FIRE DEPARTMENT HEARINGS. NOVEMBER 24-DECEMBER 2, 1871

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION DONATED BY RICHARD BALES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transcription includes endnotes added by Richard Bales when researching his book, The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow. For this electronic version, the notes have been edited (with Mr. Bales’ permission) to retain information on spellings, locations, etc., but eliminating queries to himself regarding the writing of the book.  Those interested in the unedited notes may consult the hard copy of the transcription held by the Chicago History Museum.

 

Number in brackets indicate page numbers in the original handwritten transcript.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1] William. J. Brown, telegraph operator at the courthouse, being duly sworn on oath, declares that he went on duty at the central office at four o’clock Sunday evening, October 8, and remained on duty until 12:30 same evening.  At 9:30 I received the alarm from watchman in the courthouse tower and others[i] for Box 342 in corner of Canalport Avenue and Halsted Street.  I received no alarm whatever from boxes up to this time.  Mathias Schaefer was the watchman on duty at that time.  At 9:40 I received alarms from Boxes 293, 295, 296.[ii]  I supposed it to be for second alarm, but still I received no authorized signal.  At 9:42 I asked the watchman if it was spreading.  I then struck second alarm on my own judgment.  The distance of the box first struck from the point the fire started at was about one mile in a southwesterly direction.  Immediately after striking the first alarm, from my window I could only see the reflection of the fire.  I cannot say exactly at what time I struck the third alarm, but I think it was about one hour after giving the first, receiving at that time signals from Boxes 293 and 296.  I then struck third alarm on my own responsibility.  Immediately after that the line opened, and no more alarms were received of any kind.  I struck the second and third alarms both for Box 342.  I was well satisfied that the fire was not in the neighborhood of Box 342 when I struck the third alarm, but [2] not receiving any authorized signal for striking any other box, I of course struck the same number as at first.   About 11:15 the watchman ordered me to strike Box 287,[iii] and I did so. I only struck one alarm for that.  At 12:14 I received an alarm from Box 13, and I also struck this.  This box is located at corner of Market and Madison streets.  I struck no other alarms after this and was relieved from duty by George E. Fuller[iv] at 12:30. I was so busy at my instruments that I did not have any time to see anything else until I was relieved from duty.  I then went up on the cupola and helped put out a fire on the cupola.  I then saw sparks and brands falling very thickly all about us.  After assisting to put out the fire on the cupola, I left the building and went on the West Side to corner of Canal and Randolph streets and afterwards to the buildings that were on fire near the gas works.[v]  I went in the alley in rear of  Farwell’s Dry Goods[vi] storehouse on north side of Monroe. I stayed there a few minutes and then went out on Madison Street, got to Wells when I noticed the fire had jumped to rear of the Oriental Building[vii] on LaSalle Street. I then went to the courthouse and went into our office on the third floor.  I think this was about one o’clock.  I stayed there until the fire drove us out of the building, I think about fifteen minutes.  I then went to corner of Canal [3] and Randolph and watched the progress of the fire.  When I observed the fire in the rear of the Oriental Building, I noticed that the wind was blowing very strong from the southwest, and the air was full of burning brands and sparks, and I had all I could do to keep my own clothes from burning.  As I crossed back from the West Side on the Madison Street bridge, I went south on Market Street until I got to the alley between Madison and Monroe, and as I passed into that alley going east, I noticed an engine working, corner of Monroe and Market streets, but do not know what one it was.  As I was in the alley, I saw her stream playing on Monroe Street.   As I passed out of the alley going to the courthouse, I saw the Coventry[viii] standing at the corner of LaSalle and Madison streets.  I did not notice whether she was working or not.  At this time I crossed back on the South Side over the Madison Street bridge.  I did not notice the fire at any other point than in the vicinity of the gas works, but there was great quantities of fire flying in all directions.  I did not see any other engines than those I have named as I went back to the courthouse.  Do not know whether there was any other [blank] there or not.  This information I received from the watchman in the tower satisfied me that the fire was not near this box the first alarm came from.  No instruments were saved or any machinery were saved [4] out of the courthouse.  I did not think the courthouse was going to burn until I saw it on fire and saw the men coming down from the cupola.

[November 23, 1871]

W. J. BROWN

 

                                                                             

[5] Mathias Schaefer, being duly sworn on oath, declares that he was the watchman of the courthouse cupola, and my duties there were to look out for fires about the city and give notice of them to the telegraph operator below.  I was on duty on the evening of October 8 and stayed until we were driven out by the fire.  I was on the north side of the tower.  There were two parties of [them?][ix] on the tower and they called my attention to a light,[x] but I saw it was nothing but the West Side gas works.[xi]  Then I went inside.  Then these parties came to the east door and asked me about the big clock.  I was talking with them about the clock and then lit my pipe and stepped out on watch on the east side.  I then, turning around towards the southwest, I saw the fire.  When I saw it, I run into the tower and whistled to the operator and told him to strike Box 342.  This was my judgment.  I then took my glass and looked in the direction of the fire again and immediately after this alarm [had?] been given, I whistled again to the operator and told him I had made a mistake, it ought to be 319,[xii] that would be nearer to it, but he said that the box struck was in the line of the fire, and he could not alter it now.  The fire was not much when I gave the first alarm, but it spread very rapidly.  The wind was blowing very strong at this time from the southwest. [6] I gave the operator information as to the progress of the fire every few minutes after the first alarm.  I think it was about ten or fifteen minutes after the first alarm was given before the second alarm was struck, but I did not have any timepiece up there.[xiii]  There was no third alarm struck from the courthouse bell.  The operator told me he had struck the third alarm at the engine houses.  My comrade[xiv] who watches with me came up about eleven o’clock. I stayed with him until, I should judge, about twelve o’clock, when I told him I would go down and see if the fire had crossed on the South Side.  As I passed out of the courthouse yard at the southwest corner, I met Mr. Fuller, the telegraph operator.  He said he was a little late, as he had been helping the Long John boys[xv] light up hose at the fire.[xvi]  I then went down LaSalle Street to Madison and west on Madison to near Market Street.  The fire was then burning between Market and Franklin and Madison and Monroe streets.  I stayed there about ten minutes and while there saw one engine and cart come over Madison Street bridge and saw them leading out hose.[xvii]  I then went back to the courthouse and commenced ringing the bell pretty lively and continued to ring all the time until the fire drove us out.[xviii]  With the exception of twice I went down on the roof and put out fire that had caught there.  [7] There was a window in the southwest side of the tower under the balcony and the lights of glass were all broken in this window and had been so ever since I had been there, and I am confident sparks and brands went through these broken windows under the roof and set fire to it.  I was on the top of this roof putting out any fire that might catch there. There were four or five men in the tower assisting in keeping fires down on the balcony, but I was the only person that went down on the roof, as none of the others knew the way to get there.  Before I left the courthouse and went down on Madison Street, the balcony had been on fire twice, and we beat it out.  I think this was just after eleven o’clock, and I know it was before the fire had crossed to the South Side.  I do not think it was more than half an hour after I gave the first alarm before the sparks began to fall about the courthouse.  I am very sure before eleven o’clock I noticed a fire had started some distance north of the main fire, and I told the operator that another fire had started.[xix]  He asked me how far it was from the other fire, and I told him it was four or five blocks north.  I then told him to strike Box 287,[xx] which he did.  I know this was before eleven o’clock because it was before my comrade came up, and he said [8] when he came up it was eleven o’clock.  I noticed the second fire for which [he?] struck Box 287 was in some high building.  Of course I could not tell what building it was.  The first intimation I had that the fire was under the roof, I saw the smoke coming out of those broken windows under the balcony.  When I noticed this, I went round on the north side of the tower and got into the dome about twenty-five feet below the top and hollered up to my partner that the courthouse was all on fire, and he came down at once, and as we came down the steps, the fire was blazing under them, and my partner had to jump down through it.  I then came down into the operator’s room, and the plastering was then dropping down in that room, and I could see the fire all above through the cracks of the plastering.  I then came down outside and saw that the Evans Block[xxi] east of the Sherman House was on fire.  I do not think it was more than seven to ten minutes after I came down before the courthouse tower fell.  As I came down out of the courthouse, I went down into the jail and told the keeper that the courthouse was all on fire and that he had better take care of the prisoners if he did not want them to burn.  I then went out on Randolph [9] Street and saw Fire Marshal Williams and heard him tell the men of the Economy[xxii] engine to play on the Sherman House, and he asked me to give the boys a hand. I saw that the engine had up a pretty good stream, but the wind was blowing so strong that it did not get very high.  I saw the foreman[xxiii] and Mr. Lewis[xxiv] were handling the engine, and I understood that the other men were attending to the hose.

[November 23, 1871]

MATHIAS SCHAEFER

 

 

[6][xxv]

                                                             November 24th 1871

                                                                    (3d witness)

William Musham Sworn

(Examination by Mr. Chadwick)[xxvi]

I am foreman of the steamer Little Giant.

Q.  Located where?

A.  143 Maxwell Street near Canal.

Q.  Was you on duty at the time the first alarm was given?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you hear of the fire before the alarm struck?

A.  I received an alarm from the man in the house, the evening watch.

Q.  Before the bell sounded?

A.  Yes, it was probably one minute before the alarm struck.

Q.  What was the signal of the box?

A.  342 I believe was the box.

Q.  What did you do?

A.  I hitched up and started [7] for the fire, was going from the engine house when the alarm struck.

Q.  Where did you make for?

A.  Corner of De Koven and Jefferson Streets.[xxvii]

Q.  You didn’t go according to the alarm?

A.  I went direct to the fire.

Q.  Where did you take water first?

A.  Corner of De Koven and Jefferson, southwest corner.[xxviii]

Q.  Where was the fire apparently burning there?

A.  The fire was, I should judge it was about three doors east of Jefferson Street on the alley north of De Koven Street running between De Koven and Taylor.  The alley run east and west.[xxix]

Q.  Had it made much headway then apparently?

A.  Yes sir.  It had made considerable headway.

Q.  How much of the block was apparently on fire? [8]

A.  I should judge there was about five or six buildings on fire.  Barns and dwellings.

Q.  You say you was the first engine to get there?

A.  I believe we were.[xxx]

Q.  How soon before you saw any other engines there?

A.  In fact I didn’t see any other.

Q.  In regard to the progress of the fire, did it seem to make very rapid headway?

A.  Yes sir, it made quite a rapid headway.

Q.  How long did you remain with that plug where you was?

A.  I should judge we remained there until about 11 o’clock or half past 11, I cannot tell the exact time.

Q.  Do you know about what time it was when you started?

A.  About half past nine.

Q.  You think you stayed at [9] that plug until about half past eleven?

A.  Eleven or half past.

Q.  Which direction was the fire moving then?

A.  The fire then was moving northeast a little more north, probably.

Q.  By whose directions did you change from that plug?

A.  By Mr. Benner’s[xxxi] orders.

Q.  Where did he order you to then?

A.  To the river, foot of Taylor Street.

Q.  On the river?

A.  On the river.

Q.  Couldn’t you have taken water at any plug west of the river?

A.  Yes sir, we could at that time.

Q.  Had the fire made such rapid headway?  Had it got so you was obliged to take water from the river at that time?

A.  The fire was working at [10] that time on the rear of the dock company, and there was danger of its working into the large lumber yard of Ryerson and Company.[xxxii]  It had crossed Canal Street at that time and had worked up south of Taylor Street.

Q.  You took water next to the river?

A.  Yes sir, just south of the Chicago Dock Company[xxxiii]

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  Until 8 or 9 o'clock next morning.

Q.  You didn't move from there?

A.  No sir.  The fire was burning in the rear of the dock company when I got to the river.  There was a long shed in the rear of the dock company that was on fire.  The dock company fronts on Taylor Street and the rear is on the river.

Q.  What time did you observe the fire crossing the river? [11]

Did you take any notice as to the time?[xxxiv]

A.  In fact, I was so busy I didn't notice.

Q.  It had crossed the river when you got there?

A.  No sir, I do not think it had.

Q.  Did you afterwards notice it burning on the other side?

A.  I noticed it afterwards.  I think I noticed the fire about Polk Street about two o'clock.  It may have been earlier.

Q.  Across the river?

A.  Across the river.

Q.  Did you have plenty of hose to work with?

A.  I had plenty of hose at that time.

Q.  You wasn't troubled with hose at all?

A.  We had plenty of hose as long as we continued there.

Q.  You say you continued there until what time?[12]

A.  Between eight and nine o'clock Monday morning.

Q.  Did you move from there then?

A.  I moved over on the South Side.

Q.  Where did you move to?

A.  To Wabash Avenue, I think it was the corner of Congress Street or Hubbard Court, I think it was.  The court leading east of the J.B. Rice house.[xxxv]  Congress Street. 

Q.  Did you take water, there at the plug?

A.  No sir.  The water had give out.  We had to form a line from the lake.  The steamer Economy was at the lake giving water to the Rice.  We took water from the Rice and  played into the Long John and she played a stream on the fire.

Q.  Prior to your moving from the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson Street where you took water first, did you see [13] Fire Marshal Williams there?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  Did you see Fire Marshal Schank[xxxvi]  while working there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Didn't see anybody but Marshal Benner?

A.  No one but Marshal Benner.

Q.  You continued to work at Congress Street how long?

A.  I should, we judge, we worked there an hour when we were drove out by the fire.

Q.  Then where did you go?

A.  We stayed in front of the Michigan Avenue Hotel.  Formed another line there.  We didn't succeed in getting water

Q.  What did you do then?

A.  We were ordered from there by Mr. Benner to the West Side.

Q.  Did you do service there? [14]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where?

A.  At the foot of Taylor Street at the dock company.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  I should judge until about three o'clock Monday afternoon.

Q.  Then what did you do?

A.  I was ordered to take up and go home.

Q.  At the time of all these different movements that you made, was you troubled with hose at all?

A.  I took a full reel to the South Division and left it all there.

Q.  Left it with the other engines that worked there?

A.  A portion of our lead was led from the Long John into the fire.  We lost that.  The rest of our hose was taken on Harrison Street, I believe to supply the T.B. Brown.[xxxvii] [15]

Q.  How did you manage when you went back on Taylor Street?

A.  Mr. Benner sent a lead of hose ahead of us.

Q.  You had no lack of hose at any time?

A.  No sir.

(Examination by Fire Marshal Williams)

Q.  On which side of the fire did you work until you moved from the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven, the east side or the west?

A.  We worked both north and south and east.

Q.  The fire was running east?

A.  The fire was in the rear of us, working southwest of us into a number of buildings there.

Q.  How far north did you reach? [16]

A.  I had the lead between Taylor and DeKoven Street.

Q.  Your hose wasn't any further north than that?

A.  Our hose was not any further north than that.

Q.  I should judge you was working to keep the fire from working west and south?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Did any other engine come in near you while you was at the corner of DeKoven?

A.  I didn't notice; I was busy.  In fact, I paid very little attention to other companies.  Generally attend[ed] to my own.

(Examination by Asst. Marshal Benner)

Q.  How long after you got there was it when you saw me? [17]

A.  Probably a couple of minutes.  I don't know that it was that long.

(Examination by Mr. Chadwick)

Q.  After you took water?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you receive any special direction from Mr. Benner at that time?

A.  Yes.  Mr. Benner and myself and one pipeman handled the pipe quite awhile.

Q.  Did [he] give you any directions for your further government when he left you, or stay right there with you?

A.  Stayed there a short time and ordered us out of the alley.  There was a number of buildings south of us on fire and west of us and he ordered us back there.

Q.  West of Jefferson Street? [18]

A.  West of where we were standing.  East of Jefferson Street.

Q.  Did Mr. Benner remain there until you moved on to Taylor Street?

A.  Of and on back and forwards.  The time we moved he sent orders to us.  He didn't come himself.

Q.  Did you see him after you got to the river?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  From the time that you stood in there at the corner of Jefferson, what was the character of the wind?  Was it blowing pretty strong?

A.  It was.  It was very high.

Q.  Did it increase from the commencement of the fire?

A.  It did appear to increase.[xxxviii]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) Which direction was the wind in?

A.  The wind was southwest, if I recollect right. [19]

Q.  What was the condition of the buildings so far as you know in regards to their being wet or dry?

A.  The buildings were very dry and very close together.

Q.  Do you know anything about the habits of the people living in that  neighborhood in regard to their getting shavings to burn and storing shavings in their houses?

A.  That part of the city is chiefly settled by Bohemians and most of them have their cellar full of shavings.  The basement of their houses.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams) Is there many barns and sheds in that alley between Taylor and DeKoven?

A.  I should judge it was all filled up with barns and sheds.

Q.  Very thickly settled through that neighborhood?

A.  Very thickly settled. [20]

Q.  What was the character of the buildings?  Frame or brick?

A.  Frame.

Q.  Entirely?

A.  I do not suppose there was a brick building in that whole square.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Had the fire where you led your hose into the alley crossed the alley?

A.  I do not think it had.

Q.  It was south of the alley?

A.  Yes sir, it was south of the alley.  I would not be positive about that.

Q.  You led into the alley running east and west between DeKoven and the next street?

A.  We led from DeKoven Street right into the fire.  North from DeKoven, our hose led east on DeKoven and right into the fire. When Mr. Benner came, he ordered us into the fire.

Q.  Did you lead from the yard [21] or through the alley running north and south?[xxxix]

A.  We led through, I should judge it was a dwelling, led through a little cubbyhole, scarcely room to get through.[xl]

Q.  Did you find material to work upon all that length of hose, from half past nine till nearly half past eleven?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  That didn't burn down?

A.  Yes sir.  There was five, two story buildings.  That roof took fire on the northeast corner of De Koven and Jefferson and they burned very wickedly there.[xli]

Q.  Was you the only stream playing on that?

A.  I think I was the only stream there.  I did not notice any others at that time.  In fact, I led out a second stream.

Q.  Did you have a pretty [22] hard time to keep the fire down?  Just at that point, or comparatively an easy time?

A.  Had some pretty hard work there.

Q.  All you could do?

A.  Yes sir, all we could do.

Q.  When you was at the river, you played mostly on the dock company's buildings?

A.  And on the lumber.

Q.  Did you have a pretty good lead of hose there so that you could cover considerable property?

A.  When I left the corner of DeKoven Street, I left 300 feet of hose with a plug stream from the pipe with a policemen there to keep the fire down there from spreading west and north to the buildings north of it.

Q.  How much did you take with you? [23]

A.  I had three hundred feet.

Q.  That was all you needed there, was it?

A.  Yes sir.

(Examination by Assistant Marshal Benner)

Q.  At the time when you saw me, you was then playing on a two story building close by a cottage, wetting down the buildings both east and west of you, and I ordered you back of the sidewalk?

A.  Yes, I believe you did.

Q.  When you backed out from the alley did you think there was any more fire in that little shed [or][xlii] barn?

A.  No, I did not.

Q.  From that I ordered you into a large two story building facing DeKoven, didn't I?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you suppose you had that out when you backed [24] out of that two story building?

A.  I am positive I had it out because I worked up into the gable end and was up there with a pipe myself and saw that it was all out before I left it.

Q.  Where did you go to then with your pipe?

A.  That is the time I saw that row of buildings on fire.  Saw smoke [i]ssuing from that row.

Q.  Where did you see the first smoke [i]ssuing from that row

A.  It was about the center of the building.  That is on the east side of it, about the center of the row.  There was a butcher shop there, right in the center of the building, and that is where the fire originated.[xliii]

Q.  In your opinion, did it originate from the outside [25] or inside?

A.  I think it originated from the inside.  I did [not] see any possible chance for it to take on the outside.

Q.  How far from that point was the nearest point where there was any fire?

A.  Probably 25 or 30 feet.

Q.  That was right against the wind, was it not?

A.  That was right against the wind.

Q.  (By Mr Chapman) (Was this south of DeKoven or North?)

A.  On the northeast corner of DeKoven and Jefferson Street.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner) According to your opinion, there was no chance for the fire to spread from the original fire to that building?

A.  I think not.

Q.  (By Mr. Chapman) The wind was not blowing in that direction? [26]

A.  The wind was blowing right from this row.

Q.  Didn't that block burn up?

A.  Yes sir.  Completely destroyed.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner) What orders did I leave you when I left you on that corner?

A.  You left orders for me to stay there and keep it down.

Q.  Did I ask you to let the row burn as soon as possible, to keep the surroundings from burning?

A.  Yes, I believe you made a remark of that kind.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  How many buildings were in that row?

A.  I should judge there was five.  It runs from DeKoven Street to the alley.[xliv]

Q.  Two story?

A.  Two story, flat roof; there is a shed in the rear.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  What headway did that building have at [27]

that time?  And how much of that building was on fire when I gave you that order?

A.  The upper part of it was all afire.

Q.  (By Mr Chadwick)  Did you go into the building inside?

A.  Yes sir, we were inside, didn't stay there a great while.  I had two streams on it there.

Q.  It was pretty well afire inside?

A.  Yes sir, in the upper part.  In fact it was all afire.

Q.  Did you follow out the instruction of the marshal and let it burn down as quick as you could?

A.  I kept it from spreading either way, and followed his instructions as near as possible.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)[xlv]  I want to ask you if at the time the alarm was given if all your men were on duty. [28]

A.  Well she was one pipe man short.  Mr Howard[xlvi]  has been laid up since the first of September, I believe.  It was this planing mill fire.  Mr. Dolan[xlvii] was at supper.

Q.  Supper at half past nine?

A.  He went to supper at that time, but he arrived at the fire very quick.

Q.  Did they continue on under you during the fire or how long did they remain with you?

A.  They continued on with the exception of Mr Dolan.  He was taken sick Monday, I should judge, Monday about twelve o'clock, or one o'clock.  At the foot of Taylor Street he spoke to me and wanted to go home.  I told him no, he said he felt tired.  I advised him to lay down on a pile of timber there and when I wanted him I would call him.  He laid there probably [29] half or three-fourths of an hour and I saw a wagon coming up with someone laying in it.  I walked up to the wagon and saw Mr. Dolan laying in the wagon.  That left myself and one pipeman.

Q.  Without having got your permission?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was he asleep or claimed to be sick?

A.  He appeared to be completely used up.

Q.  Do you think he was, or do you think he was feigning?

A.  He must have been used up for at that fire of the seventh we worked all that night until one o' clock Sunday afternoon.  It take  a man of considerable endurance to work through all this.[xlviii]

Q.  Did any other of your men give out during the progress of the fire and leave you? [30]

A.  The stoker left.[xlix]  He left when we stood in front of the Michigan Avenue Hotel but he told me afterwards he was helping to blow up buildings.[l] 

Q.  Did he leave the engine without your permission?

A.  He left the engine.

Q.  Without your permission?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did he remain away?

A.  He remained away until I had the engine placed at the foot of Taylor Street again.

Q.  Did he go with you when you went to the Michigan Avenue Hotel?

A.  He came afterwards.

Q.  How long had you been there before he came there?

A.  He had been there an hour.

Q.  This was the story that he told you when he came back.

A.  He told me that he had been [31] helping blow up buildings.[li]  Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did you have any use for this stoker during all this time?

A.  No sir.  No use for him at that time.  When we stood in front of the hotel, we could get no water.

Q.  In case you could [get] water you would have wanted your stoker, wouldn't you?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did he continue in at the time he came back there at the foot of Taylor Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Until you quit?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was your men all straight and in good shape or had they been drinking any?

A.  The members of my company were perfectly sober.  In fact, they were all in bed with the exception of Dolan.  He was at supper.

Q.  Had there been any drinking [32] in your house during that Sunday?[lii]

A.  No sir.

Q.  Sure of that?

A.  I haven't seen any of it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) You are not in the habit of allowing liquor carried into the house or beer, are you?

A.  Never had liquor brought into that house unless election time.  Election judges probably, once in a while, bring in soda water.

Q.  What time did you quit work on Sunday morning?

A.  One o'clock.  Mr. Benner ordered me to take up.   One o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday.

Q.  You had been on duty from the time the fire broke out until one o'clock Sunday afternoon?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  All your men with you, were they?

A.  Yes sir.  All but one.  I had [33] one, a sub sent from the James Steamer, but he gave out Saturday after we had been working at the fire about an hour.  He said he thought he would resign.  Said it was much too heavy for him.

Q.  When you have a sub sent to you in that way, don't you consider that you have control of him just as much as you have of your own men?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you make any report of the conduct of either of these men who left you to either of the Marshals?  Have you reported them for neglect of duty during that fire?

A.  I reported them as being absent.  I reported Mr. Dolan as being sick.

Q.  What about the sub?

A.  He reported for duty about one o'clock Sunday afternoon. [34]

I spoke to Mr. Benner about it and he told me to tell him to report to headquarters and I done so.  That is the last I saw of him.

Q.  What was the name that was sent to you as a sub?

A.  That I could not tell you.  He had not been there but a day.

 

 

                                                                           [35]

                                                                     4th witness

                                                                   Nov. 24, 1871

                                                                 William Mullen

                                                                    Reported by 

                                                            J.L. Burritt + Co (sp??)

 

                                                                 170 W. Madison

                                                                           [36]

                                                              November 24, 1871

                                                                   (4th Witness)

William Mullen sworn:

(Examined by Mr. Chadwick)

Q.  What is your occupation?

A.  I am foreman of the Steamer Illinois.

Q.  Located where?

A.  On West 22nd Street.

Q.  On the evening of the 8th of October, at about what time did you hear the alarm given for the fire?

A.  It was about, as near as I can remember, half past nine, in that vicinity.

Q.  What box was it?

A.  342.

Q.  Where is that located?

A.  Corner of Canalport Avenue and Halsted Street.)

Q.  Did you hitch up immediately and start for the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  I started for the fire right after I was hitched up. [37]  About the time the alarm came in.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) Had you any knowledge of the fire before the alarm struck?

A.  Yes sir, I had.  The watchman on the roof called me up.  He was in the tower.  I went up and just got my head through the trap door when I saw it.  I told him--I think that is pretty well down--too far for me to go--Out of my run.  I didn't hardly get straightened up before the alarm came in.

Q.  You had hardly got started before the alarm came?

A.  No sir.  I was out about the first round.

Q.  After you reached the house you made for the fire?

A.  Yes.  I went for the boxes on my road.  I thought it was another fire on account of that box coming in.

Q.  That box is in your run, is it? [38]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you go to the corner of Canalport Avenue and Halsted?

A.  Yes sir.  I went there and a crowd was there.  I asked them if there was any fire there and they told me to go right along.  I kept going until I reached the fire.

Q.  Where did you find it?

A.  I found that fire; it was on De Koven Street betwixt Clinton and Jefferson.

Q.  Where did you take water?

A.  I took water from the corner of Desplaines and Taylor.

Q.  Is that south of the fire?

A.  Northwest of the fire.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams) You led your hose along Taylor?

A.  I did.

Q.  You led your hose along Taylor until you came in front of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  I was north of the fire.

Q.  (Marshal Williams)  What did you do there, lead your hose back [39] from towards the rear?

A.  Well, you were just the man I met, I guess.  I run back the machine and set it to work just as quick as I could and I led in betwixt the two buildings.  The buildings fronted north.

Q.  The fire was not at Taylor Street then was it?

Q.  It was not through to Taylor.  The rear of the buildings was on fire.

Q.  You played on the rear of the buildings from DeKoven Street?

A.  From Taylor Street I led in.

Q.  Led in north?

A.  I led south.

Q.  Did you cross Jefferson Street with your hose?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How far East of Jefferson Street did you carry your lead?

A.  I carried it, I think, perhaps one hundred feet. [40]

Q.  Then lead into the rear of the building?

A.  Yes sir.  I lead in as far as I could get betwixt the buildings.  And it backed me out.  I didn't get in a great ways before I had to leave.

Q.  Where did you continue to play?

A.  I kept from one side of the street to the other.  First I worked on the south side of the street and then I moved across.  I was the only one that was there for awhile.

Q.  Did Mr. Williams give you any directions there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What did he tell you to do?

A.  He told me to work there, hang on to it, and do the best I could.

Q.  Did you have to back out of that position and go west? [41]

A.  I held it pretty near there.  It didn't go on the north side of the street not over two houses.

A.  It didn't get any further west of you there?

A.  Yes it got a couple of small houses.

Q.  It didn't get to Jefferson Street?

A.  No, not on Taylor it didn't.  It left one corner building there out on the other side it left a couple of buildings there out on the other side it left a couple of buildings there.

Q.  State how long you stayed there according to your recollection.

A.  I could not hardly get there.  I think I might have stopped there an hour and a half.

Q.  By Mr. Brown.[liii]  Was that your first station?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr Brown)  You were the first engine on the ground?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  After you got through playing [42] there, where did you go?  You stated that the fire didn't get west of you.

A.  It lit two or three buildings on the one side of the street.  The other side there was one or two more.

Q.  Then where did you move to from there?

A.  I moved to the corner--I was ordered to go north and get north of the fire.

Q.  By whom?

A.  By Marshal Benner and I believe Schank was there about the same time.  I took up my lead and went north to Van Buren Street.  I took a plug on the corner of Van Buren and Clinton.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  At the time that you took that, how far were you ahead of the fire?

A.  It was ahead of me in one part.

Q.  It was running southeast[liv] and from there the fire was ahead further east? [43]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About how many blocks were you ahead?

A.  I lead off five hundred feet of hose south in a brick building.  Lead down Clinton Street.  I found I could not stand there.  I stood there as long as I could and had to draw back.  I got a lead.  I was picking up my hose, saving them.  I had outsiders do that.  Put on the pipe again and kept working back toward the engine.  I stopped there on the corner until it got pretty hot.  I did not _____  _____  (run or???) I might lose my engine there or the building might fall down.  I was right under the corner of that long row of buildings on Van Buren that run up to Clinton.  I moved from there down one block.

Q.  Which way?

A.  To Jackson Street north. [44]  Kept working on the corner until it fell.  Still keeping on Clinton Street.  I stopped there quite a while until that building fell.

Q.  Which building?

A.  On the corner of Clinton and Van Buren.  It runs the whole block, a long row.  Then there was lumber piles that was there.  Worked on them awhile and thought there was no more danger of crossing there.  He ordered me out of there and I went down to the elevator.

Q.  Which elevator?

A.  Adams Street.

Q.  Nelson's?[lv]

A.  Yes.  Near the viaduct. It was on fire then.[lvi]

Q.  You went down Van Buren?

A.  Yes sir.  I went down Jackson and Canal.

Q.  Did you go down Van Buren?

A.  No sir.  I was on the corner of Jackson at that time.  I worked on that freight house [45] there.  That is the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne freight house.[lvii]  I remained there.

Q.  Did you have a good supply of water?

A.  I had the river there.  I went for the river.

Q.  You took water from the river the first time you were there?

A.  Yes sir.  I went down Madison Street and got in on the dock between the river and the freight house.  Got way down under the Adams Street bridge.

Q.  What was the progress the fire made?

A.  Pretty rapid there for awhile. 

Q.  What was the character of the buildings when the fire commenced?  Whether combustible or otherwise on DeKoven Street and all through there.

A.  It appeared to me to be dwelling houses--pretty nice houses.

Q.  What was the character of them, whether wood or otherwise? [46]

A.   All wood.  I didn't see a brick unless it was chimneys.

Q.  Did I understand you to say that you remained at the freight house?  You didn't move from there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long did you stay there?

A.  I stopped there until Tuesday forenoon.

Q.  (By Mr Brown)  Did you save the elevator?

A.  The elevator burned down.  I could not do much for that.  I saved the freight house.  I claim that.  I do not know where it would have went if it had got in there.

Q.  Did you move there on your own option?

A.  No sir.

Q.  By direction of whom?

A.  Marshal Williams.  He thought it was a very good place and I went.

Q.  Where did the elevator get afire?

A.  On the top.  The first I saw [47] it was right on the cupola.

Q.  (By Mr Brown)  Did you go there prior to the time the fire crossed the river?

A.  Fire was across the river before that.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Do you know what time the fire crossed the river?

A.  No sir.  I do not.  I could not tell.

Q.  Did you see it cross?

A.  No sir.  I saw it after it was across.

Q.  Do you know whether the river was free from vessels or whether there was a large number in there?

A.  I think there was vessels along there.  I saw the _______ (spires??) of some I think.

Q.  Do you know whether the vessels got afire or not?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Whether they were moved?

A.  No sir.  I didn't look much along the river.  I could not, being busy when I was. [48]

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  You was mostly west of the west side of the fire up to the time you went to the elevator?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr Brown)  What had been the character of the season preceding the fire as to rain?  How much rain had we had for the last two or three months before that fire?

A.  We didn't have any of any account, I guess.  It was pretty dry.

Q.  Was your company full when you went on duty?

A.  Six men.

Q.  You were all on duty?

A.  We were all on duty.

Q.  Did they remain on duty?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Every one of them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Until Tuesday noon?

A.  It was not quite noon.  I think it was about nine or ten o'clock.  I know it was along in the forenoon. [49]

Q.  Was your engine in good order when she went into the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did she remain so through the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  She got a little choked up so they couldn't make the stream as quick as they ought to.  Every engine has to have a little cleaning up in that length of time. 

Q.  How many hours work do you know that you did at that fire before you got there?

A.  I worked from the time that fire broke out until Tuesday morning and never stopped at all, only when I was shifting my machine.

Q.  Did you take up and go home then?

A.  Yes sir.  I took up and went home.

Q.  How late was you working on the Saturday night fire?

A.  I worked there Saturday night to Sunday morning about seven [50] or eight o'clock.

Q.  Were all your men on duty at that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you have any scarcity of hose for any duty that you was assigned to?

A.  No  I had enough hose.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Had you some at the house?

A.  I didn't have another reel at the house.  I had part of a reel. 

Q.  Did you have any occasion to send back to the house to get any more hose?

A.  No sir.

Q.  At neither of the fires?

A.  No sir.  I lost I think in the neighborhood of three hundred feet of my best hose.  Taken by mistake at the time I was exchanging, but I picked up enough to fill my reel on the street. Q.  Where do you think that you lost that?

A.  On the corner of Clinton [51] and Van Buren.  The Rice, I think it was, come in about the time I was getting water from the plug and I hauled her out by hand.  Thro'a mistake, I think they coupled on my lead to their engine.  At the same time I got enough hose there.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Did you come pretty near losing your engine?

A.  I do not think I would have lost her, but it was not a good place to be.

Q.  How did you get her out?

A.  I got her out by hand.

Q.  (By Mr Brown)  Describe just how she was got out.

A.  She stood fronting north, the _____ (pole??) north on Clinton.

Q.  Attached to the plug?

A.  Yes sir.  She was getting pretty hot there.  I did not know but that place, the corner, would come down on top of her.  I could have stopped there but I moved [52] down to the other corner.

Q.  How did you disconnect from the plug?

A.  With my hand.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Do you know anything else in regard to this fire and its origin and the course of it?

A.  No sir.  I do not know anything about it, only where I was myself.

Q.  Which of the marshals did you see about during the progress of the fire?

A.  I saw the four.[lviii]

Q.  Were they attending to business?

A.  Seemed to be pretty busy when I saw them.

Q.  Were any of your men intoxicated.  Any at either of these fires.[lix]

A.  No sir.  Not that I know of.

Q.  Did you have any liquor in your house on Sunday?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Don't allow it there?

A.  No sir.  Not known to me. [53]

Q.  You don't know that any of the men were in liquor on Sunday at all?

A.  No sir.  Might have had a glass of beer.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  If they had been intoxicated that day, would you have known it?

A.  Certainly I would.

Q.  Were they?

A.  No.

Q.  Do you know of any other company being intoxicated or any of the members of it or any of the officers?

A. I didn't see a man belonging to the fire department in my line so that he was not fit to attend to business.

Q.  Do you know of any whiskey being passed about to any of the men during the progress of the fire?

Q.  Yes sir.  I got two bottles of mine myself.  It was sent to me by one of the men in the freight house.  He came to me and asked me, [54] will I fetch you a little brandy or something to drink.  Said I, I haven't had anything to eat for a few days now and I do not think I will take any of that.  It is too heavy.  Said he, I will bring you a couple of bottles of wine.  Said I, I do not think that that will hurt me any:  and a couple of bottles of cider.

Q.  For you and your men.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  None of your company got intoxicated upon it?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Do you know of any money being offered or paid by any party to any member of the fire department?

A  No.  I know money to be paid.  I got a donation myself for the members.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  You haven't received any money?

A.  Yes sir.  I did. [55]

Q.  Who was that from?

A.  From the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne.

Q.  Did they make any bargain with you or any thing of that kind?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you work there upon their _________  in expectation of pay?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was a donation to your company?

A.  Yes sir.  Fifty dollars to the whole company.  Eight dollars and thirty cents apiece to the men.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Did you hear of any one offering money for the purpose of inducing  _______  (companies??) or marshals or others to change the locations of the engines?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did any party approach you in that way at all?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Did you have your stream in that long row [56] at the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson?

A.  That is where I was at the time I was ordered up in the long row.

Q.  On the east corner of DeKoven and Jefferson?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  What instructions did I give you when I ordered you up?

A.  Told me to go north of the fire.  I think that is what you told me.

Q.  Was there any portion of the time after that fire commenced when apparently the fire was surrounded and cut off in your judgment?

A.  (No answer)

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  How long did your stream lead on there when you went in on Taylor Street?

A.  It was quite a little while.

Q.  (By same)  How long did you work on Taylor Street?

A.  I must have worked perhaps [57] an hour from one side or the other.

Q.  Was there any time when the firemen appeared to have got the advantage of the fire and it appeared that there was no  probability of it spreading any further.

A.  No sir.  I had an idea myself it would not go so far.  I thought it would stop about Polk Street or about there.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Did the fire burn continuously all thro' the West Side or did it skip buildings for a time and go beyond?

A.  I could not tell that.

Q.  Do you know anything about the fire flying over?

A.  No sir.  I saw the cinders flying.  I knew it reached a good ways.

Q.  You was on the west side  of it mostly until you went to the elevator?

A.  Yes sir. [58] Adjourned till 2 o'clock.

 

 

[59]

                                                              November 24, 1871

                                                       Mrs. Catherine Leary sworn[lx]

                                                                    (5th witness)

                                                    Examination by Mr. Chadwick[lxi]

Q.  What do you know about this fire?

A.  I was in bed myself and my husband and five children when this fire commenced.  I was the owner of them five cows that was burnt and the horse, wagon, and harness.[lxii]  I had two tons of coal and two tons of hay.  I had everything that I wanted in for the winter.  I could not save five cents worth of anything out of the barn, only that Mr. Sullivan got out a little calf.  The calf was worth eleven dollars on Saturday morning.  Saturday morning I refused eleven dollars for the calf, and it was sold afterwards for eight dollars.  I didn’t save one five cents out of the fire. [60]

Q.  Do you know how the fire caught?

A.  I could not tell anything of the fire, only that two men came by the door.  I guess it was my husband got outside the door and he ran back to the bedroom and said, “Kate the barn is afire!”  I ran out, and the whole barn was on fire.  Well, I went out to the barn, and upon my word I could not tell any more about the fire.  I got just the way I could not tell anything about the fire.

Q.  You got frightened?

A.  I got frightened.  I got the way I did not know when I saw everything burn up in the barn.  I got so excited that I could not tell anything about the fire from that time.

Q.  Do you know the parties who first gave you the alarm?  [61]  Who told your husband that your house was on fire?

A.  It was Mr. Sullivan gave the first alarm to me.  The party were there.  They were up but none of them didn’t come and call for me.  I was left in bed.

Q.  Who is Mr. Sullivan?

A.  He lives over there in DeKoven Street.

Q.  Opposite you on DeKoven?

A.  Yes sir, right across the road.

Q.  What does he do?

A.  He is a drayman.  There was a party in the front of our place that night.  I could not tell whether it was them made the fire or not.  I didn’t see it.  I was in bed.

Q.  When you first saw the fire, was there anyplace on fire but your own barn?

A.  There was, sir.  It was catched along down before [62] me.  Mrs. Murray and Dalton have places was afire going together.  The other side on Taylor Street and the rear of the alley.  Both fires were going together.

Q.  How many houses were on fire or sheds or barns at the time you first saw it?

A.  At the time I first saw it, my barn was and Mrs. Murray’s barn was afire and Mr. Dalton’s little shed.  That is all that was afire, I think, when I first saw it.  I thought there was no more fire, only them places.  Then I catched one of the children and put him out on the sidewalk.  I thought there was no more places on fire, only our places down there, and I saw Turner’s big block on fire, and I thought there wasn’t a touch on Turner’s block until then.  I saw the fire from the inside break [63] out from Turner’s block.

Q.  Inside?

A.  It was breaking out through the inside of Turner’s block.

Q.  Where was Turner’s block located?

A.  It was on Jefferson, a little west from us.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  A long row?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  On the corner?

A.  Yes sir.  I thought there was not a touch of fire at all, only where we were and Mrs. Murray’s barn and Mr. Dalton’s barn.  I thought there wasn’t any fire any other place until I saw the fire in Turner’s block.  Over at least two story houses next to Mrs. Murray there wasn’t but one window burning at that time.  That catched from Mrs. Murray’s house one window.  When I saw Turner’s block going, I gave up all hope.

Q.  By Mr. Chadwick.  You thought your house was to burn then? [64]

A.  Yes sir.  Then the men went and fixed two washtubs at both hydrants.  There is a hydrant in front of our place and a hydrant in front of Mrs. Murray’s.[lxiii]  They set two washtubs and then began to put water on the little house.  And everything was gone, only the little house and they made for that and kept it wet all through until the fire was gone.

Q.  Is that your house?

A.  Yes sir.  They kept water on it until the fire went out.  We had plenty of water until the fire was done.

Q.  Was there any other family living in your house?

A.  Yes sir.  There was Mrs. Laughlin.

Q.  How many rooms did they occupy?

A.  Two rooms.

Q.  Front rooms?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know whether they [65] were in bed?

A.  I knew they were not in bed.

Q.  How did you know that?

A.  Because I could hear from my own bedroom.  Could hear them going on.  There was a little music there.

Q.  They had a little party there?

A.  Yes sir.  Her husband was a fiddler.

Q.  They had dancing there?

A.  They had.

Q.  Some company?

A.  Some company.  I could not tell how many were there.

Q.   That was going on at the time the fire broke out, that dance, was it?

A.  I could not tell you, sir.

Q.  Did you hear any of these people from the front part of the house passing to the back end of the dwelling, pass back and forth in the alley between the two houses?[lxiv]

A.  I didn’t indeed.  [66]

Q.  You did not hear them at all passing that night?

A.  No sir.  I did not indeed.

Q.  How many does your family consist of?

A.  I have got five children and myself and my husband.

Q.  Any grown-up children?

A.  There is one of them fourteen years the oldest.

Q.  A boy or girl?

A.  A girl.

Q.  About what time did this fire break out?

A.  As near as I can guess, it was a little after nine o’clock.

Q.  Were you and your family up when it broke out?

A.  We were in bed.

Q.  Were all the members of your family in bed?

A.  All in bed.

Q.  Had any of you been to this party in [the] front part of the house?

A.  No sir. 

Q.  None of you?

A.  No sir.  We were not there. [67]

Q.  Had any of the people who were at the party been in your part of the house?

A.  No sir.  There was not any of them there.

Q.  You could simply hear the music and they were having a jolly time?

A.  I could hear anything from our own bed to their rooms, because they pretty near joined together.

Q.  Have you heard from any person who was there, anything in relation to anybody’s going out to the barn with a light?

A.  Yes sir.  I have heard of it.  I have heard from other folks.

Q.  Who did you hear anything in regard to it from?

A.  I heard from other folks.  I could not tell whether it is true or not.  There was one out of the party went in for to milk my cows.

Q.  Who did you hear say that?  [68]

A.  I heard it the next day from some of the neighbors.

Q.  Do you remember who it was?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Who was it?

A.  I heard it by a lady who lives up close by us.

Q.  What was her name?

A.  Mrs. White.

Q.  Where does Mrs. White live?

A.  Across the way from us.

Q.  On DeKoven Street?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Nearly opposite your house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Opposite to Sullivan’s house does she live?

A.  Well, the same way.

Q.  Is it towards the lake?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Next to Sullivan’s?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Next east to Sullivan’s?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  One story or two?

A.  Two stories. [69]

Q.  There is two two-story houses there right together?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  She lives in the east one?

A.  Yes sir.  She said--the first she told me she mentioned a man was in my barn milking my cows.  I could not tell, for I didn’t see it.  The next morning I went over there.  She told me it was too bad for Leary to have all what he was worth lost.  We did not know who done it.  Said she some of the neighbors there was someone from the party went and milked the cows.[lxv]

Q.  Did they state who the person was?

A.  No sir.  They did not.

Q.  What did they want the milk for?

A.  Some said it was for oysters.  I could not tell anything, only what I heard from the outside.

Q.  Had these persons in your [70] house been in the habit of getting milk there before if they wanted it?

A.  No sir.  I never saw them in my barn to milk my cows.

Q.  Have you heard from anybody who was at the party?  Any statement of that kind?

A.  I did not.

Q.  You haven’t heard from anybody a statement as to who did go to the barn, have you?

A.  Someone they said was from the party went to the stable. 

Q.  Did they tell how?

A.  I asked the lady myself and she said no.  There was no one there.

Q.  Did you have any talk with Mrs. Laughlin about it?

A.  I did.

Q.  What did she say about it?

A.  She said she never was in the stable.[lxvi]

Q.  Did she deny that any- [71]  body went from her house?

A.  She did, sir.  She said she had no supper that night.  She said her man had supper to a relation and to her brother.[lxvii]

Q.  Had no coffee or oysters?

A.   Had no coffee or oysters.

Q.  Was there any other party in the neighborhood that you know of?

A.  No sir.  Well, there was always music in saloons there Saturday night.  I do not know of any other.

Q.  This was Sunday night.

A.  This was Sunday night.

Q.  Is Mrs. Laughlin living in the house now?

A.  No sir.  She moved out of it.

Q.  At the time you went outdoors, you say there were other buildings on fire beside your barn?

A.  Yes sir.  There was.

Q.  From what direction was the wind blowing?  [72]

A.  The wind blowed every way.  You could not tell one way more than the other way.  The fire went just the same as you would clap your two hands together.

Q.  Did the fire go very fast?

A.  Yes sir.  You would hear the roar of the fire like cannon.  The [roar?][lxviii] of the fire, you never heard such a thing.

Q.  Do you think the wind blowed turned towards Turner’s block?

A.  It is not the way the wind blowed at all, sir.

Q.  What was the character of the buildings about there?

A.  All frame buildings, nothing there, only frame buildings.

Q.  Had there been any rain of any account for a long time before that?

A.  Not for a very long time before that, sir.

Q.  Do you know whether the tenants of the houses about there were in the habit of [73] getting shavings from the planing mills to burn?

A.  There was shavings in every house there.[lxix]

Q.  Put them in the house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Almost every house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  They got them because they were cheaper fuel than they could get anywhere else?

A.  Yes, there were shavings in every house.  That I can say.

Q.  In some houses large quantities of them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you have any packed in your barn?

A.  Yes sir.  I had some packed in my barn.

Q.  How many, do you think?

A.  When I used to clean out the barn, I used to throw in a little shavings.

Q.  Did you use them for bedding?

A.  Yes sir.  Not so much for bedding.  I used to clean out [74] the places and take a dish full and throw it in along with the cows. [75]

Q.  (By Mr. Brown) After you discovered the fire, can you state whether there was any engine on the ground or how soon after did you discover one?

A.  The first engine I seen playing, it was on Turner’s block.

Q.  How long after you got outdoors was it before you saw the engine there?

A.  I could not tell you exactly.

Q.  Was it a very long time or very quick?

A.  It was not very quick at all.

Q.  Can you give some idea about how soon it got there?

A.  Before I seen any engine there, our barn was pretty near burned down.  The engine might be there unknown to me.

Q.  Did you see the engine or did you first see it when [76] they began to play water?

A.  I did see the first playing of water on Turner’s block.

Q.  That is the first you saw of the engine?

A.  Yes.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Is there a fire hydrant for an engine to take water in the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven?

A.  Yes sir.[lxx]

Q.  Did you see any engines standing there?

A.  I did, sir.

Q.  How soon was that engine at that hydrant?

A.  I could not tell.

Q.  About five minutes after you got out of bed?

A.  I do not know.  I wasn’t five minutes after I got out of bed. I didn’t get out in front. I went to the rear to see if I could save anything, because there was a new wagon standing in the rear of the alley between our place and Taylor.  I [77] went out to see if we could save the wagon.  The other side was going just as well as our place, and we could not save the wagon.

Q.  Both sides of the alley were on fire?

A.  Both sides of the alley were on fire.

Q.  Can you give us an idea about how great a length of time passed from your first hearing of the fire until you first saw the engine?

A.  I could not, sir.  The engine might be there unknown to me--I got so excited.  All I had was there in that barn.  I did not know the fire was down until the next day.

Q.  Had you any insurance upon your barn and stock?

A.  Never had five cents insurance--I had these cows, one of them was not in the barn that [78] night.  It was out in the alley.  That one went away.  I could not get that one.  My husband spent two weeks looking for it and could not find it anywhere in the world.  I could not get five cents.  I had six cows there.  A good horse there.  I had a wagon and harness and everything I was worth, I couldn’t save that much out of it (snapping her finger), and upon my word I worked hard for them.

 

 

[79]

Nov. 24, 1871

Michael Sullivan Sworn.

(6th Witness)

Examined by Mr. Brown

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position in it?

A.  Foreman of the Waubansia Engine Company Number 2.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  How long have you been connected with the fire department of this city?

A.  Nearly ten years.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin of the fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Were you at it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Will you state the first that you knew of it and then where you were to work and what you did and what you saw.

A.  The first I knew of it was about nine thirty on the eighth of October, when the [80] alarm came in from Box 342 and we came on to the fire as quick as possible and took a plug on the corner of Taylor Street.[lxxi]  I led out from that plug along Clinton Street and into an alley between DeKoven and Clinton Street.  There was a plug stream from the plug.  I think it was by the America[lxxii] hose when I came in there and just as I was getting the engine to work Mr. Williams came out and wanted to know what stopped that stream.  I told him I had to stop it to get a stream on with the engine.[lxxiii]  He told me to put it in.  So I put two streams on then.  We worked there quite awhile--half an hour or so and the fire got pretty warm at that time on Taylor Street.  It was so hot that we had to move further.  We were there I [81] should judge half an hour and moved away further and got back onto Canal Street.  I calculated to go north as far as Polk Street on Canal.  But as I was going there I saw there was an engine there and moved in at the corner of Ewing[lxxiv] and Canal and took a plug there and went to work.  Came back as far as to Forquer[lxxv] and Clinton Street, worked away there for quite awhile.  I cannot say how long, but Mr. Schank gave me [an] order, I think to light back on Canal Street[lxxvi] and up Ewing Street straight from where the engine was standing, so I did so.  We worked there for a long time until the fire had crossed Canal between Ewing and Polk streets--some place down north of us that worked south around the buildings where the engine was standing and the fire was on Canal Street on [82] the corner of Ewing.  At that time Mr. Benner came there and directed _______(our?) movement, until the furniture there on the southeast corner was afire and it was afire around the engine and he gave orders then to take up and get around the fire on Forquer Street and we done so and beat it on Forquer and worked there on Canal Street for a long time until it was getting very hot around the engine and it was almost necessary for us to move and with that John McLean, foreman of the James[lxxvii] came up and wanted to know if we wanted any help.  We told him yes.  We had some hose and we put on three or four lengths of hose and stood right by the engine with one stream.  I was on the left of Forquer street to cut the fire off from going further south.  Mr. Benner stood [83] right by the engine.  He would give us the stream for a minute or so and cool off the buildings and then give it to them.  We worked that way for a long time until we got the fire cooled down west of Canal.  It didn't get on the west side of Forquer Street and after that was pretty safe Mr Benner ordered the engine then down on the corner of Beach Street and Taylor--Stewart Avenue.  Beach doesn't run over there.  It's the same street with different names.  We worked there for a long time and worked on the Turner Hall[lxxviii] and cooled that place down and also on the Dock Company's building and the offices belonging to the lumber yards there and so on.  We stayed, worked there all the remainder of the day until we lost the water.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Was there a [84] tendency in the fire to go southward as well as northward?

A.  Yes sir.  After it got east of Canal Street, I think it travelled south as well as north.

Q.  How was the wind?

A.  From southwest to northeast.  It eat back against the wind.

Q.  What was the general character of the buildings and the uses to which the land is put along there east of Canal Street?

A.  There was lumberyards and planing mills and furniture factories and all kinds of combustible materials.  Shops of different kinds east of Canal Street there.  All wooden buildings.

Q.  Where did you next go?

A.  From Stewart Avenue and Taylor Street?

Q.  Yes.

A.  We stayed there awhile and we had water at that time  [85]  All the other engines were gone on the South Side.

Q.  You didn't go on the South Side?

A.  No sir.  Not my engine.  I went over on the South Side myself.  We had to shut down the water and I went on the South Side to see the marshal and get another engine and take water from the river and lead up and keep the fire down in the ruins of these lumber yards.  So it would not get into the buildings again, and the Giant[lxxix] came.  Then I went to the river and gave the Giant water.   That was about noon, I believe, as near as I can judge, on Monday.[lxxx]  We worked on that position until three o'clock Tuesday morning.

Q.  How long did you remain idle from the time that you lost the water?

A.  I should judge it was an hour and a half or two [86] hours.

Q.  Do you know about what time it was when the water stopped?[lxxxi]

A.  I cannot exactly tell.  In fact, I did not know much about the time that day.  It might be about ten o'clock or between ten or eleven.  We were down very early in the morning to that plug.   Got a good stream of water when the other engines could not get a drop of water--on Canal Street.  Whether it was because the plug was so much lower or whether we had a direct draft from the main going across Twelfth street, I do not know, but we had it.  Played on the top of Turner Hall on Taylor Street when they could not get a drop on Canal Street.  The water kept going then until between ten and eleven.

Q.  You spoke of going on the [87]  South Side and reporting to the marshal there that you wanted another engine.  Who was the marshal you reported to?

A.  I reported to Mr. Benner.  He was the first one I could find.

Q.  Were you in a position where you could see when the fire crossed the river first?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you have any knowledge about what time the fire crossed the river?

A.  No sir.  I do not know anything about it.

Q.  Do you know anything about the time when the large church, I think it was St. Paul's Church, took fire--it was at the corner of Mather[lxxxii] and Clinton Street.[lxxxiii]

Q.  I do not know what time, but the first I knew of that--

Q.  Did you see it?

A.  After I had heard of it [88] and looked down that way I saw that it was afire.

Q.  Did you know then at the time you first saw it that the fire had worked its way down as far north as that?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Or whether the fire leaped there?

A.  It leaped there from Forquer Street or maybe before it got to Forquer Street.

Q.  What is the next street north of Forquer?

A.  Ewing then Polk then Mather.  After I had pulled out from Clinton and Taylor Street the first time and was on Canal Street,  Mr. Chadwick met me and asked me where I was going.  I made a remark I was going down on Canal Street and trying to get north of the fire, and you said  (addressing Mr. Chadwick), that was right.  I started to go to the corner of Taylor Street at that time.  I saw there was [89] an engine there so I _________ in and took the plug corner of Ewing and Canal.  At that time I heard the church was on fire; that was the first I knew of it.

Q.  At the time you stopped there at the corner of Forquer the Roelle[lxxxiv]  got on fire then?

A.  Yes sir, the fire was way down north then.  We were working against its going south.  I do not know how far it had burned north.

Q.  You spoke of the water stopping about eleven o clock on Sunday night.  Did you mean--

A.  No.  Monday forenoon.

Q.  The water in the pipes.

A.  Yes.

Q.  What is the latest times in which you had water in the pipes?

A.  That was I think about ten o clock on Monday morning.

Q.  Where was that?

A.  On the corner of Stewart Avenue [90] and Taylor Street.  Early in the morning when I first moved down to that block.  At that time the  Rehm[lxxxv]  came onto Canal Street at the corner of Taylor and could not get a drop.  At the same time we were getting a good stream where we were.

Q.  You know nothing about the progress of the fire on the South side?

A.  No sir, I do not, only what I heard people say.  That there was such a building burning and such a building burning.  I do not know how that was.

Q.  Did you see the marshals about there during the night or next day?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  All of them?

A.  I saw all of them except Mr. Walters.[lxxxvi]  I do not recollect seeing Mr. Walters during the fire.  He was north of the fire.  I was south of it. [91]

Q.  The time that you speak of Mr. McLean coming to you there and asking if you wanted any help.  Did he take one of their leads?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was you about moving them when he came to you?

A.  I was.

Q. Did he suggest to you to hold on there?

A.  Yes sir.  He said he would help us to stay there.  With that, we gave him one of the leads and we stayed right there, he keeping the place cooled around the engine as well as possible.  I kept on Forquer Street west of Canal and kept the fire from going south.

Q.  Was your engine in order when she went into the fire?

A.  She was.

Q.  All of your men on duty?

A.  Yes sir.  Every one of them.

Q.  In good working condition.[lxxxvii] [92]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did they stick by you all the way thro'?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were any of them intoxicated there that evening or Sunday?

A.  No sir. [93]

Q.  Did you see any firemen[lxxxviii] that were intoxicated at this time?

A.  I did not.

Q.  Any officers?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know of your own knowledge of anybody leaving the post of duty without permission?

A.  I do not.

Q.  What was the character of the wind as to strength?   Was it a moderate wind?

A.  No sir.   It was a very strong wind.

Q.  Did you have a chance for observation as to how the fire burned?

A.  No I did not.  Didn't have time more than I could see it go right from us.  Saw showers of sparks going over us.  I didn't have any idea how far they were going.  They were going very strong and very thick.

Q.  From what you saw of the [94] wind and the manner in which it was carrying the burning brands and sparks and when you saw that that church was afire three or four blocks beyond the main fire, would you with your knowledge attribute that fire to an incendiary or from being carried by the wind to that place?

A.  It didn't look exactly as if the church could catched from sparks at that time, but still I wasn't near enough to it to see whether it catched from the outside or whether it was fired from the inside.   I could not judge, for I was a long distance away from the building.

Q.  Was it a little out of the direction of the wind in the line of the fire?

A.  I think it was; I think the wind was going a little east of the church [95]

Q.  State whether there had been much, if any, rain for 60 or 90 days preceding the fire.

A.  No sir.  There was not much rain.   It was a very dry season.

Q.  What was the condition of the buildings and roofs and that sort of thing as to their condition for burning.

A.  The facility for burning was very good.  They were all frame buildings.  Shingle roofs and some of them tar roofs.  Well, not many tar roofs, unless the buildings along Canal Street.

Q.  Is tar roofing a safe material to put on a roof of a house?  How does it operate?   Have you had observation in regard to it in case of a fire?   After you got this tar roof on fire, can it be carried to other buildings?

A.  Yes sir, after the material [96] gets burned under this tar roofing.  The woodwork gets burned a little.  It is a very good conductor for fire, for then the wood will get in under the roofing and it blows right off in sheets and flakes.

Q.  When it strikes upon a roof how is it about its remaining there?   There is more or less of this tar in it still?

A.  I suppose so.

Q.  Buildings in that vicinity you say were pretty much all wood?

A.  Yes sir, they were; the only brick building I know of in that vicinity is on the corner of Mather and Canal.

Q.  Is this church situated on the same block that Bateham's planing mill [is on]?[lxxxix]

A.  Yes sir, the church was on the northwest corner of Clinton and Mather--and Bateham's [97]  was just northeast of that in the same block.

Q.  Was there a match factory in the same vicinity?[xc]

A.  There is.

Q.  What was there between Bateham's and the row of buildings?[xci]  A.  There was some stores, blacksmith shops, wagon shops, across the road from Bateham's, saloons, east on Canal Street there was a large agricultural establishment, down on the corner of Sebor and Beach Street, I believe.  It is there where the railroad track runs along.  And there is a row of frame buildings on Sebor Street, also nearer to Bateham's than this agricultural shop.[xcii]

Q.  Wasn't there a planing mill in there too?

A.  The planing was on the corner of Mather and Beach Street.  It was almost east directly opposite Bateham's.  A large planing mill in there.

Q.  Wasn't nearly the [98] whole front in which Bateham's shop is situated all planing mills?

A.  No sir.  Not on Canal, but in the rear of Canal it was planing mills, shops, and agricultural warehouses and some dwelling houses, and fronting on Canal there was stores, blacksmith shops and wagon shops and one thing and another in that block.

Q.  Where did your engine get disabled?

A.  At the river.

Q.  What gave out?

A.  The flues

Q.  You was with your engine on Saturday night until it gave out?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  All your men?

A.  Every one of them.  There didn't a man leave to go home or anything else.

Q.  How late was you working on the Saturday evening of the fire?

[99] 

A.  Until 3 o' clock Sunday afternoon.

Q.  From the time _________ on Saturday night?

A.  Yes, until 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon.

Q.  You didn't have much time to get much rest?

A.  Not a great deal.  Had no rest at all, the time to go home, get supper and get back again.  I was just coming back ___________ (from??) at the time Box 28 came in.  We went to that and just about got ready for another, when 342 came in.

Q.  Did anybody offer you any money to play on any particular point?

A.  There was a great many offered me when we were on Ewing Street.  The parties that own that furniture factory, they were offering five hundred dollars and one thousand dollars if we would go east on Canal Street with the pipe and try and save their [100] buildings, and in fact there was dozens wanted to offer a hundred.

Q.  Did they come to you?

A.  Yes sir, that is, they would say that they would give that but I never saw any money on the occasions.  I hadn't much time to talk with them.   I told them I could not do it.  I referred them to the marshals.  I was working under orders.

Q.  Do you know of anybody having any money to have the engines moved, to play upon an particular point?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know of anybody receiving any for such purpose?

A.  Not for such a purpose as that.  I didn't.

Q.  Was there any money paid to your company after the fire?

A.  There was.

Q.  How much? [101]

A.  Three hundred dollars

Q.  Who was that paid by?

A.  It was paid by different parties, I believe, as I understand.  It was given to me by the foreman of Ryerson and Company's

lumberyard on the corner of Stewart Avenue and Taylor Street.  It was given to me about three weeks after the fire, the first I knew of it.

Q.  He made no offer to you?   You had no promise before it was done?

A.  No sir.  He gave it because he thought we had done good service and was deserving of it.

Q.  What did you do with that money?

A.  Divided it between the members of the company.

Q.  Is it common to receive money that way from parties after a fire?

A.  I do not know, sir.   That is the first I ever received.

Q.  You are sure there [102] was no understanding on the part of any there for the rendering of any services for that money?

A.  No sir, there was not.

Q.  Any special service?

A.  There was none rendered as far as I know.  We simply done the best we could for all parties.  There was no agreement of the kind, so far as moving engines and working there.  It was under the directions of Mr. Benner.

Q.  You didn't receive any money from any other party?

A.  No sir.

Q.  I understand you to say that you are not aware of any money having passed from the hands of any person that wished service done into the hands of any members of the companies or the marshals during the fire?

A.  No sir.  I do not know [103] of any.

(Examination by Mr. Benner)

Q.   At the time you left the corner of Taylor and Clinton.   It was the southwest corner, two story building on fire at the time?

A.  I should judge it was.

Q.  You are not positive?

A.  No I am not.  I wasn't on Taylor Street myself.  The engineer sent word back to me.  I was in the alley working.  The engineer sent word back to me that it was getting too hot there, and they could not stay there any longer so I came out and looked around and whether the west side of the building was afire or not, I could not say.  But it was so hot there I didn't take much time to look.   We could not get the team  ou[t] to [104] get away.  We had to pull it out by hand.  The man that takes hold of the pole had to take hold of it with his coattail.

Q.  Do you know whether the northwest corner was on fire?

A.  Yes sir, the front of the building was on fire.  In fact, all the buildings was on fire north of Taylor Street and west of Clinton.

Q.  Did you have the two streams on previous to you moving that engine from that corner?

A.  The two streams I didn't take charge of, only one of the streams.  The lead that was on the plug when I got to it.  I don't know who had charge of that.  Mr. Williams told me to put that lead on the engine again.   I done so and opened it and let it work. [105]   I went in and took charge of my own stream in the alley and this led up onto Taylor Street and in between the buildings on Taylor Street.

Q.  How many leads did you have there at work?

A.  Two there.

Q.  You say you don't know who was working the other lead?

A.  No sir.  I do not know unless it was the America hose.  I suppose it was their lead.

Q.  (By  Mr. Benner) Did you see the Sherman[xciii] stream coming up from the south on Jefferson Street about the time you moved, or had you moved previous to that?

A.  No I had moved.  I didn't see anything of the Sherman fellows.

Q.  When you first led out where was most of the fire?

A.  As far as I could see [106]  the most of the fire was in the alley.  I went in from the south to the fire.  I turned off Canal up Twelfth Street and then on Twelfth to Clinton and down Clinton to the corner of Taylor and as I passed by of course I kept looking to see where the fire was and I saw the fire was in full blaze both sides of the alley; that is the reason I ran in there.  The fire wasn't out on Taylor Street at the time.  The fire wasn't on the front of Taylor Street at the time when I led in there.  There was no other streams in the alley but mine, and I thought that was a good place to get a __________  (shake??) at it.

Q.  About how much hose did you have on that lead, do you suppose?

A.  Well I should think I [107] had in the neighborhood three or four hundred feet.

Q.  Suppose you had led right directly around from your engine.   How near Jefferson Street do you think your lead would have carried you?

A.  It would have carried me to Jefferson Street and maybe beyond it.

Q.  You never received orders from anybody for you to pull back from the alley and go over onto Taylor?

A.  No sir.

Q.  When you came out of the alley, you took your engine and went further northeast?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did anybody ask you to move your engine from the corner of Canal and Forquer?  Did any citizen ask you to move the engine and take it down to the river to the Chicago Dock Company's property?[xciv] [108]

A. No they didn't ask me to take it there exactly.   They wanted it moved for fear it would get burned up.  They were very anxious about our moving out.   There was a wood office and everything was on fire  very close around us and their anxiety seemed to be to get the engine away for fear it would be burned up.

Q.  Did you have any such fears?

A.  No.  I wasn't afraid the engine would get burned up.  I was going to have her stay there just as long as we could stand it.

Q.  That is the place where John McLean came? 

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Didn't I understand you to say when he came you was about to move?

A.  There was an anxiety to move.  I knew I had to move [109] pretty soon; I could not stay much longer.  That section was pretty warm and I couldn't have stayed there much longer if he hadn't come and kept it cooled down where the engine was standing.  We came off and came back with our stream and cooled it down and in the meantime the fire had got west of Canal, and we were trying to cut the fire off west of Canal so as to have it east.

Q.  Do you know who that was that wanted you to go over near the river?

A.  I don't know.  I didn't know any of the parties there.   I don't know what their object was any further than fearing that she would get burned up or we would lose her or something like that.

Q.  Was the lumberyard on fire [110] then, do you know?

A.  There was a lumberyard on fire east of us.  East of Canal Street.

Q.  You don't know who that yard belonged to, do you?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Do you know of a two story building being on fire on the south side of Forquer Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were you inside when it was on fire?

A.  No I didn't go inside.  I called your attention to it, though.

Q.  As long as you didn't go in, of course you have no idea or no opinion probably how it got afire.

A.  No, but I knew that got afire from the inside; that is why I called your attention to it.  Said I, "here is a building afire on the inside when it isn't afire on the outside." [111]  I knew it was not on fire on the outside at the same time.  There was a strong gust of smoke came out of the windows.  There was no occasion for it unless it was coming from the inside.

Q.  Will you state by what means it was put out?

A.  I cannot state exactly.   I went back to the engine; when I called your attention there I was on my way back to the engine.  You came up to see about the fire on the inside.  Our new stream led up there and put it out with one dash of water.  It was some straw in a bed on fire there inside.  I didn't go up into the building at all.

Q.  You had a full reel of hose at the fire, did you?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How much of a reserve was there of the hose?  [112]

A.  After I had left there was about three hundred feet.

Q.  Did you have any occasion to send for that?

A.  Yes sir.   I went after it the next day, Monday.  At the time the water gave out on us that we needed such a long lead from the river, I hadn't hose enough, and I sent up to the house and brought these down.

Q.   How much did you have on there when you made the long lead?

A.  I don't know exactly, we had two engines.

Q.  As near as you can remember of your own hose?

A.  Well I must have had, after I brought down their hose from the house, about eight hundred feet.

Q.  You ordinarily carry six hundred feet on the reel?

A.  Yes sir.  I busted one length.  In leading[xcv] out the [113] first place on Sunday evening, we didn't use all our own hose.   I had four hundred feet led out and some other company came and took what was left, so that left me a little short until I went up to the house the next day and got the remainder.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you burst any hose in the Saturday night fire?

A.  No sir.

 

[114]

                                                              November 24, 1871

                                                       Catherine Sullivan sworn[xcvi]

                                                                   (7th Witness)

                                                       Examined by Mr. Brown[xcvii]

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  On the south side of DeKoven Street, right where that fire commenced.[xcviii]

Q.  What is your husband’s name?

A.  I haven’t got a husband.

Q.  Are you any relation to Mr. Sullivan who is a drayman and lives about opposite that fire?[xcix]

A.  Yes sir.  He is my son.  I’m a widow more than twenty-six years.

Q.  Do you know anything about the commencement of that fire on October 8th?

A.  No sir.  I could not tell you anything about that fire.

Q.  Just tell us what you first saw of it.

A.  I was in my own basement in the rear part of my own building, and one of my boys was out until it [115] was after eight o’clock, and we didn’t have supper until he came in.  We lived in the basement, for we had a horse building on the other side.  I waited until he ate his supper, and we were talking.  After that he went out.  I was washing up my dishes.  I hadn’t them washed up when I saw the fire coming through the window.  I said, “Good God, can the place be on fire?”  I run through the rear, out to the gate, and at that time the second house was catching fire, and Leary’s barn was afire, and Mr. Dalton’s was afire at the same time.  Mr. Dalton’s house was between Clinton and Mr. Leary’s.  Then Forbes was next to that.  So I could not tell anymore about it, but I heard the people say that they woke them up, that the Learys were in bed.  I got so excited in a minute.  It was not a long time until [116] our own two houses catched afire.  We had no assistance, only the men that gathered around, took their pails, and assisted us.[c]  Anything further than that I could not say about the fire.  I never took out as much as I could fix upon my fingers.  I was pretty near out of my senses.  I was just from the rear of the fire to the front, and that was all I was doing.  I got kind [of] out of my head.  In the house the carpenter had been working in it, and we could not get near it on the outside.  It was newly painted just fresh.[ci]  There was nothing troubled me from that time out.  I was just silly.  I was [illeg.] [going?] around.  I didn’t take out only the clothes I had on my back.  I could not get any information of that fire.

Q.  Your son was at home at that time?[cii]

A.  Yes sir, all of my children [117] was at home.[ciii]  And what they began to do was to save their own place, of course.  A man from Sebor Street came and took their horses out of the barn and took them along.

Q.  Do you know who waked up [the] Learys folks?

A.  I heard it was my son and a man called Dennis Regan.  I heard them say so.

Q.  Do you know anything about there being a gathering of people in that vicinity that night?

A.  Yes sir.  I could not tell you anything about it, only just as I heard from the neighbors.  Just inquired about it the same as anybody else to see how it took fire.  The next day or the day after we could not get any information about it, only just as somebody told.

Q.  Did you know anybody living in Mr. Leary’s house beside themselves?

A.  Yes sir.  A man by the name [118] of Patrick McLaughlin.

Q.  You don’t know whether he had any company there that night?

A.  I could not tell.  It is just as I tell you.  I was in the rear part of my own place and didn’t pay any attention to anything, only to my own business.  I am living nine years in that neighborhood.[civ]  There was buildings across the street.  I did not know the people.

Q.  Are you acquainted with Mr. McLaughlin and Mrs. McLaughlin?

A.  I do.

Q.  Have you had any talk with them since the fire?

A.  No sir.  They were people that I never had any conversation with.  A woman like me has plenty to do to take care of her own place.

Q.  Could you tell whether the fire appeared to commence in [119] the barn or in the house?

A.  I heard it was in Mr. Leary’s barn.

Q.  Could you tell yourself?

A.  I could not tell myself, only as I heard from others.  I was surprised when a policeman called for me.[cv]

Q.  How soon after you saw the fire did you see any engines on the ground?

A.  Upon my word, it was a good while.  I couldn’t exactly tell the time.  And upon my word, everyone was crying out for the engines.   What was keeping them?  That is all I could tell about it.  I didn’t look at a clock or watch or anything of that sort.  Only just as I am telling you.  I got so much excited, I thought the world was on fire.

Q.  Do you know that two-story new building?

A.  Yes sir.  I do.

Q.  There wasn’t any stream put on that house?

A.  [120]  No sir.  Not a stream put on that.

 

[121]

                                                              November 24, 1871

                                                             Dennis Ryan[cvi] sworn 

                                                                   (8th Witness)

                                                        Examination by Mr. Brown

 

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  DeKoven Street.

Q.  What number?

A.  112[cvii]

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Laborer.

Q.  Was that between Clinton and Jefferson?

A.  Between Canal and Clinton.

Q.  On the north or south side of the street?

A.  On the south.

Q.  Your place did not burn?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know anything about this fire?  About the origin of it and commencement of it?

A.  All I know, I was into Mr. Leary’s at half past eight, and I was talking to the man [122] that was in bed and his wife.[cviii]  I asked his wife what was the reason she went to bed.  She told me she had a sore foot.[cix]  I went away, so as the man was in bed.  I went home.  A short while after nine o’ clock I heard one of the neighbors say Leary’s barn was on fire.  I jumped out of bed and went up there, and the barn was on fire and all the neighbors around it.[cx]  I ran through the alleyway and tried to save his wagon in the alleyway but could not go near it.  I went to work there to throw water on the house because the house was not insured or nothing.  That is all I know about it.

Q.  Do you know whether there was company in the front part of the house?

A.  Yes sir.  There was company there.

Q.  How did you know that?  [123]

A.  Because I was passing and heard the music.[cxi]

Q.  Dancing?

A.  I didn’t hear any dancing.  I was told dancing was there.

Q.  You didn’t go in there at all?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You don’t know who were there yourself, do you?

A.  I don’t know.

Q.  Have you heard since anybody say they were there?

A.  No, I did not know who was there or not, only I was told there was a dance there.  I heard the music.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)[cxii]  Nobody told you who the parties were that were there at the time?

A.  No sir.  I don’t know who was there or not.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Do you know who lived there?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Who was it?

A.  McLaughlin, fiddler.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan) You stayed [124] up, of course, while the fire was in that vicinity?

A.  I stayed there so long as I could hold a pail of water to the house because the man was not insured.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Which house do you speak of?

A.  Mr. Leary’s.  I done as much as I could and tried to save that.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  About how long was it from the time you heard that the fire had started there until you saw the first engine?

A.  I could not tell you.  I only went to bed about nine o’clock.

Q.  How long after you saw the fire was it until you knew of an engine being in the vicinity?  A fire engine.

A.  It looks to me about a quarter of an hour.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Did they come down on DeKoven Street?

A.  I didn’t see any of them [125] going on DeKoven Street.  Only I saw one in front of Mr. Leary’s house and one on Taylor Street.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the wind blowing hard at that time?

A.  Yes sir.  The wind was blowing awful hard.

Q.  Did you see many sparks drifting away with the wind?[cxiii]

A.  There was no end of the sparks going.

 

 

                                               [126] C[hristopher] Schimmels Sworn

                                                                   (9th Witness)

                                                              November 24, 1871

                                                        Examination by Mr. Brown

 

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position in it?

A.  Foreman.

Q.  What company?

A.  Chicago Number 5.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin of the fire of October 8th and 9th?

A.  No sir.

Q.  If you don't know the commencement of it, tell the first you did know of it, and what you did in connection with it.

A.  The first that I knew of the fire was when the gong struck, supposed to be at 9:30 P.M. on the evening of the 9th.[cxiv]

Q.  What box? [127]

A.  342.

Q.  Located where?

A.  Corner of Canalport Avenue and Halsted, I believe.

Q.  How far away is that from where the fire was?

A.  A mile, easy.

Q.  Mile southwest of it, isn't it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you lose any time getting there?

A.  No sir.   I got the box and started for it and went to work at the plug, corner of Forquer, I think it is and Jefferson;[cxv]  led down one block south and went to work on the fire.  I was the only stream at the time on Taylor at the start of the fire.  Worked about three to five minutes, I should think, when the Illinois[cxvi] came along, Number 15, and led right alongside of our stream and put on water, there being [128] no assistant or  _______________ where the stream was.  I asked the foreman of the Illinois which side of the fire he thought of taking.  He said he didn't know.  I told him I thought the fire was going north of Taylor Street and told him he could take his choice.  I would either go on the north side of Taylor or the south side.   He said he would take the north side of Taylor.   I kept the position, south side of Taylor, and worked there until I had orders from Marshal Benner to go back to the rear of the fire and cut the fire off there as well as we could from a barn.   The first we knew, this row on

De Koven Street, a little south of Taylor, was on fire.  We backed out and put our water in there and worked there some [129]  ten minutes or so when I had orders sent up from the engine that I would have to move the engine or get out a stream somewhere near the engine.  I run out a second lead from the engine and worked part of the time with that stream around near the engine so as to keep her all right, and when I found she was safe, turn[ed] on the water on the other stream.  I did so until I got orders through John McLean, foreman of the Steamer James, that Benner had give  him orders to tell me to go further north and see what I could do in cutting off the fire at the north end.  It was impossible to go through Jefferson at the time, so I went to Halsted and came around to Harrison and took the plug at the corner of Harrison and Jefferson.  Led down one block east with our stream.  Had a pipe at the corner of Clinton and [130] Harrison for about five minutes when we were drove from that place and came very near losing our hose.  It was all we could do to get up our hose.  Before we got out of there I went to work getting out a second lead so as to work around the engine and keep her as cool as we could.  Kept working both streams until I was compelled to pick at this other stream.

Q.  Where did you say your engine was working then?

A.  Corner of Harrison and Jefferson.

Q.  You took your lead east?

A.  Yes sir, to the corner of Clinton Street.  We were drove out of that.  We struck right to that corner of Harrison and Jefferson until the fire was all around us and we had to pull the engine away by hand.

Q.  Did you have time to uncouple from the hydrant?  [131]

A.  Yes sir, and that is all.

Q.  How was it knocked up?

A.  That was the Saturday night fire.

Q.  Where did you go to then?

A.  My intention was to go between Harrison and Van Buren and take that fire hydrant, but by the time I got around there, I saw the Titsworth just pull in there ahead of us.  I pulled back to the corner of Jackson and stopped there and took a look down and saw the fire wasn't coming over that way, and the boys went for the South Side.  That is where I left them.  They went over to the South Side; that was about two o'clock in the morning.

Q.  Where did you go?

A.  I stayed at the engine house.  I was completely played out.  We had worked eighteen hours on the Saturday night fire and hadn't had any rest.  At half past four o'clock, box 28[cxvii] came in and we just got back from that and got cleaned up ready for another one when the large fire broke out.

Q.  Who did you leave the engine in charge of?

A.  Conway.[cxviii]  This Conway and three of the others were completely played out at the Saturday night fire.  They were nearly blinded; they were not fit for work at all.[cxix]   When they came there I sent them and three outsiders that volunteered to do the [132] work.

Q.  They were at the house when you went back to it?

A.  I fetched the engine back to the house and saw we could not do anything there, and told the boys to go right to the South Side; the fire had crossed the river.  There were two men left at the same time.  They worked with us in the start of the fire until two o'clock from the time the fire broke out at half past nine--that is just as quick as they could get there.  Some of them were home; their eyes were just blinded.  None of them could open their eyes.  They might as well stayed at home; they couldn't do any good; they were all blinded from the Saturday night fire.  We were about thirty hours without sleep.  I got half an hour's sleep about out of thirty.

Q.  What time did you quit Sunday?

A.  Half past four in the afternoon.  We worked from half past nine Saturday night on the Wells Street fire.  We took a start, I believe, at half past nine, and worked there for about [133] an hour, when we were ordered on the West Side fire.  We worked on that fire right in one place, you might say, at the river until half past four Sunday afternoon, and that gives eighteen hours work right there.  Then we went home and just got the engine put in shape, you might say, when 28 came in.  The men hadn't their suppers then.  We got back from 28.  Some of them didn't get their supper at all.  We just got in bed, you might say, when the bell struck.  It was nine o'clock when we went to bed and half past when the alarm came in.

Q.  Were any of your men intoxicated or otherwise out of order Saturday or Sunday night?

A.  No sir, I do not think the men had a drink.  For myself, I will say, that I never had so much as one drink during the whole fire.  The rest of them, I must say, worked faithfully and did all in their power.

Q.  Do you know when the fire crossed from the West to the South Side--about what time?  [134]

A.  I do not.  I should say it was about 2 o'clock,[cxx] because that is when I stopped at the house and told the boys I understood the fire had crossed to the South Side and they had better go over.  As close as I can get at it from my own knowledge.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the Van Buren[cxxi] now burning down then?

A.  Yes sir.  I have an idea that it was two o'clock when I left the boys there and told them I understood the South Side was on fire.  I go by my own judgment.

Q.  Had you been sick prior to the Saturday night fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  All your men in good health?

A.  Yes sir, every man.

Q.  Was your engine in good order at that time?

A.  She was in the Saturday night fire.  You might say she was not in very good [135] order at the Sunday night fire from the way she was used at the Saturday night fire trying to save her from that plug.  By pulling her away from that plug it opened her gooseneck some so she wouldn't suck water very well.  Had some trouble in getting her to work.[cxxii] 

Q.  Did you have a plenty of hose Sunday night?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Where was you short of hose?

A.  We were short, you might say, right in the start when we were on Harrison Street.  That is I might have run out a second lead and kept it right there, but I lost a couple lengths right there and hadn't any place to go to get any hose.  Our hose had been taken away during the Saturday night fire.

Q.  Didn't you get it back when you came in? [136]

A.  No sir.  This hose, wherever it went, either burned up or was taken away by other companies.  All the hose we had we had on our hose cart, just the one reel.  There was eighteen lengths in our house in the basement but it was taken on the Saturday night fire

Q.  That was nine hundred feet of reserve you had?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Besides a full reel?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did your engine go on the South Side?

A.  Yes sir.  She went to the South Side and went to the North Side.  What they told me, they crossed Madison Street bridge and I think the first hydrant they stopped at was on Franklin street between Washington and Madison.  I do not know any more than what they told me.  [137]

Q.  What time did she get back to the house?[cxxiii]

A.  About seven o'clock, I should think, the boys fetched the engine back.  I was just getting ready and was going to start over and let some of the rest go home and spell them.  I met them on the road about a block from the house when the head pipeman told me, "here is your engine and you may be very glad that I fetched her home to you.  We come very near losing her three or four times."  Said I, "where is your hose?"  He said, "we haven't got any hose, glad to save ourselves, we lost every bit of hose."  I had no hose until about ten or eleven o'clock.  I met the chief and told him the condition we were in in regard to hose and he said there is not a bit of hose to be found any-[138] where.  "But," said he, "there is hose coming from Milwaukee and you go down to the depot and if it comes in you can get a reel there."[cxxiv]  "But," said he, "I will take you down to Ford's[cxxv] and let you run one of these Babcock fire extinguishers[cxxvi] until you do get hose," and the chief went there and they were in the act of charging one of these largest ones, and he asked them if we could have one.  The man said, "yes," but it was a great deal of trouble to get water to charge it.  I asked the man how long it was going to take him and he said about two hours to get it filled with water.  Said I,  "I will claim this and be responsible for it.  Allow nobody to take it until I come.  I will go down to the depot and see about this hose."  I started in my shirt sleeves [139]  right down to the depot and made all the inquiries I could about hose and could not find any.  I met this Milwaukee company, they didn't know where to go or anything else and I assisted that company in getting to work, where I thought would be a good place, and left there and went back to the depot and the hose hadn't come.  So I went back to Ford's and found the Babcock about finished and sent up a team to fetch that back to the engine house.  Then I understood there was a great deal of hose at the south end of the fire laying around loose, so I ordered the driver to hitch up and we went together to see what we could find.  Went around there and could not find anything but busted hose.  We came back to the engine house and I had [140] hardly got back there until some small boys came in and said there was an engine and hose cart come in from Springfield[cxxvii] and wanted somebody to fetch them to the fire.  I went down.  They hadn't any horses.  I fetched our horses down there and fetched their carriage and engine down to our house.  I asked them if they would give me half their hose--They had a thousand feet of nice leather hose on--no-- they wouldn't.  They said they would let us have all the hose we required if we would go with them.  I said all right.  I had no time to run for orders and I took the responsibility.  I took two horses out of the hook and ladder house and an extra horse of ours and started right to the north end of the fire and went up as far as Division Street [141] bridge and came over, and worked there all night on the gas house, I should think, from about six o'clock Monday evening through their hose until seven o'clock next morning, when their engine gave out.  I told them we would go right back to the house then, and we had the fire so there was no danger.  It would not do any hurt, more than burn what was burning there.

Q.  That was seven o'clock Tuesday morning?

A.  Yes sir.  We found a couple of outside companies in the house when we got there.  They done their repairing and we went to bed.  We slept till noon and we had orders to go to Taylor Street and work upon some coal there.[cxxviii]  We worked there, I should think, an hour and a half when the flue [142] busted in the engine.   Got orders to take it right home and have it repaired but they found they could not do it in the house.  There was something the matter with her pump and she was ordered to the shop.  We done that repairing and we were sent all over after that.  That was the day after the fire.

Q.  Did you do any pumping for the pipes?

A.  Yes sir.   A great deal of it.  We were sent down some six or seven times working in the pipes and on coal piles and different things around.

Q.  You don't know anything personally about the fire on the South Side?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Nor the time the water was shut off?

A.  No sir.  I do not know anything about it any more [143]  that hearsay.

Q.  Was any money offered to you to work at any particular point?

A.  No sir.  Not one cent.

Q.  Do you know of any being offered to anybody?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know of anyone[cxxix] having received any?

A.  No sir.  Not even as much as a drink of water was we offered.

Q.  Wasn't any of your men intoxicated on Sunday?

A.  No sir.

(Examination by Mr. Benner)

Q.  I believe you stated you took the plug corner of DeKoven and Jefferson?

A.  Forquer I guess is the plug we had.  That was in the start of it there.  The first plug we took was Forquer and Jefferson.  It [144] is one block this side of Taylor anyhow.  We were the first block this side of Taylor.  Forquer.  I got it.  De Koven.  I will correct that.

Q.  After your engine got to the plug did she go to work right away?

A.  She did.

Q.  Did she stop any time after that?

A.  She did.

Q.  How long did she stop and what was the reason?

A.  She shut down.  It was no more than hydrant water passing through her engine.  I went back to find out what was the difficulty that she shut down.  I got back there and asked the engineer what was the trouble.  He said there was one of the springs broke in the pumps.  Said I, "is there any danger in running that engine now?"  He said,  "I do not know.  I might  [145] run the engine and smash it all to pieces."  Said I,  "Run her.  This is going to be a big fire."   He started her up again and she done good work.

Q.  Had he pulled the fire out?[cxxx]

A.  Part of the fire was pulled out.  She stopped, I should say, three minutes.  That was the answer he gave me.

Q.  There was no danger from the outside, no danger of its burning?

A.  No.  There was something cracked in her.  I suppose he knew what was the matter and shut her right down.  I started back and said,  "what does this mean?"  Said he,  "there is a spring broke in her pump."  Said I,  "is it going to do her any hurt to run her."   Said he,  "I do not know.  It is running a big risk.  I might smash that pump all to pieces."  [146]  Said I, "this is going to be a big fire.  Smash her!  We have got to run her and run the risk of its breaking her."  Said I, "break her completely and then it is broke."   He started her up and she run first rate.  He struck her with a hammer and claimed it was all right again, but we could not depend on her.  She was sent back when the flue busted. 

Q.  At the time you got back to the pipe, was there any danger then, or had the fire crossed Taylor Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  That was about how long after you first started to work?

A.  Well, we hadn't played five minutes before she gave out.  She shut down about three minutes.  That would be about ten minutes, I should think, after we got there.  She [147] had gone clean across the road then.

Q.  At this time the Illinois stream was still on Taylor Street?

A.  Yes sir.  North side of Taylor Street.

Q.  About how far east from Jefferson Street was their stream?

A.  I should say about one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet east of Jefferson on Taylor.

Q.  Did they get water on to the first building on the north side of the street after it got afire?

A.  I do not know.  I cannot remember that.  I suppose they did.  I had all I could do to attend to my own stream at that time.  We agreed to take the north side of the fire if I would stay at the south. 

Q.  You didn't play any on the north side?

A.  No sir.  Never played a bit on the north side. [148]  By that time--that is, in the start of the fire we were ordered over by Marshal Benner after we had our fire cooled down.

Q.  When I ordered you north that was after you came out of the alley between DeKoven and Taylor, was it not?

A.  Yes.

(Examination continued by the commissioners)[cxxxi]

Q.  Has your company received any money since the fire?

A.  I could not tell you.  I know I haven't.  I do not think that any of the rest have.

Q.  You would be likely to know it if they had, wouldn't you?

A.  I think.  There has not a cent been offered to me.

Q.  How long have you been with the department?

A.  Eight or nine years.

Q.  How long have you been foreman? [149]

A.  Very near three years.

Q.  This same company?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  In your judgment could anything more have been done to prevent the spread of conflagration than was done?

A.  Well, I do not think there could more than to have more hose.  That is all I could complain about.  A scarcity of hose.  I believe if there had been plenty of hose to sent right back for,  and I knew where to get coal, it would have been a great thing.[cxxxii]  We had a great ways to go for the coal and a great deal of trouble in getting it there.

Q.  Didn't you have coal at the house?

A.  We had coal at the house.  We didn't suppose it was going to be such a fire as it was and before the time we got the coal  from the house we had orders [150]  to go further north.

Q.  You say you had six hundred feet of hose when you went out and nine hundred for a reserve.

A.  That is Saturday night I am talking about.

(Examined by Mr. Williams)

Q.  Was your engine standing still for want of coal at any time on the Sunday night fire?

A.  No, she was not standing still.  She was running.  We had two or three outsiders chopping wood for half an hour.

Q.  Where was your driver?

A.  Off after coal at the time but before he could get back we had orders to go again.

Q.  How far did he have to go for coal?

A.  From the fire to the engine house.

Q.  How long did it take him to drive over there?

A.  It would take him to load [151] up what coal he had in his wagon, three quarters of an hour, easy.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick) It was not over a quarter of a mile, was it?

A.  It was that easy enough.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick) How long would it take him to load up a load of coal?

A.  He had a bad way to load it.

Q.  if you knew you were going to be short of coal, why didn't you tell him to load up some and come?

A.  I only told him to go for coal.  And he claimed he got back as quick as he could.   He had to throw it up out of the basement on the sidewalk and then throw it into the wagon, but that never stopped the engine from working.  She was worked from tearing up sidewalks and having men breaking wood for us.

Q.  You had plenty of coal at the house?

A.  We had plenty of coal at [152] the house, but we figured a great deal on these coal wagons to fetch us coal.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan) How many lengths of hose did you burst at the Saturday night fire?

A.  I do not know.  Five or six lengths, I should think.

Q.  (Same)  Out of fifteen hundred.  You would have twelve hundred left for Sunday?

A.  Mind you, this nine hundred feet we never used one foot of it.  They were taken by other companies, besides all our busted hose.  The hose we had Sunday night, as you might say, was in lengths of our own and we picked up enough of other companies to make out twelve lengths.  These eighteen lengths I speak of at the house was all taken at the Saturday night fire.  All we had was the six hundred feet that was on our cart and we lost about half of it on Satur-[153] day night.  Before we got home we managed to get enough to fill out the reel and make twelve lengths.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  What do you think was the cause of the hose bursting so on Saturday night?

A.  It was old and worn out, I should think.  We had all old hose; for the last three months you might say before that fire we have very _________ (poor?)   (worn??)--I should probably say "poor")  hose.

Q.  (By same)  It was but a short time before that fire when you were informed that all the new hose with the exception of one thousand feet was given out?

A.  We never got one foot of that new hose, and the other hose that we have been carrying for the last three or four months on our hose cart is always put in as number two hose.   They won't stand over a one hundred or one hundred and fifty engine.  If it had been a big engine, it wouldn't [154] stand at all.

Q.  Did you report to any of the marshals when you was unable to attend to your engine?

A.  No sir.  I didn't see any marshals.  There was no marshals around that part of the fire.  I suppose they were all over to the South Side.  I was completely played out and there was new men come in fresh and three men, particular friends of mine, volunteered to go.  I asked them if they could get along; they said very easy, so I thought they could.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Where was the last place you saw any of the marshals before you quit work?

A.  At the start of the fire is the last place I saw them.  The only man I saw is Benner.   The only man I saw all that night to give me any orders or anything of that kind. [155]

Q.  Didn't you see me on Taylor Street where the Illinois' stream was?

A.  No sir.  Benner is the only marshal I saw in that Sunday night fire.  I might have seen you pass there, something of that kind, and pay no attention.  I never got any orders from anybody but Benner.  I supposed you was at the other side of the fire taking charge of that, and Benner was at the West Side fire taking charge of it.  I might have been back to the engine or something of that kind.  I tell you just how it is.  I didn't see anybody but Benner all the evening there.

Q.  (By a commissioner)[cxxxiii]  Is it your custom to go off that way without reporting to some marshal?

A.  No sir.  It is right to report.  The way I felt it was no use.  I could not stand it.  Brown was in the house when I went in there.   I believe I spoke to Mr. [156] Brown about.  The fire had gone clean to the South Side and I told Brown he had better telegraph for engines; our hose was played out.  Of course it is against the rules.  I could not stand it.  It is no use talking, I might as well stay as to go.

 

 

[157]

 

George Rau sworn.

(10th Witness)

November 24, 1871

(Examined by Mr Brown)

Q.  Are you a member of the Chicago Fire Department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  Foreman of Hook and Ladder number 2[cxxxiv]

Q.  Do you know anything of the origin of the fire on the night of October 8th extending into Oct 9th, 10th and etc If you were not there at its commencement, state when you first knew of it.

A.  I wasn't there when it commenced.  We got a still alarm about a half a minute before.  We were just going out of the house when the gong struck.

Q.  Your watchman spied the fire, did he?

A.  Yes sir, but he didn't tell us where it was.  Of course we didn't wait for orders.  As quick [158] as we got out of the  house[cxxxv] we saw the fire.  Went up and stopped on Jefferson where the fire was half a block this side of De Koven.  I went in there and saw how it was and came back and told the boys to put up some ladders there.  There was then nothing burning but a barn or shed.  I went in on the west side of it and knocked down the fence to get down there and went around the east side.  I hadn't seen a stream there then.  I got around the fire once or twice more and then I saw a stream.

