A Chapter of Incidents--Agony on Board--Coming Up the Harbour
--The Story of the Moths--The Newly Married Lady's Story--No
Flour--Moving Out--Saving the Drugs--The Man with the
Corn-Plasters--Incendiarism--Scenes--Thievery--The Newspapers
--Enterprise--Blowing Down the Walls--An Act of Bravery--The
Fatal Blast--Danger and Death in the Walls--Accidents--The Fire
and the Churches--The Ministers.
As the "Empress" was steaming up the harbour, from Digby, on the night
of the fire, the passengers on board, many of whom belonged to St. John,
beheld the city in flames. Some of them even saw from the water their
own residences on fire, and witnessed the alarming rapidity of the
flames and the almost powerless efforts of the people to stay their
ravages. One can imagine the feelings of those passengers who had left
children at home, and who now began to experience the greatest anguish
and suffering. What made the matter worse was, that some time had to
elapse before the captain could venture to approach his wharf, and this
added largely to the bitterness of the fathers and mothers on board. A
mother who had left a little one in the city, while absent on a journey
to Nova Scotia, told the writer that the agony she endured while making
the approach to the city completely deadened and prostrated her. She
grew perfectly helpless, and for a time nothing could rouse her from the
seeming state of insensibility under which she sank. Those were
terrible moments of suffering--awful moments of uncertainty.
Among the curious incidents of the fire which are constantly coming to
the surface, is the rather good story which is told of one of our
neatest housekeepers. Her house is noted for its spotlessness, and some
who profess to know, say that such a thing as a spider's web could not
be seen about the premises, even in the cellar or wood-shed. The lady
has a natural abhorrence of those pests, the moths which _will_ get into
our furs sometimes and defy all the camphor and snuff in existence to
keep them out. One day, about six months ago, some handsome newly
upholstered chairs were purchased, and duly placed in the parlour. In a
week a moth was found in one of the new chairs, and there was much
consternation thereat. The rest of the furniture was examined carefully,
and the offending chair was sent to the upholsterer for his examination.
The result proved to the lady's satisfaction that she was right, and
that the flock which had been put into the chair with the hair had
caused all the mischief. The whole set was sent back to the
furniture-man, and he was ordered to take the flock out. He returned
them after a time, but in less than a week the persevering house-keeper
succeeded in finding moths in every one of the chairs. She sent them to
another upholsterer this time, and was awaiting their return when the
fire occurred, and they were burned up, moths and all, while her own
house was untouched.
A newly-married lady fearing the fire would reach her dwelling,
succeeded in hiring a team, and putting into it her best furniture,
bedding, husband's clothes, and all her silver, sent them up to her
mother's house at about four o'clock in the afternoon. At six o'clock
her mother's residence was burned down, and with it all that was in it,
while her own house was about half a mile from the vicinity of the fire.
The lady was quite annoyed when the folks came in for a night's lodging
that night, shortly after tea was over.
Considerable consternation prevailed among the people when it was known
that nearly all the flour in town had been burned. The estimated loss
was considered to be about fifty or sixty thousand barrels. One man is
said to have hurried out and paid $18 for a barrel, while there were
several persons who paid twenty cents a loaf for bread.
A good many people who feared the fire was coming their way moved out,
and put their furniture, etc., in the street, and watched it till after
midnight, when the expected flames not arriving, they marched the
effects back again. The goods were almost as much damaged as if they had
remained in the fire. Large quantities of material were lost in this
way, and a lady saved an old pewter-box which once contained her
husband's sleeve-buttons and studs, while she wrapped the latter up in a
bag and never saw them again.
