of furniture
and portions of bedding which they had managed to save. Children
hastened along crying aloud, and making the scene more dreadful as they
ran barefooted over the hot sidewalk. Men with picture frames and books
rushed past, calling and threatening, and moaning. It was a scene
terrible in its reality. People were driven from street to street, and
hurled forward, till, with horror in their blanched faces, they turned
and saw in their rear the wild flames hemming them in. With many a
shriek they dashed into the side streets. Some ran along Water Street,
only to meet the flames there, and a few sought refuge in rafts and
boats, and sped to Carleton, losing in the excitement every dollar they
owned in the world. The old McSweeney lime-stone building, which came to
a point on the corner of Union and Dock Streets, early succumbed and was
a mass of crumbling ruins. It was near this edifice that a woman rescued
her child from instant death, and pulled her away just in time to
escape being buried in a mass of stone, which came tumbling down in a
thousand pieces. The Rankine bakery, another building known far and
wide, suffered demolition, and was soon a heap of ruins. Some young men,
three in number, entered a store on Mill Street, to avoid the dust and
smoke. In a little while they saw with agony the flames burst in upon
them from the rear door, ten or twelve feet from the entrance. They
called for help, and attempted to gain an exit from the place which was
now filled with heavy black smoke. Three times they sought the door, and
every minute they began to realize the imminence of their danger. The
flames and smoke drove them back, and now the water from the hose came
tearing into their faces, knocking their breath away, and saturating
them with the wet. Two jumped with the frenzy of madmen and the wildness
of despair, and landed into the street safe, but paralysed with fear.
The other man groped his way on his hands and knees along the floor and
felt for the door. He succeeded after enduring much suffering, in
crawling into the street. All that these three saved was on their backs.
In the midst of the commotion in Dock Street, merchants were busily
engaged in securing their books and private papers, and hurrying out
with them. Some trusted to their safes and locked their doors. The sweep
in this street was a clear one. The old "Hammond House" went shortly
after the McSweeney building, and the Figaro Opera House followed
shortly after. This building was built a few years ago, as an exhibition
hall, by Otis Small, Esq., and leased to Major George Bishop, as a
concert room. He occupied it awhile, and Pete Lee succeeded him in the
lesseeship and management of the concern. Some excellent performances of
the variety kind have been given in this building. The hall was
comfortably seated and tastefully arranged. Latterly it was converted,
by Prof. Neilson, into a ball-room and dancing academy, when it received
its new name, "Figaro Opera House."
Dock Street was soon in ashes, and it was while this street was burning
that a grand rush was made by the merchants and private bankers, to the
Bank of New Brunswick. Piles of bank notes, bills of exchange,
mortgages, bonds, specie, books of account, ledgers, &c., &c., were
placed in tin boxes, when practicable, and deposited, through the
courtesy of George Schofield, Esq., of the bank, into the vaults. They
were not a moment too soon, for now the splendid front of the Market
Square was in a blaze, and Hall & Fairweather's store on South Wharf was
burning. An immense amount of damage was being done. On this square a
vast deal of business had been done for many years, and leading
merchants had made and lost fortunes on its site. The London House,
Messrs. Daniel & Boyd's wholesale establishment, represented a large
value. It stood in the centre of the square, and the gradual sinking of
this structure was a sad but grandly imposing sight. It was here where
enterprise was to be found, and Daniel & Boyd's name was ever the
synonym for honesty, integrity, and truth. It was in this spacious
warehouse where the busy merchants were to be seen, eager to help the
young men of the city, and anxious to develop the resources of the
country. In every good work, in every deed of charity, Thomas W. Daniel
and John Boyd headed the list, and to them many a young merchant to-day
is indebted for that teaching, which, in after life, made him honourable
in his dealings. This prominent house was started in 1831 by Holdsworth
& Daniel. The fire of 1839 carried their store away, and for a while the
firm occupied the store known as Jardine's, Prince William Street. In
1839, the land on the market square was purchased by Mr. Thos. Daniel
for L4,000. (In 1811 this place was used as a blacksmith's shop.) In
1847, Mr. Thomas Daniel left the firm and went to England. His nephew,
the present head of the house, Thos. W. Daniel, began business on his
own account, and soon after 1852, he admitted John Boyd as a partner in
the house, under the style of T. W. Daniel & Co. Shortly after the style
of this firm was changed to Daniel & Boyd. On the corner to the right of
Daniel & Boyd, No. 1 Market Square, was the staunch old drug
establishment of the late W. O. Smith, Esq. Mr. Smith, the father of our
present ex-Mayor, opened here after the fire of 1839, and the business
has been conducted here till the late fire, by his son, A. Chipman
Smith, since 1871, when his father died in March of that year. In the
adjoining store, so many years occupied by Lawton & Vassie, Messrs.
Manchester, Robertson & Allison, may be said to have begun business.
They left here, W. W. Jordan taking the store, to occupy their
commodious premises in King Street, which alone kept off the fire
from the north side of King Street. The saving of this building was one
of the marvels of the present calamity. It really held the key to the
whole of this side of the street. But for the laundry and the well
managed protective means employed by the firm and their friends, the
destruction of this house and the entire street would have been
accomplished. Men stood idly in the courtway folding their arms and
telling one another that the building could not possibly be saved, when
Mr. Manchester, in his short impulsive way, told them if every one did
as they were doing, it could not; but he intended to use every effort in
his power before he gave it up. The firemen here worked with a will, and
were rewarded with a splendid result. It was on this side of the street
that the Western Union Telegraph Office was situated, and it and Mr. J.
W. Hall's new building were the first to go. The Maritime Block--a
splendid structure--in which the banks, Maritime, Montreal and Nova
Scotia, were established, and which faced the Market Square, went down
while it was yet daylight. In this building the offices of the school
trustees, Dun, Wiman & Co., A. P. Rolph, Lumber Exchange, and Board of
Trade were held. While Mr. Rolph was engaged in getting his things ready
to move out, Mr. Richard Thompson's men were hastening in with
silver-ware and jewelry, thinking in their excitement that this building
was at all events safe. Mr. Thompson's loss is very heavy, and the
damage to his elegant and costly stock is considerable. The lot on which
the Sheffield House stood was offered some years ago, at private sale,
to John Wilmot, Esq., father of Senator R. Duncan Wilmot, by James
Brimner, for L2,000. Mr. Wilmot refused it, and attended the auction
sale when it was knocked down to him for L2,950. The police office went
next, Watts & Turner's, H. & H. McCullough's, and round again to the
north wharf, carrying Lewin & Allingham, Chas. R. Ray, W. H. Thorne &
Co. (retail), and Thomas M. Reed, along with it. The destruction on the
north wharf totally demolished the establishment of Jas. Domville & Co.,
and the books of the firm which had been taken to the Maritime Bank for
safe keeping, were subsequently burned there. The saving of the Bank of
British North America, the only monetary institution in the city which
resumed business the next day as usual, was one of those wonderful
events which only occur at rare intervals. The fire roared lustily in
the rear of the bank, but something seemed to command it to halt there,
and advance no further. A large barn went down, and now it was deemed
certain that the bank would go next, but no, the fire crossed the
square, dashed along Water Street, cut into Ward Street, destroyed a
slip full of schooners and wood boats, slipped into Tilton's Alley, and
rushed along with frightful rapidity on both sides of every thoroughfare
in its way. On the one side of the city the fire was stopped at North
Street, having reached J. & T. Robinson's house and store.
[Illustration: THE BUILDING WHICH PREVENTED THE FIRE FROM EXTENDING UP
KING ST.]