Q.  Did any more buildings get afire before that stream came?

A.  Yes sir.  There was three buildings took about the same time.  After they caught, it crossed to the other side of the alley. 

Q.  [159]  What did you do?

A.  I done as I was ordered to.  Benner told me to go on the north side of the fire.  I went over with my men and put a couple of them in the top of them buildings there with Babcocks.  Put one on one house and that is there yet.  Put up ladders at several different places--one on the corner of Clinton and the street the church is on.

Q.  The one that burned.[cxxxvi]

A.  Yes sir.  Mather Street.  Put up a ladder there.  It was none of  mine.  It was an old ladder we found in the yard.  Then I went back and put up a ladder on the church.  After the ladder was up, then the fire got down two or three blocks.  Started to go back and just as I was going back two of the boys [160] started to take down the ladder,  let it fall, and broke it.  I asked them why they let it fall and told them they shouldn't have tried to take it down without more help.  That was all the ladder business that was done.[cxxxvii]  I went afterwards and helped the engines.  Took the Chicago's pipe and the Rehm's pipe and had the James' pipe for an hour, I believe.

Q.  At the time the fire took in the church, was the fire up against it or south of it?

A.  The fire was just a block away from it.

Q.  How did that catch fire then?

A.  I think it was sparks.  The church was on Mather Street    The fire was on the next street to Mather Street.[cxxxviii] 

Q.  South of Mather or north of it? [161]

A.  South.  The ladder I told them to put up before this, the ladder that belongs to the truck, was on the corner next to the church and that had burned when I had left there and came back to the church.

Q.  Was the church on fire then?

A.  There was some sparks there.  I sent one man up there and told him to put it out.  He said they would have to have a stream.  I was trying to get a stream up there and could not get one.

Q.  You are satisfied that the church caught from sparks that lit upon the roof?

A.  Yes sir.  There was nobody that could go to the top of the church and set it afire.[cxxxix]

Q.  You are pretty correct about that?

A.  Yes sir.  I am correct about that. [162]

Q.  You think it was only one block away?

A.  Only one block.  It was a small block.[cxl]  They must be very short blocks if there was another block between it.  I am sure there was no street cut thru coming from the east.

Q.  Do you know what time the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  I could not tell that.  I was working then at the corner of Harrison and Jefferson.

Q.  Did you see it cross to the South Side?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know at what point it crossed?

A.  I know from what I have been told.

Q.  From your own observation.

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was you working with an engine at the corner of Harrison and Jefferson streets. [163]

A.  Yes sir, I had a stream.

Q.  What one?

A.  The Sherman.  There was no use of any hook and ladder then,  so I took this stream.

Q.  How did the fire progress, slowly or rapidly?

A.  On the West Side, after it got three or four buildings burnt or five or six it went pretty fast.[cxli]

Q.  When you first went there?

A.  There was one barn burning.

Q.  Was there any engine there?

A.  I didn't see anybody there.  I suppose we were the first on the ground.

Q.  You went out on the still alarm?

A.  We hitched up on the still alarm.

Q.  What, if anything, did you do when you arrived there and saw that shanty was burning?  [164]

A.  I went and tore down the fence to get into the barn.   Took that down and went around to the south of it, and then got around to the east of it and back around again and tore down fences so that when the men came there with the streams they could get at it.

Q.  How high was that shed?

A.  I suppose it was about sixteen to twenty feet, that is to the peak of the roof.

Q.  Wouldn't the tearing down of that at that time have prevented the fire?

A.  We couldn't do it.   it was too warm to tear it down.  We could not tear it down quick enough with the amount of men in the truck.

Q.  How many men were there?

A.  Five men besides the driver.   There was one man off that night.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did he come [165] to the fire?

A.  Yes sir.   He came to the fire.

Q.  Did you go on the South Side?

A.  Yes sir, I went on the South Side after the water gave out on the West Side.  After we had it so that it would not cross to the west of Jefferson Street.  After it was safe there we went to the South Side.

Q.  You went over with the Sherman.

A.  Yes sir.  I went over with the truck.  Went over there and helped the Chicago's stream.  I think it was at Franklin Street on the alley.  We helped them until they were ordered back out of there and went back on the corner of Market and Randolph.

Q.  Did you put up any ladders at all on the South Side?

A.  No sir.

Q.  There didn't seem to be time did there to get them up? [166]

A.  We could put them up.  There was nobody there to go up on them.  There was no need of any ladders.

Q.  What do you mean by saying there was no one to go up on the ladders?

A.  There was no streams there to go upon them.

Q.  Wasn't the Chicago's stream there?

A.  If they asked me for a ladder they could have one.  I didn't want to put up a ladder on my own responsibility.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Suppose you had put up a ladder and a stream had gone up on it?   Would it have done any good?

A.  No sir.  Not on the South Side.

Q.  Why do you think so?

A.  There was too much fire for the amount of water there was there.

Q.  It was burning too fiercely?

A.  Yes sir. [167]

Q.  When you went on the South Side, where was the fire burning?

A.  I might have went as far as the courthouse or further.  I left the truck standing on Franklin Street facing north in case the fire came to the bridge so that we could get across Lake Street bridge.  I went and took all the men with me and helped the Chicago's stream.

Q.  What time was that?

A.  I should think it was two o'clock.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What street did you cross?

A.  Randolph Street bridge.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Why didn't you cross Madison Street bridge?

A.  Because I was afraid the fire would head us off there and we could not turn around with the truck with the teams that were there.

Q.  Was the courthouse burned out at that time? [168]

A.  I do not know.  I didn't see the courthouse.  I might have went as far as the courthouse if I got across there, but I saw a stream.  I knew I could not do any good with the courthouse or anywhere else without any water.

Q.  You left the Chicago's stream where?

A.  On Franklin Street.  They were in the alley between Washington and Randolph, and from there they backed down from Market straight to Randolph.

Q.  Did they play along there?

A.  I do not know how long they had been there when I got there.  I do not suppose they had been there very long either on that side.  They didn't stay there only a short time after I got there.

Q.  Did you see any of the marshals on the South Side after you got over there. [169]

A.  No sir.  I did not.  They said that Williams ordered them out of there and he must have been around there somewhere.

A.  That is the Chicago Company?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  We remained over there I guess until it was daylight.

Q.  Did you get water all this time?

A.  No   I stayed there with the truck by the building that was left.

Q.  Near the corner of Randolph Street bridge?

A.  Yes sir.  After the fire I told the boys to take the truck on the West Side.

Q.  Do you know when Gale's drug store[cxlii] caught on fire.

A.  I saw Heath & Milligen's.[cxliii]  I do not know where Gale's drug store was.

Q.  Gale's drug store was one block west of Heath and Milligen's.

. 

[170]

A.  I suppose I saw it but did not know the building.  I saw Heath & Milligen's.  I saw that burning because I took particular notice of that and saw it burn. 

Q.  It burned pretty lively, did it?[cxliv]

A.  Yes sir.  Threw the flame clear across the street.

Q.  Did you go on the North Side at all?

A.  Yes sir.  I went over on the North Side and stood on the corner of Kinzie and Kingsbury streets.  There was a stream then at the corner of Market and Kinzie Streets.  That was the Coventry stream.  There was three or four men with it.  Sweeney was with it.[cxlv]   I could not tell the others.

Q.  Did you help any of the engines around there?

A.  I stayed there a little while but they didn't have much water and they left there pretty quick.  When I went up [171] on Market Street, I thought maybe we could tear down something there.  Kept out on the east side of Market street but it was no use.  Could not tear down anything; it came too quick.  When I got to Chicago Avenue, about a hundred men got after me and said I was the first fireman they had seen around there, and wanted me to tear down a couple of blocks there.  I thought they were going to lynch me.  I told them we hadn't men enough to tear them down.  They said they would help me.  I told them I would show them where to tear down to advantage.  They said they would and we went to work right at the corner of Franklin right at that packing house and we worked there a few minutes and they all left again so I quit.

Q.  From the time that you went [172] out of the house and went up to the fire there, did you see any of the marshals up there?

A.  Yes, I seen them all up there.

Q.  Did you receive any orders from any of them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Who?

A.  From Benner, from Williams, and from Schank.  I never received any from Walters[cxlvi] that I know of.

Q.  How was the condition of your men?  Were they in good condition for duty?

A.  Yes sir.   They were all right. 

Q.  What time did you turn in from the fire on Saturday night?

A.  I had myself been abed about five or ten minutes?

Q.  What time did you go into the house with your truck and your men?

A.  We took our truck home that morning, but I stayed around with the men over- [173] hauling all day Friday very near until about four o'clock.  Then I told the men to go home.  I stayed there until the last stream took out.  I went home and went to supper and come right back.  After coming back we stayed around a little while and got ready and we went to bed.  I went to bed and some more of them.  We had hardly got to bed when it struck. 

Q.  You didn't see any of the men intoxicated _____________ Sunday?

A.  No sir.  I did not.

Q.  Did you see any of the firemen intoxicated at all?

A.  Not one.

Q.  Did you see any of the engines standing still for want of hose during that Sunday night of the fire?

Q.  There was several instances I saw them.  I could not remember what engines they were.

Q.  It was because they had to send for hose? [174]

A.  They had to go around and pick up where some other engines had left them.

Q.  Did they lose a good deal of hose that night.

A.  I think they did.  The way they left the fire in some places they lost a good deal of hose, I think.

Q.  An engine could not maintain her position very long at a time?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you hear any conversation of money being offered to change the location of engines?

A.  No sir.  I did not.  Nobody offered me any money.  I do not know of any of the rest of them that got any money.  They might for all I know.

Q.  Do you know of any of the companies having received money for any such purpose?

A.  I do not.

Q.  Do you know of any company having received money since the fire? [175]

A.  All I know about it is what I heard.  I heard a man gave twenty-five dollars to a company upon Jefferson Street close by where I live.  Gave twenty five dollars to some company for putting out a building.  I do not know how true it is.

Q.  What is your judgment as to the probabilities that existed for stopping the fire on the West Side?  Do you think it could be done?

A.  I will tell you how that is.  There has been fires started larger than that and they have been stopped.

Q.  With conditions of things existing as they did at that time?

A.  Yes sir.  I think everything was all right.  The engines I think were all right and I think the men were all right.[cxlvii]

Q.  Do you think you ever saw a fire move quite as rapidly as that did in Chicago before?

A.  Not after it got[cxlviii] a good start, because I never saw [176] one like this.

Q.  Was the wind blowing pretty strong?

A.  The wind blowed pretty strong near the fire.  Get away and it didnt blow so very strong.[cxlix]

(Examination by Mr Benner)

Q.  At the time you stopped with your truck, did you look to see whether there was an engine at the next corner?

A.  No.   I jumped off and went right in the alley.  I am pretty sure there was no engine there then.

Q.  How much was you ahead of the Chicago when you went in there?

A.  I could not tell how much I was ahead of her.  I was ahead of her, that is all I know.  I didn't look back when I saw the fire; I kept looking ahead at it.

Q.  Did you get out of the engine house ahead of the Chicago?

A.  I believe we got out ahead [177] of the engine.  I do not know whether the cart got out ahead of us or not.

Q.  You didn't see anything of the Giant's lead around on

De Koven Street when you went around there?

A.  Not the first time, I didn't.  I went clear around the first time and came back to the same place.  Then started out again and saw some engines in the front there.  There were three streams coming in from De Koven Street.

Q.  How long do you suppose you were there before the Chicago's cart?  

A.  I do not know how long I was there.  It could not have been long.

Q.  How long, do you suppose?

A.  Maybe a half a minute.  Maybe a minute.  We were there, I think, longer than that before the engine came because I did not see anything of the engine.  I thought the cart was coming [178] along behind us.  I did not see the engine coming after us.

Q.  Are you positive there was only one barn at that time on fire when you got there?

A.  Yes sir.   That was all I saw burning when I got there.[cl]

Q.  That is all you could see from the alley?

A.  I went right around it.  I went in this side to a kind of shed, then broke the fence, then came around to the other side.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Was the barn pretty well on fire?

A.  Yes sir.  Pretty well burnt up when we got there.

Q.  How far east did you go when you went thru that fence before you turned and went north?

A.  I went between those two buildings on the street right around.  That barn stood right up against the house.[cli]  There was some sheds there [179] and huts.

Q.  Didn't the barn stand on the side of the alley?

A.  Yes, on the edge of the alley.

Q.  There was no fire across the alley at all when you went in there?

A.  No there was not for quite a while after I got there, neither.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Did you notice any parties during the time that you went through and before the arrival of the engines throwing water on the buildings with pails?

A.  No sir   I didn't see any.[clii]  There might have been some of them come out through the back of the house and throwed it out through the back doors.  I could not tell.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  How long do you think it was after you got there before a stream was playing on the [180] fire?

A.  There was a stream on the fire a little after that.  That was the Giant's stream.  I didn't see the Chicago's stream for quite a while afterward.  The Chicago's engine, I believe, didn't work very well that night.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  Didn't it seem strange if there was only one building on fire and the stream got to playing, that they couldn't have stopped it?[cliii]

A.  It does.

Q.  When you saw the Giant's stream where was it?

A.  Coming in from De Koven Street.

Q.  Standing on De Koven Street or between two buildings in the rear?

A.  Close up in the rear.  It was in between two buildings one time and then back in the house.

Q.  What did they back off for?  [181]

A.  To get in different positions.  I do not know what they done it for.

Q.  On account of the heat?

A.  No   I do not think it was that.  I suppose they were ordered, I do not know.  Get a better position, I suppose.  I do not know what it was for.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  If you were acting foreman of the Giant engine, what do you suppose would be your motives for doing that?

A.  If I was in the place and thought I could get a better position to get at the fire, I would change and go there.

Q.  How long do you think you was at the fire when you saw that stream?

A.  I could not tell exactly how long I was there.  I might have been there three or four or five minutes.  I could not tell you.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  How long did [182] it take you to go from your own house to the fire?

A.  I went up there very quick.  It is not quite a mile. 

(Examination by Mr. Williams)

Q.  How many minutes did it take you?

A.  Three or four or five minutes, I guess.  We had a clear road.  There was nobody in our way.

Q.  Do you think you were there some five or six minutes before there was water went on?

A.  No.  I didn't say that.  I said I might have been there from three to six minutes or five or four or two before I saw the stream of water.  Might have been there a minute or might have just come.

Q.  Are you pretty sure there wasn't but one building on fire, when you saw the stream start?

A.  I am pretty sure there wasn't but one barn on fire.  There was three barns [183] built up right against eachother.  The fire was in this one (indicating on a diagram)    It didn't take long when one was burning to burn three or four.

Q.  Did you see the Illinois stream?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where was that?

A.  They came in on De Koven Street.

Q.  Aren't you mistaken?

A.  No.  I guess not.

Q.  I think you are.[cliv]

A.  They led[clv] in on De Koven Street when I saw them.  The Illinois and the Economy, I think it was, and the Waubansia.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  All on De Koven?

A.  Coming in that way, three streams came in there.

Q.  Was that north or south of the fire?

A.  De Koven Street was south of the fire.

Q.  Then the streams must have [184] been south of it.

A.  Coming in from the south of it.

Q.  Did you hear the second alarm that was made?

A.  I did not.

Q.  Was there an alley that lead back from Jefferson running east?

A.  Yes, that is the alley that I mean that the barn was on.

Q.  You went from Jefferson through that alley?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you see any stream lead through that alley?

A.  The Chicago's.

Q.  Was the Chicago the first stream you noticed playing?

A.  No.  Their engine didn't work.  I guess there was something wrong with it.

Q.  How long was that engine getting to work?

A.  I think they got to work and could not throw any stream and shut down again and started up again. [185]  It took about five minutes to do it all.  Maybe  more than that, maybe less.  I could not swear to the exact time.[clvi]

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Was the Chicago's stream south of the fire?

A.  No, they came in from Taylor Street, I think it was.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Was that stream of the Chicago's lead from that alley through Jefferson Street east?

A.  The Chicago took the plug north of the fire.

Q.  Where did they lead through, the alley or ______________ .

A.  They came in from north of the fire.  I do not know where the lead of the hose came in.

Q.  You say it took some time for them to get a stream.  They started and then shut down.  If you knew they did that, then you must know where the pipe was located.  Was it on Jefferson Street?[clvii]

A.  No, it was not on Jefferson [186] Street.

Q.  Was it in the alley?

A.  It came in from the other street behind it.

Q.  (By Mr. Chadwick)  You think it lead east on Taylor and south on the alley?

A.  Yes.  That is the way it was, I think.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)   How many buildings were afire when you saw the Chicago's stream in there?

A.  There was several of them on fire then.  The three barns were ___________________ (coming???)  then.

Q.  There wasn't any buildings on Taylor Street on fire then?

A.  No, I guess not.  Unless it was away out on the east side of the block.

Q.  To which side of the barn that you first saw it burning was the other one situated?

A.  There was one on each side.[clviii]

Q.  These three were the first [187] that caught fire?  And a big shed here? (indicating)

A.  Yes.

Q.  I thought there was a house?

A.  There was a house on the corner.

Q.  It still stands?

A.  I do not know whether it does or not.

Q.  You passed along Jefferson Street?   Where did you stop your truck?

A.  Right in the alley.

Q.  You went in west of this barn? (indicating)

A.  Yes sir.  Here's a big shed, here's a fence.  I broke down this fence and went out through here and went out on the street and came around here and then back again.  (indicating)

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  When you came out again, did you pass out on Jefferson Street again?

A.  Yes sir.  The boys were tearing down the fences in here.

Q.  You came in here and [188] passed through the alley by the side of this barn?

A.  There is no alley.  There is a shed.

Q.  You passed through that and broke down a portion of the fence and passed out and came around in this direction (indicating) and then passed out through the alley again?

A.  Didn't get here at all.  Stayed right by the fire.

Q.  When you got out here into this alley, was it pretty hot?

A.  It was pretty hot.  Not any too hot for a fireman to stay there.

Q.  Did you notice some barns on this side of the alley? (indicating the north side)

A.  Yes sir, and on the corner was a building.

Q.  Was this on fire?

A.  Not yet.

(Examination continued by the Commissioners)

Q.  At the time you got back, was there still no stream?  [189]

A.  No stream here. (indicating)  I went in here again.  The first stream I saw came in about through here. (indicating)  I think that was the Giant's stream.  There was gangways between all the houses except there was two pretty close together so that you could not get through.

Q.  Now the Illinois, Waubansia and the Economy, you say, led[clix] in through these streets.  Which was the first to get water on?

A.  I do not know.  I guess the Chicago got it before some of them, but I do not know.  There was three streams  ____________ [come??] in from the south side.[clx]  I think it was them engines; I am pretty sure it was.

Q.  Do you know where the Illinois stood when she went to work?

A.  No, I could not tell for sure.  I think it was standing on Jefferson Street above the fire.

Q.  That is where the Giant stood.[clxi] [190] 

A.  That is not what I saw.  It was above.  I think she stood up there.[clxii]

 

 

[191]

Lewis Fiene Sworn

(11th Witness)

November 25, 1871[clxiii]

Examination by Mr. Sherida)

I am foreman of Hook and Ladder No. 2.[clxiv]

Q.  How long have you been in the department?

A.  A little over three years.

Q.  Where is the truck located?

A.  On Jefferson, a little north of Van Buren.

Q.  Were you at the house when the alarm for this fire came in?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About what time was that?

A.  About half past nine Sunday night.

Q.  You turned out immediately to the fire, did you?

A.  Yes sir.  We got a still alarm for it first.

Q.  State your recollection of what happened first when you arrived at the fire and what condition you found the [192] fire.

A.  At half past nine a man came to the door and hollered "fire!" and said there was a fire.  Part of us had gone to bed and some were sitting up yet.  We run downstairs and hitched up and while we were hitching up, the gong commenced to strike.[clxv]  We went

outdoors before the gong got through with the first round.   While we were opening the door, a man came to us and said there was a grocery store on fire--corner of Clinton and Jackson Streets.   We run up that way about a block north and run out of our way a little.  When we got to the corner of Jackson and Jefferson, we saw the fire south.[clxvi]

Q.  Did you go north when you started out of the house?

A.  Yes sir.  We went north [193] as far as Jackson.  We went up Clinton Street as far as Polk.

Q.  This is Jefferson Street?  (showing diagram)

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  This is De Koven?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  I presume here was located some buildings. ("A")  Here was a small alleyway (marked "B") and here is an alley in the rear of this building (marked "C").  Which way did you go in from Jefferson Street?

A.  We run up Jefferson Street and stopped about there (Marked "D").

Q.  You came in through the alley?

A.  No sir.  We came up Jefferson Street from Polk.  Came up Jefferson Street and stopped right around there at the alley (Marked "D").

[194]

Q.  Did anyone go into the alley?

A.  Yes sir.  We all did.

Q.  Then what did you do?

A.  There was a barn standing here  ("C").  I went through this barn ("Q") and there was a fence ("E").   The shed that was on fire, to the best of my knowledge, was standing back a little to one side.   I went through there and chopped a hole through the fence.  And while we went through there the Giant men came up with the water.

Q.  The Giant led in from De Koven Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was that the first stream on the fire?

A.  Yes.

Q.  You are positive that when you got there there was that one building on fire, in the middle of the three barns?

A.  I am pretty positive that that was the only one afire at [195] that time ("F")[clxvii]

Q.  You must have passed through this one ("Q") to have got into that?

A.  I did.

Q.  If that wasn't on fire, you would know it sure?

A.  Yes, that wasn't on fire.  I don't know about any barn being there ("G").   I do not think there was a barn there.

Q.  By Mr. Williams)  Was there any barn on the opposite side of the alley?

A.  Yes sir.   Right opposite these 

Q.  Where did you go to when you went into the yard?

A.  I went into the yard and chopped a hole through the fence.  Then the Giant came and then I went back to the truck and got a small ladder and put it up to this barn where I got throug[h].   It was not on fire.  I thought it probably might get afire and I [196] would have the ladder there handy.  We didn't use the ladder.

Q.  Was there any possibility of your pulling down this building at the time you got there?

A.  I don't know.   We might pull it down.

Q.  What sort of a barn was it?

A.  It was a board barn.

Q.  One story?

A.  No sir.   The barn I went through was two story.  The other one, I think, was one story.

Q.  It would have not been a very hard matter to pull down a one story frame barn.

A.  No sir, it is not.

Q.  You didn't make any attempts that way?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was there any windows or doors in it?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was there any hay in it?

A.  There was in the barn I went through.  The barn that was on fire was burning [197] so I couldn't tell whether there was or not.  It was all ablaze.

Q.  Was it pretty hot in the alley?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How close could you get to that barn when  it was on fire?

A.  I could get within six or seven feet of it.  That is to stand there a little while, not very long.

Q.  You say the Giant's stream went in here ("E")?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where did you go to there?

A.  Went back to get a ladder.

Q.  Where did you put up the ladder?

A.  In front of the barn where I went through from the alley and took it down afterwards because it was in the way.

Q.  Did you notice any fire on the north side of the alley?

A.  No sir.  Not when we got there.

Q.  How soon afterwards?

[198]

A.  I think there was fire on the other side of the alley.  Within five minutes I could not tell exactly how soon there was a fire on the other side of the alley.

Q.  How soon after you got there did the Giant arrive?

A.  I think the Giant was there before us, but I could not tell positive because I didn't see them.  Just as soon as we got there, we got off the truck and run in where the fire was.  The first I saw of them was when I run through the fence.

Q.  Were you or the fireman first there?

A.  I think the fireman was in there first.

Q.  How [soon] before you got in there was the fireman there?

A.  It might have [been] a second or a minute.

Q.  That was all?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did you notice any stream playing when you went in?

[199]

A.  When we went in there was no stream on there.

Q.  How soon after you got there was there a stream on the fire?

A.  Just as soon as I got there, the water came.  When I got through the fence, the water came through the hose.

Q.  Was it a pretty good stream or rather light?

A.  They most generally have a good stream.   I couldn't exactly say.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did they change the stream around the barn?

A.  Yes sir.  We changed it around in the barn.  Because I helped them light up, I know.

Q.  Did they play on the fire from the south side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  On the barn that was on fire?

A.  Yes sir.

[200]

Q.  How long do you think before the other barns in that vicinity got on fire?

A.  It might have [been] five or ten minutes.  I think the barn where I went was afire in much less time [than] that.[clxviii]  It got on fire very quick, so I could not exactly say.

Q.  You are very confident that there was but one barn on fire when you got there?[clxix]

A.  I am very confident there was nothing more on fire at that time.

Q.  You are certain you and your company were the first in the alleyway?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You had broken down the fence and got into the yard between the barn and the house of Leary before the stream of the Giant came?

A.  Yes sir.   There was no stream on the fire when we got there.

Q.  Didn't you just state that  [201] as soon as you got through the fence the water came?

A.  Yes sir, I did.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) I understood you to say you helped the Giant light up the hose.  [the word "light" appears to be correct; I should find out what it means]

A.  _______________  (changed??) around from one barn to the other.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) Then there was two of them on fire?

A.  Afterwards, yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams) Did they light the pipe up into the barn?

A.  I couldn't exactly say whether they did.

Q.  When they came from De Koven Street with their lead of hose, what happened then?

A.  They played on a barn just as soon as they got in on the barn that was on fire and the other one as much as they could.  There was only stream for quite awhile then.  

Q.  Why did you light up that hose and go away from these three that were then on fire?

[202]

A.  When this other barn where I went through--when that got on fire, we led through that barn into the alley and just at the same time the barns on the other side of the alley.  Then the barns on the other side of the alley got on fire, too.  The Giant's lead was there and they tried to keep them from catching so they[clxx] led back and forward from one place to another to keep it cooled down.

Q.  Had any of the houses got afire then?

A.  On De Koven Street, I think that [they] caught about the same time that the barns did.

Q.  How with the houses on Taylor?

A.  On Taylor Street they had not caught then, but the barns got a pretty good headway and caught the roofs of the houses.

Q.  Pretty quick?

A.  Yes  It began to catch very [203] quick.

Q.  Was the wind blowing strong at that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then do I understand you, they led out here in the narrow alley and through this barn into this alley into the rear?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  To play upon this building?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How did they get back again?

A.  Same way the[y] came in.

Q.  Through the burning barn?

A.  The barn wasn't burning a great deal.  They led back before the barn got on fire.  So they could not get back.

Q.  They went back on to De Koven Street?

A.  Went back and played on the buildings.  All of them had got pretty well afire at that time.  And they led back and played from one place to another to keep it cooled down.

[204]

Q.  Where did your men go then?

A.  Our men were working around there around in the burning houses and barns, from one place to another.

Q.  Did you have occasion to put up any ladders?

A.  Yes sir.   There was a two story and a half building.  It was very tall and we put up a ladder on there.  The roof got afire and the Giant men went up there for a little while.  We put up a ladder and then we ran away again to see what else we could do at some other place.  I believe we went up there on the house and put it out once, but it caught again.

Q.  Where was that house?

A.  That house was, I believe, between Leary's house and the house on the corner.

Q.  West of Leary's house?

A.  Yes sir.

[205]

Q.  Fronts south?

A.  Fronts west on Jefferson Street.  Corner of De Koven, there was a long row, and between Mrs. Leary's house and that building there was a big two story and a half house.

Q.  The first from the block of buildings on the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson?

A.  Yes sir.  That is a row.

Q.  Is that the house you speak of?

A.  That is east of it.  That is fronting south.  The row of buildings, they were fronting west.[clxxi]  We put a ladder on that house.[clxxii]

Q.  _________    ___________ the row taking fire?   (Maybe this sentence should read:  "Did you [see] the row taking fire).

A.  Yes, I was up there.   Mr. Benner told me to go up there and keep that row from catching fire.    I went up there and there was a lot of citizens around there and they were willing to help and we got a whole lot of pails up  __________ (threw??) [206]  (I think the sentence should read:  "...we got a whole lot of pails up [and] threw some 10 or 12 pails on the roof....")

some ten or twelve pails on the roof and kept the cornices from burning.  We kept them from burning.  Just as soon as a spark came up, we put it out.    All at once it caught from below somewhere and the whole building was on fire in a very short time.

Q.  From the inside?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did they get a stream up on top of that?

A.  I don't know.   I couldn't say anything about the stream.  When the building caught afire, I came down and run around on  Taylor Street and helped the men with the hose from one place to another, helped them light up.

Q.  What portion of that was where Benner ordered you to go?

A.  Right by the alley.

Q.  Corner block?

[207]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was this barn adjoining Leary's [to the] west very long?  Did it run much into the depth of the lot?

A.  No.

Q.  You spoke of a block of buildings being here, some five  fronting on Jefferson St.[clxxiii]

A.  Yes sir.  There was stores below and tenements on top.  It was on the corner.  There was the house  ("N").  I succeeded in putting out the fire in the cornices and on the top.  That is all I could see, and all at once it came up from below, and I saw the whole under part on fire and then I came down.  I went around and looked for Mr. Benner and I could not find him at that time to get a stream there.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I wish you to explain whether that fire [208] caught underneath of you or some other portion of the building.

A.  It caught near the corner of Jefferson and De Koven Street.  It didn't catch right under me.  It caught south of me.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  About how far south?

A.  It might [have been] twenty-five or thirty feet south of me.  I had a chance to put out the whole building on the top.   Because it was a flat roof, I could go from one place to another and put it out.  My attention was mostly near the alley.

Q.  Do you think that fire in the building could have caught from the fire in the barn?

A.  No sir.  It could not possibly have caught from the barn being on fire.

Q.  The wind was blowing from that building towards the burning barn?

A.  Yes sir.

[209]

Q.  Did the ___________________ blow in a southwest direction? (Note:  maybe this sentence should read:  "Did the [wind] uniformly[clxxiv] blow in a southwest direction?")

A.  Yes sir.   It blew southwest.

Q.  I will ask you whether you observed anything like the twisting about of the wind, whirling about, whether sparks were not carried in a direction different from the general course of the wind.

A.  I could not exactly tell after _______   _________  (some nine??) buildings got afire.  There was a whirl in all directions.

Q.  You had Babcocks on the hook and ladder truck?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you use them that night?

A.  Yes sir.  We used one of _______ (mine?  them?) on that building where I set up the ladder.    We used a Babcock on there and put out the roof. 

Q.  Did you succeed in doing anything?

A.  Hugo Franzen[clxxv]  used it [210] there and said he put out what he said he had to.

Q.  Do you know when the fire crossed from the West to the South Side?

A.  No sir.   I could not tell.

Q.  Did you see it when it crossed?

A.  No sir   I didn't see it cross.

Q.  How long after the Giant got there was it before any other engine got there to your knowledge or got a stream on that fire?

A.  I couldn't say.  There was streams leading in from south of the fire and from west of the fire.  There was the Chicago that led in there soon after.  I don't know how soon they got a stream on.

Q.  Where did the Chicago lead from, from the north or west?

A.  Led from Jefferson Street west of the fire.

Q.  How did they come?

A.  They went one block further [211] north from Taylor Street.  That is Forquer Street.  Corner of Forquer and Jefferson Street.  Had a plug there.

Q.  Did they come down Taylor?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Led down Taylor and fought the fire here ("I")?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How many leads do you know were on Adams Street at that time?

(Examination by Mr. Benner)

Q.  You were speaking.  You was assisting the Giant's pipe.  Was that the time that the pipe was taken out to the sidewalk and passed in between that fence and there was a large two story building clear back into the alley.   When you led through there, you stated that you passed out of this barn into the alley?

[212]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  To try to cool down this building which had then got afire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then did you pass back again?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You went out on De Koven Street?

A.  We didn't go out on De Koven Street.  I helped to light that back to the barn.  They stayed there and played on the building.

Q.  (By Sheridan) How far do you think it was from the barn?

A.  From fifty to seventy-five.  Might have been from fifty to sixty feet.

Q.  (By S_________)(Sheridan??)  How far does Leary's barn stand back from the sidewalk?

A.  I believe something like eight or ten feet.  I'm not positive about it[clxxvi]

Q.  (By S________  --Sheridan??)  How long is his house, do you think? [213]

A.  I don't know exactly Leary's house.  I don't know whether it was a large house.  There was a shanty standing there.  I thought that was Leary's house.

Q.  The one that is still standing there is the one?

A.  That shanty.

Q.  (By S_______)  (Sheridan??)  Well, it is built in house shape, in two sections[clxxvii]

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I want to ask whether Mr. Leary's house wasn't afire at the time we moved the stream of the Giant.

A.  I think it was.

[214]

Q.  Have you any recollection of playing on Leary's house there?

A.  No sir, I do not know.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Have you any idea how long before we moved that stream, Leary's house was on fire?  When it got on fire?

A.  I think when we moved the stream into the fire that Leary's house was not on fire, but when we moved back I found it was on fire.  Leary's house and the house next to it.[clxxviii]  

Q.  That is the shanty that is now standing?

A.  Yes sir.

(Examination by Mr. Benner)

Q.  Was that on fire, did you __________ on fire at all.

A.  I think there was fire on Leary's house at the time.

Q.  Was the large two story house on fire at the time?[clxxix]

A.  I believe it was.

Q.  When we took the stream in the first place into the alley?

A.  No sir.  It was not on fire then.

Q.  How far was you from the [215] fire at the time?

A.  I guess ten or fifteen feet away from it.

Q.  Didn't you recollect of seeing the pipe turned so as to strike the two story building before we went into the alley?

A.  I think I did.

Q.  Do you know whether the house was on fire at the time or not?

A.  The roof was on fire.  I remember by their turning the stream and playing on it.

Q.  That is before we went into the alley.

A.  Yes sir.  That is the house just west of Leary's.[clxxx]

Q.  Did you notice at the time whether there was any building east of Leary's before or didn't you notice at all?

A.  No sir, I did not take notice.

Q.  You don't know whether there was any fire west of it at the time or not?[clxxxi]

A.  No sir.

Q. (By Marshal Williams)

[216]

What time did you take up on Sunday after the Saturday night's fire?

A.  The hook and ladder engine was sent home sometime in the morning and stayed home, but we worked around in the lumber piles overhauling lumber, putting out the dock.  I got a skiff over there and put out the dock.  I think we went away from there Sunday afternoon, somewhere two or three o'clock--half past three, something like that.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Did you help to get carts out of the river, coal carts and that sort of thing?

A.  No sir, all we done was put out the dock and overhaul lumber piles.

Q.  Did you go home to the engine house?

A.  Yes sir.   While we were working that, there was another alarm come in from the South Side and we went over there.

[217]

Q.  What box was that?

A.  I think box 28.

Q.  What time did that box come in?

A.  Afternoon, I believe, one o'clock, somewhere there, I cannot remember.

Q.  Did not box 28 come in the evening somewhere about seven o'clock or half past?[clxxxii]

A.  I do not remember exactly what time.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Had you been home to your house?

A.  We had been home to dinner.

(Examination by Mr Williams)

Q.  Had you been home to your truck house?

A.  We just met the truck on the corner of Clinton and Van Buren Streets.

Q.  When you got back from 28?

A.  No sir.  We were working there yet when the alarm came in.  We ran towards the house to get the truck.

Q.  Did I understand you to say you were relieved from your [218] duties and went home half past two or three o'clock in the afternoon Sunday?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  Went home.

Q.  Home to the truck house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you remain there until box 28 came in?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You do not know what time box 28 did come in?

A.  I don't know exactly what time it did come in.

Q.  Wasn't it dark when box 28 came in?

A.  No sir.  it was not dark when this alarm came in.  When we were relieved there we went back to the truck house and stayed there.

(Examination by the Commissioners)

Q.  Until what time?

A.  Sunday evening, when this other alarm came in.

Q.  Do you think it was not after [219] dark?

A.  When box 28 came in?

Q.  Yes.

A.  I don't think it was dark then.

(Examination by Mr Schank)

Q.  Didn't I send Sunday afternoon between three and four o'clock up to your house to send some men down to overhaul some lumber?

A.  Yes sir, I believe somebody sent up.

Q.  How many men came down?

A.  I know I came down, for one.

Q.  Didn't two come down?

A.  There was two came down and overhauled some boards that got afire but we went over there and it was all out.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Wasn't there a miserable light from the burning so it was pretty hard to tell when it was dark?

A.  The fire was pretty well out except the ruins and smoke.

(Examination by Mr. Williams)

[220]

Q.  Didn't you meet your truck when you went to box 28?

A.  Yes sir.   We met our truck on the corner of Clinton and Van Buren.  We ran her over to the fire.

Q.  How far did you go to box 28?

A.  Went down as far as Clark Street.[clxxxiii]

Q.  Went home to your truck house then?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you remain there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Until 342 came in? 

A.  Yes sir.

(Examination by the Commissioners)

Q.  Did you have any supper that night?

A.  Yes sir.  I lived pretty near opposite the engine house.[clxxxiv]  I had my supper.

Q.  Do you know whether any of the men hadn't had their supper at that time?

A.  They all had time to get their supper before then  alarm came in.

Q.  Do you know whether some of them went to bed or not?

A.  No sir.  I didn't hear anybody say [221] that.

Q.  From this time that you was relieved from working at the dock and then you went back to the house--during the time that you stayed in the house, did you know of any liquor being in the house?

A.  There was no liquor in the house.

Q.  Did you see anybody drinking at all?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you see any of your company drunk during the fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Any time during the fire?

A.  No sir.  I didn't see anybody drunk.

Q.  Any officer of the fire department or men?

A.  No sir.  I didn't see any of them drunk.

Q.  Do you know of any liquor used during the progress of the fire by any of the men?

A.  I do not.  I did not see any and I did not hear of any [222] liquor used at all.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Did you go home directly after putting out that fire at the dock with the Babcock that afternoon of Sunday?

A.  Yes sir.  I believe I did.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Do you know what time it was?

A.  No I don't.  It was in the evening sometime when we were ordered from there and then me and Frank[clxxxv] went back when Schank  sent for us.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you have any dinner on Sunday?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know what time it was when you went to dinner?

A.  I could not tell.  I do not recollect.

 

[223]

                                                       Catharine McLaughlin sworn

                                                              November 25, 1871

                                                                  (12th Witness)

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  DeKoven Street, 137.

Q.  Do you own the house?

A.  No sir.  It was Pat Leary’s house.  I lived in the house the fire took place in.  In the front of it.  He lived in the rear part of it.

Q.  The fire took place in the barn in the rear of that?

A.  Yes sir.  They say so now.

Q.  Are you still living there?

A.  No sir.  I left there two days after the fire.  As soon as I got a place to go, I left.

Q.  What is your husband’s name?

A.  Patrick McLaughlin.

Q.  What is his business?

A.  He used to work on the railroad.  He is working in a foundry on Canal Street now.

Q.  Have you a family?

A.  Yes sir.  A child, five years old, the twenty-third of [224] February.

Q.  Do you know anything about the time the fire commenced on the night of October 8th?

A.  No sir.  I do not know anything about the fire more than you.  Some persons came to the door and hollered “fire,” and just when they came there, I went and opened the door and turned and looked back in Leary’s yard and heard them holler and say that Pat Leary’s barn was on fire.[clxxxvi]  I went out and saw that Pat Leary’s barn was on fire and Mr. Dalton’s house.  I went in and told my brother to pick up my child; and he took one armful of my clothes across the road; and as I went over across the road, I fainted and did not know anything more about the fire.  I never went back again to bring a thing out.

Q.  How many people were there [225] in your apartment at the time the fire commenced?

A.  To the best of my knowledge, I think there was seven or eight boys and two girls.  There was a greenhorn brother of mine there--

Q.  You mean a man just come from Ireland?

A.  Yes sir.  And Sunday evening and of course the cousins and neighbors of mine came in to see him.

Q.  You had seven or eight persons beside your own family?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Men and women?

A.  Only two girls.

Q.  Did you have music there that evening?

A.  Yes sir.  My husband played two times[clxxxvii] on the fiddle, that was all.  There was one a brother of mine and another lady danced a polka.  That is all that was played.

Q.  That was all that you had time to play before the fire?

A.  No sir.  The fire, so far as [226] I can think, was not for a half hour afterward.  My husband didn’t feel very well.  He was not up all day.  He got up about half past eight o’clock.  I called him up.  He was just after going to bed.

Q.  Will you give the names of all these persons who were there at the house that evening?

A.  Dan Talbot.  There was George Lewis.  Talbot lives on Jefferson Street, corner of Jefferson and Bunker. 

Q.  What is his business?

A.  Works on the boats.  I do not know what he does do.

Q.  What is the name of the second one?

A.  George Lewis.  He lives on Polk Street.  I could not tell whereabouts on Polk, up near Aberdeen some place.

Q.  What business does he do?

A.  Engineer in a coffee mill.

Q.  Whose coffee mill?

A.  I really could not tell.  I don’t know what street it is on.  I think it is [227] McLaughlin or Coughlin.[clxxxviii]

Q.  On the West Side or South?

A.  On the South.

Q.  Is he working there now?

A.  I do not know whether he is working.  They got burned down there.  I do not know whether they are built up or not yet.

Q.  Who is the next?

A.  Johnny Stanley.

Q.  Where does he live?

A.  I really don’t know where he lives.  Someplace up on Eighteenth Street.  I do not know the number or the name of the street.

Q.  What is his business?

A.  Carpenter, I guess.

Q.  What is the next?

A.  There was John Riley.

Q.  Where does he live?

A.  He boards over on Fourth Avenue.  I think it is there he boards.

Q.  What is his business?

A.  He was a carpenter.  I do not know whether he is now or not. [228]

Q.  What is the next?

A.  Richard Russell.

Q.  What business does he do?

A.  Does nothing now.  He is sick since the fire.

Q.  Where does he live?

A.  Forquer Street, between Desplaines and Halsted.[clxxxix]

Q.  Who else?

A.  I guess that is all.

Q.  Who were the women?

A.  Alice Riley and Mary Needham.  She is not here now; she is in Michigan.[cxc]

Q.  Where does Alice Riley live?

A.  On the West Side someplace.  I do not know where.

Q.  A sister of this John Riley, a carpenter?

A.  First cousin of his.  She is an acquaintance of mine these three years. 

Q.  Did any of this party go out of your house during the evening?

A.  Of course I do not know that I could not say whether they did or not.  If I was going dead ’fore God, [229] I could not tell whether they went out or not.

Q.  Did you go out yourself?

A.  No sir, I didn’t since nightfall.  Just at nightfall I went out.

Q.  Did you have anything to eat or drink there?

A.  No sir, not a bit.  I didn’t cook a bit from noontime Sunday until Tuesday evening.  I will tell you how it happened.  We were invited to supper at Mr. Talbot’s.

Q.  Sunday night?

A.  Yes sir.  My husband went to bed Sunday night on account of being up two nights before and didn’t get up till half past eight, and I didn’t get supper for him.  I hadn’t a fire in the stove from Sunday at two o’clock until Monday till three or four.

Q.  You don’t know whether any of these persons went outdoors for any purpose during the time that this [230] company was there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you make any tea or coffee during the time?

A.  No sir.  If I did, of course I should have started the stove.  Not a mouthful of victuals ever came there that evening before God this day.

Q.  Were these parties at your place at the time the fire broke out?

A.  Yes sir.  They were in there in my house at the time the fire broke out.

Q.  None of them had gone home at that time?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Where did the fire appear to commence?

A.  It seemed to commence with Leary’s barn.  I knew the folks.[cxci]  When they came in and hollered, “fire,” said that Leary’s barn was on fire, and whether it was there that it commenced or not, I could not say.

Q.  Did you get out immediately [231] and look?

A.  The very minute they hollered, “fire,” I went out.  I looked back and saw Leary’s barn on fire and the back part of Mr. Dalton’s house.

Q.  Can you tell about what part of the barn took fire?

A.  I could not tell.  I didn’t mind that.  I just looked around and saw the blaze.  I turned in and hollered to my brother to pick up my child, and I went across the street and fainted.[cxcii]  I could not tell anymore.

Q.  Did you hear or know or believe any particular thing connected with the fire or the origin of it?

A.  No sir.  I do not nor do I believe that hardly anyone living can tell how it commenced.

Q.  Were there any other places where boys or grown-up people congregated that night in that vicinity? [232]

A.  No sir.

Q.  Were boys in the habit of congregating in a barn in the vicinity, do you know?[cxciii]

A.  No sir.  I did not hear it.  I will tell you how it is.  There is a kind of open place there and there was two barns there.

Q.  How long had you lived there?

A.  I lived there two years, I guess, and one month.  This November was two years.

Q.  You got along pleasantly with Mrs. Leary?

A.  Yes sir.  An honester woman I never would ask to live with.

Q.  Did your husband help to keep down the fire on Mrs. Leary’s house?

A.  Yes sir.  He did all night.  He got a cold too, and the boys [helped] with keeping it down.  There was six or seven working on the house.

Q.  Did you see any fire engines come to the place? [233]

A.  Yes sir.  I did.

Q.  Did any of them play on Mrs. Leary’s house?

A.  They did once or twice, to the best of my knowledge, twice.

Q.  At the time you went outdoors, did you notice the fire engines?

A.  No sir.  There was an engine in a few minutes, corner of Jackson and DeKoven.[cxciv]

Q.  About how long a time after you went outdoors and saw the barn on fire and Mr. Dalton’s house did you see a fire engine come?

A.  I could not say.  It was some minutes.

Q.  Do you know that it was five minutes?

A.  I think it was more, about ten minutes.

Q.  The time seems long at such times.

A.  Yes sir.  It seems long and seems short.  One gets frightened and doesn’t know how it goes.

Q.  Do you know anything more about this fire? [234]

A.  No sir.  I do not.

Q.  Anything of interest or information in the management of it?

A.  No sir.  I know no more of it.

Q.  Do you know whether Mrs. Leary was ever in the habit of going in their barn after night?

A.  No sir.  I really do not know.  I lived in the front of the house.  They might or they might not.  I was never in the habit of going back in the night.

Q.  Did Mrs. Leary generally do the milking?

A.  Yes sir.  Mrs. Leary used to do the milking about five o’clock.[cxcv]

Q.  Did ever any of your family help her?

A.  No sir.  I had no one to help her out myself that night.  I never put my hand near a cow in my life.  I am going nine years in America and have never [235] milked a cow since I have been here.

Q.  You didn’t tell the name of these persons who went out, if any.  Who did, if anyone?[cxcvi]

A.  There was no one came out of my house during the fire.[cxcvii]

Q.  Previous to that time?

A.  I do not know if the boys got in before the house got afire. I could not really say.  I do not know whether they were in my house then or whether they got in before then or not.  They came into the house and went back to save their things.

Q.  Do you know whether they were in before or not?

A.  No sir.  I could not say.

Q.  What three boys were these?[cxcviii]

A.  Denny Connors[cxcix] and Willie Lewis and Johnny Ryan.[cc] I think them is the three boys.

Q.  Boys or young men? [236]

A.  Young men.[cci]

Q.  Did I understand you to say there was a porch on the back side of the house that you could go back and look out?[ccii]

A.  I lived five or six steps going up in the doorway.  In front there was a little partition you could stand and look back just back of the door. 

Q.  You went out to the end of that porch and looked back?

A.  I went and looked over the side.  It was a kind of a little stoop.

Q.  Which way did you look?

A.  I looked straight.  I heard them holler “fire” and I saw Leary’s barn blazing, and part of Mr. Dalton’s house was burning at that time.

Q.  You hadn’t seen any firemen about there at that time?

A. No sir.  There was no one that I could see at that [237] time.

Q.  Hadn’t heard anybody break down the fence in that back yard?

A.  No sir, not one.  In fact, they could break down all the fences in the world after I looked the second time and saw the fire and I not know it.

Q.  Was there a door in your apartment leading back to the yard?

A.  No sir.  The whole house was by itself.  It is separated between the houses.

Q.  You had access to the yard through the narrow alley?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Ain’t you the privilege of the yard?

A.  Yes sir.  From the division there was between our house and Dalton’s.

Q.  You didn’t live in the front part of Mr. Dalton’s?

A.  Mrs. Leary’s.

Q.  Between Mrs. Leary’s house and Dalton’s house?  [238]

A.  There was a way to go right through, a large passage.

Q.  Enough to roll in a barrel of flour?

A.  Yes sir, a good deal wide.

Q.  Between Mr. Dalton’s house and Mr. Leary’s?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  There is a fence between the two houses?

A.  I could not tell whether it was Mrs. Leary or Dalton that owned the fence.

Q.  Was there a fence there?

A.  Yes sir.  There was a board fence going betwixt them. 

Q.  There was a little alleyway running alongside of Mrs. Leary’s house going back to the yard?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About how far from the house was Mrs. Leary’s barn?

A.  I really could not say.

Q.  As near as you could guess.

A.  I guess it must be over forty feet.  I could not tell you.  I think it must be about forty feet or [239] more, that is, from the entrance off the street to where the barn was.[cciii]  Her door reached out upon the side of Mr. Dalton’s fence, I might say.[cciv]

Q.  Did you say that Mr. Dalton’s house was on fire?

A.  Yes sir.  The back part of their house.  The summer kitchen.

Q.  Was their barn on fire, too?

A.  I did not see their barn.  They had no barn.[ccv]  Mr. Forbes had a barn back of that.

Q.  Mr. Forbes’s house was on the other side of Leary’s house?

A.  Mr. Dalton, who is next to Leary’s, and Forbes next to that.

Q.  I suppose this was Leary’s house and that Dalton’s house? (“a”)

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was there an alleyway between them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  On the line of which house [240] was this fence?

A.  It was on Dalton’s.

Q.  In the line with the side of Dalton’s house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  There was no fence on this side of Leary’s house?

A.  No sir.[ccvi]

Q.  Where did you go when you left the house?

A.  That morning?

Q.  That evening.  After the alarm of fire, did you leave the house?

A.  Yes sir.  I went right across the road.

Q.  To Mrs. Sullivan’s?

A.  No sir.  I went across the road where there was a vacant lot.  We all went there.[ccvii]

Q.  You stood there and watched the fire?

A.  Of course I didn’t watch the fire.  I wasn’t able.

Q.  You fainted?

A.  Yes sir.  I didn’t take anything out of my house, only one armful of clothes.  They brought them out, of [241] course.  They were not much good to me when they did bring them.  They were all broken and torn.

Q.  You say the engine was stationed here on this corner of the streets? (“i”)

A.  Yes sir.  It was stationed on the corner near Turner’s building. 

Q.  You are quite certain that no person left the house to bring in refreshments of any kind?

A.  No sir.  There was no one left the house.  Only one man went out and got a half-gallon of beer or two half-gallons, I don’t know which.[ccviii]

Q.  Did you hear anything said by the parties about having an oyster supper that night at your house?

A.  Yes sir.  I heard a report about it.

Q.  Did you hear it that night?

A.  No sir, not a word.  There [242] was no talk of oysters.

Q.  Did you hear anything said about going out to get milk for the purpose of making milk punch?

A.  No sir.  That is a thing I never had in my life in my house.  No kind of liquor or whiskey.

Q.  You said a man did go out and get a half-gallon of beer?[ccix]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  And brought it in?

A.  Yes sir, and brought it right in.

Q.  Once or twice?

A.  Upon my word, I could not say.  I know he brought one half-gallon into the house.  I do not know but he did twice.  I am not sure.

Q.  What is the girl’s name that has gone to Michigan?

A.  Mary Needham.  She has gone to Michigan or Wisconsin, I don’t know which.

Q.  Do you know of your [243] own knowledge whether Mrs. Leary saved anything out of her barn?

A.  No sir.  To my own knowledge she didn’t save anything out of her barn excepting a calf.

Q.  Alive?

A.  Alive, and one cow was out.  She was not in the barn.  I do not know whether she is sickly or not.  She was saved.

Q.  Have they found that cow yet?

A.  I don’t know anything about that.

 

 

[244]

                                                              November 25, 1871

                                                              Patrick Leary sworn

                                                                  (13th Witness)

                                                     Examination by commissioners

 

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  DeKoven Street.

Q.  The house that wasn’t burnt?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  On the north side of DeKoven Street, fronting south?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is the number?

A.  137.

Q.  Do you know anything about the fire?  Where it commenced Sunday night, October 8th?

A.  No.  I do not, more than a man that never saw it.

Q.  Don’t you know where it began?

A.  No sir.  I could not tell.

Q.  Whose building did it begin in?

A.  That is more than I can tell because I was in bed when the fire commenced.

Q.  What was the progress of [245] the fire when you first saw it?  How far had it burned?

A.  It was my own barn.

Q.  Any other building on fire?

A.  That is more than I can tell because it was lighting so strong when I got up.

Q.  Was there anybody else’s house on fire when you got up?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Dalton’s?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know whether it was on fire or not?

A.  No sir.  I couldn’t tell anything about it.  The fire was too strong when I got [up].  The fire was too strong when I got up.

Q.  Didn’t you get up on top of your house and try to protect it?

A.  Yes sir.  But this barn was burned down.  The whole inside was burned out.

Q.  Just state what you did as soon as you found out that your barn was on fire. [246]

A.  Dan Sullivan is the first that called me out of bed,[ccx] and I saw my own barn burning and couldn’t get near it. I [turned?] in and put the children in the street as fast as I could.  That is all I have to say about the fire.

Q.  Didn’t you do anything else?

A.  Then when I had the children out, I went and was pouring water on my own little house until one o’clock at night.

Q.  It didn’t take you long to take the children out?

A.  Not very long.

Q.  Then you went to work to save your little [blank]?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  When you went and put water on, was there any building on fire?

A.  Yes sir.  The whole block from that to Jefferson.

Q.  How many buildings should you think there was on fire then? [247]

A.  Be--  That is more than I can tell.  I will tell you the reason why.   I commenced to get the children out, and I couldn’t see anything but the fire.

Q.  Just about the time you began to put water on with the buckets, did you see any engines playing on the fire?

A.  No engines didn’t play a bit.  I can’t tell the reason why only one little [splash?] they gave on it.   The people came and asked me what company I was insured in.  I said I wasn’t insured in any company, and damned a stream did they put on it.  It was burning in spite of the whole of it, only just they were quenching the other houses as fast as they could.  Of course there was an engine there.  I couldn’t tell what time she came there.  They gave it two or three [248] splashes.

Q.  They were trying to put the fire out in other buildings.

A.  Yes sir.  They were.

Q.  Doing their best to stop the fire.

A.  Yes sir.  I suppose so.  They didn’t trouble me much.  They didn’t help me anyway.  My little shanty wasn’t worth much.  They didn’t care much about it.

Q.  Did the fire burn any south of DeKoven Street?  Did any building catch afire on the south side?

A.  No, they didn’t.  It went very near it.  The people were throwing water on top of their houses all the time.

Q.  Did your house catch fire?

A.  Yes sir.  Even the rafters were burning.

Q.  Didn’t the firemen put water on your house during the fire?

A.  They did on the taller end.[ccxi] [249]

Q.  They probably saw that your house was not in much danger.

A.  Yes sir.  They had enough that could be saved.  My house wasn’t worth much anyway.

Q.  Don’t know anything about how the fire commenced?

A.  No sir.  I do not know anything about it.

Q.  Do you have, in consideration of all the circumstances, any belief of how the fire commenced?

A.  No sir.  If I was to be hanged for it, I don’t know who done it.

Q.  What time did you go to bed that night?

A.  The woman went to bed between eight and half past eight, as near as I could judge.

Q.  Did you get to bed before her?

A.  I did.  I was in bed before her.

Q.  Was you asleep when the alarm was given? [250]

A.  I was indeed.  If I was up sooner, I could save my horse, too.  There was no trouble in saving them.  They were tied outside;[ccxii] the two doors were open. There was only three feet of a door.  I cut half of it off.

Q.  About half the door was open?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  The lower half was closed?

A.  No, that is more than I can tell.  There was nothing in, only a little thing.  Anybody could put his hand in and open it.  The outside door was nailed back.  I wanted to give the horse and cows all the air I could.

Q.  Do you mean the back door?

A.  Yes, it was but three feet high.  There was no trouble in opening it.  There was only a little catch that you could shove in and out.  The one next to the house is nailed up so it would not shut at all.

Q.  You had room for how [251] many cows and horses in the barn?

A.  I had nine cows there last winter and a horse and all their feed.

Q.  Where did [you] put the feed?

A.  I had three or four barrels just inside the door so I keep it handy to them.

Q.  Was it a one-story or two-story barn?

A.  Fourteen feet high, twenty feet long.

Q.  Did it have any loft to it?

A.  Yes sir, and three ton of hay in it.

Q.  How wide was it?

A.  16 feet wide.

Q.  Did you have any kindling wood, shavings, or anything of that kind?

A.  Yes sir.  I had shavings in the shed and coal and wood and everything.

Q.  Do you use shavings for bedding?

A.  No sir.  I used to put a little under the horse.

Q.  Was any others about there in the habit of having shavings around their places for kindling? [252]

A.  I suppose they had.

Q.  Wasn’t it very much the habit of people about there to get shavings from the planing mill to burn?

A.  Of course. Everyone used to get them there at that time.  I saw lots of people going along with bags of shavings.

Q.  Did the wind blow pretty strong?

A.  It did blow very strong at the time.

Q.  The fire went very rapidly, didn’t it?

A.  Indeed, it went out of my sight anyway because when I was helping folks, I did not know how fast it went.

Q.  Could sparks from a house south from your barn being driven by the wind get into your barn and into those shavings?

A.  I couldn’t tell anything about that.[ccxiii]

Q.  What way was the south face of your barn constructed?

A.  The door was open all the [253] time.

Q.  Which side of the door as you went in from the house was the shavings?

A.  The right hand side.

 

[254]

                                                              November 25, 1871

                                                            Daniel Sullivan sworn

                                                                   (14th witness)

 

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  134 DeKoven Street.[ccxiv]

Q.  What is your business?

A.  I drive dray.  I am a drayman in this city for the last fifteen or sixteen years.[ccxv]  I guess the number is one hundred and thirty six, now.[ccxvi]

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin of the fire Sunday night, October 8, that there was back of Leary’s?

A.  All I know about it I will tell to you with a good free will.  When I got through with my horses, I went into my own house and sat there a little while and eat my supper.  I started right out about eight o’clock or as near as I could come to it.  I went across the street over to Leary’s and went in there.  When I got into Leary’s house, both [255] him and his wife and three young ones was in bed.  The youngest one and the oldest one was up.  I asked what was the reason they went to bed so soon, and the old woman[ccxvii] said she didn’t feel very well.  I stayed there, as near as I could think of it, very near an hour and maybe more.[ccxviii]  At that very time, he ordered the youngest one and the oldest one to bed, said that the little girl should be up early in the morning.  I went out of [the] house, went across the street on the other side of the street where I lived myself--one lot east of me--and I stayed there a little while.  There was a little house belonging to Leary that was in the front.  There was a party there, and I stayed there as long as from about twenty minutes past nine to twenty-five minutes past nine.[ccxix] [256]  Said I, “It is time for me to go in and go to bed.”  Just as I turned around, I saw a fire in Leary’s barn. I got up and run across the street and kept hollering, “fire, fire, fire.”  I couldn’t run very quick.  I could holler loud enough but could not run.  At the time I passed Leary’s house, there was nobody stirring in Leary’s house. I made right straight in the barn, thinking when I could get the cows loose, they would go out of the fire.[ccxx]  I knew a horse could not be got out of a fire unless he be blinded, but I didn’t know but cows could.  I turned to the left-hand side.  I knew there was four cows tied in that end.  I made at the cows and loosened them as quick as I could.  I got two of them loose, but the place was too hot.  I had to run when I saw the cows [257] were not getting out.  I was going along [the] right side of the wall.  The boards were wet, my legs slipped out from me, and I went down.[ccxxi]  I stood up again, and I was so close to the wall, I could hold on to something and made for the door.  Just as I got to the door, there was a Goddamned big calf come along, and the back of the calf was all afire, and Christ, I thought it was time I got out of the yard, and I got out of the yard.  As I got out of the yard, I had hold of the calf by a rope.  The calf was all burnt.  I stood and looked back at the fire as a dog will look when he is licked with a rope.  I stood by Leary’s house, and they were in bed.  A man by the name of Regan came along.  I was hollering and shoving in the door when [258] Leary came out.  He had nothing on but his pants and his shirt, and this is the way he done.  He put up his hands and scratched his head same’s he had a foot of lice in it.  He went in and called his wife and she came out and just clapped her hands together that way (indicating).

Q.  Did you see any other building on fire?

A.  Not at the very same time I got into Leary’s barn.

Q.  How long before some of them caught?

A.  The fire having broke out through Leary’s barn at that time--

Q.  It was in Leary’s barn?

A.  It was in Leary’s barn.

Q.  Hadn’t broke out of the roof, you mean?

A.  No sir, it had not.

Q.  Where did it appear to be?

A.  To the best of my knowledge, so far as I could understand it, the barn was taken fire [259] from the east end. 

Q.  That would be the right-hand side as you went into the door?

A.  Yes sir.  There was a horse tied near the door.  There was a cow tied near the other corner, the mother of this calf that I brought out of the fire.  The flames were right through the barn as I got into it.  That back door of the barn was open as I was going into the lot.  The door was same as you put sticks across to keep children from going down any high stairway.  At that time there was nobody made any alarm to wake up Leary.

Q.  When you went in from the yard, did you find the door leading from the yard into the barn open?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were these bars there?

A.  The bars, sir, was at the back door going out to the alleyway.  The door towards [260] the house was wide open.

Q.  Was the flames on your right hand side as you went in?

A.  The best I could tell, it looked on my right.  This was where the horse was tied and one cow, the mother of this calf, but the whole flames was through the barn as I got into it.

Q.  Suppose now that to be the barn (indicating on diagram).  You say that when you went in, you knew the cows were at the west end of the barn?

A.  Yes sir, four of them.

Q.  About where was the door situated?

A.  Here was the door, right within a little ways of this corner (a) and the horse stood in that end.  The cows stood in the furthest corner. (b)  On this end there was four cows tied.  That was the west end of it.

Q.  They were shut off into stalls?

A.  No, only they were all [261] tied, one by one by a rope. 

Q.  The door was here? ( c )

A.  The door was here.  ( c )  As I came in here, I went to the left where the four cows were tied.  The two cows first, that is the two I got loose.  They didn’t get out.  The flames were most through the barn altogether.

Q.  When you went in, you found the fire on your right hand?

A.  Yes sir, as near as my judgment could go.  I got kind [of] excited.  I don’t believe that there was anything between the horse and cow that was tied at that end, and I know that the calf that I brought out of the fire, I know that calf was tied the same day at the head of the cow, which was a cow that he hadn’t owned over a month before that, that he paid fifty or sixty dollars for.

Q.  You spoke of having been into Leary’s and gone out of [262] there a little while before.

A.  I was into Leary’s about eight o’clock and a few moments after, and from that until nine o’clock.

Q.  Then you went out at that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  The fire broke out about half past nine?

A.  Yes sir, from twenty to twenty-five minutes past nine.

Q.  You said you went out on the sidewalk in front of your own place?

A.  I went across the street from Leary’s place.  I lived on the other side of the street from Leary.

Q.  Did you stand there?

A.  I sat down on the sidewalk, a big high sidewalk that was there.  There was a great big high fence not as high as that door.  I sat down by that.

Q.  You spoke of a party?

A.  There was a party in front of Leary’s house.

Q.  At any time after you left [263] Leary’s before you saw the fire, did you see anybody going out and in there?

A.  Upon my word and honor, I didn’t.  I wasn’t thinking of it.  I know that everyone made an alarm, but nobody made an alarm to wake Leary up until I passed through the lot.

Q.  Have you arrived in your own mind to any conclusion from the circumstances which you saw about that fire as to how that thing took fire?

A.  I haven’t, because I will tell you the reason why.  If I had seen any sign of the fire, I wouldn’t let the fire go far.

Q.  Since that time thinking the matter over, comparing all the circumstances which you are acquainted with, have you arrived at any conclusion at all yourself?

A.  I have not.

Q.  You don’t recollect of noticing any chimney or fire about there? [264]

A.  There was not.

Q.  You would not have been likely to have seen it?

A.  There was not.  I was sitting on the sidewalk.  The corner of the fence where I was sitting down was coming out about two feet further than where my back was.

Q.  In what direction was the wind blowing at that time?

A.  As far as I could understand, the wind was blowing fair from the south.  It might not be right straight south.  It might be a little southwest.

Q.  Was you in Leary’s barn on Sunday before dark?

A.  I wasn’t in Leary’s barn at all on Sunday.  I used to go in there every evening, because my mother keeps a cow herself, and I used to go in there and bring feed.  I knew where the cows were.  I have been there in Leary’s barn hundreds of times.

Q.  Do you recollect noticing at [265] the right hand as you went in any quantity of shavings there?

A.  I didn’t, because I tell you because there was a little shed outside right up against the barn.  The south side of the barn, a little shed that was used to keep coal and things in.  It was built right up as high as the roof of the barn, but I never noticed shavings inside of the barn.

Q.  Do you remember how long after you noticed this fire before any fire engines came on the ground?

A.  Well, it was quite a while.

Q.  Can you give a definite idea in minutes of the time?

A.  I should think, so far as my understanding goes, that it was from ten to fifteen minutes.

Q.  A minute would seem pretty long when you wanted help.

A.  I didn’t leave very long for I tell you, for fear anything might catch my own [266] place.  I shoved out five horses there through an alley.  That was the first [illeg.] I done.  I lost about a hundred and twenty-five dollars worth of harness.  I know the end I [illeg.] in two houses got afire, and we saved them by the help of people.  There were people that lived east of Leary’s house.  A lot of Bohemian women.  When the fire broke through, there was more shavings than a man could haul on his back in two months.  East of Dalton’s, nearer to Clinton.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  As a general thing all around in that vicinity, there is more or less shavings?

A.  Yes, more or less.  Anything more than that, I could not tell.

Q.  Did you at the time you stood there at the sidewalk before the fire broke out, did you notice anyone going through Leary’s yard?

A.  Upon my word, I didn’t.  I was about two lots east of Leary’s [267] barn or three.  I was sitting at the head of White’s house or head of his lot.

Q.  You was on the other side of the street?

A.  I was on the other side of the street, same as if I was seated on the other side of the street here, but the party carrying [on] was in the front of Leary’s house and in McLaughlin’s.

Q.  Did you see anybody going in or out of there?

A.  I didn’t take any notice because if I had and saw anything like that, the fire would not go so far.  But the fire was breaking out the side of the barn when I first saw it.  I hollered as hard as I could holler, and I can holler pretty loud when I am outside.

Q. You say that at the end of this twenty-foot place, there was five feet more to that shed?[ccxxii]

A.  It was not the end of it.  It was the side of it, [268] the south side as you go into the yard.  I guess there was about twenty or twenty-five feet between Leary’s house and the barn.

Q.  This shed runs in this way? (d)

A.  Yes sir.  The shed was right there.

Q.  Was there any open windows in the shed in which he kept his coal and wood and shavings?[ccxxiii]

A.  The most I ever see in it anytime I went in there, they would have about a half a barrel full of shavings or a bag full and that is all.

Q.   Was there any window at this end?

A.  There was not, for the door was opening right into it.

Q.  Which side of it was the door?

A.  The south side of it.

Q.  Out of the southeast corner of that shed (indicating on diagram), [illeg.] the other shed, or out of the barn? [269]

A.  It run pretty near the whole length of the barn where they used to keep their wood and coal, just as you was going into the barn on the right hand side.  The fire was inside of the barn.   It was not in the shed.  It was not in the shed at all.  It was in the barn.

Q.  What was in the barn to burn?  Would not the boards be rather damp and moist?

A.  I suppose at the place they used to give hay to their cows and horse, there might be just the hay or something get right down where they stood.

Q.  Was it a board floor?

A.   It was a board floor.

Q.  Did the fire spread pretty rapidly from Leary’s barn?

A.  Not very rapidly.  The next thing that took afire was a barn at the west end of it.[ccxxiv]

Q.  Do you know when Dalton’s house took fire? [270]

A.  I don’t.  I didn’t keep account of it.  I went and got my horses out.

Q.  Did you see the first engine when it came there?

A.  As far as I can understand, it was from ten to fifteen minutes after I hollered “fire” before I saw the engine.

Q.  How many buildings were on fire?

A.  I do not recollect.

Q.  Was there more than one or two?

A.  There might be two barns on fire.

Q.  Do you know whether there was more or less?

A.  Well b’God, I could not tell, it might be more and it might be less.  I know two was afire.

Q.  During this time before the engines had arrived, had you succeeded in getting your horses out from your barn?

A.  I hadn’t the whole of them out.  I had two out.  I had [271] a black horse I drive myself and a big roan horse.

Q.  Did you have somebody assisting you?

A.  I hadn’t them all together.  I had four in one barn and one in another barn.  I had a black horse that I drive myself and another horse.  I took him out and a big roan horse with him.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How large was that barn of Mr. Leary’s?

A.  It was about twenty feet.[ccxxv]

Q.  There was a hay loft overhead?

A.  There was, and at the same time there was a house full of shavings that fronted on Taylor Street that nobody, so far as I can understand, had been living in it for quite awhile.  A good many of these young scoundrels living around the city used to make their home in it.

Q.  Did he have a barn in the rear of it?

A.  Yes sir.  Back up to Leary’s [272] barn.[ccxxvi]

Q.  How wide was that alley?

A.  I do not know.  It might be fourteen or fifteen feet.[ccxxvii]

Q.  The barn was in the rear of this house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Right on the line?

A.  Yes sir.  It was not a barn.  It was a big shed.

Q.  Was there any door opening into the alley?

A.  I cannot tell you.  I know the barn was opening [going?] out of the house.  Washburn’s house was right opposite Leary’s.[ccxxviii]

Q.  The alleys were not wide?

A.  Not very wide.  It is a fifteen-foot alley on the side I live on or a sixteen-foot.  I guess the alley was the same width there.[ccxxix]

Q.  Taylor Street is next north of DeKoven?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What street is next?

A.  Forquer. [273]

Q.  Then what?

A.  Ewing.

Q.  Then Mather?

A.  No, then comes Polk Street, then comes Mather Street, then comes Sebor, then comes Harrison.

Q.  The blocks there are quite short, aren’t they?

A.  Not very short.  I can tell how many lots there are in the block I live in.

Q.  What is the depth there?

A.  The lot I live on is one hundred feet and six inches.[ccxxx]

Q.  Do you know of anybody going to the box to turn the alarm?

A.  No sir, I do not.  All I know about it I have told you.  I tried to save my own things.  I knew that mother was building a new house.  Father wasn’t alive.  There were three of us boys there.  My father was buried twenty-six or twenty-seven years, and my mother never put a stepfather over us, and all we earned we saved it and bought [274] a place for her.

Q.  This is Washburn’s house? (m)

A.  The shed run on the edge of the alley. 

Q.  Did you say that shed was filled up with trash?

A.  No, I did not say anything like it.  I did not say so.  I said there was nobody living in Washburn’s house.

Q.  You say these vagrant boys that were in the habit of living about there were in the habit of congregating in that house?

A.  Yes sir.  That is what I heard.

Q.  Was it in the house or shed?

A.  I heard them say it was in the house.

Q.  Was the house open so that they could get in?

A.  I believe so.  The house has been quite awhile so, nobody living in it.

Q.   [Now?] did I understand you to [275] say that the fire was in the upper or lower portions of the barn when you went in?

A.  In the lower portion.

Q.  What seemed to be on fire?

A.  I couldn’t tell.  I got excited.

Q.  It was filled with fire?

A.  It was all smoke and fire and flames.

Q.  You could not tell whether the fire was above?

A.  No, the fire was from below.

 

 

                                                                      Volume 2

[1]

Michael W. Conway

(15th Witness)

November 25, 1871

Examined by Commissioners

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  I am.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  Pipeman of the steamer Chicago.

Q.  Located where?

A.  Jefferson near Van Buren.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin of the fire October 8 and 9?  If you don't know the origin, what is the first you do know in regard to the fire?

A.  Do you mean the Saturday night fire?

Q.  Sunday night.

A.  I was not there until eleven o'clock.

Q.  How do you know it was eleven o'clock?

A.  Because it was eleven o'clock when I left my house.   I went [2] straight to the engine house on Jefferson Street.

Q.  At eleven o'clock you went to your engine?

A.  Yes sir.  Well--to the engine house and found the engine in the street.

Q.  State whether there was any particular reason why you were not there previous?

A.  I was relieved from duty two or three months previous to that and had worked around in the engine house, but worked with the men Saturday night and Sunday until half past four.  I got away from the engine house about half past 6 o'clock.  I went home to get my supper and fixed my eyes up a little.  It was pretty bad.     I didn't have any supper.  I went to bed.  My wife let me sleep till she thought the fire was going to burn us out, then she woke me up.

Q.  How many hours did you work at the Saturday night fire?

A.  From its commencement until about half past four Sunday [3] afternoon.

Q.  You had been working about how many hours?  Commenced about ten o'clock, didn't it?

A.  I would not be positive what time.  I should say probably sixteen to seventeen hours.

Q.  At the time, 11 o'clock on Sunday night when you fixed up and started for your engine where was the fire at the time, how far had it progressed?

A.  It was about at Harrison and Jefferson, I think.

Q.  Where was your residence?

A.  My residence is on Jackson directly west of Desplaines (sp?-I showed it per the city directory.).

Q.  Had the fire at the time crossed the river

A.  Not that I know of.

Q.  You don't know whether it had or had not of your own knowledge?

A.  No my attention was called to it by somebody that there was a fire on the south side; I told him that it was the reflection from this fire on the west side.

Q.  That was before you joined the engine?  [4]

A.  No sir just after.  I took the hose cart and went up Harrison St. and Desplaines to look up some hose and got 2 or 3 lengths of hose there.

Q.  What was the direction of the wind at the time?

A.  The wind was from the South West.

Q.  Did the fire cross Jefferson Street at any place?

Q.  I would not be able to swear to swear (sp????--transcript said it twice.) to that at all because I went first to the engine house and the engine I was standing in front of the house in the street and found out there wasn't much hose and we concluded we would take the cart and go around the fire + see if we couldn't pick up some.  I got two or three lengths of hose came back, then I took charge of the engine

Q.  You say you found the engine in front of the engine house?

A.  Yes sir.  the men were there with the engine.

Q.  Not working?

A.  No she was not working.

Q.  Didn't you have a full reel of hose Sunday afternoon?

[5]

A.  Yes sir we had a full reel of hose  I believe six hundred feet.

A.  At the time you found your engine at the corner of Jefferson and Van Buren were other engines going to take position there and cut off the fire at that time?

A.  The Titsworth[ccxxxi] had come down on Jefferson just south of Van  Buren and taken the fire plug there.

Q.  Do you know where your engine had come from when it came to the front of the engine house?

A.  I do not.

Q.  Did you talk with the fireman there?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did you ask him what had become of the hose?

A.  No.  I asked him what we were going to do with the engine.  I couldn't swear to the exact language that was used on the occasion.  I know I asked him what I should do with the engine.  He said he was played out [6] on (or?) was it ______________(up the string????  street????) and I could take the engine and take charge of her.

Q.  This was eleven o'clock?

A.  It was eleven o'clock and after.  It was eleven o'clock when I left home then I walked two squares to them.

Q.  You inferred from his conversation that he didn't intend to take the engine any further?

A.  Yes the man was used up and said I could take the engine and take charge of her.  I said all right I shall take her and go on the South Side with her.  There wasn't any body (anybody??) there to give us any directions at all.

[7]

Q.  You didn't see any of the marshals about there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  What did you do?

A.  We started to go across Madison Street bridge and couldn't get across.  We went down Canal and over Randolph Street bridge.  Went down Randolph to Wells and I heard there was an engine corner of Washington and Wells or Madison and Wells.  I thought I would go further east and went to LaSalle and there was an engine there on LaSalle either on Washington or Madison I (won't???) be certain which.

Q.  What engine was that.

A.  I could not tell you         We didn't go south to where they were working so I couldn't tell you.

Q.  You went east on what street

A.  Randolph to Clark.  When we got to Clark there was an engine working there.  Then I came to the conclusion we had better go back to Franklin.

Q.  What buildings were they playing on apparently?

A.  I could not state.

[8]

Q.  What buildings were on fire?

A.  I could not tell you.  Just as quick as I saw there was an engine I came to the conclusion to go back to Franklin because there wasn't an engine there and I thought they were forming a line on Madison Street to cut the fire off and I saw at Franklin Street and Market Street they had no engine.  I came back to Franklin and went to work there.  We went to work at the Bethel[ccxxxii] home between Madison and Washington on the west side of Franklin and led up Franklin with one stream.

Q.  Which way?

A.  South towards Madison, and led east on that alley right adjoining Barber's liquor establishment.[ccxxxiii]  We working with them two streams.

Q.  How much hose do you think you had then?

A.  I do not think we had over two hundred and fifty feet.

Q.  Yet you had two streams out?

A.  Yes, we got one lead of hose at [9] the fire escape house  (What is this place; can I find any info on it??) that they had been using there for a plug stream.  When we came down Clark Street the court house  (sp)  was on fire on top.

Q.  With the lead that you got at Franklin how much hose did you have?

A.  Probably five hundred feet of hose, not any more than that.  There was two short leads, one was just about long enough to go to Madison Street from where the engine stood; the other one went into the alley probably fifty feet.  That took us to the rear of Barber's building.

Q.  Your engine was on the west side of Franklin?

A.  Yes sir, the Bethel Home, that fire plug.

Q.  You spoke about when you came along on Clark Street.  Was that before you set in at the Bethel Home?

A.  Yes sir.  When we came back.

Q.  On Clark?

[10]

A.  Yes sir, we came down Clark.

Q.  Do you mean you went south on Clark?

A.  I mean we first crossed Randolph Street bridge and went along Randolph to Clark, went up Clark and when we came to Washington and Clark there was an engine at Clark and Madison and I concluded we would go back to Franklin.

Q.  You came north on Clark.

A.  Yes sir the courthouse just caught fire on the roof.  My impression is that it was in the roof of the old building nearer to the east.  I asked the engineer if he thought he could put a stream up there on the roof.  He said he thought he could.  We stopped + was going to attach to the plug at the corner of Washington + Clark.  While we were talking about it some men came out on the tower with some brooms + pails and I [11] came to the conclusion they could manage that themselves + we went on to Washington and Franklin.

Q.  How long did you stay there at the Bethel Home.

A.  We stayed there until we were ordered back on Schuttler's plug.[ccxxxiv]  Corner of Randolph and Franklin.

Q.  Who ordered you back.

A.  Mr. Williams   He thought it was safer for us to get back to Schuttler's

Q.  That was north of where you were then.

A.  Yes sir.   The first block north.

Q.  Did you stay in there.

A.  Yes sir.  Went to work there + lead   (led???) east on Randolph Street.

Q.  What did you get to play on there.

A.  Went to playing on the buildings on the south side of the street.  there was a crockery store there I think--played principally in the windows and [11 1/2] in the cellar.

Q.  Did you notice on the south side how the buildings took fire.  Whether generally on the roof or windows or did it appear to come from the basements.

A.  Yes sir on Randolph Street the fire did come from the basements.  In this block I speak of between Franklin + Wells, the south side of Randolph.

Q.  The basements seemed to be on fire before the upper part?

A.  Yes sir.  I remember one circumstance distinctly.  I was passing from the engine to the pipe.  There was a woman in one of the windows had a white cloth on her head, as though she was cleaning house.  I hollered come down.  She said in a minute.  I picked up a stick or a stone and threw it at her thru the window.  She hadn't fairly got out of the building before the fire shot out of the cellar [12] in front.

Q.  It could not have caught from the building west or east of it.

A.  No sir.  The building west was not on fire; the fire was coming from the east, coming this way on that block.

Q.  Did you see anything like a gas explosion.

A.  There was light in the cellars + it looked like a very strange light.  If I had seen it at an ordinary fire, I would have concluded that it was alcohol + whiskey.  It was a strange light. A bluish gray light  came out of the cellar there.  It was in this Pick's crockery store.[ccxxxv]

Q.  Did you notice any explosion on Wells Street near the  Briggs House[ccxxxvi] while playing there?

A.  I heard a great many explosions.  I concluded it was falling walls further east.

Q.  Any noise of any buildings [13] being blown up with gunpowder.

A.  No, not that I know of.

Q.  Did you notice this strange kind of flame coming out of more than one building?

A.  That was the only place I noticed it in that block.  No other in that block.  We worked from just this side of the Metropolitan[ccxxxvii] to Franklin with our lead.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Williams about there.

A.  Yes sir he gave us orders  to move back to Schuttler's.

Q.  Was he about there ordering + directing on Randolph?

A.  He was at that plug.  I just saw him.  I remained standing there + he went away some where--I don't know which way he went.

Q.  Did you see any other marshals there?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  How long did you remain there.

A.  Well, we backed up further to the corner of Randolph and [14] + (???? two "and's" ) Market.  I remained there while the Washington House,[ccxxxviii] I believe it is, commenced going.  The rear walls were falling in and all them old shanties on the corner there + we got our engine away in a hurry and went across the bridge.

Q.  Did you notice the fire in the Metropolitan Hotel?

A.  Yes sir.  I noticed when that was burning.  I told the boys to keep away.  We had been skittish of that building.  I have heard it talked of in the department about it being a man trap.

Q.  How did it fall quickly. (No puncuation here)

A.  It fell before I could count twenty I guess.

Q.  The fire hadn't crossed Randolph.

A.  The Briggs House was burning then.

Q.  Didn't you play on the Briggs House at all?

A.  No sir, we didn't, we kept our streams on the south [15] side of Randolph Street on these buildings.

Q.  Was there any other engine playing there too.

A.  While we were standing at Schuttler's, I took a walk from Franklin to see if the fire had got down that way + my opinion is it was the Williams[ccxxxix] that was working at Wells.  I saw that engine.

Q.  Could you tell how far northeast the fire had got when you were working on Randolph Street.

A.  No sir.  I could not tell.

Q.  How was the air at that time.  Cool?

A.  It was anything but cool.

Q.  Describe it.

A.  It was oppressively warm in the worst place along the South Side where we were.  The sparks were driving and the wind were blowing a perfect gale.  There wasn't any dust it was cinders that came principally.  My eyes were not in a very good condition or [16] any member of my company from Saturday night.  We stood on the north side of the fire on Saturday night and Sunday and them coal piles was just rolling over top of us.

Q.  Was you with the pipe most of the time after you took charge?

A.  After I took charge of the company I do not believe I took the pipe except to light up and draw them back.  There was one time on Franklin Street one of the drivers had hold of the pipe.  He was going on a burned sidewalk and I knew the sidewalk was weak and I drawed him back.  I thought I could save Barbers (Barber's??) building.  There was two policemen there.  It took fire in the top window casing.  We shut down one stream but we could not put it up to that window because the wind blowed so hard.  It blowed the water clear away.  I burst open the front door and there was 2 policemen [17] there.  I requested them policemen to go up and get a pail of water and put that window casing out because the building I told them was full of liquor  and if it caught there we would have to get away pretty quick.  The policemen said we could not get in and I got a  _______________ (scrambling?) (start??) and broke the door open and they went up there and done good service, put that fire out in that window casing.  The roof hadn't taken fire then.  It was a flat roof.  This building that was directly south of it was an old wooden shell and I wanted to keep it cooled down until that fell and let it go down in a heap--so we could manage it better than when it was standing, but the chief told us we had better get back to Schuttler's.

[18]

Q.  Are you acquainted with the character of materials used in roofing?

A.  Yes sir.  I have worked on a great many of those buildings previous to my going into the fire department.

Q.  What was the roofing generally.

A.  Gravel and tar.

Q.  Saturated with tar?

A.  Yes sir.  Covered with gravel, cornices generally wood.  those constructed for the last 5 or 6 years are zinc. occasionally you will find a roof with tin, that is the exception now, it is not the rule.

Q.  Are you qualified to judge of the lasting qualities of tin on a roof as compared with this tar?

A.  I don't know.  I've painted a great many tin roofs.

Q.  What satisfaction have they given.

A.  I consider that the tin roof will last longer if people are kept of[f] from it, than a gravel [19] roof.

Q.  Do you know anything about the use of tile roofing.

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  How did you remain at that plug.

A.  Until the buildings all around there, and especially the Washington house, was on fire.  The rear walls commenced to fall in and then we got away.

Q.  Where did you go to then.

A.  Went across Randolph Street bridge to the foot of Washington Street.  Saw an engine working at a dock down there.

Q.  On the west side of the river?

A.  Yes sir.  We went down to see what engine that was and found it was the _______  engine.   (Tribune says Richard----) --Musham says "Richard")  Mr. Williams was there trying to get a stream so as to play on to them buildings at the foot of Washington Street.

Q.  Were they on fire?

A.  No sir, but my opinion is [20] they were in imminent danger of getting afire.  They didn't have sufficient hose and we gave them three lengths of hose.

Q.  How much hose do you think (do you think????, repeated twice) you had.

A.  I think they had 500 feet.

Q.  At the time you was on Randolph Street playing from the corner of Franklin, you didn't see any other marshals thereabouts except Mr. Williams?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  From that point where did you go.

A.  Went to the north side at the foot of Franklin between those two elevators.

Q.  Took water there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Played on the elevators?

A.  Played on the east elevator.

Q.  About what time was that.

A.  It was at daylight in the morning.  My opinion is we were up to Ohio and Wells    It was Wells anyway and [21] Ohio or Indiana, I would not be certain and some citizens told us there was no water there, that the water works had burned.  I heard a rumor of that on the South Side but I didn't credit it.  I requested the stoker get down and see if there was water.  He got down and there was no water.  We drove to the next block and there was no water there.  We met Sweeney there.  Sweeney was there with a hose cart.  I think we went to the foot of Franklin Street and the Coventry was there taking suction from the river.  Shortly after the Winnebago came we kept her stream on the east end of the elevator and the Coventry [came] up to the passenger depot and then Williams came there.  He ordered her to lead up on the passenger depot and let us take care of the elevator.

[22]

Q.  Do you know where or where the fire crossed the main river to the north side?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  At the time you stood in there between the two elevators had the fire made much headway north?

A.  I certainly had made considerable headway north on Wells and Ohio.  It was burning, hadn't crossed west of Wells Street.  She was right along there and east of us and a long way north as far as you could see.

Q.  How long do you think you remained playing there upon the corner of Randolph and Franklin?

A.  I could not tell.  I don't think we were on the South Side over four hours in all or five; that is my opinion.

Q.  Did you have any scarcity of water while you were playing there

A.  No sir we had two good [23] streams at Franklin Street.

Q.  Can you describe the line and progress of the fire on the South Side after you went over there, whether it appeared to shoot directly to the lake or in a diagonal position from Madison to River St

A.  My opinion is that was about the line it took diagonal from Madison Street to the river.

Q.  Kept eating to the eastward?

A.  Yes sir, and westward too.

Q.  If you had stayed there at the corner of Franklin St could you have saved Schuttler's shop probably

A.  I don't think I could because the fire was getting down from the Garden City House[ccxl] that way I had to keep a sharp look out up through that alley to the west so that the fire would not cut us off.  I made up my mind if there was any emergency I could run the [24] engine into the tunnel

Q.  You did not stay there until Schuttler's got on fire did you

A.  Schuttler's building was on fire in the rear before we left the plug.  We went there to the corner of Randolph and Market and led down Randolph and led up Market a little ways.  Some citizens there were anxious to have us lead up Market.  They thought we could save everything if we would only do that.

Q.  How long do you think you remained there.

A.  We remained there until the rear walls of the Washington house was falling and those buildings all around were on fire.  We remained until it was pretty warm and then crossed Randolph Street bridge.

Q.  During the Saturday night fire and Sunday fire you was working most of the time until [25] about four o'clock?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you see any of the men any the worse for liquor?

A.  No sir, I didn't see a man that was intoxicated.  I didn't see a member of the fire department--I saw men who had firemen's hats on that I knew personally were not firemen that were intoxicated.

Q.  Where did they get these hats?

A.  Came to hose carts standing on the street where they found them.  One man took my hat and a policeman I believe shoved him in the river so he lost his hat.  He was drunk and the supposition I suppose among the citizens was that he was a fireman.

Q.  You don't know of there having been liquor taken into the house?

A.  In our engine house.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  On Sunday

[26]

A.  On Sunday--well I wasn't to the house on Sunday that I know of until we took up half past four in the afternoon.  I had been home in the morning about ten o'clock and got something to eat and washed my eyes out. 

Q.  What time did you say you went to bed that night?

A.  I could not state positive.  I know I remained at the engine house until about six o'clock.  I went straight home.

Q.  During that time that you was at the engine house you saw no carousing at all?

A.  No sir.  I saw a drunken man there.  He was not a member of the fire department, nor a frequenter at the house.

Q.  Did he remain there a great length of time?

A.  No sir.  He had business there and prosecuted his business and went away.

Q.  You are not in the habit of carrying any extra fire [27] hats at the cart?

A.  Yes sir.  At a hot fire we find it an advantage to have a slouch hat.  It was particularly so Saturday night.  It protects us from the heat.  On Jackson Street between the two fires  I stood with a stream there and was very thankful that I didn't (shouldn't this be did?  The transcript, though, is didn't) have a fire hat on.  You can't wear a rubber coat where the fire is warm.

Q.  Do you know of any money having been paid to any firemen?

A.  No sir.  I do not.

Q.  For extra services or for playing upon any particular property?

A.  No sir, I do not.  I know there was money offered to me at the corner of Market and Randolph.

Q.  What was the inducement?

A.  He wanted me to change the stream from Randolph Street around into an alley on Market.

Q.  Do you know who the party was?

A.  Yes sir.  Mr. Baker, who kept a wood yard there.[ccxli]  He said [28] if we would change the stream it would save his wood yard.  I told him it was personal interest.  I did not think it would do any good to change the stream.  Said I, I will go around the alley.  I went around and showed him the inconsistency of our moving the stream around there.  Said he   you change the steam and I will give you two hundred dollars.  Said I, you keep your money but I will change the stream to satisfy you.  There was one of our pipemen that heard the conversation.  We might as well change the stream.  We weren't doing any good where we were.  So I changed the stream around in the alley and after it was there five or ten minutes he was satisfied that I was right.  We could not do any service there.

Q.  You could not save any of his wood?

A.  No sir, we could not.  I received [29] some compensation afterwards though.[ccxlii]

Q.  From Mr. Baker?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How much

A.  Two cigars.

Q.  That is the extent?

A.  yes.  On Wednesday that was. The first time I saw him after the fire was on Wednesday he gave me two cigars.

Q.  Never said anything about the two hundred dollars?

A.  No sir.  I didn't mention it.

Q.  Nor he?

A.  No sir.  He was glad to see me and gave me two cigars.

Q.  You don't know of any company receiving money?

A.  No sir.  I do not of my own knowledge.

Q.  Have you heard of it?

A.  Yes I heard rumors that there was companies receiving money but I didn't credit it until I saw an account of it in the paper this morning where a man had [30] stated so in his testimony.  I was surprised to see it.

Q.  Do you know that no money was sent to your company after the fire?

A.  If there was I do not know anything about it.  I never heard a sentence about it.  We had some talks about this same two hundred dollars which I mentioned.  We talked amongst ourselves.  Some of the boys said I got it and gave it to the association.  I passed a joke myself in relation to it.

Q.  Isn't it a very common thing for men to make extravagant promises during the progress of a fire.

A.  Very common.  I have had several promises made to me.

Q.  They don't very often fulfill it?

A.  No sir.  I had one promise the man fulfilled it afterwards.  I think it was two years ago on Canalport Avenue.  The end of the building was catching [31] afire.  He came up and told me if you will put out my house I will pay you for it.  If he hadn't spoke I was just going to turn the stream on the fire.  When we got through there was a German in the company and I told him, you had better go in and collect that money.  You are a German and so is he.  No, he said, you go in.  I went.  We spoke to his wife five or ten minutes.  She went back and came out and gave me two fifty cent pieces, said, treat the boys.  That is about the extent of the generosity.

Q.  Where was the blowing up that you saw on Monday?

A.  On Wabash Avenue.

Q.  When did you finally return with the engine?

A.  After the elevators were burned on Monday morning we returned to the house without a length of hose.  We saved two or three lengths from between the elevators and the Gund reeled [32] them up on their reel.  I knew two or three lengths were of no service to us.  I went over to the south side and looked around to find one of the marshals and found Mr. Benner and reported to him and asked him if he couldn't use our engine.  He told me to hold on for a moment and he would see.  I waited for half an hour or so and thought I would fall asleep.

Q.  You saw some blowing up there.

A.  Yes sir.  I saw Mr. Hildreth and some others blowing up some buildings there.

Q.  Did you see Gen.  Philip H. Sheridan blowing up buildings there

A.  I did not.  When I was coming back I crossed 12th Street bridge and I found an engine from Bloomington or Springfield and they had a very nice reel of nice looking hose.  I told them if they would go with me I would like their hose.  No they would not give [33] me any hose.  I showed them a badge + they said that it would make no difference.  I inquired for the man that had charge and he was just as immovable as the others. and would not go with us and not let me take the hose.  And while I was talking to him there, Mr. Brown came up with the truck and we coaxed and coaxed them and got them to hitch up and fetch them up to the Chicago house.  Then we went from there that night down to North Avenue bridge and worked on the pile of tan bark directly south of the gas house.  It was not North Avenue, it was Division Street.  They were very careful of their hose.  They would not let us take their hose down to the gas works ourselves.  They had to go along with us.

Q.  After you had charge of the engine Sunday night did [34] your foreman come back to you until you quit work.  did he come back and take charge of the engine?

A.  No sir.  The first I saw of him was Monday  morning when we got back to the engine house.

Q.  About what time

A.  About half past seven or eight o'clock.

Q.  You found him at the engine house.

A.  Yes sir.  I believe he was just preparing to come down to us and look us up.

Q.  Did you understand that he had been asleep all night at the house.

A.  No I did not know where he was.  That is what I supposed, that he was used up and went abed and slept a few hours.

Q.  From what you saw of the blowing up on Michigan and Wabash Avenue that day what do you think was the results, beneficial or otherwise, [35] of the blowing up.

A.  I think it was decidedly beneficial.

Q.  To the houses blown up?

A.  The ones directly south of there.

Q.  Do you think blowing up among such buildings an effectual mode to prevent the spread of fire

A.  I would rather do it with a stream of water

Q.  From what you saw, what do you think, that any number of streams of water could have stopped that fire as it was then spreading towards the Michigan Avenue hotel unless this buildings to the north + east + west had been blown up.

A.  I think when they blowed up that block of buildings that one stream of water could have stopped the fire in this particular block where I saw the blowing up.

Q.  Where was that.

A.  On the street that the [36] Michigan Avenue hotel is on--on Wabash Avenue in rear of the Michigan Avenue hotel directly.  The north building was burning pretty rapidly and they were burning up the two center buildings.