Quite a number of cases of petty thieving occurred. A drug store,
shortly before the fire came to it, was filled with a gang of roughs and
pickpockets, who insisted on helping the proprietor to save a few
things. They were saving them with a vengeance; opening every box and
package that came in their way, and taking a dip out of each. One young
man, whose face bore the picture of health, had managed to save, when
detected, enough Blood Mixture to cure the scrofula in his family for
the next fifteen years. Boys, who should have stolen soap, were going in
for that excellent capillary restorer, Mrs. Allen's Zylobalsamum, and a
man, hobbling along with a wooden leg, was filling his pockets with
bunion and corn plasters. The boxes had a neat look, and he thought he
would see the next day what the contents were good for. Everyone wanted
to help, and one could not but admire the zeal with which these gentry
emptied drawers and boxes on the floor, and scrambled for the contents.
One young gentleman in his anxiety to save a mirror-stand, which
certainly could never be of any use to him, cut it in two and hastened
away, leaving a drawer full of toothpicks, and a bottle of rat poison
behind him, which he might have had just as well as not. A citizen, who
said he felt dry after working so hard all day, regaled himself with a
pint bottle of Ipecacuanha wine, and left immediately after it was down,
to see how the fire was getting along in another place. One can never
forget these little acts of kindness. It is the performance of deeds
like these which exalts a nation, and makes us feel that the world is
not altogether a fleeting show or a snare.
The cry of incendiarism was raised during the first days of the fire,
and a good deal of alarm prevailed. Special constables patrolled the
city, volunteer soldiers were placed on guard, and the policemen were
ordered to be vigilant. Several arrests were made; but the greater
portion of these were unnecessary, and, in nearly all cases, the persons
arrested turned out to be noisy, drunken men, whose actions were
misinterpreted by the officers. Some cases of incendiarism did really
occur, however, and it was just as well that the city should be guarded,
and the rougher element closely looked after. There is no doubt but that
the fire at half-past two in the morning, in J. and T. Robinson's brick
building, York Point Slip, was caused by the torch of the incendiary;
and on Monday afternoon, a man was actually caught in the act of setting
fire to Mrs. David Tapley's house in Indian-town. A good deal of talk
about lynching was indulged in, but no one was lynched, though rumours
came thick and fast, that one man had been shot, another hanged, and any
number of people, according to the fertility of the narrator's
imagination, were thrown into the sea. Drunkenness was rampant, and all
saw how necessary it was that this evil should be stopped short. The
licenses to the sellers could not be taken away, and it was optional
with them whether they would listen to the appeals of the citizens or
not. A committee, at a meeting of the people was appointed to ask the
bar-tenders to close their bars for one week. To the credit of these
gentlemen, be it said, they acceded to the request at once, and the
bars were closed. This had a salutary effect on the morals of the
community.
For days after the fire, stolen goods were being constantly recovered by
the police and special constables. Large quantities were found concealed
in houses situate a little distance away from the city, while even in
the city limits, the officers met with a good deal of success in tracing
articles that had been surreptitiously carried off. Some outward-bound
schooners arrived at their places of destination along the New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia coasts, laden with spoils from the fire, but in most
cases these were got back.
H. M. S. Argus arrived from Halifax with the Marine Artillery and some
soldiers. A number of the sailors did patrol duty in Carleton, and the
artillery spent several days blowing down the walls of the buildings,
and doing other work entrusted to their care. A number of soldiers of
the 97th Regiment also arrived from Halifax, and these together with a
company of the 62nd Battalion of volunteers, and some men of the
volunteer artillery under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Foster, the
senior Lieutenant-Colonel of the Dominion, performed guard and other
duty until the 6th of July, when the volunteers were disbanded, and the
regulars were continued for a time. The men behaved excellently and did
good service. They were all encamped in King's Square.
[Illustration: KING SQUARE AFTER THE FIRE, ENCAMPMENT OF THE 97TH
REGIMENT.]
The U.S. Revenue Cutter "Gallatin" made two trips from Boston laden with
supplies from the generous people there, for the relief of the sufferers
by the fire.
With commendable enterprise, many of the merchants who were burned out,
and could not secure premises in which to carry on their business, by
permission of the authorities, erected shanties on King and Market
Squares, which they promise to pull down before the first of May, 1878.