Q.  The fire was eating back in the face of the wind was it not?

A.  Yes sir.  Eating south.

Q.  Did you consider there was any after the fire got to the south side spreading as it was to have blown up buildings, any considerable numbers of them in the face of the wind that Sunday night.

A.  No sir.  I do not    I do not believe you could have saved it.

Q.  When the fire was burning so in Pick's building suppose the Briggs house had been blown up.  Do you think it would have stopped the fire.

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was there any danger in blowing up buildings that [37] Sunday night of blowing up people.

A.  Most unquestionably.  Here was the instance of this woman in this building who looked out of the window and the adjoining building was on fire and I throwed a stone block or something right up in the building where she was.

Q.  You didn't see the blowing up of buildings along the line up Harrison.

A.  No sir.  I did not.  that was before I came there.  It was just this block they were blowing up and they had a stream in the rear.  The Brown's[ccxliii] stream.  Mr. Benner was there; he was directing their movements.

Q.  Are you enough cognizant of it to describe the method of blowing up the buildings

A.  I was directly in front and in the barns in the rear.

Q.  Was you in front on Wabash Avenue when the explosion took place in the building? [38]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How far did it throw the brick or debris.

A.  It didn't move the basement.

Q.  Did it throw the top high in the air.

A.  No sir.  Just spread it right apart, broke the timbers + occasionally a piece of the wall.  I told one of the men that he ought not to put the powder in the basement--that the basement, being made of stone, that he ought to go up in the next story.

Q.  Have you any idea how much powder was used.

A.  I do know.  I saw there was fifty pounds in each package.

Q.  How many packages.

A.  I do not know.  I do not know that they were fifty pounds.  I heard so.  There I saw some men with firemen's clothes that I knew were not members of the fire department.  Firemen's rubber [39] coats and one had a fireman's hat on.

Q.  Red hats on.

A.  No sir, black hats.

Q.  You didn't work on the west side after you took charge of the engine.

A.  No sir, I didn't.

Q.  You are not competent to form an opinion whether that fire could have been confined to the west side.

A.  No sir.  I am not competent, only from what I heard.

Q.  What do you think about the condition of it on the south side.

A.  I do not think it could have been stopped unless you picked it up and threw it into the lake.

Q.  Had the Fall been very dry previous to this fire and up to it?

A.  yes sir, it was.  It was remarkably dry.  A great many spoke about it.

Q.  How long a time had we been without much if any rain.

[40]

A.  I hadn't noticed much all summer.  Been out a great deal traveling from one house to another + hadn't noticed much rain.  I knew it didn't interfere with my work.

Q.  Southwest winds prevailed to a great extent.

A.  Yes sir in this part of the country.  I think this was unusually dry.

Q.  Did you get at that fire on Saturday night pretty quick after the alarm was given.

A.  I consider we did.

Q.  Had it got out of the planing mill before you got there.

A.  Yes sir it was passing up underneath the planing mill.  It was burning in the vinegar factory.

Q.  That burned pretty rapidly.

A.  Yes sir.  It burned very rapidly.

Q.  That was pretty near to your house.

A.  Yes sir + we were working on Wells Street.  I was at the Wells Street fire.  We working Saturday night at the Wells [41] Street fire[ccxliv] when the west side fire broke out.  I knew when we came there we found a lot of hose there and we went to work.  My impression is it was the James hose because one of the James men helped me to hold on the stream.  We burst a length of hose immediately after we went to work.  Shut down and the fire crossed the street.  Pretty soon the water stopped.  We went out to a little alley and could not get back where the engine was.  Come to find out the engine had got too hot and they had to take her away.  We run her by hand down to the river along side of the National Elevator and got to work there.  It looked critical there for quite a while.  I thought we would be under the necessity of swimming to the other side.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  At the time you reported to me did you ask me whether I had any occasion to [42] put the engine into service or whether you reported that you had no hose at the time.

A.  I reported that we had no hose.  That we had an engine in serviceable condition but we had no hose.  You told me to hold on a moment and you would see.  I laid around there until I got pretty tired.

Q.  What had become of the hose.

A.  The hose which we brought from the South Side, that is, I stated that we had about five hundred feet on the South Side.  We took that hose that we got out of the fire.  We took that with us when we backed out.  We brought the hose over and gave three lengths to Richard's engine.  We were ordered over to the North Side in but near those elevators.  We worked on the east elevator, held our stream on the east elevator and all of a sudden [43] the  west one got on fire and there was some employees of the elevator on top.  We hollered to them to lower down a rope.  They lowered down a rope and we hoisted our lead up on the top.  And at that moment  or within three minutes there was volumes of black smoke come out of the east and west elevators.  You couldn't see your hand in front of you.  It was a tight time to get our engine out of there.  There was three engines right there in eachother's way.  I wanted to see the engine get out.  We got our engine out.  the Coventry came out with two horses and  there is a very wide space between those two elevators.  In driving out he run up against the west elevator.  He could not see where he was going.  I remember distinctly of getting down on my hands and knees to see if the Winnebago was coming out.  I didn't suppose [44] she would get out.  That is where we lost our hose--all but three lengths.  We pulled them out and the rest burned up.  Those three lengths we gave to the Gund.  We had a hose cart there.  I knew they were not much service to us + let them take them. 

Q.  During the service of Saturday night and Sunday and Monday did you see much hose burst?

A.  Yes sir I saw a great many lengths burst on our engine.  There was six or seven lengths burst on our engine and she don't burst much hose.

Q.  How long before that was it since you had a new outfit?

A.  I could not tell you we hadn't  got any new hose all the summer that I know of.  We had old hose.  There was growling and grumbling all the season in the company about the hose.  We had a little and we occasionally went over the old hose and picked [45] out the best.  Cut the butts off and set them further back.  There was some in the cellar repaired.  They were taken out of there.

Q.  I understood there was eighteen lengths.[ccxlv]

A.  I do not think there was that many.  I wasn't there much during the summer.  I know there was a good deal of growling about hose.  I know when we took up Sunday afternoon from the Saturday night fire we had orders from the fire marshall and Mr. Schank[ccxlvi] also to pick up what we could find on the ground and make a reel of them.

 

Adjourned till Monday morning ten o'clock

[46]

(16th Witness)

November 27, 1871

Chalkley J. Hambleton

Q.  Where do you reside?

A.  Huron Street near the corner of Rush

Q.  What is your business

A.  Lawyer

Q.  You are a member of the board of education?

A.  Yes sir

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin and progress of the fire October 8 and 9 last?

A.  I know the origin by hearsay.  A little before one, Monday morning I saw the fire and went downtown.  Saw the fire from my residence.  Saw it was a large fire  the sparks were then flying around us  fire brands fell on the street.  I went downtown to

[47]

see where it was and went down State Street I think and passed over to Clark.  Went as far south as Adams before I saw any fire.  Then went to Jackson to the corner of Wells.  I don't think then the fire was north of Adams Street.

Q.  In any part of the south division?

A.  No it certainly was not at Monroe nor north of Adams St.  It was simply on the north side of the street.  I stood around watching it for quite a while and was standing by the Pacific Hotel looking, then passed back to Clark and in a short time looked up and saw the cupola of the courthouse on fire.

Q.  Did there appear to be very much on fire

A.  No just a little.  I  then ran as fast as I could to my office in Larmon Block and everything was so crowded I had to pass around a block to State Street.  I simply had time to open my safe, take out a few things and went out into the [48] street and then they were reporting that they were going to blow up the Nixon building.  The fire seemed to have reached that block at that time before I left.   It certainly was in the rear part of the street.  I went down to State St  perhaps, before I left Washington.  It was coming out of the Chamber of Commerce and over it.  I then passed around from State and tried to get back to Randolph Street to see whether the fire proof part of the courthouse was going to burn.  I couldn't stay there many minutes and after watching for a while to see if the Sherman was going, I saw the fire spring up in the rear of the Sherman House.  The front was not on fire.

Q.  Where did you stand then

A.  I think I passed down State or Dearborn, I forget which, and looked through the alley to see whether it was [49] afire and, and although the front of the Sherman House was not on fire, the fire sprung up in the rear.  I cannot recollect definitely how much time passed, or [how] long I stood in one place _____ looking around.  Then I went back to State and the fire seemed to have got across Clark and it was burning in the block between Clark and Dearborn and I looked around a little while.  It didn't seem to me many minutes  and saw the fire the fire in Wright's Livery Stable and State Street bridge.

Q.  That was on the north side. 

A.  Yes it seemed to jump from about the Tremont House to State Street bridge [and] Wright's Livery Stable the way  I judge of it.  After that I run to go home over Rush Street bridge and then   the elevator was on fire [50] near Rush Street bridge and some things on the dock.

Q.  At the time you passed over

A.   Yes the elevator was on the dock north of Rush St bridge.  Then there didn't seem to be anything on fire north of Wright Livery Stable, except there was some barn on fire that burned up near the water works which when I got home, they told me was a barn near Pine and Huron, between Huron and Rush.  I was in the house probably 15 or 20 minutes, packing.  I should judge by the time I got home it was after 3 o'clock.  I spent considerable time running around.  That I can't tell exactly.  Then we left the house as we judged, without looking at the time, half past three, past  up Rush St to the corner of Chicago Avenue, and then a block of new buildings west of the water works was on fire, [51] that new block of residences fronting east.  That was all in a blaze and the water works were on fire.  I didn't then discover any fire in Lill's Brewery.  It didn't appear to be.  I had quite a discussion then afterwards with a man that claimed that the water works [burned] before the block.  I passed up I thought the block  was burning the most.  I do not know which took fire first, that was all on fire when I passed.  Then I passed up north towards the city limits with my family and a few things in our hands.  We worked up as far as Lincoln Park.

Q.  You left home at one o'clock?

A.  Yes sir, or a little before one.

Q.  When you got downtown did you go without any unnecessary delay?

A.  Yes.  I went straight to the corner of Jackson and Wells, except looking around, passed [52] down to see how far north the fire was going.

Q.  Where was the fire then.

A.  It was not north of Adams St   I'm very sure when I went down, because I looked through every street and alley to see where it was.  I didn't want to get in front of it.  I saw nothing of it until I got to Adams St.  I don't think it had passed Adams St.  Everything between that and Jackson was on fire.  That is the first I saw of the fire looking through every street and alley.

Q.  You didn't see the fire cross the West side to the south?

A.  No sir    It was all burning when I got down to the corner of Jackson and Wells.  It was then burning there, but it hadn't crossed Wells to the east.

Q.  You got home about 3 o'clock

A.  I think it was about 3 o'clock    I cannot be very definite about the time it certainly [53] couldn't have been half past three.

Q.  At the time you got home did any fire catch in the vicinity there

A.  When I went home a vacant lot east of me and right west of Arnold's[ccxlvii] house, the fences and leaves and grass was all on fire and when we left the house it crossed the street, the sidewalk and leaves and fences was afire there, we had to walk through the fire, although the houses were not on fire.  Wherever there was leaves on grass it seemed to catch fire first.  It catched from fire brands before I went downtown in the morning, that is, before one o'clock   Among the sparks and things, there was a fire brand that blew on the street at the corner of Rush and Huron and burned there, and a policeman and another man trampled on it and put it out [54]    that was in front of my house   I was looking out of the window.

Q.  Where you resided is how far from the river?

A.  It is about a half a mile.

Q.  From the river where you saw the fire, to Jackson St, how far is it?

A.  It is three-fourths of a mile on a straight line to where the fire was.  It was a mile and a half south to where the fire was.

Q.  What was there in the elements at that time, that carried that fire so far?

A.  Seemed to be a very heavy gale.  The gale was terrific.  In walking downtown and facing it, I was almost blinded with dust all the time, and once when I was near the fire I seemed to get into a perfect whirlwind of fire brands and when I got out of it my hat was on fire.  I had to put my handkerchief over my eyes and [55]  work out.  In watching the sparks and brands in the air they seemed to fly without lowering for about half a mile.  Seemed to come from the vicinity of the fire, and clear over without apparently dropping, just floated in the air.

Q.  Did you see anything that you thought was roofing material burning, flying in the air or was it pieces of wood.[ccxlviii]

A.  Pieces of charred wood that I saw, I think.  I do not think that I observed anything else.

Q.  Did you watch the progress of the fire until the North side fire stopped

A.  No   I got over on to the west side in the middle of the day, but I passed back.  We went up to Unity church first.  We stopped there until towards daylight but before we went there the fire had got to the wooden [56] building on the lake shore.  The fire was above that, up as far as the Catholic cemetery I think

Q.  Did you see Unity church burn

A.  No I didn't see that except from a distance.  I passed up as far as Lincoln Park then I came down Market St as far as Indiana St bridge and crossed over to the west side.

Q.  Is there any wooden building or buildings in the vicinity of Unity church standing that the fire did not burn.

A.  Mr. Ogden's[ccxlix] house is diagonally across the street northwest, the only one I believe that is a wooden building.

Q.  How is that situated?

A.  It is protected by an open park south of it, and half a block vacant lot west of it in the direction from which the fire came.  And the wind blew which I suppose protected that

[57]

Q.  Do you know whether or not they themselves used wet blankets to put out the fire on the roof + c  

A.  I left there about daylight.  They certainly were then making great efforts.  I understood [they] kept it up        that was before there was very much risk to that house

Q.  Was that before Unity Church was burned

A.  I didn't see Unity church     I left Unity church at daylight.

Q.  It hadn't burned then?

A.  Oh no.  The fire, then, wasn't nearer than Chicago Avenue.  The Baptist church was where it was the last I saw.  At that time it was just crossing Chicago Avenue.

Q.  Hadn't burned the New England Church at that time?

A.  No, not at that time.  The old Unity church I saw on fire [was] the last thing I saw.  I went down to the last thing before [58] I left the church with my family.

Q.  You say the water works were on fire when you left home

A.  The water works were on fire when we left the house.  I couldn't say when I got to the house.

Q.  Have you made any estimate in your own mind in regard to the number of buildings that were burned down on the west south and north sides?

A.  A few days after the fire I was trying to estimate and  __________  (recall??) something over twenty thousand.[ccl]

Q.  Buildings of all kinds

A.  Yes

Q.  Did you make any estimate of the actual loss

A.  I never made any estimate particularly of that

Q.  When you went up on the South Side did you see any portion of the fire department?

[59]

A.  Yes I saw engines at work and moving and some firemen but I cannot recall, now, particularly where they were playing.

Q.  Did you see any improprieties on the part of the firemen or anything that  you judged to be improprieties.

A.  When I saw there, they were hard at work.  They were adjusting and moving their engines around and using water but just where that was I can't now, recall, but I think in the latter part of the time I was on the south side, I didn't see anything there.  The fire then seemed to be making such headway, jumping from block to block, such confusion, I didn't stop to look

Q.  I should judge from what you saw of it, it was a very difficult fire to combat with any fire department.[ccli]

A.  After I saw it it was _________   (already??) [60] impossible to do anything.  After it crossed Adams St  it seemed to jump, go through a block in about ten minutes.

Q.  You didn't go anywhere in the vicinity of the gasworks on the  south side

A.  Not nearer than Clark Street.    was along there I think where the [fire] crossed on Adams St from what I saw.  It seemed to be burning in that region but after it got as far north as Monroe St it seemed to go through one of these squares in a few minutes  I don't believe it was ten minutes in getting through the square that the board of trade is on.

 

 

[61]

 

 

                                                              John Dorsey sworn:

                                                                   Nov. 27, 1871

                                                                    17th witness

 

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What position do you hold?

A.  I am foreman of the America Hose [Company].

Q.  Where is it located?

A.  Blue Island Avenue

Q.  State the first intimation you had of the commencement of this fire, and what you did, and where you went, in consecutive language, and as plain as you can.

A.  I can tell most about the first of it.  After Monday morning I can not remember much about it.  On Sunday night somewhere about nine o'clock--it was 15 or 20 minutes before or after nine, I could not say for fact, I was standing at the engine house door, another young man along with me.  He turned around to me, and says he, "Dorsey, what is that?"  I said "that is fire by George."  I hollered [62] fire in the engine house, and ran in and hitched up.  I drove out and went down to the fire--took down Polk Street.

Q.  Had any alarm come in then?

A.  No sir.  Drove down Polk Street to Canal Street, down Canal to Taylor.  I took that plug on the corner of Taylor and Clinton, and put a plug stream on the fire.    Led in through a vacant lot which there was a fence in front of.  It was fenced up and I led in alongside of the next building east of me--right in by their steps, led in there and got our hose in through there, and put a stream on it.

Q.  Did you see any engine there then?

A.  No sir. 

Q.  How long before any engine came?

A.  In fact I could not tell you.  I did not see none--not at that time.  I saw them afterwards--a good while afterwards though.

Q.  Did you hear the alarm being struck while you was on the way at all?

A.  No sir.

[63]

Q.  Just went by the sight of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  There was some of our men heard the alarm though, some of the boys along with me--our boys.

Q.  When you got your stream on there how much of the block appeared to be on fire?

A.  Well I will tell you.  I did not have my eyes all over, but what I seen on fire was this big barn, and a kind of two story house east of the barn was catching fire.[cclii]

Q.  A big barn located where?

A.  On the alley between Taylor and that other street.

Q.  The other street which way from Taylor?

A.  It was south of Taylor.

Q.  De Koven?

A.  De Koven.  It was in the rear of De Koven.

Q.  A big barn?

A.  Well it was a pretty good sized barn.  It was up pretty near as high as this two story building that stood alongside of it--or perhaps over two story [ccliii]

[64]

Q.  How long did you remain there at that plug?

A.  I remained there until the chief came to me the second time, and hollered for us to go and turn in another alarm, and I went and turned in the alarm.

Q.  Have you any idea about what time that was?

A.  I should judge it was about 10 or 15 minutes after the other one--about 15 minutes after we got there I should say.  I do not know about the other at all.

Q.  Where did you turn in the second alarm?

A.  Corner of 12th Street and Canal.  There was a box nearer to me but I did not happen to think of it.[ccliv]  I run for the one I knew--that I was acquainted with.

Q.  Did you give any private signal when you turned in that second alarm?[cclv]

A.  No I did not.

Q.  So that the men at the Central Station might know it was a second alarm?[cclvi]

A.  I did not because I thought that [65] was the first alarm I was turning in.  I just opened the box and pulled down the hook--one of those things you pull down with your thumb.

Q.  After that?

A.  I came back to the fire.  I was after leaving my two coats right by the fire.[cclvii]  The chief told me to run away.  I was just pulling them off at the time; we could not keep them on, and when I came back to the place I could not find it at all.  It was burned.  I went around and found the cart, and saw they had no hose on.  I could not say whether it was Mr. Williams or Mr. Benner, I went and seen, and asked them if I would not go and get more hose.  The chief, I think it was, told me, "yes, go."  I went to the nearest house--the Giant's house,[cclviii] and got four lengths the first lick.  I did not take time to get any more because I knew they were short of hose.  I went back and saw one of the marshals.  I said I [66] had them here.  I asked if I had not better go and get some more.  They said, "pull them off and leave them on the corner and go and get some more."  I think it was Mr. Benner or Mr. Schank I could not say which.  I went back to get the rest of them.  I came back again and could not get any more, but I see[n] a hose cart on Canal Street south of De Koven.  Washington[cclix] hose--had a full reel on.  I told the driver, "this is no place for you to stop around here.  They are looking for hose all around the fire."  "Haven't got a length of hose,"  he made the remark.  "I cannot go until the foreman or the other fellow comes, until they know where to find me."

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  What cart was that?

A.  Washington Hose

Q.  Where was he standing?

A.  Corner of Canal and south of the little street where the fire backed up--De Koven I believe.  So I run around and found Mr. Benner,[cclx] and asked him where I could  [67] get some hose.  He told me he did not know.  I believe that is it.  I told him the Washington hose was standing down there, that they had a full reel of hose.  He told me to go and take that Washington hose, and go around to the fire with it.  I went (they say "wend") down and told the driver, said I, "the marshal told you to go down in front of the fire," and he got on the cart and I rode down with him.  We went down in front of the fire, and at that time the Gund[cclxi] was hitched on the plug in front of Bateham's mill leading out.  They were leading inside of the block there.  So I left the cart there, and went back and found my own.

Q.  Did you go on the South Side at all?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What time did you go over?

A.  It was a little before daylight.  I could not tell the time.

Q.  When you remained on the West Side sometime after Bateham's mill took fire?

[68]

A.  Yes sir.  I had a plug stream on the ruins.

Q.  Do you know where the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  No sir.  I do not.

Q.  Did you see it cross?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know what time it was?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You had a plug stream on what ruins?

A.  Corner of Clinton and De Koven.  Benner left me there--sent twice up for me to hurry up as soon as I got it so that it would be safe, and go over on the South Side.  I sent word back to him twice that it was not safe.  When as soon as it was safe, I took up and went down and seen Benner, and I told him it was not actually safe then.  Said I, "it needs a little watching."  He told me to leave one man there to watch it.  I done so, that that one man should report to Mr. Benner.  I went on the South Side and remained on the South Side.  I went hunting for the marshal [69] on the South Side and hunted all over.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  What part of the South Side did you go to?

A.  The first start I went down Clark Street.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  To what other cross street?

A.   That I could not tell.

Q.  What bridge did you cross to go to the South Side?

A.  12th Street, then I took another street.  I went down to State Street in the neighborhood I should think it was about Madison or somewhere along there.

Q.  Was this after daylight?

A.  No sir  it was not daylight then.

Q.  Did not you run across anybody?  Did you find any marshal?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Who did you find?

A.  I found Mr. Benner and  Mr. Schank.

Q.  Where?

A.  On the South Side.

Q.  Where abouts?

A.  I found Benner--it was about [70] Congress and State, I think--somewhere near that little street.  I saw Mr. Schank before that.

Q.  How long did you hunt before you found the marshal?

A.  I went down Clark Street and left the cart on the corner next to where the fire was.  I could not find no one there.  Then I started back and took down on State Street, and I could not find no one there.  Then the driver told me, said he, "We had better go back again to the West Side."  Said I, "Hold on, we may find some of them here."  Pretty soon after that I met Schank.

Q.  Did you see any engine at work on any of this ground where you passed over?

A.  Not at that time.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Where did you meet me?

A.  I think it was on State Street.  I could not be certain--State or Wabash Avenue.

Q.  State is very long, so is Wabash Avenue.  Where abouts on State--what cross street?

[71]

I could not tell you.  I do not remember.

Q.  Somewhere around the southeast edge of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was the fire burning east of State street then do you remember?

A.  Yes sir.  It was on the other side of the street because I was down there when some of the buildings caught fire and b'George before they caught fire they were down. 

Q.  Did the buildings burn pretty fast?

A.  Well, I did not see much burn about them.  They were falling down quicker than they were burning right over in that neighborhood.

Q.  How did the fire spread from building to building?  From roof to roof?  Near the middle of the building or the basement?

A.  I could not tell.  I see[n] a building burning right here; I would see another falling down on the other side of the street without seeing any fire at all in it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Was the wind [72] blowing pretty strong?

A.  Strong!  At the time I went down State Street they were rolling carpets and cloth up there out on the street, and it was as much as a man could do, except he was a good solid fellow, to hold his feet, there was such a draught going through there.

Q.  Did you see any firemen intoxicated, or any officers?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you see any faltering from duty on the part of the men?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  Q.  How late on Monday did you stay on?

A.  I stopped until Wednesday night. 

Q.  Did you have hose all that time to work?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where was you working most of the time after you went over on the South Side?

A.  I was through about Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue and State Street about all the time.  I was under Mr. Schank's control from the time I went over [73]  that morning until Benner came over in the morning and sent me over to see about them ruins to see if there was any danger.  I went over and drove right back again.  I still was under Mr. Schank's orders until Wednesday night.

Q.  Did you leave your cart all that  time?  Did not you go home at all to rest?

A.  No sir.  We slept a night or two in a barn, but b'George we did not sleep much--laid on the floor.  I was too tired to sleep.

Q.  Is that about all you know about it?

A.  That is all I can tell of it at present.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Did you see the Brown[cclxii] having a stream on Harrison Street leading up Clark by Harrison and State?

A.  I had a stream from her myself.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Did you see them have a stream from the Lake Shore there up alongside of the Michigan Avenue [74] Hotel?

A.  I do not know anything about that.  I do not remember that.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Did you see any engines about there, near the Michigan Avenue Hotel on Congress Street?

A.  I saw an engine working down there and supplying another  when that building was blown up.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  What engine was that?

A.  I do not know.  I did not see the Brown, though.  I saw the Brown at the time I had a lead from her.  I believe it was Harrison Street at the time the church got afire.  I was in the yard holding a pipe on that street.

Q.  Did you save that church?

A.  Well, b'George I could not tell you now whether we saved it or not.  I guess we moved away from there pretty quick.

Q.  Did you see any blowing up of buildings?

A.  I did not see any of them blown up.  I heard of them.  I did not hear them blow up.  I [75] heard there was blowing up.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Have you stated to the Board how long after you reached the fire at the first start out before you saw me?

A.  No I have not.  I should judge it was--well, a man excited that way might think it was longer.  I should judge it was between three and five minutes--it was hardly that either.

Q.  Did Mr. Williams give you any directions what to do?

A.  All he told me when he came in to me where I had the stream  he says "Stick to her boys, stick right to her."

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Who was on your pipe at the time besides you?

A.  Charley Anderson.[cclxiii]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  When I came back and told you to go and turn in an alarm who did you leave on the pipe?

A.  Anderson, and a young fellow by the name of Connors.[cclxiv] 

[76]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Was your stream turned off about that time?

A.  No sir, it was working.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Was it turned off before you returned?

A.  Yes sir; the whole of Taylor Street was gone when I got back.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Do you know the reason why your stream was turned of?

A.  I understand the Waubansia[cclxv] took our lead.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Has the man who held your stream since told you the headway the fire made after that stream was turned off?

A.  Yes sir; he told me it leaped right over Taylor Street and got on the other side of the alley after that stream was turned off.

Q.  Did I understand you to say you took a plug corner of Taylor and Clinton?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was there any other stream on the fire?

[77]

A.  There might be; I did not see one.  There might be inside of buildings.  There was none upon this big fire.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner):  What corner did you leave those hose at?

A.  Those that I got from the Giant's house, I left them on the corner of De Koven and Jefferson.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner):  Do you recollect whether you used those hose afterwards or not?

A.  I did not use them.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner):  You state to the Board about your play on ruins.  I wish you to state what the ruins consisted of and what danger there was at that point?

A.  There was a building corner of De Koven and Clinton.  There was a big two story house running pretty near to the alley.  There was a cottage next to it, and there was another building that had been partly burned down, and fell down and was on fire.  It had not [78] been burned down in fact but it fell down or was pulled down while I was away from there, and it was on fire.  We stopped there and played on them ruins until it was pretty near morning, I should judge, and Benner sent up twice, as soon as we got it under control, to take up my hose and go over to the South Side.  I sent back I guess twice to you.  I sent two men to tell you it was not safe to leave it.  As soon as I thought it was anyways down so I could get away I took up the hose and went and saw Benner and he told me to go on the South Side.  I told him that thing was not exactly safe yet.  It was not.  The cottage was afire and burning inside.  I went and brought a roof ladder that I left there with you on Jefferson Street.  I went and found that in the ditch where I left it, took it down there and knocked down the plastering, and put it out in that cottage.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Did you have plenty  [79] of water at that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Had plenty of water did you as long as you played on those ruins.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Benner):  There is no doubt in your mind that if you had not put your plug stream on there above the little cottage the two building[s] would go?

A.  Yes sir.  The cottage was on fire.  It was in the inside at that time I put a plug stream on.  I tore down the plastering and got up in there.  The water was coming slack then.  I thought the engines was taking too much water from us.  At the first start we had a rattling good plug stream right along up to pretty near the last.

Q.  Are you certain that there was only one building facing on De Koven Street on fire, when you got your water on?

A.  I am not certain.  To the best of my opinion there was one.  The other one was about catching,  [80]  I do not know whether it was caught or not.  The flames blew right up against it.  I could not say whether it was on fire or not.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Which way was the wind blowing at the time?

A.  The wind was blowing from the southwest.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Was the wind blowing the hot smoke and fire towards you or away from you?

A.  It was blowing towards me.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  Will you state to the Board about the distance the fire had gone, or what the distance was between the fire and the church[cclxvi] that caught afterwards?

A.  I did not see that catch fire.

 

 

[81]

 

                                                                Leo Myers Sworn

                                                                   Nov. 17, 1871

                                                                    18th Witness

 

I am foreman of the Tempest Hose No. One, located at the corner of Washington and Clinton.

Q.  How long have you been in the fire department?

A.  Since 1859.

Q.  Will you state what you know about the origin and progress of the fire on the night of October 8?

A.  As to the origin I cannot state.

Q.  When did you know anything about it?

A.  From the alarm of our gong.

Q.  What time was that?

A.  About half past nine o'clock.

Q.  From that tell what you did and what you saw.

A.  The alarm came in and we proceeded directly to the fire.

Q.  Did you go to the box or to the fire?

A.  We went directly to the fire.  We saw the fire.

[82]

Q.  How soon did you see the fire?

A.  As soon as we got around the corner of Washington and Jackson Streets.  We went on Jefferson to Van Buren, and Van Buren east to Canal and on Canal south to Taylor, proceeded to the corner of Taylor and Clinton Street.  We found to the best of my knowledge some four or five buildings on fire, when we got there on the south side of Taylor Street.

Q.  Previous to that from the time of the alarm until you got to the south side of Taylor Street how long time elapsed probably.

A.  I shouldn't think any more than about six or seven minutes; we could go that distance.

Q.  State what you did.

A.  Generally assisted all over where I could be of any benefit.  Our particular branch of business is to assist all over where we can find anything to do for the benefit of the fire department here [83] and there.

Q.  You  have your appliances hose cart and reel of hose and canvass cart attached?

A.  We took no canvass cart with us.

Q.  For what reason?

A.  We had instructions to take it to the south side of the river as far as Box 13.[cclxvii]  That included all from the river to Madison Street and from the Lake to the river.

Q.  For the purpose of taking it into the business property and not into the residence property?

A.  That is all sir.

Q.  Was your reel of hose put in service there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  In connection with any engine or plug stream?

A.  We gave part of it to the Long John steamer.  Gave it to different companies.  One or two lengths to the Brown steamer.[cclxviii] 

Q.  Can you tell us where they were working at the time?

A.  The Long John I think was [84] located on the corner of Canal and Taylor Street and lead west to the fire.  I think the Brown was on Canal but I could not state the exact street and lead west to the fire also.  It was sometime after the fire spread that we gave the Brown hose.

Q.  Did the fire spread very rapidly?

A.  Very rapidly.

Q.  Strong wind?

A.  Terrific wind.

Q.  Buildings dry?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  In a fire spreading as rapid as that it is over so much territory.  State whether or not a larger amount of hose would be required.

A.  It would require a larger length of hose after that fire  got to spreading.  The fire would jump from one block to another.  It would consume time for the steamer to take up hose and proceed north and take up connection.

[85]

Q.  About how long should you think?

A.  That would be according to the amount of hose they had out.  If they had out six hundred feet of hose to take them up and make preparations to get them down again, it would take perhaps ten minutes.

Q.  (By Williams):  To lay out the hose and put your engine to work, how much time would that take?

A.  It would be according to the distance we had to travel.  If we went two blocks I could not say positive but to the best of my belief it might require fifteen or twenty minutes from the time you were ordered to take up and move it might consume fifteen or twenty minutes.

Q.  Do you mean from the time they stopped playing until they got to playing again?

A.  Yes sir.  They would have to work very rapidly.

[86]

Q.  Did they have to make frequent moves during the time the fire was burning on the West Side?

A.  Yes sir.  They moved very frequently, and very rapidly sometimes.

Q.  Did you see any engine get caught in the fire there?

A.  I was assisting the Gund's foreman with their stream when they were cut off at the corner of Canal and Van Buren.

Q.  What became of their engine?

A.  Their engine was destroyed there by the falling of that building on top of it.  They got hold of the _______ (reel?) of hose to pull her away.  There was no one could get near to cramp her consequently she ran off down on the side on the incline of the street.

Q.  Did you save the hose?

A.  Saved part of the hose.

Q.  What was the building that fell on the Gund engine?

A.  A large brick building, I think [87] it was a three story building that was on the corner.

Q.  Did the building fall very quickly?

A.  Very quickly.

Q.  Did you work on the West Side all the time?

A.  Until I saw it cross on the south side.  The first intimation I had, looking across the river, I saw the fire break out in the vicinity of the gas works.

Q.  Did you see it cross?

A.  I could see it from where I stood better than on the opposite side.

Q.  Where were you located then?

A.  I was just about the corner of Clinton and Jackson.

Q.  Where did it appear to cross?

A.  There by the gas works.

Q.  At the south of the gas works or the north of Adams Street?

A.  The fire, I should judge, was east of the gas works in Powell's roofing establishment there.  I proceeded there immediately with our cart and what hose we had remaining. 

With- [88] out any word at all I jumped on the cart and started over to the South Side.

Q.  What bridge did you cross?

A.  Madison Street bridge.  We found the Economy[cclxix] up there and got to work on the plug on the corner of Market and Monroe but there was no use of trying to stop anything there.  There fire had got across on the north side of Monroe Street.  The gas works were then on fire.  It was burning perfectly clear when we went through with our cart.  I went there as soon as I saw it.

Q.  Did you observe how the fire crossed, whether by cinders, burning brands, roofing material being blown across, or whether the rigging of vessels got on fire in the river or whether there were any at that point?

A.  I should suppose the fire originated from flying sparks.  The whole air was full of chunks, perhaps as large [89] as your hand and some larger.  Flakes of fire.

Q.  At that time was there any fire that had crossed south of that into the South Side?

A.  I had not seen any.

Q.  Anything north that you had noticed?

A.  Not except further north than the gas works there on Monroe Street there was three or four wooden buildings on fire.

Q.  Did that appear to have gone from this fire on Powell's roof or had it crossed from the west side as an independent fire.  Could you tell which?

A.  You could call it an independent fire in connection with the fire on the West Side.  I presume it originated from the fire on the West Side.

Q.  You think the sparks from the West Side had set fire in two places on the South Side?

[90]

A.  Yes sir.  We then came to the West Side again.  We found that they required no hose there.  Came over to the West Side and picked up some more hose.  Went as far on Van Buren Street as we could.  Thought perhaps I might find two or three lengths of hose.  I managed to scratch together 450 feet of hose.  Word came to me that the Long John[cclxx] had got over on the South Side and required hose.  We crossed the bridge again to the South Side and I learned that the Long John was located on the corner of Clark and Quincy Streets.  I proceeded there and found the Long John stationed there and they had no hose.  We gave them all the hose we carried on our reel.  The boys allowed they could save that new hotel.  I was under the impression they would have a pretty lively time if they done so.  I didn't say any[thing] [91] to them regarding that, and they started to work.  Then we came back, and when we came to the West Side again we couldn't get through Clark Street, so we took Dearborn to Lake Street and then found the Tremont on fire burning as we passed by it.  We came direct from Lake Street to the West Side.

Q.  Did you cross to the South Side after that?

A.  Yes sir.  We went with the Williams engine to the corner of Lake and Wells Street.  We didn't remain there more than five minutes before we moved to the corner of Franklin.  Remained there for awhile, the fire kept driving us.

Q.  Did you see the marshals, all or any of them?

A.  Every one.

Q.  Who did you see most?

A.  Saw Marshal Williams and Marshal Schank more than any of the other marshals.

[92]

Q.  Mr. Benner?

A.  I may have seen him once or twice during the night.  I was working on the north line of the fire, and he was on the other end of it.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Walters?[cclxxi]

A.  Once in a while I would see him.  I had a lead from the Steamer Fred Gund, in front of Mr. Bateham's mills--put the lead on from our carts, run it into the rear part of their mill, I think it was--thought perhaps I could cut the fire off there and assist in driving it out.  I could not remain there but a very short time.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams):  How long did you remain?

A.  I do not know.  I might have remained fifteen minutes in there.

Q.  How was that block in which Bateham's mill is situated on the whole--a block in which a fire could be put [93] out easily?

A.  No sir, I presume it was the most combustible place in the city of Chicago, Mr. Bateham's planing mill.

Q.  On that block was there anything else besides mills and lumber?

A.  There was large frame buildings.  I do not think there was a brick structure on the whole square.

Q.  A match factory?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Furniture factory in the rear of the  mill?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Pretty extensive?

A.  Very extensive, I understand he used the whole west building for the furniture manufactory.

Q.  (By  Mr. Williams):  A lumber yard in the rear?

A.  A lumber yard in the rear also.  It was composed of combustible materials all through the square.  I have been in the department some years.  I never witnessed such a terrific burning [94] as that mill made.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  Did you see more than the "Economy" on Monroe Street, at work?

A.  That is all I saw at that time.  She was at the corner of Monroe and Market.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank):  You did not get to the corner of Monroe and Wells Street?

A.  No sir, we thought we could save Farwell's building at that corner.  It appeared as though the fire was all over.

Q.  When you went down to Dearborn Street, did you notice the Court House on fire?

A.  Yes sir, the Court House was in flames.

Q.  You have been assistant marshal in this department, have you not?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  State whether or not there is a system of runs laid out for the different companies in the department?

A.  Yes sir, there is a system. [95]  A certain number of boxes for a certain number of companies to go to on the first alarm.  The second alarm brings a certain other portion of the department there.  When the third alarm is given it is to call the whole department to a given point, except two suburban engines, I believe.

Q.  How many engines do you recollect, at the most, could be brought in on the first alarm, at the point where there is the most engines required?

A.  I think that our box there on the corner brings in several engines—276.[cclxxii]

Q.  That is the greatest number?

A.  I think it is.

Q.  Ordinarily, upon the first alarm, what is the lowest number of engines, where property is not very risky?

A.  I believe there are certain boxes where it only brings in four engines.  There may be certain boxes in the suburbs where only [96] three engines would proceed to the fire.

Q.  Before the fire, was it not a fact that the city was generally covered by the fire alarm telegraph system?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Gongs at the engine house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  As a fireman of large experience, do you think, when you arrived at the fire, that there was a possibility of stopping it?

A.  There might have been, perchance, but then it would be a difficult matter for a person to state, to say that the fire could have been stopped.  I could not say positively.

Q.  You have seen fires of as great magnitude, at the time you arrived there, and under as unfavorable circumstances to stop, have you not?

A.  Yes sir, I have seen fires originate in a small shed and burn down blocks of buildings.  I have seen it orig- [97] inate in a five story brick [building] and put out with trifling loss.

Q.  Are you aware that any concentrated effort was made--that there was any particular system adopted to check the spread of that fire on the West Side?

A.  Well, I will state that I never saw a department labor harder or respond quicker than they did, during that conflagration.

Q.  What I meant by the question was--was there, to your knowledge, any concerted effort made, anything that would tend to bring a line of engines to a given point to check the fire?

A.  We had a line of engines on Bunker--two or three powerful streams in there.  I was under the impression that we had the fire pretty well checked in there--satisfied we had--there was a building took fire right directly north of us.  We had the fire checked there, but some large cinder or flake of fire, or [98] something had set a fire a block from us.

Q.  Are you aware that there was any consultation between the marshals as to the best manner of checking that fire?

A.  That I could not say.

Q.  Is it usual to take counsel--for the chief to take counsel with the other marshals in an emergency of that kind, or does each act independent of the other?

A.  No, I think not.  I have seen the assistant marshal counsel with the chief frequently at fires, where such and such ought to be done.  I presume it is customary for them to consult at large fires, where it requires consultation between them.

Q.  You are not aware that any plan of action was agreed upon between the marshals as to the best mode of checking the fire?

A.  No sir, I could not say.

Q.  If there had been, would you have known it?

A.  Not liable to.  They might have [99] consulted among themselves, and done so and so without my knowing it.

Q.  Do you recollect of ever attending a fire where the same combination of circumstances seemed to prevail that there did at that fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  About the rapid spread of it, I mean.

A.  No sir, I never witnessed it in all my experience.

Q.  Has it not been usual, and is it not, in your judgment, a fact, at that time, that each engine and cart went to the fire with a full supply of hose?

A.  We generally have very good hose.

Q.  A full supply?

A.  A full supply generally speaking.  It has been the remark that we had better facilities for the last three or four years for the extinguishment of a fire than we ever had before in Chicago.  It has been a usual remark through the department [100] that our facilities were better for extinguishing fires.

Q.  You are aware that independent of the hose used by the engines there was also supply carts.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know how many of those there are that cart hose independent of the carts that accompany the engines?

A.  I think there were at that time, under organization, six.

Q.  Was there one burnt up in that fire of Saturday night?

A.  Yes, I understood there was one burnt up, a new hose cart, whether there was any hose on it or not I could not say.

Q.  The Hook and Ladder Truck1[cclxxiii] was also burnt?

A.  I understand so.  Yes.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Could the fire have been started in any other place in the city where it had as good a field to make a big burn--spread over as much ground?

[101]

Q.  Was there any other place in the city more adapted to make a big burn than that was?

A.  I should state that if anybody wanted to have a large fire that would be a good place to start one in--everything is packed so close together.  The people living there go to work in the Fall season, and get shavings and combustible matter of all kinds for the winter's use.  The streets are very narrow.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What was the character of the buildings on the opposite side of the street--Canal Street--along there?

A.  They were two and three story frame buildings, planing mills scattered through them.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Paint shops?

A.  Manufactories and paint shops and everything else there.

Q.  Furniture manufactories and lumber yards?

A.  Everything that tended to the ad- [102] vantage of the fire.

Q.  Were not the buildings elevated from the ground from five to perhaps ten feet and eleven feet, as the case might be?

A.  Our established grade compels them to have buildings up to grade from five to six feet.  Sometimes, where a viaduct is constructed, it runs up to ten feet above the surface.

Q.  Are those of stone, brick, or wood?

A.  Most are wood through that vicinity.

Q.  Basements and all?

A.  Yes.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How is it underneath the sidewalks, is it walled off, is there a board partition or anything?

A.  No.  I presume a person could go from one end of the street to the other through underneath the sidewalk, in the majority of cases.  There may be cases where they are partitioned off, but there are holes through, so you could drive [103] [a] good sized cart through.

Q.  Did you see any of the men intoxicated that night, or the officers?

A.  No sir, and I have made the remark with pleasure that I was agreeably surprised that I had not seen a fireman during the fire under the influence of liquor.

Q.  Did you see any of the firemen or marshals intoxicated?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did not visit any engine houses except your own on the Sunday after the Saturday night fire?

A.  No.  We worked around, did not get home until 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon from the Saturday night fire.  The first thing we done we laid down for a rest until [Box??] 28 came in.[cclxxiv] 

Q.  There has been some charges made of carousing at the engine houses, Sunday.

A.  That is the first I am aware [104] of it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What time did Box 28 come in?

A.  I do not recollect.  It must have been in the neighborhood of half past five or six o'clock, along there some time, I should judge.  I am not positive as to that.

Q.  In your judgment, was there any possibility of blowing up buildings in the front of the fire and so stopping the conflagration?[cclxxv]

A.  After the fire had got that magnitude?

Q.  Yes.

A.  Well, you might blow up a line of buildings here, and you would find the fire had jumped a block from you, perhaps, and started at any other given point to blow up a line of buildings in front of the fire and do not think in my opinion would have been any consequence at all.  If you [105] had got against the wind, behind it, and blown up a line of buildings, you might have stopped the fire going against the wind like the North Side, if we had had powder there and blown up those two elevators we could save all west of Wells Street.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Had you water?

A.  If we had had water.  I make that exception.  The fire worked very slow against the wind.

Q.  These two elevators being so high, and being on fire at the top, of course they spread a large amount of combustible material north.

A.  They burned terrifically, I assure you.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Were the water works burnt down before the elevators got on fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  About how long?

 

[106]

A.  I could not state as to that.  We had no water for some time before that.

Q.  Did you find your water failed you on the South Side before you went on the North?

A.  Yes sir.  About the time I could not state.  I kept no account of the time at all.

Q.  What was the first fire company from abroad that arrived and went to work?  Which one was it, and where did it come from?  Do you know?

A.  Yes, I think about on the corner of Market and Quincy, about there, I was assisting Mr. Swenie) with the Coventry engine.  A man came to me and said he had a telegraphic dispatch for the fire marshal.  Said I, "What have you got?"  Said he, "There will be two engines from Milwaukee at 10:45."  I went and found Mr. Williams negotiating for the use of those two Babcock engines at Mr. David M. Ford's place.[cclxxvi]  I gave  [107] Mr. Williams the telegram, and he told me to attend to it if I would do so.  I told him I would.  I took our cart and went to the Milwaukee depot and at 10:45, I think, precisely, the train came in with the two Milwaukee steamers with a good supply of hose with them.  They had their two carts full of hose and a surplus which I put on our cart.  I told them where to go to work and they went as I told them and did good service.

Q.  How long did they continue to work with our Fire Department?

A.  I do not know what time they went home.  I knew there was one away I am positive on Tuesday morning, about o'clock.

Q.  Do you know whether they worked under the direction of the fire marshal during that whole time.

A.  That I could not state.

[108]

Q.  Were they working upon the fire?

A.  Yes sir, one of the Milwaukee steamers was on North Kingsbury Street, at the river, which doubtless saved Indiana Street Bridge and the surroundings there, that large coal yard there.  I was there with them assisting them, moved their hose across Indiana Street Bridge and saved a large coal yard there, also.  Tuesday morning I received orders from Marshal Williams.  We were down at the House and word came there that we should take our cart and proceed to one of the Milwaukee steamers and take her and go to the North Side in the vicinity of North Avenue and Halsted Street.  We went there and took up their line of hose on our cart.  I put on, I think, some 800 feet of hose, thought I would be sure and take up all the hose I could carry.  I went there with a first class steamer, found lots [109] of fire, but no water within a mile of the fire.  The fire worked there very slowly against the wind.

Q.  You were with the Milwaukee folks while they were at work?

A.  A great part of the time, yes sir.

Q.  State whether they appeared to be anxious to do anything they could to assist us to keep the town from burning.  Was there any exhibition of mercenary spirit?

A.  No sir, they moved with alacrity and pitched right in.  They worked to the best of their ability to assist in saving what they could of Chicago.  Their assistant engineer they had with them.  They took their part in doing the best they could.

Q.  Did you see anybody make any offers to any fireman in the Chicago Fire Department or see any money paid or any engines moved in consequence of any offers made to [110] pay them money?

A.  Never heard of an offer made.

Q.  Did you see any engines moved in consequence of the request of citizens at any time, without orders from a responsible head?

A.  No sir.  I do not hardly think there is a fireman in the department that would take the responsibility of moving his engine at the request of any individual for personal gain for himself.

Q.  During the time foreign engines were here, under whose orders were they acting?

A.  I could not state.  I understand from Mr. Walters himself that he was over on the North Side giving them instructions.

Q.  Of course they were in the immediate command of their chiefs and assistants who were there.

A.  Immediate command of their own officers.

Q.  You knew but little of the foreign companies that were here.

A.  I saw them working, saw [111] two engines working on the West Side on the Freight Depot of the North Western folks.  (This has two words; should I make it one word?)  There was one hard company.

Q.  Do you know what places they were from?

A.  I do not know what places they were from.

Q.  What time was that?

A.  Monday afternoon, after dinner sometime, but as the fire progressed they would move their engines further up the river.

Q.  Do you remember when the Cincinnati engines went home?

A.  Yes sir.  I was at the train when they put their engines aboard, took some hose from there.  What evening it was I do not remember.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Tuesday evening?

A.  Tuesday evening.  Refreshing my memory a little, I can state it.

Q.  How many engines did they have here?

[112]

A.  I saw two.

Q.  Where did they use them, do you know?

A.  I understood they used one of them at Robert Law's coal yard.  The other one I do not know where they used it.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Do you remember my borrowing some hose of them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You marked it afterwards.

A.  I received particular instructions to mark it.

Q.  The Louisville companies went home on the same train, did they not?

A.  I believe they did.

 

[113]

 

David Kenyon Sworn

November 27, 1871

(19th Witness)

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What position do you occupy?

A.  Second pipeman on the Chicago.[cclxxvii]

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin or progress of the fire of October 8th?

A.  I don't know anything about the origin.  I [know] some little of its progress.

Q.  What did you first know of the fire Sunday night?

A.  The first I knew there was someone came to the door, and hollered "fire!"  And our watchman was right near where we led the horses out.  He pulled the knob and let the horses out.  It also rang a little bell that gives some alarm.  We came down on that.  I think we were all abed.  I know I was.  This man that [114] gave us the alarm said the whole corner was on fire and pointed to the corner of Jefferson and Jackson.  Before getting hitched, the gong commenced striking and had struck off a round before we got out.  The cart driver asked the foreman which fire we must go to.  He told him the one nearest him.  We went to the corner of Jefferson and Jackson.  Didn't stop  kept right on going right around.  Didn't see any fire.  Then went on to the other fire.

Q.  Did you go on Jackson?

A.  Went East on Jackson to Clinton and South on Clinton to Van Buren and west on Van Buren to Des Plaines and then out to the fire.  We took a plug corner of Forquer and Jefferson Street and led up to Taylor and down Taylor in front of the fire.  At that time, I think, there was as much as three--there was [115] two  anyway--buildings on fire on the south side of Taylor Street.  We worked there and crossed the street on Jefferson on the row, I should think, very near two hours or an hour and three quarters anyway.  And was then ordered north of the fire and went then to the corner of Harrison and Jefferson Street.  Went to work and led down Harrison to the corner of Clinton.  The fire was rapidly coming through there.  We had hard work to get our lead back again and save it.  We had put another lead on also; when we got near the corner, but we had to move from there it got so warm.  We then went to the corner of Jefferson and Jackson.  I don't think we led out.  It is my impression, however, that we drew some hose and that is all that there  [116]  was of the leading out.  Some of them say we led out from there.  I think that was all the leading out there was about it, drawing the hose.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Draw them back.   Without  reeling them up?

A.  Yes sir.  When we left Harrison and Jackson Street we could not go north.  We drawed the engine away by hand west on Harrison Street until we could get the team on; then from Jefferson Street and Jackson we went on the South Side across Randolph Street bridge. (Question:  is this the "South Side" of the city, or, the "south side" of the street?--I think it is South Side--yes, I checked, this is correct)

Q.  Did you commence to play on the corner of Jefferson and Jackson?[cclxxviii]

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  I don't think we remained over ten minutes if we did that long.

Q.  Was your fireman with you then?

[117]

A.  That is where he left us.

Q. What was his remark when he left you?

A.  I believe he told the first pipeman to take the engine; he was played out, to do the best he could with it.

Q.  How many buildings were on fire when you got there?

A.  I couldn't state what there was in the rear; in the alley my impression is there was two or three on Taylor.  There was two if there was not three.  It was so hot that the horse could not stand it.  The cart horse leading in.

Q.  If the fire had been so extensive as the party who gave the alarm seemed to believe, you would not have had to look around to find it.

A.  No sir, we did not look around at all.

Q.  You said  ________    ________ ???   this was your corner?

A.  Yes sir, right in the reverse direction.

Q.  Even if the corner was afire you would have seen the light? [118]  

A.  I think we would, but at that time, there was the Saturday night fire looming up.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do you know who it was that came there at your door?

A.  I think it was Dolan of the Little Giant.[cclxxix]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do you suppose that he thought that it was Jackson Street that was on fire or what was his object in telling there was a fire at the corner of Jackson and Jefferson?

A.  I am under the impression that he intended to point towards the fire, and instead of that he pointed in the opposite direction, still with the remark that the corner was on fire.  I don't see how he could come to that conclusion either.  And then 342 coming in is quite a distance from our house.  And the fire seemed to be apparently the other side of 12th Street. 

Q.  By the time you got to the fire, the fire had got as far as [119] Taylor Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  That was the street north of De Koven?

A.  Yes sir.  Two or three buildings north of Adams Street and I should think about 100 to 125 feet from Jefferson  east of Jefferson.

Q.  Were they two story buildings?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you notice whether there was many sparks and brands of fire flying when you led in to Taylor Street?

A.  I did.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the air generally full of them?

A.  It was full so they blew across the street.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the wind blowing much of any at that time?

A.  It was blowing a pretty good breeze.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was there any other hose led in Taylor Street but yours from the west?

[120]

A.  Not when I led in.  I led in; the Illinois led in soon after I led in.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  They played nearby you did not they?

A.  Yes sir, they played on the buildings on the north side of Taylor Street.

Q.  It had crossed Taylor Street had it?

A.  It had not crossed I think when they led in.  The houses were all smoking.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How long should you judge the fire had been burning when you went in?

A.  I do not know.  Taking the breeze that night, 15 or 20 minutes would give it a big start.  It is my impression it must have been burning that length of time.

Q.  How long do you think it would take you running in the direction that you did, from the time you started from the house until you got to the fire?

A.  I should not think over five or six minutes.

[121]

Q.  Did you see any other stream on before you began to play?

A.  No sir, but I am positive in my own mind that there was.  I saw the Giant.  I think they were working.  I saw the engine working, and that led me to believe there was water on the corner of Jefferson and De Koven.  There is no plug on the corner of Taylor and Jefferson.  That would leave a space from De Koven to Forquer on Jefferson.

Q.  You led south on Jefferson, then east on Taylor?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did your length of hose enable you to get far east on Taylor?

A.  No sir, we did not take the whole there.  That is a short block from Forquer to Taylor.  I think that we had more--perhaps three or four lengthof hose left on the cart after leading out, and had enough to lead pretty well around the fire.

Q.  You continued to work there on that block about two hours [122] you think?

A.  I think very near it.  Possibly it might have been an hour and three quarters.  I think we worked there that length of time.

Q.  While you was playing there did you notice a block of buildings on the corner of Jefferson and De Koven on fire?

A.  I noticed a block of buildings.  I am not positive whether it run to De Koven Street or not.  I know it commences at the alley and runs south.  I recollect the row and was in there with my pipe.

Q.  Did you play upon it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  In your opinion did that row get on fire from the sparks of the other fire, or was the wind blowing the sparks that way?

A.  No sir.  It was blowing right away from it, and it would look impossible for that to take fire from the other fire.

Q.  (By Benner)  What kind of a stream did you  [123] have for the first 15 or 20 minutes after you got there?

A.  When we first led in I could play on the second story windows--done so for a few minutes, and the water run down--just simply run out of the pipe, and I went back.  On the way back I met the foreman.  We went back, and the engineer had pulled the fire out of the engine--had not got it quite all out, and the foreman asked him what was the difficulty, and I understood him that one of the springs, or something in the pump was loose or had given way, and he could not work her.  Chris[cclxxx] told him he must work her anyway.  With that they commenced putting in the fire again and started up.  I think the first 10 or 15 minutes we did not have much water.  After that we had a number one[cclxxxi] stream as long as the fire lasted.

Q.  (By Benner)  Was that the time the fire [124] crossed Taylor Street, while you had hardly enough water to speak of?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  In your own opinion, provided you had a good stream, could you have checked it with the assistance of the Illinois?[cclxxxii]

A.  No sir, I do not hardly think we could.  I think if we had had another good stream on the east side of the fire with the two streams on the west side, possible we might have given it a good shake.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you see any stream leading in from Adams Street on the east side of the fire?

A.  I did not.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Where did the Waubansia work?

A.  From the corner of Clinton and Taylor I understand.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  You do not know which direction they led the hose?

A.  No sir I do not.  I think [125] myself with the two streams being on the west side of the fire, and one on the east, it would have been a pretty good undertaking to get the best of the fire.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  If you had stopped the fire was not it likely to jump ahead a block or two and get ahead of you?

A.  It looked that way.

Q.  What was the character of the buildings about there?  Were they pretty closely piled together--frame or brick?

A.  Frame.  The buildings that were right in the neighborhood of where our pipe went, I think were two story frame buildings--very good-looking buildings with the exception of one old cottage next to the corner.  That is where the fire stopped west.  I recollect that well.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  That building west got afire?

A.  Yes sir, got a fire and was put out.  That is the corner [126] building--a store.  It stands  there now I believe.

Q.  What is your recollection about the condition of the buildings?  Were they dry or otherwise?

A.  I think they were dry the way they burned.

Q.  Do you know anything about the tenants thereabouts--whether they were in the habit of getting shavings in their buildings and storing them for fuel?

A.  I cannot say that I do.  It is a little out of the neighborhood of where I am acquainted.  I have seen instances of fires that I have been to before up that way.  There is a class of citizens up there that burn shavings mostly for fuel.  I cannot say that there was such a thing that was in the buildings that was on fire or not.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I want to ask about that row of buildings that was on fire on Jefferson Street where you had your stream, and how [127] much that row was on fire at the time you received instructions to go north of the fire.

A.  I can tell you in this way:  I know we were ordered up the stairs in the north end of the row.  The foreman and myself went up about two thirds of the way, and that was as far as we could get, and I got the worst dose there I got through the whole fire.  I fell from there to the foot of the stairs.  That is the way I got out.  The smoke was so thick you could not stand it and it was impossible to get into the door after that.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Did you notice whether that row was on fire from one end to the other at that time?

A.  Yes sir, the row was afire at the south end at that time.  The Giant's stream I think it was--or one lead of the Giant's stream worked there.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  In your opinion how much of [128] that building do you suppose that we could have saved by keeping the Giant's stream and your stream, also the Illinois stream there with the start it had?

A.  Had they all concentrated in that one row I do not know.  I think it is possible there would have been a rough  remnant left of it left.  It would have been pretty well gutted out.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  What percentage?

A.  I think it would have been two thirds destroyed.

 

 

[129]

 

November 27, 1871

Thomas Burns  (Byrne???)  sworn:

Q.  Are you a member of the Chicago Fire Department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Driver of hose elevator No. 2.

Q.  Located where?

A.  Corner of Franklin and Washington Streets.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin of the fire commencing Sunday night October 8th?

A.  I do not know but little about it.  When I was on duty at the hose door the box struck, but it was not our round and we did not go.  We had then a foreman and the fire was showing up pretty bright when he came there.  We both started to go to the fire until we got to Madison Street bridge, and when we got on the bridge the fire was coming on the bridge then blowing with the wind.  He said "Burns you had better not go.  [130] You had better go back in the house.  You may have a chance to use the truck.  I will go to the fire."  I said I would like to go.  "No," he said.  "It is not right we should both go."  He went to the fire and I came back to the house again and stayed outside the door and at that time the fire was blowing down Franklin Street with the wind.

Q.  What time of night was this?

A.  When I got back to the house after he sent me back from the Madison Street bridge it was about a quarter past eleven I think.  I did not look at the clock.  That is my opinion.  Then Jo Hogart  came a little after that and we stayed there together a little while, and a little building south of the Bethel Home there on Franklin Street took fire on the roof.  It was only two stories high.  It had one of these tar roofs on it.  We put a plug stream on it, and Jo and me got on the roof and put that out.  Then I went upstairs and sat [131] at the window looking at the fire right straight along until box 10 or 12 came in I believe--or 13--along there.  As soon as ever that struck I run up to the Armory and in Conley's Patch was all fire.  Then the Long John was the first engine that came to that fire.  I helped on the pipe about a couple of hours.  We moved her twice.  I called Williams the chief and told him that Wells Street was all on fire.  I do not know whether he heard me or whether he did not hear me.  He was excited and ran by me.  I told him says I "chief, Wells Street is all on fire."  I went down Wells Street and it was as much as I could do to get on the east side of LaSalle Street.  Then I hitched up my horses--harnessed them up, as I had no team only a pair of sick horses--Fanny and the Williams' cart horse.  He was lame and was sent down there.  I hitched them up to the truck and went back to the fire, and then the [132] fire was coming along and the courthouse was afire then.  Then I looked out for No. 1.[cclxxxiii]

Q.  By Mr. Williams)  What street was you on when you saw me?

A.  On Adams Street.

Q.  How long did you stay with the John stream then after that?

A.  I do not believe after that I stayed with the John stream not over three quarters of an hour.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do I understand you to say when you was on the John stream you was playing on Conley's Patch?

A.  Yes sir, east of the gas house there in a little alley.  Then we took the stream back and moved the John down a little further and took another plug, and then the fire followed her quick.  She did not do but a very little and had to leave again.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  You went towards Madison Street? 

A.  Yes sir.  There was a good deal of fire there.  It was all fire.  It was one fire.

[133]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Both sides of the street?

A.  Both sides at that time.  Some of the west side and all of the west side was afire.[cclxxxiv]

Q.  About how far north had the fire got at that time?

A.  It was afire between Madison and Washington.  It had crossed Madison.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  You did not go down towards the courthouse did you?

A.  Yes sir, I went down after.  I went up to the house and hitched up the horses to the truck, and left them standing there.  We hoped that our corner would be missed.  Then I ran down.  I thought the fire was going to take the courthouse, and all that way and leave our corner.  I had a big confidence that our corner would be left, until the fire struck at the corner of Washington and Wells Street, and then she took a short right up under the buildings, and that government place there got afire and all the build- [134] ings on Washington Street was afire underneath before you could see fire on top-- six or eight of them.  When I throwed up all hopes that we were going to be saved, I went up and put all the bed clothes in a sheet and tied the end and throwed them on the truck, and all the boys' clothes, and all mine.  I took down the clock and put it with the gong and put them on the truck.  When I was standing looking at the fire--

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  At the time you ran north to Madison Street did you notice any fire towards the Oriental Hall building that faced upon LaSalle Street?

A.  Yes sir that was on fire.

Q.  At eleven o'clock at night?

A.  No!  No!  It was about 11 o'clock  at night when I got back from the bridge.  That was towards morning after it was daylight.  I did not look at no clock.  It was towards morning.

Q.  That was after you had been helping the John?

A.  Yes sir.

[135]

Q.  You did not go east as far as LaSalle Street with the John did you?

A.  I will be hanged if I can tell you what streets she played at.  The fire went through my head so I almost forget what it looked like.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you see the John working on the Pacific Hotel?

A.  Yes sir the John worked on it I think as near as I can remember.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  That was after she moved from Wells Street?

A.  Yes sir.  I know I helped the John there for some time, as long as I possibly could until I thought the whole city was burning down.  Then I ran down to see if I could not save our house.

Q.  Then the fire must have spread very rapidly in a southerly direction as well as in an easterly and northerly.

A.  It was going south and [136] east very rapid.  Not as fast as it was going north and east.

Q.  The fire went every way?

A.  Yes sir.  The fire went every way as far as I could see it.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Was the air very warm?

A.  B'George!  I thought it was too warm for me.  I thought I would never get down to the house once.  I thought sure it would take me before I got to the house.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Was there many pieces of fire flying through the air?

A.  Yes sir.  You couldn't see anything over you but fire.  No clouds, no stars.  Nothing else but fire.  Before Conley's Patch took fire there was pieces of fire come down Franklin Street and struck the street at Madison, and blew with the wind on the street until they got to Lake Street.

[137]

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Pieces of boards?

A.  Pieces of fire.  I do not know whether they were boards or coal or what they were, but they were big pieces of fire.  You can tell how strong they were, when they struck the street at Madison Street and blew with the wind until they went down below Lake Street.

Q.  You are certain that you saw flames burst from the basements of buildings on Washington Street before any other part of the buildings were on fire?

A.  Yes sir for the reason why--that the government building was on fire underneath before the building that was at the corner of Wells and Washington was on fire.  It shot right up from under the building.

Q.  Do you know anything about the gas works, about their letting off gas there?

[138]

A.  No.  I do not know anything about it, only what I heard.  I heard they had a lot of gas in the gasometer and they let it all into the sewer.  I do not know anything about that only what I heard.

Q.  How did the flame look as it came from one of these basements?

A.  I never passed any remark upon how the flames looked.

Q.  Was there any difference in the color between that and ordinary flames?

A.  I didn't pass the remark.  I couldn't see anything about the color.  I saw the fire.  I have reference to Washington Street in speaking of basements on fire.  I thought the fire would let that corner be altogether.  When I saw this fire was right under the building on the south side of Washington Street I went and bundled every man's clothing up and threw them on the [139] truck.  The flames were of all colors.  You could see them coming out of windows and all around, and as I said before it went through my head so that I almost forget what it looks like.

 

Adjourned to tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. 

 

 

[140]

                                                     Michael C. Hickey sworn[cclxxxv]

                                                              November 28, 1871

                                                                   (21st witness)

 

Q.  Are you a member of the police department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  Captain of police.

Q.  What precinct?

A.  First precinct.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin and progress of the fire, October 8 and 9?   What did you first see of it?

A.  The first I saw the fire was on the West Side--the second precinct.

Q.  At what time?

A.  I think that was about nine o’clock.  I think it was somewhere in that neighborhood.  I am not positive as to the exact time. 

Q.  Where were you when you saw it?

A.  I was at home getting supper. 

Q.  That was where?  [141]

A.  I was at 318 Calumet Avenue.

Q.  What did you do?

A.  I heard the alarm from the Cottage Grove station.[cclxxxvi]  The fire bell gave the alarm.  I started out to the door and waited a moment, and I heard a general alarm given.  I started for the city as quick as I could.  I got to the old Bridewell[cclxxxvii] where our police station was, and I went in as quick as possible and ordered every man that was there to turn out and go to the West Side fire.  They had all done so, for I gave them orders in the evening at roll call in case of fire.  I talked to the superintendent in regard to it, and he gave me orders to take every available man I had to whichever side of the river the fire might occur.  We talked it over on Sunday on account of the Saturday night fire.  We talked the matter over, and he told me he wanted me to turn out every man I had in case of emergency to any side of the river that a fire might [142] occur.  I went over on the West Side.  I forget what street it was.  I went on Canal Street until I got pretty near where the fire was.  I think I was there but a very short time when I met Captain Miller.[cclxxxviii]  I joined Captain Miller and told him I was ready to render him any assistance I could with my men.  So we placed the men all around everywhere we thought they could be of any use and went along every place we could to try and help the fire department.  We tore down several old sheds to try and stop the fire in the rear with some firemen.  We helped all we could and tried to get people out of houses and tried to get furniture saved and tried to get them from getting killed or hurt until the fire reached--I think it was Van Buren Street, or pretty near Van Buren Street.

Q.  Across Canal?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where was the fire burning at that time?  [143]

A.  The fire was burning north.  The fire was two blocks or three blocks south of Van Buren, I forget now which, and it was burning north all the time.  I was there before St. Paul’s church took fire.  I think I spoke to the chief engineer.  He was very busy at the time.  I told him the cupola of the church was afire.  He immediately got an engine, I think, or a hose onto the church, but it went very quick.  It did not last any time.  I also spoke to him about somebody giving me the information.  I think it was Captain Miller.  Said I, “There is a match factory directly north of the church.[cclxxxix]  That is going to make an awful fire if it gets there,” and I think the chief made the remark to me, “I know it, and we must try to do something,” or words to that effect, and at that time, I think, or not very long after, another fire took place in a wooden frame building that was north of the church.

Q.  Did the fire appear to eat its [144] way regularly to that?

A.  No sir, it jumped.  The church took fire, and I think the biggest portion of the fire was at the block south of there, working its way north.

Q.  You know it was separated some distance by buildings not burning?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know the exact distance?

A.  It  may be but a block; it may be more.  At the time the church caught fire, I know that I ran down where the buildings were on fire.  I ran north to St. Paul’s.  I know we ran some distance to get to St. Paul’s church when the cupola took fire.  I remember there was an old gentleman who owned some buildings directly west of St. Paul’s church come to me and asked me if I would not speak to the chief engineer to play on the buildings and to try and save them if possible.  I told him he had better see the chief himself--that there the chief was.  [145]  He had better see him himself.  After that church got afire, we went down to the next street and went down to the planing mill.  The fire ran along the street.  I know Captain Miller and myself took some men into Bateham’s planing mill and tried to put out cinders that were falling there pretty thick and over the sidewalk.  Then there was a rush out on Canal Street.  There was some trouble on Canal Street in a saloon there, and Captain Miller and I went out there with some men and tried to stop a quarrel on Canal Street.  They were gutting a saloon there--trying to take everything out of it.  We went along before the fire, trying to keep things clear until we got to Van Buren Street.  In Van Buren Street I do not know whether it was the first engineer or somebody else said, “You had better send some men in this building and try and keep the fire off.”  Sergeant Lull[ccxc] was there, I think, [146] and I told him and five or six men to try and keep the sparks off, if possible.

Q.  Which side of Van Buren Street was that?

A.  I think the south side of Van Buren Street.  I was under the impression it was the south side.  I may be mistaken.  And the men remained there until they were driven off by the heat.  A little while after--I cannot tell how long--somebody hallooed, “The South Side is on fire!  There is a fire on the South Side!” and I think I run up until I got sight of the fire.  I got one or two

officers--officer Morgan[ccxci] was one of them. Said I, “You go and get all the South Side men you can get hold of and get them on the South Side as quick as possible.”  At that time, if I am not mistaken, Van Buren Street bridge was on fire.  We could not get across Adams Street or Van Buren Street and had to run to Madison Street.  We ran as fast as we could [147] to Madison Street, and as we crossed the bridge, I looked and said, “The gas factory is on fire!”  We ran up Market Street until we came to Monroe and found it was Powell’s factory.[ccxcii]  The fire was then just extending the other side of Monroe Street.

Q.  Was it extending south of Monroe?

A.  It crossed the street there, and I saw that there was three or four houses on fire there at the same time, and this tar material in the yard of Powell’s was burning very fast, and the old buildings there were burning pretty fast.

Q.  Were his works extensive?

A.  No sir, not very.  It was a kind of yard or shed there.

Q.  Do you know whether he had large or small quantities of this roofing material?

A.  Not from my own knowledge I do not know.  I understood there was quite a lot of it in there.  They generally bought, I believe, the tar from the gas company and used it for streets [148] and for this composition roofing.  I ran clear around and somebody says, “The Armory is on fire!”  I turned back and ran through and got around to the Armory.  The hose tower room was on fire as I got around.

Q.  There was a tower there where they hung hose--a room where they stored old hose?

A.  Yes sir.  Then the fire extended in that patch--a lot of wooden buildings on Monroe Street or Quincy Street.  The fire then extended south into that patch.[ccxciii] 

Q.  What do you call that patch?

A.  It was a combination of wooden buildings.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was that row between the Armory and Wells Street?

A.  No, it was north of Adams Street. That was on fire.  The fire extended across Adams Street into Mr. Ogden’s property there.[ccxciv]  When I got around, the fire got into the Armory.  It went right through, and just as I got in west of the Armory, the maga- [149] zine, I should judge, exploded and made quite an explosion.  Then the cry was, “The gas house was going to be blown up!” and people were running in every direction and said, “Get out of the way, the gas house will be blown up in a moment!”

Q.  Did you see the gas works on fire?

A.  A portion of it was on fire.  The retort works was on fire after that.  The purifying house was on fire.  I was there when that exploded.  I was on Adams Street near Fifth Avenue when that exploded.

Q.  That purifying house around on Monroe Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know what management was had about the gas that was manufactured there?  What disposition was had of it?

A.  Whatever amount of gas was on hand was in the holder.

Q.  Did you notice it being up pretty well?

A.  I thought it was up to a considerable height.  Of course [150] all the gas that had been consumed the fore part of the evening reduced it down from its general height.  As the gas is consumed through the city, the holder goes down with the pressure.  I heard somebody say--I could not tell positively who it was--it was all safe now; the gas had been allowed to escape.  There was such confusion!  Men, women, and children hollering and yelling and drawing out their things--the streets were just perfectly thronged with these human beings trying to get out of these patches, and they were all hollering and running in every direction.  It was nothing but excitement.  Then Monroe Street took fire and was burning right along.  The wind was blowing very strong from the southwest.  It was blowing very strong, [151] and I got around on Fifth Avenue and come down and headed off the fire there to see what the result was on the corner of Monroe and Fifth Avenue, and everything seemed to be on fire both sides of the street.  I got down to Monroe Street, and pretty much all those buildings on Fifth Avenue were on fire.  I ran down to Madison Street and came back on the other side as quick as I could.  I got down on Monroe Street towards LaSalle, and all the buildings on both sides of Monroe Street were on fire between Wells and LaSalle Street, and there was a mass of people there trying to get things out of the buildings.

Q.  Had the Bryan Block[ccxcv] got afire then?

A.  No sir.  I am speaking of between Fifth Avenue [152] and LaSalle Street.

Q.  Had that building on the corner of Monroe and LaSalle took fire?

A.  No, the fire hadn’t reached there then.  It was working off towards Mr. Otis’s building,[ccxcvi] more towards Madison Street at that time.

Q.  Was there much wind?

A.  Considerable, and the wind seemed to increase.  As the fire increased, the wind seemed to increase.  It increased more and more after that.  I went right onto LaSalle Street.[ccxcvii]  I went down to Madison Street and the buildings in the rear--it got into Madison Street from the wooden buildings in the rear.  Everything was burning that way.

Q.  Did you notice whether there was any buildings on fire in the basements before the roof burned or the upper portions? [153]

A.  I think I noticed one building on LaSalle Street between Washington and Madison; if I don’t mistake, the building was burning underneath in the basement.  I think there was one building burning there, but the buildings were burning from the rear.  The first thing I observed when I got around to the Board of Trade[ccxcviii]--I went on Clark Street and came around on Washington Street--I saw the tower of the courthouse was on fire. I went right along to LaSalle Street.  The buildings on LaSalle Street were on fire.  I went around in front of the courthouse--on the north side of the courthouse.  The courthouse was pretty well on fire.  The roof was all afire.  I went to the jail door; I think there was some parties wanted me [154] to go to the jail door and try and have the prisoners let out.  I went to the jail door and spoke to Eddy Longley.[ccxcix]  Said I, “Who is here?”  Said he, “I am.”  Said I, “The courthouse is on fire.  It won’t be five minutes before this roof will go in.”  I spoke a few words to him, and he came out and looked around and spoke a few words more.  They were hollering over to the Sherman House.[ccc]  I ran across the square, and there was a lot of people at the corner of the Sherman House on Clark Street.  They asked me what I thought.  I said, “You had better get out of here.”  I went back and they were hollering to let out the prisoners.  I went back and said, “Mr. Longley, you had better let them out.”  Said he, “I hate to take the respons- [155] ibility.”  I said, “I will take the responsibility.”[ccci]  We were about two minutes talking there before the bell came down.[cccii]  Said I, “You had better get them out as quick as you can.”  Said he, “What will you do?”  Said I, “I have got seven or eight men with me.  Take the murderers and get them over to the North Side.”  Said he, “What will we do with the rest of them?”  Said I, “You can’t take them now.”  The flames were coming down there and sparks as thick as snow.  You couldn’t hardly escape them anywhere.  Men were running with their coats burning.  We let out the prisoners, and the fire struck the Sherman House and the blocks along there, and there was some hollering again that Lake Street was on fire.  I went down onto Lake Street, [156] and there was a fire on Lake Street.  We hardly got down to Lake Street when somebody else hollered that there was a fire on Dearborn Street.  Ran up there and it was, and so [I ran] right along just running around there until the next afternoon.  Everything was on fire.  Every place you turned was on fire.

Q.  Do you know of any explosion of gas mains or anything that appeared like it?

A.  I heard the explosion of the purifying house.  I paid more attention to that.  Our attention was called to it at the time by somebody hollering that the gas house was going to be blown up.

Q.  Did you notice the “manholes”[ccciii] of the sewers, the covers to them, as to whether any of them were burned underneath? [157]

A.  I haven’t paid particular attention to that.  I know there was a good many of them burned on the top next day.  I saw they were very dangerous, a good many of them burned.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you see any of them blown off?

A.  I do not remember.

Q.  What did you do with the prisoners in the Armory?[ccciv]

A.  We turned them out.

Q.  All of them?

A.  Every one.  And only got out by the skin of our teeth ourselves.

Q.  Did you save anything?

A.  We saved our books, saved the telegraph instrument--that they saved when the bridge took fire.  They got that apart and sent it out.  We saved our books and the greater portion of what deposits we had there for the prisoners.  The prisoners we all let go.  Most of the men [158] lost their clothing there.  I had twenty-nine men, I think, burned out and most of them lost every bit of uniform they had.

Q.  Did you have a large quantity of small arms?

A.  We had seven hundred stand of arms set away in boxes.  We had six pieces of artillery with all the equipments.  They were in the Bridewell.

Q.  Where were they stored at the time?

A.  The guns we had taken to the Bridewell and put in under a shed there.  The harness was in the artillery room hung up on a hook.  The small arms were in boxes stored away.  These hadn’t been moved.  They were all lost.

Q.  Do you know what became of the artillery?

A.  The artillery was burned [159] up.  The woodwork of it was all burned up at the Bridewell.  Every bit of it.

Q.  What became of the guns, the cannon?

A.  Sometime after, I don’t know exactly how long, but [it] may be two weeks or it may be more or it may be less, I was going over from the Central Station[cccv] to my station; and I saw three or four men coming along with a very large truck; and they had five pieces, I think, of artillery on the truck.  I stopped them on the street.  I looked at them and said, “Those are our guns from the Armory.”  I spoke to the men and said, “Hold on, my friends; I want to see you.  Where did you get these?”  He said, “I got them out of the old Bridewell.”  I said, “By what authority have you taken them?” and he told me, “The [160] comptroller.”  Said I, “That is not right exactly.”  Said he, “If you doubt my word, I will show you the order.”  And he pulled out his order and showed it to me.

Q.  Did the order show that they were sold?

A.  The order showed they were sold to the Northwestern Manufacturing Company.[cccvi]

Q.  By the comptroller?

A.  Yes sir.  The small arms were in boxes in the artillery room in the old Armory.  With all our stationery--and everything connected--desks and everything else all stood in one room and the room locked up.  All our stationery for the next six months.  Everything we had that could not be moved to the Bridewell we had that stowed away in a room and the room locked up.  All the bedding, [161] pretty much of all the police department were burned up there--a great portion of their bedding.

Q.  Was the police force in good order, doing all the service they could during the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  I never saw men that worked any better than they did and worked while a greater portion of them were burned out and did not know where their families were for two or three days after.[cccvii]  They lay on the floor for two or three nights with no cover, until we went up and got some government blankets, and they used them for the balance of the time, I think two weeks, lying on the floor, and done duty all the time, those that could.  There was four or five men wounded.  One got his leg broken or sprained.  [162]  There was another man got his finger bit.  There was four or five disabled for some time after.[cccviii]

Q.  Do you think there was any extraordinary visitation of thieves from abroad during the fire?

A.  I shouldn’t wonder but there was a good many, but I think they left mighty quick.  They saw things were getting very hot.  Saw the citizens were going to get the law in their own hands.  I think a good many of them “lit out”[cccix] as soon as they found what was going on.

Q.  Do you know of any occasions of violence towards parties, lynching or anything of that kind, any authentic cases?

A.  Yes.  There was a matter that occurred on the corner of Washington early in the morning--Washington and Wabash [163] Avenue.  That was the morning of the fire.  There was a lot of thieves who were stealing this property on Wabash Avenue through the wholesale stores there.  They were fetching it along in loads.  It was the opinion of everybody that we would save that portion of the city over there south of Washington Street.  We went to work and put this property into Mr. Farwell’s store.[cccx]  I should judge it was several thousand dollars worth.  We took it off them and there was quite a crowd of citizens there tried to take it away from them, and we fought them there nearly half an hour.  About that time Mr. Mason’s son[cccxi] came to me and asked me where the chief engineer was.[cccxii]  Said I, “I have not seen the chief engineer all this morning.”  [164] Said he, “Do you know where he is?”  Said I, “I do not.  I cannot tell where he is.”  Said he, “We want to blow up some buildings here.  We have got some powder here, and father sent me here, and he wants these buildings blown up.”  Said I, “It is the duty of the chief engineer.  I have no power to do it.  If I do it, I am responsible.  I don’t hesitate to do anything I can, but I don’t want to take the responsibility.”  He said, “I will go back and see my father again.”  He went away and came back again and said, “Father says that you go and do it, and he would hold you harmless.”  Said I, “If he says so, I will do it.”  Said he, “How will you go about it?”  Said I, “I have got two or three policemen here, and Mr. Hildreth was standing by, [165] and said he, ‘I will assist you.’”  Said I, “Have you got any fuse?”  Said he, “No, we haven’t got a bit of fuse.”  Said I, “Where can we get some?”  Said he, “I don’t know.  The places where fuse was sold are all burned up.  I do not know how we can manage without fuse.”  Well, we went off and got some wicking and substituted that for fuse.  We got some powder.  It came up by way of Michigan Avenue in a fire wagon.  One of the firemen had it, and it was covered with tarpaulins, wet.  I told them they had better keep it on the lake shore, and keep it out of the way as far as possible.  About that time, the citizens found out it was powder in the wagon, and they went for the driver, a young man in the fire department, and they were going [166] to lynch him and hang him to a big telegraph post there, and some man came to me.  I ran back, and two or three of them had hold of him by the neck and were marching him off.  They asked him, “Where are you going with that powder?”  Said he, “Captain Hickey and the mayor sent it there.”  They said, “Damn Captain Hickey and the mayor!”  I got there, and we stopped them.  Said I, “If you will go about your business, we will try and do some good.”  So I got him away and told them what it was for.  Told them we were trying to save some property if we could not do any better.  We got into a building, got some seven or eight kegs of powder on the floor, and we got this wick attached to it and [167] got some rubbish and piled it right onto this powder, and by that time the roof was on fire.  At this time the house was all deserted, and we got on the other side of the street and went and kept the crowds back.  They were running towards this building where we were going to blow up.  That was one of the lynching cases.

Q.   Did you succeed in blowing up the building?

A.  We blowed up a portion of it.

Q.  Did it blow up before the fire got down to it?

A.  It did.

Q.  Which building was that?

A.  Directly north of Kinsley’s eating house.[cccxiii]

Q.  On Wabash Avenue?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  The one at the corner of Randolph Street?

A.  No, Washington, north of [168] that.  Then we went directly across the street, north of the Second Presbyterian Church,[cccxiv] and after consulting a little while, we thought we had better blow up that building and see if we could not save Drake and Farwell’s block there.[cccxv]  So we went in there.

Q.  A drug store?

A.  No sir.  It was a boot and shoe store, I think.  By George, I was so excited from one thing and another that I could not tell what was in half the stores.  It was the building north of the Second Presbyterian Church fronting on Dearborn Park and on Wabash Avenue.  We had some trouble there in getting people out of the house.  There was a portion of that building blown up.

Q.  How much powder did you put in? [169]

A.  We put in from seven to eight kegs of powder in some of them.

Q.  Where did you put the powder in?

A.  On the first floor and put some rubbish around it.  But it was working uphill without fuse.

Q.  Did the wick answer the purpose?

A.  It did, but it was very slow and was uncertain.  You might go and set it, and then it would go out.  It went out once or twice, at least once, and we had to go back and set it on fire again.  It was very uncertain and very dangerous.  You could not tell the moment you would be blown up.  You might wait an hour, and perhaps by the time you got inside of the door, away went the whole building.  One other thing that I remember in regard to lynching [170] was a man on the corner of Harrison and Clark Street, a peaceable man, a man I knew and a good citizen.  About five hundred people got around him.  That was two nights after the fire, I think it was.  They licked him on the start and got together to lynch him on a lamppost.  He went in an alley to draw water.  We brought him to the station, and there was about five hundred people followed him up.  We got him to the station.  It was little Mc[illeg.].[cccxvi]

Q.  What was his business?

A.  He has been connected with the press.[cccxvii]  We got him away from them.  They were trying to hang him to a lamp post.[cccxviii]  They were perfectly loony, didn’t seem to have any sense or any reason at all.  They thought he was trying to set fire to [blank].[cccxix] [171]

Q.  How many of your men of the first precinct were burned out?

A.  I think it was twenty-nine.

Q.  How did the fire department behave during that fire?  Did you see any of the officers or men intoxicated?

A.  I saw all of the marshals on this side of the river.  I saw Marshal Schank on the other side of State the next day and the day after.[cccxx]  I forget whether I saw the Chief Engineer or not.  I may have seen him, but I don’t recollect it.

Q.  When was that?

A.  That was the day of the fire.

Q.  On Monday?

A.  On Monday.

Q.  Where were you stationed?

A.  I was everywhere where I thought I could do any good during the fire.

Q.  As to that day during the fire, where was your place of operations? [172]

A.  In the South Division.  Altogether I was from Dearborn Street to Wabash Avenue and State.  I was all along.  Through every place that I could go that I could get around.

Q.  That was rather in the rear of the fire?

A.  Working against the fire, yes sir.

Q.  You say you saw the chief and talked with him on Sunday night on the West Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You saw Mr. Schank?

A.  I saw all the marshals there, I think, every one of them.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did you see a stream on the Sherman House front?

A.  I think I did if I remember, but there was so much hallooing and screaming and excited people and trying to get people away from the fire and trying to get the prisoners out of the jail, that [173] I really can’t remember.

Q.  The prisoners all ran towards Clark Street?

A.  Yes sir.  Some without coats and some with blankets around their necks.  I remember one of them, the blanket took fire on his back, and the blanket was on fire when he crossed the square.  Another gentleman got his coat on fire on the corner.  I ran for him and tried to put out the fire.

Q.  You didn’t see any drunken firemen or anything disorderly in the fire department during the time?

A.  I didn’t.  I saw the firemen doing all they could under the circumstances.  I think it was a matter of impossibility to stop that fire when it once got on Monroe Street.  I think there was nothing could stop it but Providence alone.  After it got so furious, there was no handling [174] of it.  I have seen men taken at the corner of Clark and Randolph Street coming around that corner there, and the wind would take them fifty feet before they could get on their feet.  You could not stand the heat.  The wind would burn your face, alone.  The wind grew stronger around that corner.  Around the courthouse it seemed to be worse than any other place I could see.

Q.  Did you see any person perish in consequence of the fire?

A.  I do not remember of seeing any person perish.  They told me on Lake Street when I got around there that there was a man supposed to be perished on Randolph between Dearborn and Clark.  The howling of the wind, the hallooing of people, and screaming around that corner was the most [175] horrible thing that ever I heard in my life or anybody else will ever hear.  You could not hear yourself with the howl of the wind and the howling of the flames.  You could not imagine what a scene there was there.  It was the most terrible and horrible sight I ever saw in my life.  That was right around the Sherman House corner.  There may be several things that have passed my memory.  There was so much excitement, but when my memory is refreshed in regard to it, I can state.

Q.  Do you know anything about the letting off of gas in the gas house?

A.  Nothing from my own knowledge.  But what I have heard.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank) When that gas exploded, did it make a great report or raise the building any?

A.  It was an adjoining build- [176] ing.  It was not the main building of the gas house.  It was the purifying house fronting on Monroe Street.

Q.  Did it raise that building any?

A.  It knocked the building all to pieces there.  I didn’t see it immediately after, but I saw afterwards.  Where the gas is manufactured, it goes right into this purifying house.  It is purified there, and then there is another lead that lets it into the holder.  Then it is purified in the holder and goes into the street. 

Q.  Where does the residue of this purifying go?  In the sewer?

A.  No sir.  It is carted off into the street.  It is purified with lime, and that is carted off into the street after they get through with it.

Q.  Use it for filling the streets?

A.  Yes sir. [177]

Q.  There is a gas tar that is frequently sold?

A.  It is separated in the factory where the gas is made.  It runs through a large pipe where there is a washer that washes the gas and separates the gas and tar.  That runs out into the tar holder, where it is pumped out afterwards and put into barrels while the gas goes off into another part, where it is purified and then it is let into the holder.

Q.  When passing into the gasometer after the last process, does it not go through water?

A.  No sir, I think not.

Q.  There is a basin of water under?

A.  That is for the holder.  When the gas is made, it goes into the holder, goes up the pipe higher than the water which lays in the bottom.

Q.  How is that water led off?

A.  The holder comes down every night.

Q.  Where does this water that [178] is [in] the base of the gasometer go to?

A.  That I could not tell.

Q.  Your police station or armory has been on the opposite side of the street from the gas works?[cccxxi]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Have you ever experienced difficulty from the escape of gas from their gas house through their sewer into yours so as to render it unhealthy for men to remain there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How was that?

A.  The only way we can account for that is this:  The main sewer runs down Adams Street to the bridge.  There is a sewer runs out of the gas house and from the Armory, and both empty into the main sewer down Adams Street, and when there is wind from the Northwest, it blowed that all up into the Armory where we had [179] no stench trap to stop it and could not have under the circumstances because of the amount of soil that passed through there.

Q.  Was that little or of considerable magnitude?

A.  It has been of considerable magnitude and has been a great nuisance.  Complained of for the last seven or eight years.

Q.  Then there must have been something in the nature of the gas, pure or impure, to escape from the gas house into the sewer?

A.  Certainly there was very much.  The washings of the gas are always going right through the sewer, I suppose.

Q.  You have seen most of the fires that have occurred in Chicago for the last twenty odd years.  I would ask you from your great experience what you thought of the possibility of stopping this fire [180] in its earliest stages?

A.  I do not know.  I think myself I saw the fire department do all they could in regard to it.  Used all [exertions?] I thought to try to stop it.  I wasn’t at all points where the fire was, and I couldn’t be a judge.  I thought from the way the men worked, they were doing the best they could.

Q.  Did it move more rapidly than any fire you ever saw before or not?

A.  Yes sir, it did.  More than any fire I ever saw in the world.  The West Side was a [siphon?] to the South Side.  It went from that Armory to LaSalle Street in less than no time.  I never saw anything that went so quick.  There was a portion of the time, too, on the West Side that it went very rapidly there.

Q.  On which side was the most [181] combustible material, the South or West?

A.  From where the fire took place in both places, I don’t think there was but very little difference.  I wasn’t so very well acquainted with the West Side, but I noticed they were all wooden buildings there and manufacturing establishments of some kind or nature.  I did not notice many brick buildings in the neighborhood or many stone structures.  And the South Side where it took fire there--excepting the Armory and gas house, they are pretty much all wood there.  That is in that certain neighborhood there.

Q.  Was all that woodwork dry, unusually so?

A.  Yes sir, very dry.

Q.  How long had we been without rain to any extent?

A.  I hadn’t noticed much rain [182] for two or three months before.

[183]

                                                          John Tolland sworn[cccxxii]

                                                              November 28, 1871

                                                                  (22nd witness)

 

Q.  What is your business?

A.  I am keeper of the lake tunnel.

Q.  Stationed where?

A.  Stationed on Lake Michigan, two miles and seven feet from the water works.

Q.  In an easterly direction?[cccxxiii]

A.  In an easterly direction.

Q.  Who else lives upon the crib besides yourself?

A.  My wife.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin or the progress of the fire of October 8th and 9th?

A.  I know nothing about the origin of the fire or the progress of the fire.  All I know is that the sparks came out there between eleven and three o’clock Monday morning.

Q.  How is that crib made?

A.  Made of oak plank to within six feet from the surface of the water, and over that [184] up thirty feet it is two-inch pine plank covered with shingle.

Q.  When did you first notice the fire?

A.  I noticed the flame of the fire sometime Sunday evening.  I could not say precisely the hour--sometime after nine o’clock or between eight and nine.  I noticed the fire to the southwest.

Q.  You say sparks came out there to your crib?[cccxxiv]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About when did they begin to come?

A.  About half past eleven.

Q.  What quantities did they come in?

A.  They came ranging from three to six inches in size--pieces of boards.

Q.  Did they injure the roof there?

A.  I would have sold out my chances between two and three o’clock for a dollar to any man that came along.  [185]

Q.  Describe particularly what they did do.

A.  They lit on the south side of the crib.  Sparks lit there, and I had to take up six pails and a broom and wet them and swept them off from that time until four o’clock Monday morning.

Q.  Did you have all you could do?

A.  Yes sir, all I could possibly attend to.

Q.  Did your wife assist you?

A.  I made her go to bed at eleven o’clock.  I did not want to scare her, and I wanted to stick to the crib as long as I could.  There was a heavy sea at the time, and I could not have saved her if we had had to leave.

Q.  How large were these sparks?

A.  Ranging from three to six inches, I should say.

Q.  Could you tell what the material was, whether it was  [186] roofing?

A.  No sir, I did not pay any particular attention that way.

Q.  Were they board or felt?

A.  They seemed like boards and pieces of pine.  A man placed in the predicament I was, he would not pay much attention how they were, so long as he saved his own place.

Q.  Where was that fire at the time these sparks began to come?

A.  I could not say very well.  It seemed to be all a bank of smoke in the air.  I could not pay any attention to where the fire was.

Q.  The closest point from which sparks could have come from was at least two miles?

A.  The way the wind was blowing it could have brought them further than that.

Q.  Was the wind blowing hard?  [187]

A.  Yes sir.  From the southwest it was blowing a good eight knot breeze right along there--over eight knots.  I should judge it was nearly equal to a line of three miles that the sparks came from.  If the crib had ever taken fire, you would have been worse off for water than you was with the water works stopped.

Q.  Do you know what time the water works took fire?

A.  No sir. I was busy on the roof.  I could not tell the exact time.  It was sometime in the morning.  I came down and saw the current in the tunnel was stopped, and I told my wife the water works was burned.

Q.  About what time was that?

A.  I could not say.  I did not pay very particular attention.  I was so busy on the roof.

Q.  Did you feel any effects of the heat out there?  [188]

A.  Well, you could not feel the effects of the heat.  You could feel the effects of the smoke.  You can smell it now when the wind blows from the west.  You can smell Chicago pretty strong with the smoke.[cccxxv]

 

[189]

George E. Fuller, sworn

Nov. 28, 1871

(23rd witness)

Q.  What is your name?

A.  George E. Fuller.

Q.  What is your business?

A.  I am on the fire alarm telegraph--night operator.

Q.  Where was you on the night of the 8th and 9th of October last?

A.  When the alarm first sounded from Box 342 I was on Wabash Avenue below 14th Street.  I did not start for the fire until the second alarm struck.  I do not know what length of time elapsed between the first and second.  I then started to the fire.  I went out 14th Street, took a cross street and went north to Polk Street.  I crossed over Polk Street bridge to Canal Street and went south on Canal to Forquer.  There I saw the first engine company that I saw while I was there.  It was the Brown's engine company.  [190]  They were about 150 feet west of Forquer Street.  I stood there and saw them do some good execution in that quarter; then went down on the east line of the fire towards the north until I came out on Clinton Street.  I then saw the church on fire.  I should judge, when I got there, there was about three squares on fire.  I went down past the church and saw two streams in front of the church, working on the fire.  I then went round north of the church and stood there for some little time and passed ________  (from?) Bateham's mills--both of them--onto Canal Street.  I went south on Canal to Taylor where the John's engine was to work, stayed there a few minutes and went back down to the mills--the mills were just igniting at this time.  I looked at my watch, it was just exactly midnight-- [191] twelve o'clock.  I then started for the office, down over Polk Street Bridge.  When Bateham's mills were beginning to ignite, it was just  exactly twelve o'clock.  I went from Taylor Street bridge to Wells Street, went north on Wells Street to Monroe, went east on Monroe to Clark where I met Mr. Schafer one of the bell ringers in the tower.  I asked him where he was going.  He said, "over towards  the fire."  I told him to hurry back as I thought I should need him at the office before long.  I got a lunch on the  corner of Clark and Monroe Streets and went to the office and relieved Mr. Brown at exactly 30 minutes to twelve.  I had been on duty about five minutes when Station 19 came in, and, about ten minutews after that, Station 13 came in, and Station 10 shortly after that--both of [192] which I struck on the outside bell.

Q.  Which box is 19?

A.  Corner of Van Buren and Market Streets, 13, Madison and Market, and 10 is on the Metropolitan.[cccxxvi]

Q.  You had been on duty ten minutes?

A.  I think, about five or ten minutes, I am not exactly positive as to the time.  About this time the bell ringer on the tower, Deneen,  notified me that one of the ventilators on the west wing of the courthouse was on fire.  I spoke to this officer, in the Central Station, through the speaking tube, and asked him to send up a fire extinguisher, which he did, and a man with it.  They went up on the roof and put the fire out on the ventilator and managed to keep ________  (them?)  all night until about one-thirty, when there was a ball of pitch or a piece of felt roofing, I [193] cannot say positive which it was, came through the windows under the dome and lit upon the stairs--the first flight of iron stairs--right against the wall where there had been some plastering torn off.  I started up the stairs and tried to get at it but there seemed to have been quite a mass of combustible matter under the roof and it ignited very quickly.  I saw it was no use to try to stop it.  I then called to Mr. Deneen to come from the dome.  He started down out of the dome, and the dome was then  15 minutes to decide it was "then," and not "there") on fire, and he had a very narrow escape with his life.  I then returned to the office.  I saw the building was doomed, we could be of no further use there in putting out fires and I struck off some seventy or one hundred bells, I do not know which it was.  Previous to this I had a man ring [194] the bell; I thought it might wake up some of the sleepers in the neighborhood and be the means of saving some lives.  I then left the office; the heat was so intense I could not stand it any longer.  I went out the LaSalle Street door and went to Washington Street, and east on Washington Street to Dearborn, and south on Dearborn to the Titsworth engine house where I procured a fire hat and came out on Washington and Clark where I met Marshal Schank; stayed there a few minutes and went south on Clark Street to Jackson and assisted in saving the John's engine where it was under the walls of the Pacific Hotel.  The members of the company attempted to save some hose and the walls fell on the hose and they were unable to save them.  So we hitched [195] the east end of the lead on to the cart and pulled out (I should judge) about 150 feet of hose.  That was all that we were able to save.  The engine then took suction at the corner of Jackson Street and Fourth Avenue.  We had a stream on the wooden frames just opposite the Pacific Hotel on Clark Street.  The water supply was very fair but nothing extra at this time.  I worked there some little time and then went towards the south end of the fire.  I do not remember what course I took to go there, I think I went down Clark to Van Buren, down Van Buren to State and up in that direction.  At the corner of Clark and Harrison I found the Brown at work there; they were covering the territory between Clark and Harrison and State Street.  [196]  They were coupled up at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Harrison Street--I think it was Fourth Avenue.  I saw Marshal Benner and Marshall Schank also.  I worked there in that vicinity until, I think it was, about three o'clock in the afternoon.  My eyes were totally used up and I had to go home.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Do you say Bateham's place was on fire when you left the West Side.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Was there anything on fire between that and the river?

A.  I did not see anything at that time on fire.  When I crossed Polk Street bridge I looked back and saw the two squares between Bateham's and the second street south of there on fire.  I saw them burning like so much brown paper.

[197]

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  You did not see any fire on the South Side at that time, did you?

A.  When I went down Wells Street I did not see any fire there.  There may have been some; I did not see it.

Q.  You assisted the firemen a good deal during the progress of the fire?

A.  Yes sir, all I could.

Q.  You have seen a good many of them?

A.  I saw Mr. Williams in front of the church on Clinton Street.  I saw Marshals Benner and Schank on the South Side, both of them to work.

Q.  During the time of the progress of the fire, did you see any of the marshals or officers or men in the department, intoxicated?

A.  No sir, I do not believe they had time to become intoxicated.  They had all they could do to save themselves [198] and apparatus from being burned up.

Q.  Did you see any disorderly conduct or improper conduct on the part of any of them?

A.  No sir, I did not.  I thought each and every man was endeavoring to do his duty the best he knew how, in every instance.

Q.  (By Marshal Schank)  Where the Brown was working, up on Harrison Street, did the water give out?

A.  The Brown had a medium sized--I should call it a fair

stream--nothing extra.  I understood from the engineer that he was taking the dead water from the pipe.

Q.  (By Marshal Schank)  Do you recollect when the Brown took up on the corner of Third Avenue and Harrison Street and went to the corner of State and Harrison?

A.  I do not remember that; I was _________   ___________   (downtown??)  once or [199] twice during the fire.  I do not know what time it was; I was there but a short time and went back again.

Q.  (By Marshal Schank)  Was you on the lake shore alongside the Michigan Avenue Hotel when the Brown was at work from Lake Michigan?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Marshal Schank)  What kind of a stream did she play there?

A.  I did not pay much attention to the stream there; I was assisting in lighting up in the rear.  I did not notice how much of a stream she had.

Q.  (By Marshal Schank)  Did she do any good there?

A.  Yes sir, I think she was the means of saving the hotel there.  I think, all through the fire there--what opportunity I had to see that company [200] work, they were doing excellent service.

Q.  What time did you say you left the courthouse?

A.  Exactly 1:30.  That is the time when it took fire for good.  It was on fire several times previous to that, in these ventitlators on the west wing.

Q.  What kind of a roof was upon the courthouse--the old part?

A.  An iron roof, if I remember right.

Q.  On the old part, what kind of a cover?

A.  Tar cover.

Q.  what kind of cornices?

A.  Wooden cornices

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did you ever hear me make any remark in regard to the courthouse that someday or other it would make a good burn underneath the roof of the old house there because it was kept laying so open all the time?

[201]

A.  I do not remember of hearing you make a remark of that kind.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Have you any recollection of my buying a padlock to put on?

A.  I know there was a padlock purchased and put on the door that goes underneath the roof.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Have you ever known of  persons sleeping under the roof?

A.  No sir, not to my knowledge.  If it was done, it was done without my knowledge when I was on duty.  I could not permit anything of that kind.

Q.  Under whose charge was the courthouse, except the upper part?

A.  I cannot tell you who had direct charge of it.

Q.  What it under the charge of the Fire Department?

A.  I am not informed in [202] regard to that, whether it was or not.  The tower watchmen I believe were under Mr. Williams's control.

Q.  I mean the building--under whose charge was it?  Did the Fire Alarm Telegraph or the Fire Department  take any charge of it?

A.  Neither one of them I believe, only to repair the windows in the dome and such things as that.

Q.  Do you know whether the Fire Department did that or the Board of Public Works?

A.  I understood Mr. Williams gave the order; I do not know how true it was.  There was a great many of those broken, below the dome[cccxxvii]

 

 

[203]

Dennis J. Sweeney, sworn

Nov. 28, 1871

(24th witness)

Q.  You are a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position in it?

A.  Foreman.

Q.  What company?

A.  Frederick Gund No. 14.

Q.  How long have you been a member of the fire department?

A.  Connected with the fire department since 1849.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin and progress of this fire of October 8th and 9th?

A.  Nothing about the origin of it.

Q.  At what time did you first know anything about it?

[204]

We received the alarm I think it was 10:35.  The third alarm we came out on.  It was an hour and five minutes after the first alarm.  Went directly to the fire.  _______  (We?)  hauled our hose a little on the way.  I told them to go in north of the fire.  When I left the house I told them to take 12th Street.  I saw the fire this way coming along.  I told them to go north of the fire in going into it.  I think it was the street north of De Koven that we drove down.  The hose reel was going south.  I turned them around and sent them north.  I saw Mr. Williams and asked him where he would have us.  He said, "go in anywhere  there."  I told him there was no hydrant--I had looked for a hydrant previous.  He told me to  [205] find the closest one I could.  We ran around to find a hydrant and the Rehm came in and stopped at the corner of Mather and Clinton.  I went south to Polk Street and told them I would go in line with them and take their water.  There was some delay then, getting up with the hose.  I went back to see what was the matter.  I found them playing on the roof of the church from the street.  There was a little fire coming out of the roof of the church and they said as soon as they could get it out they would lead up and give us water.  I waited probably five minutes and there was no hose coming up.  I ran back and saw the church on fire in the inside.  I immediately  ordered my engine to lead around to Bateham's mill--to the hydrant in front of Bateham's mill.  We placed our pipe in [206] betwixt the church and Bateham's mill on the north side, and worked there I should think nearly an hour.  The church was all down and there was apparently no danger there to the mill from the church, but the fire came from the south down along Canal and came around Mather Street back of where we were and we had to drag our hose out and get out on to Mather Street.  We tried to keep it from crossing Mather where it would get into Bateham's mill.  It was too warm.  We could not stop it.  There was too much fire there.  We worked there until the water stopped.  I went back to see what was the matter and I found a lumber pile each side next to the engine on fire and they were pulling the engine out.  When I got there they had got her away.  I crawled [207] in to the hydrant and disconnected the suction and took that with us.  I saw Mr. Williams there and asked him where to go.  He said the fire is further north.  You had better go down to Van Buren.  I went down to Van Buren.  I got citizens there to take hold of our line of hose and drag it down.  We led in the rear of the Canal Street Block betwixt Clinton and Canal.  The fire kept working back on us all the time, driving us north and Mr. Williams thought we could cut it off at that brick building at the corner.  I told him I thought not; there is green blinds on the building and that will be a warm place for our engine bye and bye.  Well, he said he would come around and we got two leads out.  He left me and afterwards sent back word for me to come and try and get the engine out.  We  [208] pulled our line of hose back and got to the corner of the alley on Van Buren Street and our water stopped as we came up to the corner of the alley.  I saw there was a stream playing on the engine then.  As soon as the water stopped I called to the men to come on and try and get the engine out.  We just moved a few pieces of coal from in front of her--the engine was headed east--and there was a sheet of flame seemed to envelope the whole of us and drove us away from around the engine.  We went probably a hundred feet away and as soon as the first gust had gone away I called upon the men to come again and we would try to get the engine out the second time.  We got within ten feet of her and were [209] driven back again.  We went back again and while standing there I saw the engine move.  Somebody had taken hold of our line of hose and started to pull the engine.  The front wheels struck this coal that was in front of her and cramped her so she run right in front of this building.  Put her in a position where no one could go for her.  I think if they had let that line alone we probably could have got the engine out.  After she got into that position our hope was gone.  Went around then to the corner of Jefferson and Van Buren and saw a brick building go down on top of her.  I saw Mr. Williams and asked what we should do.  He said to get up what hose I could and go on the South Side.  Went on the South Side across Madison Street bridge, got to [210] Market and saw a line of hose leading up Market Street from Madison Street to Monroe.  I told the men we had better take that line along with us.  There was no engine or hose cart there.  Went up on Market a little south of Adams and came back and found the hose nearly all  reeled up.  Went down Market to Washington, Washington to Wells and found the Winnebago there at work on a frame building, corner of Washington and Wells.  The foreman came to me and asked me what I thought of it.  I told him I thought he had better get out of there, the fire was then west of him betwixt Franklin and Wells.  He asked me if I had seen the marshals.  I said, "not on the South Side."  I then went down to Franklin Street and saw Mr. [211] Williams and asked him if there was anything that I could do.  He said, "yes, go and give the Economy two sections of hose."  I went and gave them two sections of hose and went and watched the stream about five minutes; came around on Wells and helped the Winnebago move around.  They were going down to the corner of Lake and while I was there someone came along and told me the water works was on fire.  I told him I didn't believe it and sent a man down to Wells Street bridge to see if there was any fire there.  He came back and told me there was a light in that direction.  I got on the reel and ordered the driver to drive as rapidly as possible over there.  We got on Wells Street bridge and there was no fire to be [212] seen anywhere only in that direction.  We went right straight to the corner of Pine Street and Chicago Avenue and I saw the fire was in a little cooper shop on the end of the pier.[cccxxviii]  That was on fire.  I never halted the cart.  Saw there was no danger to the water works.  We then drove down Chicago Avenue to Dearborn and went down Dearborn and stopped at the Huck's House;[cccxxix] saw my nephew there and told him to take the family and clear out.  Went down to Michigan.  When I got to the corner of State and Michigan I saw Wright's Block on fire and State Street bridge.

Q.  Did you notice about what time that was?

A.  No sir, I didn't.  I saw the Coventry was standing at the corner of State and Michigan not working.  I told the foreman if he would take his [213] hose cart and get what goods they could out of the house on the reel.  I would take his engine as I had hose.  He said, "all right."  We went up to the corner of Michigan and Clark.  There was no fire west of us whatever.  Led down towards the River  (Revere??) House and worked there probably ten minutes when I saw the fire getting across Kinzie Street out of them butcher shops there.  The fire went right across Kinzie and across Michigan and across Illinois.  The North Market was burning.  The Revere House[cccxxx] was on fire.  All those corners with the exception of Magie's large brick building;[cccxxxi] that was all right.  The fire broke out at the corner of Illinois.  I ordered the engine up that way and put out one building.  Then I saw it break out on the corner of Indiana and Clark. [214] I told the men to be ready to move quickly.  Just then there was one of these puffs went along that carried fire and everything else with it and we had to hold on to keep from being blown away.  As soon as that was quieted I ordered them to move straight.  The fire was all around us there.  Went up to the corner of Indiana, we thought we would make a stand there and one of the men called my attention to what was north.  Looking up that way I saw the Humboldt House[cccxxxii] was on fire.  Along up Clark Street the people were carrying things out, furniture and bundles, and throwing them on the sidewalk and as they throwed it down the fire struck it.[cccxxxiii]  There was just a sheet of flame all the way up Clark Street.  The fire got to [215] Erie Street--it was then a good ways north of there on State--and I told them to take the engine down, get north of the river and I would join them in about fifteen minutes, and went to my house.  I returned to the engine in about fifteen minutes and found her down at the foot of Franklin Street.  The foreman of the company had come then, and had taken command of the engine.  I went up to Wells Street to see how the fire was working, and found the Winnebago was at the corner of Kinzie and Wells trying to keep it out of Newberry Block,[cccxxxiv]  when the water supply failed.  I went down then on the dock where the Coventry was.  No. 5[cccxxxv] came along and Mr. Williams [started] to put this engine to work.  The Winnebago came along and he told me to assist them [216] to work.  I detailed some of my men to assist No. 5's pipe.  Worked there about an hour and Five was playing on the Wheeler Elevator[cccxxxvi] and the Coventry and Winnebago played on the Passenger Depot of the Northwestern.[cccxxxvii]  On the South Side the fire was burning very slowly from Franklin Street up towards the bridge.  The wind commenced to swing around and carried the fire on Munger and Armor.[cccxxxviii]  There was some men on the roof there said they would like to get a stream on the roof.  We told them if they would lower a rope down we would put a stream up.  They got it nearly up when someone told me the elevator west of Munger and Armor was on fire.  One of the men came to the front of the roof and [217] said it was on fire and I told him to make their rope fast and come down on the north side of the elevator.  They then threw their hose down that they had nearly pulled up to the top.  I hollered to all the men to get their horses on the engines and come out.  The Winnebago and Five came out all right but the Coventry in coming out ran against the elevator.  There was a very thick black smoke.  I crawled up pretty near to the engine and hollered to the driver.  He answered me and I told him to come towards where my voice was.  He backed up a little so as to get clear of the elevator and came out all right.  After we came out of there there was three empty hose reels.  I went back and went down between the eleva- [218] tors and uncoupled the hose and got out seven sections.  I could get no one to help me only few men had.  We had to hitch them on the cart and pull them out length by length.  I asked the foreman of the Coventry[cccxxxix] what we were going to do.  He said he didn't think there was much use of trying to do anything.  He was pretty well used up.  I said, "I will take the engine and try and save Meeker's."[cccxl]   He said it would burn.  I said, "we might put her there and try and save something."  I told him to go and try to do something for his eyes.  I would use the engine.  I changed the engine around on Kingsbury Street at the dock, foot of Michigan Street.  I hadn't got hose enough to reach up but kept the fire in check there while they were getting a great deal [219] of their machinery, lathes and planers out of the machine shops.  Then backed around and kept it off the coal yards on the west side of Kingsbury Street at the foot of Illinois.  That was as far as our line of hose would reach.  Meantime a company came from Milwaukee and got in position alongside of where the Coventry was.  I think it was the cart driver wanted to know of me--which way he should lead.  I told him I did not know as I had anything to say but there was a little fire down near Market Street.  They can put that out in about five minutes and then lead back to Indiana Street and keep the fire out of the bridge.  They done so.  After the fire was pretty well checked there I ordered the engine up and went [220] and rolled our hose up.  The men were pretty well tired out then and it was only by encouraging them and talking to them that I could get them to do anything.  I got the hose rolled up; they were quite a long time getting up.  We were delayed a good deal going down Chicago Avenue.  It was almost impossible to get there on account of the teams, and it was only by driving into a great many of them with the engine that we got there.  The fire was coming up Roberts Street next to the river.  I jumped off the engine and told them to turn around and drive back on the west side.  I drove a lot  of people across the river; told them if they didn't get over in five minutes they couldn't get over the bridge at all.  Drove everyone out of there.  The street was then lined with wagons and people had a great deal of difficulty in getting over the river.  There was   __________________   (both kind??)  ____________  (and we??)  ___________________   where we could [221] get to work.    One alongside Chicago Avenue bridge and the other down near Erie Street there was a lumber piled up ________. (there??)  I had only seven lengths of hose and I was afraid to take position anywhere the fire might strike below me and above me.  I waited there about half an hour until they let one of the burning vessels go thro' and burn the bridge.  We went up on the north side of Chicago Avenue and saw there was nothing there that there was any immediate danger from.  As I came back I met Mr. Williams.  I told him I thought of going further north on the island.  He said, "come along we will find a place for you."  Went up there and took position on the island and helped save the gas works.  We run a line of hose into the wood yard there.  There was a tannery burning that burned down.  We ran into a pile of tan bark and [222] kept it from going any further. One line of hose run into the wood yard  and kept that cooled off.  We remained there until Tuesday morning when the firemen came and I went off.

Q.  How far north did the fire extend?  To what street do you remember?

A.  I have never been up to the end of it.

Q.  Did you see any misbehavior on the part of the men or officers or any intoxication at the fire?

A.  No I did not.  Some of the companies had no officers and the men were very slow about moving.  All I noticed was the "Five"[cccxli] and the Winnebago on the North Side.

Q.  Do you know what company was without officers?

A.  Five was the only one I saw; that was Monday morning.

Q.  It was in charge of the head  pipeman?

A.  Yes sir.

[223]

Q.  The Coventry was over there on the north side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  The foreman was not able-bodied at the time?

A.  No sir.  He was not in very good condition.  He had just been hurt a little while before that.  As I had no engine at that time, I thought I would assist him all I could.

Q.  What was the character of the wind during that Sunday night?

A.  While I was coming to the fire there didn't appear to be a great deal of wind.  I did not notice the wind much until it got into Bateman's mill.  Of course the fire would make a great wind.

Q.  I understood you to say it was about an hour and a quarter after the first alarm came in before the third alarm

A.  An hour and five minutes.

Q.  _______   when you got to the fire you were able to get on the street north of De Koven?

A.  No.  We got down that way [224] down Jefferson.

Q.  Taylor was the street north of De Koven?

A.  I do not know the name.

Q.  Did you pass through Taylor Street at that time?

A.  We came down as far as Taylor and went north on Jefferson.

Q.  Did you come from the east of the fire?

A.  Came from the west.

Q.  How far north had the fire then gone?

A.  It was the street south of Polk; hadn't crossed there.

Q.  The fire then was confined within two blocks?

A.  Well it was in that block beyond Polk.

Q.  Where is that church situated of which you speak?

A.  Corner of Mather and Clinton.  The fire was two blocks south of it when that took fire.

Q.  After that got pretty well burning didn't it move rapidly north?

A.  No sir.  The church was all ________  (down??)  [225]  everything all safe.  On the west side of Bateman's mill there is a brick building, a match factory I heard it was.  That is the first place I saw fire in there ____  (going??)  north.

Q.  In the brick building?

A.  Yes sir.  We were betwixt Bateman's mill and the church probably northeast in the rear of the church.  It were  the fire coming from the south that drove us out of our position there.  There was no danger of Bateman's mill until the fire came from the south.

Q.  When was you playing on the fire south of Mather?

A.  We were keeping the church cool so it would not get to Bateman's mill.

Q.  The fire came around to the east of you?

A.  Yes sir.  It came down along Canal Street and along Clinton.

Q.  How long after the church burned down do you think it was that Bateman's mill got [226] afire?

A.  I would consider it all safe from the church.  I do not know how long it was; we worked in there sometime before the fire came down from the south and tried to keep it from crossing Mather Street.

Q.  Were there any other streams working in on Mather Street beside yours?

A.  No, not after the Rehm left.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  The Rehm was west of where your stream was.

A.  Their engine was on the corner of Clinton and Mather.  They were moved from there when we came out.

Q.  When you left Mather Street which way did you go?

A.  Our water stopped.  There was a lumber pile on each side of the engine on fire.  Then we went to Van Buren Street.

Q.  You was getting water from the Rehm was you?

A.  No sir, we had taken the hydrant [227] in front of Bateman's mill.  I gave Bateman the second lead off our engine.  He was playing on his yard with our other stream.  I had some hose to spare after we took out on Mather Street.  I told him he could take that, and put on the other discharge pipe of our engine.  He had been using a plug stream when we took charge of the plug.  He asked for some of our hose and we gave it to him.

Q.  What was the character of the buildings there about where the fire was?  Brick or frame?

A.  Frame.

Q.  Pretty closely built together all around there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were the streets wide there or narrow?

A.  Mather is a narrow street.

Q.  Do you know where the fire crossed to the South Side from the West?

A.  I was betwixt Jackson and Van Buren on Canal Street when I first noticed it.  It looked to [228] me to be about the corner of Franklin and Jackson.  There was then about three buildings--the roofs of these buildings on fire.

Q.  Did the fire extend from the west side of Canal Street in a direct line to the river or did that appear to have caught from burning sparks carried over?

A.  That must have been from sparks.  Van Buren Street bridge had not got to burning when we were trying to get our engine out.  We were in the alley betwixt Canal and Clinton and hadn't much chance to see how it was traveling east of us.

Q.  What drove you out of there?

A.  That was to get our engine out.  We were ordered out of there.  The fire had come down very rapidly on Canal.  We were holding it in check in the alley.  It was beating us back slowly.  Q.  All those frames south of the corner were on fire?

A.  Yes sir, and the cars on the track.

[229]

Q.  Had you a full supply of hose on your reel when you left the house?

A.  No sir, I had five hundred and fifty feet.  That is one length short.  We burst one length Saturday night at Monroe and Wells.

Q.  Had you any reserve hose at the house?

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long before the fire was it when you had received a full supply of new hose?

A.  About six months in September I think it was.  Somewhere about the tenth or twelfth of September  Six lengths of new rubber.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did you lose ______  them? new rubber hose at that time?

A.   Yes sir.  We burst two lengths on Canal Street and left ______ them? corner of Mather and Canal.

Q.  Were you working at the Saturday Night fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How late did you work at that?

[230]

A.  We took up from that at 6:45, I think.  It was when Box 7 came in.  We were ordered to go to Box 7.[cccxlii]

Q.  Did you have occasion to work at Box 7?

A.  No sir.

Q.  What is your opinion as to the possibility of stopping the fire after it got on the South Side?

A.  The fire could not be stopped.  It could have been stopped from spreading though--some of it.

Q.  What would you have suggested?  What way would you have stopped it?

A.  I would [have] taken the line of the river and saved down Franklin.

Q.  Wasn't the material in the buildings all on the line of the river on fire?

A.  No sir, there was no fire on Market Street at all when I picked up that line of hose.  No fire in the next house to Farwell's building on Monroe Street.

Q.  (By Marshall Schank)  Do you [231] know how many engines was at work down on the South Side?

A.  I saw the Economy and the Winnebago, and the Titsworth's cart looking for their engine.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did you see the John?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Williams)  Did you see the Brown?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Williams)  Nor the Coventry?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Williams)  Did you see the Rehm on the South Side?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know whether there was any regular plan of action adopted for the purpose of fighting the fire?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Did the firemen seem to act indiscriminately--almost where they pleased.

A.  That I do not know.  The last I saw of Mr. Williams was on Randolph Street.  He told me to give to Economy two lengths of hose and then when I heard [232] the water works  were on fire, I thought I could on the construction of that building put it out with a plug stream--what little fire there would be there.

Q.  Who told you about the water works being on fire?

A.  I do not know who it was.  I sent one of my men down to the bridge to see if there was anything there.

Q.  You went there on your own volition of course?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you go to the water works then.

A.  Went right straight to the corner of Pine and Chicago Avenue.  There was no fire in the water works.  It was Lill's Cooper Shop that is out on the end of the pier, that was burning.  There was no danger of any fire there   to the water works.

Q.  About what time was that?

A.  I could not say.  I lost all record.

Q.  How long do you think the fire was in moving from when [233] you first saw it about Jackson Street until it got down to the courthouse?

A.  I could not say the time exactly.  We took up a few lengths of hose on the west side that we found were not in use and came over on the south side.  It was then crossing at Madison and Wells.  We reeled up a line of hose on Market Street and went down Washington to Wells.  The fire was then at the Chamber of Commerce in their buildings.

Q.  It hadn't taken very long had it?

A.  No sir.  We went around on Randolph Street and met Mr. Williams and he told me to give the Economy two sections of hose.

Q.  Where was he then?

A.  Near the corner of Wells and Randolph.  I gave them two lengths of hose and they lead them down north in front of the Sherman House.

Q.  They were working then on Randolph Street?

[234]

A.  Yes sir.  At Metropolitan Hall they had a hydrant.

Q.  Did the wind blow pretty strong at that time?

A.  Well I had to hold on to a telegraph pole there at the Sherman House.  I stood there a few minutes looking at it.  You could not walk around the corner.

Q.  In your judgment was there any possibility of stopping the fire on the west side when you arrived there.

A.  When I got there I did not think the fire was going to get any further.  It seemed pretty well dampened when I got there.  I think the Rehm and our own engine could have taken care of the church if they had not let the fire come down from the other way on top of us.  The church was all down.

Q.  You think it was the neglect to protect the Canal Street line that lead to the fire surrounding you?

A.  The fire got a start there I think and came down and drove us out.

Q.  (By Marshall Williams)  Do you [235] know of any engines working on Canal Street line south of where your engine was located?

A.  No I was not that way at all.

Q.  Do you know the nature of the block there where Bateham's Mill was situated?  The character of the buildings and combustible material around the block?

A.  Yes sir, it has always been considered it would make a pretty good fire.  I have been to several fires in that block.  Bateman's has burned before.  I think there is where she got the start that carried her up to the South Side.

Q.  (By Marshall Williams)  Would not the direction the wind was in carry it further north of Bateman's mills?

A.  No the wind was pretty near southwest.

Q.  (By Williams)  Wasn't there a planing mill near to the river southeast of Bateman's?

A.  There was a planing mill corner of Beach and Mather Street--Walker's I [236] think.  .

Q.  Did you notice any firemen intoxicated during any of the time?

A.  No sir I did not.

 

 

[237]

Alexander McMonagle sworn

25th Witness

Nov. 28

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position in it?

A.  Foreman of the steamer Long John.

Q.  State the first that you knew anything about the fire on October 8th and 9th and what you did.

A.   Nine twenty-five according to my time, an alarm sounded from box 342.  It was out of my line for the first alarm.  On the second alarm I responded and went there and took a plug corner of Canal and Taylor and lead west on Taylor.  Worked on the south side up the street until the fire drove me back to the corner of Clinton and Taylor Street.  On the north side of the street we stopped the fire there in the [238] rear of those buildings and held it there until such times or ordered by Mr. Schank to report north of the fire.  When I shut down I told the men to pick up the hose and not stop to ___________  or to reel them up.  Pick them up just as they were and follow me.  They found me north of the fire.  I proceeded down Canal Street to the plug between Harrison and Van Buren and went to work and lead the hose through an open lot to the alley running between Canal and Clinton in that lot of frame buildings between Van Buren and Harrison.  Worked there until the fire got so hot we could stand it there no longer.  I saw Mr. Williams and told  him we could stay there no longer.  He told me to stand as long as I could and I did so.  I ordered the teamster to put on his team and to be ready to move at a moment's notice.  I stayed there as long as I could, and then left and [239] pulled the hose down until we got to the row of houses south of the place that had been burned the previous night.  The team could pull the hose no further.  We went down to the corner of Jackson Street and I discovered the fire on the south side of the river.  I said, "there is another fire on the south side of the river."  Some parties standing there said, "no, it is the gas works drawing a retort."  I looked up again and saw the fire again.  I went back to Van Buren Street and met Mr. Williams and said there was a fire on the south side of the river at the gas house.  We looked at it and he said, "take up and go for it as fast as you can."  I went down Canal Street to Madison Street, Madison to Market--Market to Monroe, then I found the Economy had come in.  When my communication was cut off they had gone over Polk Street bridge to Wells Street, north on Wells [240] Street to Van Buren and at the corner of Van Buren and Market they discovered the fire and immediately proceeded there and went to work with our hose.  She had got there just enough he[ad] start of me to beat me out of my own lead.  I then went to the corner of 5th Avenue and Adams Street.  I got a supply cart, I think it was the Washington, and load out to the alley between Fifth Avenue and Franklin Street on the east end of the  gas house.  The fire drove me out of there.  I then uncoupled from there and went down the corner of LaSalle and Adams Street, from there to the corner of Adams and Clark, from Adams and Clark to the corner of Jackson and Clark, got me some hose and lead up Jackson Street to LaSalle and worked on those buildings there trying to save the Pacific Hotel.  I worked there until the Pacific Hotel got fire in the upper story.  I did not have water enough to [241] reach it.  It went through that building quicker than I could come down the street on a slow run.  The stones began to fly there so thick that it was dangerous to the lives of the men and to the engine.  While we were uncoupling, a stone came down and struck the engine, cutting off a bolt and three rivets.  While we were uncoupling, the air was filled with stones flying around there.  We got her uncoupled, got a rope and dragged her away by hand.  Down Jackson Street to Third Avenue and from there to Fourth Avenue.  At the corner of Fourth Avenue and Jackson Street we held those frame buildings  from the corner of Fourth Avenue to Dearborn Street and on Dearborn Street until such time as the three story buildings south of the Bigelow House burnt.  Then I thought we had the thing nicely fixed and just then the water gave out.  Then we went around to Congress Street and went ______   _______ (into line?)     Stayed there until driven out [242] and went to the corner of Harrison and Michigan Avenue and then we were out of line for some little time.

Q.  How much fire was there on the West Side when you first arrived there?

A.  It was burning on both sides of Taylor Street west of Clinton.  How much there was west, north, or south of that I could not tell.

Q.  Did the fire burn slowly or fast?

A.  It was burning very fast, so much so that it drove us in about six minutes back down to the east of Clinton Street on Taylor.  There we stood.  Mr. Benner was with us a portion of the time. 

Q.  How did you understand that the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  I do not know.  The wind might have carried it and it might have been set.  I could not [243] tell.  I suppose the wind was blowing a severe gale at the time.  The chances are the wind carried the sparks over there.

Q.  After you left the corner of Harrison and Michigan Avenue where did you go then?

A.  I told Mr. Benner I wanted to go and see about my sister.  The engine was then not working.  Standing there waiting for orders.

Q.  Where?

A.  On Michigan Avenue just south of Harrison Street.

Q.  Were you at any time during Monday on the West Side?

A.  She was once ordered over there to the Giant's house while I was gone but was back when I came back.

Q.  Was she at any time working on lumber piles near Washington Street on the West Side?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You worked into the piles some didn't you?

A.  That was on Wednesday.

Q.  When playing into the piles on Wednesday you were then on [244] the West Side were you?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  State what occurred if anything; what transpired between any member of your company and a gentleman by the name of Bradley?

A.  Nothing that I am aware of.  If there was anything it has never come to my knowledge.

Q.  Did Mr. Bradley have a line of hose sent across the river?

A.  There was a line of hose put across the river and attached to our engine.  That line of hose had been on this engine built on this side of the river, but they getting out of coal and the engine not working; it was attached to ours.  At the time it was attached to our engine we were running a lead into the water works and on the coal pile at the same time.

Q.  What inducement if any was held out to have a stream forced across the river from that engine?

[245]

A.  None that I am aware of.  With me none positively.  I had went to get something to eat and when I came back I found there was a stream of water on that coal pile and one into the water works.  One of the pipes communicating with the water works.  They said they didn't want more than about thirty five pounds pressure put in the pipes.  The engineer said it was hard work for him to run the engine in the condition she was in and feed a stream into the water works and also on the coal pile.  I saw the chief and he said they could have a steam of water on for about an hour or so, it was all they wanted--until this other engine went to work as I understood it.  I didn't see any particular use of [246] keeping the stream on there any longer.  He said, "will you let me have the stream three quarters of an hour longer?"  Said I, "I will but at half past nine I will cut it off."  I let the steam run there until half past nine and I shut it off and then gave the water works all the force I had.  Run right straight along then on the water works.

Q.  You are not aware that for a consideration a diversion of water from the Long John across the river was to have been had?

A.  No sir.  I am positive that with me there was no such arrangement.  Nor with any of the men to my knowledge.  If there was it was without my knowledge or consent. 

Q.  You are not aware of any money changing hands?

A.  I am not aware of a dollar being paid in from that [247] campaign.  If it was I have never heard of it.

Q.  Some of the citizens talk loudly about that?

A.  Then I want them to come up.  It would be a favor for me to have those citizens come up and if there is any individual in the company that has got any money from that it is without my knowledge and I do not know anything at all about it.  It has been kept a mystery from me.  I never received a cent during the whole campaign of that fire, nor to my knowledge did a cent come into the company.  That is for labor performed--that I have reference to--by the company.

Q.  The water was sent across?

A.  The water was sent across the river to that coal yard.

Q.  On what day was that?

A.  That was on Wednesday.  On Tuesday I had the engine--a [248 portion of it--at the shop getting it fixed.  On Tuesday night I went down to work on the ruins on Monroe Street. On Wednesday morning I was ordered to the water works at the foot of Monroe Street.  I went down and saw where I could get suction and went to work.  Worked there until towards evening and while I was getting something to eat this line was attached to the coal pile from this engine that was on Canal Street.  Richard's engine.  I asked why the line was put on there and they told me.

Q.  Do you know of any good reason why the Long John should have been sent from the South Division to the West Division?

A.  When I got leave of absence from Mr. Benner to go and see about my sister, [249] Monday forenoon.  I left the engine on Michigan Avenue and told him where she was with the men all there subject to any order that the marshals might give.  When I got back I found her trying to suck on Michigan Avenue.  The water was very shallow and the engine wouldn't lift.  I suppose mud got in there.  When I got back Mr. Benner said "you had better take the engine and get it fixed," and Mr. Schank told me to take her to the William's House.  We got her out and took her over into the William's house.  I reported to the chief the condition the engine was in, and he told me to stand in readiness in case of fire on the west side of the river or any other necessity required that I could go into line and [250] from line.  He wanted to know if I could do that and I told him "yes."  We stayed at the William's house until half past nine or ten and he told me to go to North Avenue and Larrabee Street and form a line with other engines.  I done so.  Worked there until Tuesday morning and then got the engine fixed .  A rod that was bent partially straightened and it remains so now.  Tuesday afternoon we went down to the river on Monroe Street and then Wednesday on the River working in the water works.  Remained there until Thursday I think it was that we were ordered over to the south side of the river.  There I went to Hubbard Court and from there went down to work with suction at the lake and worked into the [251] water works there.  On Friday and Saturday we were ordered on reserve to 22nd Street Station.  That was Saturday about noon time.  By that time I got tired and exhausted.  Left word for Mr. Schank that I was played out and wasn't able to stand it until I got some rest.  I came over to a friend on the west side of the river and slept Saturday night.  Sunday morning I was back again with the engine.  Sunday night I was ordered to Hubbard Court; there we have remained since.  All the pumping we did on the south side of the river was going right into the burned district which we learned afterwards but at that time did not know it.  We went right down Hubbard Court and went to the Lake there and fed into the plug at the foot of Hubbard Court and Michigan Avenue. [252]

The Titsworth was working there and Mr. Schank was there with us.  All the work we did while we did work there Friday and Saturday was pumped out into the burned district where it was of no earthly use.  That we learned afterwards by Mr. Locke reporting to Mr. Schank that that part of the city was shut off.  It was Friday that Mr. Hoyne's barn burned. That fire we put out.  We were down at suction at the time.  We were down at Michigan Avenue at the time and was just taking up there.  The Titsworth came down and relieved us and we put the engine right back to work again and put that fire out.  Schank was there.  That was on Friday.  We were just taking up.  The suction had been lifted and they were [253] going to put a plank under her to get her pulled out.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time was it when I ordered you north of the fire on the West Side?

A.  I could not exactly tell you.  How long had you been to work?

A.  I should judge somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours or more than that.

Q.  What time did you get there?  Did you go out on the first alarm or the second?

A.  We went to work a few minutes before ten o'clock.

Q.  Whereabouts do you say you took the next plug?

A.  Canal Street, between Harrison and Van Buren on the west side of the street.  It is about half way down the block.  We had a plug before that at the corner of Taylor and Canal.  That is where I was.  You came along there and thought you would have to send us further [254] north.  I told you I didn't think it safe to leave there, for the fire was beating against the wind.  A few minutes after that Mr. Schank came along and told me about the fire progressing so far north and wanted to know if I could leave there.  I then reported north of the fire as fast as I could.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Did I give you any order to go on the South Side or some of your men?

A.  You gave me no orders to go on the South Side.  I left the men taking up the hose.

Q.  (By Schank)  Where did you see me first on the South Side?

A.  I think at the Pacific Hotel.

Q.  (Same)  You didn't see me on the corner of Adams and Wells?

A.  I didn't.  You might have [255] been there.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Do you recollect what I told you at the Pacific Hotel corner of Jackson and Clark?

A.  I told you it was right hot.  I didn't think we could [have] stayed there very much longer.

Q.  (By same)  Do you recollect what I told you?

A.  I don't know that I can call it to recollection.

Q.  (By same)  Where did you see me next?

A.  At the Rice's engine house going in to form a line on Congress Street, this side of the Rice's engine house.

Q.  (By same)  When you went over to the North Side, where did you find your engine?

A.  Back again to suction.  You told me to take the damned  engine to home.  She wouldn't suck.

Q.  (By same)  Was she at work any time?

[256]

A.  They had been trying it some time.  They had stopped when I got there.  I do not know whether she had been at work any length of time or not.  There wasn't water enough there, and in fact the suction wasn't long enough to get in deep water.

Q.  (By same)  You reported over to the Williams House?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By same)  Where did you go to from there?

A.  Remained there from about five o'clock--it was when we got there, a little after I should think--Monday evening--it was somewhere between nine and ten o'clock on Monday night when the chief ordered me to hitch on and go to the north side of the river, North Avenue and Larrabee Streets, and form in line there with some other engines.

Q.  (By same)  Wasn't you standing on [257]  Michigan Avenue sometime  (some time?) before your engine went to work there alongside  (along side?)  of the Michigan Avenue hotel?

A.  No sir.  We were south of Harrison Street.

Q.  (By same)  Did you see your engine go to work down at the lake at all?

A.  She was trying to work before I got there.  I wasn't there when you put her to work there.

Q.  (By same)  You was at work in a line from the lake and the Economy I believe was at the lake.  Wasn't you in that line?

A.  I was in the line running from the lake up to Congress Street.

Q.  (By same)  How many engines was in that line?

A.  I could not tell.  I know that she was at the corner of Van Buren and Wabash Avenue feeding the Long John and the Long John leading up and in through a church there and they kept at work there until the fire [258] drove it back.

Q.  (By same) Were you playing in any engine?

A.  No sir, on the fire.

Q.  (Same)  You don't know who gave the Little Giant water?

A.  No sir, I wasn't down there at all.

Q.  (By same)  What engine came there after you left down at the Michigan Avenue Hotel?

A.  I don't know.

Q.  (By same)  Someone came there before you left?

A.  I left the engine there and Mr. Benner knew where she was.  She was sent over to the west side of the river and came right back again.

Q.  (By same)  I mean the time you left the South Side and went over to the West Side Monday night.  Do you recollect what engine came there and took your place?

A.  There was none.  The Brown was at work there a little north of us.  There was none  [259] when I left there.

Q.  (By same)  Can you tell me how many engines came to the South Side in the fire?

A.  I can not.  I know the Economy was there when I got there.

Q.  (By same)  Can you tell me how many were left on the West Side?

A.  That I cannot tell.  There was some other engine at the corner of Monroe and 5th Avenue.  There was two engines I saw there when I got there.  That is all I know anything about it.

Q.  You didn't go south of the fire around there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you lose any horses during the fire?

A.  They were taken away from us when we went to the plug at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Adams Street.  The driver came and assis[ted] [260] me to get a lead out and when he went back after the team it was gone.  I had to move the engine then during the rest of the night and day until I took her to the corner of Harrison and Michigan Avenue by hand from plug to plug as I had to move.

Q.  Have you since recovered the horses?

A.  Yes sir.  The Saturday following.

Q.  Where did you find them?

A.  They were found out at Riverside.  Some man on Centre Avenue picked them up.  According to his statement he was not more than half a block ahead of the driver.  Took them over and kept them there a day or two and sent them out to Riverside, and afterwards advertised them and seeing the advertisement in the paper the driver [261] and the foreman of the Rice went over and got them.

Q.  Were any of your men intoxicated or guilty of any bad behavior during the fire?

A.  No sir, not those I had with me.  They were all there but one.

Q.  Where was he?

I do not know.  He said he understood the engine was burned up.  Consequently was around helping some other engines.

Q.  Who was that?

A.  Andrew Coffey.  He told me when the fire got to going strong and got on to the south side of the river some person told him the engine was burned and then he went to help one of the other engines.

Q.  When did he report to you?

A.  Tuesday morning at the Williams house.

[262]

Examination by Marshal Benner

Q.  At the time you went to work on Taylor Street was the Waubansia there at the corner of Clinton and Taylor or had she moved?

A.  She hadn't moved.  That engine was there at work some ten or 15 minutes after I came there.  I was on Taylor Street at the time she moved around to Clinton working on the second building.  It probably stood 25 or 30 feet back from the sidewalk.  We were working on the next building.  I made the remark when I saw her taking up:  "What in the devil is that engine going away for?"

Q.  Do you know whether the building on the southeast corner at that time was on fire or not?

A.  The southeast corner remained when I left.  Was never [263] on fire at all.

Q.  Was the southwest corner burned then?

A.  It was catching in the back end.  Hadn't got to the front of it.

Q.  Do you know whether the northwest corner was burned at that time?

A.  The northwest corner was burned.  There is where I was retreating from.  The rear portion of it didn't fall until after the northwest building all burned down. 

Q.  Do you recollect of a stream coming up from the south?

A.  Yes sir.  There was some stream leading there within I should say probably a hundred feet from the corner of Taylor Street.

Q.  Do you know what stream it was?

A.  No sir.  I do not.  I was moving so much from one corner to the other.

Q.  Do you recollect how the [264] northeast corner got on fire, whether from the front or the rear?

A.  There was a lot of trees along the east side of Clinton Street on the west side of the buildings and we kept those wet and it got over to the rear of the buildings.

Q.  In your opinion at the time the engine moved do you think she ought to have moved?

A.  I didn't.  I thought she hadn't ought to move.

Q.  Suppose she had stayed and led her lead right north of the fire?

A.  I think it could have been saved to the alley anyway.  There would have been two streams there in the place of one.

Q.  (By Williams)  Do you know of any South Side engine on the West Side at the time the Long John was there in that engine house?

[265]

A.  None to my knowledge.  Wednesday morning she went to work the first on the water works.  On Tuesday afternoon they went and got her fixed and went down to work on the ruins on the south side of the river standing the engine in front of the gas house and leading the hose down to Dearborn Street to the Post Office.  Worked on those buildings just across the road from the Post Office there and there we remained until along towards, I think, some three o'clock in the morning.  We were ordered to take up and go and house ourselves at the Chicago's house.  Got there and found the Chicago full of these outside engines that were here; we then came back to the Tempest house[cccxliii] but could get no chance to house the engine and left her outside.  Wednesday morning we went to work at the  [266] water works.  Worked there until towards evening when a line of hose was run across to that coal pile on the south side of the river.  There we remained until we got orders to report at Hubbard Court between State and Wabash Avenue which we done on Thursday afternoon.  On Friday we worked in Lake Michigan pumping in the water works.  Saturday we were in reserve.  Saturday night we went out to 22nd Street.  Remained there until Monday evening.  Monday evening we came back to Hubbard Court and have been there since.

Q.  (By Williams)  When you went first to the south side (appears to be "south side" of the river--see above--and not "South Side.)  how many engines did you see there?

A.  I saw three.  I saw one on the corner of Market and Monroe and one at the [267] corner of Fifth Avenue and Monroe.  I took plug corner of Fifth Avenue and Adams Street.

Q.  How much was on fire when you got there?

A.  It was on fire all east of the gas house.  As soon as I got to work I went around to get another length of hose.  It was on fire north and south of Monroe Street.  Also all that patch of buildings west of the Armory was on fire getting through to Quincy Street.  I should think in less than ten minutes from the time I struck the ground there, there was fire on the north and south side of Monroe Street all west of the Armory towards Market Street.

Q.  Was it around on Market?

A.  I don't think it was.  It was [268] in the rear of the Armory and the Armory was on fire.

Q.  It was on fire between Market Street and the river?

A.  I didn't notice that.

Examination by Commissioners

Q.  In the lots between Wells and LaSalle Street?

A.  It was not on fire on Market Street when we first came down.

Q.  (By Williams) You didn't get your engine down to LaSalle Street?

A.  LaSalle and Adams Street.  She had to work south all the time.  Down Adams to Clark, Clark to Jackson, Jackson to State.  From State Street when the water gave out I started for Wabash Avenue.  I met Mr. Schank at Congress Street and he told me to get in the line as quick as I could.

Q.  Your engine house was located [269] on LaSalle Street between Washington and Madison?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  State whether or not it is a fact that right in the heart of the fire limits in the  very center of the business property with the most costly buildings, banks, insurance offices +c     there were any quantity of carpenter shops and mechanics' shops of other kinds.

A.  Right back of the Oriental was full of those things and there is where the fire jumped.  The Oriental being so very high it caught by the sparks--throwing them down there, and that building was on fire before any of the other buildings there.  Between Washington and Randolph Street was a large livery barn.

Q.  (By Williams)  Was there not a very large barn there?

[270] 

A.  Not between Madison Street and Washington and between LaSalle and Wells that I am aware of.

Q.  Whose stable was that on the alley running in from the court house?

A.  There was a large stable there.  A very large one.  "Tony's" I think it was.  That was right behind the State Savings Institution--no, the Aetna Building.  The Aetna Building was on that corner of the alley.  It was directly west of the Aetna Building.  Very near the center of the block.  That was all wooden rookeries and the most combustible materials right in the heart of those two blocks there.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  That was the alley running west of your house?

A.  Between Washington and Randolph and LaSalle [271] and Wells.

Q.  (By Williams)  I am speaking of the alley that ran just north of your house.

A.  That on Madison Street was an undertakers, plumbers, and restaurant and in the rear was a lot of carpenter shops which came also in the rear of the Oriental Building.  Then there was a bath house and in the rear of that they were putting in a new building and on the west of that was a lot of old rookeries again.

Q.  State whether or not if you have observed it there same carpenters' shops were some of the first parties to rebuild on the same locations after the fire?

A.  Iverson[cccxliv] was in there I think about the first or second that I saw down there.  It was a week or ten days before I was [272] down there after the fire.  _____  (Weis?)  (Heis??)  was about one of the first I saw in there.  That is about the rear of where Mr. Wright's undertaker's place was.[cccxlv]

 

 

[273]

Henry Ulrich Sworn

November 28, 1871

(26th witness)

Q.  You are a policeman?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Of the regular force?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Stationed where?

A.  At the Armory.

Q.  Do you know anything about the turning off of the gas at the gas works on the night of the fire of October 8th and 9th, Sunday night, at the time the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were you present at the gas works?

A.  I was right in front of the gas works where the fire took place there, near the gas works.  There was a frame building stood near the gas house fronting on Adams Street took fire the first.  As soon as that took fire, the shed [274] over the gas house took fire, and a man inside gave an order to the men to let the gas off.

Q.  Did you see whether the gas was let off or not?

A.  No, I could not tell.  I heard him give orders; he said, "Boys, let the gas out of the big tank before an explosion."

Q.  Do you know who gave the orders?

A.  I do not know who it was.  There was an officer came there before; that was one of the officers of the gas works.  He told them if they had a man to spare, to get all these cinders off throwed over from the West Side.  Afterwards he went inside and the fire broke out there, and I heard one  man give that order to let the gas out of the big tank before it exploded.  Who it was gave the order I do not know, I do not know the man. 

[275]

Q.  Was there any other policeman there with you?

A.  There was some inside the gas works; I do not know who it was.

Q.  Do you know how the gas was let off?

A.  No, I do not know how it was let off.  I did not get inside.  I stayed outside.  The building next to the works took fire besides the shed.

Q.  At that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Which building?

A.  Where they make the gas.

Q.  The retort house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  That was on Monroe Street?

A.  No sir, this house standing alongside of Adams Street--that long building took fire first.

Q.  Had the building on Monroe Street taken fire there?

A.  No, it had not.

Q.  Did you notice anything about the large tank going down?

[276]

A.  After they gave the order the thing went down.  There is big weights on it.

Q.  It went down pretty rapidly, too?

A.  Yes sir, pretty rapidly.

Q.  Did you smell any gas in the street at that time?

A.  Yes sir, I did.

Q.  Pretty strong?

A.  Yes sir, as soon as they let the gas off, the whole buildings surrounding there went on fire then.  I stood there, and everything was on fire 'round there.  The Armory was not on fire then but it took fire right afterwards.  Williams the Fire Marshal met me right in front of the Armory when the Armory took fire.

Q.  How long did you remain about there?

A.  I remained until everything was burned down.  I was stationed there to look after the Armory.

Q.  Did the Armory burn pretty quick [277] after it got started?

A.  Yes sir, it burned very quick--yes sir.  I judge it was not 20 minutes before she was laying down.

Q.  Had any of the buildings adjoining it west taken fire there?

A.  They took fire afterwards.  There was a good many people I called up; they were asleep in the house; they got nothing out of the house; it was right afire afterwards.

Q.  Did you see it about the time it first commenced burning on the South Side?

A.  Yes sir, I was the first man that saw it.

Q.  Where did it strike?

A.  It struck in this building fronting on Adams Street--the frame building in the rear.  There was a two story frame building that was occupied by the men that worked in the gas house, that took fire [278] first--it was the first building that took fire.

Q.  Which way did the fire seem to spread after you heard the order given to let off the gas?  Which were the first buildings got on fire?

A.  This gas house building took fire then.  There is a shed that was up close to this frame building; this shed took fire first; in the rear was the retort works that took fire.

Q.  That was on the North Side of Adams Street?

A.  Yes sir, the north side of Adams Street took fire first.

Q.  Then the wind was blowing from the southwest?

A.  Yes.

Q.  The fire spread to the south?[cccxlvi]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then into Conley's Patch?

A.  Yes sir, the Armory was most gone before Conley's Patch took fire.[cccxlvii]

Q.  Was there anything exploded [279] over there?

A.  No sir, there was not anything exploded that I know of.  There was a little explosion; it was right in the Armory; I think there was a little powder there.  That was the only explosion there was there.

 

 

 

                                                                      Volume 3

[1]

John Doyle sworn.

(27th witness)

November 28, 1871

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  Engineer of the Jake[cccxlviii] Rehm.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin or progress of the fire?

A.  We left the house--

Q.  Where is your house situated?

A.  North Avenue and Larrabe Street.  I think we left there about 10 o'clock; I won't be positive.

Q.  On the second alarm?

A.  We came out on the third alarm to the West Side.  We came on the West Side and came to St. Paul's church and the men hollered to us, "the church was on fire."  We stopped there and took a plug on Clinton and Mather Street.  The boys got upon the roof.  The fire was not [2] very large at the time and they put it out and came down.  They then took their hose and was going up south to meet the big fire, and they hollered out to us again that the church was on fire again.  Someone got a ladder again and they got up and put the fire out, and we did not see any more fire for a few minutes.  I looked across from the engine and saw the church was all ablaze.  I saw the fire get in the roof; it seemed to be in the east end, and worked up to the west end.  I saw Mr. Williams then in a very few minutes.  We got into good position there on the west end and we thought to beat the fire and not let it cross the street; it was getting very [3] hot.  We changed then one lead of hose and led the hose on the  west side of the street and _________  (moved??) back then on the church.  There church was getting very hot.   I could know it by the smoke flying out of the men's coats and flying out of the houses on the West Side.  Mr. Williams worked there awhile as hard as any man could work.  Assisted us to turn on the buildings on the West Side and cool them down.  I saw him go in himself and work hard; I didn't think a man could stand the heat.  The men brought me a door and I shielded myself with it; I could feel the heat of the fire.  He took all means to keep the fire confined--himself and men.  The men went in first as [4] well as he did; every man worked as well as Mr. Williams.  Mr. Williams run to me and said "John, you will have to take up.  This place is getting hot."  The fire was close down, very close on me.  I told him to give me a chance to fill my boiler.  I got plenty of water in the boiler and shut the plug down myself.  I helped one of the men to uncouple the plug, and then I went and got in an alley north and covered one of the horses.  The sparks was coming flying on us like showers of snow.  We had no way to get out but to run west, so we run up Jefferson Street and took the plug on the southwest corner, and when I looked around I saw the fire coming up on the South Side there and [5] following us up very fast.  The men that had the hose got them there very quick, but the fire drove them back and they had to get back as fast as possible.  We got up to the corner.  There was a vacant house situated on the corner.  There was a big house there and the black smoke was just rolling out of it.  The men changed their position and went on the north side and fought it there.  It worked within one house east of the corner and they kept it confined there so the house on the northwest corner of Jefferson Street did not burn.  During  the time I was working, when I went up from the church, I got short of coal.  I ran across the street to a neighbor's and told him [6] to give me out some coal, so one of our men run in and brought out chunks of coal and there was two of the men run and brought two armfuls more.  It kept us working until the time the coal wagon came to us.  During the time there was a crowd of men stood around the plug, and one of the men shut the plug down on me--he did not shut it down; I saw the engine running very light and I looked 'round and saw him with the plug wrench in his hand.  I ran across and took the wrench out of his hand and ran back to the engine and opened her up again.

Q.  Where did you move from?

A.  We moved from St. Paul's Church, or run up Mather Street to Jefferson.  From there on, we worked there [7] for a considerable time until we got the place cooled down and there was orders came for us to go to the lumber yard.

Q.  Bateham's Mill there?

A.  I could not say what mill it was.

Q.  Where was it situated?

A.  On 12th Street I think.[cccxlix]  There was orders came to go to the lumberyard.

Q.  Was that south or north?

A.  It was south.

Examination by Mr. Williams

Q.  How much longer could you have remained at the corner of the church--that plug you was working at first?

A.  I think if we had stayed three minutes longer we were caught.

Q.  When you got from that plug you went west?

A.  West on Mather.

[8]

Q.  To Jefferson?

A.  Yes sir; took the plug on the southwest corner of Jefferson.

Q.  Then where did you move to?

A.  Went south and went up to 12th Street.  Took the plug on the corner of 12th and Canal (corrected).

Q.  The fire did not reach as far as 12th?

A.  I may be mistaken in the street.  I say the engine worked there on the lumberyard.  I saw the fire on the west side of the bridge.  I would not be positive; I thought it was 12th Street but there was lumberyards where they were playing, in there on the left hand side of the street.

Q.  What street?

A.  I thought it was 12th Street.

Q.  Near which other street?

A.  Near Canal Street.  They led their hose into the [9] lumberyard.

Examination continued by the commissioners

Q.  Between Canal and the river?

A.  Yes sir, we run along the railroad track.

Q.  How long did you play there?

A.  I could not tell; the water played out.  Some say it was four

o'clock.  I could not say what time it was.

Q.  From there, where did you go?

A.  Went down on the lumberyard on the south side of Forquer.  Led in there with another engine; I don't know what engine it was.  On the south side of the street we were playing.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  Until morning, about seven or eight o'clock.

Q.  After that time where did you go?

A.  On the south Side.

[10]

Q.  Whereabouts?

A.  I cannot tell the street.  I did not go over with her.  I left her with the stoker.[cccl]   I went off to see after my family.

Q.  How long did she remain on the South Side?

A.  I could not tell; I went home.  I lived very convenient to the engine house.[cccli]

Q.  Did you burn out?

A.  I did, sir.

Q.  Where did you see the engine again?

A.  I saw it that day--that afternoon.

Q.  Where was she?

A.  In the engine house.

Q.  Came up on the North Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What did you do with her after that?

A.  She went down upon Burling Street, stood on the street, on the north side, not far from the river.

Q.  Did you see her there that night?

[11]

A.  She went down there that night on Halsted and worked from another engine playing into her.

Q.  Did any of the company give out, or were any of them intoxicated or anything of the kind?

A.  No sir; the men were all perfectly steady and sober.

Q.  Did you see any of the foremen intoxicated?

A.  I did not see anyone at all.

Q.  Did you see any impropriety on the part of the men, shrinking from duty or anything of the kind?

A.  No sir, I did not; I did not pay any attention to them but I saw the men all sound.

Q.  Was there any possibility of the firemen doing anything more to stop the progress of the fire?

A.  There was no men could [12] have worked harder than the men worked; they done everything was in their power.  Every man seemed willing.  I saw Mr. Williams myself go in.

Q.  Did you see the other marshals about?

A.  I don't recollect of seeing them.  I paid no attention after that.  I was pretty well used up.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Schank or Mr. Benner around there on the West Side?

A.  No; I did not see them.  I saw Mr. Benner on the South Side.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Schank?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Mr. Walters?[ccclii]

A.  I don't recollect seeing them. 

Q.  Of course they might have been about and you not seen them?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Williams)  I presume you would not have seen me [13] neither if it had not been that my business led me right around the church and you saw me pass backward and forward?

A.  I did.  I saw you pass back and forward.  There was no man could do more than you did upon the church to save it.  I don't know how you could stand the heat there at all.

 

 

[14]

Nicholas Dubach sworn

(28th witness)

November 28, 1871

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position in it?

A.  Foreman.

Q.  What company?

A.  Economy No. 8.

Q.  Located where?

A.  Archer Road, No. 16.  Archer Avenue.

Q.  State the first knowledge you had of the fire and what you did.

A.  We went to that fire on the first alarm.[cccliii]  We came up Clinton Street to Bunker and took the plug at Bunker Street and led in the alley between De Koven and Taylor.  We were ordered out of there by Marshal Benner on De Koven Street.  We remained there until we had  [15] orders from Marshal Schank to take up and go ahead of the fire.  I sent the engine ahead of the fire and while we were taking up the hose--we didn't take up all the hose--Marshal Benner said to give some of the hose to the America hose cart and let them play on the buildings with a plug stream.  So we came up as far as Madison Street and one of the J.B. Rice Company told me our engine had crossed the river.  I went across the river and found the engine working on the corner of Monroe and Market playing in the John's[cccliv] lead.

Q.  What time was that?

A.  I could not tell you.  I should think, however, an hour and a half maybe after we arrived at the fire.

Q.  Was there a fire on the South Side then?

[16]

A.  Yes sir.  I met Mr. Williams on the South Side on Monroe Street and he took us in the gas works.  Played on some of their coal.  The thing was getting too hot there and we left and went to the corner of LaSalle and Washington and led out there again.  I met Mr. Walters there and he ordered us in the alley.  It was getting too hot in the alley and he ordered us in the building at the southwest corner.  It was getting too hot there and we left there and went down to the corner of Randolph and LaSalle, saw the courthouse was burning.  All the houses around were burning.  We stopped there until Heath and Milligan's place[ccclv] took fire and the fire got so strong we could not stand it.  The sparks were coming down the street in a regular hurricane.  We could [17] n't stand it.  We got kind of blinded and we drew back as far as Water Street.  I saw the fire had crossed then near Clark Street bridge.  I told the fellows we had better go south of the fire and so when we went up south of the fire I met Marshal Schank on the corner of Polk and Griswold.  He had a lot of citizens there shoving out cars.  We led out there along the railroad track.

Q.  Which way did you go south from Randolph Street?

A.  Lake Street bridge; came up to Halsted Street and went south.

Q.  Came around on 12th Street?

A.  Yes sir.  We worked at the depot, the Rock Island freight depot I believe.  There is two depots so we got in between the two and I believe the walls fell partly and we took up.  The fire was coming along Wells Street and Griswold Street and Sherman Street [18] all through there up to the lumberyards, so I went up on Taylor Street, and Marshal Schank came up there and we took a plug there.  There was no more water so he ordered us to the river.  We led out there from the river along Taylor Street until the place was cooled down and then he ordered us up to get in a lead going to the lake.  We went down to the lake at the foot of Van Buren Street at the basin--the Rice was down on Taylor Street at the same time we were there.  We played into the Rice and their flues commenced to leak and she gave out.  We had a lead from there to State Street.  I do not know the other engines that were there at the time. 

Q.  At the time that you took up at the corner of Randolph [19] and LaSalle Street could you have gone south on Wabash Avenue?

A.  I don't think we could.

Q.  You couldn't have gone east on Randolph Street?

A.  I don't think we could.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Did I understand you to say that when you took up on the corner of Randolph and LaSalle you went to South Water?

A.  Yes we went to [La]Salle and from there to South Water.

Q.  Did you stop and play at Lake Street?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you notice any fire on Lake Street?

A.  I did.  I saw buildings afire in all directions.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  About where?

A.  All sides of me.  The Cinnis[ccclvi]  building was afire at Clark Street bridge burning in the roof.

Q.  (By Williams)  As you moved around did you see any fire [20] seemed to come from the basements of the buildings before the balance of the buildings were on fire?

A.  Yes sir, one west of the Sherman house.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  The fire seemed to come from the basement?

A.  Yes sir, a green [fire] and a hook and ladder man went in there and carried it out.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What was on fire there?

A.  I think there was some of this mass or something they stuff in ___________   (lounges??) I should judge.

Q.  Was it between the Sherman House and LaSalle Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you [think] that took fire from sparks coming down in the rear?

A.  I couldn't see how sparks could get in there.  This was in the rear part of the building.  I was in there myself.

[21]

Q.  In the alley?

A.  No, I went right in from Randolph Street down in the basement.

Q.  In that picture frame establishment wasn't it?

A.  I guess it was.  I couldn't exactly say whether it was pictures or what.  I know there was a lot of old stuff there, and it was dark and smoky in there.

Q.  How extensive was the fire when you reached the West Side?

A.  Both sides of the alley was afire between De Koven and Taylor Street.  The barns were on fire and a few buildings in the rear end on Taylor Street, and on De Koven Street.  Also north and south.

Q.  In line with the original fire?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did you go over 12th Street bridge when you went to the fire?

A.  No sir, we crossed 18th Street [22] and went down Canal.

Q.  How long should you think it took you to go down there from the time you got the alarm?

A.  I shouldn't think it took us more than about eight minutes, because when I see a fire I generally run.

Q.  Did the men all behave properly?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know of any money being offered to any firemen or anybody to move engines that night to play on any particular spot?

A.  No sir.  All the orders I got was from Mr. Benner and Mr. Schank on the West Side and on the South Side from Monroe Street from Mr. Williams.  Then when we took up we met Mr. Schank upon Polk Street.

Q.  Was any money offered?

A.  No sir, no money offered to me.  Only one man offered [23] me money.  He didn't offer me any money.  He wanted to go shares if I would put out his coal.

Q.  Where was that?

A.  He is a Jew.  I do not know him.

Q.  What was his proposition?

A.  He said he would go shares on it.

Q.  What did he mean by that?

A.  I suppose, give us a certain portion of the coal.  I told him I didn't want any of his coal at all--told him he should go to one of the marshals.  If the marshal said we should stay there, we should stay there without coal or anything else.

Q.  Has there been any money paid to any of the members of your company since the fire for services rendered since the fire?

A.  No sir.

Examination by Marshal Benner

Q.  How many buildings were on [24]  fire on De Koven Street to the best of your knowledge when I gave orders to lead the stream around in front of the fire?

A.  I should judge there was about four buildings on fire.

Q.  Do you know or not whether all those buildings were situated east of Mrs O'Leary's where the fire was supposed to have originated?

A.  I could not tell where Mrs. O'Leary's is.

Q.  When you was to work at the foot of Van Buren Street--I believe you was to work in there taking water from the

basement was you not?

A.  At the lake.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you receive any orders to take up from there?

A.  Well, no we hadn't hose enough and it was no use of us staying there and get smothered out of there.  We were all nearly blinded, then with dust and everything else.  There was no engine [25] there we could play into so we led further south.

Q.  Did you hear of any orders being given to lead up Michigan Avenue towards Congress?

A.  I believe I received an order once from you and once from Schank.  I couldn't exactly say what the order was now.

Q.  Where did you go to when you went away from there?

A.  Went home.

Q.  Did anybody give you any orders to go home?

A.  No sir.

Examination continued by the Commissioners

Q.  What time did you go home?

A.  I think it was about half past two.

Q.  Day or night?

A.  This was Monday.

Q.  Monday afternoon?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  At that time the fire was all [26] out there?

A.  It was, so it would not reach any further.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  When I told you on the West Side to move to the head of the fire what time of night was it?

A.  I couldn't say.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Couldn't you tell me about how long you had been to work?

A.  I should think it was about an hour and a half.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Did you get to work after that on the West Side again or not?

A.  No sir, went right on the South Side.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Who gave you orders to go on the South Side?

A.  You gave me orders to go [to go] to the head of the fire so I saw the fire--our engine saw the fire first and they went across the river.

[27]

Q.  You did go to the head of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.  the Armory was on fire and Powell's roofing establishment.  The fire crossed Monroe Street when I got there with the cart.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  When you got up on Taylor Street there on the South Side how long did you work there before the water gave out?

A.  When we took the plug on Taylor Street the water was "played out" then.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Did you get any at all along there?

A.  We got water on Polk Street.  That is the last water we got out of a plug.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Didn't you try to play into the "Rice?[ccclvii]"

A.  The "Rice" tried to play into us.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Where was both engines then ordered?

A.  To the river.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank) Did you stop the fire there?

A.  Yes sir, I think we did.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time was it when you were sent to the river?

[28]

A.  It was in the morning, I think, about half past five or six.  I couldn't say exactly.

Q.  What time did you go to the lake?

A.  About eight or nine; I couldn't say.  I had no watch and didn't know what time it was.

Q.  (By Schank) When I gave you orders to take up there and go to the lake, what did I tell you?

A.  Told me to "take up" and go down to the lake and form a lead there with other engines.  You gave me orders down to the river--called the Giant's foreman over and told him to take up and go to the lake, in our lead, I believe.

[29]

Q.  Where was the Giant standing at that time?

A.  Opposite us at the river.

Q.  On the river?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What time did the Giant arrive?

A.  I could not say; I did not see them when they came.

Examination by Marshal Benner.

Q.  Was the Terrace Row burning at the time you took up and went away?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Are you sure of that?

A.  I think I am pretty sure of that.

Q.  Was you at work there during the time Terrace Row burned?

A.  We were working.  We hadn't hose, enough hose.  We were waiting for another company to come to give us hose.  There didn't any come until the Terrace Row was in a mass of flames.

Q.  Where was your stream?

[30]

A.  I do not think we had a stream.  We were playing through the waste gate.

Q.  Had you no hose?

A.  Yes sir, we had some. 

Q.  How much?

A.  I think six or eight lengths.

Q.  Did you try to procure any hose to get enough to make a lead so as to play on the fire?

A.  I do not know and no[ccclviii] we were waiting there for someone else to come.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  How much hose would it have taken to have reached to the fire?

A. I could not say, I didn't measure it.

Q.  (By Williams)  About how much?

A.  I think a lead of hose would have reached it.[ccclix]  You would have had to lead around the alley, you know, if you wanted to [31] stop it because it was no place to stop it at Michigan Avenue.  Playing on the front, you want to get in the rear, so I should think it would take 12 or 13 lengths of hose.

Q.  (By Williams) Besides what you had?

A.  No, altogether.

Q.  (By Williams) Did you lose any hose by that fire?

A.  No.

Q.  (By Williams) How much hose had you on your reel when you started?

A.  The hose that we busted we left laying.

Q.  (By Williams) How much had you when you started?

A.  12 lengths.  We left some of our hose with the America cart.

Q.  (By Williams) Did you take up the Long John's hose which you found there at the corner of Monroe and Market Streets?

[32]

A.  No sir, I believe the Gund's cart took them up.  They said so; I didn't see them.  We pulled them out on Market Street from Monroe.

Q.  Whose hose did you use when you were playing at the corner at the Board of Trade?

A.  Our own.

Q.  (By Benner) Did you see the Brown at work at the foot of Congress Street?

A.  I saw the Brown at work on the corner of Clark and Harrison.

Q.  (By Benner) Was that when you was going home?

A.  No sir, the Brown worked there when we were on Taylor Street.  Marshal Schank said there was water down there.  When we got down there they had no water.  I believe the Sherman drove up but didn't go [to] the basin.  I saw no engine at the basin, only ours.

[33]

Q.  (By Benner) That was before you went home?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Benner) What time was it when you got home?

A.  I do not know.  I got home and went and washed myself the same as the rest, I think, and we all went to bed.

Q.  Did you know of any other engines going home for the men to get breakfast?

A.  I could not say about them[ccclx] having their[ccclxi] breakfast.  I know the Titsworth was in our engine house when we got up there.

Q.  Any others in the house?

A.  I didn't see any others.

Q.  Was the Titsworth broken down at that time?

A.  They didn't say and I didn't ask them.

Q.  Do you know of the Sherman going home that afternoon and leaving the fire?

A.  I do not know when they [34] went home.  All I know is they were there when we got there.

 

[35]

John Campion sworn 

(29th witness)

November 28, 1871

Q.  You are a member of the Chicago Fire Department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  First pipeman on the steamer Little Giant.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin or progress of the fire of October 8 and 9?

A.  I don't know anything about the origin.

Q.  What is your first knowledge of the fire?

A.  The first knowledge of it, the stoker[ccclxii] was up on the tower and he hollered "fire."  We hitched up and went down there and took the plug at the corner of Jefferson and De Koven Street.  I drove the cart up and pulled off the hose and put on the pipe and led off.

Q.  Was there not an engine there at the time you [36] drove up?

A.  Not that I could see.

Q.  Yours was the first?

A.  I think it was.[ccclxiii]

Q.  No hook and ladder truck?

A.  I did not see it.  I led in the buildings.  I should judge there was three barns and two houses afire before we got water.  We worked there until Mr. Benner came and ordered us back into the alley.

Q.  Which way did you lead in?

A.  Right up by De Koven Street in between the two houses.  I did not get back so far as the alley.

Q.  Did you find the fences torn down when you went?

A.  There was no fences there that I remember.

Q.  Was there a line of fences dividing the two houses between which you went in?

A.  Yes sir.

[37]

Q.  Did you find that torn down or standing when you went there?

A.  I could not say.

Q.  (By Williams)  On which side of Dalton's house did you lead in?

A.  I don't know which Dalton's house is.  I led between the house that is standing now and the one west of it.[ccclxiv]

Q.  Do you recollect passing it there and through a barn?

A.  I recollect there was a fence on the east side.

Q.  How did you get your hose through that fence?

A.  I did not have to lead in through it.  I led in between the two buildings.

Q.  Was you east or west of the fence?

A.  I was west of it.

Q.  Was not the fire east of it in the next barn?

A.  The fire was east and west [38] when I went in there.

Q.  Both barns were on fire then?

A.  I should judge there was three barns on fire; they might be _____ (two??--more likely "some") of them, sheds.

Q.  Did you pass through one of these barns to get into the alley?

A.  I did not.  I played upon the end of both of these (indicating), and could not get any further; it was too warm to get any further.

Q.  Someone has testified here that the lead from your engine was led along and passed out through the barn to the west of the one that first [was] on fire out into the alley, and then led back again into the yard.

A.  That was correct.  Not at first though.  That was after Mr. Benner ordered us around, and then we led in through the barn into [39] the alley, and came back again.

Q.  Now, if the three barns were on fire when you got there and it was so hot that you were not able to approach the fire, how did you subsequently get through this barn?

A.  I did not go through the barn.  I took out and came through another barn.

Q.  And one on the west of it?

A.  There was no fire there when I went through it.

Q.  (By Benner) When you first led out, did you lead east of the little cottage or west of it?

A.  Which cottage?

Q.  (By Benner)  Mrs. Leary's.

A.  The one standing.  I lead west of it, between that and the one that burned.

Q.  (By Benner)  Was you there when I gave you the orders to go out of that and take [40] you further west?

A.  Yes, I had the pipe.  I remember you and Bill[ccclxv] came and took the pipe and worked there a while.  To the best of my belief that was west of the cottage.  That I could not say for sure but, to the best of my belief it was.  I went in between those two cottages.

Q.  (By Benner)  There was two of these?

A.  Yes sir, there was two, one on each side of me.  I did not have to pass through any fence.  There was no fence in front of the place.  There was two cottages.  I led right in between them.

Q.  (By Williams) To the rear of the cottage?

A.  To the rear of the cottage.

Q.  (By Williams)  Was there any fence run from the rear of the cottage towards the barns?

A.  No sir.[ccclxvi]

Q.  There was a line fence severing the two lots?

[41]

A.  If there was, it was on fire when I went in.

Q.  (By Williams) How soon did you see a hook and ladder man  there?

A.  I did not see a hook and ladder man there until after Mr. Benner took us around the alley.  I don't understand about this fence; I don't know what you mean.

Q.  When you led through De Koven Street you came between these two houses?

A.  I did, sir.  I led in the east side of that cottage.  There was a two story house and the cottage.  I went in next to the cottage between the two cottages.

Q.  When you came out of there, which way did you go?

A.  I went in between the two story house and the cottage and went right through, back through the barn.

[42]

Q.  Then you had to light back out of this, this was getting too hot (indicating)?

A.  No, but the two story house took fire and Mr. Benner ordered us back.

Q.  (By Benner) Were you at the pipe at the time?

A.  When you and Bill took the pipe I went to light up.

Q.  And you lead through the barn?  Are you sure of that?

A.  I led through the barn into the alley, I am sure I did, and led upstairs in the barn after that.

Q.  You state when you came there, there was but three barns on fire.  Were these three barns on fire when you arrived there (indicating on the diagram)?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How did you lead through this barn?

A.  This barn was over this way (indicating).  The sheds and barns I mean was east of [43] that barn.

Q.  You led out again and came into the east of those?

A.  No, we came west of them.  There was a two story brown house; it stood alongside of the cottage.  I went through the other side of the cottage.  There was two cottages there.  I think there was about three barns on fire and the end of both of [the] cottages.  When I got water I know I turned the pipe right around.  I should judge it might not be two minutes when Mr. Benner came in.  The fireman came in first.  Both of them handled the pipe.

Q.  (By Williams) You say Mr. Benner ordered you back in the alley.  You said then he [turned] your pipe on the two story building?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You was then standing in the yard?

[44]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Benner)  Do you know whether or not the pipe was turned on the large two story brown building before we went into the alley?

A.  Yes sir it was.

Q.  (By Benner)  After you backed up you took your pipe up into this barn?

A.  Yes sir, and started to go back the second time.

Q.  (By Benner) Do you know whether or not the fire was put out in that barn?

A.  I do not.  I think it was.  I know the hook and ladder men went up there after we came down.

Q.  (By Benner) Then where did you go?

A.  I backed out then, out of that and went up into that two story house, went upstairs and put out all the fire.  There was a hook and ladder man went up there after I came down.  We thought [45] the fire was all out of that building.

Q.  (By Benner) Do you know how far east it got at that time, east of this little cottage?

A.  I do not know.  I know it was east.  I don't know how far.

Q.  (By Benner)  Did you notice, or have a chance to notice, to know whether the fire had crossed the alley or not?

A.  I did not know until I got into the alley.  Then I knew it was across the alley.

Q.  How long was that after you arrived?

A.  It was about a minute and a half or two minutes.  Mr. Benner worked there half a minute I believe and then ordered us in the alley.

Q.  It was about two minutes after you arrived before Mr. Benner came?

A.  Yes sir, when he came it was about a minute and [46] a half or two minutes.  I think he worked there with the pipe about half a minute, maybe not that long.

Q.  (By Williams) When you was in the alley did you see any other streams leading in?

A.  I did not see any other streams at all.

Q.  There seems to have been three barns on that south line of that alley.  You claim there was three of these on fire when you came.  That was all of them, yet you claim to have led out through one of them into the alley.

A.   I could lead out through that barn and it be on fire, this end of it (indicating).  The door was in the other end of it.  Now, I could not say for sure whether it was on fire or not.  I turned right around and came [47] back and went upstairs in the barn.  It was on fire but was not on fire downstairs.[ccclxvii]

[48]

Peter T. Burtis sworn 

November 28, 1871

(30th witness)

Q.  Are you Superintendent of the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company?[ccclxviii]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Your main works were situated at what place?

A.  On Monroe Street near Market.

Q.  Were you at the gas works on the Sunday night of the fire?

A.  Yes sir, part of the time. 

Q.  Do you know where the fire commenced on the south  side of the river?

A.  No sir.  Not of my own personal knowledge.

Q.  At what time did you go there upon the ground?

A.  That I am not able to say exactly from the fact that I left my watch at the house intentionally, fearing I might lose it [49] perhaps in the crowd, and consequently I am at a loss so far as the time is concerned, but I should think it was somewhere between twelve and one o'clock.

Q.  At the time you got to the fire there had your works burned?

A.  A part of the works, sir.  Not exactly the works proper.  When I arrived what had been burned was the coal shed running north from the east line of our retort house which, if Franklin Street is opened, will be immediately alongside the street.  What ran north and communicated with the tar roofing works of Barrett Arnold and Powell.  When I arrived there that shed was burning, and the coal that was in there that we used for everyday use was then [50] on fire.  The roofs of our smith shop and the room in which we slack our lime to prepare it for the purifying boxes as well as the room which was our original meter room.  There was no fire in the retort house except the windows and doors where the shed joined on it.

Q.  You had a quantity of gas on hand there, I suppose?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About how many feet?

A.  We had perhaps 200 thousand feet all told.

Q.  Did you dispose of the gas in any way?

A.  No sir, not after I arrived.

Q.  Do you know whether it had been done before that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  That is from report?

A.  I know from what my head managers there reported to me and as I [51] found out when I arrived at the works.

Q.  State in what condition you found the works.

A.  When I arrived I found that the large gas holder that is the largest one at that station was just about at what we call the coupling point.  It is a telescopic gas holder and is coupled together in two sections.

(Witness illustrates by a diagram)

When I arrived at the works the valves in our meter room that allows the gas to pass in and out were closed.  The valves at the small gas holder were also closed.  Neither one of them have been touched, with the exception of the one at the small holder.  That was the condition I found the gas holder in when I arrived, and [52] I will say here that I have standing instructions to those that are on duty there, in the event of a fire taking place, to always keep the gas holders down, and when I arrived there I found my instructions had been carried out.  Those were closed and the gas was passing directly to the north side gas holders, so we were furnishing no gas in the city at that time.  We slacked no retorts but allowed the manufacture of gas to continue just as had been, without any interruption.  That gas was passing into the city for consumption as well as into the retort at the North Side.

Q.  This is the upper part (indicating on diagram).

A.  That is what we call the upper section.

[53]

Q.  Was that drawn clear up?

A.  It was about what we call the coupling point.  All that is above the water is gas.

Q.  Was there any disposition made of that gas after you got there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  It remained there, and does remain there yet?

A.  No sir.  It remained there until perhaps ten days after the fire.  The fire that came in from the southwest burned the small shed we had there in which we received our supply of coal and opened the seams, and the gas leaked.  Then it was burned at the valve in the meter room which I have alluded to.  It gradually kept leaking there for about two weeks until it finally settled down very near its bear- [54] ings when I ordered the manhole cover to be slacked off and let it _______________  (down up??) its bearings in order that there should be no vacuum created there and cause a strain upon the holders.  That is a single section of the holder.  What we call the climber.

Q.  You say you had always given instructions to your men in case of fire or any danger to the gasometer to keep your gas down?

A.  Keep the gas holders down, yes sir.

Q.  How had they got it down?

A.  It was not run down after that because the small gas holder, we very rarely make a business of keeping them full.  This was already just about the coupling point when I arrived.

Q.  Hadn't it been got down?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How?

A.  By the opening of our valve to what we call the independent main.  This gas [55] holder here is heavier than the north side holders at Superior Street.  When we open that valve we can feed until they get so near even that the holder just stands at that point.

Q.  What is the capacity of this gas holder?

A.  We usually rate it about three hundred thousand.

Q.  Now if it should appear that at the breaking out of the fire this gasometer indicated being full of gas and that immediately after an order was  given to let the gas off that this instantly began to descend, in what way would you account for that?

A.  By the sending of it to the North Side.

Q.  If this north side gasometer at the same time was full, how could you force the contents of two gasometers into [56] one?

A.  I should not attempt to do that.

Q.  Such appears to be the fact.  The North Side gasometer was full to its utmost capacity.

A.  It was not.

Q.  It stood very high the next day.

A.  At what hour in the day?

Q.  At one o'clock.  Between one and two.

A.  On Monday.

Q.  Yes.

A.  Well sir, that is no such thing.

Q.  I was over there.

A.  I do not care if you were.  I was there myself and lowered both of those gas holders myself long enough before that hour in the day in person.  If any proof is necessary, I can bring it.

Q.  This is now on a level with the ground.

[57]

A.  What holders do you mean?

Q.  This that I call a gasometer.

A.  (Witness)  Where is it located?

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan)  To the north of the retort house.

A.  (Witness)  Where is the retort house located?

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan)  On Adams Street.

A.  (Witness)  If you mean the South Side gas holder at the old works, I am meaning the North Side ones.

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan)  I am talking of this side first.

A.  That gas holder there was just about at this coupling point on Monday.

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan)  I thought I saw it down on Monday.

A.  No sir.  It is not level with the ground today and it is on its bearings.

Q.  It is seemingly now on its bearings?

A.  It is on its bearings.  It was gradually settling because of the leakage.

[58]  

Then I gave instructions that the manhole should be slacked off and let it down in order that it should not create a vacuum in there when the gas should condense and put an unnecessary strain upon the holder.

Q.  Is there any chance for the escape of gas at the top of the gasometer?

A.  No sir.  Not escape.  There may be some slight leakage at this manhole.  It will not leak at that except it was slack.

Q.  If an order was given to let off the gas, what would be understood by it?

A.  It would be understood that we should let off the gas at whatever point it was ordered.

Q.  If the gasometer should have been filled, elevated to near the top of the iron frame in which it works [59] on Sunday night, and that the one on the north side was in the same condition, how could the gas from this be forced to the North Side?

A.  For the simple reason that this holder is the heaviest.

Q.  If the North Side one was filled to its utmost capacity, how could the contents of this be forced into it?

A.  It is not so, because in the morning parallel to the time when this took place, our holders are never full.  Otherwise we would have no storage capacity for the manufacture of the balance of the night and Monday.

Q.  Colonel Baldwin went and took one or two engines and put them on the North Side to guard your gas works there.  Now at ten o'clock Monday night I went [6] over there and I found the gasometer pretty well up.  The new station works on the North Side.

A.  Those gas holders are 26 feet in depth of sections over there and this was about 24 feet out of the water.  I lowered those myself in person.  I regulated the valve myself.  It was no order given to A, B or C.  I done that myself.  Those holders remained there at that point.  They were there Tuesday and Wednesday and several other days, because we made no attempt to manufacture any gas.  We made no attempt to put gas into the city until two weeks after the fire.  We made no gas.  Those holders I lowered there as I told you, myself.

Q.  In the basement there is water?

A.  Yes sir.

[61]

Q.  Doesn't that water become foul from time to time?

A.  Not very.

Q.  Isn't the gas passed through the water in getting into the holder?

A.  That is through a pipe.

Q.  Doesn't the gas itself pass through the water?

A.  No sir.  Not what I call passing through the water.  There is a pipe goes down outside to a well and goes under the well and delivers the gas above the surface of the water.  (illustrating with diagram)

Q.  When this water becomes foul, what mode of escape have you for it?

A.  We have an overflow.  When it gets filled to a certain height, it flows off.

Q.  Thence into the river and gives this greasy appearance to the surface of the water?

A.  No sir.  That comes from our condenser.

[62]

Q.  Please explain where this foul water goes.

A.  At the old works it goes into the sewer.

Q.  Is there any mode of escape for this water into the sewer?

A.  No sir, except the overflow.

Q.  From the testimony before us, this holder went down very rapidly immediately after an order was given to let off the gas.

A.  (Witness)  Who gave the order?

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan)  It is generally said Mr. Peter Burtis did.

A.  (Witness)  Well sir, Mr. Peter Burtis wasn't there.[ccclxix]  I wasn't there until after the shed I have alluded to, and the rest of these buildings immediately adjoining of Barrett and Arnold were burned.  There was no such order given to my knowledge.  My brother went in and raised that valve or my night superintendent Thomas Ockerby raised the valve and [63] sent the gas directly to the North Side by our large main leading to that division of the city, which is the main through which our gas now comes to supply South Chicago.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Which street does your main lay on?

A.  Monroe Street to Market thence to Lake and South Water then angling along South Water to Franklin where it crosses the river.

Q.  (Williams)  Have you had one of your large pipes in the street burst?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Williams)  At what street?

A.  Randolph and Wells and three points on the North Side.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams) Didn't some other burst, further south?

A.  Not that we have found.

[64]

Q.  (By Marshal Williams) About how much gas was there to escape there at Wells and Randolph?

A.  Nothing but a small amount.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  When you was passing this gas to the North Side through your large main, would it not naturally press through smaller pipes?

A.  No sir, for the reason that it is an independent pipe and has no connection with the smaller ones except as we open the valve.

Q.  How do you account for that bursting?

A.  Because after the fire passed along and severed our connections, when the volume of gas passed from the main, there was no longer a pressure, but rather a vacuum, and that being the case, the air passed back directly into the pipe and mixed with [65] the volume of gas and created an explosion.

Q.  Would there be considerable discharge of gas from a building that had already burned?

A.  If the volume of gas was there to pass in there would, but as I have already stated, our two holders at the gas works were shut off.  When I arrived on the ground there was neither one of these holders sent any gas into the city, and those valves have never since been opened and as proof of that our small gas holder is floating now with four to five feet of gas in it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do your pipes connect with the sewers in any place through the city?

A.  No sir.  What do you mean by connecting with the sewer?

Q.  (same)  Opening into the sewer.

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you notice during the [66] fire a kind of blue mass coming out at the openings in the corners of the streets where the surface water runs in from the gutter?

A.  No sir.  The gas that we manufacture doesn't make a blue light.  It perhaps might be alcohol.[ccclxx]

  That gives a blue flame.

Q.  If it should appear that this holder here was full and that the one on the North Side was at the same time pretty nearly in the same condition, how would you account for the sudden lowering of this gas holder here?

A.  It wasn't sudden, because we cannot when we send gas over there, lower it suddenly.  The difference in the weight of the two holders is so little that we can feed but very slowly from this.  It runs down not very rapid, what [67] we call rapid movement of a gas holder.

Q.  How long would it take to lower it down to its bearings?

A.  We can only feed to the North Side until it gets to the point where it uncouples.  We can't feed from this upper section to the North Division of the city.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  How would the North Side holder be up to its full height and the South Side one at the works down low?

A.  For the simple reason if such was the fact, that the sending a volume of gas from the South to the North Side would raise it, but there was none of those holders full.

Q.  (By Sheridan)  I know at ten o'clock Monday night I was up on the North Side and I saw that gas holder then very well up.

[68]

A.  (Witness)  Which holders do you mean?  We have four of them.

Q.  (Mr. Sheridan) It is one close to the river.  Superior, I guess.

A.  It is at our new station works.  Hawthorne Avenue one square south of Division Street.  Those two gas holders at Superior Street near the water reservoir are stations alone.  Simply gas holders for storage.  These holders that I speak of are just, I tell you, about 24 feet above the water.  I lowered them that way myself in person and left them that way for the reason that I knew that the heat striking these iron gas holders might do serious injury.  I can show you in our premises what you can't find elsewhere in the burned district, I guess.  Live rats.  Ockerby was properly in charge.  My brother is  [69] my day superintendent.  He was there and had charge to a certain extent.

Q.  Then there is no means by which you could have turned the gas from this gas holder into the sewers of the city?

A.  No sir.  I know of no such appliance anywhere, and if I live until the first day of the coming month it will be fifteen years since I have been superintending these works.

Q.  Nor water from the basement?

A.  No sir, excepting at the overflow.

Q.  It doesn't often overflow there, does it?

A.  No sir--well, sometimes when we have a very heavy rain, then it will flow out quite freely through a pipe that we have laid that connects with the sewer there on Adams Street.  That is one.  But the small [70] gas holder--there is no overflow to it at all.

Q.  The impression has obtained in the minds of a number here that the gas as it goes into the gas holder percolates through water, that the end of the pipe that brings it from the purifying house is below the surface of the water.  That is so, is it?

A.  No sir.  Any gentleman that consumes gas knows that when the drip overflows he gets no gas.  We must have our pipe perfectly free at the lowest point.  If the water flows in there six inches above where that pipe lies (indicating on diagram), we cannot pass it because the heaviest pressure that we can give a five inch head of water will hold.  Our ordinary working pressure in these gas holders, the heaviest we have will [71] not raise a column of water one foot in height.

(Witness)

There is one statement that I would like to make.  I understand that some say that the cover to the manhole is all burned up and charred.  Now then, that is altogether a mistake.  I have already stated that our gas holder was not properly upon its bearings until some ten days or two weeks after the fire, when I ordered it slacked off.  It is there now intact as it was.

Q.  (By one of the commissioners)  I had heard the remark that the covers to the vent holes to the sewers underneath, that those had been burned, showed some signs of burning underneath.

Q.  (Witness)  That may be.  It was not anything that went out of our gas holder that [72] done that.  We have no connection with the sewer.  There was a party stated to me the other day that his sidewalk there on Madison and Market Street was all on fire underneath and thought it seemed strange that the gas hadn't been let off.  Any gentleman that has seen a balloon go up ought to know what takes it up.  If you puncture a hole on the top of it, it is gone in a moment, and if our gas was let out, it wouldn't go meandering under sidewalks, it would be gone at once and in the event of its getting on fire, would be just like a keg of powder.  It would be an explosion and that would be the end of it.  It is a terrific heat for a moment.  The whole thing is gone in a minute [73] and that is the end of it because the specific gravity is so much less than the atmosphere.

 

[74]

Thomas B. Burtis, sworn  

November 29, 1871

(31st witness)

Q.  Are you connected with the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What position do you hold in that Company?

A.  Assistant Superintendent.

Q.  I want to ask you particularly in regard to the management of the Chicago Gas Light works on the night of the fire, Sunday, October 8th and 9th.  Were you present any part of that time?

A.  I was present, I think, about 10 o'clock.  I was at the works.

Q.  Before the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  Yes, previous to that.

Q.  When did you first have any fears of its crossing to the South Side?

A.  It was a short time before the tar works took fire that I felt afraid it would get to the works.

[75]

Q.  Were any sparks or cinders blowing about at that time?

A.  Yes.

Q.  The wind was pretty strong?

A.  Well, it was not so very strong at that time.  It kept increasing.[ccclxxi]  Still, the sparks were coming over freely, indeed, very freely.

Q.  Did they come high or low in the air?

A.  Both.  The air was filled high, on the ground, and all over.

Q.  Did you see the fire cross from the West to the South Side?  A.  The first I knew of its being burning on the South Side was when it was burning at the tar works.  I sent a man there with a buggy to watch to see if any fire started in the tar yard.  I feared it, knowing there were oils there from the tar, and tar leaked around.  I had been fearing it some time, and he [76] came and told me.

Q.  What was this tar that they used there--the residue of the gas works?

A.  Yes.  Then they distilled it and prepared it differently from what they received it from the works.

Q.  How much gas did you have made and in the receiver on Adams Street?

A.  At the holders at this Station?

Q.  The two holders were low.  I do not know how many feet high the large section holder was; it was below coupling.  The smaller holder was much lower than that.

Q.  What disposition did you make of the gas?

A.  When I went there Mr. Ockerby was in charge.  After I went down I asked him what he had done with the gas and whether he sent it on the North Side.  I [77] did not understand what he replied, so I went in.  He was there, affixing the hose to the fire plug that we have in the yard when I went down.  I saw he had closed all the windows, apparently to keep the sparks out of the carpenter shop and the exhaust room and so forth,[ccclxxii]  and I went into the condensing room and closed the windows.  Then I went in to see if the valves had been adjusted properly and found Mr. Allaby[ccclxxiii] was at it.  I felt and found that they were placed as we wished them.  It was in the dark, but I felt to see if the valves were right and they were.  I do not know as I answered what we did with the gas.  We sent it in the city as they were consuming, and the other was sent to the North Side.  We have two mains, and we can adjust it so that we [78] can send it through either one or both as we wish.  We have valves to arrange under different circumstances.

Q.  What time did you shut the gas off from the distributing main?

A.  I do not know what time they did shut it off from the North Side.  I think, not until early in the morning. 

Q.  What time was the South Side?

A.  We left that right on, could not get into the works after the fire caught--could not get to the valves.

Q.  Was the whole South Division left on?

A.  Yes sir.  We could not get at it to shut it off after the building took fire.  We could not get in there to do so.  But that did not amount to anything.  Just as soon as the building took fire, it unmelted the joints, so it would let all that was coming [79] from the works leak out gradually, ________  (more?) too, in fact.[ccclxxiv]  There were a great many joints there that would leak out all the gas in the building.  There were a great many joints--large pipe--each one was leaking--after the building was consumed, it melted perhaps fifty or a hundred joints, as can be seen now.