The city now looks quite primitive. Turn where you will, shanties of
various sizes and styles meet the eye.
Some very good work was done at the ferry floats by the employes of the
boat. Through their exertions the fire was kept away for a considerable
time from the handsome new Magee Block, which stood on the corner of
Water and Princess Streets. This building will be put up again at once.
The newspaper men were heavy losers, but nothing daunted, they went to
work at once and lost no time. The _Telegraph_, through the courtesy of
Mr. George W. Day, printer, was out on the very morning after the fire,
with a smaller, but very spicy and interesting little sheet. The
_Telegraph_ proprietor and editor, Mr. Elder, did not save even his
fyles. The _Globe_ also did not lose an issue, and on Thursday evening
it was as bright and attractive as usual, and contained an excellent
account of the fire. The _Daily News_ lost its issue on Thursday, but on
Sunday, the proprietors, Messrs. Willis & Mott, issued a very
interesting paper, and so made up for what it lost on Thursday. The
resume of the work of spoliation in this number of the _News_ was very
graphic. The _Freeman_[R] did not issue a paper. The three principal
papers immediately set to work buying type, paper, and presses, and in a
fortnight after the fire, the _News_ was issued full size from a new
press on the site of its old office. The _Globe_ and _Telegraph_
followed with new presses, &c., a day or two after. The _News_ and
_Globe_ were issued after the fire for a few days from the _Weekly
Herald_ office, Germain Street.
At the blowing down of the walls of the Post Office, an act of valour
was performed by some men belonging to the volunteer Battery of
Artillery, which deserves prominent mention. Major Cunard, Captain A. J.
Armstrong, and Lieutenants Inch and Ewing, together with a detachment of
the Brigade of New Brunswick Artillery, under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel S. K. Foster, marched to Prince William Street, and
proceeded to blow down the walls of the Post Office. Sentries were
posted all round a circle of nearly two hundred yards, and everything
being in readiness the work was begun. Two bags of powder were placed
against the building with the length of spouting which would contain the
port fire fuse that was to connect with the powder. Two charges went off
and the effect on the walls was slight. The men thought of the
expediency of placing a charge against the inside as well as one on the
outside of the building. The trains were laid and the fuses lit, but
some loose powder igniting in a moment with the train, it exploded with
a deafening crash before the men could get away, and half of the wall
facing Prince William Street, came down as if a thunder-bolt had struck
it. Gunner John Nixon, of No. 2 Battery, was covered with the debris,
but escaped uninjured, save a few scratches on the arm and a cut or two.
Gunner Walter Lamb, of No. 10 Battery, was stricken down and every one
deemed him dead, the smoke and debris completely hiding him. The second
70lb blast was still burning and was momentarily expected to go off,
when Lamb's hand was observed to rise over his head and touch his cap.
In a moment five men, unmindful of the terrible fate which threatened
them, rushed in and bravely dragged from the mass of ruins, their fallen
comrade. He was borne away just as the second charge went off with a
roar, carrying away at a bound the remainder of the wall. Stones and
bricks flew in every direction and John Anderson, who was standing in
Germain Street, but whose presence there was unknown, fell badly
wounded. He was conveyed to the hospital and died in a few days. The
names of the five artillery men who behaved so bravely are, Lieutenant
Inch, No. 10; Lieutenant Wm. King, No. 10; Corporal J. R. Andrews, No.
3; Corporal Anderson, No. 1; and Gunner R. McJunkin, No. 10. Captain
Ring, of Carleton Battery, was standing within three paces of Gunner
Lamb when he fell. His escape was certainly miraculous.