Q.  How much gas did you probably have in the course of manufacture?

A.  I forget how many benches we had.  I do not remember how many were in use, in the neighborhood of fifty, I think.

Q.  How much per hour would the fifty benches manufacture?

A.  I could not tell without figuring on it.

Q.  Your best impression.

A.  Some fifty thousand, and over.

Q.  Each?

A.  No, the whole works.

Q.  A thousand apiece?

A.  No sir.  Did you mean how [80] much each?

Q.  How much apiece?

A.  It is __________  (owing??)  [according?])  to how we charge them, the quality of the coal used, wet or dry, and so forth.

Q.  At that time how were you running?

A.  Just as usual.

Q.  The usual amount?

A.  Yes sir, making about eight hundred thousand in twenty four hours.

Q.  This gas, when the building took fire and melted the joints, of course must have made the fire considerably hotter.

A.  Yes sir, no doubt of that at all.  It was blazing around each one of those joints.  There is no doubt of that.

Q.  Do you know whether they were manufacturing gas on the North Side at the same time you were on the South?

A.  Yes.  Certainly were.  I do not know from being there personally, but of course they were. 

Q.  Then they would likely have [81] had a considerable supply on the North Side also, as you had on the South?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Gas holders would be usually pretty full?

A.  They were at that time of night.  It was pretty well consumed out.  You see it was the time of night that the heavy consumption had taken place.

Q.  But Sunday night is not a night for very heavy consumption.

A.  Not so heavy, no sir, but the lamps were lighted that night which made the consumption more heavy, a great deal than it is any other evening when not lighted, although Sunday evening.

Q.  Now considering the amount of gas that they had manufactured and in reserve at the North Side, the quantity that you had already manufactured, and the fact that both institutions were [82] still manufacturing gas, what would be the probable capacity left in the North Side gas holders for the reception of what you might send over?

A.  Oh, we always managed so as to keep them sufficiently emptied to receive all that we would make.  We regulate according to the consumption, demand, and so forth, and demand and consumption was increased very much by dark days and dark evenings, and then we had to vary our charging, quality of coal used, and so forth, accordingly.  But we endeavored always to keep the holders so that they would have sufficient room to receive what we were making.

Q.  What was your general course of manufacture--manufacturing upon the South and North Sides--did you manufacture the most upon the South Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was the North Side works for the purpose of relieving the [83] South Side works of some of their demands for gas?

A.  Yes sir, there were two.

Q.  Which did you do the most--send gas from the North Side to the South to supply any deficiency there, or from the South to the North?

A.  We sent from the South to the North the most.[ccclxxv]

Q.  There was the greatest demand on the South Side?

A.  Yes sir.  These works were not sufficient to supply the South Side, so we had to draw from the North to make up the deficiency.  These holders were not sufficient.  They would run out, and that was arranged early in the evening, had the two works working in harmony together.

Q.  Which would require the greatest pressure, under the circumstances, then, to force the gas from the smaller reservoir to the larger?

A.  Yes--

Q.  --Or from the larger to the [84] smaller?

A.  The larger holders would have greater pressure that these under the circumstances they were in.

Q.  On the North Side?

A.  Yes sir, when they were full than when these are full, but that we have to regulate with our valves so that they will work in harmony together.

Q.  These holders, the mechanical arrangement of which I understand is something like the two scales of a _________  (beam???) are so connected that when there is no perceptible difference in the gravity there is no flow of gas, either way, is there?

A.  Yes sir.  When the North Side works and these are together the holders will equalize themselves.  If that holder has the greatest pressure that will bring gas from that way here and this will stand still.  If this is greater, then this sec- [85] tion holder is greater than two of the others when it is full.  Then, when it is so, that will stand still and this will go away.

Q.  The North Side holder has the greatest capacity?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Which had the greater amount of gas on that night?

A.  The holders at the North Station.  These, fortunately, were low before the fire, being after the heaviest consumption had taken place.  The heavy consumption, being nearer these works, draws heavier from these than the other.  There is not so much gas flows from a pipe a long distance.  These pipes, being nearer to where the consumption is, the heaviest naturally takes gas from here more rapidly than from the other, even with a greater pressure there.

Q.  I suppose the large hotels on the South Side would take more gas than all the lights on the  [86] North Division.

A.  Oh, no.  I suppose not.

Q.  A larger proportion?

A.  They were heavy consumers.

Q.  If an order were given to let the gas off, what would you understand as meant by that order?

A.  To let it off?

Q.  To let it off.

A.  That would be out of the manholes.  I went to the works that evening and saw the sparks coming.  There were several gentlemen, while I was there, suggested different things to me in regard to the works, not one of which was feasible.  They suggested letting the gas out.  That was not feasible at that place at that time, sparks flying and the whole air filled with fires.  Others suggested loosening the lids of the retorts.  "No," said I, "not at all.  It would not do at all."  It would have blown up.  At the time they suggested loosening the lids, the east end [87] was all of a blaze, caught from the tar works, the wind was from the west, and I reasoned that if we opened the lids, the gas would go from that end and away goes me and everything in the house and the house too.  The wind would have carried it there and created an explosion.  There are times when loosening the lids is necessary and important, and there are times when it would be folly and gross wrong, and that was a time that it would have been a terrible mistake, in my opinion, under the circumstances,   I looked at it.  Loosening the lids is the best and most speedy relief we have at times, not on such an occasion as that, though.

Q.  What would have been the effect if this gas had escaped by loosening the lids?

A.  I think it would have been rushed down the retort house [88] to the east end, which was then on fire.  The wind was from the Southwest and would have carried it right down there, although the natural law for it is to ascend.  I think it would not have got out at the ventilation; there was so much being manufactured, I think it would have carried it in a sufficient body to the east end, where it was all blazing, to have ignited and caused an explosion.  I was in and out several times.  I had not the least idea of loosening the lids, although suggested.  There are times when it is important, as I said, to do so.

Q.  When there is the largest quantity of gas on the North Side, and the heaviest pressure there, what would be the effect of opening the valves between the two, to throw the gas from the North Side to the [89] South, or from the South Side to the North?

A.  It would equalize itself as far as possible--the distance from the North Side here is so much greater that it would equalize itself as much as possible.  But by drawing so much freer here than it is drawn so far away, it would take it more freely from here, but it would equalize itself to a great degree, yet the pressure would be greater away up there near those holders than it would be on South Water Street, for instance.  But, if they were not burning here at all, it would be equal all over the pipe and everywhere--the same pressure--but if it was being used here rapidly, it would not be.

Q.  How rapidly would the gas holder descend under ordinary circumstances, in the ordinary use of gas?

A.  One holder?

[90]

Q.  The large holder, either or both--if they were both, it would be the same?

A.  We have holders that are different in size.  Two of them are six hundred thousand each, or a little over, in capacity. 

Q.  In case of this equalization of which you speak, the greater pressure being upon the North Side, would the gas be entirely removed from either holder unless equalization took place, would there not be in the end an equalization, and the same amount of pressure upon the South Side as at the North?

A.  Not exactly.  Not while it was being consumed rapidly.  There would be some little difference.

Q.  Could you free the South Side reservoir or anything like it from gas by that operation?

A.  Not entirely.  If those holders were full and these only part, you could not send any gas from this, only the large holders.  [91]  If the Superior Street, for instance, were empty, this about full, you could send it from this there.

Q.  Where did you send it--to the Superior Street holders or where?

A.  I do not know whether it went into that.  Sometimes they have two holders and sometimes one at a time.

Q.  This system of holders--this opening of valves--you say would open the valves connecting with all the holders on the North Side and all on the South?

A.  That is as we wish.  We have two holders, sometimes one is opened, sometimes both.

Q.  What was the fact, with regard to the holders being opened, was it between all of these reservoirs or only a part of them?

A.  Only a part of them usually.  When consumption is taking place, and when it is not, it is only open when we are send- [92] ing gas; when these are connected, we send gas independent of them.  Then they open to receive it.  There is one holder kept open there to receive at any time we wish to send, either at the works or one of the others, just as the holders are most suited to receive it.  It is received at the smaller one usually.  As there is less pressure, it will receive more easily.  It is usually received in these small holders.

Q.  You have water in the basements or under the holders, have you not?

A.  In the tank.

Q.  Reservoirs?

A.  Yes.  Tank.

Q.  Does not that water become stagnant and impure from time to time?

A.  No sir,  the rains, and so forth, keep that sweet.  We never smell it, hardly.

Q.  After three months dry season, what would be the condi- [93] tion of the water there?

A.  The gas seems to purify it and sweeten it.  It will smell of the ammoniacal liquors in it, but it never smells stagnant and dead.  Gas has a purifying tendency, never knew it to smell as stagnant water, never.  But it has that ammoniacal liquor smell.

Q.  Are there not certain impure particles in the gas itself which descend into the water?

A.  Some little, very little of it.  That is intended to be extracted previous to going in by washing and scrubbing, condensing and purifying.

Q.  How is this water got rid of after it becomes impure?

A.  There is a pipe, the height that we wish to have it in the tank, an outlet pipe always opened so that when it rains, and so forth, and raises this in there, it goes off itself from the top.  That is the only way that it is taken out.

[94]

Q.  Have you never occasion to clean out the bottom of the tank?

A.  I believe my brother had it cleaned out a year or two ago--no, never, no requirement, because if gas is properly manufactured,  the tar and these impurities are taken out previous to being put in the holder.

Q.  I understand you to say there is no mode of escape for the gas into the air or through sewers except by the opening of the manholes in the top of the holder.

A.  No sir, no other openings at all that I know of anywhere.

Q.  That was not done?

A.  Not at this works.  No gas was allowed to escape because it would have been a fatal thing if it had been.  Several gentlemen suggested to me--one to let it out of the holder, two to loosen the lids, and neither was done.

Q.  Suppose that an order were [95]] given to let off the gas and immediately thereafter a very strong odor of gas  was found in the neighborhood, what would you think was the cause of that?

A.  I should think that there was gas certainly escaping somewhere, if there was a smell.

Q.  Do I understand you to say that it was too late when you went to the valves to shut off the supply for the South Side generally, to distribute through the distributing mains?

A.  Excuse me, I do not understand the question.

Q.  There were your ordinary customers on the South Side to supply and you were in the act of supplying them with gas; now you were at the gas works when you became alarmed  as to the probable consequences of the fire?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Now, had you no facilities [97] for shutting the gas off from the customers at that time?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Was it done?

A.  No sir.

Q.  It was not done?

A.  No sir, it would not have been policy to have done so at that time. It was not shut off from the consumers. 

Q.  In view of the fact that there were a great number of gas pipes that had then become dissevered,  an immense leak must have followed, and a vast quantity of gas  have been mixed with the atmospheric air.

A.  There is not much of air--some of it caught fire and would blaze right at the surface.  That that came out would ascend, so that I do not see how there could any damage to speak of arise.

Q.  With a strong southwestern wind, would not that gas [97] be pressed along before it would ascend?

A.  To some extent it would, but not anything to speak of, because its laws are to ascend instantly, but of course a terrible gust of wind would have a tendency to carry it somewhat, but it would be gradually ascending.

Q.  You seem quite certain then that no gas was allowed to escape into the air directly from the holder nor from the sewers.

A.  At these works here?

Q.  Yes.

A.  Yes sir, positive of that.  There is no way of getting it into the sewers.  If we had, it would be a very silly affair, because if it was let go in the sewer, I should suppose the consequence would be serious when it came in contact with fire.  But when it ascends in the air, its destination is upward, not spread like water, [98]  but to ascend not exactly like air, but like gas to ascend.  The lightest of all substances known, except heated air, its natural law is to shoot upward at once, not spread at all--from the very fountain it comes from, so a man when they tap a pipe must keep his head one side or below.  If he does not, down he goes.  It does not spread out much sideways.

 

 

[99]

November 29, 1871

Charles Anderson sworn

(32nd witness)

Q.  Your name is Charles Anderson?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Driver of the America Hose Cart?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is the first you knew of the fire of Sunday night, October 8th?

A.  The number of the box, I do not know.  We got a still alarm, and went there as fast as we possibly could without waiting for the number of the box and got about to the center of the block when the bell struck.  We did not count the number, saw the fire and went there as fast as possible.  When we went to the fire I supposed there would be an engine on the corner of Taylor and [100] Clinton Street, and my foreman said, "let us take this plug."  I said, "the Giant or the Chicago will be here and it will take time to uncouple the plug again, because they were about as near as we were.  No engine appeared to be in sight and we coupled on to the plug and led into the fire.  I and my foreman went to the fire and played on the northeast corner of the building, and about three minutes afterwards Mr. Williams came there, and he hallooed to me and said, "Charley, you go and turn on the second alarm."  I told him I could not turn on the second alarm, and he said to my foreman, "Dorsey, you go and turn on the alarm."  So, he left me alone with the pipe, and the other man that is in our company, Mr. Manwell[ccclxxvi] went to the Giant's [101] company to help them up the alley, as is customary with him, if we do not have a plug stream, to go and help some other engine at the fire.  He remained there alone for a minute and there a man by the name of Charles McConners  came and helped me and he says, "Charley, this is hot."  I said, "It is, Mac," and he stayed with me perhaps a minute and could not stay any longer, apparently, and started off, and about a minute afterwards he came with a door and put it in front of me toward the fire.  Thinks I, "I have it now; I can stand it a considerable time," and he could not stand there with the door I do not suppose more than half a minute, and he let go the door and it dropped down and it was all ablaze, and my clothes began to [102] smoke and my hat began to twist on my head, and Williams said, "come out as fast as possible and wet the other side of the street, or it will burn the other side of the street."  That was the first time I took my eyes off from the fire in front of me where I was trying to do the best I could.  I happened to cast my eye up and saw the buildings in the rear of the building where I was all on fire.  I do not know how many were on fire.  I turned my attention then to haul the hose out to Taylor Street and I saw the buildings were all catching on fire on the north side of Taylor Street.  When I got out to the street, it appeared to me that there were twenty or thirty buildings on fire in that space of time.  A crowd of men took hold of the hose [103] and helped me out and when we got out the Waubansia, I think--to the best of my opinion I think it was--came and took the plug and the water was shut off and I could not stand it any longer and left it then.  I helped around all night, leaving another man with the cart.  The fire crossed Harrison Street.  I was with the Long John part of the time, with the Sherman and with the Winnebago  and the Waubansia.

Q.  How long a space of time was occupied, do you think, when you first went up and let in your plug to the time you say the fire was in the buildings on the north side of Taylor Street--the twenty or thirty buildings.

A.  Well, sir, I should judge, from the time we led out to the plug to that time was between four and five minutes.

[104]

Q.  As soon as that?

A.  Yes, I think it was, from the time we went to the plug, and Mr. Williams hallooed to me, "keep up to it, Charley, keep up to it," when I first came to the fire, and the building was on fire.  I did not cast my eye around, in fact, I could not look around, it was so hot in front of me.

Q.  Had the Giant or Chicago got there then?

A.  I saw nothing but ourselves.  Our apparatus was the only apparatus I saw there, but the other man that works with me, Mr. Manwell, ran to the alley as it is customary with him, and he says when he went to the fire, the Giant was on the southeast corner of, I think, De Koven and Jefferson Streets, and they were leading in the hose, and he says there were three houses and two barns on fire then.

[105]

That is what he told me today.  I was reading the evidence that was given yesterday and he told me that.

Q.  That you do not know of your own knowledge.

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Where did you take the plug?

A.  Corner of Clinton and Taylor Streets.

Q.  And led west?

A.  Yes sir.  I should judge it was about 150 feet opposite to the fire and perhaps fifty feet of our hose led into the fire.

Q.  You led west on Taylor?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And played on the south side of Taylor?

A.  Yes.

Q.  When you got there, what was on fire of your own knowledge?

A.  I could not say anything except as to the building in front of me.  It was the nearest building to me and I paid no attention except [106] to it.  John Hamburg  wanted us to play on the adjoining building on the east side between us and the fire.  We were in the center, between the fire and this building, and he wanted me to play on it, and my foreman made some remark to him that he was attending to this himself.

Q.  This building first played upon fronted on what?

A.  Taylor Street.

Q.  In the rear or front?

A.  I do not know.

Q.  Barn or house?

A.  Barn, apparently.

Q.  What size?

A.  About a 14 foot barn.

Q.  Do you know which side of the alley it was?

A.  No sir, that I could not swear to, because I paid no attention to it.

Q.  Do you know how many others were afire then?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You do not know whether [107] there were any others?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You did not notice any others?

A.  Not until Mr. Williams hallooed to me to wet the north side of Taylor Street with a stream of water, and then I cast my eye up on the rear of the building I was working on.

Q.  How long had you then been working?

A.  I should judge between three and five minutes, I could not swear exactly, but I should judge between three and five minutes.

Q.  Do you mean the rear of the building in front of the barn--you say the rear of the building you were working on?

A.  I was working on the front of the building facing toward Taylor Street.

Q.  The barn?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then, as you turned, did you [108] notice that the building in front, on Taylor Street, was on fire?

A.  South of that.  We led into a vacant lot.

Q.  South of it?

A.  On the north of it there was a vacant lot, on the side of Taylor Street  to the fire, and we led into it and I stayed in the northeast corner of it.

Q.  Was the building in the alley?

A.  I do not know whether it was in the alley.  I guess it was pretty near the alley.  That I could not swear, because I did not get back far enough to it.

Q.  And as you went out of there to play in the north side of Taylor Street you say there were twenty--

A.  Apparently the whole block was catching on fire.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the wind blowing very [109] hard at that time?

A.  Yes  sir, very hard, about as hard as it generally blows.

Q.  What distance were you from the barn when you were playing upon it from this vacant lot?

A.  I should judge that I was about as far as from here to the rear of that room (about __________ feet),[ccclxxvii] perhaps not so far.

Q.  What effect had the wind upon your stream at that time when you were throwing it directly in the eye of the wind?

A.  I was sheltered, on the northeast corner of the fire, and it did not take any great effect on it, at that time.

Q. The wind was coming from the southwest?

A.  I believe it was at the time.

Q.  And you would be directly in the eye of the wind?

A.  We had a pretty good head of water and a pretty good stream.

[110]

Q.  Did the stream reach the building without any trouble?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How far away from the barn did you stand?

A.  I should judge, about as far as from here to that wall.

Q.  Fifteen or twenty feet?

A.  Not more than that.

Q.  That was the time you say it got pretty hot.

A.  It was hot when I started.  My coat got burnt in the shoulder both sides, and my hat bent up with the heat, but I was determined to stay as near as I could.  I would not have left, only Mr. Williams called me to wet down the north side of the street.

Q.  At any of these buildings that you played on then on Taylor Street--were they on fire or had you wet them down before they caught on fire?

[111]

A.  I did not wet them down at all.  The Waubansia  took the plug that we were at, and it was so hot I was exhausted, and as I had exerted myself a good deal to get ahead of the fire and probably check it, and when I came out the water was shut off and I had to run away out of the heat.

Q.  It strikes me the wind could not be very strong if this plug stream of yours could throw the water in the eye of the wind some twenty feet.

A.  It was blowing a good gale of wind at the time.  It blew my water when I came out on Taylor Street a great deal harder.  Apparently the suction from the buildings that were on fire had the effect to make the wind more severe.

Q.  Of course, as the fire increased.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was this building between [112] you and the wind or not?

A.  It was between me and the wind.

Q.  It was, you say, a square barn 16 by 20?[ccclxxviii]

A.  It appeared to be a 14 foot barn to me.  That is all I know about it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did the barn not shut the wind from your stream?

A.  I do not know.  I expect it did.  I did not pay any attention to it at that time.  I do not know whether it did or not.

Q.  You saw[ccclxxix] no hook and ladder truck when you got there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  No engine?

A.  No engine.

Q.  You were the first, you think, to get a plug stream on the building?

A.  To the best of my opinion that was the first water on the building.  I saw nothing else.  There might [113] have been another stream on the other side of the barn, for aught that I know.  I could not swear to it.  I saw no water on the building we put on that water.  I do not know that I saw any water on the building when I went away, only what the man that was with me told me.  That is all I know about it.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I want to ask you whether your water was turned on after that by the Waubansia--did you get any other water through your lead?

A.  That I could not tell.  Our water was shut off, and there was an engine, and I was under the impression it was the Chicago engine, but afterwards I heard it was the Waubansia.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Then you do not know there was any water played through your lead or not?

A.  No sir.  I could not say.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Do you know who took up the hose?

A.  That I do not know either.  The boys went away, started off with the cart, and went over to the Giant's house to see if they could get any hose, and went around to get hose.  This man who took care of my horse, who is a teamster, drove them, and I helped around at the fire what I could, and the boys went and collected all the hose they could find, and  I do not know whether we took up the hose or not, or whether they were burned, because the fire went so fast that I could not see whether it was our hose or any other person's that we got.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Did you see a stream on the other side of the fire, after [115] your water was shut down?

A.  I did not stay there to find out.  I do not know where I went, I was so excited to see the fire getting such a head I could not swear after that where I went. Q.  You had a full supply of hose when you went to the fire?

A.  That I do not know.  We carried our usual reel.

Q.  Six hundred feet?

A.  I think it is five hundred and fifty feet we generally carried.  We have longer runs than any of those others and we are not supposed to carry quite so much hose.  We carry enough hose to lead from one plug to any part of a block.  That is what we calculate on in case of a fire that we use a plug stream on.

 

 

[116]

John C. Smith sworn[ccclxxx]

November 29, 1871

(33rd witness)

Q.  You are a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is your position?

A.  Foreman of the Lincoln hose, No. 3.[ccclxxxi]

Q.  Where is it located?

A.  On Webster Avenue--454.

Q.  Do you know anything about the fire of October 8th?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  When did you come in--on the second or third alarm?

A.  Third alarm.

Q.  Where was the fire raging when you came down?

A.  When we came down, the first thing I saw was Rehm working on the church and I helped them.

Q.  What church?

A.  Corner of Mather and Clinton I think--a big church.  They [117] put the fire on the roof and were ordered to come to the main fire by someone.  We went back and had two streams and the fire burst out in the steeple and it burned down.  There was a drug store on the corner and it went all around, and got a high head and it got so hot we had to put the streams on ourselves to wet us down, and changed about, and at last we had to move the machine and go a block ourselves and the fire followed us right up.  We gathered up all the hose we could and part we lost, could not get it.  We put two streams on there again and saved two or three houses on the corner.  I do not know whether the fireman of the Rehm was ordered upon Taylor and Canal Street or not, but I went with him [118] and went to work at a lumberyard and two or three lengths of hose burst, and Matt Benner told me to hunt up hose and I went where they repair hose and found two or three lengths, went to Brown's house but could not find any, and I saw the fire was all over town and went on the South Side and Taylor's was burning then.  I saw a machine go across Wells Street bridge and I said, "I believe the fire has crossed to the North Side."  The driver said, "follow that machine."  I went there and I think the Winnebago took possession on the corner of North Wells and Kinzie, and all the wooden markets on Kinzie were down already.  I worked back to Wells Street and worked at the Galena Depot for I do not know how long [119] and Mr. Williams came there at the same time--was up there at the church with us all the time.

Q.  Where was this?

A.  Kinzie Street on the north side.[ccclxxxii]

Q.  And he was also with you at the church?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  At the first of the fire?

A.  Yes.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you notice how far the fire was south of that church when the church got on fire?

A.  Well, in fact I could not say; I think it was over a block, because I went right by the cart to get some hose and never got back to the church, in fact I never got back there.

Q.  Did you go to the fire with a full reel of hose?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then why did you go to look [120] after it?  Everybody went with a full reel of hose, and yet in a few minutes everybody was looking for it.  There was lots of hose in all of the houses but immediately after everybody was looking for hose.[ccclxxxiii]

A.  The time I was sent for hose was long after that time, when all that was down on the corner of Taylor and Canal, the lumberyard, lost my hose there.

Q.  That was about what time, do you think, that you started to look for hose, and how long had you been there then?

A.  Well, I think that must have been after midnight.

Q.  What time did you go to the fire?

A.  The first alarm?

Q.  Yes.

A.  It was after ten o'clock, I think.

[121]

Q.  You did not notice the time when you left the house?

A.  Yes sir, I think it was a little after ten.

Q.  How long did it take you to run from your house to the fire?

A.  That distance would take us about three quarters of an hour.  It is five miles from our house and we drove pretty lively.

Q.  It must have been nearly eleven o'clock when you got there?

A.  We drove pretty lively.

Q.  Do you know when Bateham's lumberyard  and mill got on fire?

A.  No sir, we were west of that.

Q.  Do you know whether the church burned down before that took fire?

A.  I could not say.  I did not get around there at all.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Where did the fire seem to [122] break out in the church?

A.  The main fire broke out in the steeple.

Q.  But when the body of the church got on fire, where did the fire seem to be?  In the upper or lower part?

A.  Upper part.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do you think under the roof--between the shingles and roof?

A.  The main fire broke out from the steeple, and the back part of the church was afire at the same time.

 

 

[123]

                                                              November 29, 1871

                                                        J. H. Hildreth sworn[ccclxxxiv]

                                                                   (34th witness)

 

Q.  Your name?

A.  James H. Hildreth.

Q.  Your residence?

A.  574 Halsted Street.

Q.  You have been an alderman in the city?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Will you tell us if you know anything about the origin of the progress of the fire that commenced on October 8th?  If you do not know anything in regard to the inception of the fire, tell us when you first knew of it and what you saw and did in your own way.

A.  As to the origin, I certainly could not say.

Q.  When did you first become aware of there being a fire?

A.  I could not tell, exactly.  It was not far from the neighborhood of nine o’clock.  I had retired and hearing the alarm and the [124] alarm and the engines go by and seeing the light shining through my window, I got up, dressed myself, and went to the fire.  I found it in DeKoven Street where the fire started.  I pushed myself through the [crowd?] and got in where the fire was.  It was then in four or five buildings, maybe more.   I could not tell exactly how many buildings were afire, but there were four or five buildings on fire at the time.  I stood and saw the [firemen?] work. The wind was blowing a pretty good gale, and I was of the opinion after while that the fire was going north faster than the department was putting it out.  There was a man with me by the name of Mc[illeg.][ccclxxxv] who was in business on the South Side who was burned out, and I remarked to him that I wished that I could go and see the commissioners or the fire marshal, that the fire was getting away from them faster than they were aware of, I guessed.  Started in search of them  [125] and found the fire marshal and said to him that the fire was going away from him faster than he was putting it out, and he would have to resort to some other method or else there was no knowing where the fire would stop.  The marshal said that he was doing everything he could do in every way, shape, and manner.  I then said that it would be a good idea to place the engines north of the fire and fight it up, and the marshal then said the sparks was carrying the fire beyond him, and as fast as he would get one fire put out, another one would start with the wind.  For that reason, I remarked that it would be well to place the engines north, to take them out of there and give so much [illeg.] the flames and then burn down.  With that, the marshal left and went about his business.  Afterwards, I met Mr. Locke,  the assistant engineer, and I said to him, “Locke, we are going [126] to have the biggest fire that we ever had in Chicago unless we go to work and tore down these buildings.  Blow them up or something else.  It is going to be a hard matter to put them out.  If you will come with me to the fire marshal,” said I, “perhaps you bring one of the city officials.  Perhaps it might encourage him more and he would take the responsibility upon himself.”

Q.  Mr. Locke was the name?[ccclxxxvi]

A.  Yes sir, he is the assistant engineer of the city.[ccclxxxvii]  Locke said he would go as soon as he went to see about a fire plug somewhere.  He went a short distance and came back, and we went to the fire marshal, Mr. Williams, and then had some conversation in regard to tearing down the buildings, blowing them up, and so forth.   The marshal felt as though the blowing up of the buildings was a matter that he did not understand.  In fact, as near as I could infer, he did not have the power[ccclxxxviii] nor the means to do it with, and I remarked  [127] to him that I would get the powder, if necessary.  I also stated to him that he had power to [control?] the people or do as he chose and if he would give me the power, that I would get a thousand men to go through and tear down the buildings.  The marshal said, “Get your powder, then,” and I started and got the powder, went down on the South Side, got this new insurance wagon.

Q.  Dan Bullwinkle?[ccclxxxix]

A.  I do not know his name.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Let me ask you one question.  When you started for the powder, about where was the fire then?

A.  It had not got into Bateham’s mills.  There might have been a corner of Bateham’s mills on fire.  It might be possible that there was fire there, but I was on Canal Street.  It was in the locality of Bateham’s mills at that time where I last spoke to you in regard to it at the time I left.  I think that was the locality.  What reminds me very strongly of that point [128] was there was an engine placed at the plug at Bateham’s mills, and fire caught in some planks right by the engine, and I tried very hard to get the engine out, to uncouple it, and burned my [hair?] and eyes and moustache and finally told the driver to pull off and the driver did so.

Q.  Was that engine on Canal Street?

A.  Yes sir, right at Bateham’s mills.

Q.  That would indicate that the mills were on fire.

A.  The mills were not afire, but the fire had caught under some planks.

Q.   Burning pretty lively?

A.  There was a pile of planks there two or three feet high that was scattered across.

Q.  In the street?

A.  Yes sir, in the gutter, and they caught underneath, and the engine was right close to the end of this plank.

Q.  (By a reporter)[cccxc]  What was this engine?

A.  The Gund, I think.[cccxci]  I am not really certain, but I give it as [129] my best belief that it was the Gund engine.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  That Bateham’s mills stood where, between what streets?

A.  I ought to be able to state without a thought because I have passed by that a thousand [times] within two or three years.

Q.  Do you think between Mather and Harrison?

A.  Yes sir, I think that was it.

Q.  Just south of Harrison?

A.  Yes sir, generally known as Bateham’s red mills.  Well, I went to the wagon and asked for the captain.  This man said, “I am the captain.”  I said to him, “I want your wagon to go and get powder.  You can do more good,” said I, “than you can with your Babcocks.”[cccxcii]  Said he, “I am ready to go.” We started and went down State Street and Water and broke in the powder magazines there on both sides of the street.  Some on the east side and some on the west side and took all there was.  We had considerable delay there in getting [130] fuse.  A man put his head out of the window and wanted to know what we were doing, and I told him and asked him to come down and let us into the store to get fuse, that if he did not, I should break in the door.  He remarked that he did not have anything to do with it.  I told him of the necessity, that we were compelled to get the fuse, that we should have it.  He took a great deal of time in getting dressed; I don’t know why.  After while he came down, and it took him a long time to get the fuse.  Finally, we got it and started back.  I got as far as Madison Street bridge or nearly at the bridge, and we saw the fire was on the South Side.  Became somewhat alarmed at that.  Took our powder and started back to the courthouse and put it in the police department in the basement. 

Q.  The trial room, was it not?

A.  We put it in there, and I said to Locke, “Now come and let us go and find the commissioners [131] or the fire marshal.”  We started and went to the West Side.  The wagon went a short distance with us, and then we went afoot, traveled all around the fire in hopes of finding one of the commissioners or all of the commissioners or the marshal.  Either one, for I had seen Sheridan and Brown at the fire, and Commissioner Brown passed right by me.  I could not have told for a certainty that it was Sheridan, only someone told me that “there goes Sheridan,” and I turned around and supposed it to be Sheridan from sight.

Q.  General Sheridan?

A.  No sir.  Commissioner Sheridan.  I was informed that all the commissioners were on the ground.  We went completely around the fire.  Then we started to go to the South Side, thinking it possible that the commissioners had gone to the South Side and the marshal.  And we crossed on Adams Street bridge, and there was a report that the gas works were going to blow up, [132] and there was a general stampede, and we stampeded with the rest.  Then we went back and went across Madison Street bridge.  Said I, “We will go to the courthouse.  The probabilities that they have gone then there to determine upon some course, and we will be there with them to use the powder as they may direct.”  We started and went to the courthouse and did not find them there.  I inquired if the commissioners had been there and was told that they had not.  I inquired if the mayor had been there and was informed that he had not, but on turning to go out, the mayor came in.  Then I entreated the mayor to take some course that would help to stop the progress of the fire, that the mayor should write an order calling upon the people.  That was his first order, a sort of an order or proclamation or a call, and soon afterwards his son came in with Judge Fuller--is not that his [illeg.]?

Q.  No.  Miller? [133]

A.  Miller it is.  The mayor submitted the document to Judge Miller, and he suggested that that was under the direction of the fire marshal, so the mayor wrote another order and copied it and asked who would see that it was carried out.  I said, “I will, give it to me quick.”  I grabbed it and went to the fire marshal.  I found the fire marshal on LaSalle Street between Madison and Washington, in the alley.

Q.  What was this order?

A.  An order to assist under the directions of the fire marshal in adopting such measures as he might direct.  I took the order to the fire marshal, and we went around on the northwest corner of Madison and LaSalle and stepped into the awning of the door, and I read the order to him and remarked, “That gives you all the power that you want.  Now,” said I, “you know the engines cannot stop the fire, and we may stop it by blowing buildings on some [134] given line.”  Well, the marshal did not go.  I could not tell exactly what his reply was.  Something in regard to the engine or the fire or something.  I could not say what it was authoritatively, but at all events I left the marshal then and went around to the courthouse, and while the mayor was writing the order, I was hurrying him to write as fast as he possibly could, thinking that by being expeditious in the matter, we might blow down the buildings on the south side of Madison Street and not allow it to get into the large buildings.

Q.  That was the second order?

A.  I think the mayor wrote three orders and copied the third one.  He wrote three, I think, and copied the third. [135]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Let me ask you one thing.  At the time you saw me with the order direct from the mayor, was not the Oriental Building then on fire?[cccxciii]

A.  I wouldn’t say that it was.  I should judge from the circumstance of your being there with the engine, I should think that it was.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you notice whether that hose led from that building on the corner of Madison and LaSalle?

A.  No, I could not tell that.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you notice another engine at the corner of Washington and LaSalle?

A.  No, I couldn’t tell.  My only thought was to find you, and I was not looking for an engine or hose or anything. [136]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  I had just come out of the Washington Street [front?] with the Congress.[cccxciv]

A.  You were engaged there somehow with the hose.  You were with the engine or men or something.  I couldn’t tell anything about the direction you came from.  The fire was blowing, and sparks and everything were flying, and my eye was in such a condition that it would prevent my observation.  It was my hope to get him from there quick enough to get in the south side of Madison Street and blow up the buildings across there and not let it get into the big buildings.  And Judge Miller remarked, “Do something in the name of God!” or something like that, to save those big buildings.  I went up after leaving the marshal and said, “The marshal is attending to his engines and,” said I, “We must take some steps immediately,” and [137] I called Judge Miller out, called the mayor out and, said I, “The fire is coming right over here now and,” said I, “I fear it is too late now but,” said [I], “I think it is better we should commence in this building.”  That was the Union National Bank.[cccxcv]  Said [I], “I think it would [be] better that we should commence there, and I think we shall be able possibly to stop it at this point.”  The mayor remarked, “Go on and do something.”  I went on, had a great deal of hard work to get men to carry powder; in fact, could not until I got Sergeant Lull, and he took a squad of police and made them carry it in under the bank and he stayed there with me, and I burst in the kegs of powder with my boot for I didn’t have anything else and strewed them out.  I had quite a large quantity in there and touched it off and left. [138]  Then the sergeant took the police again and carried the powder around under Smith and Nixon’s building.[cccxcvi]  We got into a bakery there, had a great deal of trouble there in getting it off. [139]

Q.  Did it explode in the bank?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What effect did it have?

A.  Blew right through.  Rushed right straight through.  The room was so large that it would almost [be] impossible to blow it down.[cccxcvii]

Q.  (By Williams)  Did not blow any of the walls down?

A.  No sir, didn’t throw any out on the north side.  I don’t know what it might have done on the east side.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Was the courthouse on fire at that time?

A.   I judge not; it might have been.  If it was not, it was [a] very short time afterwards.  It was not afire at the time when we took the powder out.  When we went into the Union National Bank, I know it was not afire then.  It was afire when we first got down there.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you see the big bell fall? [140]

A.  No sir.  Saw nothing of the kind.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did you see my driver anywhere around on Clark and Washington Street?

A.  No sir.  I was on Clark and Washington.  That is where I put the powder, in Smith and Nixon’s building.  And stayed there until it blew up, for I couldn’t get away for some time.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  I want to know how long it was because my driver stayed there while you were going in Mr. Smith and Nixon’s building to blow up, and he drove off for fear it would knock down the building, and when he drove away, the bell fell.

A.  There was no wagon.  I stayed around in each place where the powder was placed to keep the people away.  In fact, stayed closer than anyone else, mostly. [141]

Q.  Where did you put the powder in?

A.  Into a bakery.  It had the appearance of being a bakery.  You might find it [if you?] wanted to know anything about it.  It had the appearance of being a bake shop.  Sergeant Lull was with me there and stayed with me until I started to run.  Then we had used all the powder we had.  The mayor afterwards said he had sent to Brighton and got some more powder.[cccxcviii]  His son came to me in the morning at the corner of Wabash Avenue and Washington and said there was a large supply of powder coming and that the mayor, his father, wanted leave to take charge of it--said it would be there within a few minutes.  I assented to it and said all right.  The powder came in very soon, and I placed the powder in a building on the northwest corner of Washington and [142] Wabash Avenue and also on the northeast corner in a large building that was there.

Q.  There was a church on the corner, was there not?

A.  This was not.  That old spotted church[cccxcix] is on the corner, but this was a little off the corner in a drug store--no, not in the drug store, but next to it.  That we took the powder, for they told us in the drug store that they were filled up with oils and so forth, and the fire would only ignite to make the fire stronger, and on that I was prevailed upon not to put it in there, but went into the next basement north.  I didn’t stop to see what it was.

Q.  A boot and shoe establishment?[cd]

A.  I think not.  I have an idea it was a millinery establishment next to this paint or drug store or whatever it was, and I came out and the [143] powder wagon had gone away.  We then went south.  I started for the wagon.  A funny man named Herman[cdi] [found?] me when the wagon went south with the powder.  I started after the wagon and I met David A. Gage[cdii] and I remarked that I was glad to see him and asked him to come and consult with me as to a line to blow up, that I was going to blow up somewhere in the locality. We were then about Terrace Row[cdiii] on Michigan Avenue or Congress Street. It was at about Congress Street, and he said, “Go on, Hildreth.  I will be with you just as quick as [I] find my wife, but go on.”  I started around and got to the corner of State and Harrison Street and there made up my mind what line to blow up, right along up in that line.  Just then, fortunately, I got considerable assistance.  A man by the name of Mahoney,[cdiv] [144] Munn and Scott’s foreman at the City Elevator,[cdv] and Driscoll, a police officer,[cdvi] came and two brothers of mine and three men who were working for me.  I didn’t have much trouble after that.

Q.  Sergeant Hood?[cdvii]

A.  And Sergeant Hood.  These men that I spoke of were men who took right hold and carried out.  Then after I took hold of, Commissioner Sheridan came.  I first saw him there.  Then he gave me the first encouragement I got.  I felt before that I was trespassing, rather presuming, taking more upon myself than I had authority to do, but Sheridan told me to go in, that buildings were coming down very nicely, and we could not ask to have them fall better than they did.  The powder took very good effect.  We blew from State Street and Harrison to the church that stands [145] there on Wabash Avenue to Congress Street on the west side of Wabash Avenue.  Then on the north side of Congress Street to Michigan Avenue and as far as the buildings went.  While there on Congress Street, Mr. Benner, one of the fire marshals, came and wanted me to go down to Terrace Row to blow up down there in the alley.  I started to go there and found that the fire had crossed the alleys and got into the sheds and barns there, and I said, “No!  I cannot.  I must go on with what I have commenced,” and went back and went to blowing up on the north side of Congress Street.  After blowing on the north side of Congress Street, the heat had set fire to the cornice of the brick block, in the southeast corner of Harrison Street and Wabash Avenue; and then there were a great many to advise, some to blow up the whole block, [146] some to go north to Harrison and blow; but after a little thought, I went to work and blew up in the center.  At the same time Mr. Sheridan got an engine in the back, so I was told.  I couldn’t swear it was Commissioner Sheridan, but whoever it was, they had got the hose leading up back, but I was told at the time that Commissioner Sheridan was getting an engine there, and I was guided by that fact somewhat.  The hose would not lead around to the front side of the building.  The hose would only lead to the alley east of the building, the alley between the Michigan Avenue Hotel[cdviii] and this brick block.  It came in back there, I believe there is an alley, and I went into the center of the building and blew up the center of the building.  There I had to blow three times before I finally separated it.  [147]  Then I put into the first floor from the basement, and the walls seemed to be very strong some way, or the powder didn’t have good effect; I don’t know how it was, but I blew there once and then put in two kegs the second time, and that settled all the walls and separated, with the exception of the roof that covered the two houses in the center of the block.  That had blown down from the powder and the roof was still standing, supported by a cinder wall.  It seems that there was four corners of brick wall some way or another that supported the center of that roof, and I climbed up over the rubbish.  Before I went up on the rubbish, I asked the fireman, whoever it was on the hose, how he could handle that roof best, with it smashed down or get his stream right over the roof.  He said his stream couldn’t [148] go over the roof, and he could handle it better if it was down.  Then  I took a keg of powder into the roof and leveled the roof at that point.  In the meantime, General Sheridan had gone to work after, in my judgment, the fire was beyond all doubt checked at that time, and he was tearing down a block south.  Colonel Hough’s[cdix] house was where he was engaged tearing down, and while I was engaged at this brick block, three different men came to me with messages from Mayor Mason, from General Logan,[cdx] and from General Sheridan, to come to Harrison Street with the powder, that he wanted to blow up that way.  When the third man came, I replied to him in a rather_____[cdxi] “probably not,” as respectfully as I would under other circumstances, but at all events, it was to the effect that I should continue where I was. [149] I went there and found Colonel Hough was engaged on a roof in pulling down his own house, and as I was informed, General Sheridan was at the other corner with an axe cutting, and there I took Colonel Hough by the shoulder and pulled him off from his roof and remarked that it was useless to destroy any more property, that the fire was already stopped.

Q.  Was that the deacon or the colonel?  There is two brothers.

A.  It was the [pork packer?]

Q.  One is white-haired?

A.  That is the man I know as Colonel Hough.

Q.  The Colonel is as white as snow.

A.  This is his brother, then; this is the one I’ve always known as Colonel Hough for the last ten years.  Colonel Hough joined with me then in stopping them from pulling down the house.  Commissioner [150] Sheridan came along then and joined in getting the men away from there and getting them down and drawing debris of the building that had been blown up out in the street so there would not be so much matter to burn.  About this time, a report came from the church.  We were going to blow it up, and we had five kegs of powder in there to do so.  Then the minister[cdxii] came in there, and if his praying would have only done as much good to the general cause as it did, it would do a great of good for he did beg.  At this time Commissioner Sheridan came along and said, “[Henry?],[cdxiii] give them the last hope. They made good promises to fight the fire and give notice that the fire got so strong they couldn’t put it out.”  At the same time, the fire was in the back window of the church coming [151] through, that was the understanding, and afterwards the report came that the church had [blank] and they wanted to have it blown up.  Somebody came down, I don’t know who it was, and commissioners and myself went and examined the church and came to the conclusion that the church was all right, and it was better to let it stand.[cdxiv]  That ending the blowing up that was done on the South Side, in fact, all I knew of [blank] [being?] blown up, but afterwards I went with a wagon load of powder on the North Side, thinking there might be a possibility of doing some good there.

Q.  The powder ran out about that time?

A.  I believe you had sent for about one hundred kegs.

Q.  And you went up there for it?

A.  No, not that time.  I think I saw the order afterwards that you had given for one hundred barrels, and you came to me and said [152] there would be plenty of powder.  That was the understanding I was working upon.  I started to the North Side with a wagon of powder and had to cross the bridge at Ogden Slip,[cdxv] I think it was, and then across North Avenue bridge, and the fire then reached as far as North Avenue on Clark Street.  When I got there, I could see where the fire was.  I then made an effort, although not a very strenuous one, to get the people to take hold and try to stop the fire where I thought I could do, but I couldn’t get them to do it.  And I was fatigued and had not had anything that night to eat.  I drank more than the firemen did, for that matter,[cdxvi]  and I tried with a great many, maybe twenty or thirty men, to get them to stop and assist in blowing up the buildings, to stop the fire on a line that was feasible to me at that time, but could not get them to stop, [153] and there was no one with me but a driver and a young man whose name I do not know, but who worked faithfully on the South Side helping to blow up.  Further than that, I don’t know I can say anything.  I couldn’t get them to stop on the North Side anyway.  I  grabbed hold of them, took right hold of them with more force than I would if I’d been sheriff, for that matter, and made them, but they would leave me just as quick as I would take my hand off them and cut.  The word “powder”[cdxvii] was a terror to them. They could not stand the word “powder.”[cdxviii]

Q.  I would like to ask you if you think the explosion at the Union National Bank or Smith and Nixon’s or Brown and Mathews[cdxix] or Hotchkiss Eddy’s[cdxx] had the effect of stopping the progress of the fire?

A.  I do not think that it did.

Q.  Did not have any effect on it? [154]

A.  No sir, I don’t think it did.  I think at that time, in fact, I would almost say for a certainty that it did not because it did not have system enough.

Q.  It did not have sufficient force?

A.  What I mean to say is there was not system enough to carry it out as efficiently as it might have been done.  It would take an hour to get powder into a building and get men around.  It was almost impossible to get men around to do it.  You could not get them to do it.  And in carrying it myself, coals would light upon the barrels and upon myself.

Q.  How did you manage to carry them?

A.  Put our coats on them if we had time, if not, without.  At that point I think that beyond all question, if there had been powder in the city where it could have been used and men to have taken hold of it thoroughly and [155] go on as we did when we got upon Harrison Street because we could make an explosion as often as once in five minutes.

Q.  You had to carry the powder from Michigan Avenue?

A.  Yes sir, kept the team off quite a long distance and carried the powder, but then we got it down so the men would have it at a minute’s time.  They got used to it, and would set down and smoke on a keg of powder to show you that if we had been as slow at Harrison Street as we were at Smith and Nixon’s and the other places, the buildings would have burned down before we could have burned them up.  I will say that going into Pat O’Neill’s building,[cdxxi] we had to shut the back door to keep the fire out of the room where the powder was. The fire was in the back rooms.  We had no time to lose.  The fire was then in some buildings on Congress Street, [156] and then it was the same way, and in one building on Wabash Avenue between Congress Street and Harrison, the fire was so strong, and I was so long in the building that my brother crossed the street, thinking that I had suffocated and was going into the building to take me out.  At the same time, the powder was in there when the fire was so strong.

Q.  Did you have some fuse with you?

A.  Yes sir.  At the building at the northwest corner of Washington and Wabash Avenue, I made a fuse out of some paper; and then on the northeast corner, I made a fuse in the same way with paper, and sprinkled powder on it and lit the paper and stopped until I saw it burn and then ran.  That I felt more danger in than in anything else I did.

Q.  What in your judgment would have been the result if that [157] line of buildings on State, along Harrison to Wabash Avenue, and thence north to Congress Place, had not been blown down?

A.  I think that is self-evident of itself.  If you went through and noticed the buildings, that notwithstanding, the buildings were thrown flat to the ground, and the flames and everything were smothered together in the debris.  It was almost impossible to keep the place from catching afire as it was.  The people, after the buildings were thrown down, seemed to take vigor and threw pails of water and threw dirt and stopped it from catching.  My opinion would be beyond all question that the fire would have continued.  I do not know to what extent.  I know this, that we could not have stopped the fire on Congress Street and even on the north side of Congress Street by the leveling of these buildings if we could not have blown down that [tailors’?] buildings.[cdxxii]  I don’t think it [158] would have been a possibility to have saved the Michigan Avenue Hotel or anything in that block.  I don’t think there would have been a chance.

Q.  Do you recollect a pile of lumber that was right at the end of the Terrace Block and [stashed?] away out into the middle of the street, consisting of long joists?  Do you recollect that catching on fire at one time and spreading across rapidly to [the] Michigan Hotel?

A.  I don’t really remember about [it].  I couldn’t say of my own knowledge.  If this was while we were at work there in those buildings, [in?] as quick as I got out of the building, I sat down until the explosion was made, for I was real tired and only looked at the building itself; but I’ve got a faint idea or something or other about there being a pile of lumber there and heard something about the lumber being afire; but I don’t [159] exactly remember, just of my own personal knowledge of seeing it.

Q.  These buildings which you blew up in the nighttime in the vicinity of the courthouse.  I suppose you took some precaution to see that the people were out of there.

A.  I don’t think there was a building blown up that there was anybody blown up in.  You say “powder!”[cdxxiii] and they left. You could not get them to stay around.  Anyway, there was a good deal of precaution taken in that respect about getting the people out, and it was circulated fast enough that they were blowing up buildings, and that seemed to go faster than the fire.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Have you any recollection of the time we were talking by the John’s house[cdxxiv] about making a commencement in blowing up that corner bank, but to be careful and have all the people out upstairs?  Did not you [160] send two policemen through there to see if there were anybody up there?

A.  Yes sir, that precaution was taken.  I know when we came there, there was plenty of time, and I also asked Sergeant Hood.

Q.  And you started to the courthouse to get the powder?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  And I started for the America engine[cdxxv] to send her away from that plug because if you blew up the [blank],[cdxxvi] it would blow up the engine and kill the men.  You only put powder in that building once?

A.  That is all.

Q.  In any of these buildings, did you find where you put powder in the lower stories that it threw the debris sideways or into the air?

A.  I will tell you with regard to putting it into the lower basement.  I did not have [161] as good an effect in the buildings where there is a basement and the first floor from the basement.  It seemed as there was not powder enough, for the powder could not burn and have so strong an effect to level the building thoroughly; but after three or four explosions, I put it into the floor above the basement instead of going down into the basement.  The same as if in this building, I would place powder on this floor and not in the cellar.  In that case the brick in some instances would throw out a little, but the buildings seemed to fall right in together.  They fell right in and smothered right down.  Seemed as though it would lift it up and then fall right in.  You could see that anytime before they commenced to clear up the debris.  There was but very little, even on the sidewalks.  It all seemed to fall right together. [162]

Q.  I suppose you blew up some wooden houses, did you not?

A.  I guess so; I forget about the wooden houses, too; the buildings would smash right down together.  Some of the buildings were better constructed towards falling than others.

Q.  How much powder did you put into Raster’s building?[cdxxvii]

A.  I couldn’t remember how many kegs.  There was four or five kegs followed me into any building I went into; and if I could find a place where there were closets where I could put the powder into a small place, two kegs would be as good as five in such a room; and I was governed by the experience that I had that two would be as good as five.

Q.  How many buildings do you think you blew up?

A.  Really, I couldn’t tell you, maybe thirty or forty.  I couldn’t tell you how many there [163] were.  I have never taken pains to count up or form an idea.  You can form as good an idea as I can myself from knowing the line that was blown.  I can tell you that precisely.

Q.  Were any buildings blown up south of the line where you blew?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was there anybody else or any other company engaged in blowing up buildings that you are aware of in the South Division?

A.  I’ll venture to say there was not.  General Sheridan made an effort while we were engaged on Congress Street to get some powder from under the wagons to blow up just a block in the rear of where we were blowing, and the man that was put in charge of it, and whose charge I had every confidence that the wagons would not go away, would [164] not let anybody get to the powder.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Do you recollect what I said to you when you were starting from the corner of Harrison and Wabash Avenue to go on the west line of Wabash Avenue to blow up?  You and your brother were together.

A.  Well, I rather think that conversation that took place with you in regard to blowing up on the west side of Wabash Avenue took place in the church.

Q.  Just at the corner of the church.

A.  I am of the opinion that it was directly after the interview had taken place between the minister and ourselves.  It was directly after that, but I would be of the opinion that it was inside of the church, but there may be a possibility of our walking out of the church.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  We came out on the corner.  Do you recollect what was said?  There was some talk of suing the city for the buildings that were blown up and of [course?] if I should [165] refresh your memory possibly you could recollect.  I said, “Henry, you take care of the powder brigade.  Go on, but do not blow up anything unless it is absolutely necessary to be blown up to preserve other property.”

A.  Yes sir, that is very distinct as far as the conversation about blowing up and not blowing up  anything further than was necessary is concerned.  I felt that upon myself in doing what I was doing, I was very careful in doing what I did.  The only encouragement that I had from any authority after I had left Mayor Mason and the courthouse and he said to go into the Union National Bank.  I had not, as I remarked, and he said, “Go on, I am glad you are at work.”  Then I afterwards met Sheridan and Sheridan rather gave me encouragement enough so that I did not feel as though I was doing it myself.

Q.  Did I not tell you that I had a conversation with the mayor, [166] George W. Gage,[cdxxviii] Mr. Hayes,[cdxxix] and others and they all conceded that it was a matter of necessity?

A.  I do not remember about that.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  The utmost care you are certain used that nothing not absolutely necessary to be blown up in order to preserve other property was blown?

A.  Certainly not.  The fact is patent as you will see that there was not a building blown down that might have been left.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  You recollect that I said I would stay at the church while you went north?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  And I would take charge and see when it became absolutely necessary.  The crowd around there were excited and wanted the church blown down.

A.  That was the universal cry of everyone there, to blow up the church and it was very reluctantly that the powder was taken out.  That was the only trouble that I had with the men in obeying orders or complying with [167] any request that made--to take the powder out of the church.  Policeman Driscoll worked like a demon.  It was a credit to the man to do as he did and he would have had a good excuse to go away.

Q.  If we had yielded to the clamor of the crowd at the church, would not the Methodist Episcopal church have been blown down?

A.  Certainly.  We went and examined the walls when the people that were around there were calling to blow it down, and the men carrying powder were, too.  There was not a man but what said, “Blow ’er!  God damn it, blow ’er!”  One man in particular, a man for whose judgment I have great respect, said, “The church is not any better than any other building.  Blow ’er and stop the fire!  We have commenced it.  Blow ’er!”  Then Mr. Sheridan and myself went and looked at the thickness of the walls, and then he made the remark I have stated before that [168] he would stay there.  He said, “give her the last hope and go on, and I will stay here and take charge and inform you if it is necessary to blow up.”[cdxxx]  There was word afterwards that Sheridan had left.[cdxxxi]

Q.  You did succeed in stopping one man, Colonel Hough,[cdxxxii] from destroying his own house?

A.  Yes sir, he will state it himself right before you, if it is necessary, that I took right hold of his collar and took him off from the rope.  There was fifty or a hundred men on the rope, tearing down his own building, and we had stopped the fire entirely to show you how strong this belief was and the effect we were having in blowing down the buildings.  The people around were at work, and there were fifty or a hundred men on a rope, and that rope was hitched on the southwest corner of the house, and Mr. Hough was on the rope.  I saw him at it and was informed that [169] General Sheridan was at the other corner chopping, and a man who was General Sheridan’s agent in this matter was assisting Sheridan in it.  This was after the fire was all stopped on Harrison Street east and on the north side of Congress Street the buildings were all leveled down to the ground and the only danger that could be perceptible by my own ideas was of this brick building and then the moment we got separated and this stream was in back there there was no more danger than at any ordinary small fire.[cdxxxiii]  Where the fire was just starting and there was an engine was there to put it out, still they were engaged after this under the directions of General Sheridan in tearing down Mr. Hough’s house and were going to tore down through north.  Mr. Hough said, “If the tearing of my building is going to save the rest, tear it down and I will help to do it.”  That is what he said, and he was engaged [170] in doing it.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Do you recollect what engine that was there?

A.  No, I do not.  It might have been the Titsworth[cdxxxiv] that I saw on that locality, but I could not tell you what engine it was.

Q.  But up to that time people were very reluctant to do anything?

A.  Very reluctant.  We could not get them to do anything.  I think we could have blown down that [tailors’?][cdxxxv] building still further north if it had been absolutely necessary and then got hold with ropes and taken it away; we might, by blowing down the whole brick block, there might have been even a possibility of stopping it, but it is a great question.

Q.  Did you during that night or day see any improprieties about the firemen?   Drunkenness or anything of that kind?

A.  No sir, never saw firemen work harder in my life.  There was, of course, when it got to be along [171] toward morning.

Q.  Did anyone tell you or communicate to you that when the powder came in, I had gone to the North Side?

A.  I think you told me yourself that you had sent for more powder, and it would be there, and I left this man Mahoney to take charge of the powder and stay at that place and not leave it.  He is a very trusty man, a man who would be like the boy that stood on the burning deck.  You could not drive him from his post, and it was from that that it troubled General Sheridan to get the powder away from him.  General Sheridan went to him and failed to get the powder himself and took some man with him.  I judge from the description that it was Mr. Stearns.[cdxxxvi]  He failed to get it and afterwards went to get a policeman and demanded it, and Mahoney very quietly took his revolver out of his pocket [172] and told them that if they took any powder, it would be after he emptied that revolver, and he was the man that would do it.  Afterwards I think he abused General Sheridan because he would not carry powder.  I had just sent for some five kegs of powder, and Mahoney told Sheridan that if he wanted to assist, there was a way that he could do it.  The General wouldn’t do it.  Sheridan wanted to know if he knew who he was, and Mahoney said that he did not care a damn.  He could not have the powder.[cdxxxvii]

Examination adjourned to December 1st, 1871, ten A.M.

 

[173]

F[rancis] T. Swenie sworn.[cdxxxviii]

December 1, 1871

(35th Witness)

Q.  What is your business?

A.  I am foreman of Hook and Ladder One.

Q.  Where is your location?

A.  123 LaSalle Street.

Q.  Were you at the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  At what state of the fire did you arrive there?

A.  After the second alarm.

Q.  How far had the fire progressed when you got there?

A.  The north side of Taylor Street and west of Clinton.

Q.  Had it gone far through the north side of the block?

A.  About halfways through the block between Forquer and Taylor.

Q.  How long after the first alarm was it that you got there?

A.  I could not tell. I was [174] in my own house and went out and saw the fire.  I went over to the engine house; the watchman told me they had just gone on the second alarm.

Q.  You was not at the engine house?

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long have you been a member of this department?

A.  Commenced _________________  (running?) in 1849.

Q.  Have you been since a member of the department?

A.  Yes sir, only during my absence in the war.

Q.  Do you think it was possible to stop that fire at the time you arrived there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Tell us what, in your judgment, was left undone that ought to have been done, and what might have been done that was not.

[175]

A.  I met Mr. Benner at the corner of Taylor and Clinton, northeast corner, and I asked him why Bob[cdxxxix] was not getting the engines round on the north side of the fire.  He told me he had told him to do so.  Then I went along through the next block north.  I met Mr. Schank and I asked him why Bob was not getting the engines around to the other side of the fire.  He told me that Bob told him to go to hell.[cdxl]

Q.  Told who?

A.  Mr. Schank.

Q.  Do you think that by concentrating the engines on the north of the fire, the fire might have been checked?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were not the engines ordered to the north of the [176] fire, pretty soon after that?

A.  There was no engines north of the fire until the third alarm engines came in, but the others were on the flanks, the northeast--part of them--the Long John and the T.B. Brown and the Waubansia.  If there had been a proper concentration of steamers there through one street, they could cut the fire off.

Q.  Do you know what time the third alarm engines came in?

A.  No sir.  I saw where the third alarm engines came in.

Q.  You say there was no engines on the north of the fire until the third alarm engines came in?

A.  I say I saw the third alarm engines on the north of the fire.

[177]

To the Reporter--Please read what he said.

Reporter reads:  There was no engines north of the fire until the third alarm engines came in.

Q.  Is that correct?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How do you know that?

A.  Because I saw them.

Q.  Where was you?

A.  I went from the corner of Taylor Street and Ewing Street.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  I went west to Clinton again.

Q.  Went west on Ewing Street?

A.  No sir.  I went west from Clinton in the middle of the block between Clinton and Canal.  I met the Coventry stream there on the corner of Ewing and Clinton.  There I saw Mr. Walters[cdxli] along with the Coventry's pipe.  The fire got the start of there and come round on the top [178] of the engine on Polk Street.

Q.  Were they north of the fire then?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You saw no engines there at all alongside of this one?

A.  Yes sir, the Coventry, that is all I seen.

Q.  Did you go west to Clinton Street?

A.  No sir, I went west on to Clinton Street.[cdxlii]  The Coventry's pipe was near the corner of Ewing and Clinton, right in front of the fire.

Q.  Where was it taking water?

A.  Corner of Polk Street and Clinton.

Q.  That was north of the fire then, wasn't it?

A.  Yes sir, that was a third alarm engine.

Q.  (By Mr. Walters)   Did you see the Williams there anywhere?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Is the Coventry a third alarm engine?[cdxliii]

[179]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you see any engines taking water on Canal Street at that time?

A.  Those engines on the flanks were taking water from Canal Street.

Q.  Which way were they leading?

A.  Leading west.

Q.  What streets?

A.  Ewing and Forquer.  The Long John west on Taylor.

Q.  Was not that just the same as being on the north of the fire?

A.  That was on the northeast part of it.

Q.  As long as they were on the flank and leading on the north point of it, why was not that north of the fire?

A.  Because the fire was ahead of them when they came in.

Q.  You say the fire had not got north of Ewing then?

A.  Not when the engines [180] was there, nor when the Brown came in Forquer Street.

Q.  Was the wind blowing pretty fresh when you got there?

A.  Not extraordinarily fresh, a nice breeze.

Q.  Did it increase any?

A.  It increased in the hot air and just in the wake of the fire there was a good breeze blowing towards the northeast.[cdxliv]

Q.  Where did you go from the corner of Ewing and Clinton?

A.  I assisted Mr. Walters to take the Coventry's hose east towards Canal Street and then I went north to Mather and west on 14's[cdxlv] pipe.

Q.  What was burning on Mather Street then?

A.  The rear of some buildings between Polk and Mather--a foundry that was there. [181]  Their pipe lead west on Mather playing on the south side.

Q.  Had St. Paul's church burned  when you got there?

A.  No sir, it was on fire before I got there.  It had been put out.

Q.  Was it on fire when you get there?

A.  It was on fire after I got onto 14's pipe.

Q.  Did you assist in playing on the church?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Where was you when the church got on fire again when you was on Fourteen's pipe?

A.  Mather Street.

Q.  That church is on Mather Street, isn't it?

A.  Corner of Mather and Clinton.

Q.  Which way was the church?

A.  East.

Q.  How far, think you?

[182]

A.  About three quarters of the way east from Clinton towards Canal.

Q.  Were the buildings north of the church then on fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  How far south of the church was the main fire at that time?

A.  Going across Polk street into the lot there, in that block between Clinton and Canal.

Q.  It was a little east of the church still, think you?

A.  Yes sir, it was coming in there on top of Fourteen's pipe.

Q.  How long was you able to remain there?

A.  Stayed there quite a time until the fire got around in front of the sidewalk in front of Bateham's Mill and stopped the engine from working.  A pile of lumber that was [183] on the sidewalk there--it came up beneath it and drove the engineer away from the engine.

Q.  Fourteen is the Gund?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Their pipe led where?

A.  Their pipe led south to the middle of Mather Street and then west on Mather.

Q.  And Bateham's mill then got afire, when you had to stop?

A.  The mill was not on fire at the time it stopped then, but it went 'round in the west part of the mill and came right through to the front.  The engine had got away before it came there--the front of the mill on Canal Street.

Q.  Did that burn, in that lumber pile, compelling the engine to retreat? 

A.  Yes sir, compelled the engineer to stop.

[184]

Q.  Could not that have been put out with a second stream there?

A.  I believe it could.  There was no stream there to put it out.

Q.  It was rather important that that engine should have been moved from there.  The fire was coming into the mill, wasn't it?

A.  There was nothing to protect the engine at all that I saw.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Could not there be something made there to protect it by putting on another length of hose?

A.  There may have been if there had been hose there to put on her.

Q.  You did not see any hose cart about there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Marshal Williams)  Whose duty [185] was it to hunt up hose and get it there?

A.  The foreman of the engine, I guess.

Q.  Where did the engine move to then from there?

A.  Moved on Canal Street.

Q.  How far?

A.  I could not tell you that because I went east when the engine got cut off from the mill there.

Q.  Where to?

A.  I saw Mr. Williams at the corner of Mather and Canal Streets near the fire when the fire came through the block.  He told me to save as much hose as I could.  There was a line of rubber hose and I uncoupled the leather hose from the rubber and dragged it east and put it on the steamer Winnebago.  I assisted them but fire surrounded us there and [186] we had to back out of there.

Q.  Which way did you go?

A.  The Winnebago went south.  I went north on the railroad track.

Q.  Was you able to go north on the railroad track at that time?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How far north did you go?

A.  Went to Van Buren Street along by the depot. 

Q.  Where had the Winnebago been playing at that time?

A.  Corner of Mather and the railroad track at the time I came to them.

Q.  Where was she playing?

A.  On the building east of Canal Street and north of Mather Street, and changed from one side of the street to the other.

Q.  On Mather, you mean?

A.  Yes sir.  The pipe was on Mather, and playing on [187] the north side of the street.  Some planing mills and ___________  (hose?)   factories[cdxlvi] in there, and boiler shops, on the north part of the street.

Q.  You went through on the railroad track at that time?

A.  Yes sir, going north.

Q.  Up to Van Buren?

A.  Up to Van Buren.

Q.  Were the buildings burning on the west of the track at the time?

A.  The showers of cinders was coming down and it had came through that three story brick foundry, I believe that is north of there, I saw it come through that.  Then that building on Harrison Street, I saw it getting into that.

Q.  Brick foundry where?

A.  Fronting the railroad track, north of Mather Street, I believe.  Between Mather and Harrison, somewhere in there.

[188]

Q.  Can you account for the fact that most of the companies complained that they were short of hose when all acknowledge that they went to the fire with the full supply, when supply carts also went there?

A.  The only way I can explain that, they must have lost them in removing.  Every pipe I went onto, they had a good stream, and the hose was leading out first rate.  Playing a good body of water.

Q.  Was not that incident more upon the fact that they were compelled to move very rapidly at times?

A.  There was some engines that got out of the way a little sooner than they had ought to get out.

Q.  Did you find much hose laying 'round loose?

[189]

A.  No sir, I did not see any, only these that I assisted to get off Canal Street and put on the Winnebago at the time the rubber hose got burned next to Bateham's Mill.

Q.  How much hose was burned there at Bateham's Mill?

A.  I should judge there was about five lengths of rubber hose.[cdxlvii] 

Q.  I thought I saw nearly a whole reel laying there, with all the hose that came in contact with the pavement burned.

A.  It was all burned that reached from the corner of Mather Street.  The rubber hose was attached to the plug a little north of Mather.

Q.  Can you name any engines that you think moved before there was any necessity for their moving?

[190]

A.  There was one moved from the corner of Taylor and Clinton Street.  It was gone previous to my getting to that corner.  I believe there was no occasion for that engine to move away from there.

Q.  Do you know what that was?

A.  I ascertained afterwards it was the Waubansia.

Q.  Do you know whether it was ordered?

A.  No sir, it moved and led around on Ewing Street.  I don't know what plug they took on Canal Street, I guess somewhere there.

Q.  You mean they moved from the corner of Clinton and Taylor?

A.  Yes sir.  That is the next place I saw it again, on Ewing Street.  In my opinion there was no occasion for the engine to move from that corner on [191] account of heat, for there was two streams came there afterwards and protected each other.  The foreman of the Long John protected the buildings from burning on the southeast and the northeast corner of Clinton and Taylor.

Q.  You think the Waubansia moved east from that point, do you?

A.  They must have done that to get on Canal Street again.

Q.  What other engine do you think they moved when they ought not to have done so?

A.  I believe the Coventry could have stayed a good deal longer on that plug at Polk Street than they did if there had been another line of hose for them to have gone west on Clinton.

Q.  You think the Gund could have maintained her position [192] there in front of Bateham's Mill if they had another lead of hose?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  I would have thought they would have turned their pipe to put out that little blaze?

A.  There was no use of turning their pipe when their suction was in danger.  They could turn off the plug; that would have stopped the water anyhow.

Q.  About how long a lead did they have out then?

A.  I should judge, 450 feet or more.

Q.  The fire was burning west?

A.  Burning south and west.

Q.  Whereabouts was the fire that drove them?

A.  On the sidewalk--came up under the sidewalk, right next to the plug.  I saw a couple of piles of lumber there and that lumber was burning.

[193]

Q.  It came north, you say?

A.  No.  The fire came from the west right onto[cdxlviii]  Canal Street.

Q.  How long an operation would it have been for the foreman to have ordered that pipe on that fire to put it out?

A.  It would take about three or four minutes.

Q.  You say the mill had not got afire?

A.  No sir, it was going south of the mill.  There was a blaze going 'round there.  The body of the mill was not afire.  The west part of it was that other wooden shop.

Q.  When you got around on Van Buren Street, you say, you found the Gund there?

A.  Yes sir. 

Q.  Was she working?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where?

A.  Corner of Canal and Van Buren, [194] northeast corner.

Q.  Did you stay and help them there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What did you do?

A.  I went and assisted on the pipe that was 'round Canal Street.  I saw they had another pipe around on an alley on Van Buren Street.  They had two streams on them.

Q.  How far were you from the engine?

A.  There was a brick house on the corner; I was the third building from that.

Q.  The fire was burning very fiercely there?

A.  Yes sir, it was, in the rear of this building.

Q.  It [h]ad not got to the front?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was your pipe leading from the rear of this frame building?

A.  No sir, on the sidewalk on Canal Street.

Q.  You was not playing on any [195] fire then?

A.  Yes sir, playing on the top of the buildings.

Q.  What drove the Gund from that place or what stopped them from playing there?

A.  The fire enveloped them.

Q.  Do you think there was good management there, allowing the engine to be caught there?

A.  As good as could be expected.

Q.  What do you mean by that?

A.  I mean that the men had no orders and stood fighting the fire with the stream on Canal Street.

Q.  Did you see any of the marshals about there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Isn't it the duty of the foreman to see that his engine is taken care of and not get into any  ___________ (trap?)   of that kind, without the orders of the marshal?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  It is the foreman's duty to keep watch of these things, isn't it?

[196]

A.  Yes sir.  He has the whole charge of his company.

Q.  So that the loss of the engine there is not really attributable to the lack of marshals, is it?

A.  It is not attributable to the act of any person that I saw, for the men fought there as long as they could, with the expectation of saving their engine.

Q.  Where did you go to, after you got through there?

A.  Went west in the rear of that block on Clinton and Van Buren Street, the other side of the steamer Illinois, and got water from the plug there.

Q.  When did you first discover the fire on the South Side?

A.  Immediately after moving the Illinois to the corner of Jackson and Clinton.

Q.  Did you see it yourself?

A.  Yes sir, I saw it myself and went right over Adams [197] Street bridge to where the fire was.

Q.  With any engine?

A.  No sir, went by myself.

Q.  Without any of your men with you?

A.  No sir.

Q.  What became of your apparatus then?

A.  I placed them south of the fire, corner of De Koven and Clinton Street and took the men--took one along with me.  I did not see him after I got to Ewing Street.  I was pulling down fences and the like of that.

Q.  Where did you go on the South Side?

A.  Went over to the Armory and went onto the Long John's engine pipe.

Q.  Was she working there then?

A.  The engine was working at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Adams Street.

Q.  Leading east?

A.  Leading west and north on [198] the gas works.

Q.  Where was the fire then apparently?

A.  The fire was north of the gas works, and there was some fire south of the Armory.  North and east of the gas works there was fire.

Q.  Burning in the roofing factory there? 

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What was the condition of the wind at that time?

A.  The wind was very calm on the South Side then, outside of the fire, not blowing anything extraordinary or anything strong.  In the track of the flames it was blowing pretty fast.[cdxlix]

Q.  Did not the fire move pretty rapidly from the gas works?

A.  It did not move rapidly until it got across Monroe Street.  It did not go rapidly there south of the Armory [199] until it got through with the Armory.

Q.  You assisted the Long John there you say?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did she remain playing there?

A.  I stayed there about 15 minutes, got their hose out of the alleyway and led north.  Told Alex McMonagle[cdl] to get his hose back on Adams Street to keep them from getting burned.

Q.  Was there an alley between Wells and LaSalle?

A.  Franklin.

Q.  Between Wells and Franklin?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you stick by that engine?

A.  I went down and joined in with the T.B. Brown. 

A.  Where was she?

A.  Near the corner of Fifth Avenue and Monroe Street, the pipe was.  I was there playing on that wooden building [200] near the corner of Fifth Avenue.

Q.  West of Fifth Avenue?

A.  East.

Q.  Did the fire burn very rapidly east of Fifth Avenue then?

A.  It was crossing Fifth Avenue onto that block on Monroe Street.

Q.  North of Monroe?

A.  South.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  I remained there about ten minutes, I should judge, or over.

Q.  Did the engine move then?

A.  The engine had not moved when I left.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  Went down to the corner of Madison and LaSalle Street.

Q.  What did you see there?

A.  I saw the Coventry there.

Q.  What did you do there?

A.  Helped to get them away from the plug.

[201]

Q.  Were they working there?

A.  They had been working; they were stopped when I got there.

Q.  Were they compelled to move by the fire?

A.  Yes sir, it came around in the rear of Otis Block[cdli] and drove them away.

Q.  It looks as if the fire was moving pretty rapidly.

A.  It was there.  It got a good sendoff from that picture frame factory on Monroe Street.

Q.  Where did the Coventry go then?

A.  Went east to Clark Street.

Q.  Took water again?

A.  No sir, for they had spread their taper at the plug at LaSalle and Madison Streets.

Q.  That rendered them inefficient?

A.  Yes sir, I heard they went over and got an extra one that was in their engine house.

Q.  Did you stick with them?

[202]

A.  No sir.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  Went to the engine house.

Q.  Your engine house?

A.  Yes sir, tried to get some things out there.

Q.  Some of your clothing?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did you remain there doing that?

A.  Not very long, about four or five minutes.

Q.  Any other boys there getting out their clothes?

A.  One of my men was with me, Charley Miller.

Q.  Did he leave there at the same time you did?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Getting out your clothing?

A.  Yes sir, and putting them in a place, and they got burned afterwards.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  Came back onto the Long John I believe, after that, at the Pacific Hotel.

Q.  On what street?

A.  Clark and Jackson.

[203]

Q.  Did you remain with them long there?

A.  Yes sir, quite a time.  Rescued them from that corner, assisted to[o].

Q.  Were they in much danger there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What from?

A.  Falling stones from the top of the building.

Q.  Where did they take the engine to then?

A.  Took her east on Jackson to Fourth Avenue at the head of Dearborn Street, to the plug there.

Q.  Were there any buildings on fire on Dearborn Street then?

A.  It was getting across Clark Street towards the alley, between Dearborn and Clark.

Q.  What did the engine do there?

A.  It took water from the plug there and played on the [204] buildings.

Q.  East or west?

A.  North, led in the alley.

Q.  Did they stand long there?

A.  Yes sir, we stood there until their water gave out, I believe.  Their water was failing at the time I left them and went south to the corner of Harrison and Clark Street, and went on the Brown's pipe there.

Q.  Was there water there?

A.  They were taking dead water out of the pipes.[cdlii]   Worked there  quite a while.  Very poor stream, though.

Q.  Corner of what street?

A.  Corner of Harrison and Clark, east of the school house.

Q.  Have you any idea about what time that was?

A.  I should judge by that time it was between eight and nine.

Q.  In the morning?

[205]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Would you have us infer that it was between 8 and 9 o'clock, at the time that the Long John was compelled to move from the Pacific?

A.  No sir, I was quite a while on the T.B. Brown.  I kept no track of the time.  I should judge it was about that.

Q.  Where did you get on the Brown?

A.  The first time I got onto them was on Monroe Street near Wells, at the first start of the fire on the South Side.

Q.  Did you stay with the Brown all the time after that?

A.  I stayed with them when I left the John at Dearborn Street and Jackson and went up and stayed there until the fire came near the corner of Harrison Street and Clark on the [206] northeast corner of the street.

Q.  There must have been quite time elapsed there from the time you left the John until this time that you say you was at the corner of Harrison and Clark.  It could not have been daylight when you was compelled to leave Dearborn Street there and Jackson.

A.  I believe it was daylight, corner of Dearborn and Jackson.

Q.  How long do you think it was to daylight?

A.  I could not vouch for that.  I know it was coming daylight.

Q.  How long did you remain on Harrison Street there?

A.  I remained about 20 minutes.

Q.  Where did you go to then?

A.  I went north of the fire along the lake shore, tried to get past, down by [207] the Illinois Central Depot through the ball grounds there.[cdliii]

Q.  Did you succeed?

A.  No sir, I came back when I got to the corner of Water Street and the Central, got nearly blinded with the sandy and dust that was there.

Q.  Which way did you go to go to South Water Street; on what street did you go north?

A.  I went down Michigan Avenue to the baseball grounds and then went northeast there along the railroad track to get past the depot.

Q.  Had any of these buildings caught fire then, on Michigan Avenue?

A.  All the buildings was on fire, or had been burned, on Michigan Avenue north of Dearborn Park.[cdliv]   They were all down.

Q.  On both sides?

[208]

A.  Yes sir.  And the baseball ground was gone, too.

Q.  What time do you think that was?

A.  About pretty near 10 o'clock, I should judge.

Q.  You say you went to the corner of South Water Street and Michigan Avenue?

A.  No sir, on the east side of the depot.

Q.  The depot was burned?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How far east of the depot?

A.  Two or three tracks, I believe.

Q.  Was the elevator burned then?

A.  There was no building that I could see north.  It was pretty smoky there.  Could see the passenger depot was burned.

Q.  Do you know whether the elevator that burned there was on fire then?

A.  No sir, I did not see that.  I don't know whether it was burned or not, because I could not see there; I was [209] nearly blinded with the sand.

Q.  How long did you remain there?

A.  I left there as quick as I could get a back track.

Q.  On the railroad track?

A.  Yes sir.  On the railroad track and up through the baseball grounds, it was blowing pretty heavy at that time.

Q.  You say the baseball ground had been burned?

A.  Yes sir.  The fence had been burned and all north of that was burned, as far as I went.

Q.  You went through the baseball grounds?

A.  Yes sir, in a northeast direction.  There was some debris there where the grandstand used to be.  I took a track the other side of that.

Q.  You went along with the track, did you?

A.  Yes sir.

[210]

Q.  How far south?

A.  I went south and went through the ruins, I believe it was on Monroe Street, and got on a wagon and went down LaSalle Street and over on to the North Side, went round by Kinzie Street.

Q.  That is the first attempt you made to go on the North Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where was the fire burning then?

A.  The fire was burning very near Market Street.  I saw some engines in on the dock north of Kinzie Street on Kingsbury.

Q.  What did you do there?

A.  I went north with the wagon to Chicago Avenue.

Q.  What wagon?

A.  Some teamster's wagon I got on.  Went to Chicago Avenue and thought I would try and get to my own house.  That had been gone about six hours before that.

Q.  What did you do?

[211]

A.  I went north of the fire and went on to the lake shore and came back up that way.  It was pretty near dark when I got back.

Q.  You went north?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What street did you go east on when you went towards the lake shore?

A.  It is Schiller Street, I believe.

Q.  Was you hunting your folks?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you succeed in finding them?

A.  No sir, did not find them until late Monday night.

Q.  The fire had got north of Schiller Street then, had it?

A.  No sir, it had not gone when I crossed.

Q.  Whereabouts was it burning?

A.  It was going up across Chicago Avenue west of Franklin, going up there between Franklin and Market Street.

Q.  That was about dark, Monday night?

A.  No sir, it was not two o'clock [212] when I went up there.

Q.  What time was it?

A.  That was previous to 12 o'clock when I went past there, Monday noon.

Q.  Did you see any engines on the North Side working?

A.  Only at Kinzie Street bridge there.

Q.  What engine was that?

A.  I saw the Winnebago and Coventry I believe, and some other engine.

Q.  What were they working on?

A.  Leading east on Kinzie Street, working on the buildings around Market Street there.

Q.  Where were they getting water?

A.  Out of the river.

Q.  Did not notice any engines at work on the depot or had they burned then at Wells Street?

A.  That was all down.  I guess that was down long before I left the South Side.

[213]

The fire had not got west of Market Street then?

A.  Not on Kinzie--Kinzie and Market.

Q.  Was it further north--west of Market Street?

A.  It was further north.

Q.  You did not remain attached to any one engine any great length of time in your moving about?

A.  No sir, only helped them when it came to a close ____________ (finish??)

(Examination by Marshal Williams)

Q.  What alarm did you go into that fire on?

A.  The second alarm--after the second.

Q.  Which road did you go there?

A.  I went south to it.

Q.  Which bridge did you cross?

A.  I crossed 12th Street bridge.

Q.  What is the reason you went to 12th Street?

A.  Because I went up on a [214] car, by State Street.

Q.  Then you didn't go with your apparatus?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Had it gone then to the fire?

A.  I came to the engine house and it had just gone, so the watchman told me.

Q.  Did you see your apparatus when you got to the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What were the men doing?

A.  I got there pretty soon.  Charley Miller was on the truck--the driver of the truck.  The other men were hard at work at the fire.  Charley complained of having a sore thumb.

Q.  How many men have you got?

A.  Four truck men.

Q.  Were they all with your apparatus when you got there?

A.  There was three of them there.

Q.  What were they doing?

A.  One had a short hook.  I took [215] an axe myself and left Charley, the driver, on the truck.

Q.  What did you proceed to do?

A.  I went to knocking down fences under the orders of Mr. Benner.

Q.  Whereabouts?

A.  Northeast corner of Clinton and Taylor.

Q.  Was there any stream there?

A.  Yes sir, at that time there was.

Q.  And engine?

A.  There was no engine at the corner.  There was a stream.

Q.  Corner of Taylor and Clinton?

A.  Yes.

Q.  No engine there?

A.  No sir, not at that time.

Q.  Was there a hose on the plug?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Is that the corner where the Waubansia worked?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Had the Waubansia pulled away then?

A.  They had pulled away when I [216] had come in.

Q.  Where did she move to?

A.  I don't know where she moved to.

Q.  Did you see her pull away when you went in?

A.  I told you I did not see her there when I went in.  How could I see her pull away?  There was no engine there when I went there.[cdlv]

Q.  You don't know where the Waubansia went?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You don't know that the Waubansia was at that plug?

A.  I did not see her.  I knew she was at that plug.

Q.  Where did you next see the Waubansia?

A.  Ewing Street, I saw the stream; I did not see their engine.

Q.  When you first saw the Waubansia's stream, where was that?

A.  On Ewing Street, leading west from Canal Street.

Q.  Was that south of the fire?

[217]

A.  It was northeast of the fire.

Q.  The fire was where?

A.  When it got up to Ewing Street it was east of Clinton.

Q.  It was on Ewing Street you saw the Waubansia's stream?

A.  Yes sir, their men and the stream with it.

Q.  Between Clinton and Canal, was it?

A.  A little east of Clinton.

Q.  They were up north of the fire, according to that, what did not go over their heads?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What other stream did you see there?

A.  I saw the T.B. Brown's stream on Forquer Street.

Q.  Was that south of the fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Where was it, east?

A.  It was east of the fire.

Q.  The stream?

A.  The stream.  I did not see their engine at all.

Q.  They were on Forquer Street?

A.  Yes sir, leading west.

[218]

Q.  How far did they lead west?

A.  To the corner of Clinton Street.

Q.  Then that must have been north of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you see any other stream there?

A.  The  Waubansia was north of the Brown.

Q.  The  Brown was north of the fire?

A.  No, not at that time.  They were on the flanks of the fire.

Q.  What other stream did you see there?  Did you see the Illinois?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know where the Illinois' stream was or where the engine worked from?

A.  When I could not see it I could not tell you where it was.

Q.  Did you see the No. 5 stream?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you see the Coventry's stream?

[219]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where was the Coventry's stream when you first saw it?

A.  Corner of Ewing and Clinton, leading south.

Q.  Then it must have been in there alongside of the Brown's stream, wasn't it, or nearly there?

A.  No sir.

Q.  I thought you said the Brown's stream was on Ewing Street?

A.  No, I did not.  I said it was on Forquer Street.

Q.  You did not see the Illinois at all?

A.  Not until I got to the corner of Clinton and Van Buren.  The first place I saw the Illinois.

Q.  Was you on the west side of the fire any?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you see the Williams' stream anywhere?

A.  No sir.

[220]

Q.  You don't know whether it was north of the fire or not?

A.  No sir.  When I first came in to the fire there was four streams on the south of it.

Q.  Will you inform me what streams those were?

A.  I cannot inform you what they were, but one I can inform you, the Sherman.

Q.  They were south of the fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You don't know what the others were?

A.  No sir.  I saw the water going up on the buildings.

Q.  Did you see the four streams?

A.  Yes sir.  I saw four streams.  I could not tell what engines they came from.

Q.  You say you did not see the Williams?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  You don't know whether it was south of the fire or west of the fire or north of the fire?

[221]

A.  I know it was not east of the fire or north of it in my line of vision.

Q.  She might have been north of it and leading west of Canal Street?

A.  She might be.

Q.  If I understand you, you say you was on the Fred Gund pipe assisting the boys on Mather Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What was the Fred Gund boys doing on Mather Street at the time you was assisting them?

A.  Having a stream there.

Q.  What were they playing on?

A.  Playing on the buildings.

Q.  East of the church was it not?

A.  East of Clinton Street, on the south side of the church they were playing.

Q.  You did not assist them when they were around the church in keeping it from running there, toward Bateham's Mill?

A.  No sir, I did not see them play [222] on the church while I was there.

Q.  Did you see them when they went up on the roof of the flat building east of the church?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Between the church and Canal Street?

A.  No sir.

Q.  They had led down from there?

A.  They were standing on the street when I went and helped them.

Q.  When the Coventry pulled away, where did she go?

A.  Went west.

Q.  South?

A.  No sir, straight west on Polk Street.

Q.  Do you know where she went to work there?

A.  No sir, I assisted Mr. Walters to get the hose east of Canal Street.

Q.  When the T.B. Brown took up, what did she do?

A.  From where?

Q.  From Forquer Street.

[223]

A.  I don't know where she went to.

Q.  You don't know whether she went north or not?

A.  No sir.  The next I saw of her, she was on the South Side.

Q.  Had the fire crossed Canal Street at that time?

A.  Where?

Q.  At the time you saw the Brown's stream.

A.  No sir, it was not near Canal Street.

Q.  Whereabouts was the fire?

A.  It was at Forquer Street; it was about three lots east of Clinton.  The wind was driving it towards the northeast.

Q.  If I understood you right, you said that when the Gund engine was obliged to take up on Canal Street in front of Bateham's Mill, that the lumber was on fire each side of her.

A.  No sir.  I said the lumber [224] piles near the engine were afire.

Q.  A pile of lumber on both sides, did you not?

A.  No sir, one side of the engine.

Q.  How did that get afire?

A.  I don't know how it got afire.

Q.  Did you state that the fire came up through the sidewalk and set fire to the lumber?

A.  No sir, I did not say that.  I said I saw it coming through; I did not say what it done.

Q.  I understood you to say so.

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you see any fire below the sidewalk there?

A.  No sir, I saw a fire after it came up over the sidewalk.

Q.  You said it come up from the cracks of the boards?

A.  No sir, I saw a whole sheet of flame.

[225]

Q.  You saw a pile of lumber on fire opposite the Gund engine?

A.  Yes sir, and saw it smoking.

Q.  Was that engine out on the street?

A.  The engine was on the street.

Q.  In your opinion, if there had been one section of hose put on there, it would have kept the lumber from burning?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  So the engineer could not stay with his engine?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  If I understood you, you said the fire came from the west that drove the Gund away?

A.  I saw the fire coming from the west.  I don't know whether it drove them away.  They stayed some time there; they had to uncouple.

Q.  Was not Bateham's Mill, both the front mill and the back mill between the [226] Gund engine and the west when the fire was coming in from the west?

A.  The mill was west of the engine, of course.

Q.  There was two rows?

A.  There is a back shop and a front shop.

A.  A yard between the two ________  (rows??) ?

A.  Yes sir, and a good big pile of lumber in between the buildings.

Q.  What was just in the rear of Bateham's Mill, between that and Clinton Street?

A.  I don't know what was there.  I did not get that far.

Q.  Was you aware there was a match factory there, one wooden building and one brick building?

A.  There was a match factory north of that church.[cdlvi]  Saw that on fire several times.  I knew it was there.

Q.  The church was on the corner of Mather and Clinton?

A.  Yes sir.

[227]

Q.  Right north of the church, would fetch it pretty near west of Bateham's?

A.  No.  They are a good ways from Mather Street.

Q.  What is the distance from the northeast corner of the church to the west end of Bateham's Mills?

A.  Over 100 feet.

Q.  The match factory was just north?

A.  No sir, there was a space between the match factory and the church--the match factory that I mean.

Q.  How much might that space be?

A.  I could not tell.

Q.  You say that the church was about 100 feet away from Bateham's?

A.  Yes, the northeast corner of the church.  Bateham's must have been over 100 feet away from the church.

Q.  Bateham's was about halfways [228] of the square?

A.  No sir, not leading west.

Q.  Which street was it nearest?

A.  Canal Street.

Q.  North and South?

A.  It was over 200 feet, I believe, north of Mather Street.

Q.  What is the length of a block there?

A.  I should judge the block is about 320 feet long, leading east and west.[cdlvii] 

Q.  Then it would have been about the center of the block, between Mather and Harrison?

A.  No, it would not.  That is a long block, between Harrison and Mather.

Q.  There is a lumber yard towards the north end of Bateham's Mill?

A.  Bateham stores lumber in there, between the west shop and the east one.

Q.  Was there no other parties had lumber there besides Bateham?

[229]

A.  I don't know what other parties had lumber there.

Q.  Right north of Bateham's, what was there on the same square?

A.  There was a sort of planing mill or some concern like that.

Q.  Was not there a wood yard on the north of it, south of Harrison Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was not there a three story pretty large building running back pretty well that was a boarding house and saloon downstairs?

A.  I don't know anything about the saloon.

Q.  When the Gund took up from the front of Bateham's, by the fire, where did she go?

A.  She went north.

Q.  Was the fire flying pretty thick around there then?

A.  The cinders were.

[230]

Q.  Did you assist in pulling the engine away?

A.  No sir.

Q.  You don't know by whose orders she was pulled away?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know whether the foreman received any orders from anybody to go to work after that?

A.  I did not see any orders given.

Q.  Did you pull the engine down the street?

A.  I did not.  I uncoupled the hose and dropped the hose east on River Street and attached them to the Winnebago's lead.

Q.  The Winnebago was where?

A.  Corner of the railroad track and Mather.

Q.  You went down Mather?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was she east or west of the planing mill that was on Mather Street?

[231]

A.  On the southeast corner of it.

Q.  Was that mill on fire then?

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long was it after that before the mill got afire?

A.  A few minutes afterwards.

Q.  How many minutes might it be?

A.  It must have been over four minutes after.

Q.  How long did you remain there with the Winnebago?

A.  I remained until the mill got afire, the _________???? factory or whatever it is.

Q.  How long might that be?

A.  It did not take very long to go when it went.

Q.  When the Winnebago was obliged to leave, did you help them away with the engine?

A.  No sir, I helped the hose.

Q.  Where did you take the hose to?

A.  I attached it to the frame of the hose cart and let [232] them pull it east.

Q.  Which road did you take the hose--south?

A.  East.

Q.  That was towards the river bank?

A.  Yes, across the railroad track, the Pittsburg track.

Q.  Then which way did you take it, north?

A.  I did not touch the hose after I tied it to the cart.

Q.  Where did you go then?

A.  I went north up along the railroad track.

Q.  To what point?

A.  Van Buren.  Got on the Gund's pipe at Van Buren and Canal.

Q.  You don't know that I ordered the Gund engine not to stop at Harrison Street because the fire was coming so fast there that she would be drove away before she could get to work.

A.  I knew nothing about your orders at all.

[233]

Q.  You don't know that I told them she had better go to the corner of Van Buren and Canal and lead south?

A.  I don't know what you said to the Gund at all.

Q.  Whereabouts was the Gund's stream when you went and assisted them?

A.  On Canal Street.

Q.  How far from Van Buren Street, south, was that pipe?

A.  About the third building south of the brick building.

Q.  Was it very warm there, or wasn't it?

A.  It did not get warm until we got drove off the sidewalk.

Q.  How long was that after you commenced playing?

A.  Not very long.

Q.  Had the Gund any more stream ___________??   that?

A.  They might have had.  I seen one and stuck to that.  I heard they had one in the alleyway and was doing [234] good service there.

Q.  Do you know whose orders it was for them to get in that alley?

A.  No sir.  I told you that before, I did not know who gave them orders or who didn't.

Q.  Did you see me around Van Buren and Canal Streets?

A.  No sir, I saw you at the corner of Mather Street and Canal, the first time I saw you.

Q.  Did you see me after that?

A.  Yes sir, I saw you at the Long John engine house.

Q.  I mean at the west side of the fire.

A.  I did not see you at the west side of the fire, only once.

Q.  Which way was I going when you saw me?

A.  You told me to try and save all the hose I could off the lead.

Q.  The fire was getting pretty heavy then, wasn't it?

A.  Not until it broke out on Canal Street, it wasn't.

[235]  It was pretty hot when I was trying to get the hose away.

Q.  Where was the hose leading?

A.  The hose was leading into Mather Street, west from Canal.

Q.  How long did you stay with the Gund engine?

A.  I stayed until she got destroyed or until she got burned so nobody could go near her.

Q.  When you was obliged to fall back with the pipe on Canal Street, what did you do with your pipe?

A.  Kept it on that office, at the corner there, south of the engine, a lumber office or coal office.

Q.  How long did you remain there before the fire drove you away?

A.  I remained there after a sweep of wind lifted me to the middle of the street.  I still hung on to the pipe.

[236]

Q.  Do you know of me letting the foreman to get his engine away from there, or he would lose her?

A.  No sir, I don't know anything at all about what you told him.

Q.  Did you see the Rice engine that night?

A.  I did not.

Q.  Did you see the hose cart?

A.  No sir, not that I know of.

Q.  You don't know as she was at work at all, do you?

A.  No sir.  I did not see any engines that was west of the fire.

Q.  You was not aware that the Williams engine went in there?  Their hose cart broke down and they went in and took the hose and went to work.

A.  No sir.

Q.  You don't know where the Rice engine was running around at the [237] time and the Williams took the Rice's hose?

A.  I told you once before,  I saw nothing west of the fire.  I was north and east of it and in front of it.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Walters that night?

A.  I told you I did.  I helped him to get the hose of the Coventry back east on Polk Street towards Canal.

Q.  Did you see him after that?

A.  No sir.

 

[238]

William Fraser sworn

(36th witness)

December 1st, 1871

Q.  What is your place of business?

A.  27 Blue Island Avenue

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Baker--I am not a baker, but in partnership with my father, and we keep a bakery.