The pulling down of the walls has been attended by a good many
accidents, some of them terminating seriously. A week after the fire
some men were engaged in taking down the walls of the building in Dock
Street, belonging to the Johnston estate. Two men were cleaning out the
foundation at the same time. The wall trembled in the breeze, and the
men looking up fled for their lives. One of them, James Wilkins
escaped, but Thomas Sullivan was caught by the pile of bricks and his
head was badly cut and his limbs bruised. A day or so after this
accident, another one occurred which ended fatally. Some workmen were
removing the rubbish from a building, when a wall that enclosed a vault
of some seven or eight feet in height fell, and George Gallagher was
buried in the ruins. He was taken to the Hospital (Dr. E. B. C.
Hanington, resident physician), and it was found that his spine was
broken, his thigh fractured, and he had sustained serious injuries
internally. He died in a few hours.
The Sunday after the fire, the ministers referred in their sermons to
the very general conflagration, and its lessons. At St. Paul's Church,
in the morning, Rev. Mr. De Veber preached. In the afternoon, the Rev.
Mr. Mather, and in the evening, Rev. Mr. Brigstocke, of Trinity,
officiated. Rev. Mr. Windeyer preached both morning and evening in his
church, the Reformed Episcopal. Rev. S. P. Fay, a Bangor clergyman,
preached in the Union Street Congregational Church, morning and evening.
Rev. James Bennet preached in St. John's Presbyterian in the morning,
and Rev. A. McL. Stavely in the afternoon. Rev. Dr. D. Maclise, in the
morning preached in Calvin Church; and in the evening, Rev. Mr.
Mitchell, of St. Andrew's Kirk, preached. The Exmouth Street Church held
three services, Rev. Mr. Duke in the morning, Rev. Howard Sprague in the
afternoon, and in the evening Revs. Messrs. Hartt and Sprague addressed
the congregation. Rev. Mr. Fowler preached in Carleton Presbyterian
Church in the morning, and there was no service in the evening. The
Baptist pulpit was occupied by Rev. Mr. Hickson, the pastor, both
morning and evening. Rev. Theodore Dowling preached in St. George's
Church. At the Free Christian Church, Rev. George Hartley preached in
the afternoon. At the Portland Baptist Church, Rev. Mr. McLellan, the
pastor, preached morning and evening. The Portland Methodist Church had
Rev. Mr. Barrett in the morning, and Rev. Mr. Teed in the evening. St.
Luke's, Portland, had sermons from Rev. Mr. Almon, the rector. Brussels
Street Church had Rev. Mr. Alexander. At the Roman Catholic Cathedral,
at nine o'clock mass, Bishop Sweeny addressed the congregation, and at
eleven, Bishop Power, of Newfoundland, preached. Rev. Mr. Wills
delivered a sermon at the Unitarian Hall; and in the St. Stephen
Presbyterian Church, Rev. D. Macrae preached in the morning, and the
Rev. Mr. Donald, of Port Hope, in the evening.[S]
Thirty-nine orphans were kindly taken care of by Mr. R. B. Graham, the
visiting agent of the Baldwin Place Home for Little Wanderers, who
carried them to Boston, Massachusetts.
Some months ago a clever poem in several books, entitled "On the Hills,"
from the pen of a Nova Scotia lady of excellent reputation as a writer,
Mrs. Morton, _nee_ Irene S. Elder, was placed in the hands of Wm. Elder,
Esq., of the St. John's _Daily Telegraph_, to read. On the day of the
fire, he put this manuscript in his safe, for protection. When the safe
was opened, the manuscript was found quite legible. The scene of the
poem is laid in our sister province, and it is said to contain some
genuine touches of true poetry.
_Apropos_ of manuscripts, it may be said that Prof. Wm. Lyall, of
Halifax, lost a very valuable treatise "On the Emotions," which was
burned in Mr. Stewart's safe, King street. Mr. W. P. Dole lost all his
sonnets, and his late paper "On Definitions," upon which he had expended
a good deal of time.
FOOTNOTES:
[R] The _Freeman_ will be issued shortly as a daily.
[S] Rev. Geo. M. Armstrong preached in Stone Church, (built
1824) and on the Sabbath following the Bishop of Fredericton preached in
the same church.