Q.  State what you know about the fire.

A.  I will tell you just as I saw the fire and where I saw it and how I came there.  About 20 minutes or 15 minutes after 9 o'clock on the Sunday evening, I was sitting in front of the engine house on Blue Island Avenue (America Hose).  Mr. Dorsey,[cdlviii] foreman of the company, was standing with me; he said he would go upstairs and change his boots, they were wet.  After he had gone in the house, I was sitting there, and looking [239] up, I saw just a glimmer on the sky right there where the fire originated.  I turned 'round and said "John," says I, "here is another breeze."  That is the _________  (way?)[cdlix] we have sometimes.  He came downstairs and looked at it and said he, "it is a fire."  He and I and Dave Manwell on the hose company went and hitched up.  Charley Anderson, the driver, I believe was off, or had just walked down the street with some friends of his.  We hitched up and met Charley Anderson on the corner of Harrison and Halsted.  Charley got on the cart and I got on the reel.  Turned down Halsted Street, went to Polk and from there to Canal, think it was somewhere in that neighborhood of 12th Street and Canal, among those [240] mills.  We went further and saw the fire was up, and we turned [onto] Taylor Street.  I got off the cart there, and I think they took a plug on the corner of Clinton and Taylor Streets.  At that time there was no other apparatus there.  I followed the hose cart up for a little while, intending to take care of the horse if Charley had to help in the fire.  By that time there was some young man came along and Charley got out of the cart.  I went from there and I think there was two or three houses on fire when we got there--I am sure of it.

Q.  Houses or barns?

A.  There was two houses and a barn.  I turned from there and went down and I  think I [241] stayed about ten minutes, and I saw the Winnebago  and that other engine that is out in Bridgeport, the Waubansia.  The Waubansia came up Forquer Street and took a plug on the corner of Forquer Street and Clinton.  I stayed there about 25 minutes and helped the stoker and engineer, that is, Fred Allen is the engineer and McIntyre[cdlx] was the stoker.  I helped them cut up the sidewalk to make kindling wood to heat up the engine, and after we could not stay there any longer, we rolled it out onto Canal Street by hand.  I helped to see my friends all through the fire.  I went down on the corner of Polk Street and helped to save all the property I could [242] for friends of mine.  I stayed no more with the fire department.  The fire in my estimation could not have been stopped.  I was at the corner of Polk Street and Clinton at the time the church took fire, and the fire, as it was in a mass,[cdlxi] was at Taylor Street or Forquer and it took the match factory and Bateham's Mill beyond, after it took that church.

(Examination by Marshal Williams)

Q.  Did the church burn down?

A.  I did not stay there to see whether the church burned down or not.

Q.  How much was it on fire when you saw it?

A.  It was on fire on the roof.

Q.  Had the steeple dropped?

[243]

A.  Yes it had.

Q.   And the walls spread out considerable?

A.  I could not say.

Q.  How far was that church from Bateham's mill and the match factory?

A.  The match factory is on Mather Street about halfway between Canal and Clinton, and Bateham's Mill was on Canal Street between Harrison and Mather.  I think it is Mather Street the match factory is on.

Q.  Did not the entrance of the match factory come in from Clinton Street?

A.  I could not say about that.

Q.  It was north of the church?

A.  It was north of the church.

Q.  How far was it from that church to Mr. Bateham's Mill?

A.  The church was on the corner of Clinton Street and Mr. Bateham's mill was [244] on Canal Street in the center of the square.  The church was on the corner.

Q.  From the church to Bateham's Mill, how far would it be?[cdlxii]

A.  I should say it was about 500 feet.

Q.  Five hundred feet from the rear of the church to Bateham's Mill--how long was the block?

A.  It took a diagonal, you know.

Q.  How deep was the church--100 feet or more?

A.  I don't think the church was 100 feet deep.  I know there was a stable right in the rear of it where they kept carriages.  Mr. Bateham's mill--I could almost draw a plan of it, and the match factory lay right, I think, behind Bateham's Mill.

[245]

(Examination continued by the commissioners)

Q.  Bateham's had one set of buildings fronting Canal Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Another parallel with it, fronting west?

A.  Yes sir; Bateham's Mill would take in, I think, about 90 feet from Canal Street west.

Q.  It went to the alley, didn't it--Mr. Bateham's premises?

A.  Mr. Bateham's mill commenced on Canal Street.  The first building on the corner next to Bateham's Mill was a boarding house, a German boarding house.  Bateham's Mill came in there--what we used to call the Red Mill.[cdlxiii]

Q.  Where was Mr. Bateham's office?

A.  It was near Harrison Street [246] north of the mill.

Q.  South of the boarding house?

A.  No, north of the boarding house.

Q.  The boarding house is on the corner?

A.  On the corner of Mather, I think it is Mather Street.

(Examination by Marshal Williams)

Q.  Is that a three story building you mean?

A.  Yes.

Q.  It was on fire once?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Wasn't that north of Bateham's?

A.  No.

Q.  It was afire one[cdlxiv] Sunday, wasn't it?

A.  Yes sir, I think it was south of Bateham's.

Q.  What was there on the corner of Harrison and Canal?

A.  One corner was Keeley's.[cdlxv]

Q.  And the other side of the [247] same block that Bateham's was on?

A.  I don't know whether it was a boarding house or what it was.

Q.  Was there a wood yard there?

A.  There was a wood yard in the back part of some of these.

Q.  Was there a lumberyard in the rear of Bateham's Mill, close by there?

A.  I could not tell; Mr. Bateham's office, I have been in time and time again.  I think it was about 75 feet from the corner of Harrison that was his office.

(Examination by the Commissioners)

Q.  Was there anything between his office and the mill?

A.  Nothing more than a gangway or roadway for the teams.

[248]

Q.  It was the entrance into the latter building, wasn't it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was not there some lumber between the rear of the building and the front?

A.  There might have been lumber belonging to the mill.

Q.  The rear of the building and Bateham's Mill, didn't it occupy clear to the alley?

A.  The alley between Clinton Street and Canal?

Q.  Yes.

A.  I believe it did; I am sure of it.  I always called Bateham's Mill the Red Mill on Canal Street.  I don't know whether he owned the other part of it or not.

Q.  The match factory--how far was it from that rear building, think you?

A.  It was right on the alley, just across the alley [249] from the rear of the building.

(Examination by Marshal Williams)

Q.  Was the wind blowing very strong or much of any that night?

A.  I think it was blowing very strong.

Q.  Did it carry the brands of fire and sparks?

A.  It did.

Q.  About how far do you think they were carried?

A.  One circumstance I can say, that before the church was afire, that a house immediately back--northwest corner of Polk and Clinton Street, there was a brand of fire lit on the roof right in the cornice, and there was a ladder put up there and two persons went up and got the cornice off and put that fire out.  [250] That was before the church got afire.

Q.  Did you see any fire engines around the church?

A.  No I did not.

Q.  Did you see any streams of water?

A.  I saw streams of water.

Q.  How many streams of water did you see there?

A.  I saw two at least.

Q.  Did you see an engine in front of Bateham's Mill?

A.  I did not--on Canal Street--not in front of the building.

Q.  Did you see myself or any of the marshals around?

A.  Yes sir, I saw you on Clinton Street, and I saw Mr. Benner, I think, up on[cdlxvi] either Forquer or Ewing Street.

Q.  When you saw me, was I north or south of the fire?

A.  I could not say exactly, [251] because the fire was getting very good headway then.  That was about 25 minutes after we got to the fire, after I had left the Winnebago or the Waubansia.  I was not supposed to be like firemen, to be all over.

Q.  You were not with the department much, after you helped the America Hose?

A.  After I left the America Hose, I helped the Waubansia, helped to cut up the sidewalk.  They wanted coal and they could not get coal right then and we cut up the sidewalk for the fire to put in the engine.

Q.  Had the engine been working before that?

A.  Yes sir.  She had her tray full of coal.

Q.  She had a tray full of coal?

A.  She had a tray full of coal, [252]  I believe. 

Q.  Your idea would be that she wanted a little kindling wood so as to start the fire?

A.  We cut up the sidewalk.

Q.  How much of the sidewalk did you cut up for kindling?

A.  Cut about three planks out of it.

Q.  Then they commenced to use the coal afterwards?

A.  I think she was at work at the time we cut up the sidewalk, and they called for coal.  Mr. McIntyre the stoker--he and I helped to cut up the sidewalk.  We got an axe out of a house on the north side of Forquer Street, right near the corner of Clinton, I think it was.  A woman handed it to us.  A young man helped Mr. Dorsey to take his first lead into the house.  It was the first lead that [253] was taken in from the America Hose.[cdlxvii]

 

[254]

Charles G. Emory sworn[cdlxviii] 

(37th witness)

December 1, 1871

Q.  Are you a member of the fire patrol[cdlxix] at present?

A.  I am.

Q.  Were you so during the fire of October 8 and 9?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What is the first you knew of the fire?

A.  I knew of it from the alarm.  I do not remember the exact time.  Somewhere about nine o'clock.

Q.  Where were you located?

A.  In the government barn--General Sheridan['s] headquarters for his horses.

Q.  On what street?

A.  In the alley between Adams and Monroe and between Dearborn and Clark.

Q.  You got the first alarm?

A.  I think it must have been nine forty five or fifty.  I did not pay particu- [255] lar attention to it.

Q.  Did you go to the fire?

A.  Not until sometime after we got the third alarm.

Q.  Your patrol was not designed to run out of business property?

A.  We didn't run below Van Buren Street on the West Side.  We stayed in our quarters and watched it until we supposed it was Van Buren Street and then started and went over Van Buren Street bridge.  Got over there and I saw the fire was very near Bateham's Mill on Canal.  I was ordered over by the captain; he told me to take one of the Babcocks and commence putting out awnings and small fires between that and Van Buren Street.  While I was doing that, I heard the captain's whistle calling us.  Went over where the wagon was, and I found [256] him there and some two or three citizens, one of them I think was ex-alderman Hildreth if I remember right, and they wanted us to go for some powder, and we all got aboard and went to South Water Street and got powder and fuse and went back to the West Side.  I think we got back as far as Madison Street and Market and the fire was dropping so fast that we _________  (covered??)   it--was not a good load to be riding with.  And we though it best to put it somewhere out of the way.  I was ordered again to take a Babcock and put out some fires.  Some of the boys went with the powder, I think, and put it in the courthouse square.  I do not [257] know where they put it.  I never bothered myself where.  I know we had some 25 hundred pounds aboard.  While the wagon was gone, we were putting out awnings along on Wells Street between Madison and Monroe.  While I was at that, I saw one engine, I think, playing up there at the corner of Monroe and Wells.  That was the nearest I had got to an engine since we commenced duty.  When we went on the West Side, the captain and a lot of them went down towards the mill, where the fire was.  I was left in the street to put out patches of fire with the Babcock and I put out lots of them, too.  They were taking fire all a- [258] round.  I suppose there was half a dozen of those awnings on fire when they started with the powder, when I jumped off and commenced putting them out on Wells Street between Monroe and Madison.  When I came back we pulled out our canvas that we had spread Saturday night there and loaded up and started for our quarters.

Q.  How did you carry your powder?

A.  It was in kegs and tin cans, about six inches high.  Some of it was blasting powder, I think, in large kegs.[cdlxx]

Q.  Did you cover it with anything?[cdlxxi]

A.  We throwed our oilcloths over it.

Q.  Where did you first [259] apply powder in blowing up buildings?

A.  I could not say that we went on the lakeshore and the boys went to hauling goods as fast as they would get full.  I was left there in charge for some time watching what they were hauling up there.  I hurt my shoulder around on Wells Street.  I stayed there some time, and after awhile a couple of our boys came up with a Babcock and said they were all out of charges.  They had been working on the Tribune building, had used some sixteen or seventeen charges.  Said it was gone up.  As soon as they came up, I started for the wagon, went down to the corner of Harrison Street and Wabash [260] Avenue and I found a little church on fire in one of the windows.  Went in there and helped put it out.  After that was over, I met Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Benner and heard them inquiring about powder.  I told them I had a lot on the shore.  I was ordered to go and get it, and went up and fetched it down and gave it to them.  At that time, one of the spires of the church was afire.  I went in and helped put it out and during that time there was a building blown up on Wabash Avenue in a row of bricks just north of there.  The most I saw of the blowing up was right there.  One building, I believe, was blown up between State and Wabash [261] Avenue.  Then around on Wabash Avenue.  I was in the church and I could hear the shock.  I could not see them anytime.

Q.  Did the[y] blow up east of Wabash Avenue?

A.  There was some brick buildings.  There was one or two blown out in a brick block between Congress Street and Harrison.  That is on the east side of Wabash Avenue.

Q.  That is as far east as you blew down buildings, wasn't it?

A.  Yes sir.  On Wabash Avenue that is the last that was blowed up.

Q.  How wide a space do you think you had to blow down to stop the fire?

A.  I wasn't there to see until after the fire crossed State Street, towards Wabash Avenue on Harrison.  There they blowed [262] I think two.  A row just west of the church and about middle way between the church and State Street.  Then there was one or two blown up on Wabash Avenue, north of Harrison on the east side.

Q.  No streets east of that where you blew buildings down?

A.  Not that I know of.  Most of my time I was there, I spent around that corner by the church.  After I got out of the church, I understood that the fire was about cut off from running any further south on the South Side.  This must have been from one to two o'clock, or between twelve and one.  I should judge, according to the appetite I had, it was later than that.

Q.  From whom did you re- [263] ceive yours[cdlxxii] while working there?

A.  I received them from our captain--on the church, do you mean?

Q.  Yes, blowing up buildings there.

A.  I didn't receive them from anybody.  I started to hunt the wagon, and when I got there and found the church on fire, I went in and helped put it out.

Q.  Who were present directing what buildings should be taken down?

A.  I saw Mr. Commissioner Sheridan there and Mr. Benner; they seemed to be the two principal actors there as far as I took note.  As soon as I heard them inquire for the powder, I went up and told them I had powder upon the shore--some left.  They told me to go and get it.  I went [264] up and done so as quick as possible.  Brought it back and then went up in the church again.  This spire had got on fire and I went in there.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Hildreth there?

A.  I didn't notice him at the time.

Q.  Were you acquainted with him?

A.  Not much.

Q.  Do you recollect any conversation that took place there at the corner of the church in relation to blowing the church up?

A.  I do not.  After I came out towards you or Mr. Benner (addressing Commissioner Sheridan), and heard you talking about powder, I informed you I had some up on the shore there. 

Q.  Are you aware that powder was placed in the [265] church once or twice?

A.  I was not.  There was several citizens in there helping me take care of the fire during the time I was in there.  Carried sand and covered the floor under the tower.  I stayed there and shoveled up fire as it fell down through the tower instead of taking the water they carried from the lake.

Q.  That was after the pinnacle caught fire?

A.  Yes sir, and there had been a window at the west end caught fire before that.  I had got an axe and helped to put it out.

Q.  Did you hear any citizens express a desire for the church to be blown up?

A.  I don't remember hearing anything of that kind.

Q.  What church was that?

A.  I think it is a Methodist church.

[266]

Q.  You didn't carry any of that powder in that church?

A.  I had nothing to do with the powder after I handed it over to the commissioner here or to his men.  I asked him to send some of the boys.  I told him we were pretty well tuckered out.  It wasn't on the truck and they had to take an express wagon.  Throwed one of the boy's overcoats over it and we haven't found it since.  We were careful with the powder.  We were looking out for the safety of the people.

 

[267]

H.J. Hittorff sworn

(38th witness)

December 1st, 1871

Q.  Where do you reside?

A.  238 West Randolph Street.[cdlxxiii]

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Watchmaker and jeweler.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin and progress of the fire October 8th and 9th?

A.  I do not.

Q.  Do you know anything about the progress?

A.  I cannot tell.  I only saw about the engines.

Q.  Were you at the fire at any time?

A.  Yes sir, on Sunday.

Q.  What time did you first go to the fire?

A.  9 o'clock, just when the first stroke came in Sunday night.

Q.  At the first alarm?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Where did you go to?

A.  I went off to Canal Street, away out to Canal Street, [268] and when the fire came, I had to go back again, as it was hot.  Then I stood near the corner of Van Buren Street bridge and Canal Street there.  I stood there for a long time and Fire Marshal Williams came around and said to all the folks around there, "boys, go and help the firemen move the engine Fred Gund."  Me and another friend and several others went to the engine, but the firemen did not make any motion to take off the supply hose and so forth.[cdlxxiv]  We stood for some time, then the heat came so hot that the firemen and engineer hid themselves behind the engine.  Then they could not stand the heat anymore and they left it there.  There was plenty of time to take off the engine from the plug and move it.  The engine burned off from the heat and fire.  The hose burned off.  Then the engine [269] ran back into the brick building and burned up entirely. 

Q.  How many men did you see around the engine that you supposed to be firemen?

A.  Three, at the time when Fire Marshal Williams said to help the firemen remove the engine.

Q.  Where were the other men, do you know?

A.  I do not know.  I could not tell.

Q.  Was there a lead of hose out at that time from the engine?

A.  To be sure.

Q.  That led down south, did it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was the engine working then?

A.  To be sure, the engine was in full speed.  It was so awful hot that the firemen went behind the engine and hid themselves from the heat.  They had time then to remove the engine then, [270] but they did not.

Q.  Which side of the engine was coupled or hydrant?

A.  That is what I cannot tell.  The place where the horses are was east.  The back of the engine was high on the bridge, not exactly on the bridge but the approach of the bridge, and so she ran off and ran into the brick building there on the southwest corner and ___________   (then??) --or is it "there?")[cdlxxv] burned up.

Q.  Did she run against the building?

A.  Not quite.  She ran against the sidewalk, then the building fell on the engine.

Q.  Did you stay there until the building fell?

A.  Yes sir.  That was then too late, and the engine burned off from the plug.  It was too late to remove the engine.  The heat was too strong.  It was more than half an hour from the time when [271] [the] fire marshal told us to move the engine.

Q.  Did Mr. Williams remain about there until that occurred?

A.  He remained there for a short time and then went off.

Q.  But he was not there when the building fell?

A.  No sir, not that I know of.  I did not see him there.  There was too much of a crowd there.

Q.  What did you say was the remark of the marshal when he asked you?

A.  "Citizens and boys, help remove the engine away from the plug."  Then he looked around and said, "pitch in, pitch in."  We went near to the engine, but the firemen did not make any motion, so we could not do anything.

Q.  Were the firemen still playing on the fire with the pipe?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did they remain there?

[272]

A.  Half an hour or so.

Q.  Did they play half an hour longer?

A.  Yes sir, she did.  That money could be saved for the city of Chicago easily.

Q.  Have you ever been a fireman?

A.  I never was.

Q.  Is it not probable that the firemen thought they could perhaps stop the fire before they moved the engine?

A.  I cannot tell what they thought.  I was not in their heads, you see, but my opinion was to remove the engine.  There was plenty of time to do that and save probably fifteen thousand dollars to the city of Chicago.

Q.  You should judge from the instructions the marshal gave at the time he asked you to assist that the marshal thought it was time to remove it then?

A.  Yes sir.  That was his idea, to remove the engine away [273] from the plug at once.

Q.  Would you think it brave of these men to do that while there was a chance still to work for half an hour longer, to retire?

A.  I do not think there was--I presume it was a coal house opposite the street.  It was burning already--the sidewalk too.  The house opposite was burning already through and through,  I think the whole house,  I think it was a coal house, a coal office.

Q.  On which side of Canal?

A.  On the opposite of the engine.  That was on Van Buren.

Q.  Which way opposite do you mean?

A.  That is the nearest corner.

Q.  You do not mean to say that the engine was on the east side of Canal Street, the whole width of Canal Street away from the building?

A.  It ran over to this corner and the brick building fell [274] on it.  The plug is on the nearest corner.

Q.  Do you know where the hose led?

A.  It led down Canal Street.

Q.  How far down?

A.  I cannot tell.  The heat was so strong I could not very well see.  The smoke too.

Q.  Did you see a pipe coming down this way (indicating south on Canal Street).

A.  I did not.  Then they ran off and left the engine and were laughing about it and jumping about it.  That is all I know about it.

Q.   She did not run back until the hose burned off, you say?

A.  Not before the supply hose--the suction hose--burned off.  Then the hose that played the stream on burned off all at once.  Then she ran back into the brick building on the sidewalk.  Then the [275] steam exploded and made an awful noise.

Q.  How long after she ran back before the building fell?

A.  I think about half an hour if I am not mistaken, but nobody could get to it.  It was too hot already.  Even the firemen could not go there when she was burned off from the plug.

Q.  Did you stay any length of time around after the engine got loose from her suction?

A.  Yes sir, I think about an hour, stood there until the building fell.

Q.  Did you see the men make an effort to go in and get their engine out?

A.  Not at all.  No motion at all about getting it.

Q.  If they had done so, would you have seen them?

A.  Yes sir, if they had done so.  I could see because the firemen came back and stood [276] right near me and to a friend of mine who is in New York now.

Q.  Did you see them save any hose there at all after the engine burned?

A.  No sir, not at all.  They did not save anything at all.

Q.  Where did the fire come from that burned off this hose?

A.  That came from that coal office and then afterwards the sidewalk began to burn and then the hose was burned off.

Q.  Van Buren Street is 66 feet wide.[cdlxxvi]  Do you mean to say that the heat at a distance of 66 feet, with the wind blowing as it was, was so strong as to burn the hose off?

A.  There was falling pieces of lumber burned a hole in the sidewalk.  Then the sidewalk took fire at the time.

Q.  You say the engine, where they [277] hitch the horses on, was towards the bridge?

A.  No sir, from the bridge.

Q.  This way (indicating)?

A.  Down that way.  The heat was so strong from the coal office that the firemen could not stay there anymore.

Q.  This brick building was then on fire?

A.  This brick building was then on fire.  Yes sir.  She ran against the sidewalk.  That is, the sidewalk was about six inches higher than the street.

Q.  Was there any building on the corner where the engine stood?

A.  Yes sir.  There was a coal office there.

Q.  Did you notice that's being on fire?

A.  Yes sir, that was on fire too, as soon as those began to burn off.  They could not stand the heat then anymore, because they had a heat from the front and from the rear.

[278]

Q.  Was the wind blowing pretty strong in the direction of the engine from the burning building?

A.  I guess it was.

Q.  Whereabouts were you standing?

A.  On Canal Street.

Q.  Which way?

A.  Opposite the brick building.  I stood there.

Q.  On Canal?

A.  On Canal and Van Buren, or in Canal Street.

Q.  You must have been right by that burning office?

A.  Yes sir, just opposite the burning office, opposite on Van Buren Street.  I could not stay there, it was so hot, and Williams told us to help move the engine.  I saw the boys did not make any motion and I ran back again.

Q.  You were on the bridge?

A.  No sir, I was in Canal Street.

Q.  Were you north of the engine?

[279]

A.  I was on the opposite corner of the engine.

Q.  Near to that row of frame buildings?

A.  I think it was frame buildings.

Q.  Had they taken fire?

A.  I am not well acquainted in that neighborhood.  Think it was a frame building.

Q.  Did you hear the marshal tell the firemen to remove the engine?

A.  Yes sir, he did before he came to us.

Q.  Did you hear him?

A.  I did.  I was near enough to hear him.  I was near enough to the engine and told the boys to remove the engine and told us to help them.

 

 

[280]

December 1, 1871

Benjamin Bullwinkle[cdlxxvii]

(39th witness)

Q.  You are captain of the insurance patrol?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin or progress of the fire of  October 8th and 9th?

A.  I know nothing of the origin of the fire.  We didn't go there until the third alarm, being out of our district.[cdlxxviii]

Q.  Did you notice about what time that was?

A.  Yes sir, I have the exact time here (producing book). 

Q.  Refresh your memory if you choose and state?

A.  9:30 p.m. alarm from station 342.  9:45 p.m. alarm from same station.  9:55 p.m. third alarm from same station.  Attended by patrol.

Q.  When you got there, where was the fire?

A.  When we got there, the fire [281] [was] not to Polk Street.  We went along Canal Street, putting the fire out on roofs of houses, awnings, and such things.  Worked up to the mill and found the Gund's stream.  Took the stream away from some citizens who were running it and worked it ourselves until the fire had got under the Gund's engine and they shut down.

Q.  You say you took the stream from some citizens?

A.  Yes sir, some citizens had it in between the mills.

Q.  No fireman?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Which way were they working?

A.  I guess they had two leads out.  It was a short lead, about

three lengths of hose I should judge.

Q.  Which way was that leading?

A.  Lead south in the alley the other side of Bateham's Mill.

[282]

Q.  Playing in the rear?

A.  Playing in the rear on lumber piles and such things.

Q.  Piles of lumber between the mill and the rear building?

A.  Yes sir, on the left-hand side of the alley as you went in.

Q.  Why did they shut down?

A.  The engine--the woodwork under there had caught fire and run out under the engine.  A lumber pile was afire alongside of the engine; the chief was there--the first time I saw him.

Q.  The mill proper was not on fire then?

A.  Yes sir, it was on fire in the rear and the fire was working right straight through it.    We came back from there; on my way down I saw there was a fire on the rear end of that brick row fronting on Van [283] Buren Street.  I went back and told the marshal and he told me to go and tell the John to lead back there.  Went back and told Alex[cdlxxix] and helped him to lead back there.  It was the west side of Canal, a large tobacco factory in there.  We took the stream in there and stayed there until it got so hot we had to get out.  I saw the marshal and he told me to go and get some powder.  We went up and found some powder.  I loaded, I should judge, in the neighborhood of 2500 pounds of powder, if not more.  Then we were bothered for fuse.  We could not get any fuse.  By and by there was a man upstairs, and with a good deal of talk we got him to [284] let us in and we got some fuse.  We started back to the fire and got to the corner of Adams and Canal Street and the fire had crossed the river.

Q.  What bridge did you cross going back?

A.  Crossed Madison Street bridge.  We went then back to the corner of Adams and Canal and then there was Alderman Hildreth and an engineer here.  I forget his name but would know it if I heard it.

Q.  Locke?

A.  Locke, that is his name.  He was with us.  And we came back to the corner of LaSalle and Madison and I wanted to use the powder in those frame buildings along there, blowing back to the fire, but he wouldn't do it because he had no authority from anybody.  We stayed there some time and I sent [285] them to unload the powder.  By mistake there was some powder left in which was afterwards used.

Q.  Where did you unload the powder?

A.  At the courthouse.

Q.  Were the sparks flying pretty thick there then?

A.  Yes sir.  After we done that, the Coventry was working at the corner of LaSalle and Madison and the wind was blowing so hard at that time it blew a cornice off this building on the northwest corner.  No fire had touched it then.  There was a brick building set down a little below the sidewalk.  It got then pretty hot for the Coventry and with our aid and also with _________   (Cal??) _______     (Swaney???  Lwaney??)[cdlxxx] we got it out of there.  Then we saw those awnings in front of Thomas' building on fire in the third floor.  [286]  That is the second house this side of the John's building. Boone's Block,[cdlxxxi] perhaps it is.  This time the fire had crossed Madison Street and before there was any fire caught on Madison Street, that building in the rear of the Oriental Building was on fire.  We could see it by standing on the opposite side of the street.

Q.  What was the building there?

A.  There was a new brick building going up there.  It was all cased in, but the windows were not in yet.

Q.  (By Williams)  Wasn't there a carpenter shop there?

A.  Yes sir, there was.

Q.  More than one?

A.  One is all.  There had been [others]; they were torn out at that time to make room for this brick.

Q.  When you speak of the building in the rear of the Oriental, you mean this brick?

[287]

A.  That is because I could see this brick upon the opposite side.  It was some two or three stories ________   (above??)    that in front.  The courthouse was afire before this.

Q.  Did you notice any streams in there _____   (to?)   work?

A.  No sir, I did not.  I wasn't over there.  What I saw was from Madison Street.  We couldn't get at it until all the front was burned and we had to go back.

Q. (By Williams)  Was the Coventry engine at work when you saw her on the corner?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know where her hose led?

A.  Led up Madison Street somewhere, I thought.  I could not say for certain where.  I know we helped her out.

Q.  You say the wind was so strong that it blew the cornice off that southwest [288] corner before the fire struck it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What do you know further about the progress of the fire?

A.  I went and took our stuff from the government barns and stored it on the south side up at Park Row.

Q.  (By Williams)  Did you get down on Clark Street anywhere  by Randolph Street?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  Which side of the courthouse did you unload the powder?

A.  On LaSalle Street.

Q.  Directly after that you went to your own house?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know whether that powder was all taken out?

A.  I know by accident we had two kegs left.

Q.  What do you know about the condition of Canal Street as you went along.  [289] Was it crowded with teams and wagons?

A.  It was crowded with teams and wagons and furniture.  Straw beds in the streets were afire and feather beds and awnings and roofs of houses were afire.  It kept us going from one place to another until I signaled to the men and went for powder.

Q.  This fire spread a good deal in consequence of that?

A.  It did.  More on the west than on the south.  I saw a load of furniture, corner of Adams and Wells Street, on fire.  It stood right in the middle of the street on the car tracks.  When I was getting our covers from the Saturday night fire.

Q.  Did I understand you to say you got orders from the chief to go and find powder before you saw Alderman Hildreth?

[290]

A.  Yes sir, I did.  I asked the chief.

Q.  That is the first conversation you had had with anybody with relation to powder?

A.  That was the first.  On my way going after it, I met Alderman Hildreth.  He asked me if I was going to get powder.  I told him yes.

Q.  Do you know whether Alderman Hildreth had a previous conversation with the marshal?

A.  He told me he did.

Q.  Did you assist in blowing up any buildings?

A.  I did one, that was all.  That was this tobacco factory in the rear of the house where I was living there.

Q.  Where was that house located?

A.  In the center of the block between LaSalle and Wells and Madison and Monroe.

Q.  Was it a frame building?

A.  No sir, it was a brick [291] building.

Q.  A tobacco factory fronting on the alley?

A.  Yes sir, facing north.

Q.  Nearer to Wells than it was to LaSalle?

A.  Yes sir, a little, maybe ten feet or five feet.

Q.  Where did you put the powder, in the basement or the first floor above the sidewalk?

A.  It was up about three feet.  Went in there and set it and piled a lot of things around it.  It was three feet above the alley, I should judge, two or three feet, made high enough to load wagons.

Q.  Did you blow that to pieces?

A.  It went right up and came right down again.

Q.  Who touched the fuse there?

A.  I did.

Q.  Was that the first building you know of blown up?

A.  Yes sir, that is the first I knew.  I heard the Union [292] National Bank was blown up with the powder we took to the courthouse.

Q.  Was Alderman Hildreth with you then?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Who was with you of your men?

A.  I do not think there was any of them.  I had one but he had gone back to the house.  I wanted to take that frame row all through there and go back.  We had put out two fires on Fifth Avenue awnings afire before that when we first came over.

Q.  Did you notice any other engine at work there except the Coventry?

A.  I noticed an engine working on the corner of Monroe and Fifth Avenue.  When I went back there after my covers from the Saturday night fire.

[293]

Q.  Where did you have your covers from Saturday night?

A.  Left them between Monroe and Adams.

Q.  You noticed an engine working at the corner of Wells and Monroe Street?

A.  Yes sir, there was an engine there.

Q.  Do you know what one it was?

A.  No sir, I did not notice.

Q.  Is that the only one you saw?

A.  I saw another one at the corner of Adams and Wells.

Q.  Which way were they playing?

A.  One was leading up Monroe Street.  The other one I did not notice particular.

Q.  Did you take your wagon to get your covers there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  From there you went to your house?

A.  From there we went to our house and loaded up and [294] took our goods up in Park Row.  Came back then and went to work on the Tribune basement.  The fire had passed around and took in Reynolds' Block[cdlxxxii] and passed over and took the other side of the street and came up to the Tribune building.  The woodwork was all afire in the Tribune basement around the boiler in the bathroom that they have for heating warm water for baths under the sidewalk.

Q.  What did you do in the basement?

A.  Worked some 18 or 20 charges of Babcocks to put it out.  The first thing we knew, the fire had eaten up behind us and taken in McVicker's Theatre.  I left two men there and went off and got goods that people were stealing.  Went up on Michigan Avenue and loaded  [295] our wagon up four or five times.

Q.  What suggested that to you?  Had anybody given you any instructions?

A.  No sir, none at all.  I couldn't do anything else.  When I first went to the fire, I offered the chief to do anything that I could.  Seeing people taking so many things off I thought they didn't belong to them.  We took them to the government warehouse.

Q.  Did these people make any objection to your tak[ing] these goods?

A.  Yes sir, they did considerable.  We took a load of goods from Hamlin Hale[cdlxxxiii] and Company valued at seven or eight thousand dollars.  We tried to get into Field and Leiter's and tried to get into buildings on State Street but there was too many there for us.

[296]

Q.  (By Williams)  Did you haul any trunks that night?

A.  Yes sir, we hauled one or two trunks.

Q.  Did you get any present?

A.  I admit to getting a present of five or ten dollars for a trunk that I saved.  I did not charge anybody any such price at all.  It was voluntarily given to me.  It was divided between the men.  They were burned out and had no place to go.

Q.  You didn't take the trunk, expecting to have any pay when you took it?[cdlxxxiv]

A.  I never dreamed of anything of the kind.  Moreover, the trunk was thrown into our wagon.  I did not know it was there till afterwards.  If I had known the trunk belonged to the character it did, I should have thrown it out.

Q.  That money was very acceptable, was it?

[297]

A.  It was at that time, yes sir.  None of us had a cent, no place to eat, we were living on a church at that time.  I lost everything, house and home, and the men the same way, no place to go.  Those that lived on the North Side were burned out, had no place to go to and the same on the South Side.  We were left on charity, going to church to get our meals at that time.

 

 

[298]

December 1, 1871

George S. Dorset

(40th witness)

Q.  Do you know anything about the origin and progress of the fire?

A.  Not much, only I know it was a very large fire.

Q.  Where do you live?

A.  I belong to the Skinner.[cdlxxxv] 

Q.  Where are you located now?

A.  Stopping at the Economy's house near State Street.

Q.  Your capacity is truckman?

A.  Driver.

Q.  Where were you at the time the alarm was given?

A.  I was off that night on Madison Street to my boarding house.

Q.  Where was that?

A.  Down near the bridge, opposite Haas and Powell's livery stable, 130 and 132 Madison Street.[cdlxxxvi]

Q.  Did you go to the fire or to the house at the time [299] the alarm was given?

A.  I was in my boarding house and saw the reflection.

Q.  Did you go to your engine house?

A.  No sir, I went down to the fire.

Q.  What time did you go to the fire?

A.  Just as quick as I saw the fire.

Q.  What was the state of the fire when you got to it?

A.  It was raging like fury--terrible fire when I got down there.

Q.  Whereabouts was it?

A.  De Koven Street.

Q.  How many buildings were on fire when you got there?

A.  Well sir, I do not know.  There were a great many of them; I think I saw four or five.

Q.  Did you hurry?

A.  I hurried down as quick as I could.

Q.  Afoot?

[300]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  From that time on, what did you notice?

A.  I had to stay with my apparatus at the time.  I could not see much, only the fire, it was raging.

Q.  Did you see your foreman about much?

A.  I saw him twice, I think.

Q.  Where?

A.  I saw him on the South Side.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How many men were with the apparatus when you got to it?

A.  I saw three when I got there.

Q.  Besides the foreman?

A.  Three with the foreman.

Q.  Did you get there about as early as your apparatus did?

A.  I do not know whether I got there as early as they did.  I met them on the corner of Clinton and De [301] Koven and they looked as if they had driven up there.

(Examination by Mr. Williams)

Q.  Which street did you go out?

A.  Down Clinton.

Q.  Crossed over to De Koven?

A.  I think I went around, almost, I am not positive, I do not think I went through there, it was too warm.

Q.  How many men belong to your company?

A.  There ought to be six of them.

Q.  How many men are generally off at once?

A.  Two.

Q.  That night there were only three with the truck?

A.  That is all I saw.  There might have been some others around.

Q.  Which one has the off with you?

A.  Flanagan.[cdlxxxvii]

Q.  Was he off that night?

[302]

A.  Yes sir, he was off with me.

Q.  It was his off and your off?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know whether the foreman was off or not?

A.  I could not say indeed, being off myself.  When I got to the fire I saw him there.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  I would like to ask you whether or not Truck One[cdlxxxviii] was burned at the Saturday night fire.

A.  From what I understand, it was.  I saw the remains Sunday morning.

Q.  (By Mr. Brown)  Was there a hose cart in there burned?

A.  I did not notice anything about the hose cart.

Q.  Did you see the remains of a hose cart in there?

A.  I would not be positive.  I thought there was.

 

Charles H. French sworn

December 2, 1871

(41st witness)

Q.  What is your name?

A.  Charles H. French.

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Sergeant of Police.

Q.  Do you know anything about the fire of the 8th and 9th of October?  Where were you that evening?

A.  The Sunday night of the fire?  When I got there, it had just caught in the cupola of the church, the high church on Mather and Clinton, St. Paul's church.  It caught in the cupola and it was not but a very few minutes before it was all down.

Q.  How far away from the main fire was that at that time?

A.  It was a block, I should think, fully a block.  The air was completely filled with sparks as large as your hand, seemed to be [304] apparently half of shingles flying in the air.  We then went down onto Canal Street and the people were very much excited there and had their windows open.  I went along and notified parties to keep their windows closed because the sparks were flying very thick and they would get inside the house.  I was afraid they would set fire to the bedding.  I was around, more or less, on all the corners there, doing the best I could.

Q.  Was you mostly on Canal Street, or where was you?

A.  I was on Canal Street, Harrison, Van Buren and Clinton.

Q.  Did you observe about where the fire crossed to the South Side?

A.  When I first saw it on the South Side, I saw a little kind of blue light, [305] kind of dim light on top of the building, I should think.  It was near the Gas House.  It did not blaze out or burn as if it was burning.  Some kind of pitch or something.  Blazed up a little there and lingered along ten or fifteen minutes, then it burst up.

Q.  Did you see sparks flying in the air?

A.  Yes, the air was completely filled with them.

Q.  Did you have an idea that you saw the particular brand flying over that set that place on fire?

A.  I could not say as to that.  There was so many going over;  the air was filled with them.  Then I noticed after the fire got around on the corner of Van Buren and Canal in that block along there--there is lots of wooden buildings and [306] small buildings and they went very rapidly.  I noticed then the South Side was pretty well afire.

Q.  Was you on the corner of Van Buren and Canal?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you notice the engine playing there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you remain there until the engine stopped playing or did you go away from there?

A.  I went west on Van Buren just after they moved the engine.

Q.  Where was you standing when you observed the fire near the Gas Works?

A.  I was standing on the corner of Canal and Van Buren.  I started to go up on the bridge and the sparks came so rapidly there and it was so warm that I turned back and I saw it was just starting on the South Side.

[307]

Q.  It was north of Van Buren that you saw it start, right near the Gas Works?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you notice any fire on the South Side before that?

A.  Not before that, sir.

Q.  Where did you go to?

A.  I went up as far as Clinton on Van Buren.  There, there was a large crowd of people and parties were moving their goods about and  some were going east.  People were so confused they would go north on Clinton Street and turn to go east to get over the bridge, so I stopped them and told them they had better go west.  The fire was increasing very rapidly there and they were liable to get burned.  Parties that came out of Polk Street--lots of them came and went down on the railroad track.  They would have lots of [308] bundles and bedding, etc., and were working that way to get away as well as they could.  I went down there and told them they had better get away as soon as possible as they would get caught in there.  There was no way to get across the river.

Q.  When you got on Clinton Street, did you notice any engines working there?

A.  Yes sir.  There was one on the corner of Clinton and Van Buren, playing on the block there.

Q.  Which way were they leading their hose, south or north?

A.  South.

Q.  The fire had got pretty near Van Buren Street on Clinton Street then?

A.  Yes sir, it had crossed it.  It had crossed Van Buren.  It was burning on the north side of Van Buren--that block that was saved the Saturday [309] night before.[cdlxxxix]

Q.  It was in that block, was it?

A.  Yes sir, the fire was there.  Also it was on Canal and Van Buren--two liquor stores there, one on each corner, and a lumber yard.  It was also burning there.

Q.  On the east side of Van Buren, in that lumber yard, was it burning?

A.  Yes sir, the biggest part of that was destroyed the night before.  They saved a portion of it.  There was a street right along by the viaduct, running up by the bridge--that was on fire, and another block and two liquor stores and a tobacco factory.

Q.  On the South Side?

A.  Yes sir, on the South Side, it was very warm, too.

Q.  You did not observe an engine that was at work on the corner there after it stopped working--corner of Van Buren [310] and Canal?

A.  I think that engine went north.  I would not be positive whether it was that one or not, but shortly after that I saw an engine going north on Clinton.  They turned east on Harris[on], I think.  I won't be positive, then on Canal Street north.

Q.  Did you go on the South Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What time think you?

A.  I should think it was between twelve and one o'clock, as near as I can remember now.

Q.  Where did you go to on the South Side?

A.  I went over Madison Street, then I went out north on Market and down Randolph to try and get to the courthouse.

Q.  Did you have any difficulty in getting to the courthouse at that time?

A.  Yes, the Chamber of Commerce [311] was all afire and the courthouse was afire.  The Sherman House was just getting afire when I got around.  I went around through the alley.  When I first saw the Sherman House, there was a fire in the rear and there was a tremendous crowd of people there, carrying baggage and taking it down into LaSalle Street tunnel.[cdxc]  I started through the tunnel but there was so much smoke and heat that I turned back.

Q.  Started to go west?

A.  To go north, but there was such a current of air and heat, it seemed as if it would take you right off your feet almost, so I did not go.  I left there and came around onto Lake Street bridge.  There was a large crowd of people _____ (there??)--teams.  I went there and stopped there some [312] little time.

Q.  Have you any idea about what time it was when you stood on Van Buren Street viaduct there and looked over and saw the fire on the South Side?

A.  I should think it must be after eleven o'clock.  I cannot remember.  I do not seem to remember the exact time.

Q.  The fire must have moved pretty rapidly after it got on the South Side, didn't it?

A.  It moved very rapidly there.

Q.  Much more rapidly than on the West?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How do you account for it?

A.  Well, the fire had been burning for some little time and the heat had got so great that there was more rush of air.  As the fire advanced, of course the heat would be more and it would suck in more current of air.  When it [313] got into those buildings on the South Side, it was terrible.  The fire would roar like these old down east chimneys when in the spring of the year they would put in a bundle of straw and burn them out.

Q.  From Lake Street bridge you crossed over to the West Side?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you go on the North Side?

A.  No sir.  I did not go over on the North Side.  I attempted to go in the morning, but the bridges were burned.  I thought my services were as valuable on this side as there.

Q.  You did not go to the courthouse?

A.  No sir, I did not go to the courthouse.

Q.  Did you notice any of the marshals on the South Side when you went over there?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  Did you see any engine [314] on the South Side?

A.  I saw an engine by Miller's jewelry store; I think there was an engine there.

Q.  That is the corner of Clark and Randolph?

A.  That is the corner of Clark and Randolph.

Q.  Was Miller's store on fire then?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Burning in the top or below, if you recollect?

A.  It was coming out of the second story windows, but it was almost impossible for a man to stay anywhere on that crossing, and when the sparks came around the courthouse, it was fearful.  The wind seemed to blow from the southwest, right by the courthouse, then it would go right down LaSalle Street and Clark Street.  It was terrible there.

Q.  Did you see any engine playing there on the [315] Sherman House at the time you were along there?

A.  Yes sir.  I believe there was one stream there playing on the Clark Street side.

Q.  Did they appear to have much of a stream; could they raise it very high?

A.  I don't know how it is in regard to that.

 

 

[1]

Vol. 4

December 2, 1871

Thomas Ockerby sworn.

42nd witness

50 pp.

Q.  What is your first name?

A.  Thomas.

Q.  What is your occupation?

A.  Night Superintendent at the gas works[cdxci] is the position I have held for four years.

Q.  Which gas works?

A.  South Side.[cdxcii]

Q.  Were you on duty on the night of October 8th?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What time did you go on duty?

A.  I went on at half past five o'clock in the evening.

Q.  Remained on until the following morning?

A.  Yes sir, remained on until I was driven away by the fire.

Q.  Will you go on and state your recollection about the first appearance of the fire when you first saw it?

A.  The first I saw on the South [2] Side, it appeared it had crossed the river at about Van Buren Street, and in a very few minutes after that I saw a fire brand coming over to where I was.  I call it a fire brand; it was a shingle all alight with fire.  I was then on the building that McDonald used to occupy on the corner of Adams and Market, at the foot of the bridge and I saw this brand come over and drop into the tar tank that belonged to Barrett and Arnold.[cdxciii]

Q.  An open tank?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Where they kept a supply of tar?

A.  Yes.  They used to have tar--ran it right out of the barrels into this tank.  It was a tank I should say about twenty by thirty feet square, and when I saw this drop in there, in a second the flames shot right up there.  I [3] dropped off from this building I was in and ran over there, for the reason that one of our coal sheds abutted up to this tank, and we sometimes kept horses in this shed and my impression was that we had horses in there that night.  I ran over there and found we had no horses there.  The Superintendent's[cdxciv] buggy was in there, and I laid hold of it and pulled it out, and went back to get the harness, but could not get it.

Q.  The shed got on fire?

A. The flame rolled around[cdxcv] from that tar tank right through that shed.  I could not get the harness so I left that and hauled the buggy out.  Previous to this I had been putting water on the barn and on the buildings there with a small hose and a hydrant.

Q.  Why had you done that?

A.  For fear that the fire was [4] coming over on the South Side.

Q.  Were sparks coming over there?

A.  Very thick--coming over there very thick.

Q.  You are pretty clear in your remark about that tank--you saw the tank distinctly and saw this brand drop into it?

A.  I had seen the tank a great many times before that.

Q.  Could you see it from the top of the building where you were?

A.  From where I was I could see the fire brand drop down just over the corner of our shed, and I knew from the way in which it went that it went right into that tar tank, and from the rush of flame that rushed up there momentarily in a second--a sheet of fire and smoke rushed right up.  I did not stop to get down by any ladder, but slipped down from the roof and jumped on the sidewalk and ran over as [5] quick as I could.  The distance was probably some ten rods,[cdxcvi] and when I got over there was such a sheet of flame rushed into that shed that I could only save the buggy.

Q.  You became satisfied, when you got to the shed, that you were right as to this falling into the tank?

A.  Yes sir.  The tar tank was all one sheet of fire, and in fact the whole roofing composition works were all on fire.  Right in back of this shed of ours, where Franklin Street would go, if it went through, was a great number of barrels piled up there--tar barrels.

Q.  Full or empty?

A.  I do not know.  They were barrels stored there, and they were all covered with fire in less than two seconds after the fire brand struck in the tar tank.

Q.  The fire spread very rapidly [6] from this, I suppose.

A.  Yes sir.  I did not watch the progress of the fire, only right there in the Works after that.  Previous to its coming to us I watched it, as I could see it from the Works, staying at my post of duty.  I had the windows of all the buildings closed, also of the barn and had the barn wet down, and the roofs in general around there were wet down.  I went along on Market Street, along where the saloons were located and requested the people there to get out on the roofs and wet them down.  I had some talk with Beecher,[cdxcvii] one of our directors, previous to the fire's coming over on the South Side and said to him that I thought it was coming over there and he requested me to get some men on the coal shed that we had down to the dock to brush off the sparks [7] from it.  I told him I thought it would be better to keep our men near the Works, where we might want to call on them any minute, and he did not countermand my order at all.  In fact, there was no man there who did, no man that had charge over me until the General Superintendent got there, and when he got there he did not give an order.  Everything was in position to his satisfaction.

Q.  What steps did you take, after you found the coal shed was on fire, in regard to the disposition of the Works?

A.   In about two minutes after the coal shed was on fire, the king post of one of the gas holders took fire.

Q.  The king post?

A.  Yes sir, that is the center post right in the center of the gas holder.

Q.  Frame?

[8]

A.   A wooden post, simply, that sits in the center of the single lift holder, the first original holder that was built in Chicago, and this post, projecting up above the holder, took afire from the tar works.  I got some men on top of the gas holder with buckets of water, and we put the fire out.  That was the first thing that I turned my attention to after the fire struck the tar works, and then I turned my attention to sending a man to get the horses out of the barn, and stayed around there until I heard that there was a fire engine on the corner.  One of our men came and told me there was a fire engine out on the corner, and I went out there and saw a man that appeared to be in charge, I do not know whether he was captain of the machine or who he was, and I asked him to take a [9] lead into the Works to play on the gas holder and he said that he would not go there nor he would not send his men there.

Q.  Give any reason?

A.  I told him, said I, "It is perfectly safe, and I will go down there with you."  Said he, "I do not take any man's soul in my hands.  You can take the lead in there if you want to."  Said I, "You request your men to surrender the lead to me and I will."  He did so, and I took the lead in there and I led on the gas holder until they shut it off and reeled up the hose and took it away.

Q.  You played on the gas holder to keep it cool?

A.  Yes.

Q.  How long do you think you had the lead in there?

A.  Well, I could not tell exactly.

Q.  Give us your idea.

A.  I should say from five to ten minutes.

[10]

Q.  And they took the lead back then and shut off the water?

A.  Shut off the water and took the lead back.

Q.  And moved it?

A.  They moved their machine away, or I supposed they did.  I did not see them move away, but I saw the hose move away out of the yard.  I took it down between our gas office and purifying house.

Q.  On Monroe Street?

A.  On Monroe Street.  Took it from Monroe Street down into the yard.

Q.  Into the alley?

A.  Into the alley where they used to drive down to get coke.

Q.  You had to carry it some distance to get to the gas holder?

A.  Yes sir, had to carry it down the length of a lot.  The gas holder is located about the center of the block.

Q.  That is the main gas holder?

A.  That is one of the gas holders--the largest one, in fact.  [11]  I played on both of them some with the hose when I got it down there.

Q.  Were any of your buildings then on fire except the shed?

A.  Yes.  The shed was on fire and the original purifying house was on fire.  It was then used for a lime house.

Q.  Was that the east building?

A.  That was the east building adjoining the tar works, and the blacksmith shop was on fire.

Q.  You did not play on the fire at all, did you?

A.  I played on the fire then a moment on the side of the purifying house that was in use.  There was a fire between the lime house and the purifying house, burning the gangway that we had to go into the purifying house.  I played on there and cut off the fire and then took it on the other side of the purifying house and led down into the yard.

[12]

Q.  After the hose was taken away from you, what did you do then?

A.  I then went over into the barn to see if a man had carried out my orders in taking the horses away.  I found the horses were all gone.  I came back into the retort house to examine if there was anything given away where there would be any escape of gas and found nothing that had given away.  The east end of the retort house, this shed abutting right up against it, there was considerable fire in.  The fire would lick right through.

Q.  What was the condition of your gas holders at that time, full or empty?

A.  The large gas holder was about twelve feet from the water, the top of it.  Previous to the fire's coming from the West Side, I had sent the gas to the North Side gas [13] holders in fear that the fire might come over there and I wished to have the holders down as low as I could--to have it down to a certain height--not clear down but so that they would be afloat and be tolerably low--and I sent the gas to the gas holders on Superior Street.[cdxcviii]

Q.  Did you give any orders directly after you discovered the fire to turn the gas off?

A. No sir, I did not, nor did I ever hear such an order given.

Q.  Who manipulated the valves in sending the gas over to the North Side?

A.  I did.

Q.  Yourself?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you keep the connection up to a certain time and then stop it, or allow it to remain open to the North Side?

[14]

A.  I allowed it to remain open to the North Side.

Q.  Was it so open when Mr. Burtis)[cdxcix]  came there?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And did it so remain?

A.  Yes.  You want to understand me, though, about that point.  We have an independent main running from our holder to the North Side gas holders.  Now, when we open the valve to the North Side gas holders, now, when we open the valve to the North Side, the gas will flow into these holders for the reason that the holder at the old works is heavier than these others.  I opened that valve and allowed the gas to go in there until the gas came in the South Side.  Then I went and shut another valve that shuts off the gas holder at the South Side.

Q.  You mean shuts it off from the retort house?

A.  Shuts it off from anything.  [15]  It is shut off so that you cannot get gas in or out when that valve is shut off.  But the gas that was generating from the retorts had a passage to the North Side when that valve was shut through another valve called an independent valve, which I opened prior to shutting the gas holder off.

Q.  You mean disconnected the gas holder from the retort house and put it in connection with the North Side holders?

A.  No sir, that is not my meaning.  Here is a gas holder, say (referring to a diagram in this and following answers), now here is a pipe running in here through that gas holder, and there is a valve.

Q.  Where does that run to?

A.  Into the meter room.[d]

Q.  Where you receive the gas from the purifying house?

A.  (Referring to diagram)  Here is [16] the gas holder calling that the gas holder.[di]  Here is a pipe running along here.  This pipe goes up into the holder.  Of course it has to go down into the ground and come up again.  Now, there is the valve.  That is the meter room of the building.  Now here is another pipe running off in this way.  Here is the North Side valve located there on Monroe Street.  Here is the street.

Q.  Is this what you call your independent main? 

A.  This is the independent main.  Now, when this valve here is shut, the gas that is made, coming from the center seal, with another branch in here, goes directly to the North Side, the gas that is generating from the retorts.

Q.  What comes in this pipe--the gas from the retorts?

A.  That is coming from the center seal.  There is the center [17] seal in the purifying boxes on an elevation.  The gas must go into the box and be purified before it goes into the city.  There is other machinery here, condenser, washer, purifiers, meters, and so forth, that it has to pass through.

Q.  It goes into the meter the last?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  There it is distributed from that?

A.  There it passes through into the gas holder.  If this pipe went around the meter--the meter is located here--the pipes are underground--the meter is here, and here is a rise pipe, and inlet of the seal, and nearby it our outlet, so that the gas goes through that meter and goes into the gas holder when the consumption is lighter than the make.  When the consumption is heavier than the make, the gas, instead of going into the holder, goes [18] into this pipe and out into the city, with another branch here.  There is a pipe on Monroe Street.  Now, this independent valve, as I was giving to explain, is located right there--the North Side valve right here.  Now, I had that North Side valve open, and the opening into the city, until the fire came on the South Side, and when it came on the South Side, I opened that valve and shut that valve  (Referring to diagram).

Q.  This valve conveys the gas where?

A.  This valve conveys the gas from this main along here into the North Side and into the city.  It can go two ways.

Q.  And both these valves were opened, I understood you to say?

A.  That valve was opened, and this valve was closed, shutting off the gas holder.

[19]

Q.  Where was the gas passing from the retorts?

A.  It was coming through the center seal to the meter and going in there, going directly to the North Side.

Q.  Any of it going into the city?

A.  Yes sir, there would some of it go into the city through this independent pipe.

Q.  How long were the city pipes kept supplied there, how long did that connection remain open that night?

A.  It remained open when the fire struck us.

Q.  How long after?

A.  It remained open until after we could get to the Works the next time, I guess on Tuesday.

Q.  So that the connection from all the burners used on the South Side was not cut off from the supply, as long as the retorts made gas?

A.  As long as the retorts made [20] gas.

Q.  When they stopped, that stopped?

A.  When they stopped, the supply stopped.

Q.  What became of the balance of the gas that was in the gas holder?

A.  That was left in it?

Q.  Yes.  When you say it got down to twelve feet above the ground.

A.  It was twelve feet above the water when the fire struck it, and it was about that when I got there the next day.  The heat of the fire had charred the seams in the gas holder, the seams being lined with pieces of cotton flannel saturated in red lead, and the heat from the tar works had melted these and the gas leaked out, and I should think it was about two weeks before it got anywhere near down, and when it got nearly down we chucked in a chisel to [21] let the gas escape.  This was two weeks after the fire, I guess.  This we did to let it go down easy.

Q.  This valve being open, running into all the communications where gas was being used, as fast, of course, as these buildings and the meters burned off, that gas was flowing out, as a matter of course, from these pipes, was it not?

A. It was flowing into the city.

Q.  And it was connected by meters with all the offices and buildings where it was being used?

A.  Yes.

Q.  As fast as they burned off, this gas would flow out pretty freely?

A.  It would not flow out very freely, for the reason that the charges in the retorts were nearly spent, we being driven away from our work.  These charges were renewed [22] every two hours.

Q.  How long do you think they would last?

A.  They would give off a considerable supply of gas for an hour or an hour and a half, probably.

Q.  Any more?

A.  No more.

Q.  Could no supply of gas get from the gas holder?

A.  Not a particle because this is the shut off to the gas holder that shuts off the two gas holders by closing that valve (referring to diagram).

Q.  I understand you that here was a connection.

A.  There is a connection from the retorts.  You must understand the retort house _______   (is here??)[dii]   with another main.  That low ground is a series of mains running hither and yon.

Q.  There was no connection here leading to the gas holder?

A.  Not at all, sir.

Q.  Then you think that supply [23] after the fire struck the retort house must have been cut off as early as three o'clock in the morning.  What time did the retort house get on fire, do you think?

A.  I should think about half past twelve.

Q.  Not later than that?

A.  It might have been.  I am not certain as to that.

Q.  Did you stay there until it was burned?

A.  No sir, I did not stay there until the retort house--there was nothing in the retort house burned except the doors and windows.

Q.  Had the purifying building burned previous to that?

A.  No sir, the purifying building was not burned at all.  There was nothing injured in it.  It stands there today, not injured, twenty-five dollars worth, the purifying house proper.

Q.  But the old portion?

A.  The old portion was burned. [24]  The roof was burned off from it.  That we then used for a lime house where we slacked the lime.

Q.  Admitting that the retorts would supply gas for an hour and a half or two hours, it struck you about half past twelve, you say?

A.  I should think it was.  It might be later.

Q.  There would probably be a supply of gas until three o'clock, more or less.

A.  I should think there would.

Q.  Perhaps a little later?

A.  Perhaps.

Q.  You have no connection or communication for turning off gas anywhere else except to the North Side, when you have a surplus--into the sewers or anywhere else?

A.  We have no way of letting it into the sewers, but we have a way of letting it out.

Q.  Where?

[25]

A.  On top of this gas holder there is a manhole where it might have been let out if it had been safe to do it, and there are other places through in this series of buildings where it could have been let out.

Q.  Are you aware whether any of these places were opened?

A.  I am satisfied that there were none of them opened.

Q.  Where would the gas escape from any of these other places that you refer to if they had been opened?

A.  Into the buildings.  If this manhole on top of the gas holder had been opened, that would let it into the air, of course.  But there is no man that could have opened that, after the fire was in that tar yard, without losing his life, because it would have burned him to death in the first place, to have attempted to have done [26] anything of the kind.

Q.  This is not the place where you spoke of the wooden pillar coming up through the center?

A.  No sir, there is another one located about there.

Q.  Did that take fire again after you put it out?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Was this full of gas?

A.  That holder was up about halfway probably ten feet from the water.

Q.  What was the full height of your main holder at ten o'clock that night?

A.  Do I understand you, the height it was that night?

Q.  How much would it float, twenty-four feet or more, or less, at ten o'clock before you commenced sending over to the North Side?

A.  It was afloat probably twenty feet.

Q.  How high can you raise it?

A.  Forty feet, when it is full.

[27]

Q.  The top would be forty feet above the water?

A.  Yes, or in that neighborhood.  I do not know to a foot.  There is a difference between a tank and a gas holder.  The two go together, but many people get them confounded.  The holder is that which rises; the tank is that that holds the water.

Q.  How high is the top of the tank above the ground?

A.  The tank of that holder is about a foot, probably, above the ground.

Q.  That is the tank?

A.  It is not near up to city grade, but above the natural surface of our yard there.  It has always troubled us, because it has been too low.

Q.  That is the tank?

A.  Yes.  It is a hole in the ground, twenty feet deep.

Q.  Pretty nearly all that appears to the eye is the gas holder, [28] above the ground?

A.  Yes, together with the frame.

Q.  At what time of day is that up to the highest point?

A.  Generally up in the afternoon to the highest point, along about three, four, to five o'clock, provided it is not a cloudy day.  If it is a cloudy day and they are burning gas rapidly, we do not get it up.

Q.  Did you use to get it up to the top nearly every day?

A.  That was the intention, to get it up to the top.

Q.  You most generally did, did you not?

A.  Most generally did.

Q.  And when it was up to the top, how much would it hold?

A.  About 350,000 feet.  I think that is about the capacity of it.  It is very easily figured.  The size is one hundred feet in diameter.

[29]

Q.  What is the ordinary or usual consumption of gas in the South Division, daily?

A.  I could not tell what it is in the South Division, alone.

Q.  Well, approximately.

A.  In the whole city, our consumption was somewhere about a million and a half, before the fire.

Q.  You did not supply the whole city from the South Division, did you?

A.  That is, the South and North Sides.

Q.  About what is the capacity of the generation of gas at the South Side manufactory?

A.  If you want to take the whole works--

Q.  All you have on the South Side.

A.  On the South Side, if we put it all in operation, all our benches--

Q.  What you ordinarily keep in operation.

[30]

A.  That changes a great deal.  Last summer we were only running thirty-two benches.  When the fire struck us, we were running forty-eight, and by this time we would have been running probably fifty-four or sixty.

Q.  What do you mean by benches?

A.  I mean five retorts--what we call benches.

Q.  You charge five at a time?

A.  No.  We charge one retort at a time.  A bench of retorts in our works is five, in some works there are only three, and in some other there are six.  The West Side company have six retorts in a bench.  A bench is one of those arches.  We have a stack in the first place, that is a series of arches, and then the retorts are put in there and bricked around.

Q.  In sections?

A.  In sections.  Now a bench of retorts consists of five [31] in our works and when we do not want so much gas, as along in the summertime, we let down some of these benches, and in the winter we relight them or put in new ones.

Q.  What is the ordinary generation of gas per day of twenty-four hours in one of these benches, running, I suppose you did, day and night?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How much?

A.  We were making at that time, with the forty-eight benches, I think we were making about 900,000 for the whole.

Q.  That was your daily generation of gas?

A.  Yes sir.  I do not recollect exactly.

Q.  Do you know what the capacity for the generation of gas is at the North Side?

A.  I used to know, because we [32] used to have the figures from the North Side and figures from the South Side that went to the secretary[diii] every morning, showing the amount of gas we had made.

Q.  Could you give me an approximate estimate of the quantity manufactured in the North Side daily?

A.  They were making somewhere about 700,000 at that time at the North Side.

Q.  That would be 1,600,000 feet of gas manufactured daily.  Now do you know whether there is a reserve of gas on the North Side--you have several holders on the North Side?

A.  We have four of them on the North Side.

Q.  Is there not usually a reserve of gas kept in these holders so as to anticipate an accident of any kind occurring at any one  of the works and having a supply there to off- [33] set it?

A.  I never knew or heard anything said about an accident.  It has been the General Superintendent's orders to those of us who had charge of the works to keep our holders well filled for this reason: it ___________ (carries??)  on dark, rainy weather, and the holders will run down in spite of us.

Q.  Your effort was to keep them as full as you could?

A.  We always kept them as full as we could, that is, to make calculations to have the holders full at night.  I mean in the evening previous to people's lighting up.

Q.  All of the holders of the city connected with your works, north and south?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Now in the event of these holders being kept full, as a reserve, and that you were manufacturing 1,600,000 cubic [34] feet daily at that time, on both sides, what probable capacity would there be left on the North Side for the reception of gas from the South Side, when those were already full, and enough was being manufactured to keep them in that state?

A.  These holders are never full at midnight.

Q.  Say ten o'clock when that begun.

A.  Neither are they at ten o'clock--something I never have seen, and I have been with the Company eleven years.  For this reason, we have no other way of storing this gas except in these gas holders.

Q.  These gas holders you are to presume were full?

A.  Yes sir, at six or five o'clock that night, say at five.

Q.  You were generating gas, the consumption of the city you suppose to be a million and a half of feet and you were generating one million [35] six hundred thousand feet, or equal to this million and a half which you say is equal to the consumption of the city.  Now, the gas generated is equal to the amount consumed, and if these were full, they ought to remain full, the generation being equal to the consumption.

A.  This generation constitutes the amount made in twenty-four hours, but this consumption is in twelve hours.

Q.  Not always?

A.  As a general thing, people do not burn gas in the daytime when they have sunshine, but in the night they burn it.

Q.  Now what we want to come at is to know what probable capacity there would be left there for the reception of the gas from this Division.  They were generating gas on the North Side, the supply being equal or nearly so to the demand and you were generating [36] on this side also and at the same time the gas from this was allowed to go over.  As a matter of course, the capacity over there must have been infinitely greater than the amount manufactured or the amount that you sent over in order to be able to receive it.

A.  Do you understand that we send gas from the North Side Gas Works down to the southern extremity of the city?

Q.  I understand that, that your holders balance each other so that if there was a deficiency here, the gas flows in this direction, and if there is a deficiency on the other side, it flows over.

A.  These gas holders do not balance each other.  I told you, sir. This one is the heaviest holder of the lot.

Q.  Was there not one on the North Side heavier than the South Side?

[37]

A.  No sir.

Q.  I understood Mr. Burtis to say so the other day.

A.  I cannot help what Mr. Burtis said, and I know more today about the management of gas holders in the last four years than any other man in the city, and I know that this gas holder is heavier than anything they have there.

Q.  So that you can force it to the North Side if you cannot to the South?

A.  You can force it from this holder when it is coupled into any holder there is.  Of course, it will go slower when this holder is coupled.  All of them are telescopic holders, with the exception of the original gas holder.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What effect would it have if this holder was half full and the one on Superior Street full or nearly full?

[38]

A.  Well, the gas would not go to that, but this--

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  There would be a strain here to resist--

A.  There would be weight enough there to counteract this when it is uncoupled; that is when the lower section is on its bearings.

Q.  And only the weight of the upper section?

A.  Yes sir, but we have a holder at Superior Street on the North Side, to which we can send gas from this holder to that when this is uncoupled, though it would go slowly, much slower than it would if this were coupled.

Q.  By being coupled, you mean at its greatest elevation?

A.  I mean when the lower section--when you begin to lift the lower portion of the holder, it brings a greater pressure.

Q.  Then this holder is in two sections, independent of the [39] basin or tank?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  And which holder can be brought down to its bearings separately and distinctly, and one slides into the other?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Can you account for the fact that at the Armory the odor of gas was always so strong coming in through the sewers there so strongly as to materially affect the health of the men having to reside there?[div]

A.  I did not know that there was such an odor there.

Q.  We have gone ourselves as a board and found this almost intolerable.

A.  Well, was it gas?

Q.  It was the odor of gas.

A.  You may think that such was the case, but I tell you few men can tell the difference between the odor of gas and the odor of drip water.  Now if the drip water [40] was pumped into the sewer, then you might get the smell of that.  There might have been some leak of gas in the basement of the Armory.  Then of course it would smell disagreeably.

Q.  Now there is one other thing.  Your tank in which your telescopic holder rested or on which it rested was kept full of water, was it not?

A.  The tank was kept full of water.

Q.  Now, would not the impurities from the gas, from time to time, so affect the water as to make it very disagreeable and unwholesome to retain there?

A.  No sir, I should say not.  I have been with the Company some ten years, and the water never was pumped out for that length of time out of that tank.  A year ago last summer they pumped it out and repaired the [41] gas holder and that water did not smell in a way that was disagreeable to me.

Q.  Was there no means of replenishing that water?

A.  There is no way of getting water in, only by running it in from the hydrant, or when it rains on the holder and runs in.

Q.  Does it ever overflow?

A.  It does sometimes, when we have a heavy rain.

Q.  Where does that pass to?

A.  It passes into the sewer, that overflow does.

Q.  That is not at all disagreeable, you say?

A.  Well, it is not pure water, that is, I would not want to drink it, but it don't--

Q.  Is it from the overflow of this tank that our river sometimes becomes covered with a sort of oil of a gaseous nature?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Whence comes it then--from [42] gas houses, generally--that covers the water with this almost oily substance?

A.  That might come from the washer.  There is water running into the washer, and after the gas has been washed with that water, it runs off into the sewer.  It runs first into a tar well, and that tar might not be well-settled to the bottom, and there is an overflow to that well, so that when the water rises to that overflow, it runs off into the river.  But this coloring that we see in the river frequently, I have seen when the overflow to the gas holder had not been opened for months.  That overflow is above where we calculate to keep the level of the water, and just below the pipe conducting the gas to the meter.  The purpose of the overflow is that the water shall not get [43] high enough in the tank to run over into the pipe coming up in the center of that tank.

Q.  A gas pipe?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Then you say there is no possibility of allowing gas to escape through the sewers, and you assert positively that there was no gas let off through the manhole of the holder?

A.  There was no gas let off on the night of the fire in any place about there.

Q.  What would you understand by the order "let off the gas," if such an order were given?

A.  Well, I never heard such an order given; consequently, I am in a fog to know what they would mean by it.

Q.  And if a rather precipitous going down of the gas holder followed after that order were [44] given--

A.  Well, I do not exactly understand the question.

Q.  Suppose an order were given to let off the gas, and immediately after it was noticed that the gas holder begun to sink with more rapidity than usual, what would you think had caused that; what would you understand by the order as to what had caused the sudden sinking of the gas holder?

A.  It might have been led off into some other place, through some other main.  The gas holder might have been shut off, and some man might give the order to let off the gas, meaning to convey the idea to open up that valve and let the gas go out of that holder into some other one.

Q.  Is anyone in the habit of giving any such order as that?

[45]

A.  I have never heard any such order given while I have been with the Company.

Q.  When you directed the opening of the valve leading to the North Side, did you do that yourself always?

A.  I did that myself, unless once in a while I directed the foreman of the retort house to do it.

Q.  What would you say to him in telling him?

A.  If I wanted him to open a valve, I would tell him what valve to open.  We had, I think, fifty-two different valves located in these works, and we had them all located by the North Side valve or the valve in the meter room, the valve in the washer room, or condensing room, the inlet or outlet pipe of such a place, or the independent, or something that way.

[46]

Q.  You generally designated the valves in that way when you wanted them opened?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  When you made this connection with the North Side, and turned the gas over there, from that time on until the holder became it uncoupled, as you say it did--did you?

A.  The holder was already uncoupled when I opened the North Side valve.

Q.  And you had simply the pressure of the upper gas holder?

A.  Upper gas section.

Q.  From the time you opened it, would the pressure on the pipes communicating with the city consumption be any greater than it was before?

A.  No sir, not quite so great, because some weight was removed.

Q.  So that the gas would not flow out as freely into the pipes for consumption as it [47] did before?

A.  It flowed out as freely, probably, but not with so much force; there would not be so much pressure on the burner.  There is not so much pressure on the holder.  But the time of night when the gas holder uncouples is generally the time when some of the consumers begin to shut off, which generally keeps about equal pressure by that shutting off.  We also have a governor to govern that pressure.  That governor was regulated by a screw with a gas gauge, showing what pressure there was on the city.  That was a part of my duty--to regulate the pressure on the city, and no other man had any access to that main.

Q.  How did you lessen the pressure?

A.  By turning out this screw, by raising up a _________   (cone??)   [48] valve in the governor and choking it off through a smaller opening.

Q.  Simply diminished the capacity of the pipe it passed through?

A.  Yes, the opening of the pipe.

Q.  Did you have any apprehensions of the explosion of the gas holder that night?

A.  I did not have any fears so long as the holders kept afloat.  If the holders had got down on the bearings, then I should have been afraid of an explosion.

Q.  They did not, either of them, get down on their bearings?

A.  No sir, they were both afloat, and one of them is yet afloat; it is about four or five feet above the water.  The other one was afloat ten days or two weeks after the fire.

Q.  Is that the large one?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Will you explain to us why your apprehensions of an explo-[49] sion would not be so great when they were afloat?

A.  Simply because there is a pressure in the holder when they are afloat, and so long as there is a pressure in there, if the heat had been so intense as to burn the iron right through, the gas would have taken fire and burned, so long as there was a pressure.  When the holder struck her bearings, the atmospheric air would go in there to fill the vacuum and take the fire right in there, which would make an explosive combustion.  That small gas holder that I have spoken of, with the king post in the center, the time that Arnold and Powell's composition works burned, some seven or eight years ago, I saw one side of that

at that time red hot.

Q.  And full of gas?

A.  Not full, but half full.

[50]

Q.  And did not explode?

A.  Did not explode.  I stayed in the yard all the time, stayed in the engine room, I was then running the engine.  U.P. Harris was fire marshal at that time.[dv]

Q.  Will the drip of wash water that you let off into the sewers or any portion of that ignite, if it comes in contact with fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  I have noticed that the underside of the covers of our sewer manholes are charred.  Do you know why they should be?

A.  No sir, I do not know.

 

 

[51]

December 2, 1871

(43rd Witness)

Charles G. Wicker[dvi]

Q.  Will you please state what you know in regard to this fire?

A.  I saw the fire when breaking out or at least heard the alarm about nine or half past o'clock, stayed up until about eleven, thought it would be stopped by the fire department, and went to bed, remained there without sleeping about an hour, got up about twelve, dressed myself and went downstairs.  About one o'clock Captain Averill[dvii] came along and stopped in front of my house and made a remark [that] it was a dreadful fire.  I got into his buggy and rode down to Madison Street and came back to my house, and he made this remark:  "If you have any valuable papers, you had better go [52] down and preserve them."  Shortly after a policeman came along with a horse and buggy and requested permission to hitch it in front of my house.  I said I would like to take it and go downtown and get some papers.  I got down to Wabash Avenue about two o'clock, and as I crossed Wabash Avenue going west on Water Street, the fire broke out on both sides.  I cannot say positively as to the time, but it was not far from two, a little after.  I immediately turned around, for I did not believe it was safe to go through there and try to get my papers out, and so went back to my house.  Pretty soon after that I went over to Kimbark's[dviii] house, and she wanted me to go down and preserve some things in her father's premises, and I went and [53] got what I could.  Did not believe then the fire was coming much beyond.  I walked down after that, I think to Mr. Gray's office.  They were getting out things then, and believed they were going to burn.  Then I went down to my own house.

Q.  Where was Mr. Gray's office?

A.  On Michigan Avenue, just north of Lake.  The wind was blowing intensely, almost enough to blind one.  I got home and got my breakfast, about eight o'clock, got through my breakfast and saw the people around were packing up to move.  Mr. Walker came in and said we were going to burn.  I said I did not believe it, that I thought the fire could be stopped.  At that time I saw Alderman Wilce[dix] in his buggy and hailed him and said I thought I knew what could be done.  We went together, [54] I think about nine o'clock, to the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenue.  Then the fire had taken about everything there was west, and was just crossing and taking the building corner of Wabash Avenue and Congress Street.  I said to him, "If we could have an engine and form a line of bucket men, we could stop the fire there and save Michigan Terrace."  About that time, Commissioner Sheridan came along, and Mayor Mason and we made a strong appeal to them and said that if we could have a couple of engines there, we could stop the fire from coming any farther.  Commissioner Sheridan at once gave the order to have an engine brought there.  Then Alderman Wilce came along and said, "Let us go to work on this matter."--also Colonel Hancock.  The engine was [55] brought there in about half an hour, and there was no one as foreman, and I put hose on my back myself, and we drew it back and forth and lost some time in consequence of the want of a head, and finally Mr. Schank came along and got it where we had been trying to get it.  We got it into the water and commenced to play.  In the meantime, ex-alderman Hildreth had commenced blowing up buildings, and soon after commenced blowing up on the east side of Michigan Avenue, on the west side of Congress, and continued to blow as long as we worked.  Mr. Schank was very much exhausted and said he did not know how he could stand it; we made an earnest appeal to him to stand it, for we believed we could stop the fire.  Mr. Schank promised to keep on as long [56] as he could stand it, and kept the engine at work.  Pretty soon there came another.  By that time the fire had crossed over and got to Michigan Terrace[dx], which it need not have done, if we had had the engine in time.  We could have stopped it in time.  When it got there, it was too late, and we put it to work helping us on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street and continued working with these two engines, until we stopped the fire.

Q. Do you know anything about blowing up buildings?

A.  Yes sir.  Hildreth blew up three buildings in my presence.

Q.  You think it was necessary?

A.  I do, sir.  That is the only way we could save the west side of Michigan Avenue.

Q.  Did you see any buildings blown down west of Wabash Avenue?

[57]

A.  I did not.

Q.  You were not on Harrison Street?

A.  No sir.  All the efforts I made were right there where I think you (Commissioner Sheridan) saw me.  I considered it absolutely necessary that these buildings be blown up, and I think it was by the efforts made by a few of us, with the assistance of the mayor and the commissioners, that we stopped the fire at that point.  We  formed a bucket line and carried water from the lake and from an old well in Mr. Scammon's yard.[dxi]

Q.  From which direction was the wind blowing?

A.  The southwest.

Q.  Which direction was the fire going?

A.  Northeast, but it was going back.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  When I met you at the Michigan Avenue Hotel, when [58] I took that stream around, what did I tell you?

A.  I have forgotten.  I said so much it would be impossible to tell what I did say.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank) Did you not tell me to bring that stream back on the hotel or it would burn up the hotel?

A.  When you had two streams?

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  No.  When you had only one stream.

A.  I do not know anything about the streams.  I remember telling you to bring a stream on Michigan Avenue Hotel, or it would burn.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  But do you not know I said, "I am not going to have that hotel burn up anyhow?"

A.  I think you said that anyway.  I think you said a great many times that [59] it should not burn.

Q.  (By Commissioner Sheridan)  I did not know but I had seen you on the corner of Harrison Street?

A.  I think I met you on the corner there and told you there was no necessity of letting the fire go, that if we stayed there, we could stop it there right west of the Michigan Avenue Hotel, we could stop it.  That was the effort made.  I will say for Mr. Schank that he did the best he could, but I have no doubt if he had had one or two more engines, that he could have saved Michigan Terrace.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan)  Do you remember I told you we could do better if we had three engines?

A.  I know I begged and plead with the mayor.

Q.  What is your recollection about the force of the gale at the time you went down [60] to South Water Street?

A.  It was blowing almost a hurricane, I should say.

Q.  The fire moving very rapidly?

A.  Yes, although I will say this, that I never saw a fire that was so intense in heat that took so long a time to catch as it did coming from the west side of Wabash Avenue over to Mr. Scammon's barn.  It caught the corner and burned, I should say, twenty minutes before it went to Scammon's barn, and then my heart bled to have another engine, and I asked everybody if we could not have another engine.   

Q.  Mr. Scammon's barn was brick?

A.  Yes.  That burned a long time before it took in his house.

Q.  (By Mr. Sheridan) I believe it could have been saved if we had had another engine, it burned so slowly.

A.  Yes, it burned slowly.

[61]

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Do you recollect that there was a line formed from the lake of engines that led over to Third Avenue?

A.  I did not see them.  I only saw what was taking place where I was.  I did not see any necessity for personal effort until I met Alderman Wilce, and then I thought a few might take hold and do some good, and perhaps it was because of my own fears caused by the anxiety of my neighbors packing up things because, as I started out to attempt it, some ladies came into my house and insisted in packing up things and I told them not to, but they did pack up.  I will say this, that I had no fears of the fire going to Park Row. I believed there were men enough to form a line of buckets, if they tried, from the lake to the buildings and [62] stop it.

Q.  You know how reluctantly the people went to work.

A.  I know.  I worked as hard as I ever did in my life, but they would keep dropping out--dropping out.  I will say this much for the police, when it was suggested that they go for buckets, that they went to State Street and brought back buckets, saying that that was all they could find.

Examination by Mr. Benner

Q.  Do you know whether Terrace Row was afire before the southeast corner of Congress and Wabash Avenue caught or not--the southeast corner, where those two buildings were blown up just south of the Terrace?

A.  You mean the southwest corner?

Q.  No sir, the southeast corner. [63]  They blew up two buildings just south of the corner.

A.  Mr. Hough is on the corner of Harrison and Wabash, that they begun to tear down[dxii], and then I think they __________ one building from ____________    (that??) and blew it up.

Q.  I mean the north corner of the block.

A.  Scammon's barn or house was not on fire until that corner building had been burning some time, where we made that strong effort[dxiii].  The house caught on the corner of Congress and Wabash Avenue.

Q.  Did not that building burn before Scammon's?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Were you present when the northeast corner of Congress and Wabash Avenue was blown up?

A.  I was there from three to half past nine.

(Question repeated)

A.  I have no recollection of [64] it.

Q.  Were you there when the frame east of the brick was blown up?  The frame directly east of the brick.  East of the corner there was a frame building with a marble front, on Congress Street.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  And directly in front of that there was a frame.

A.  I was there when that was blown up.

Q.  Do you know whether the barns in the rear of that were burning previous to that?

A.  From the east where I stood most of the time, I could not see clearly over Scammon's barn.  I could see the fire gradually approaching Scammon's barn, and when it caught it burned very slowly on the barn.  It burned on the barn fifteen or twenty minutes before it took the south corner of the house.

Q.  According to your opinion, this [65] was after all the southeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Congress Street was on fire?

A.  I should say from my recollection of it that it was simultaneous, that that house on the north[dxiv]  side of Congress and Wabash Avenue was burning about the time the one was on the south side, on the corner of Wabash Avenue.  The two were burning about the same time.

Q.  You are not aware that the corner of the building on the northeast corner had fallen before that took fire?

A.  I could not say whether it had or not.

Q.  Did you see Mr. Hildreth when he first came up there and went into Terrace Row?

A.  I did not see him there at all, saw him in the rear of the Michigan Avenue Hotel, and between Congress and Harrison.

[66]

Q.  Did you see him do any blowing up there?

A.  I saw him blow up three buildings on Wabash Avenue between Congress and Harrison, and his approach was from the alley.  I was with Mr. Schank in an old barn, where we were throwing the pipes, and he was right in west of us blowing up.

Q.  Do you recollect of seeing him there?

A.  I do not.

Q.  You do not recollect a conversation you had with me in regard to sending the engine on the west side of the river?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Do you know whether those were the last buildings blown up on Michigan Avenue--those in the rear of the Michigan Avenue Hotel?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Do not know but what they were?

A.  My impression is they were [67] the last.  I suppose it will be understood that I know nothing; at least I have not professed to know anything of the fires anywhere else except at the points that I have named.  My feeling was that we could check or stop it on the corner of Congress and Wabash Avenue, and it need not go any farther south.  There is where the effort was made.  I did not pay any attention to the west side of Wabash Avenue and but very little to the north side of Congress, although I stated to a number of gentlemen we could, if we had had another engine, have prevented Michigan Terrace from burning.

Q.  You do not recollect seeing any assistant marshals there with the exception of Mr. Schank?

A.  No sir, perhaps the reason is because I did not know anyone  else.

Q.  Did not look at his hat?

[68]

A.  No.  I talked with a great many.  Mr. Schank was in charge.  When I wished anything particular, I went to him.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  You say when you went to South Water Street, the fire broke out on both sides of the street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  From what particular building did it break out?

A.  From the old wooden warehouse and Dunham's[dxv].

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  From the basement or the top?

A.  I cannot tell.  It was the top of the building, because the fire came over in this way, the blaze seemed to come in both directions.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  The reason I asked is that a number of witnesses say that the first fire they saw was in the basements of buildings.

[69]

A.  No sir, it seemed to come from the top.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  A great many say the fire was first seen in the basements of buildings.

A.  No sir.

Q.  What wooden warehouse do you speak of?

A.  The old Tuttle warehouse.  At that time, my building was not on fire.  Mine is on the northwest corner, and the wind coming from the southwest had struck across to Dunham's building.  When I started west on Water Street to Michigan Avenue, I felt sanguine  of getting to my office and getting out my papers and did not drive very rapidly, and all at once, as I was crossing Wabash Avenue, this burst of flame came over from both sides.  I was very anxious to get my papers out, but I was more anxious [70] to save my life.

Q.  You did not go far from Wabash Avenue?

A.  I did not.  I turned the horse around and went back.

Q.  You went right back home?

A.  I stopped at Mr. Ayer's a minute and talked with him.

Q.  You did not stop many minutes to see what progress it made?

A.  No sir.  I made up my mind it was going, and I had no power to stop it.  Mr. Wilmarth, at one time, while we had the engine on Michigan Avenue, jumped into the lake up to his chest to get a suction pipe fixed.

Q.  Where did you see Mr. Dunham?

A.  Walking around there on Congress Street.

Q.  Did you see anyone you recognized when you were on Water Street the first time?

A.  Not one.  It was deserted--[71] did not see a living soul.

Q.  I would like to know what you think as to the necessity of blowing up buildings.  There has been some talk about suing the city for damages, and I would like to know what you think about its necessity.

A.  It would be my opinion that, had we not blown up those buildings west of the Michigan Avenue Hotel, the whole of that block would have gone.

Q.  Unless we had plenty of water to pour upon it, but under the circumstances--

A.  I speak of facts that existed at the time.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I would like to ask you how many buildings there were blown up on Wabash Avenue south of Congress Street.

A.  Either three or four.  These were wooden buildings, stone foundation and wood on top.

[72]

Q.  Fronting north on Congress?

A.  No, west on Wabash Avenue.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Were the buildings that were blown up brick or wood?

A.  I think the corner one was brick--the corner of Congress and Wabash Avenue, the southeast corner.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  It was a frame?

A.  No sir, a brick.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Are you certain that was blown up?

A.  I am not sure of it.  My impression is there was a charge of powder put into that.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  What are the buildings just south of that?

A.  The main structure was wood.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  I think you are mistaken on that.

A.  There may be two brick dwellings on the corner and [73] then comes in the wood main structure.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Are they not repairing the brick that was blown up just south?

A.  They are building up of brick on the foundation that was there before.

Q.  Was it not brick before?

A.  No sir.  That is my impression.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  On the east side of Wabash Avenue?

A.  On the east side of Wabash Avenue.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  There is a row there of brick, and I think there is either three or four dwellings in that row that was brick.  That is where the blowing up was done?

A.  Yes, I know that.  I was in the rear of that when the blowing was done.  I did not go on Wabash Avenue at all--was not [74] around there during the whole fire.

 

[75]

December 2, 1871

44th Witness

Isaac L. Milliken

Q.  What is your residence?

A.  My residence at the time of the fire was 123 Third Avenue, two doors south of Harrison.

Q.  What was your first information of the fire?

A.  The first time was when it commenced, I presume about nine o'clock--I think.

Q.  Sunday night?

A.  Sunday night.  Having been to the fire the night before until about two o'clock, I went to bed.  The bells had been rung for fire before I retired that night, and I looked out from my chamber window, sleeping alone in my house at that time.

Q.  What called your attention to it at first?

A.  The alarm first called my attention to it.  I saw the fire. [76]  It seemed to be quite a distance off on the West Side, and I thought among a class of low buildings, and I thought it would probably soon be subdued and having been up the night before, I went to bed and went to sleep.  The next I knew of it I awoke, hearing people talking on the sidewalk, not very loud, but a bustle there, and saw it was all light, and supposed I had overslept myself in the morning, and I immediately got out of bed and looked at my watch and found it was about two o'clock.  I thought then I must be mistaken, perhaps my watch had stopped, but I found it had not.  I went to my front window and saw the whole heavens were illuminated with the fire.  I dressed myself immediately and went to Harrison and west to Griswold Street and crossed Griswold Street, went down [77] on the west side of the Rock Island and Michigan Southern freight houses as far as Polk Street.  I found when I got into that location there, seemed to be no one except people, stupefied, gazing at the fire, did not seem to be doing anything, and I discovered at that time the Michigan Southern passenger depot had not caught afire yet, at least I saw it was not burned, anyway,[dxvi] and did not see any fire about it.  I walked down, as I said, on the track on the west side of the depots to Polk Street.

Q.  Were the buildings burned on the west side of Sherman Street?

A.  Yes, and the Bridewell had burned.  It was a very hot fire and coming up north along the track, the lumber piles had got afire.  I immediately returned and saw the building on the corner of Griswold and Harrison, being a high build-[78]ing--higher than any in the neighborhood--was smoking.  The cornice of the building was smoking and it seemed to be very hot.  I opened the door.  There was a bar there and a lot of men who seemed to be stupid, and I inquired if they could get on the roof.  Finally I saw a woman, and she said she would show me how to get on the roof, and I went up through the scuttle to get on the roof, and I tried to get someone to get water there.

Q.  Was the depot burning then?

A.  It was not afire when I went south but probably took fire when I came back.  I succeeded after a while in getting a man and a boy to get water, told them I thought if that building could be saved, the fire would be stopped there on that line, and they finally got some water on the roof, and after a little while, got a [79] small hose attached to a hydrant and remained there.  I noticed that until the fire had crossed that point, and my opinion is that that was the means of stopping the fire there.  Probably that building would have been taken if that had not been done.  As soon as they got to work on the roof, I got some men, by hard work, interested enough to help me move some cars that were near this freight house.  There were two or three lines of freight cars on the track.  They seemed to extend a long distance.  They extended along south of their freight depots.  We got to moving them, and after a while Mr. Schank came along, and we got the cars moved, and I spoke to him and he seemed to agree with me that that must be the point where the fire must be stopped from crossing Harrison.  [80]  He said he had a machine there and very soon afterwards there was a stream of water, I do not know where the water came from, but I saw it was playing upon the low buildings that were east of the track, the freight house.  There were some heavy lumber piles west of the track that were creating an intense heat there, and in the meantime, I think probably about half past two o'clock, the passenger house took fire, and it seemed to me but a very few minutes after I first discovered the fire in the north end of the Rock Island passenger depot until it fell.  It fell very soon.

Q.  What time was it?

A.  It must have been between two and three o'clock.  It burned very quickly indeed.  I was astonished at the rapidity with which it was consumed.

Q.  Did you see any buildings [81] north of that on fire?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  The Pacific Hotel?

A.  It was not on fire.  It seemed to me it did not take fire until after the Rock Island passenger depot burned.  I could see that building, and it did not seem to be on fire.  After the fire had crossed the corner of Griswold and Harrison, it struck me that we could save that part of the city south of Harrison, and Mr. Schank seemed to enter into the spirit of it.  He was very much exhausted when I first saw him, blacked up, and seemed to be tired out and had only four men with him, but they worked remarkably in my opinion.  I remained there on that line of the fire until it passed State Street.  It seemed to burn rather slowly along there--it was against the wind, the wind blowing from the southwest.  [82]

Q.  Your residence was south of Harrison?

A.  Yes, a little south of Harrison on Third Avenue.  After the fire crossed Harrison, I should think about the middle of the block, perhaps further north than that--it struck me that it was about the middle, between Harrison and Van Buren--it crossed after burning the depot, took these buildings along on Griswold Street, which was a narrow street, burned these buildings and then crossed Clark Street and worked rather slowly up south on Clark.

Q.  Do you think it crossed Van Buren and crossed Clark Street before the Pacific Hotel burned?

A.  About the same time, I think.  There was a heavy fire north.  I did not go down further then.

Q. You did not observe the Pacific Hotel when it burned?

[83]

A.  I did.  I saw it burn.  I am sure that the Pacific Hotel did not burn, that is, did not fall--do not think it was on fire before the Rock Island passenger depot burned.

Q.  Did you go north of Harrison Street much?

A.  I went down after the fire had crossed Clark Street.  I went down Third Avenue as far as Jackson Street, the corner of Jackson.  The fire then in that neighborhood had not crossed Clark Street yet.  The Pacific Hotel was then on fire.  It had not crossed Clark Street then.  It crossed Clark Street in that part of the city first between Van Buren and Harrison before it crossed north of Van Buren.  I only remained a few minutes on the corner of Jackson, went down to take observations, made up my mind when I came back that the [84] whole south part of the city would burn north of Harrison.  Of course the fire did not make as rapid progress on the line I was on as in the other direction.

Q.  Was the wind blowing pretty fresh?

A.  It was blowing pretty fresh, but that was rather in our favor.  There was no means of fighting the fire scarcely except this one engine that Mr. Schank had.

Q.  You did not see any other engine working on Jackson and Clark?

A.  I did see one engine on Jackson, that is, I saw a stream of water.  I do not recollect seeing the engine.

Q.  Where was the stream playing?

A.  My recollection is now that that stream did very little good, did not seem to be well managed to me, and I cannot tell now where it was playing, but ___________   (noticed?  watched?)  standing that I made up my [85] mind they could not do any good anyway, that the fire was making such progress that one stream would be of little consequence.

Q.  You did not go west or east but came back on Third Avenue?

A.  I came back directly.

Q.  You did not go on Jackson Street much?

A.  I only went around the corner.  There was a man I was acquainted with leaving there, and I saw him moving his goods out, near the corner of Jackson, and I went back immediately, or in a few minutes.  The Palmer House did not burn for some time after that, quite a long time.  I could see that from Third Avenue where I was.  That is about all I know about the fire.  I went after I had passed State Street and we were safe in that quarter. I followed the fire along and went down [86] and saw Mr. Walker on Congress Street, was there when Terrace Row fell.

Q.  Were you a witness of the blowing up?

A.  Yes, I saw one building blown up, that is on Wabash Avenue between Congress and Harrison.

Q.  A little south of the corner?

A.  A little south of the corner of Harrison--no, it was nearer the corner of Congress.

Q.  A little south of the corner?

A.  Yes, south of Congress.

(Examination by Mr. Schank)

Q.  These cars you moved on the track, how far did you have to move them?

A.  We went down the track.

Q.  You do not recollect they were moved below Taylor?

A.  I do not know further than that.

Q.  Do you recollect that there were any switch engines around there?

[87]

A.  There was not any engine there, and there seemed to be no railroad men there at all.  I was astonished at that.  The cars might have been all saved in my opinion if they had had any attention paid to them.  The depot seemed to be entirely full of passenger cars.

Q.  Did you get any out?

A.  Not one, they were all burned.

Q.  Do you recollect what engine stood on the corner of Clark and Harrison?

A.  I do not know at all.

Q.  Do you recollect what kind of a stream was played?

A.  It was a rather faint stream.  I do not know whether it was on account of not having any water or what.

Q.  Were you there when she went to the corner of Harrison Street?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did she get any water there?

[88]

A.  Where they got it I do not know.

Q.  From the Third Avenue plug?

A.  I do not know where it came from.  I saw you working all you possibly could and using good judgment, in my opinion, at the time, with what men you had.  I saw Mr. Benner talking with you on the corner of Clark a few minutes.  After the fire struck the South Side, all the engines in the country could not save the city in my opinion.

Q. (By a commissioner)  But the limits of the fire might have been bounded?

A.  That might be, but I meant before the wind.  If there was any fault in the department, it was in the incipiency of the fire.  That I know nothing about.

 

 

[89]

December 2nd, 1871

45th witness

Louis J. Lull, sworn.[dxvii]

Q.  What is your business?

A.  Policeman.  Sergeant of Police.

Q.  What information did you have first of the fire of Sunday, October eighth?

A.  I was standing on Van Buren Street about nine o'clock and heard the alarm given, do not recollect the box, but shortly after saw the light from the West Side.  I then went back to the station and before I got there, the second alarm was turned.

Q.  To the Armory?

A.  Yes, the old Bridewell.  I went there and Sergeant Buckley[dxviii] was just getting the men out.  The men were in bed and we got them out and started for the fire.  We got to the corner of Clinton and Taylor Streets and took charge there at the corner with our men, and [90] the West Side men had charge of the corners below there.  Stayed there, I should judge, about three-quarters of an hour, perhaps not so long, half an hour.  Then we heard St. Paul's Church was on fire.  I left four or five men there and took five or six with me and went down and saw Captain Miller[dxix] and Captain Hickey[dxx] together, I am not sure what street it was, near Canal Street, and they told me to go down to Bateham's planing mill.  I went down there.  When I got there the fire had not reached there, but the cinders were coming in pretty fast, and we went to work with the owner of the planing mill to putting them out as fast as they fell in the sawdust and shavings, but it was almost impossible, kept us running around there, but we could not keep up with it.

Q.  In the yard?

[91]

A.  Yes sir, back of the mill, between that and the lumber and the turning shop in the rear, and before the fire reached there they got a stream in there.  There was an engine took position in front and got a stream in there, and I think Marshal Williams took a place in the yard, but the fire came in with such fury, after it once got through the fence, that we had to run out, could not stop any more,[dxxi]  and I got into the street and helped pull out some hose, and when we got to the street the fire had taken the planing mill, and it was not many minutes before it swept across the street, had just time to get the engine out before it burned.  We thought it would burn before we got it out.  It came so strong and fast we had to run with all our might to get down Canal Street, and some got cut off [92] and had to come around another way.  We went down Canal to the corner of Harrison, and there was an engine there working on Canal Street, and then Marshal Williams wanted me to get some men in there to help push over.  There was a vacant lot on the corner and all that was on it was a coal office--wanted to push that over--thought we could stop it there and we got some men there, and it got so very hot that they moved, and we could not get enough aid to push that over.  Then that took fire, and they just had time to pull the engine out.  I did not see where they went to.  Then I went down to the corner of Van Buren and Canal and there met Captain Hickey again, and the Captain and myself went to Marshal Williams and asked him what to do, and he said to get some men [93] to the buildings on the corner of Canal and Van Buren, running from Canal to Clinton, that he thought the brick building on the south side of Van Buren would hold the fire until they could get the best of it.  I got a lot of men up there and stayed there myself awhile and then came down to see what was going on down there below.  I got men enough up there to keep the sparks off from that building and when I got down the fire had got to Van Buren Street on the east side of Canal.  There was an engine then playing on Van Buren Street on the east side of Canal.  There was an engine then playing on Van Buren Street at the corner, the northeast corner, at the block there.

Q.  Did you notice where the stream was leading?

A.  Directly across the street.  First I think it was on some wooden [94] buildings below the tobacco works, but I did not notice particularly.  I noticed they were trying to stop the fire's coming across Van Buren Street on the east side of Canal, but the stream did not seem to have any effect at all.  It seemed as though it burned the water before it touched the ground, and there was a lead of hose running down Canal Street, and Mr. Williams called on some me[n] to help save that.  I took hold of it and stayed there until I blistered my hands and singed my hair some, and then I left.  I knew men were on top of this house and I was afraid they would get cut off, and so called to them to come off, and they did.  Then I saw them try to move the engine, but it was too hot to do anything.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Do you know where that [95] lead of hose went that I wanted you to help to pull out?

A.  South on Canal.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  It did not go west through the alley?  There was one on Canal Street, there were two streams along in the gutter on the north of Canal Street.

A.  There were two streams that were working, I think, at that time.  I know we hauled it along, were then north of Van Buren on Canal and were hauling it along the street.

Q.  Were not any buildings burning on the north side of Van Buren, east of Canal?

A.  No sir, not on the north side, but it got very hot.  It might have been burning slowly, but not very much.  It got so hot that I noticed some men trying to take their clothing off from the engine and it burned them and they could not.

Q.  Would there have been any [96] difficulty in their staying there?

A.  I do not think anyone could have lived there, because I noticed some of the firemen tried to take some clothing off from the engine, and they could not.  I could not stand it a minute, not even in the crossing, it was so hot.

Q.  Do you know what became of that engine?

A.  I do not.  I think it was moved some, but I do not know where it went to.  I think they had a lead of hose on there.  I was anxious about the men on the roof.  They had to go to Clinton Street to get off the building, and I was watching them.  At that time, I think it was officer Morgan that told me the fire was on the South Side.  I had been ordered by Captain Hickey, if I heard of any fire on the South Side, to take all the men I could and go there, and officer Morgan was the only man [97] I could get, and we went down to the Armory, and the fire was just blazing up in the tar works, roofing works, between Adams and Monroe[dxxii], on the line of where Franklin Street would be, if it went through.

Q.  Had it got into the gas works building?

A.  No sir.  There was not a great fire then, probably one building on fire.  This tar there burned up pretty hot.

Q.  Did you see any other buildings burned up there at all?

A.  Not at that time.

Q.  None south of Van Buren?

A.  No sir.  I looked, when I came over Van Buren, all up the river, and could not see any sign of fire except there.  I could see up the river a good distance.  When I got to Monroe Street and had been there perhaps three or four minutes, an engine came.

Q.  Monroe and what?

[98]

A.  Monroe and Wells Street.  They got a lead toward this tar works, but could not get it any distance, it got so hot, and in less than ten minutes it spread over half a block.  Then they commenced playing on the Merchants Union Express and in the mill that is there.

Q.  A grist mill?

A.  I think it is a sort of a refrigerator works or something of that kind.  Bent and Goward's.[dxxiii]  A lot of us got together and run forty or fifty wagons out of the stable.  I inquired if the horses were in the stable, and they said they were.  I hauled wagons until I got pretty tired.  I was a little afraid of the gas works and tried to get people to move off the corner, for fear they would blow up.  They were so crazy I could not do anything with them.  They were all perfectly wild.  I then went [99] with officer Morgan down LaSalle and got down across Madison.  The fire just took in a little old carpenter shop in the rear of the Oriental Building[dxxiv] and I think the same engine that was playing on Wells Street came there.

Q.  You say you saw that as you passed down LaSalle Street?

A.  No sir, I got down to the alley nearly opposite the Long John's[dxxv] and saw the light, and Morgan said, "I think there must be a fire in the rear," and I ran into the alley and looked into the basement, thinking perhaps it was in the basement.  When I got back it was on fire.  He said it was a carpenter shop and I knew the carpenter shop was there.  Then Marshal Williams came there and took the lead right into the basement right clear to the rear, and in a few minutes it drove him out of there [100] and went into the alley and could not stay there long.  That is the last I saw of that engine.  I then went down to the Central Station[dxxvi] and saw the mayor there.

Q.  Had the courthouse taken fire then?[dxxvii]

A.  No sir.

Q.  The Board of Trade?[dxxviii]

A.  No sir, none of the buildings on the east side of LaSalle Street were on fire at that time.  I met ex-alderman Hildreth there[dxxix] and went into the station to see if there was anyone to give orders or say if there was anything necessary to be done.  I met Hildreth and he said, "you are just the man I want.  I want you to come with me and help to blow up buildings."  He said, "I want someone to carry powder."  I went out and got eight or ten policemen.  I think they were from the [101] North Side, and brought them in there.  I think he got the order from the mayor or Marshal Williams.  He said he had the order to blow up buildings, and I told him if we were going to blow up buildings, we had better commence pretty quick for the fire was coming very fast, and we got, I think, ten or fifteen kegs of powder put into the Union National Bank, took a lot of policemen and carried it in there.  He had a keg and I took a keg and took the fuse.  Then the policemen went out and he and I shut the door and stayed in there, kicked in the heads of the kegs and spread out the powder on the floor so there would be a sort of a train from one keg to another.  We stayed there until we could hear the walls falling near us, and I got frightened and told him he must hurry up.  So we took [102] a pretty long lead of fuse and lighted it with the gas, saw it burn about six inches, put it on the floor and ran.  It did not go off for six or seven minutes.  I asked him what else we could do, and he said we had some more powder and might as well try another building.

Q.  Did that disturb that building much?

A.  Blew the center out of it.

Q.  Blew it right up?

A.  Yes, it blew the front windows out, but did not seem to disturb the front wall.  I have noticed since that it blew the back wall all out, seemed to crumble the building all up.

Q.  Did you take any precautions to see if there was anyone in it?

A.  Yes sir.  I had been to the top, nearly, before that, and warned everybody before [103] we took in the powder.

Q.  Was there anyone in it?

A.  There were several men that had taken out books.  I was the last man to go out.  I held a man's books while he went in, and I asked him, and he said there was no one in.  I went into the bank there first and wanted to see if there was anyone in there.  I found some men there and asked them if they did not want to remove something, but they did not seem to be inclined to.  Then we got some more policemen.[dxxx]  The powder had been transferred from the commissioners'[dxxxi] room down to the engineer's room under the sidewalk, and we got it out of there and started for Smith and Nixon's, started to go out on the north side of the courthouse and found it too hot and had to go to the Sher-[104] man House[dxxxii] and on the east side of Clark and got the powder in a restaurant basement there, a sort of a kitchen.

Q.  In what building?

A.  Smith and Nixon's building, Clark Street front.[dxxxiii]  The policemen dragged the powder over there.  It was worse there than at the Union National Bank building.[dxxxiv]  The cinders were sweeping down the street so that my coat took fire several times in carrying my powder.  The policemen ran out and we shut the doors then and laid the fuse, and we fixed the powder there pretty well, took a good deal more time, and during that time ex-alderman Hildreth walked right through the powder, a pretty careless proceeding, kicked the heads in so that we had the powder all loose, but the basement was so small we thought it [105] would have good effect there.  Then when we got fixed, we took about six or seven feet of fuse and lighted it with the gas.  Then I unfastened the door and held it until he laid the fuse on the floor and we both jumped out.  We went from there to Dearborn and Washington and drove the people back, and in a short time that blew out, blew the center right up, did not blow the front wall out at all.

Q.  Had not the courthouse taken fire then?

A.  Yes, the courthouse was on fire then.  The courthouse was on fire when we took the powder out of the Central Station, the old part, the new part did not seem to burn and I did not think it would.[dxxxv]  After that we went down on Dearborn and waked up a family that did not know anything [106] about the fire.  A man came out and wanted to know what was the matter.

Q.  Where was this?

A.  Below the Titsworth engine house.

Q.  North or south?

A.  91 Dearborn, I think, north of the Titsworth engine house.  He asked what was the matter and we told him the city was afire, and the sooner he got out of that the better.  At that time the building was on fire from some cinders there.  Then we went to tearing down awnings on the corner there.  That did not seem to do much good.  We did not make much headway.  Then an awning got on fire on the east side of Dearborn north of Washington.  We put that out but did not seem to do much good.  Then we went around to the corner of State and Randolph and we helped there to get some [107] clothing out of a store.  The man seemed to be very anxious to get his clothing out of the store, and we helped him, but the fire came through there in a very few minutes.

Q.  Did Morgan stay with you most of the time?

A.  No sir, officer Morgan left somewhere on LaSalle Street before we blew up any of those buildings.

Q.  You were with Mr. Hildreth then?

A.  I was with him at that time.  Mr. Hildreth and I at one time got separated on State Street, and I kept working along toward the--went up to the Bigelow House, that was then burning.  It got to be nearly daylight about that time.  The Bigelow House was on fire, and the [De] Haven Block[dxxxvi] above, and I went to the corner of Dearborn and Quincy, and they were trying to get hose enough there [108] to save the wooden buildings on the east side of Dearborn Street, and we got some hose, some white canvas hose, out of the Palmer House, and had the hose all right and I came along and sung out "turn on the water," and then I heard there was no water, that is, no head of water.  There was an engine came then to the corner of Jackson and Third Avenue, the Long John, I guess it was, because I know a man we call "Alec" was foreman of the engine on the corner of Jackson and Third Avenue.[dxxxvii]  I asked him if he had water, and he said "yes," but it was dead water, I understood him, no head at all.  We got a stream down there to save these buildings, until De Haven Block burned down so low there was no danger, and then I went up Jackson to Fourth Avenue.  Between [109] Jackson and Van Buren I found there was only one house on fire on the east side of Fourth Avenue, and there were three or four colored men with water and I got one on top of the roof and passed water up to him and put the fire out.  It was only a slight fire, on the clapboards.  Then I went down to Jackson Street and the colored church took fire, and I went into the alley.[dxxxviii]  We had no ladders and there was no truck.  I got a ladder in the alley, and someone got another, both too short, and got a stream on the shed but could not get one on the church, but had water enough up there so that we could have kept that down very well.  Mr. Meserve was there, the proprietor of the Palmer House.[dxxxix]  He had the pipe up on there.  The firemen seemed completely exhausted.  Alec could [110] hardly move,[dxl] and the others seemed equally exhausted.  I went then to the corner of Van Buren and Fourth Avenue to see how the fire was getting along and a man came running up and said if we could not get water, the rest of this part of the town might burn.  I ran with him to about two hundred feet south of Van Buren and found the fire was just burning up on the side of a wooden house, in the clapboards, and if we could have had half a dozen pails of water we could have put it out.

Q.  On the west side of Fourth Avenue?

A.  Yes sir.  It had burned the east side of Fourth Avenue clear down so there did not seem to be much danger, but this happened to be heated and took fire, and if we had had a little water we could have put it out.  I asked Alec [111] if he could get a lead of hose through there, and he said no, he had not hose enough.  I told him what would be the consequence, that the rest of that part would go.  I understood him; it was no use to move the engine up there because he could not get water south of Jackson, and we had very little water there, hardly could force it through the hose, there was so little, and then they got this Palmer House hose on and led that up from the alley and could not get enough to run up.  I saw several houses had taken fire above there.  Then I went to see if I could get another engine on the lakeshore.[dxli]  I went down to Madison but could not get any.  I saw that part of the city was going pretty fast, and I was so tired I sat down and did not stay there a [112] minute before I went to sleep on the sidewalk.  I sat there ten or fifteen minutes and a team came along and very nearly ran over me.  I waked up and started back and the people, as I came along, thought they had better move stuff out for the fire was coming down.  I went down and saw Captain Hickey at Drake and Farwell's Block,[dxlii] and he and Mr. Hildreth were directing the blowing up of a building on Wabash Avenue.  I told him it was no use, for the fire was coming down through and they could not help it.  They were all excited and I could not get much satisfaction.  Then they said they would blow up and try to save the depot,[dxliii] and I took a keg of powder where they told me they were going to, to blow, and stayed there until it got so hot I could not see, and then went back [113] and found that they had blown up opposite the spotted church.[dxliv]  Then the fire came through from Van Buren onto Wabash Avenue faster than I had seen it come anywhere else in a northeast course.  I went up to Harrison and walked along Harrison to the corner of State, and the fire was going very fast right against the wind.  Sergeant Buckley and Tunison[dxlv] were there and they said they wanted to tear down a building on the corner of Harrison Street, the northeast corner, and the man would not let them.[dxlvi]  All the rest were brick buildings, between that and Wabash Avenue, and the saloon keeper would not let them.  I told them to go ahead.  Tunison says, "do you give the order?"  I said, "yes, go ahead. If you are afraid, give me an axe."  I went up with an axe and tore down the joist [114] and clapboards on the side, until I got exhausted and could not lift the axe, and then gave up to someone else, and they got a rope around some of the joists and got men to pull on that.  We pulled it down a piece at a time.  Then I went on the other side of the street and it was pretty hot, and the fire would break out every little while on the other side of Harrison Street and the east side of State Street.  There was a stream on the west side of State near Harrison, I do not know what engine, but that kept that corner pretty cool.  Then I got some men posted along the street, Mr. Green was one, from the post office,[dxlvii] and a lot more, and we got some water out of a cistern, tubs full and buckets full, got them all along there and kept the fire down on these houses there.  I got on the roof, and [115] when it commenced to smoke I would sing out and they would throw on water.[dxlviii]  Mr. Hildreth was blowing up some buildings then--a brick dwelling house belonging to Mr. O'Neill.[dxlix]  I stayed there until there was no danger, and they stopped it on Wabash Avenue down to Congress, so there was no danger of the fire going further south, and then I started along Harrison Street for the West Side to see how much of it had burned.  I lived over there and did not know how far the fire had gone. 

Q.  If those brick buildings on the north side of State and Harrison had burned, instead of being blown down, what would have been the consequence?

A.  We could not have saved the next block or stopped it anywhere north of Twelfth Street.  There were a lot of men came to Sergeant Buckley and wanted us to pull down [116] a lot of buildings up there, but we had nothing to tear down with.  I told them if they would go down on Harrison Street, they could work there, but they would not.  The men who were the most anxious to have buildings torn down were the last who were willing to work.

Q.  What time of day was the fire finally checked at Harrison and Congress Street?

A.  I should judge it was between--about eleven or half past eleven o'clock.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  That wooden building that the saloon keeper would not allow you to pull down, you pulled down after all?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  Did that stop the fire?

A.  It did.  We got it down so low that the heat could not go across the street enough to burn up the other corner.

[117]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  The time that you put the powder in Smith & Nixon's building, were you aware that the fire was running south of you toward the lake?

A.  No sir, I do not think it had crossed Clark Street at all, then, at least we could not see it.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  It was south of you but worked in that way?

A.  I was so blinded, I could not see more than half a block.  I had cinders in my eyes and could not see anything.

 

Examination adjourned to two o'clock P.M. today.[dl]

 

 

 

[118]

Mathias Benner sworn

December 2, 1871

(46th witness)

Q.  Are you a member of the fire department?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Your position?

A.  Third Assistant fire marshal.

Q.  You reside where?

A.  76 West Randolph.

Q.  Your duties have been mostly confined to the West Division?

A.  No sir, not entirely so.

Q.  Mostly?

A.  Yes sir, that is, to a large extent.

Q.  Each assistant has work[ed] mostly in the division in which he resided has he not, done the general routine work?[dli]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  In the case of a fire, it made no difference which division the marshal resided in?

A.  No sir.  We all had our districts that we run to.  My district comprised the whole of the [119] West Division, and the South Division on the first alarm as far as Fourteenth Street and the North Division, I took in those boxes on Chicago Avenue.  The last box I went to, was 145 in the North Division.[dlii]

Q.  From the river north to Chicago Avenue?

A.  Yes sir, 145 is still a little north of that.

Q.  State what you know of the origin and progress of the fire of October eighth and ninth.

A.  I suppose you wish me to confine myself to the Sunday night fire.

Q.  You may state whether or not there was a fire on Saturday night and how long it continued, whether all the department were at it, and what the condition was of the fire department on Sunday night in consequence of it.

A.  On Saturday evening, I think it was between seven and eight o'clock, it might possibly have been a little [120] later, box 13 came in.[dliii]  I proceeded to the fire and found it just south of Monroe on Wells.  I was in the rear of that fire most of my time.  While I was there I had occasion to go up into one of the buildings, and as I came out into Wells Street front, some parties told me there was another large fire in the West Division.  I immediately [went] around to the corner, found my wagon there, and jumped into it, and drove for the West Division across Adams Street bridge.  When I got to the corner of Adams and Canal, I ran my horse to the corner of Van Buren and Canal and I saw the large planing mill of Lull and Holmes on fire.  I knew it would make a considerable of a fire and therefore went to the box and ordered to turn in a second alarm as soon as I could.  That was the first thing I did.  Two hundred eighty seven [121] was the box.   I knew that all the engines with the exception of one that were on that box were engaged at the fire on the South Side; therefore, I turned in the second alarm as soon as possible in order to call the engineer, that upon ordinary occasions, went to that box on the third alarm.  According to instructions that the different foremen[dliv] had received, I believe that if there is a fire in a certain district, and another should occur in the same district--that is, for instance, we will say that the engines that go to one box and another alarm coming in from some other box, that the same number of engines come.  Those that take that in on the second then take it in on the first.  I[n] case of a second alarm, those that go in the fire on the third alarm, have to take it in on the second.  That [122] was my reason in hurrying to get to this box so as to turn in a second alarm so as to call in those engines that ought to come in on the third alarm.  The Little [Giant][dlv] got to the corner of Van Buren and Canal when I got there.  She was the first engine there.  After I turned in the second alarm I was with their pipe a few minutes and the Chicago came and took the plug at the corner of Jackson and Van Buren.

Q.  I want to be rather brief in this matter, not to go over the particulars of that, but for the purpose of showing the character of that fire and the length of time the men were occupied.  Of course all that was wearing upon the men, machinery, and everything else.

A.  I will state on Sunday morning  Mr. Williams, Mr. Schank, and Mr. Walter[dlvi] went home to get their breakfast.  Mr. Schank [123] __________       ______________  (run [and] asked?--if I do say this, I will have to insert a footnote, stating that this is illegible, and that this is a best guess.))  to me, "I will go and get my breakfast and come back and relieve you and let you go and get yours."  Said I, "correct!"  I stayed there until it was between five and ten minutes to one o'clock Sunday afternoon.  I had had no breakfast.  I had sent the biggest portion of the engines home.  I went home to get my breakfast or rather dinner at that time.  I sent my driver to the Titsworth house and notified the foreman of the company to come to that fire and relieve a certain other company.  After I got home I got something to eat, laid down and took some rest.  I didn't have a great deal of sleep from the very fact that there was a great many coming in.  I had __________   (invited?  written?)  some parties that day to call upon me to see a silver set that I [had] presented to me before that.  There was quite a good many of them.  [124]  About dusk I got up out of bed, had my supper and was there when 28 came in.  I went to the corner or very near the corner of Taylor and Clark, returned home, the fire didn't amount to much, and was at the house at the time 342 came in.

Q.  About how many hours did the fire department have to work upon the Saturday night fire and upon the ruins?

A.  There was a portion of the department at work there about eighteen hours.

Q.  Were any of them at work on the ruins there when this alarm from 342 came in?

A.  That I don't say, I don't think there was.  At the time the alarm came, I went to the corner of Randolph and Jefferson.  My driver came along with the wagon.  I got into it and we drove up Jefferson.  I told my driver to take the ________  (track??)  and go straight ahead.  There is a mistake about this box, for that fire is where [125] this fire is located.  We went right up Jefferson to the corner of Taylor.  I got out of the wagon there.  I saw the Chicago's lead on Taylor east of Jefferson.  I passed right east onto  Taylor, I should judge about seventy-five feet west of the corner of Clinton.  I found a lead of hose--

Q.  West or east?

A.  West of Clinton.  I found a lead of hose leading in south from Taylor towards the alley.  I followed that to near the alley.  When I arrived there I found the Economy's pipe coming.  I asked one of the men, I don't recollect whether it was one of the pipemen or not, in what direction they led from.  He told me, "from the south," and I immediately ordered them from the alley and get around in front of the fire, because I thought one stream in the rear was sufficient.  I left this one pipe in the rear and took them around in the front.  At [126] that time there was a row of three buildings on fire on De Koven Street east of Mrs. O'Leary's cottage.  I took the Economy's lead between two large two story buildings standing there almost directly in line with those other two in the rear.  I left them there, went west on

De Koven to the Little Giant's stream.  I found they were just east of what I supposed from the evidence was Mrs. O'Leary's cottage, between that and another one that was east of it.  I went still further west just east of the large two story brown frame, passed over the sidewalk to the alley.  In doing so I had kicked out two boards out of the fence to get through.[dlvii]  The rear __________   (portion?) of this barn, or shed, then, was afire, so was also the cornice and roof of this large two story brown building.  I ordered the Giant's stream to get in between this fence [127] and the large two story house so as to take in through the rear.  When we got on the north end of this large two story building, I took hold of the pipe myself and turned the pipe so the water would strike the cornice of the large two story, and I supposed put it out.  I ordered them to put out what fire there was in this barn.  This barn was connected with a large frame building that run from the alley to the corner of

De Koven Street on Jefferson.  I then ordered Lewis Fiene, one of the hook and ladder men, to go up in that barn and see if there was any more fire left, and if there was, to put it out.  I returned, then, and went east again.  At that moment the Sherman led in their hose.  I ordered them in the large two story building just west of where I had left the Economy.  I [128] ordered the Economy upstairs into this large two story building where they were getting a roof ladder, ordered them, and they had a stream up there when I left.  I then went into the rear of that building to see that that stream that I had left there was still there.  I found they were.  My object in doing that was, I wanted a stream there so as to save it from spreading east and if I hadn't found that, I should have taken the Sherman.  I should have taken the Sherman, but as I found that there I left both the Economy and the Sherman where they were.  I went back to the Giant['s] stream then and found this large two story building on fire under the roof.  I ordered the wall of that building torn down and the roof ladder put up and ordered the Giant's stream under that roof.  I then started and went east to [129] Clinton Street, north on Clinton to Taylor.  I there found the Long John's pipe laying on the northeast corner.  The fire was then running northeasterly.  I ordered the stream to the northeast as far as I could get there between some sheds and had them play on a barn about fifty feet northeast of that.  They were there a few minutes until I was satisfied in my own mind that that was safe.  As I was turning back, I saw the Sherman leading in their hose up towards the corner of Taylor and Clinton.  The southwest corner, two story frame was on fire.  The northeast [corner?] was smoking pretty well.  I spoke to Mr. King[dlviii] and asked him, said I, "_______ hurry up with that water and get up there and relieve them fellows so that other corner won't catch fire."  He was then hurrying [130] up.  I immediately went west to where the Giant was and I found that the large row of buildings on the northeast corner of Jefferson and De Koven Streets was on fire.[dlix]  I found the Giant had two leads out, one on De Koven Street, they were up in a little shed and another up on Clinton Street.  I went for a short hook and ladder and went upstairs and had some ceiling torn down and ordered one of the pipes up between the roof and the ceiling.  At that time I had an idea we had that thing checked.  It wasn't but a minute or two afterwards before that was on fire from one end to the other under the roof.  She had got such headway that before I could shift the stream she had run all over it.  About that same time Mr. Schank came along and said, "Mat, all the engines that you can spare, [131] send up to this fire."  I asked Mr. Schank, "John, where has this fire gone to?"  The remark he made was, "she has gone to hell and gone."  I then ordered the Chicago--previous to that, I had ordered the Chicago stream to go to this __________ and also the Illinois.  I ordered the Chicago, then, to immediately to take up and proceed to the north end of the fire.  I also told the foreman of the Illinois--there was a cottage on fire just north of Taylor Street, a little east of Jefferson--I ordered the foreman of the Illinois to put that out and as soon as he had it out, for him to proceed also to the north of the fire.  Then I told Mr. Musham, the foreman of the Giant, said I, "you draw your stream from this building and let it burn as soon as possible."  My object in doing that was, I was satisfied [132] in my own mind that I couldn't save but a very small percentage of the building, and I thought we could use the engine to more advantage at some other point.  I then gave Mr. Musham charge.  Said I, "You take charge of this corner and see that it don't spread any further."  I started then east to Jefferson, north to Taylor and from that onto Canal.  I think the fire then was raging on the east side of Canal.  I found both sides of Canal in[dlx] fire both east and west of the corner of Ewing, and Beiersdorf, a large furniture factory, I found was on fire.[dlxi]  Mr. Beiersdorf came to me and said, "Mr. Benner, I'll give you a thousand dollars if you save my building."  I said, "Mr. Beiersdorf, you ______   ________   (may but???) just as well offer me a million [133] for I could not stop it.  It was bound to be burned.  Then previous to that they had moved the Waubansia engine from that corner and took it to the next corner south.  I ordered a lead  of hose to be taken from where they were on Canal Street and led east on Ewing.  I had an idea we could cut it off, prevent it from getting into those lumberyards, but I found it was useless, that the lumberyards were then on fire, sweeping both south and east.  I ordered one lead put onto the engine and led up Canal Street north, I should judge, about one hundred feet or 150.  About that time it was getting very hot there.  The engineer of the Waubansia, it seems, called upon some citizens to assist him in removing the engine.  I saw a crowd gather around [134] the engine for the purpose of hauling her away.  I ordered the men to let go of the engine and leave her where she was.  Mr. Allen[dlxii] told me he couldn't stand it there.  I says to Mr. Allen, "you stand here until I give you orders to leave."  He told me, "well, if you take the responsibility upon yourself, I will stay here as long as I can."  Said I, "you leave that to me as far as the responsibility is concerned."  John McLean, the foreman of the William James, came up to me and said, "that is right, don't you allow that engine removed from there."  Mr. Prescott, an ex-member of the fire department, also said, "don't you allow that engine to be moved at present."  I told them, just as long as I saw any chance to cut off the fire there, I certainly wouldn't. [135]

I ordered Mr. McLean to get another lead of hose on the other discharge gate.  I think he took one hundred feet of hose, or fifty, I am not certain, and meanwhile the Waubansia had about 350 feet.  The fire was then crawling on us from the northwest and northeast and she had crossed already to the southeast of us.  Between the two streams, one we had to protect the engine and the other was to protect Forquer Street.  It had already crossed south, east of Canal.  At that time the insurance man, S. M. Moore[dlxiii] and there were several parties, I do not know what their names were, came to me and wanted me to move the engine to the foot of the river.  I told him that I wouldn't move that engine, that if I couldn't cut [136] her off there, I couldn't cut her off anywhere.  Mr. Moore came up and called me to one side and wanted me to go down and see the location.  That is the insurance man Moore.  Said I, "Mr. Moore, I can see from here the exact location, and," said I, "if you will only leave it with me, I will attend to it."  Then I sent Mr. Prescott--Joe Prescott, I think it is--to notify the foreman of the Little Giant that as soon as he could leave the place where he was, I wanted him to come to the foot of Taylor Street.  He went and brought an answer that Mr. Musham would be down there in half an hour.  About the time I felt pretty safe about having the fire checked in that corner, a party came to me and said, "Mat, [137] there is a building on fire on the south side of the street."  I was then close to the engine.

Q.  South side of Forquer?

A.  Yes sir.  West of Canal.  I immediately left the engine and went and saw the building myself.  It was an old-fashioned two story building.  The stairs were very near the center of the building between the front room and the kitchen.  I tried to get my way up but it was so smoky that I couldn't.  I came out and ordered the boys to turn the stream towards the windows and see whether they couldn't break them.  We picked up stones and blocks and threw them into the windows and broke the glass and we turned the stream in there and a few min-[138] utes afterwards I went back into the building [and] made my way upstairs to the front window.  I broke the window out and I asked the boys to hand me the pipe.  They handed me the pipe through the window.  Just barely had hose enough so I could get into the room where the fire was started and water to put it out.  I found all the furniture of the house had been removed and a bed tick had been emptied in the rear room upstairs and the straw and hay, whatever was in it, had been set afire by somebody.

Q.  The furniture had all been taken out?

A.  Yes sir.  Mr. Prescott made the remark to me.  "Mat," said he, "I would save that building if I never saved another building in the [139] world."  Said I, "that is my intention."  When I got back to the corner, the foreman of Ryerson's lumberyard came to me and, said he, "Mat, I want you to take care of us down there."  I made the remark, "leave that to me," or, "I will attend to it," one or the other, I do not recollect which.  I do not recollect at the time whether he made me any promises or not, I do not recollect now or did not thin[k] that he had made me any promises, but just as soon as I could leave that point with safety, I ordered the Waubansia's engine be moved to the corner of Taylor and Stewart Avenue.  I ordered foreman McLean from the James to take a few lengths of hose and put [140] on a plug stream from that plug that I was just taking the engine from because there was a large quantity of tallow or lard, grease of some kind, stored under the southeast corner under the sidewalk.  It was boarded up.  The man that owned it said there was a great quantity of lard or tallow, whatever there was in there, and if ever that gets afire, it is going to make a hot one.  I left Mr. McLean and a man there to take care of that.  The citizens took hold of the Waubansia and moved her to where I told them, corner of Taylor and Stewart Avenue.  I ordered two leads to be stretched out from that engine, one east and another west.  At that time the Chicago [141] Dock Company's property or the Chicago Dock Company's buildings--there was two sections of it on fire.

Q.  The main building?

A.  Yes sir, the east section and the center one.  That building, I believe, was in three sections.  The superintendent, I believe it was, told me there was three to four hundred barrels of high _______  (wines??)  in the third floor of that building and if ever that gets afire it will drive you.  There was one lead of hose taken up into that building onto the top floor and the others were led west.  It was then very hot on Taylor between Taylor and Stewart Avenue.  A large hall used for Turner Hall on the south side was smoking, expecting every second or minute it would catch.  Also [142] the ice house on the corner of Taylor and Stewart Avenue.  I gave the east lead the water for about two or three minutes and then I shut that off and kept the one stream which was the west one running all the time from that out.  There was a lumberyard just north [of?] Taylor Street and it made a very hot fire.  About that time the Jake Rehm engine came down and took the plug at the corner of Canal and Taylor.  I ordered her lead to lead east into the alley running north and south and for them to take their stream up that alley north so as to cool it down and stop those buildings from catching fire facing on Canal.  There was two large two story frames there and they did so.

[143]

At the same time the Giant had come to the foot of Taylor and they were playing very nearly the center of the Chicago Dock Company's property.[dlxiv]  The steamer J.B. Rice came and reported to me, and also the Sherman, and I ordered both those engines to form a line from the river and bring their hose as far west as they could so as to play just east of this partition wall dividing the third section of this Chicago Dock Company's building.  They had not worked there a great while when there was some parties from the South Division came to me.  I knew them by sight, I did not know what their names were, and said, "for God's sake, [144] send us an engine or two over there.  If you don't, it will spread south of Taylor on the South Side and there was no salvation for the South Side."  I asked them how far south the fire had got over there.  They told me it was close on them.  I immediately ordered the Rice and Sherman up to go to the South Side and take their positions at the foot of Taylor.  The Rice, as I understand, went there and don[e] good service.  The steamer Sherman was detained a considerable length of time by a train of cars, I believe, in the way that prevented them from getting over.  A little while after that the Rehm's water gave out.  I wanted to know what was the matter and they told me they didn't know.  [145]  I thought it strange that the Waubansia could get all the water she could use and at the same time the Rehm couldn't get any.  I said to Mr. McLean, the foreman of the James, said I, "John, you go up there and try that plug, open it."[dlxv]  I thought probably somebody was playing a trick on them.  Went and shut off the water while the engine was at work.  They disconnected their suction from the plug and Mr. McLean opened the plug and found there was no water in the plug.  Then I ordered the Rehm into the lumberyard for the purpose of taking the Giant's water.  I ordered the Giant's foreman to give the Rehm water.  I wanted to use the water then on this ___________  (partition??) wall so as to [146] prevent the fire from getting into this third section of the Chicago Dock Company's[dlxvi] building.  They done so and when they had the thing pretty safe, I left those three companies in that position, the Giant and Rehm in a line playing on the Chicago Dock Company's property and the Waubansia putting out some lumber piles north of Taylor and west of Stewart Avenue.  I proceeded then to the South Division over Twelve Street bridge.  I went over with a hose cart.  I forget what cart it was.  When I arrived there, I found the north end of that long row, corner of Harrison and Clark Street, was just taking fire.  I ordered an extra lead of that engine to be taken around to the rear.  My object in doing that was to prevent it from getting [147] into that church.  The Jewish synagogue, I believe it is, on the corner there.[dlxvii]  It was then very hot but before we got water the roof had got fire.  I asked some citizens there whether they knew or not whether that church was lathed and plastered.  They told me they didn't know.  I asked a man to help me bust open a door or window so that we could get in it and see.  I thought if it was only lathed and not plastered, we could force enough water between the lath and the outside to put it out.  I saw that it was both lathed and plastered.  I saw it was useless to attempt to put out the fire.  I then went with the Brown's pipe in this long row.  I got an axe and commenced tearing down the wall, but there was [148] so much fire under that wall then we were obliged to give it up.  I believe Mr. Carter Harrison,[dlxviii] I believe it is, the agent or owner, he told me to try and save that row.  I told him if I had a short hook, I would.  He got an axe for me and I saw in a very few minutes that it was useless for us to undertake to put that out.  I told the foreman of the T.B. Brown, "you had better draw your stream and let it burn as quick as possible and keep it from spreading."  Mr. Schank was around there.  In fact, I saw him a little previous [to] that and I told him, "if you stay here, I shall go farther east."  I went east to Wabash Avenue, up to the head of Congress Street.  I then found that they had formed a lead there [149] from the lake.  The fire then was running across the street a little east of Congress Street.  They hadn't hose enough to lead to State Street at that time.  I had come over with a hose cart from the West Division they had some hose on.  I do not recollect how much and I thought I would go after that hose and put it on that lead.  When I started back, the Brown then had her stream east of Fourth Avenue on Harrison in the rear of a large row of brick buildings.  I thought it was not safe to take what extra hose they had from them then, so I left them.  I went back to the east again and I found the fire had crossed State Street and the Rice's stream was then south of Congress Street and [150] the alley.  I went back again then on my ___________  (road??) back at the corner of Harrison and State Street and I saw Mr. Landick.  He was moving.  I spoke to him and said, "I do not think I would move if I was in your place.  I think you will be safe."  At that time the T.B. Brown was going up Harrison to take the plug at the corner of Third Avenue and Harrison.  [151]  Mr. Schank ordered the Brown to lead out their hose.  I told them not to lead out till such time as they had connected their engine with the plug to see whether they could get any water or not.  They connected their engine with the plug and the engineer started the engine and as soon as I saw they were getting water I then told them to run out their hose and get to work.  Mr. Schank was then still with them.  I went to the corner of Wabash Avenue and Congress again and I found the fire was running east on Wabash Avenue to the corner of Van Buren.  There had been a lot of goods carried out of some dwellings and put close to the sidewalk in the street.  They had got afire [152] and there was some of them on the top of a lead of hose that was supplying the J.B. Rice.  I ordered a team, I do not know what team it was, to hook onto the Rice and pull her away from that place.  One of the John's men, I think it was Mr. Wagner,[dlxix] I asked him to help uncouple those hose and draw them back and save them from being burned.  I then went to the Giant.  They were on Van Buren Street east of Wabash Avenue.  I think I told them I wanted that lead on Michigan Avenue South.  I then went onto Congress Street between Wabash and Michigan Avenue.  There was a man came to me which I think was Mr. Sullivan, the foreman of the Waubansia,[dlxx] and told [153] me that the water had given out and that he hadn't hose enough to put a stream where it was required in the West Division on Taylor Street.  I immediately ordered the Giant over to assist the Waubansia so as to prevent that from spreading at that time.  Ex-alderman Wicker[dlxxi] was there and he wanted to know what I proposed to do.  Said he, "do you propose to let the South Division all burn up?"  Said I, "Mr. Wicker, I want you to understand that I don't know any divisions.  I am not doing any more for the South Division than I am for the West and I don't propose to do any more for the West than I do for the South."  He wanted me to run and stop the Giant.  Said I, "Mr. Wicker, I have given the [154] foreman his orders and I believe he will obey them.  I will not run after him."  Said he, "I will see the mayor."  Said I, "you can see him; he is not a great ways off."  I had seen him a short time previous to that.  He was very much excited and I walked off. About that time a man came to me and said, “Matt, I have got some powder.  What do you want to do with it?”  That was on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Congress.  Said I, “I have been waiting for it.  You go one block south and wait.”  He started and in three minutes after I started to look for my powder.  I went to the corner of Harrison and Michigan Avenue.  I didn’t see the wagon and went another block and couldn’t find them there.  Then I came back to Wabash Avenue [155] up to the corner of Harrison and Wabash but still saw no powder wagon.  I had inquired of several policemen if they had seen a mule team with two men in it that had powder.  They told me they hadn’t.  I went back to Michigan Avenue again and went two blocks south.  I crossed over to Wabash Avenue again and came up very near to the corner of Wabash and Harrison when I heard an explosion.  Thinks I, “they have got my powder now.”  When I got to the corner of Harrison and Wabash Avenue, I saw Mr. Sheridan and ex-alderman Hildreth, and Mr. Sheridan asked me to go inside the church and see what I thought of it.[dlxxii]  I should judge from the conversation that they were about to blow up the church.  I found that there was a door [156] in the rear portion of the church in the basement leading out.  I asked the gentleman that was there whether that was the only opening in the rear portion of the church.  He told me that was the only one.  Said I, "will you agree to take care of this?"  They then had both sand and water there.[dlxxiii]  Said he, "I will stay right here and watch it."  Said I, "is that the only danger of this church catching?"  Said he, "that is the only danger."  Mr. Hildreth wanted to blow up the church.  Said I, "Mr. Hildreth, that church is perfectly safe as long as these parties do what they agree to do."  I told Mr. Sheridan that I considered the church safe.  Mr. Hildreth spoke as though he had been talking to a great many citizens about [157] not doing this and not doing that and he had made up [h]is mind that he would take the bull by the horns and use his own judgement.  I got Mr. HIldreth to go with me.  I wanted to blow up some buildings on Wabash Avenue in the rear of Terrace Row.  I think Mr. Sheridan made the remark to Mr. Hildreth, "you had better go with Mr. Benner and see what you can do in regard to that."  Mr. Hildreth said, "all right."  On Wabash Avenue north of the church there was another building; it was a marble front.  I asked Mr. Hildreth, said I, "I think you had better put a keg of powder in that."  He said, "all right, come on this way with [158] the powder."  He and I and three others, I think,[dlxxiv] went into that building in the basement and put a keg of powder in there and put a fuse to it.  We came out and went across the street and stood there, I guess a couple of minutes, and she didn't go off.  The remark was made by somebody, "I guess that fuse went out."  Said I, "we don't want to lose any more time.  If it catches afire it will certainly burn down to it and blow up."  Then I hollered for them to get in the rear of Terrace Row.  When we got there we found the barns on both sid[e]s of the alley on fire, both the barns connected with the Terrace Row and those immediately west of it.  I said to Mr. Hildreth, [159] said I, "we are too late."  "Yes," said he, "we certainly are for blowing up them barns," for there was then three or four in the rear of Terrace Row burning.  There was a frame building just north of Congress Street that was then catching fire.  I asked Mr. Hildreth to put a keg of powder in that and blow it up.  "No," he said, "we don't want to blow up any buildings that were already on fire.  We will blow up buildings we think are in danger or about to catch."  Said I, "all right."  We then went to the corner.  We then went to the corner of Wabash Avenue and Congress and Mr. Hildreth put in one keg of powder.  It was the northeast corner.  I think it had a brick foundation.  I am not positive. It [160] blew up, riddled the building pretty well, but did n[o]t tumble it.  I said, "Mr. Hildreth, give her another one."  One of his powder men spoke up, said he, "I am not going into that building."  Said I, "give me the keg of powder and I will take it in.  Mr. Hildreth," said I, "will go with you."  I took the keg of powder and Mr. Hildreth gave me the fuse.  I carried the powder into the building and when we got it [to] the second room, he said, "don't go any further."  Said I, "I want to find a place where it will do some good."  I found the closet they had previously put the keg in had been blown to pieces and I found no better place than the center of the floor.  I took the firebrand from Mr. Hildreth and touched her off.  [161] I went across the street to see what the results would be.  It shook the building to a considerable extent but didn't tumble it.  I made the remark that it would have one tendency--as soon as the fire got to it it would be weak and would tumble very quick.  Then we started to blow up a building the second door east of that.  The next door east was a brick building.  The parties were then getting out books, furniture, and so forth.  We put a keg of powder to a frame building just east of the brick and touched that off.  About that time the report came that the church was on fire.  Mr. Hildreth turns around to me and said, "there, I knew it!  If you had only allowed me to blow up the church when I wanted to, [162] we would have stopped the fire and stopped it from spreading."[dlxxv]   I told Mr. Hildreth then I did not think there would be any necessity for blowing up that church.  I got there and found that a small cupola on the northeast side was on fire.

Q.  Cupola or turret?

A.  Turret, a small pinnacle, whatever it was.  I ordered a lead formed for putting a stream on there.  In fact, I told one of the boys there was a lead there ready to turn on the water.  I ascertained by parties that I supposed were connected with the church that there was no great danger.  I wanted to know whether there was any woodwork underneath it.  Somebody said, "no, it is solid masonry and it can burn up [163] and still do no harm."  Said I, "then leave it as it is."  Just previous to that, however, there was somebody came there and reported that General Sheridan had sent for six pieces of artillery.  I think that if there was a piece of artillery on the ground, we could blow off the cupola and save the other portion of the church.  I sent my driver then to see whether he could find the pieces of artillery.  He came and reported and said he couldn't find any.  Said I, "it is probably better that you can't, for it is safe anyhow."  I then went back to the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenue.  It was about that time we got into conversation [164] about putting the Brown to work.  The Brown, I think I ordered her down to the lake to take suction.[dlxxvi]  There was something about they wouldn't have suction enough.  Said I, "you can get a length of the Rice's suction."  Mr. Schank started off to get a length of the Rice's suction and I believe fe[t]ched down two lengths.  She was taken down to the lake and set to work.  In the meantime, Mr. Hildreth had blown up one building on Congress just south of Wabash Avenue.  When we got the Brown to work, I started to see Mr. Hildreth but it was so hot that I couldn't get around the corner.  I proceeded to go through the building.  My driver said to me before I went in, "there [165] is powder in there.  You hadn't better go through."  Said I, "I guess not.  I want to see Mr. Hildreth" and know whether he is going to blow up anymore south of there.  I was going to tell him I didn't think there was any use of it.  I was in the basement of the building and Mr. Hildreth was upstairs and he hollered, "get out of that."  At the time I got to the front door Mr. Hildreth was with me.  We both went out together.  I told him I thought there was no use for him to blow up anymore, but if he could get that roof off from the ruins, we would have a clear sweep from the rear to the front, and there was no doubt but we could cut if off.  I was there quite a while after that.  Mr. Schank had been there sometime previous to that, and when I was satisfied in my own mind that everything was safe, I told Mr. [166] Schank, said I, "I don't see there is any occasion for both of us to stay any longer.  I think I'll go to the West Side."  With that I left Mr. Schank there and started for the West Side.  On the road home my wagon broke down near the corner of Twelfth and State Street, broke an "ax,"[dlxxvii] borrowed another one and I went to my home.

Q.  Did I understand you to say that at one time you could have done considerable work, had you had short hooks with you?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Are you aware[dlxxviii] that over twelve[dlxxix] months ago an order was passed by the board, directing that the engines not immediately in connection with hook and ladder trucks to carry short hooks?

A.  I am aware that all outside companies had those orders.  I am also aware the T.B. Brown was one of the companies that always had a short [167] hook but it was lost during the night previous.

Q.  Do you know whether that order has been lived up to?

A.  I think it has, outside companies.  All companies were not to use them, simply outside companies.[dlxxx]

Q.  Those that were not running in conjunction with hook and ladder?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How long did you stay at the corner of Clark and Harrison or about there before you went over to Wabash Avenue?  About how long?

A.  I stayed in the first place on that corner.  Near Harrison about ten or fifteen minutes.  I guess it was more than that, probably twenty minutes, couldn't tell exactly.

Q.  Then did you stop in State Street?

A.  No sir, I simply passed across State Street.

Q.  Went to Michigan Avenue?

[168]

A.  No sir, I went to Wabash Avenue.

Q.  About what time was it when you left there?

A.  I couldn't say.

Q.  After daylight?

A.  Yes sir, it was sometime in the forenoon.

Q.  You didn't go over to the South Side until after daylight?

A.  No sir.

Q.  About how long after daylight?

A.  I couldn't tell exactly; it must have been between eight and nine o'clock, I guess, when I went on the South Side.

Q.  Had you been on the South Side previously during the night?

A.  No sir, I hadn't.

Q.  You was about the Dock Company mostly during the latter part of the night?

A.  I was at the south end of the fire, the southeast, on the West Side fire.  Yes sir.  Most of the night.

Q.  At whose instance do you know was the powder removed [169] from the church on the corner of Harrison and Wabash Avenue?

A.  That I couldn't state.

Q.  Did you hear any directions given to Mr. Hildreth when he was sent with you northerly from Harrison to Wabash Avenue?

A.  You (addressing Commissioner Sheridan) told him to go with me and assist me, I think was the remark you made, and do whatever he possibly could do.

Q.  Act under your directions not to blow up anything that wasn't absolutely necessary?

A.  That you might have said.  I don't recollect.

Q.  Did you hear any conversation between the mayor and myself and other citizens?

A.  No sir.  I didn't.

Q.  When did you first notice that the fire was on the South Side?

A.  The first I noticed the fire was on the South Side was when I was on Taylor Street there at the Chicago Dock [170] Company's property or[dlxxxi] just west of it.

Q.  Taylor Street and Stewart Avenue?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Have you any idea what time that was?

A.  I believe it was between three and four o'clock.

Q.  Was that the time that you were short of water there?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Could not get water?

A.  No sir--well, it was just before we ran out of water, I think.

Q.  You had heard nothing then about the water works being on fire on the North Side?

A.  The first I knew of the water works burning or the fire being on the North Side was when the water gave out.

Q.  Did you see Captain Booth of the artillery, corner of Harrison and Wabash Avenue?

A.  Not that I know of.

Q.  I understood you to say that [171] General Sheridan sent for artillery.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You were not aware that it was I (Commissioner Sheridan) who directed Captain Booth to go to get the artillery if they were saved?

A.  I was not aware, no sir.

Q.  How was the fire on the West Side, easily controlled or hard?

A.  I know I had my hands full of it around there; I do not think it was any easy matter.

Q.  How was the wind?

A.  It was very steady.  I know when I got onto Canal Street I never saw a fire run so in my life.

Q.  You managed to keep it from going south of Taylor?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  What do you mean by the wind being steady--strong?

A.  Yes sir, very steady and strong.

Q.  At the outside of the fire?

A.  Yes sir, there was a very [172] steady breeze blowing at the outside of the fire.  I should judge it was more so when I got onto Canal Street.  There would be a current of air immediately around the fire and make it worse than it would be away from it.

Q.  (By Commissioner Brown)  Do you recollect my coming to you--I do not know the cross street--I think likely it was Mather or Taylor Street, you were ordering the engines, all except two, to go up to the north end of the fire.  I asked you whose order that was, and you said the order of the marshal.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you recollect how the wind was at that time?

A.  Yes.  That was on Jefferson Street between De Koven and Clinton that you saw me there.

Q.  Asking you how the fire was going to run, too?

A.  Yes sir.

[173]

Q.  And you said, the wind, blowing as it was then, and everything, you could not tell, but would do the best you could.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  About what hour in the day were any of the engines ordered from the South Division to the West?

A.  What engines do you refer to?

Q.  Any engines, South Side engines particularly.

A.  There was but one South Side engine to my recollection that was ordered to the West Side.  That was the Steamer Long John--after I excused the foreman of the Long John.  He asked me to be excused, said he wanted to go and hunt up his sister, she was burned out, and he left Mr. Wagner in charge.  Mr. Wagner, I think[dlxxxii] came to me and reported that the engine wanted to be taken somewhere for the purpose of having her flues cleaned out, that she was stopped up and not in [174] any condition to do work.  I told Mr. Wagner to take her to some house and clean out her flues as soon as possible and get her in condition to work.  I think he reported afterwards that he took her to the Giant's house.  I am not positive.  After he came back, he reported for duty, and I told him to stand still.  I at that time did not know whether it was best to form on Harrison or on Congress.  That is the only engine that I recollect.  She was there quite a while.  Finally ordered her over to the William's house.

Q.  You were there when the Rice gave out?

A.  Yes sir, I think I was.

Q.  You had to put the T.B. Brown in the place and send her down to the lake to get water?  You knew at that time other engines were necessary in that division?

[175]

A.  Well, the Rice had never been reported to me out of service.

Q.  Was the Giant working when you ordered her back on the South Side?

A.  No sir, because I had broken up that lead in consequence of the fire running across Wabash Avenue.  We lost some few hundred feet of hose there; that was burned up on Wabash Avenue, corner of Van Buren.  The engine at that time was in a pretty hot place when I ordered her away from there.  The Giant was then, I think, on Van Buren Street just east of Wabash Avenue.  I ordered that lead to be led up Michigan Avenue.  Then, when Mr. Musham came to me and asked me what he was to do, that was just after my getting a report from the West Division about the condition of the fire there, and I sent the Giant over there.

[176]

Q.  Did he say anything about his stoker being absent?[dlxxxiii]

A.  No sir.

Q.  How long did any engine or engines remain playing on Ryerson['s] lumberyard in the West Division after the fire had spread into the South?

A.  That I could not tell you; I know there were engines in the West Division, I think all day Monday.

Q.  What engines were working with you on Taylor Street up to the time you left?

A.  I stated, when I left, there was the Giant, the Rehm, and the Waubansia, those three I left there.  Two of them formed a lead from the river. 

Q.  Who ordered the Giant onto the South Side?

A.  I could not tell.  I was told Mr. Schank did.

Q.  You mentioned in one part of your testimony that the foreman of Ryerson's lumberyard came to you on Canal Street.

[177]

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You do not know whether he made any proposition to you then or not?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did he afterwards make you any proposition?

A.  No sir, he did not.

Q.  Did you know of his making a proposition to anybody?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Did you know of his paying any money to anybody?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Do you know it of your own knowledge?

A.  Yes sir, I know it of my own knowledge.

Q.  Do you know what was the consideration for that money, or was there any?

A.  I do not know as there was any.

Q.  Who did he pay it to?

A.  He paid me some, made me a very handsome present.

Q.  How much?

A.  Three hundred dollars.

[178]

Q.  Did he make a present to anybody else, do you know?

A.  I think he did.

Q.  Please state.

A.  I think there were altogether about eight different companies that he made presents to.

Q.  Be kind enough to state what companies they were.

A.  They were the Little Giant, the Waubansia, the J.B. Rice, the Frank Sherman, the foreman of--John McLean--he received a present, I believe.  Then there were two foreign companies and the Jake Rehm.

Q.  Do you know how much he gave to each of those companies?

A.  I think there were two companies that received three hundred dollars apiece.

Q.  Do you know which they were?

A.  They were the Giant and the Waubansia.

Q.  What did the other companies receive?

A.  I think the rest received two [179] hundred dollars, that is, the city companies.  (What does this mean--weren't the others city companies?)

Q.  You say there was no understanding between you or any of the members of the fire department as to any service to be rendered?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Special service to be rendered there?

A.  No sir, not a particle.

Q.  How do you account for this extreme generosity on the part of Ryerson and Company?

A.  I do not know unless it is that they were well satisfied they were saved from being burned up.  I do not think it would have made a particle of difference if they had not given anything; they would have been just as safe.  I will state that I received what I did just three weeks after the fire.

Q.  Do you know of any other marshal receiving any?

A.  No sir, I do not.

[180]

Q.  Do you know if these offers of money in the West Division had anything to do with the retention of South Side apparatus in that division?

A.  I do not think that it had a particle, no sir, because I was not aware at the time that there was any money offered.

Q.  Do you know of such intimations as this--"you stop the fire from going into our lumberyard, and we will make it all right with you"?

A.  Not that I know of.

Q.  You do not know of any such proposition as that being made?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do not think there was any tacit understanding of it, then?

A.  No sir.  I know the foreman of the Company came to me and said "Matt, I wish you would take care of us down there."  Said I, "Leave that to me or otherwise I will attend to you," just in [181] that way.  Mind you, previous to that they wanted me to move the Waubansia down there to save that property, and I told them I would not, and I did not, b'gosh, and was satisfied that was safe.

Q.  There was about twenty-one hundred dollars that they _________  (made?) up.

A.  I do not suppose that that yard paid it, altogether.

Q.  Did you save Ryerson's lumberyard from being burned?

A.  It was saved, yes sir.

Q.  Very little of their lumber burned?

A.  Not any of it that I know of.

Q.  Are you aware that any of the engines of the department were down along the river bank on the West Division, having hose connected with the South Division and forcing water through this hose to extinguish coal fires?

A.  City engines?[dlxxxiv]

Q.  Yes.

A.  No sir, not to my knowledge.  I know there were Cincinnati [182] engines here that were working on Robert Law's coal yard from the dock alongside the freight house south of Madison Street.[dlxxxv]

Q.  How long was the Waubansia retained in the West Division?

A.  I could not state.  I do not know how long she did stay there.

Q.  Was that sometime on Wednesday that she was sent back to her quarters?

A.  I do not know but what it might have been.  I am not certain what time she did go away.

Q.  Do you know when the [Long] John came back to the South Division?

A.  No sir, I do not know that.

Q.  Are you aware she was working in the West Division for a long time after the fire was out?

A.  I was not aware she was working in the West Division for a long time.

Q.  Did you see an order sent [183] by me requesting four engines to be sent on the lake shore to force water into the mains of the city?[dlxxxvi]

A.  I do not know as I did.  I know I saw an order which Mr. Williams showed me, requesting all the South Side apparatus to be sent from the West Division over on the South Side.

Q.  When was that?

A.  That was a few days after the fire occurred.  I believe you had all over there, with the exception of the Knocke Escape, at that time.[dlxxxvii] 

Q.  We had neither the Skinner nor the Knocke.[dlxxxviii]  We were looking for them.  We wanted something to tear down walls.

A.  I think at the time I saw the order, the  Knocke Escape was the only thing that was then on the West Side that belonged to the South Side.  I told Mr. Williams then to get a team and take it over there.[dlxxxix]

[184]

Q.  They were not in use in the West Division, were they?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Is it not an uncommon thing for the marshals and firemen to receive presents of this kind, after a fire?

A.  It is an uncommon thing for me.

Q.  Did you ever receive any before since you have been marshal?

A.  I do not recollect of receiving a cent, except once I received five dollars, several days after a fire.  The gentleman came along and said, "here is five dollars for you.  I think you deserve it."  I said, "for what?"  He said, "for doing your duty," and gave me that.

Q.  Do you know of any other marshals that received any presents since this fire?

A.  No sir, I do not.

Q.  Did you hear how the money was divided?  For my part, I would like to have the foreman of Ryerson's [185] yard called here to testify in regard to this matter.[dxc]

Q.  Were there any sums of money offered by the owners of coal piles that you are aware of?

A.  No sir, the only money that I know of being offered, of my own certain knowledge--the first I knew was a man that owns the southeast corner of Jefferson and De Koven Street.[dxci]  Immediately after I gave the orders for the Giant to withdraw their streams from that row, this party, I supposed he owned it, he was passing up and down and said "two hundred dollars for any man that will save my buildings."  That was the first money that I know of any man offering.  I have asked Mr. Musham, the foreman of the Giant, whether that party came to see him, and he said, "yes, he was there once or twice, and one of the men got to ____________[dxcii]   him about it, and he said, "go to hell, Jack."  That was the [186] last of that.[dxciii]

Q.  You do not know whether any money was paid by any of the Dock Company to any engine?

A.  No sir, but then I believe there was several parties contributed towards this fund, among the rest, the Chicago Dock Company.  In fact, I have got pretty good evidence of that, but if you were to get some of those parties up here, they could tell you more than I can.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time did you say you sent the Sherman and Rice over?

A.  I did not say what time it was.  I do not know.  I sent them immediately after these gentlemen--whoever they were--they came over and said, "for God's sake, send immediately one or two engines."  I asked them how the fire was running.  They said "if you do [187] not get over there before long, the fire will cross over and into McDonald's lumberyard."  I do not know whether it was McDonald's or not.[dxciv]

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time was it when you sent the Little Giant back to the West Side?

A.  I could not tell that.  I should judge it was between eleven and twelve o'clock--about that time.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time was it when you sent the John over to the West Side?

A.  I could not tell that.  It was directly after that they had the flues cleaned out.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  You did not know that the Rice broke down?

A.  No sir, I did not.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  What time was the Economy there?

[188]

A.  That is the mystery to me.  That is what I would like to know myself.  The John at that time was down there.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Whereabouts?

A.  They were down to the lake.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  They were not at work anymore? 

A.  No sir, I do not believe they were.  That was just about the time we wanted to get a stream on the church.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  There were four engines in the line, was[dxcv] there not?

A.  I could not state.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Was not the Economy at the lake?

A.  I do not know.  I supposed she was.  I never saw her, in fact, I looked after her myself and could not see her.  I sent parties to hunt her up and they reported to me that [189] they could not find her.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Do you know where the Sherman was?

A.  The Sherman was home.  Reported to me the Sherman was gone home.  I sent somebody up there to order her down.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  Who sent her home?  Do you know?

A.  That I could not state.

 

 

 

[190]

Lorenz Walter sworn

December 2nd, 1871

(47th witness)

 

Q.  What is your position in the fire department?

A.  Second assistant fire marshal.

Q.   Will you please state what you know about the origin and progress of the fire of October 8th and 9th?

A.  The origin of it I could not tell you anything about.  I didn't go there until the second alarm.

Q.  You reside in the North Division?

A.  Yes sir, 144 North Dearborn Street.

Q.  That wasn't in the place where you were bound to go on the first alarm?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Tell us what you saw.

A.  I started on the second alarm.  I was at home in my house when the first alarm came [191] in, laying on the lounge asleep.  I got up and changed my things and looked out of the window, said I, "we are going to have a second for that."  As quick as I got ready, my wagon came to the door and I started for it.  As soon as I got there--I came in on Canal Street--I saw Mr. Williams on that portion it--pretty near that portion--so I said, "Mr. Williams, have you turned in the third alarm?"  I believe he mentioned to me, said, "yes, the third alarm has gone in."  I started for the northwest portion of the fire.  I found the Williams there at work--just got to work.  I suppose she had been to work a minute or so--so they were telling me, and the Illinois came right in that portion.  I set them both at work there [192] and as I expected the Rehm and the Coventry and the Gund in, said I, "if they come along we will head off the fire there."  Very soon the Coventry came along.  I put her in between the Williams and the east part of the fire.

Q.  On what street was the Williams then working?

A.  I am not very well posted on the streets over there.  The fire was coming up so I could not tell what was around.  I should think there was about a block on fire then.

Q.  Where did you put the Coventry?

A.  I put her between the Williams and the east of the fire--north of the fire.

Q.  But east more?

A.  Yes sir, kind of northeast.  As we were at work there, I thought we had the fire shut off on our corner.  [193]  We had it hemmed in so it wouldn't go any further, I thought.  Pretty soon the church got afire back of us.

Q.  North of you still?

A.  Yes sir, north of us.  I thought to myself that the Gund and Rehm was coming along there, they would put that out.  It kept on there a little while.  I saw the fire was traveling northeast so fast, I told the Coventry to take up and[dxcvi] get around more to the east of it.  She started and took up and instead of going east she could not get east.  To get north of the fire, she had to go west to get around the blocks, and we cut off that portion of the fire until after the church got well to going then the mill down there so I had to take [194] the Illinois, make her move down towards that way.[dxcvii]  While I was down there at the mill before the mill got to going, we had the Gund and the Waubansia, I believe, and two or three more engines along there, I could not tell what engines they were myself.  I thought then, says I, "here we have got to fight you in here and not let you get any further than the burned district that we had the night before."  I kept working on the northwest part of it until I heard the fire was on the South Side and we had that northwest part of it cut off so it could not have gone any further on the West Side.  Somebody came to me and told me that Mr. Williams was gone over to the South Side and wanted [195] me to go over and wanted another engine to go over there.  I said the Coventry might be spared and, I believe, it was the Waubansia.  There was no other company there I thought we could spare.  I started them off and took a hose cart and went over and when I got over on the South Side, the fire had got onto Madison Street.  We put the Coventry engine at work there on the corner of Madison and LaSalle Street and I believe it was the Waubansia.  I don't know whether it was the Waubansia or the Winnebago.  She was at work on the corner of LaSalle and Washington Streets.  The Titsworth came over about the same time.  They went down to the corner of Dearborn and [196] Washington Streets and it got pretty hot for us at the time and the courthouse got afire and [the] Board of Trade and them buildings and I fell back with the Coventry down to Lake and Clark Street.  I didn't know the Coventry had to leave her plug the way she did.  She had lost a taper, I believe, on the corner of LaSalle and Madison.  I was going to stop her on the corner of Lake and Clark and go to work there and they told me they had no taper, they would have to go over to the house and get a taper.  Said I, "go on as quick as you can and come back."  They started and got over to the house.  I saw the fire going so rapidly along there that Lake Street got all on fire.  I [197] made for State Street myself and when I got up there on the corner of State and Water, I saw the fire going along there, going right across on the North Side.  I went over, across up State Street bridge and just as I was walking across there I saw Wright's barn on fire in the rear.

Q.  Took the Coventry across?

A.  Yes sir, she was across then.  She was coming back then.  I stopped her right there on the corner of State and Kinzie Streets. 

Q.  Did the engine go over with them to the house?

A.  Yes sir, I stopped the engine there and set her to work there.  She had worked there about two minutes when she had to leave these[dxcviii] and she went up to the next corner on State Street but it [198] served her the same there.

 

Q.  Only two minutes?

A.  It might have been a little more than two minutes.

Q.  Where did they take water?

A.  Corner of Kinzie and North State at the plug.  Then the word came down that the Water Works were on fire.  I sent the Huck hose cart up there to the Water Works and told them to put on a plug stream and hold it down until I could get an engine up there.  We took up an engine.

Q.  What engine?

A.  The Coventry.  We were going up to the Water Works and before we got ready to go, the hose cart came back and said it was all gone, there was no use to go up there.  Our water gave [199] out then down there.  Then we took the engine and fell back onto Clark Street, corner of Clark and Kinzie, saw we could not do anything there and we went down to the river and we kept working along, trying to stop it on the river and as fast as we did anything there, the fire backed up on us on the South Side and came across the river and headed us off.  We kept moving up and down along there 'til we got to Wells Street and there we took a stand on the west side of Wells Street.  The Winnebago was over there and the Five.[dxcix]  That was towards morning, then.  Still I had an idea then that we could shut it off there but the fire [200] on the South Side and the wind blowing so hard, then [the] elevators caught fire and made us leave there again.  So we worked along there that day along the river.  It burned in spite of us right straight along, the wind blowing the sparks all around.  We hadn't enough hose.  We just had hose enough to reach about a block from the river.

Q.  Have you any idea of about how much hose was in the department previous to the fire?

A.  I have an idea there was hose enough in the department to run the department at any ordinary fire.  I don't know but what they all had a full reel of hose.

Q.  Besides the supply, hose carts had a supply, [201] hadn't they?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Then there was a reserve in the houses?

A.  There wasn't a great many hose in the houses--in the Sunday night there was not.  They were all taken on Saturday night, and there was a great many busted Saturday night.

Q.  Do you [know] the construction of the building at the Water Works?[dc]

A.  Yes sir, I have been in the building a good deal.

Q.  What kind of a roof was there over there the works there?

A.  I have been upon the tower there several times and I should judge it was one of those composition roofs--graveled.

Q.  Wood and composition, [202] was it?

A.  Yes sir, it was graveled, I believe.  What makes me think where it took fire, in the roof of the works there, was a kind of scuttle hole and a kind of frame let in there.  The fire flew against that.

[203]

A.  I do not know for certain, but that is what the pipeman of the Huck House told me.  That is, if they could have reached it, and put the plug stream on it, they could have put it out.[dci]

Q.  Scuttle hole in the roof?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Was there any sort of appliance at the water works--all the works we had in the city to supply us with water to put a stream of water upon their own building in case it took fire?

A.  I do not know of any.  I never heard of any, only from the plug outside.

Q.  The same kind of plug we have in the streets here, and with the same pressure?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Nothing more than that?

A.  No sir.

Q.  There was no means of throwing any water on their own building?

[204]

A.  No sir, I do not believe there was.  Not that I know of.

Q.  If there had been any such appliances at the water works, or an engine stationed in that immediate vicinity for their use, the fire could have been easily put out in the water works, probably?

A.  If they had had a stream that could have reached up on the roof there, I do not see why they could not keep it from getting into that water works.  There was nothing there to burn, only the roof.

Q.  With your knowledge of the fire department, and the condition as it was, and the circumstances as they were, if the water works had not taken fire and the water stopped in the mains, how much, in your judgment, could have been saved, in your judgment, of the North Division and the South, that was burned?

[205]

A.  The South Division--I was not over there.  If the water works had not burned up we could have saved all west of Wells Street on the North Side, and I believe all north of Oak Street.

Q.  That is, that each way north of Oak Street and west of Wells Street in the North Division, you could have saved if you had had water?

A.  Yes sir, I think we could have cut it off there at Chicago Avenue, run it off towards the lake shore.

Q.  Did it or not strike you, as soon as you found the water works were burned down, and the North Side well on fire, that it was a doomed district?

A.  I expected part of it to go.  I was in hopes it would not cross the river to Lake Street.  That is what my hopes were--to have the wind die out.

[206]

Q.  What is your judgment as to the possibility of saving the property west of Market Street, even with the appliances you had, if you had had engines over there, could you have done it from the river?

A.  We could not, not if these elevators got afire, for we were right in the face of it all the time.  It was blowing it right on us.  The heat, sparks, and cinders just backed us out, as fast as we could get in there.

 

 

[207]

John Schank sworn

December 2, 1871

(48th witness)

Q.  Your position in the fire department is that of first assistant fire marshal?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You reside in the South Division?

A.  Yes sir.  188 Third Avenue.

Q.  Did you burn out?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Will you tell us what you know of the origin and progress of this fire?

A.  On the Sunday evening I went to bed pretty early, about half past seven.  I was tired and I didn't have any sleep from the Saturday night fire and when the alarm came in I was very slow in getting up.  I missed my wagon and had to run over to the fire.  When I got to the [208] fire I got north of the fire, went around and saw where the streams were playing and got finally around from Canal Street by De Koven Street.  Saw two engines playing there.

Q.  Got north of the fire, you say?

A.  No, south of the fire there on De Koven Street.  I saw two engines working there and could back towards Canal then, somewhere near Canal on De Koven, I could not say exactly.[dcii]  I met Mr. Williams and told him that some of the engines had to be changed and go north of the fire or else the fire would sweep all over.  He said to hold on a minute, they could not be changed just yet.  I then went ahead of the fire, then north of it and found it was burning very fast then [209] and that the engines must be changed.  I then immediately went back and ordered up the Sherman, Long John, and Economy to go north of the fire, and I think about the same time I met Commissioner Chadwick around there.  I think you asked me (addressing Commissioner Chadwick), I think you asked me what was the reason those engines wasn't changed.   I told him then, I think, I had given orders to change them.[dciii]  The John, I think then took the plug, if I am not mistaken, at the corner of Polk and Canal Street and led west of Bateham's Mill.[dciv]  I got in north of Bateham's Mill there and saw the Gund's stream in there.  We could not work very long there and backed up north.  The Economy led up from somewhere, I could not say where, [210] I could not see what plug they had.  We had to back up clear up to the old district.  I jumped down in the old district and ran up on Canal Street, got towards Van Buren Street, and just at that time I saw the Gund standing in the street, dancing around and burning up.  Then a man said to me, I do not know who he was, "John, there is a fire on the South Side."  There was one of the John's men there and I told them[dcv] to go over on the South Side.  I ran right across Madison Street bridge.  The John came over there and took a plug on the corner of Adams and Monroe but they didn't have any hose at first.  It wasn't but a very short time when, I think, the Washington[dcvi] hose [cart] came there and gave them hose, at any rate, [211] some cart.  I went around Monroe Street towards Market and found the Economy was at work through the Long John's hose.  I went around a little ways and when I came back, the Coventry took the plug at the corner of Wells and Monroe Street.  I directed them to play on the United States Express barn;[dcvii] it was getting pretty hot there.  At the same time I thought if we had had four or five more engines there I think we could probably have cut that off but there was only those three engines I saw around there.

Q.  (By Marshall  Williams)  Was the Brown engine in there on Monroe Street?

A.  I heard she was there, I didn't see the stream.  This was the only engines that I saw.  We took her clear down to Madison [212] and LaSalle, I believe.  The Coventry took that plug there, I think.  The Economy took a plug on Washington some around the corner, but the fire went through there with such force we couldn't hardly make a stand at all.  I stayed around there until the courthouse got on fire and then I tried to go up Clark Street.  I couldn't get through there anymore.  Clark Street wasn't on fire, but there was so much smoke and sparks and the wind blowing so that I didn't go through there.  I met George Fuller, the telegraph operator, there and Sweeny.[dcviii]  They asked me about how far the fire was going to go.  Said I, "the whole city is going to burn, the way it looks."  I think we three went up Dearborn or State Street, I am not certain which, up to Adams Street or Quincy and crossed [213] over to the Pacific Hotel.  There I found the John at work again.  Stayed there some ten or fifteen minutes until the Pacific Hotel caught fire.  Said I, "boys, you had better go."  They stayed there until the stones commenced to come down and they had a very hard time to get out.  I met Judge Milliken[dcix] and we had them cars moved.[dcx]  We moved, I should judge, a hundred cars.  We had no engines up there at all.  The John, I do not know exactly where she did go.  I went to the corner of Taylor Street up there where that planing mill is--Hubbard's planing mill.[dcxi]  That is this side of Taylor Street.  I saw the fire was coming across there from the West Side.  If we had had an engine there, then we would have saved that part of the city.  I sent over to the West Side to find [214] some of the marshals and have an engine sent over.  After a while the Rice came and the Economy came up there.  I don't know where she came from.  They weren't ten minutes apart.  The Economy came first, then the Rice.  The Economy took a plug on the corner of Griswold and Taylor Street.  The Rice, the corner of Clark and Taylor.  They had water then--not over half an hour.  It was slack then.  I told them to take up and go down to the river.  Both engines went to the river at the same time.  The fire had crossed before we got there alongside of Hubbard's planing mill, and it went so quick then all we had to do was to save it from getting across the railroad track.  After we had the fire stopped there that was about, I [215] should judge, somewhere near six o'clock in the morning.  The Sherman came and reported then and I told them to go down to the lake somewhere and take suction there.  Mr. King asked me whereabouts.[dcxii]  "I cannot tell you," said I.  "I don't know how far the fire has run upon the lake."  Said I, "go near the fire," and I found out since she went clear down to the Illinois Central ______ depots[dcxiii]  there.  About six o'clock I ordered up the Rice and Economy to go to the lake and try and form a line.  At that time the T.B. Brown reported for duty.  They said they would take the plug at the corner of Harrison and State Street.  Said I, "there is no use.  There is no more water."  Said he, "let me try it."  He kept begging and I said, "try it."  They tried the plug and [216] got water and threw at first a very good stream, I suppose drawing the dead water out of the pipes and reservoirs.  I then went back to the river at the foot of Taylor Street and hollered to the foreman of the Little Giant.  He came across the river and wanted to know what I wanted.  I asked him if he thought there was any more danger over there.  He said he thought not, that the Waubansia was there yet, I believe, and the Rehm.  Said I, "you take up and go down to the lake and get in line."  I then went back to the Brown's stream.  They were working and trying to cut the fire off at the corner of Clark and Harrison Street.  There is where I met Mr. Benner.  I told him then that I had sent for the Giant to come over on the South Side and he wanted to [217] know what I done that for.  I said, "because we want him here."  Said I, "you had better go down to the lake and see that that line is formed."  We started down towards the lake.  I said that the Brown's stream was trying to cut it off on Harrison and State Street.  The last plug we took was at the corner of Harrison and State Street.  There we couldn't get another drop of water.  For two hours she didn't play only a five-eighths stream and that didn't play two stories high.  When I got to the lake, I found out that that there was no line there and I couldn't find any engine except the Rice there.  I set the Brown to work at the foot of the lake, I think it is Congress Street, where the Michigan Avenue Hotel is.  The foreman of the Rice reported to me that their engine was giving out.  I [218] told him to bring their suction. I brought two lengths of suction for the Brown, put them on, and she wouldn't work.  But finally, with four lengths on, the Brown could play a very good stream around that Michigan Avenue Hotel and clear up by Wabash Avenue.  I met ex-alderman Wicker[dcxiv] there just at the same time that I was taking the stream from the Michigan Avenue Hotel.  He wanted to know what I was doing, [that] that hotel will burn.  I said, "it will not burn."  I said I wanted to play in the rear.  He said I didn't.  Said I, "if you want to take charge, you had better take charge."  I started and went back to the rear and cooled down the buildings there and cooled down the Michigan Avenue Hotel and had it all safe.  I met Charlie Wicker again [219] and said, "how is it now?"  He said, "it is all right now."  Then I found out that the John was sent over to the West Side.  They asked me if she was at work there on the West Side.  I told them I didn't know.  It wasn't more than about ten or fifteen minutes after that the John came back.  I asked them where they had been.  They said, "to the West Side."  I asked who ordered them there.  They said, "Mr. Benner."  Said I, "did you go to work there?"  They said, "no." [Said I,] "what did you do?"  [They said,] "stayed in the Little Giant's house."  Said I, "didn't you try to get to work?"  "Yes, but we didn't find any hose, so we went to the Giant's house and stayed there and cleaned out our flues," I believe they said.  Said I, "who sent you back?"  [They said,] "nobody.  We came back on our own hook."[dcxv]  I set them to work at the lake [220] at the same time the Sherman came along.  I don't know where she came from.

Q.  (By Marshal Benner)  Who was this that told you about the John?

A.  Tim Moynihan, the engineer.  The John went to work at the lake, took suction, and she played into the Sherman.  They played there for some time on the ruins, and finally the Aurora engine came there--I suppose it was the Aurora engine[dcxvi]--at the lake.  They went to work and I ordered up the other companies to go home.  I heard the Titsworth at the same time was laying up at the Economy's house.  I sent a man right up to have them come down and report.  I asked them then what is the reason they laid up there.  They said they were tired out.  I asked [221] them what time they went up there.  They said, in the forenoon, sometime about eleven o'clock.  Their foreman wasn't well.  This was about six o'clock when they came down.  I kept them there then all night.  Laid them on the corner.  The John, I sent over to the William's house, I believe, that night,[dcxvii] but I kept the Titsworth and some other companies there, America Hose and some more.  They lay there where the John's house is now, in the alley.  They lay there three or four days in the alley.

Q.  You were not in the North Side?

A.  I didn't go to the North Side at all.

Q.  As the fire came on from the South Side, you worked back in that direction--as the fire worked back?

A.  Yes sir.

[222]

Q.  How long were you engaged at the Rock Island depot there moving those cars?

A.  I should judge it must have been three quarters of an hour to an hour.

Q.  Did you consider that a part of your duty, to be moving cars there?

A.  Yes sir.  If them cars had caught fire, it would have swept clear across there.

Q.  Suppose you had been giving your attention to getting some engines about there?[dcxviii]

A.  I had sent for some engines. 

Q.  Isn't it your duty to be about and see that they come?

A.  I hunted around there for some time on the South Side.  I couldn't find one.  I didn't know which way they went.  Those cars had to be removed.  If they hadn't been removed at that time, it would have swept everything clear across.

[223]

Q.  Clear across where?

A.  From Taylor Street clear down to Harrison.  I don't know where it would stop then.

Q.  Where were those cars lying, north or south of Harrison?

A.  From the depot clear up to Taylor Street.  There was two lines of freight cars.

Q.  Loaded cars?

A.  Some of them were and some were not.  When we were removing the last car, two switch engines came.

Q.  Were the buildings burning west of them on Sherman Street then?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  How far south?

A.  They were burning clear from Taylor Street down when we were removing the last cars.  There is where the fire got across and swept north.

Q.  After the Brown was got fairly at work, do you recollect anything dangerous to the Michigan Avenue [224] Hotel?

A.  Yes.  There was a pile of lumber laying in front on the street there, got afire several times.  I don't[dcxix] think it was in great danger from that.  The most danger I could see to the Michigan Avenue Hotel was from Wabash Avenue.  If it came through from there she would have went.  Of course there was an empty space on the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue on Congress Street.

Q.  You spoke about an engine being at work there on Clark Street at the Pacific Hotel?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  You saw the engine about there, did you not?

A.  I saw the engine.

Q.  What engine was that working on the corner.

A.  Corner of what?

Q.  Jackson and Clark.  Where [225] the Pacific Hotel was?

A.  I don't know what engine.  I don't recollect what engine it was.

Q.  You say you told them to get out?

A.  That was the John.  I don't recollect even what plug they had.  I was with their pipe there.  I think they stood on--I am not mistaken--the John stood on the corner of Pacific Avenue and Jackson.

Q.  That is right in front of the hotel?

A.  I think that is where they stood, yes sir.

Q.  After you left that point, you went down west of the depot, did you, moving cars?

A.  Yes sir.  I gave orders to have them cars removed.  I went up before I had any removed to see if the fire wasn't going to cross at the foot of Taylor Street [226] there.  It wasn't over five minutes when she came across in the planing mill.

Q.  That is south of Polk Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Between Polk and Taylor?

A.  Yes sir.  When that planing mill caught fire, it didn't take five minutes until she was across Wells Street and Sherman Street.  I gave orders then to move all the cars as quick as possible.

Q.  I should think that you would have taken the John up there.

A.  I went up to see if she wasn't coming across.  When I went back to look for the John, I couldn't find her.

Q.  Do you think that the Michigan Avenue Hotel [could have been saved] without blowing up these buildings?[dcxx]

[227]

A.  I think the blowing up of that building on Wabash Avenue helped a great deal.

Q.  These buildings were on fire, most of them, were they not?

A.  I wasn't present when the blowing up was done.  I know when I got there, they were on fire.

Q.  Do you know of any of the firemen or officers of the fire department who were intoxicated Sunday night or Monday?

A.  I didn't see one.

Q.  Was there any improprieties on the part of the men that came under your observation?

A.  No sir.

Q.  Do you know anything about the receipt of any money from any person by any of the fire department or officers?

A.  Only what I heard.  What Mr. Benner said here himself.  I heard that.

[228]

Q.  You know nothing about any receipt of money?

A.  No sir.  There was one offer made to the Brown on the corner of Harrison.

Q.  Who made that?

A.  Mandel.[dcxxi]  He told me he would give the company five hundred dollars if they would save his building.  Said I, "you might as well offer five million."  Ten minutes from that it was down.

Q.  It made no difference in their disposition of the engine at all?

A.  No sir.  We couldn't play one story high at that time.

[229]

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  At the time you got down to the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress, was or was not at that time, Terrace Row on fire?

A.  No sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Were the ___________  (barns??) on fire?

A.  The barns, I believe, were just catching fire when I got there.

Q.  Were you there during the time there was any blowing up on Congress?

A.  I did not see any blowing up done at all.  I believe I was on Michigan Avenue at the time they blew up that building on Wabash Avenue--the brick--but I did not see any of them blown up.

Q.  Did you have any particular apprehensions of the Michigan Avenue Hotel burning at that time?

A.  No sir, I was not afraid.

Q.  Do you think you could have saved it without the blowing up?

A.  I do not know.  That blowing up helped us considerably on Wa-[230] bash Avenue, right before the Michigan Avenue Hotel.

Q.  Was not the corner building on fire before they blew up that building?

A.  I do not know.

Q.  Do you think blowing up buildings in the face of the wind, as the fire was that night, would have done any good?

A.  I do not think it would.  It would have done very little good.  They would have to blow up half the city at once.

Q.  If you could have leveled a whole block at once, might it not have done some good?

A.  It might.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  When you saw the Coventry, it was at the corner of Monroe and LaSalle Streets?[dcxxii]

A.  Yes sir, it was.  That is where the Coventry led in, somewhere in there.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  I think you stated that if you had had two or three more [231] engines, while playing on the north side of Monroe Street, the fire might have been stopped.

A.  That was up there when it was in the tar works, when I first got there.[dcxxiii]

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  How long was it from the time it left the tar works until it got back of the Oriental Hall?[dcxxiv]

A.  It was not very long.

Q.  Did you state that you could have formed a line on Monroe Street and stopped the fire, at one time?

A.  No sir, I stated that when I got there on the South Side the fire was in the tar works.  If we had had three or four engines more at that time, I think we might have stopped it there.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  You mean you could have stopped the original fire?

A.  Yes sir.  After it crossed [232] Monroe Street, I do not think there were enough engines in the country to stop it's going north.

Q.  At the time the fire started from the West Side and went over into Powell's roofing establishment,[dcxxv] engines were at work, would it have been possible to have moved engines over to the South Side and stop the fire?

A.  No sir.  There was only one engine that was ready to go, that was the Economy, on the start.  The balance, I suppose, had to take up their hose, and that would take ten or fifteen minutes.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  In evidence it was stated yesterday that you came to me and requested me to move the engines north of the fire, and I told you to go to hell.[dcxxvi]  Have I ever given you such an answer as that?

A.  I do not recollect that you [233] ever told me anything of that kind.  But I believe you told me it could not be done, yet that was on De Koven Street near Canal.

Q.  (By Mr. Williams)  What was I doing when you saw me there?

A.  You ran up, I think, De Koven Street--were busy, of course.  That is the only time I saw you.  I never saw you after that any more.

 

 

[234]

                                                             December 2nd, 1871

                                                         Robert A. Williams sworn

                                                                   (49th witness)

 

Q.  What do you know about the origin and progress of the fire of October 8th and 9th?

A.  I do not know anything about the origin.  The first I knew of it was when the alarm came in.  I was then abed.  I would state on Saturday night I did not go home until seven o’clock in the morning.[dcxxvii]  Box 7 came in.[dcxxviii]  I went down and put out some fire that was on top of the old wooden elevator on the bank of the river just east of Lake Street bridge.[dcxxix]   From there I went home and went right to bed.  I slept from that to a quarter past two o’clock.  I did not have any breakfast.  I got up after my wife came from church and washed my face, put on some clean clothes, and went downstairs and ate some dinner.  There was an [235] old lady called to see us.  I went downstairs and stayed there for three quarters of an hour.  I left her along with my wife, hitched up my horse, thinking that I would take a drive over to the old battleground,[dcxxx] see what engines were working, and also to the different engine houses to see what was wrong with them and get ready in case of another breeze. I went to the John’s house and got my horse and buggy and started.  I went over there, and before I went away I sent the Titsworth home.  I did not see any use of keeping them there.  I thought these men at the coal piles ought to shovel them to one side.[dcxxxi]  I then went home and took supper, and after supper I told my wife that I wanted to go over to Mr. Benner’s.[dcxxxii]  We started to go over.  I told her I would not stay twenty minutes.  [236] I started out and crossed Franklin Street on Randolph just west of the courthouse, and Box 28,[dcxxxiii] I believe it was, came in. “There,” said I, “There is just my luck.”  I left my wife on the sidewalk.  Said she, “I won’t go over; I will go back home.”  I ran along Randolph Street and met my wagon opposite the west wing of the courthouse.  I went to Box 28.  It did not amount to anything.[dcxxxiv]  I came home again.  The wind was blowing terribly hard.  I had to pull my hat down on my head two or three times.  I went back home and went upstairs and told my wife, “I am going to bed early.  I feel as though I had got to be out between this and morning, the way the wind is blowing.”[dcxxxv]  I got my fire clothes and laid everything down, ready to jump into them, and went to bed.  My wife was sitting up reading and, [237] said I, “I either wish you would go to bed or close the door so I can go to sleep,” so she got up and shut the door between our room and the sitting room.  So I got to sleep and was asleep when the alarm came in.  My wife had just come to bed.  I got the very first tap of the gong, and at the same time my wife hit me with her elbow and said, “Robert!  Fire!”  I got up and dressed and went down and I could see a light.  Said I, “There is no use of my running to meet the wagon.  We have got to go to the West Side, and I will just stand here until the wagon comes along.”  I did not count what box it was from the gong.  I can dress and get out faster than 342 comes in.  I knew the driver always got the location of the box before he started.  I jumped into the [238] wagon, and we crossed over Randolph Street bridge and went right to Desplaines Street.  I was busy pulling on my rubber coat and buttoning it up and did not pay any attention when we came to Harrison Street, did not think we were so near Harrison Street until we turned the corner and had gone perhaps fifty feet.  Said I, “We have gone out of the way.  We ought to go up Desplaines Street.”  Said I, “We cannot go along Union Street; it don’t run through.”  I went through to Halsted and went to Taylor.  Said I, “Haul off here,” and he hauled off and went onto Taylor and Jefferson.[dcxxxvi]  I jumped out of the wagon and ran in on Taylor Street.  I there saw--there was a vacant lot in there--I saw a hose in there, when I ran into that and saw it was the America hose.  There was the rear end of two buildings on Taylor Street [239] facing north that were afire then, and there were two barns and a lot of little outhouses and fences, and I don’t know what.  There was a regular nest of fire.  Said I, “Hang on to her, boys,” just like that.  I saw two men at the pipe.[dcxxxvii]  I ran east of Clinton Street to see if there was anything else coming in.  I had a very good time getting in there.  I did not see anything else coming in to go there, and I came back again.  When I came back, I still encouraged the boys.  Said I, “Hang on to her, boys; she is gaining on us.”  I went out again and went through Taylor, thought to get around on the west side of it and see if there was a vacant place through and whether it was going to run along on us, and just at that the Illinois[dcxxxviii] led in.  I saw Mullin.[dcxxxix]  Said I, “Where is your water, Bill?”  Said he, “It is coming, sir, coming.”  [240]  He started back as fast as he could run along Taylor Street, and before he could find the engine they had let their water on, and he came back again.  I took hold, the Illinois being short of men, and helped the men with their pipe, and it was very warm.  I helped them in from Taylor Street to the rear and go in far enough so we could turn the pipe and strike the rear of the building.  The building faced north.  “Now,” said I, “Hang on to her here.”  Bill said, “Marshal, I don’t believe we can stand it here.”  Said I, “Stand it as long as you can.”  I then ran out and got around to the east side of these buildings on fire and saw the America hose.  I saw then the buildings on the north side of Taylor Street were smoking and just ready to ignite.  I ran in and, said I, “You go and [241] turn in the second alarm.  This is going to spread.”  The driver said, “I do not know how to turn in the second alarm.”  Said I, “You go, Dorsey.”[dcxl]  Said I, “Charley,[dcxli] lead the pipe out of here; these buildings to the north side are going to burn.” There were some outsiders there, and I said, “Please help light out this hose.”  Before we got it out on Taylor Street and had a chance to wet the front buildings on the north side of Taylor Street, the water was cut off.  Said I, “Who in the devil has cut off this lead?”  The foreman, I think it was, said he did.  Said I, “Put it on again.”  So he put it onto his engine; and when I saw it in there, I started back; and before I got back, the houses were all afire, some four or five of them on the north side of Taylor Street.  I do not think it was more than [242] a minute-and-a-half before the whole center of the block back in the alley between Taylor and Forquer Street, I believe it is, the next street north of that, they were all on fire.[dcxlii]  The Chicago[dcxliii] led in there in the meantime. I jumped over her and [ought?] to have put her in before.  She had got in when I went back.  She led in there, and she led in north of Taylor Street, in between some buildings and back in there to the rear end of the buildings facing the south.  The Illinois went to playing there on Taylor Street, but there were so many buildings on fire in the rear, in the center of that block, and it was running through towards Canal Street, and I ran back again and ran through.  Thinks I, “There might be some other engines coming in on the east.”  There was some other engine; I did not know what it was--there was so [243] much smoke and dust, but they were leading in from Canal Street.  I cannot tell what steamer it was.  There was so much smoke and sparks that it was utterly impossible to see a man half the time.  We got four streams on Ewing Street, and there we thought we could stop it.  They then came and said the church was afire. 

Q.  How many blocks away was the church?

A.  Ewing--then there is Polk and Forquer--I should [blank] there were three of those blocks between us and the church.[dcxliv]  I told George Rau, the foreman of Hook and Ladder 2,[dcxlv] go and put up your longest ladder.”  The wind was blowing so hard, I knew I could not throw a stream up to where it was on fire.  Said I, “You go and put up a ladder, and I will get a stream down there just as quickly as I can.”  I started down and saw an engine [244] up that way, that was the Rehm,[dcxlvi] and when I got down there, they took the plug on the opposite corner, that was the south side of Forquer Street.  The church was on the north side, corner of Clinton.  In the meantime, Mr. Swenie[dcxlvii] had come in there and wanted to know what I wanted him to do. That is the foreman of the Gund.  Said I, “Go to work on the nearest buildings you can.”  Said he, “All but one plug is taken up, and I have not hose enough to lead from any plug I can get at.”  Of course I could not run away, as the fire was going, to hunt up a plug and to hunt up hose.[dcxlviii]   Said I, “Do the best you can, Denis,” and he went down, and according to his testimony, he saw the Rehm and supposed they were going to form into line together.[dcxlix]  I went down there, and when I went down, I [245] saw the long ladder thrown down and broken in two halves, so I could not get the stream up.  It appeared they had got it so it appeared to be put out, and the first thing I knew, it seemed to burst out between the ceiling and the roof.  The Gund had then come around and got to work on Bateham’s plug and led in on Mather Street from Canal.  The smoke was very thick there.  I do not know what company it was.  I went back through there.  It was very warm there between the buildings on the south side of Mather Street and the church.  I saw it was the Gund Company.  Said I, “Denis, cannot you work in north of this?  I am afraid it is going to get ahead of us in there.”  Said he, “I think if we could get up on that flat roof there, we could switch it both ways.”  Said I, “if you can [246] get up there, see.”  He went and came back and said they could get up on the flat roof, and they went up there.  There was a stream there.  I saw he was doing very well.  I came back to the Rehm.  There were two leads.  The boys’ coats were burning in some places.  I said, “Boys, hang to it or you will have to pull the engine away just as soon as it falls; it will be all right as soon as the first breeze is over.”[dcl]  Just at that time the steeple dropped right down.  There was another lead.  I do not know what pipe it was on the north side of it.  The Rehm had out two leads, and there was another stream; I do not know whether it was the Williams[dcli] or not, but I think it was. She led from the west side of the fire.  There was a drug store on the opposite side of the street, and we had hard [247] work to keep it out of that drug store.  It was on fire several times, but we made out to keep it out.  The next thing I knew, they came and told me Bateham’s mill was on fire.  I saw Mr. Schank sometime about that time, and said he, “Do you know the fire is getting ahead of you?” Said I, “Yes, it is getting ahead of me in spite of all I can do.”  I ran along north from the church.  I told the Rehm, “You will have to go away from here, or you won’t be able to pull out.”  So they left that plug.  They had a door up to keep the heat away.[dclii]  So I ran north.  I found the wooden building belonging to the match factory was all aflame.  The brick building was smoking very badly.  Coming north of that, I found that the lumberyard just north of the match factory was on fire, and I [248] ran around to the front of Bateham’s mill and passed through and passed the front shop, and they had two leads in there.  I went in there, but the fire was coming down thicker than any snowstorm you ever saw, and the yard between the two mills was all filled with shavings, and chunks of fire came in of all sizes, from the length of your arm down to three inches.  Leo Meyers was in there, and I said, “It is gone, sure.”  Said he, “I am afraid it is.”  I said, “If it has got to go, we will try and cut it off at Harrison Street.”  I ran north, and just as I was going out, the Gund engine was pulled away from the plug.  There was some fire on the sidewalk amongst a lot of lumber that was piled there.  I was very well aware that the way the wind was blowing, it wouldn’t be more than [249] two minutes before they would be driven out.  I told the boys to get north of the fire.  While they were going back, I met some policemen on Harrison Street.  I said, “Shove down this office.”  I thought I would get that lumber office down, and with [Keeler’s?] brick on the opposite corner, we would be pretty sure to cut if off there.  They didn’t succeed in shoving that over.  The mill was then on fire.  It was terribly hot.  Set fire to the three-story boarding house and saloon between Bateham’s and the wood yard, and when that got on fire, it was so high it threw out a terrific heat.  They stopped and set their engine to work there, but I said, “You’ll hardly get to work before you’ll have to move.  You had better go north and lead up this way and [illeg.] it.”  They led up north of Van Buren.  The John had gone north to the plug that was in [250] the center between Harrison and Van Buren.  Then [the] Gund went and took the corner of Van Buren and Canal and led one stream up this way, the other around this way (indicating).  But before they got to work, the fire was then down about the center, started a new fire about the center of the block between Harrison and Van Buren.  I was with the John’s lead, was in with Alec.[dcliii]  He says, “Robert, we can’t stay long here.”  Said I, “Hang on as long as you can.”  Said he, “I’ll hang on as long as I can, but I can’t hang any longer.”  Said I, “Get your horses around so as to be ready to pull away.”  They hung so long they hadn’t time to do anything but disconnect the suction[dcliv] and pull the hose and suction and all north on Van Buren Street.  They pulled to Lull & [251] Holmes planing mill where it burned the night before.  Alec was running to get a length of hose and had a length on his shoulder when he saw the fire on the South Side and dropped the hose and said, “Robert, the fire is on the South Side.”  Said I, “The devil it is.”  Said he, “You look.”  I did.  Said I, “Go for it.  I’ll be there in a minute.  You go to work.”  I then turned around and told Mr. Swenie, said I, “Denis, if you don’t get the engine away, you’ll lose her.”[dclv]  There was a crowd of outsiders around there.  Said I, “Gentlemen, won’t you help get that engine away and pull this hose back?”  It was so hot a man couldn’t hang on to it.  Before that, I saw Captain Hickey and Sergeant Lull and told them, “I wish you’d send some of your men [252] up on that large roof and keep the sparks off, and I think by keeping the sparks off, that with this brick building on the south side of Van Buren, we will be able to check it and save that row.”  I then turned around and told him to move the engine or he would lose it.  I then pumped on a hose cart there, I think the Washington, and rode towards the South Side.

Q.  Was the lumber office on the corner burning?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  On the south side of Van Buren?

A.  Yes sir.  I saw there was no salvation for the engine, that she couldn’t stay there.  It was a terrible fire that was coming down at the time.  I then pumped on the hose cart and crossed to the South Side.

Q.  Over Van Buren Street bridge?

A.  No sir.  We crossed over Madison Street.  [253] The viaduct at Adams had been burned.[dclvi]  It wasn’t safe to drive over with an engine or hose cart.  I tried to pass the John as I drove on the [mesh?] of the bridge to get ahead of them, but there was a team in the way, so I had to allow them to pass over first.  Didn’t get ahead of the John at all.  She went to Monroe Street.  We passed by the John there.  I went to Adams Street.  I found the fire was this side.  Somebody told me there was a fire south of the Armory, but I didn’t pay any attention to that fire south of the Armory because I saw this was the way the wind was blowing, the fire being north of Adams Street.  I ran around again to Monroe Street and came in down Market Street, and the cart drove through to Wells Street and gave the John the hose.  Schank said [254] the John was there and had no hose.  That is the first the John got to work there.  I ran around, and the Economy was working.  It wasn’t, I guess, but about a minute-and-a-half until the Brown’s[dclvii] lead came in there on Monroe Street.  When I went down, I ran in and saw the east part of the gas works was on fire.  I ran down that place that ran down into the yard from Monroe Street.  I saw some men in there to work.  When I was running down in there, somebody hollered to me to come out of there, “You’ll be blown to pieces!”  I thought as long as they were in there, I’d take my chances.  I ran down to get north of the fire.  The fire was very warm, and men were running around there and hiding themselves.  Thinks I, in case of explosion, I won’t put my [255] men down in there.  The fire was beating each way.  It was all afire clear through there.  There was heaps of empty barrels that burned worse than powder.  It burned as quick as powder.  It was terrible there, and the wind was blowing so we could not touch the cornice.  The barn of the “Merchants Union”[dclviii] was burning north side of Monroe Street.  The cornice got afire, and we couldn’t reach it.  The next thing I saw, the fire had gone clear north between Monroe and Madison Street.  I ran east towards Wells Street, and there somebody told me, “The fire is running down Wells Street between Monroe and Madison Street.”  I ran through to Wells and ran back again.

Q.  The Express barn was east of Wells, wasn’t it?

A.  No sir.  The Express barn was west of Wells.  It was somewhere along about where Franklin Street [256] would be if it went through.  I ran back and told the Economy to get in north of the fire.  I then started and ran down Monroe Street to Market, down Market to Madison, and down Madison.  It was all on fire there then.  I saw the fire north of Madison Street.  I sent to the Economy to come down there.  I sent her to the plug at the corner of Washington Street.  When I got down there, the Coventry had already come to the corner of Madison and LaSalle.  Said I, “Hurry up, boys; it is all afire back of this Oriental Building.”

Q.  Was the fire north of Madison Street?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Whereabouts?

A.  Right in the rear of the Oriental Building.  I broke out some glass in the basement in an office.  I don’t know whose office it was and didn’t care.  I broke out the window and [257] got inside.  I pulled up the bolt and opened it so the men could go through the back door, and I got the boys through into an [a rear?] way, I think, perhaps eight or ten feet or maybe twelve feet in the back of the building.[dclix]  I got the boys back there and we turned our stream up.  We couldn’t throw it ten feet from the pipe.  It was all cut down.  The wind was blowing so fearfully hard.[dclx]  I told them to hold on there.  I then went into the street and found the Economy.  They were “leading up”[dclxi] in the Oriental Building. I told them, “I don’t want you here.”  We went down on Washington Street on the corner, and I led them through the first stairway into LaSalle Street.  The next place I saw them was out on the street.  I went around to see what the Coventry was doing.  When I went there, I met Mr. Hildreth, and he told me, “You have got [258] to throw the engines to one side and commence blowing up.”  Said I, “Have you got powder?”  He said, “I have.”  Said I, “I don’t know where to commence.”  I knew the fire was running to that new building of Greenebaum’s south of the Metropolitan Hotel[dclxii] and also on the east side; it was coming down through there, and the blowing up of buildings there wouldn’t amount to anything. There was chunks of fire blowing over us then, of all lengths and all sizes.  It was blowing a block ahead of us.  I said, “Take that bank on the corner.[dclxiii]  Be sure you have people out before you do it.”  The next thing I saw, Mr. Hildreth was in there.  Said I, “There’s the courthouse on fire.”  I ordered the Economy down to the corner of LaSalle and worked along on the front of the Sherman House and these other buildings.  I ran back again.  [259] Mr. Hildreth ran to the courthouse.  I ran to Madison Street.  Then the flames were rolling down over the Oriental Building clear over the John’s house.  I ran back and said, “Boys, you’ll have to get away from here,” and only for Bullwinkle’s[dclxiv] men we never would have got away from there.  It was Bullwinkle’s men that broke the taper[dclxv] off, and there wasn’t enough of their own men there--the others were in the alley, and they had just passed into the street.  [260]  I told them to go down to the corner of Randolph Street to the Sherman House plug, and they started down Madison Street, and I supposed were going around there.  They got as far as the corner of Washington and found they couldn’t do any good on account of the taper.  They drove away from there, and I didn’t know where the fellows had gone.  I went back and helped the Economy lead out their hose.  There was only two men on it.  I asked the driver and somebody else to help lead the hose down.  They hadn’t hose enough.  Just then Swenie drove up with his hose and cart.  Said I, “Have you any hose, Denis?”  He said, “Yes, I have.”  “Give the Economy two lengths,” said I.  He done so.  The Washington hose cart[dclxvi] [261] came around the corner of Randolph, and I jumped on the cart and drove around to the Titsworth’s house to see what had become of the Coventry engine.  I wanted them there because things were getting on fire in Miller’s jewelry store.[dclxvii]  They said there had been one engine there, but it had gone away.  I then went away, and when I got back, Miller’s jewelry store was all on fire.  There was a piece of board, seemed to be three or four feet long; I do not know whether it came from the courthouse or the Board of Trade--it lit on the old Tribune row, the other side of Clark Street, from the Sherman House, and that was all on fire.  The Economy then went down to the corner of LaSalle, I think, and [262] Lake Street.  The fire had jumped over the Sherman House and got in the wooden buildings facing on Lake Street.  I started for the West Side to see if I couldn’t get an engine or two, but I couldn’t see any engine except the Illinois.  The rest were away at the south of the fire.  I thought I had better go back and see there.  Maybe some of them have rolled in there.  I went back, and after I got back, somebody said the fire had crossed to the North Side, and the water works was on fire.  I couldn’t hardly believe it.  Then I knew if the water works were on fire, there was no hopes of saving anything.  I hadn’t then any hopes of saving anything from the courthouse down.  When I heard the water [263] works was afire, I took and jumped in my wagon and drove over to the North Side far enough to see that it was so, and then I gave up all hopes of being able to save much of anything.  I came back again, and by that time the Williams had got to playing down on Lake Street, corner of Wells, and I got the Chicago and sent her down to Schuttler’s corner.[dclxviii]  The fire then was running through right into Gale’s drug store.[dclxix]  I sent her down and led in the rear first until it caught fire.  Then led down LaSalle Street and got the Williams to lead up Wells Street, thinking I might throw the fire off northeast; but it wasn’t long before the fire rolled out of the front of Gale’s drug store, right almost across the street; and the fire seemed to be [264] further along this way, three or four buildings, in the basement.  I then made up my mind it was time for me to get my wife out.

Q.  That was about opposite to where you boarded?

A.  Gale’s was about 150 feet east of where I boarded.[dclxx]  I ran up and found Mrs. Highland there, and they had got out some of her things.  Said I, “You go away from here and let everything go.”  Captain Miller was there and two or three others.  One of the men belonging to the Long John was there.  He said he had been told that the Long John was burned up.  Said I, “Will you help take down this piano of mine?”  Went up there and the boys were going to take it out just as it was.  I commenced unscrewing the legs.  When they got that out of the room, thinks I, I will try and save this carpet.  Then [265] the glass began to crack in the windows.  I had a new stove that cost me forty-six dollars.  I tumbled that on the floor and went downstairs with the carpet.  When I got down to the foot of the stairs, somebody or other grabbed the carpet and took it away.  I went halfway up the first story again.  It was getting so hot I thought I wouldn’t go.  That was all I got of my things.[dclxxi]  The Chicago then had led back and was playing upon some wooden buildings, trying to keep it from crossing the street, but the fire had then got into a large block there, and I knew there was no use at all of trying to do anything.  The Chicago then went back to work at the corner of Randolph and Market streets, and I was down on Lake Street and South Water.  She moved away from there.  I don’t [266] know where she went.  I saw the Williams down there and the Winnebago,[dclxxii] and somebody came to me and said the fire was going to cross to the West Side at the foot of Washington Street.  There was big piles of coal on fire right on Market Street.  I drove around there and found the Chicago there and this new engine of Richards,[dclxxiii] and they didn’t have enough hose to wet down the back of those buildings.  I said, “How much hose have you got, Chicago?”  They told me they had a reel.  Nearly a full reel of hose.  I thought I would let the Richards engine put on two lengths more and keep that from burning.  That is the elevator at the foot of Washington Street.[dclxxiv]  The Chicago went to the North Side.  I saw the buildings were all burning on the south [267] bank of the Chicago River.  The  Winnebago, while I was over to the West Side, went to the North Side, and the Williams went to the West Side and led her hose across Lake Street bridge.  I went over to the North Side, and the Winnebago was working from the plug at the corner of Kinzie and Wells and was playing on the building that the Northwestern Railroad offices were in.[dclxxv]  As soon as I reached the ground, some of the officers there came to me and said, “Here, Marshal Williams, if you want to do us any good, save our depot.  It has got on fire and will you save our depot?”  It had a very heavy cornice on the south side.  I ordered the Winnebago to lead up their hose from where they were playing and get on the [268] [blank] of the building and throw up some water there on the south side, but the Winnebago was getting out of water, and I led them right up alongside and put the pipe over a kind of balcony.  We got there, and after we had been playing awhile, the whole garret was full of fire, and there was a kind of green and blue mass ran down out of that.  I did not for two or three days find out what it was.  They had all their telegraph fixings up there, so I made up my mind it was that.  I did not know but what somebody had been preparing that to burn.[dclxxvi]  I guess it must have been the chemicals of the telegraph.[dclxxvii]  The Winnebago was doing well there.  It would probably have burned the roof pretty badly; but we would have [269] got it out; but the water gave out, and before we could get--I then went and sent the Coventry engine to play on it; but it got such a start; and before we could get a second stream on from the Winnebago, it had got to burning pretty badly and got to burning in the Hatch House.[dclxxviii]  At the same time, they were hoisting up the Chicago’s pipe and playing on the east elevator.  As soon as the Hatch House got to burning, I then thought of [Haney’s?] shop.  All the machinery of the James and Liberty was in there.[dclxxix]  I ran around there and King[dclxxx] was there on the street. I got him to back up and got a lot of men around there to take hold and carry out all the machinery of the James and Liberty and put it in the wagon and carried it [270] away.  [Haney’s?] shop was on fire and John Murphy’s shop was on fire.  The elevators had caught fire, and the boys had hard work to get their machines away from the dock.  I do not know exactly where they did go and locate.  It was up towards Kinzie Street bridge, I think.  My eyes were so full of dirt and dust that I couldn’t see.  Thinks I, I will have to go and fix myself up a little.  I started for the West Side and went and got a pair of goggles and then went over to the Babcock arrangement to see about some Babcocks.  Thought perhaps I might possibly make good use of them as the water works were gone.  I went over and told them to get every machine they had--these four-wheeled machines--so we could use them in case of fire on the West Side.  I then went back to the [271] West Side and [Chesbrough?][dclxxxi] had been there and left word that he wanted me to go and pump in the mains.[dclxxxii]  There was some engines coming in from Milwaukee, and they were scattered around, and there was men coming to me to get engines to play on this coal pile and that safe and that vault.  I was completely tired out and wet to the skin.  I jumped in my wagon and drove up to where my wife was and changed my clothes and drank a cup of tea and had two bites of bread, and I couldn’t swallow it.  Then I went up on the North Branch and got the Coventry and put her across the river and led up there where there was a pile of tan bark burning.[dclxxxiii]  It was near some bridge.  I have forgotten what bridge it was.  I was pretty  [272] well racked.  I was tired out.  I had ordered the America Hose to go and get hose where the fire was up by Ewing Street.  I then came down to the Williams’s house.  There was a dozen companies to be seen to there.  There was companies come in, and they had to be taken care of and had to have something to eat and wanted horses and so forth, and they kept me busy the biggest part of the time.  The Long John had come to me and reported “out of order.”  Said I, “What is the matter?”  [Alec replied,] “She won’t draft water.”[dclxxxiv]  Said I, “What are you going to do?  Where is the engineer?”[dclxxxv]  [Alec replied,] “Don’t know where he is.  He is tired out.”  Said I, “Keep yourself in readiness.  Keep the men together.  If there is a fire on the West Side, she can form in line and work,” and Alec went to bed.  [273] The same with the rest of them.  They were lying all around there.  Along in the evening, I received word that there was some engines wanted up on the North Side.  The Bloomington engine was up there working, and one or two others; and I sent word to the Rehm to go over there; but when we got up where the fire was, we only had half enough hose to reach there.  We got a hook and ladder [that?] was there and pulled down a building that was then burning, and one or two others, and we got the fire out.  It come on rainy, and the Bloomington company--when they got that out and a lot more up along the street--I do not know what street it is--put out all the fire along there that was dangerous--the Bloomington company wanted to go home.  I believe they were ta- [274] ken to the Chicago’s house.  I am not positive whether the Chicago or James.  It came on raining that night, and I didn’t get to bed until about three o’clock in the morning.  I hadn’t been to bed, I think an hour, when they came in and said there was some Cincinnati or Pittsburgh engines here, what to do with them.  I was so sleepy and tired out; I did not know what to tell them.  I hadn’t got completely to sleep again when I was waked up by something else.  I got up then.  It was along about nine o’clock, I think.  I heard that alderman Walsh,[dclxxxvi] ex-alderman now, was blowing about my not setting the John to work.  I saw Alec and said, “Is that engine in working order?  Will she draft water?” Said he, “They reported to me that she wouldn’t.”  Said I, “I understand I am [275] catching [illeg.] about it, and when the council meet, they are going to slaughter me.  You must get your engine around and have her fixed.”  I took and sent her down to the river to see if she would draft.  She worked there until the afternoon, and then I sent her to the South Side, and as soon as I knew they wanted the Skinner[dclxxxvii] over there, I sent her over. As far as I know of any engine from the South Side on the West Side, the Long John was the only one.[dclxxxviii]

Q.  Mention the cities that have sent engines or firemen here, if you can recollect them all.

A.  Aurora, one.[dclxxxix]  Springfield, one.  Milwaukee, three.  Pittsburgh sent three, Allegheny sent two, Cincinnati sent three, Bloomington sent one. We had to go and get something for these men to [276] eat.  They were coming in, and we had to get a place for them to sleep.  We had to keep engines pumping in the mains; and as soon as these foreign engines would find that they had to go to pumping in the mains, they didn’t like it; and there was a good deal of coaxing done, and a good deal of running around to do to get them to do anything.[dcxc]

Q.  Out of the many engines that arrived from outside cities, do you know of any that were sent in the South Division to pump in the mains?

A.  Yes sir.  There was one of the Milwaukee engines sent over south.

Q.  To pump in the pipes?

A.  I don’t know what for.  She went over to the South Side.  There was one thing I omitted in my testimony.  I went to the West Side and sent the Illinois down [277] to protect the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Freight Depot[dcxci] there along the river.  That elevator got on fire, and I sent her down there.[dcxcii]  The Detroit engines played a good deal upon safes.[dcxciii]

Q.  Why I ask this was because on Thursday, when Mr. Hoyne’s barn caught fire,[dcxciv] I could find no engines nearer than the round house.  The John, I believe, was the only one that was on service that time in the South Division. 

A.  There was two of them gave out.  The Waubansia and the Rice.[dcxcv]  It wasn’t but a day or two until the Titsworth gave out.  The Cincinnati engines didn’t stay here.  They loaded their engines Tuesday night.  The Cincinnati engines led across the river on coal piles on the west shore.  The Titsworth engine was working on Jefferson Street on the West Side and then [278] she went to the South Side and the engine went ahead and the cart [went?][dcxcvi] to follow, when they got their hose taken up but they couldn’t get through.[dcxcvii]  They went as far as on South Water Street.  There was no fire there yet, but the fire was falling so thick, they could not get south there.  They took and turned around and went to the North Side across Wells Street bridge and across Kinzie Street bridge and around to Halsted Street and over to the West Side, and the engine went down to the corner of State and Washington streets, and the foreman[dcxcviii] said he thought if they had had about four engines there, they could have saved property.  When he was asked, “Did the wind blow hard?” he said it blowed so hard he couldn’t stand on his feet.  Now, if he had had a dozen engines, he [279] couldn’t have thrown a stream up to stop that fire.  That was the big trouble in the whole fire.  The stream was cut away.

Q.  Suppose the water works hadn’t burned.  Would the fire have been as disastrous as it was?

A.  If the water works hadn’t burned, I feel confident that we would have saved a great portion of the North Side.

Q.  How with the South Side?

A.  I do not think we would have saved a great deal of the South Side, that lower part of the city.  I wasn’t up in the south part because when the fire run down through by the courthouse, it cut me off.

Q.  From the testimony that has been given here, if the water hadn’t given out early in the morning, would or would not a large portion of that that was burned on the South Side after that time been [280] saved?

A.  I presume from what testimony I have heard, that they were badly crippled around Van Buren and Harrison streets and around there.  I have been talking with several of the foremen, and they tell they were doing well, but when the water gave out, they couldn’t do anything but take it through from Jackson running off down that way.  The way that the wind was blowing the fire, I do not think you could have saved any of it.

Q.  How were the water works roofed?

A.  It was a wooden roof covered with felt, I believe.  I never was on the top.  I have understood it was this common felt roofing.[dcxcix]

Q.  Was there any appliances there at the water works for protecting themselves in case of fire?

[281]

A.  Not that I know of.  I always supposed there was, until after the fire.  In fact, I never knew so much about it until last Sunday.  They wanted a well pumped out--

Q.  State whether or not you have been keeping engines at the water works for the purpose of keeping them from burning.

A.  I went there to see whether the engine would lift water that distance and found she was working and had got very near as low as they wanted it.  I got to talking with the assistant engineer,[dcc] and he said they hadn’t anything there to force water.  Said I, “I always supposed you had.”

Q.  Plug pressure is how much?

A.  I do not know what pressure it would have there by the works.  There was a great deal; of the time, we didn’t have more than thirteen to nineteen pounds [282] pressure.

Q.  State whether or not you have been keeping an engine there for the purpose of protecting it.

A.  Since putting on the new roof, we have kept an engine there.

Q.  What engine is that?

A.  One belonging to Mr. Silsby,[dcci] a rotary engine shipped here from Quincy.[dccii]  We had another engine there, a New York engine, but had to send her home.  When they were sent home, we sent this rotary up there, and she remains there yet.  I am satisfied that if the water works hadn’t burned, the fire wouldn’t have got west of Wells Street.  I do not think that the Galena Depot[dcciii] would have burned and the Hatch House.  I know it wouldn’t at that time if the water hadn’t given out.  But when the elevators got [283] on fire, I don’t know but it might have burned then, because that threw a terrible heat out, and they were so high.[dcciv]  (Figure 85) Several things have been recommended a great many times.  I have recommended that fire hydrants be put in outside the sidewalk and a pipe run into the river three feet below the surface where an engine could come up and attach, for the reason that I never could get on the dock to put our suctions in the river.[dccv]  The fire department always has been crippled by that.  Mr. Harris[dccvi] used to complain of it when he was chief, and it has been bad all along.

Q.  Would floating engines upon the river been beneficial?

A.  The first year I was appointed fire marshal, I had a talk with the Board and recommended to get one [284] if we couldn’t get any more for an experiment, and the Board did ask for an appropriation, I believe it was twelve thousand dollars for a floating fire engine, as it was suggested by some of the Board to have a fire engine, and it could be towed by a tug, but I told them it would have power enough to propel itself and work the streams. 

Q.  The plan recommended by the Board was to have a regular floating engine capable of throwing a dozen streams?

A.  Yes sir.  Throw any number of streams they saw fit to put on and have a reel or two on the deck, so if the fire was the second square from the river, you could take a run of hose right out.  Also, to have a place for that boat to lie and have the telegraph located there on the dock, so the  [285] boys could get the alarm and have them remain on the boat.[dccvii]

Q.  How long have you ever known the Chicago River to be frozen up so as to prevent the passage of the river?

A.  I have seen some winters that the river had been closed up perhaps near three months.  Not as a general thing.

Q.  As a general thing, about how long a time?

A.  Perhaps two months.  We have some winters that are open, that wouldn’t be as long as that, and even then that floating engine, you could locate it when she was to be ice bound where the most dangerous fires were likely to be, and then she would be in good use.

Q.  Do you consider that Chicago has had a large enough fire department to protect a city built in the combustible manner that Chicago has been? [286]

A.  I do not think Chicago has had a sufficient number, although we have had good success in putting out fires.  I do not think there is any city in the world that has had better success in putting out fires.  We haven’t had but very few fires that have been disastrous up to this fire, and if we had had all the fire departments in the world here, I don’t think it could have been prevented.

Q.  Our population was about the same as St. Louis, was it?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  It was larger than Cincinnati?

A.  Yes sir, I think so.

Q.  What is the number of engines in St. Louis?

A.  I do not know how many engines they run in St. Louis.  St. Louis has got a different city to fight fires in from what Chicago is.  The city is more compact and the build- [287] ings are nothing like as high.  The majority of St. Louis is lower buildings.

Q.  Are their water works elevated so as to give a heavy pressure?

A.  I believe so.  I never visited their water works.  When I was there last spring, I hadn’t time.

Q.  Has Cincinnati more or less engines than Chicago?

A.  She has, I believe, twenty-one engines, if I don’t mistake.

Q.  Aren’t their engines very much more powerful than ours?

A.  I do not know for that.  There are some of them that are.

Q.   Do you think they are an advisable kind of an engine for us to use?

A.  No sir, I don’t.  I think a lighter engine is preferable.  There are places where those large engines come in very well.  Where you want a large quantity of water.  You take ninety-nine [288] out of every hundred fires and a light engine is better, gets around faster and strike it before it gets the start of you.  That is the only secret in putting out fires.  If a fire gets the start of you, you have got to work very hard.  One thing I would state.  One great reason that the Chicago department has had such good success as they have had in this wooden city--it is nothing more or less--they have been right on their taps and on it before it got started.[dccviii]  With the class of buildings we have got here in Chicago, the streets filled up and low wooden buildings set upon posts and some as high as nine, ten, and eleven feet, some three or four.  Sidewalks you can go in below at one corner and walk clean through a whole square.  Once in a while there [289] would be a rough board partition there and wide cracks that you could run your fingers through.

Q.  Do you think that the excessive work on Saturday night had anything to do with preventing the men from going to the fire Sunday night?

A.  I think the men were fatigued and tired out, a great many of them from Saturday night.  There was a number of companies and Titsworth I think it was between four and five o’clock when I sent that company home.[dccix]  That company hadn’t been home but a few hours before they had to pull out again.  There was hook and ladders, too, that had been to work there pretty much the whole day, and after they went home, they hadn’t been long at home when it seems Mr. Schank got [290] them down there to [overhaul?] some lumber.  They were on their way home when Box 28 came in, and then this large fire started.

Q.  You went about, went to several houses?

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  Did you see any intoxication?

A.  No sir, I didn’t see any firemen who were intoxicated.  I saw some people who said they were intoxicated, but the men were completely tired out.  Their eyes, some people to look at them would say, “That fellow has been drinking,” or “He looks pretty hard.”  There wasn’t one of them that I could see was intoxicated.  There might have been some of them had taken a drink.  They all seemed to be ready for duty, but in rather poor shape.  Seemed as though they had been to work pretty hard.  I saw some citizens that were [291] pretty well set up and hanging around the engine houses.  For instance, up here in the Chicago[dccx] and the hook and ladder and unless you was acquainted, you wouldn’t know whether they were members of the company or not, and it is pretty hard after a fire to say to citizens and some [of] them, perhaps having got burned out and others of them very well acquainted with some of the fire department, and if they happened to come around there and got a little more in than what they ought to have, it is pretty hard to take him by the collar and say, “Get out of here.”  On the Saturday night fire I will state I took away from two different parties that were not members of the fire department--took fire hats away from them.  [292] They were badly intoxicated.[dccxi]

Q.  How did they get those hats?

A.  I do not know.  When you get a hot fire, a great many of the boys won’t put them on.  The leather draws the heat, and a great many will put on a slouch hat in preference to a fire hat.  I always wear a fire hat and would like that the men would for this reason.  You don’t know who are firemen and who are not.  You don’t know whether it is your own men or outsiders.  If a man hasn’t a fire hat on, he might pass you by in the same alley, and you couldn’t hardly tell who it was.

Q.  It is dangerous to go near a falling wall without a fire hat?[dccxii]

A.  Yes sir, dangerous where there is bricks and others falling.[dccxiii]

Q.  Have you formed any [293] estimate as to the loss of property in consequence of the fire?

A.  No sir, I have not.

Q.  As to the number of buildings?

A.  The number of buildings we haven’t got at.

Q.  (By Mr. Benner)  Did you know what time the Titsworth went up to the Economy’s house?

A.  I did not.  I do not know what time the Economy left the lower portion of the fire and come up south.

Q.  (By Mr. Schank)  You made the statement, one, that you didn’t see me at the west side of the fire.

A.  Yes sir.

Q.  (By Schank)  Don’t you recollect of seeing me and my asking you to change the engines?

A.  I have no recollection of seeing you at all at that [294] fire.  I might have seen you; I cannot recollect.

Q.  (By Schank)  You don’t recollect that I spoke to you?

A.  I have no recollection of seeing Mr. Benner but once.  I met Mr. Walter[dccxiv] on the south side of the fire when I was on Taylor Street.  I saw Mr. Walter quite often.  When I went to the South Side, I sent a man around to tell Walter to send us some more engines if he could.

 

Adjourned to Monday morning at ten o’clock.[dccxv]

 

50th witness

 

(Although there was a 50th witness, his testimony was never memorialized with that of the other 49 people who testified.  The reason for this is set forth in the following, which is reprinted from the December 5, 1871, issue of the Chicago Tribune:)

 

The Board of Police and Fire Commissioners met at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of continuing their investigation as to the cause of the fire, and the other circumstances connected with it needing investigation.  At 3 o'clock the foreman of Ryerson & Co.'s lumber yard had not appeared, and, he being the only witness left to examine, the board declared that the examination was concluded, and dismissed their official stenographer.  After the board adjourned from its regular session the foreman arrived, and was subjected to an examination as regards the money paid to firemen.  He testified that at the time of the fire the Chicago and foreign companies had done such excellent service that the owners of property determined upon making up a purse for them.  The sum raised was $2,200 which was distributed among five or six companies.  Mat. Benner, the Third Assistant Fire Marshal, received $300, while the Chicago companies received $200.  A Pittsburgh and Bloomington company were presented with $200 and $250 respectively.  When asked if any compact or agreeament [sic] was made by either of the companies the witness said there was nothing of the kind.  He believed they paid no more attention to Ryerson's yard than to any other property, but did their best throughout, and the property owners whose property had been saved by them felt in duty bouud [sic] to reward them for their services.

 

This ends the investigation.  The board have now all the testimony before them, and will after due deliberation and consultation, prepare a report upon it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[i].  The symbol “+c” was used here.  This is probably a variation of the more formal abbreviation “&c.”  (See, e.g., Sheahan and Upton, p. 213; “City Brevities,” p. 1.)  Although this can mean “and so forth,” it is also an abbreviation for “and others,” and it appears that this use is what Commissioner Thomas B. Brown intended when he summarized William Brown’s inquiry statements.  But it is not clear who these “others” might have been.  The Chicago Tribune’s account of Brown’s testimony gives no indication.  Sarah R. Hibbard, William Brown’s sister, later claimed that she and a friend, Maggie Daily, were in the courthouse with Brown when the fire broke out and that Hibbard brought the blaze to her brother’s attention.  Perhaps these were the people to whom Brown was referring.  Neither Hibbard nor Daily were interviewed by the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners.  See Stuart Berg Flexner, ed., The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2d ed. (New York: Random House, 1987), s.v. “Signs and Symbols: Miscellaneous,” hereafter cited in text as Random House Dictionary”; “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1871, p. 6; “Marks Anniversary of the Great Fire.”

[ii].  Fire alarm Box 293 was located at West Polk and Canal streets, Box 295 was at West Taylor and Desplaines streets, and Box 296 was at West Twelfth and Canal streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 915; 1871 City Directory, p. 35.

[iii].  Fire alarm Box 287 was at West Van Buren and Canal streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 915; 1871 City Directory, p. 35.

[iv].  George E. Fuller was a fire alarm telegraph operator.  Fuller was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune as part of its “Boring for Facts” series.  See Musham, p. 181; “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 6; 1871 Pay Roll; 1870 City Directory, p. 295; 1871 City Directory, p. 339.

[v].  The South Side gas works, more formally known as the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company, was located about twelve blocks north and three blocks east of the O’Leary barn, near the corner of Monroe and Market streets.  See Musham, p. 111, Lowe, p. 42.   For a history of the gas works, see Andreas, vol. 1, pp. 155-56; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 701-2.

[vi].  John Farwell’s store containing “drygoods, woolens and notions” was at 106 to 112 Wabash Avenue.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 263; 1871 City Directory, p. 307.

[vii].  The Oriental Building was at 120 to 124 LaSalle Street, or the west side of LaSalle Street, between Washington and Madison streets.  The November 24, 1871, Chicago Republican contained summaries of the testimony of William Brown and Mathias Schaefer that were very similar to Brown and Schaefer’s affidavits that were prepared by Commissioner Thomas B. Brown.  In fact, because the Republican article was almost a word-for-word duplicate of these affidavits, the newspaper article was useful in deciphering Brown’s handwriting.  But although the Republican claimed that the fire had jumped to the “roof by” the Oriental Building, the transcript indicates that it was the “rear of” this building that caught fire.  See “How Was It?,” p. [4]; 1870 City Directory, p. 633; 1871 City Directory, pp. 55, 691. 

[viii].  Brown is referring to the steam engine A.C. Coventry No. 11.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[ix].  These two people may have been Sarah R. Hibbard, the sister of William Brown, and her friend Maggie Daily.  Unfortunately, Commissioner Brown’s penmanship is spotty at best, and it is not clear if this word is “them.”  Parties of “three” seems more appropriate, but this conclusion is contrary to the November 24, 1871 Republican, which indicates that the word is “them.”  It is also inconsistent with the 1911 reminiscences of Sarah R. Hibbard and Mathias Schaefer; neither Hibbard nor Schaefer suggested that six people were up in the courthouse tower on the evening of October 8.  ”See “Marks Anniversary of the Great Fire”; “Man in Tower,” sec. 1, p. [2]; Cromie, pp. 36-37; “How Was It?,” p. [4].

[x].  In her 1911 reminiscences, Sarah R. Hibbard claimed that she called her brother’s attention to the fire half an hour before Schaefer signaled Brown to sound the alarm.  See “Marks Anniversary of the Great Fire.”

[xi].  The West Side gas works was not the Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company, as its operations were on Chicago’s North Side and South Side.  Rather, it appears that Schaefer is referring to the People’s Gas Light & Coke Company, a gas company located on the city’s West Side.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 701-2.

[xii].  Box 319 was at a police substation at Twelfth and Johnson streets.  See Musham, p. 102; 1870 City Directory, p. 915; 1871 City Directory, p. 35; Flinn, pp. 115, 121.

[xiii].  Schaefer’s opinion as to when the second alarm was struck is correct.  Brown testified that he received Schaefer’s signal for Box 342 at 9:30.  At 9:42 he asked Schaefer if the fire was spreading and then struck a second alarm.  See William J. Brown, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 1; “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 6; “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1871, p. 6.

[xiv].  Schaefer’s “comrade” was Denis Deneen, fire department watchman.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1871, p. 6; Musham, pp. 115, 181; Goodspeed, p. 118; 1871 Pay Roll.

[xv].  The “Long John boys” are firemen from the Steamer Long John No. 1.

[xvi].   It is not clear what Schaefer meant in this statement about Fuller helping the firemen “light up hose.”  Perhaps he was helping the firemen handle the hose, thus making it “lighter.”  But the phrase is probably a derivation of the informal term, “light out,” meaning to move quickly.  Marshal Williams, in fact, used the phrase “light out this hose” in his inquiry testimony.  See Robert A. Williams, Inquiry, vol. [4], p. 241; “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1871, p. 6; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3d ed., s.v. “light: light out,” hereafter cited in text as American Heritage Dictionary.

[xvii].  “Lead,” pronounced “leed,” is both a noun and a verb.  When Marshal Williams recounted a question in his own inquiry testimony, “who in the devil has cut off this lead?” and commented that “there were two leads,” he was referring to a length of hose.  One end of the hose is connected to the steam engine and the other end is attached to the nozzle.  To “lead out hose” means to carry or stretch the hose from the steamer to the fire.  See Ken Little to Richard F. Bales, 15 February 2001; Little and McNalis, p. 498; Robert A. Williams, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 241, 246.

[xviii].   Schaefer indicates that he rang the courthouse bell until the fire drove him out of the building.  He seems to imply that the bell stopped ringing once he fled.  This is not the case.  As Schaefer and Denis Deneen left the courthouse, one of them set the machinery that would ring the bell continuously, and the bell rang until it finally crashed downward.  The courthouse bell was not the only fire alarm bell in Chicago.  In an interview with a Tribune reporter, George Fuller commented that while he was in the fire department office in the courthouse, he struck the “electric repeater” that rang the “outside bells.”  (This is an apparent reference to the other alarm bells scattered throughout the city.)  As he left the building, he turned the repeater off.  See Andreas, vol. [2], pp. 92-93, 719, 724-25; Luzerne, p. 94; Goodspeed, pp. 118-119; “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 6; Kirkland, p. 732; Musham, pp. 84-85.

[xix].  This is a reference to the fire at St. Paul’s Catholic Church.  See “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 6; Musham, p. 105; Michael Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 87-88; Cromie, pp. 56-59.

[xx].  Box 287 was located at West Van Buren and Canal streets, about three blocks north and one block east of the church.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 915, 1871 City Directory, p. 35; Musham, p. 105, Cromie, inside front cover.  (Note that Musham’s reference to Box “387” instead of “287” at page 105 of his monograph is a typographical error; no such box existed.)

[xxi].  Although the transcript indicates that Schaefer is referring to the “Evans” Block, and although this is confirmed by the report of his testimony that appeared in the November 24, 1871 Chicago Republican, the 1870 and 1871 Chicago city directories do not include an Evans Block in their listings of “Public Halls, Blocks, and Buildings.”  See “How Was It?,” p. [4]; 1870 City Directory, pp. 943-44; 1871 City Directory, pp. 54-55.

[xxii].  This is a reference to the steam engine Economy No. 8.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[xxiii].  Nicholas Dubach was the foreman of the Economy.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[xxiv].  Nicholas Lewis was a pipeman for the Economy.  A pipeman handles the fire hose.  The nozzle at the end of the hose is called a “pipe.”  See 1871 Pay Roll; Ken Little interview; Little and McNalis, p. 498.

[xxv].  There appears to be a renumbering of pages here.  Hence the dual numbers.

[xxvi].Commissioner James E. Chadwick

[xxvii].  This is about half a block west of the O'Leary property.

[xxviii].  This is consistent with how Musham depicts the location of the Little Giant at the beginning of the fire.  See Musham, page 98.

[xxix].  Actually, it was the fourth door east of Jefferson Street.  (See Chicago Title Insurance records).

[xxx].  Note that Musham, at this point, had not yet  testified that he was the first person there.  However, it is quite possible that the board is referring, not to prior testimony, but rather, to a prior statement

 

Throughout the Inquiry there is conflicting testimony as to what fire company was first at the fire, with several firemen indicating that their fire apparatus was the first at the scene.  (See, e.g., Steamer Illinois, Inquiry, 1:41; Steamer Chicago, Inquiry, 1:127; Steamer Little Giant, Inquiry, 1:8;  Protection Hook and Ladder, 1:158, 1:176; America Hose Cart, Inquiry, 3:100, 112; etc.--  Despite these many claims, there appears to only be two real contenders:  Musham, of the Steamer Little Giant No. 6, testified that he was the first engine to arrive at the O'Leary property.  The board, however, in its final report, stated that the hose cart America No. 2 was at the scene, putting water on the fire before the arrival of any engine.  (See, in this regard, Inquiry, 2:62, 2:76-77; 3:100, 112;   also quote the Tribune article in which the final report was cited).   Cromie (page 33) attempts to explain away the discrepancy by stating that the America was the first piece of equipment there, while the Little Giant was the first steamer there.  Nonetheless, this still contradicts the final report, which Andreas noted with incredulity.  (Andreas, page 709, 710); see also pages 728 and 729 of the New England Magazine.

 

[xxxi].  Mathias Benner.

[xxxii].  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that this was south of Polk Street and west of the Chicago River.

[xxxiii].  The Chicago Dock Company property was at the southwest corner of Taylor Street and the river.  (See Chicago Title Insurance Company records).

[xxxiv].  Andreas (1:719) notes two theories as to when and where the fire crossed from the West Side to the South Side.  One school of thought states that the fire first broke out on the South Side around midnight at Powell's roofing company, on Adams Street, near the gas works.  However, Andreas believes that in fact the fire crossed the river at about 11:30, where it ignited, not the roofing company, but instead, the new stable owned by the Parmelee Omnibus and Stage Company, located on the southeast corner of Jackson and Franklin Streets.  See also Musham, 109-11.

[xxxv].  The firehouse of the Steamer J.B. Rice No. 10.  This was located at 338 South State Street, on the West side of the street, between Congress Street and Harrison Street -  see Musham, page 185.

[xxxvi].   First Assistant Fire Marshal John Schank. 

[xxxvii].Steamer T.B. Brown No. 12

[xxxviii].  This confirms Musham's research.  He notes that forty yards from the fire the wind was blowing thirty miles an hour.  Half a mile away, however, the wind was blowing only eighteen miles and hour.  (See Musham, pp. 163-4).

 

[xxxix].  This appears to be a reference to the alleyway that runs between the O'Leary and Dalton homes.

[xl].  Note, on the other hand, that Musham, page 98, depicts the Little Giant as leading in thru the above-noted alleyway.  Thus, Musham's diagram appears to be in error.

[xli].  These buildings, often referred to in the inquiry as a "row," was the Turner Block, owned by Matthew Turner.  (See Chicago Title Insurance Company records).

[xlii].  It is not clear if the transcriber wrote the word "or" here.

[xliii].  The Robinson's Atlas and the Chicago City Directory indicate that this butcher shop was very likely the store of Blalaha & Stile.

[xliv].  Musham, page 98, also depicts five buildings in this row.

[xlv].  Fire Marshal Robert A. Williams 

[xlvi].  Frank R. Howard, pipeman

[xlvii].  Michael Dolan, pipeman.  The November 30, 1871 issue of the Chicago Times notes that Dolan was brought before the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners on charges of being absent without leave.  It is not clear if the charges stem from the incident described here.

[xlviii].  See Chicago Times, 30 November 1871, which discusses Dolan being charged with being absent without leave.

[xlix].  Probably Joseph Lagger (See 1872 Report).

[l].  In a desperate attempt to halt the advancing flames, men resorted to the blowing up of buildings in the fire's path.  (See, in this regard, see Andreas, page 762, "...at one o'clock the mayor had been at the Court House, where he had given written orders to Alderman J.H. Hildreth to blow up buildings with powder, in order to stay the flames."  See also the testimony of James Hildreth, supra. 

 

[li].  James Hildreth testified extensively about blowing up buildings.  While he did not mention Joseph Lagger by name, he did comment that he worked with the aid of three men--all unnamed.  Perhaps Lagger was one of them.  (See James Hildreth, Inquiry, 3: 143 or 144.

[lii].  In As Others See Chicago, Bessie Louise Pierce quotes a narrative of Alexander Frear; this story appeared in the New York World of October 15, 1871:  "...[W]e started off in a light wagaon for Wabash avenue, stopping at Wright's, under the Opera House, to get a drink of coffee, which I needed very much.  There were several of the firemen of the Little Giant in there.  One of them was bathing his head with whiskey from a flask.  They declared that the entire department had given up, overworked, and that they could do nothing more.  (See Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago (Chicago:  The University of Chicago Press, 1933), 197-98.

 

[liii].Thomas B. Brown was the president of the Board of Police Commissioners.  In 1871 the commissioners were Brown, Mark Sheridan, and Frederick W. Gund.

[liv].  The transcripts do say "southeast" here, and that is entirely possible.  Musham notes (page 107) that, because of a shift in the wind, the fire did turn back once at this early stage.  See also 1:82-83.

[lv].  This was probably the National Elevator, owned by the firm of Vincent, Nelson & Co.  It was located east of Canal Street, near the Adams Street bridge.  (See Andreas, 2:375, 2:705, City Directory, page 602, Sheahan and Upton, 63).

[lvi].  In the early morning of October 9th the fire at the gas works, which were located on the South Side, ate its way, against the wind, back to the river.  Aided by brands from the fire on the opposite west bank, it set afire the Adams Street bridge as well as the nearby Nelson elevator, which had been spared by the fire of the previous night.  (Musham, page 120)

[lvii].  Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad (Musham, page 91).

[lviii].  As set forth in Musham and the 1869 Report, these would be:  Robert A. Williams, Fire Marshal; John Schank, First Assistant Marshal; Loren Walter, Second Assistant Marshal; Mathias Benner,  Third Assistant Marshall.

 

[lix].  Colbert and Chamberlin's book, CHICAGO AND THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION, was published before the Inquiry started.  (Put in here the Tribune article that notes this, or at least a letter to the editor.  see also p. 366 that says this, too.).  No doubt this question was asked as a result of reading the following (pp. 370-71):  "It is a fact that many [firemen] were the worse for their potations at the time the alarm sounded; it being the habit with many to celebrate all great fires, like that of the previous evening, by a good thorough drunk.  As a consequence of this and the fatigue from the night's work (which should have been slept off during Sunday), the men were not in condition to do good service on Sunday night--brave and willing though they were on most occasions."

 

[lx].   Different sources have spelled the name of Patrick O’Leary’s wife as either “Catherine” or “Catharine.”  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that when the O’Learys sold their home in 1879, the deed was executed by “Catherine” O’Leary.  But this evidence is not conclusive, as both of the O’Learys were apparently unable to write.  Neither party signed this deed; they merely placed an “X” next to their names, which appear to have been written in by the person who prepared the document.  (Figure 80) This “signature by mark” is consistent with the way the couple signed their affidavit that was published in the Chicago Tribune on October 20, 1871.  (Figure 66)  What does appear to be the final authority, though, is the O’Leary family tombstone, which indicates that her name was spelled “Catherine.”  (Figure 71) Consequently, this spelling is used throughout this book. 

 

The surname “Leary” is equivalent to the name “O’Leary.” The particles “O” and “Mc” on Irish names were often dropped during this time period.  In fact, Mr. O’Leary was described in his 1879 deed as “Patrick O’Leary alias Patrick Leary.”  See “Kate!  The Barn is Afire!,” Chicago History 1 (Fall 1971), p. 216, hereafter cited in text as “Kate!  The Barn is Afire!”; 1870 City Directory, p. 486; 1872 City Directory, p. 565.

[lxi].  Board of Police and Fire Commissioner James E. Chadwick.

[lxii].  The original transcript referred to a “horse wagon and harness,” with no comma between the first two words, implying that Mrs. O’Leary owned only a wagon (that was pulled by a horse) and a harness.  But towards the end of her testimony (page 78) Mrs. O’Leary told the Board that she had “a good horse there.  I had a wagon and harness. . . .” and so the comma has been inserted.

[lxiii].  In 1871 fire hydrants in Chicago were usually at street intersections and sometimes also in the middle of the subdivision blocks, but again in the right-of-way.  They were generally at least three hundred feet apart.  Therefore, Mrs. O’Leary’s statement that “there is a hydrant in front of our place and a hydrant in front of Mrs. Murray’s” at first seems puzzling.  (Mrs. Anne Murray was the O’Learys’ next door neighbor to the west.)   Mary Callahan also referred to two hydrants in a 1903 Tribune article, but she claimed that they were both in the O’Leary yard.  The following comment appeared in a possibly legitimate interview with Mrs. O’Leary that was published in the October 19, 1871, Tribune: “When asked how her house, which is not even scorched, was saved, she replied that there was a hydrant on each side of it, and a hundred of her friends filled buckets with water and threw it on the sides and roof of the building.”  Perhaps Mrs. O’Leary was referring in this interview to fire hydrants that were at either end of her block.  Robinson’s Atlas (1886) notes that there was a hydrant at the southwest corner of DeKoven and Jefferson streets and a hydrant at the northeast corner of DeKoven and Clinton streets.  Although this interpretation of Mrs. O’Leary’s statement is possible, it is more likely that the hydrants she referred to in both her testimony and in this alleged Tribune interview were actually wells or pumps and not the conventional fire hydrants to which fire equipment could connect.  Bessie Louise Pierce, for example, used this alternate meaning of the word “hydrant” in  her History of Chicago when describing the problems of supplying water to the public in the 1860s:  “Chicago housewives sometimes found it almost impossible to keep small fish from squirming out of the hydrant into their cooking receptacles, providing many a dish with an unwanted piscatorial flavor.”  Also, as noted in Appendix A, the steam engine Little Giant was the first fire engine to arrive at the fire.  Foreman William Musham testified that he drove to the hydrant at the southwest corner of DeKoven and Jefferson streets.  If there were a closer fire hydrant in front of the O’Leary or Murray homes, surely Musham would have driven to that hydrant.  (Throughout Musham’s testimony the term “plug” is used instead of “hydrant.”)  See Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 6; Ken Little to Richard F. Bales, 30 December 2001; “Centennial Eve,” sec. 1, p. [2]; “The Cow that Kicked Over the Lamp,” p. [2]; William Musham, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 7-9; Pierce, vol. 2, p. 333; Duis, pp. 98, 323.

[lxiv].  This is probably a reference to the alleyway that ran between the O’Leary and Dalton houses.

[lxv].  The punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[lxvi].  Did Mrs. O’Leary believe Mrs. McLaughlin?  It is possible that in later years Mrs. O’Leary thought that the McLaughlins did cause the fire. In 1894 her doctor, Dr. Swayne Wickersham, made this statement to a Tribune reporter:  “As [Mrs. O’Leary] has told me a thousand times, she was in bed asleep when the fire broke out, and the blaze was occasioned by her tenants, the Laughlins, breaking into her stable and attempting to milk her cow.” See “Fire Alley is Paved,” p. 1.

 

But on the other hand, did Mrs. O’Leary’s descendants grow up thinking that Daniel Sullivan was the culprit?  In 1933 the Chicago Tribune interviewed Catherine O’Leary Ledwell, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. O’Leary.  She discounted the “McLaughlin party” theory, suggesting instead that the fire was caused by “young bloods” in the neighborhood drinking beer in the barn and carelessly tossing a cigar butt into the hay.  But the Tribune also apparently interviewed Mrs. Rose O’Connell, who allegedly was a neighbor of the O’Learys seventeen years after the fire, and Mrs. O’Connell offered another theory as to the cause of the fire.  O’Connell insisted that she overheard Mr. O’Leary give “the true story of the origin and that is that the milking was done by ‘Pegleg’ Sullivan, who gave the alarm.”  The Tribune then added a possibly revealing postscript: “Mrs. Ledwell refused to discuss the theory.”  But Mrs. Eileen Knight, the granddaughter of Mrs. O’Leary, was not as reticent as Mrs. Ledwell, her mother.  In 1971 the Wall Street Journal related her thoughts on the cause of the fire:  “The family knew that Peg Leg did it. . . . They kept it quiet because Peg Leg would have been lynched if the truth was known.” See “Kin of O’Leary Absolves Cow in Fire of 1871,” sec. 1, p. 4; “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow, Vilified for 100 Years, Maybe Wasn’t Guilty,” p. 1.

[lxvii].  It appears that Mrs. O’Leary means that Mrs. McLaughlin did not cook supper on Sunday evening, as Mrs. McLaughlin’s testimony indicates that she did have supper that night:  “I didn’t cook a bit from noontime Sunday until Tuesday evening.  I will tell you how it happened.  We were invited to supper at Mr. Talbot’s [on Sunday night].”  See Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 229.

[lxviii].  The transcriber inexplicably crossed out what appears to be the correct word “roar” and inserted “roll” instead.

[lxix].  A month before Mrs. O’Leary testified, the Tribune reported that the city’s Common Council adopted a resolution “favoring an ordinance for the purpose of prohibiting the storing of shavings in any barns, wood-sheds and cellars, and the indiscriminat usee [sic] or burning of the same.”  See “Common Council Meeting,” Chicago Tribune, 24 October 1871, p. 1.  Both Patrick O’Leary and Daniel Sullivan commented about this apparently widespread use of shavings as fuel.  It seems possible that this ordinance was proposed in direct response to these practices.  See Patrick O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 251-52; Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 266, 271.

[lxx].  Mrs. O’Leary’s answer is consistent with Robinson’s Atlas, which also indicates that there is a hydrant at this intersection.  See Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 6.

[lxxi].    Both Musham and Andreas note that Waubansia Engine No. 2 failed to fully aid in attempting to extinguish the fire.  Andreas, pages 712, 713, Musham, page 104, 177.  Interestingly enough, Michael Sullivan, foreman of this engine company, does not mention this at these inquiry hearings.

 

[lxxii].  America No. 2 Hose Company

[lxxiii].  Apparently, what Sullivan is saying is that when he arrived there the America, a hose cart, was already attached to the "plug"--i.e., fireplug or hydrant.  Unlike a steam engine, a hose cart has no way of building up water pressure; consequently, it can only send water as far as the force in the water mains will permit.  Accordingly, it appears that Sullivan had disconnected the less powerful America so that he could hook up his steamer.  Williams protested, so the America's hose was reconnected--possibly to an outlet on the Waubansia.  This enabled two streams of water to be placed on the fire. (See Cromie, pp. 43 and 44).   

 

[lxxiv].  Later changed to Cabrini Street.

[lxxv].  Later changed to Arthington Street.

[lxxvi].  It is not clear from this sentence whether Sullivan said "...but Mr. Schank gave me [an] order, I think, to light back on Canal Street...., or, "...but Mr. Schank gave me [an] order, I think to light back on Canal Street...."  The latter is presumed.

[lxxvii].  Steamer William James No. 3

[lxxviii].   (directory says Turner Hall is 106 and 108 DeKoven)

[lxxix].  Steamer Little Giant No. 6

[lxxx].  It is presumed that Sullivan said "[t]hat was about noon, I believe, as near as I can judge, on Monday, and not "[t]hat was about noon, I believe, as near as I can judge on Monday."

[lxxxi].  About 3:30 a.m. on the morning of Monday, October 9, the waterworks burned.  Water, though, continued to flow through the watermains via the adjacent water tower.  Musham notes, though, on page 123 that this stored supply would not have lasted very long.  Thus, it is puzzling as to how Sullivan was able to draw water for several more hours, until late Monday morning.

 

[lxxxii].  Later changed to Lexington Street

[lxxxiii].   At 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, more than an hour after the fire started, the wind carried a mass of burning material, about two feet long, one foot thick in size, from about Taylor Street, four blocks north to the steeple of St. Paul's Catholic Church.  The church, located on the northeast corner of Clinton and Mather Streets, burst into flames almost immediately. (See Musham, page 107, who quoted the Chicago Evening Journal, November 24, 1871).

[lxxxiv].  Roelle Furniture Finishing Company, on Mather Street, just East of the church. (Musham, page 106).

[lxxxv].  Steamer Jacob Rehm No. 4

[lxxxvi].  Second Assistant Lorenz Walters

[lxxxvii].  Not only had the firemen been accused of drinking on the job, but they had also been criticised for being hung over from drinking on Saturday night:  "It is a fact that many [firemen] were the worse for their potations at the time the alarm sounded; it being the habit with many to celebrate all great fires, like that of the previous evening, by a good thorough drunk.  As a consequence of this and the fatigue from the night's work (which should have been slept off during Sunday), the men were not in condition to do good service on Sunday night - brave and willing though they were on most occasions."  (CHICAGO AND THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION, pp. 370 and 371.

[lxxxviii].   The transcriber wrote "fireman," but it appears that what was said was "firemen."

[lxxxix].  Shortly after the fire began, but even after it jumped across Taylor Street, it was still not out of control, as the flames were still limited to an area that was only about two blocks in width.  But  after St. Paul's Catholic Church took fire, the Roelle Furniture Finishing Company, which was next to the church, then caught fire.  The fire then passed into the Mayer Furniture Company, located in the attic of the East Bateham mill.  The fire then spread through the two Bateham's mills.  check out, Cromie, page 58, says Roselle was located South of the mill).

 

As Mr. Bateham watched his property go up in flames, he said, somewhat prophetically:  "The materials from this mill will fire the South Side, and nothing can prevent it now."  (See Musham, page 107, who quoted the Chicago Evening Journal, November 24,  1871).

[xc] Note:  See Sheahan and Upton, page 163, Chicago Tribune, November 15, 1871:The match factory was located between Bateham's and Clinton Street. Garden City Match Factory, 316 and 318 S. Clinton

[xci].  The word here is unclear.  Cromie, page 58, seems to imply that the word is "river."  This, though, makes no sense, and it is presumed that the word is "row."

[xcii].  Cromie similarly described the area (page 58):  "It was a block made to order for burning--like the rest of the immediate neighborhood.  Numerous two- and three-story frame buildings stood on the east side of Canal, and between the street and the river were stores, woodworking mills, saloons, furniture factories, lumberyards, paint shops, blacksmith shops, and wagon shops, many of these crowded together along the river for easy access to the Lake ships."

[xciii].  Steamer Frank Sherman No. 9

[xciv].  The Chicago Dock Company property is located near the corner of Taylor Street and the west bank of the Chicago River.

 

[xcv].  The transcriber wrote "leaving" here; however, in light of the other testimony, and in particular the next sentence, most likely Sullivan said "leading."

[xcvi].   Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that Mrs. Sullivan originally took title to her properties as both “Catharine” Sullivan and “Catherine” Sullivan.  As her estate was later probated as “Catherine” Sullivan, her name is spelled “Catherine” throughout this book.

[xcvii].  Commissioner Thomas B. Brown.

[xcviii].  Various sources have spelled the name of the street on which the O’Learys lived as either

“De Koven” (with a space after the first syllable) or “DeKoven.”  In their book Streetwise Chicago authors Don Hayner and Tom McNamee point out that this street was named after banker John DeKoven, and so the street is called “DeKoven” throughout the text. See Hayner and McNamee, p. 30.  (Generally speaking, the spelling of all streets noted herein is in accordance with Hayner’s and McNamee’s book.  Streets mentioned in quoted material that are spelled contrary to Streetwise Chicago retain their original spelling.)

 

Ironically, the Chicago Fire Academy now stands on the site of the O’Leary home.  See “Where City Learned a Lesson, Firemen to Study Theirs,” Chicago Daily News, [24 February 1959], p. 34, Harry A. Musham Collection, Notes on the Chicago Fire, Chicago Historical Society,

hereafter cited in text as “Where City Learned a Lesson”; “Kate!  The Barn is Afire!,” p. 219; Kogan and Cromie, p. 227; Ross Miller, American Apocalypse: The Great Fire and the Myth of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 149; hereafter cited in text as American Apocalypse.

[xcix].  This question as to whether or not Catherine Sullivan is related to Daniel Sullivan probably stems from Mrs. O’Leary’s earlier testimony.  See Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 61.  One historian, citing an anonymous descendant of the O’Learys, wrote that Sullivan was a boarder of the O’Learys.  This is incorrect.  See Chicago: City on Fire, p. 57-F.

[c].  As maps of the “burnt district” indicate that the fire did not destroy homes south of DeKoven Street, these men must have been able to extinguish the burning Sullivan homes.  See, e.g., Lowe, p. 42.

[ci].  See Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 273, where Daniel Sullivan stated: “I knew that mother was building a new house.”  Perhaps this is the house that his mother is referring to in her testimony.  In this regard, see chapter four, note 46.

[cii].  Even though Mrs. Sullivan had just testified (p. 115) that her son left her house shortly before she saw the fire, the commissioners and marshals failed to ask Mrs. Sullivan the name of this son so that they could question him to determine what he might have seen. As Mrs. Sullivan had previously told the officials that “one of my boys was out,” these men would have had no reason to silently assume that this son was Daniel. 

[ciii].  The 1870 Census indicates that Catherine Sullivan had three sons named Daniel, Michael, and John.  All three were draymen.  See 1870 U.S. Census, Cook County, Illinois, Population Schedule, National Archives micropublication M593, roll 204, sheet 174, page 87, lines 26-28.

[civ].  Actually, Catherine Sullivan may have lived in the neighborhood only seven years.  Mrs. Sullivan owned three parcels of land between Jefferson Street and Clinton Street.  All of them fronted DeKoven Street.  In 1864 she was deeded lot 18 in a subdivision of Block 38 of School Section Addition to Chicago.  In 1865 she acquired the west half of lot 19, which was east of lot 18.  In 1870 she was deeded lot 21, which was located at the southwest corner of DeKoven and Clinton streets and seventy-five feet east of the west half of lot 19.  See Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Figure 63.

[cv].  Mrs. Sullivan is probably referring to a policeman coming to her house and asking her to testify at the investigation.

[cvi].  “Dennis Ryan” is just one of the several aliases for “Dennis Regan.” It appears that the transcriber wrote that “Dennis Ryan” was sworn, but a careful examination of the penmanship indicates that the name could be interpreted very easily as “Regan.”

[cvii].  On occasion twentieth-century references to Chicago Fire landmarks on DeKoven Street will refer to street addresses that are different from those mentioned in this book.  See, for example, “Where City Learned a Lesson,” p. 34, which indicates that the site of the O’Leary home was at 558 DeKoven Street and not 137 DeKoven Street.  See also “Chicago’s Forgotten House,” sec. 1, p. 18.  In 1908 (later amended in 1909 and 1910), the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance that changed the street address numbering system.  This ordinance created new addresses for many of Chicago’s buildings.  For example, what was originally Regan’s 112 DeKoven Street address became 521 DeKoven Street.  See House Number Ordinance, “New & Old House Numbers, City of Chicago,” Bureau of Maps and Plats, Department of Public Works, City of Chicago.  For a comprehensive history of the ordinance, see Hayner and McNamee, pp. xiv-xv, 149-50.

[cviii].  When Patrick and Catherine O’Leary were questioned by the commissioners, neither one mentioned Regan’s nocturnal visit.

[cix].  Historians A. T. Andreas and James S. McQuade both comment that if Mrs. O’Leary had a sore foot, she probably would not have been in the barn milking her cow that evening.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 708; McQuade, p. 44.  During the inquiry Mrs. O’Leary told the fire officials repeatedly that she was in bed when the fire broke out.  She never mentioned, however, that she was in bed because she had a sore foot.  In fact, she never said anything at all about her foot.  See Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 59, 61, 66, 67.

[cx].  The commissioners never asked Regan who these neighbors were.  On the other hand, they asked Mrs. McLaughlin to “give the names of all these persons who were there at the house that evening.”  See Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 226.

[cxi].  Regan could not have heard the music as he ran past the O’Leary house.  Mrs. McLaughlin testified the day after Regan did, and she told the commissioners and marshals that the music ended about one-half hour before the fire started.  The fire officials never questioned Mrs. McLaughlin about this inconsistency, nor did they recall Regan and ask him to explain this apparent falsehood.  See Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 225-26.

[cxii].  Commissioner Mark Sheridan.

[cxiii].  Perhaps a fire official, thinking that a wayward chimney spark might have caused the fire, asked this question.  The Board commented on this possibility in its final report: “Whether [the fire] originated from a spark blown from a chimney on that windy night, or was set on fire by human agency, we are unable to determine.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Evening Journal, 12 December 1871, p. [4].

[cxiv].  Interesting that he was not corrected here.  The fire started on October 8 and not the 9th. 

[cxv].  The transcriber originally wrote "corner of DeKoven, I think it is and Jefferson...."  This phrase was marked with a "#," and in the margin was written "correction hereafter.  Cor of Forquer + Jefferson."  This was no doubt corrected after Schimmels' correcting statements made to Mr. Benner, noted on pages 1:143 and 1:144.

[cxvi]. Steamer Illinois No. 15

[cxvii].  An alarm from Twelfth and Clark Streets 

The 1872 Report, page 108, says merely that this was a false alarm.  It is puzzling, then, as to why the men had to "clean up."  Also, the report says that the alarm from box 28 came in at 7:00 P.M., not 4:30.

[cxviii].  Michael W. Conway, of Steamer Chicago No. 5.  Schimmels was his foreman.

[cxix].  The fire of Saturday night truly took its toll on the firemen.  As one commentator stated:  "Inch by inch these heroic firemen fought for mastery, in the midst of intense heat.  Their courage was magnificent.  While spectators, hundreds of feet further away, cowered before the blinding drift of glowing cinders, the pipemen stood their ground within a rod of the fiery tempest, now and then withdrawing a few paces to recover breath and strength, but only that they might return refreshed to the charge and attack the flames more manfully than before....This was the grand pitched-battle of the occasion, and deserves to be signalized as an event worthy of record in the annals of the Fire Department."  (Andreas, page 705)

[cxx].  Actually, it was about 11:30 Sunday evening.  See Andreas, 1:719, Musham, 109.

[cxxi].  This is undoubtedly a reference to the Van Buren Street bridge:  "When the fire reached the river at Van Buren Street the tenders of the bridge made an effort to save it.  They rang the bell and warned everybody off, then swung the bridge, accelerating its turning by applying extra force to the lever.  They ran to its western end and as it passed the eastern approach they jumped off on the South Side.  However, as the western end left the west approach it caught fire and in a short time the flames were running up and down the wooden trusses.  The bridge, impelled by air currents and the wind, swung idly to and fro like a huge piece of grotesque fireworks."  (See Musham, 111; for information on the rebuilding of the bridge, see Andreas, 2:62).

[cxxii].  This is perhaps an understatement.  Several firemen later indicated that Chicago No. 5 became disabled at a critical moment, which allowed the fire to spread north of Taylor Street.  (See Andreas, 2:711-13.

[cxxiii].  Schimmels is not referring to his own house here.  Rather, other sources indicate that this is a reference to his fire house.  See 1872 Report, page 21.

[cxxiv].  Many cities sent engines and fire apparatus to aid in fighting the fire, including Milwaukee.  (See 1872 Report, 15).

[cxxv].  "Ford's" is probably a reference to the foundry and machine shop of David M. Ford, located on West Washington Street.  (See Inquiry, Leo Myers, (check spelling), 2:106.

[cxxvi].  The October 7, 1871 Chicago Tribune, page 1, ironically touted the virtues of the Babcock fire extinguisher:  "It Saved from the Flames last year more than $4,000,000 Worth of Property.  It is in almost daily use by the Fire Departments of the principal cities of the Union."  By November 19th, the Tribune carried a short article about a fire being put out, using this extinguisher.  It added:  "The Babcock is deservedly acquiring a more general reputation and use since the great fire."

[cxxvii].  Not only did Springfield send fire equipment, but the city, like other cities across the nation, sent "nine car loads supplies," coal, and $10,000 in cash.  See REPORT OF THE CHICAGO RELIEF AND AID SOCIETY, 105, 329; see also 1872 Report, 15.

[cxxviii].  Several letters and accounts in the Great Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Archives and Manuscripts Department, Chicago Historical Society, comment on how coal, located both in piles along the Chicago River and in the basements of homes, burned and glowed for weeks after the fire:

 

"Several days after the fire the coal stored in the hundreds of former homesteads burst into glowing flames, and many of them lasted for weeks; and the grain in the burned elevators was on fire for months.  After sunset, through the fall and early winter, we drove through the waste of ashes with no gas lights; but the whole road was lighted by the blue flames from the hard coal fires." 

 

Daniel C. Goodwin, to [George M.] Higginson, TMsS, February 1895, Chicago Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Archives and Manuscripts Department, Chicago Historical Society.

[cxxix].  While "any one" was written, it is presumed that the transcriber meant "anyone," implying any person.

[cxxx].  That is, the engineer, Henry Coleman, was "pulling" the fuel from the firebox of the steam engine.  See Cromie, 43; Andreas, 2:712, Musham, 103. 

[cxxxi].  The original text read:  "Ex. cont'd by the Com'rs."  Perhaps there was a break in the proceedings at this point.

[cxxxii].  Fire Marshal Williams expressed the same sentiment, but more succinctly, in a letter published in the Tribune:  "One other circumstance that has greatly crippled our Fire Department, is the scanty supply of hose purchases from year to year....I have always failed to obtain the amount of hose I have asked for from time to time, as in the case of the present year I requested 15,000 feet, which was small enough an amount for the number of fires we are having in Chicago (amounting to nearly 700 during the last year).  Instead of allowing me the full amount, I was cut down one-third, and allowed 10,000 feet."  "On the Defensive," Chicago Tribune, 17 November 1871, p. 4.  On the other hand, when fireman Leo Myers testified, he indicated that the general belief of the fire department was that the hose supply was not only adequate, but better than in earlier years.  See Inquiry, Leo Myers, 99-100.

[cxxxiii].  "Com'r" was what was written here.

[cxxxiv].  Protection Hook and Ladder No. 2

[cxxxv].  For whatever reason, the transcriber wrote "south" here when it seems clear that "house" was intended.

[cxxxvi].  St. Paul's Catholic Church

[cxxxvii].  On the other hand, in a newspaper interview, Williams indicates that Rau told him that "citizens," and not, apparently, firemen, had broken the ladder.  "Boring for Facts," Chicago Tribune, 15 November 1871, p. 1.

[cxxxviii].  This street actually appears to be a two block long unnamed alley located between Mather Street and Polk Street. (Chicago Title Insurance Company ante-fire records).

 

[cxxxix].  On the other hand, Musham states that the church took fire as a result of "a mass of burning material about two feet long and one foot thick" striking, as Rau indicates, the steeple.  (See Musham, 105.)

 

[cxl].   Musham maintains that the burning material that struck the church came from the fire north of Taylor Street, four, not one, blocks away.  (Musham, page 105)

[cxli].  This statement appears to be consistent with other accounts of the fire (see, e.g., Andreas, 2:711-713) and also with the final report of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners:  "It is proved that the engines repaired to the fire, after getting the alarm, with their usual celerity.  When they arrived there from three to five buildings were fiercely burning.  The fire must then have been burning from ten to fifteen minutes, and with the wind then blowing strongly from the southwest and carrying the fire from building to building in a neighborhood composed wholly of dry wood-buildings, with wood shavings piled in every form and under every house, the fire had got under too great headway for the engines called out by the first alarm to be able to subdue it."  (See "The Great Fire," Chicago Evening Journal, 12 December 1871, p. 4.

 

[cxlii].  Gale & Blocki, 202 Randolph Street

[cxliii].  A dealer of paints, oils, and glass, located at 170 and 172 Randolph Street.

[cxliv].  This is perhaps an understatement.  Andreas notes that this "oil establishment" was stored five stories high with infammable materials and that the barrels of oil "exploded with a sound like the rattling of musketry."  (See Andreas, 2:728).

[cxlv].  There was no "Sweeney" on the crew of the Coventry.  Indeed,  a perusal of the roster of the Chicago Fire Department indicates no such person.   There was, however, a Denis J. Swenie, foreman of the Steamer Fred Gund No. 14, and a Francis T. Swenie, foreman of the Pioneer Hook and Ladder No. 1.

 

[cxlvi].  Lorenz Walters, Second Assistant Fire Marshal

[cxlvii].  This is clearly an erroneous statement.  Because of the strain of the Saturday night fire, both men and equipment were in very poor shape.

[cxlviii].  Transcriber wrote "good" here; probably meant to write "got."

[cxlix].  This is what the texts say, like Musham.  The wind, strictly speaking, was never that strong,  It was the convection whirls, caused by the fire and air currents, that were strong.

[cl].  Note, though, that Mrs. O'Leary, who was obviously on the scene before Mr. Rau, had previously testified that when she first saw the fire, three structures--her barn, Mrs. Murray's barn, and Mr. Dalton's shed--were all burning.  (See Inquiry, O'Leary,

61-62).

[cli].  An apparent reference to the O'Leary barn, clearly erroneous, as immediately noted by the board.  The O'Leary and McLaughlin cottages were directly adjacent to De Koven Street, while the barn was at the opposite end of the lot, next to the alley.

[clii].  This clearly seems to be a reference to Dennis Regan's earlier statements made earlier in the day wherein he testified of using a pail to keep Mrs. O'Leary's home from burning--probably using the washtubs, filled for this purpose, that Mrs. O'Leary mentioned during her testimony.  (See Inquiry, Catherine O'Leary, 1:64; Inquiry, Dennis Regan, 1:124).  It seems unusual that Rau would not have seen these people near the O'Leary home.  Even more unusual is the lackluster tenor of the board's question.  Regan had also stated during the proceedings that upon running to the O'Leary home, "the barn was on fire, and all the neighbors around it." (See Inquiry, Dennis Regan, 1:122).  Rather than merely asking Rau if he saw people "throwing water on the building with pails," the board, in a stronger effort to confirm Regan's statements, could have asked Rau if he saw the neighbors that Regan alluded to.

[cliii].  As stated in an earlier note, in the board's final report it is acknowledged that at the time firemen first got to the property, several buildings were burning, not just the O'Leary barn.

[cliv].  Clearly the board remembers the testimony of William Mullen, foreman of the Illinois, who, earlier in the day, agreed that he led in along Taylor Street, not De Koven.  (Inquiry, Mullen, 38)

[clv].  The transcriber wrote "lead" here; "led" was clearly intended.

[clvi].  Schimmels had just previously told the board twice that the Chicago had stopped working for three minutes.  (See Inquiry, Schimmels, 1:145, 1:146).

[clvii].  Schimmels had just testified that the plug was on Jefferson Street.  Consequently, it is unclear why the questioner is almost badgering Rau about this somewhat minor point.  (See Inquiry, Schimmels, 1:127, 1:143).

[clviii].  This is exactly consistent with what Mrs. O'Leary said was on fire--Mrs. Murray's barn to the west, her own barn, and Mr. Dalton's shed to the east.  (See Inquiry, Catherine O'Leary,1:62).

[clix].  Transcriber wrote "lead" here, probably meant "led."

[clx].  It is presumed that Rau meant the "south side" of the fire and not the "South Side" of Chicago.

[clxi].  The questioner is mistaken.  William Musham, foreman of the Little Giant, testified that he first took water at the southwest corner of De Koven and Jefferson.  This point would be southwest of the fire, not above it.  (See Inquiry, William Musham, 1:7).

[clxii].  While Rau was wrong the name of the street on which the Illinois was, he was right as to its general location.  William Mullen, foreman of the Illinois, had testified earlier in the day that he took water, not from Jefferson Street, but rather, from the corner of Des Plaines and Taylor.  This location was northwest of the fire.  (See Inquiry, William Mullen, 1:38).

[clxiii].  The Chicago Tribune of November 26, 1871 indicates that Fiene was the first person to testify on November 25.  He was followed by Catharine McLaughlin, Mr. O'Leary, and Daniel Sullivan.  Feine, for whatever reason, was then recalled to give further testimony.  A comparison of the transcripts and the Tribune summary of this day's testimony indicates that what is presented here is both portions of Feine's testimony.

[clxiv].  That is, Protection Hook and Ladder No. 2.  But note--George Rau, who just testified, also said that he was this foreman.  This discrepancy was never noted by the board.

 

[clxv].  Musham indicates that this "gong" was for Box 342, sent from the courthouse by William Brown.  (See Musham, 158).

[clxvi].  The corner of Clinton and Jackson Streets was about one mile north of the O'Leary home.  Fiene's testimony, then, indicates that he was able to see the fire from this rather remarkable distance. 

[clxvii].  Mrs. O'Leary, on the other hand, stated that when she first saw the fire, three buildings were burning.  (See Inquiry, Catherine O'Leary, 1:62).

[clxviii].  The original text continued no punctuation.  Thus, it is presumed that Fiene said, "It might have [been] five or ten minutes.  I think the barn where I went was afire in much less time [than] that," instead of, "It might have [been] five or ten minutes, I think.  The barn where I went was afire in much less time [than] that."

[clxix].  Compare this to Inquiry, Catherine O'Leary, 1:61-62, wherein she states that buildings owned by both her adjoining neighbors were on fire when she first saw the blaze.  On the other hand, fireman George Rau also claimed he only saw one barn; see Inquiry, George Rau, 1:158.

[clxx].  Actual transcript says "that."

[clxxi].  A line of five stores and homes, owned by Matthew "Mat" Turner.  (Andreas, page 717, Musham, page 98, ante-fire records, Chicago Title Insurance Company)

[clxxii].  This appears to be the home at 141 DeKoven Street, directly east of the "Turner Block," owned by Wenzel Wlasak.  (Andreas, page 717, Musham, page 98, ante-fire records, Chicago Title Insurance Company).

[clxxiii].  Actually, Fiene never stated that what he described as a "row" contained five buildings.  However, as noted in a previous endnote, this was indeed the case.)

[clxxiv].  Transcriber wrote "uniformily" here.

[clxxv].  Hugo Franzen worked with Fiene on the crew of Hook and Ladder No. 2.

[clxxvi].  Fiene is mistaken here.  The barn is adjacent to the alley that runs across the rear of the O'Leary property.  It is the building occupied by the McLaughlin's that is near the sidewalk.   Perhaps Fiene was referring to the distance between the barn and the adjoining alley.

[clxxvii].  Post-fire photographs indicate that the O'Leary home was made up of two distinct sections.  The O'Learys lived in the rear part and the McLaughlins lived in the front portion.

[clxxviii].  It is unclear as to whose home Fiene is referring to, as both of the houses on either side of the O'Leary property caught fire.  (See Inquiry, Catherine O'Leary, 1:63; Andreas, 2:714; Chicago Tribune, Jan. 7, 1997 article, back page, front section).

[clxxix].  This questioner is probably still referring to the home of Wenzel Wlaska, 141 DeKoven Street.  This was located two doors West of the O'Leary residence.  But see Andreas, page 716, which says Wlaska lived at 418 Jefferson, part of the Turner Block.

 

[clxxx].  Fiene is mistaken here.  The home "just west of Leary's" was a cottage owned by Anne Murray.  The large two story house referred to here is immediately west of the Murray home and wast of the "row" of five buildings owned by Turner.   (Musham, page 98, Andreas, page 717, ante-fire records, Chicago Title Insurance Company).

 

This mistake appears to be inadvertent, as Fiene stated "yes" when asked if this house were "[t]he first from the block of buildings on the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson."  He also stated that this house was "east" of the Turner buildings.  (See page 205 of the transcripts).  Curiously, the Fire Department did not call attention to this lapse.

 

[clxxxi].  The questioners are apparently referring to the five buildings owned by Turner; these are on the corner of Jefferson Street and DeKoven Street, and are west of the large two story house.  It appears, then, that at this time the row had not yet taken fire.

[clxxxii].  The board is correct here.  See page 108 of the 1872 Report, it states that on October 8 a "false alarm" came in from Box 28; the time was 7:00 P.M.

[clxxxiii].  Box 28 was located on the corner of Clark and Twelfth Streets.

[clxxxiv]. City Directory, page 268, states that Louis Fiene lived at 91 West Jackson Street.  The engine house was located at 195 South Jefferson Street.

 

[clxxxv].  This is possibly Frank W. Locke, truckman for Protection Hook and Ladder No. 2.  (See page 62 of the 1872 Report).

 

[clxxxvi].  Both here and on pages 230-31 and 236 Mrs. McLaughlin refers to “persons,” “them,” and “they” warning her of the fire.  But the commissioners never asked her who these people were, even though they were obviously at the fire during its very early stages.

[clxxxvii].  This word has traditionally been construed as “tunes.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1; Sheahan and Upton, p. 425; “Kate!  The Barn is Afire!,” p. 218.  But the transcript indicates that this interpretation is incorrect and that the word is actually “times.”

[clxxxviii].  The “Street and Avenue Guide” in the 1870 City Directory does not list any Chicago street with the name of “McLaughlin” or “Coughlin.”  But this same reference discloses that William F. McLaughlin was a proprietor of the Union Coffee & Spice Mills.  See 1870 City Directory, pp. 533, 945, 984.

[clxxxix].  Richard Russell was a laborer who boarded at 206 Forquer Street.  See 1870 City Directory, p.  711.

[cxc].  Mary Needham was the maiden name of Mrs. Mary Callahan.  See “Centennial Eve,” sec. 1, p. [2].  Sidney Gay, a former director of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, claimed that of the 100,000 people left homeless by the fire, “20,000 probably left the city in the course of a few days.”  See Sheahan and Upton, pp. 318-19; Sawislak, p. 83.

[cxci].  Earlier, while questioning Mrs. McLaughlin, the commissioners and marshals had methodically asked her about every person at her party.  But here, when she testified that “I knew the folks” who warned her about the fire, the fire officials failed to ask her who these “folks” were.

[cxcii].  James Dalton claimed that he heard a woman scream about ten minutes before his mother-in-law saw the fire.  Perhaps he heard Mrs. McLaughlin “holler” to her brother.  See Andreas, vol. [2], pp. 701, 714.

[cxciii].  Daniel Sullivan later testified about a vacant house on Taylor Street frequented by “young scoundrels living around the city.”  See Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 271-72, 274.

[cxciv].  Although Mrs. McLaughlin allegedly testified that the engine was at the corner of Jackson and DeKoven streets, the Chicago Tribune’s summary of her testimony indicates that she said that the engine was at the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven streets.  As Jackson was parallel to and perhaps a mile north of DeKoven, the Tribune account is undoubtedly correct.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, November 26, 1871, p. 1; Lowe, p. 42.  The steamer Little Giant No. 6 was probably the first engine to reach the fire.  Foreman William Musham testified that he drove to the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson streets.  See William Musham, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 7.

[cxcv].  See also “How it Originated,” p. [2], and reproduced at Appendix C: “[Mrs. O’Leary] milked her cows at 4 ½ p.m. and 5 a.m., as Mrs. O’Leary peddled the milk.”

 

[cxcvi].  The commissioners and marshals had previously asked Mrs. McLaughlin twice if anyone had left her home that evening. (See pages 228-29 and 229-30.)  The officials must have found her answers to be inconclusive, because now they ask her a third time.

[cxcvii].  Mrs. McLaughlin earlier claimed on pages 228-29 that she did not know if any of her guests left her home that evening.  But here she qualifies this earlier statement, indicating only that no one left during the fire.  Upon further questioning (page 235), she admits that three of them did leave, but does not know if they returned “before the house got afire.”  But even this statement contradicts her testimony on page 230, where she told the commissioners and marshals that “[her guests] were in there in my house at the time the fire broke out.”

[cxcviii].  Although Mrs. McLaughlin had just told the fire officials that “I do not know if the boys got in before the house got afire,” she did not mention how many boys were outside.  But here she is asked to identify these “three boys.”   How did the Board know that three boys left her home?  Perhaps the transcriber omitted this fact from the transcript.

[cxcix].  Denny Connors was probably Mrs. McLaughlin’s “greenhorn brother” from Ireland.  See “Centennial Eve,” sec. 1, p. [2].  However, the 1870 City Directory (but not the 1871 City Directory) notes a “Daniel Conners” who boarded just a few houses away at 120 DeKoven Street.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 179.

[cc].  When the fire officials asked Mrs. McLaughlin on page 226, “Will you give the names of all these persons who were there at the house that evening?” she failed to mention Willie Lewis and Johnny Ryan.  (Although she did not name Denny Connors either, she had earlier referred to him on page 225.)  The commissioners and marshals did not ask her why she did not originally name Lewis and Ryan as having attended her party.

[cci].  How many guests were in the McLaughlin home on the night of the fire?  According to Mrs. McLaughlin, ten people attended her party:  Dan Talbot, George Lewis, Johnny Stanley, John Riley, Richard Russell, Alice Riley, Mary Needham, Denny Connors, Willie Lewis, and Johnny Ryan.  Mary Callahan’s version of the McLaughlin guest list includes only eight people:  George Lewis, Will Lewis, John Finnan, John Hanley, John Reilly, Alice Reilly, Denny Connors, and herself.   (However, the penmanship of the transcript of Mrs. McLaughlin’s testimony is very poor.  It is possible that “John Riley” and “Johnny Ryan” were one and the same person.) Mrs. McLaughlin’s testimony includes the names of the streets where many of her guests lived.  An examination of the 1870 City Directory and the 1871 City Directory reveals only one name--Richard Russell--as living on the appropriate street identified by McLaughlin.  See “Centennial Eve,” sec. 1, pp. 1-[2]; Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 226-228, 235; 1870 City Directory, p. 711; 1871 City Directory, p. 775.

[ccii].  There is no earlier reference to Mrs. McLaughlin supposedly telling the commissioners and marshals about a porch on the back side of the house.  Post-fire photographs of the O’Leary home (see, e.g., Figure 53) indicate that there was no back porch on either the McLaughlin or O’Leary homes.

 

[cciii].  The one doorway into the O’Leary home was located on the east side of the house and towards the north, or rear.  (See Figure 37) Mrs. McLaughlin’s estimate of the distance between this entrance and the barn was apparently a very good guess; after the fire James Dalton recalled that the distance from the north end of the O’Leary home to the barn was “about forty feet.”  John McGovern described the O’Leary barn in Daniel Trentworthy and then mentioned “an eight-foot board fence running forty feet to the rear of the cottage on both sides.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 714; McGovern, p. 177.

[cciv].  Figure 37, which is an eastern view of the O’Leary home, shows this door.  Andreas’s History of Chicago discloses that an eight-foot-high fence ran from the back of James Dalton’s house to his shed, which was at the rear of his property.  As shown in Figure 54, this fence may have blocked Daniel Sullivan’s view of the O’Leary barn from where he sat across the street in front of William White’s house.  Mrs. McLaughlin’s testimony suggests that another fence ran from the front of Dalton’s house towards DeKoven Street, along the alleyway between the Dalton and O’Leary properties.  As Dalton’s house was set back from the street, this fence would have run past the doorway of the O’Leary home.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 714.

[ccv].  Although Dalton may not have had a barn, he did have a shed at the rear of his property.  Like his house, it was built on the west line of his land.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 714.

[ccvi].  Compare this testimony to “Notes on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871,” sec. 3, p. 21, which describes the O’Leary property as follows:  “High wooden sheds and fences adjoined the lot.” But this 1896 newspaper article does not claim that the lot was bounded by fences on all sides, only that “fences” adjoined the lot.  Therefore, the article may not be inconsistent with Mrs. McLaughlin’s reply, as her statement indicates only that there was no fence on one particular side of the O’Leary house.  Furthermore, it appears that information in this newspaper article may have been lifted from Andreas’s History of Chicago and carelessly reworded.  Andreas’s original statement reads as follows: “High wooden fences ran from the barn to sheds on contiguous lots. . . .”  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 708.

[ccvii].  It appears that Catherine Sullivan owned this vacant lot.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 715; Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Figures 63, 79.

[ccviii].  Mrs. McLaughlin is again questioned as to whether or not anyone left her home, and she again gives an inconclusive answer.  At first she states that “no one left the house,” but in the next sentence she changes her testimony, claiming that “only one man went out.”

[ccix].  Frank Shults had a saloon at the northeast corner of DeKoven and Jefferson streets.  It was probably part of the aforementioned “Turner’s building.” Robert Cromie implies that this beer might have come from Shults’s saloon.  See Figure 79; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 716; F. H. Shults letter; Cromie, p. 27; Musham, p. 98; 1871 City Directory, p. 1086; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 6.

[ccx].  Although O’Leary testified that “Dan Sullivan” called him out of bed, he had earlier claimed in a sworn affidavit that “Denis Ryan” awakened him.  This affidavit was published in the Tribune on October 20, about five weeks before O’Leary testified, and is reprinted in Appendix C.  The commissioners never commented on this inconsistency.  See “How it Originated,” p. [2].

[ccxi].  Although O’Leary’s statement suggests there was only one house on his property, inquiry testimony and later reminiscences indicate that the O’Leary and McLaughlin homes were actually two separate houses but very close together.  (For further information, see “How Many Houses Were on the O’Leary Property?” in Appendix A.)  The McLaughlin home faced DeKoven Street, and the O’Leary house was in back of it.  Post-fire photographs reveal that the McLaughlin house was noticeably taller than the O’Leary home.  See, e.g., Figure 62.

[ccxii].  The “they” that O’Leary is referring to is possibly his horse and also a cow.  See Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 77-78.  Although Patrick O’Leary implies that the horse was tied outside, his wife indicated in her statement to Michael McDermott (see Appendix C) that she fed her horse outside at about 7:00 P.M. and then put him in the barn.  Daniel Sullivan’s testimony also suggests that the horse was inside the barn at the time of the fire.  See “How it Originated,” p. [2]; Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 260-61.

[ccxiii].  It appears that Anne Murray, O’Leary’s neighbor to the west, couldn’t tell anything about sparks drifting into the barn, either.  Although her home was immediately southwest and thus directly upwind from the barn, the fire officials failed to interview her during the investigation and ask her if she had been using her stove on the night of the fire.  But perhaps the reason Anne Murray was not questioned during the inquiry was that she was no longer living in the area.  Post-fire photos indicate that her home was destroyed by the fire. (But on the other hand, Mrs. McLaughlin testified that she left her home two days after the fire, and the Board was somehow able to find her.) See Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 63, 71; Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 223; Figures 47, 50.

[ccxiv].  Sullivan’s address of 134 DeKoven Street was on the south side of the street.  Curiously, the 1871 Chicago city directory, which contains pre-fire information, indicates that Daniel Sullivan lived at 135 DeKoven Street and not at number 134.  This is incorrect.  135 DeKoven Street was on the north side of the street and was the address of James Dalton, whose house was directly east of the O’Leary and McLaughlin homes.  See 1871 City Directory, pp. 244, 867; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 713; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 6; Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 262.

[ccxv].  Sullivan may have been a drayman for Chase, Hanford & Co., an oil company.  See F. H. Shults letter; Statement of J. C. Chapeck; 1870 City Directory, p. 1069; 1871 City Directory, pp. 194, 1055-56.

[ccxvi].  Sullivan appears to be referring to a house address--136 DeKoven Street.  Robinson’s Atlas discloses that the DeKoven Street property addresses were numbered ascendingly from east to west.  Does Sullivan’s statement indicate that after the fire he moved into another house immediately west of his home at 134 DeKoven Street?  As discussed in chapter 4, note 55, Catherine Sullivan owned three half lots on the south side of DeKoven Street and west of William White’s home.  Figure 63 indicates there was a vacant parcel west of Sullivan’s house and possibly a barn west of that.  Perhaps there was also a house on this “barn” parcel.  But on the other hand, Robinson’s Atlas indicates that there was no 136 DeKoven Street address.  Instead, all three of these Sullivan properties had the same address--134 DeKoven Street.  See Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 6.

[ccxvii].  Contrary to Sullivan’s testimony, Mrs. O’Leary was not an old woman.  Is Sullivan consciously distancing himself from Mrs. O’Leary, allying with the sentiment expressed by the October 18 Times, published only about five weeks earlier, which also called her an old woman?  See “The Fire,” Chicago Times, 18 October 1871, p. 1.

[ccxviii].  Neither Patrick O’Leary nor his wife mentioned Sullivan’s visit when they were questioned by the Board.

[ccxix].  A. T. Andreas or one of his employees must have interviewed Daniel Sullivan while Andreas was researching his History of Chicago.  The historian made the following comment in his book concerning the time the fire started:  “Mr. Sullivan’s statement before the commissioners places the time at about 9:30.  He now says ‘about nine o’clock.’”  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 708.

[ccxx].  Catharine McLaughlin was the second person to testify on Saturday, November 25.  Daniel Sullivan was the fourth.   During inquiry questioning Mrs. McLaughlin indicated that the O’Learys’ door opened out into the alleyway that ran between the O’Leary and Dalton properties.  Sullivan testified that from his alleged position across the street, he ran across the street “and kept hollering “fire, fire, fire,” ran past the O’Leary home, and “made right straight in the barn.”  His testimony suggests that he ran through this alleyway, as he told the fire officials (p. 263) that “nobody made an alarm to wake Leary up until I passed through the lot.”  Also, this alleyway would have been the quickest route to the barn. (See Figure 54)   It would appear that a “hollering” Sullivan ran within a few feet of the O’Learys’ doorway.  If this were so, why didn’t the O’Learys testify that they heard him?  After questioning both Mrs. McLaughlin and Daniel Sullivan on the same day, why didn’t the fire officials recall Mrs. McLaughlin and ask her if she heard Sullivan as he allegedly ran by? At the very least, why didn’t the commissioners and marshals question Sullivan further about his dubious testimony?  See Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 239; “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1.

[ccxxi].  Although Sullivan testified that he slipped on the wet boards and fell, he said nothing about his peg leg slipping between the boards, as the November 26 Tribune indicates.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1.

[ccxxii].  There is no earlier reference to “this twenty-foot place.”  Although the commissioners and marshals may be referring to a diagram with a labeled dimension of twenty feet (see, for example, Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 260-61, 268, 274), the transcript of Sullivan’s testimony contains no reference to “five feet” up to this point.

[ccxxiii].  This question appears to be in reference to Patrick O’Leary’s earlier testimony:  “I had shavings in the shed and coal and wood and everything.”  See Patrick O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 251.

[ccxxiv].  Sullivan appears to be referring to Anne Murray’s barn.  See, e.g., Mrs. O’Leary’s testimony:  “At the time I first saw [the fire], my barn was [afire] and Mrs. Murray’s barn was afire and Mr. Dalton’s little shed.”  On the other hand, both Catherine Sullivan and Catharine McLaughlin indicated during the inquiry that the first buildings they saw on fire were the O’Leary barn and Dalton’s house; neither one mentioned Mrs. Murray’s barn.  Patrick O’Leary testified that because “the fire was too strong when I got up,” he couldn’t tell if Dalton’s house was on fire or not.  Mr. O’Leary told the fire officials about seeing his own barn afire but also said nothing about Mrs. Murray’s barn.  See Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 62; Catherine Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 115; Catharine McLaughlin, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 231; Patrick O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 245.

[ccxxv].  The transcript indicates that Sullivan described the size of the barn as simply “about twenty feet.”  The Tribune summary of Sullivan’s testimony, however, suggests that Sullivan told the fire officials that the barn was sixteen feet by twenty feet and fourteen feet high.  This is consistent with Patrick O’Leary’s testimony concerning the barn’s dimensions.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1; Patrick O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 251.

[ccxxvi].  A. T. Andreas’s “Plat of Locality Where Fire Originated” (Figure 57) seems to be consistent with Sullivan’s testimony, as it shows a shed across the alley from the O’Leary barn.  On the other hand, Mrs. Anton Axsmith’s diagram of the O’Leary neighborhood discloses a wooden walk opposite the barn.  (Figure 56)

[ccxxvii].  Sullivan is correct.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that the alley was fifteen feet wide.  Strangely, the Chicago Tribune account of his testimony suggests that he described the alley as being “about twelve feet wide.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1.

[ccxxviii].  Sullivan is incorrect.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records disclose that Sullivan is undoubtedly referring to the property of  “W. W. Washburn.” Washburn’s property was not “right opposite” the O’Leary house.  Rather, it was across the alley but fifty feet to the west. (Figure 79)

[ccxxix].  Sullivan makes a very good guess.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records disclose that the alley in back of his house was 15.5 feet wide.

[ccxxx].  Daniel Sullivan is exactly correct.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records reveal that Catherine Sullivan’s one-and-one-half lots were originally 118 feet deep.  In 1855 the north ten feet of her land was taken for the widening of DeKoven Street.  In this same year the south 7.5 feet of the Sullivan property (together with the north eight feet of the adjoining land to the south) was taken to create an alley that was 15.5 feet wide. Therefore, in 1871 the Sullivan property was 100.5 feet deep.

[ccxxxi].  Steamer A.D. Titsworth No. 13, Maurice W. Shay, foreman.

[ccxxxii].  The precise identification of this "Bethel home" is unclear.  Chicago real estate records indicate that no one by the name of "Bethel" owned property at this location in 1871.  Andreas, 2:445 discusses the Bethel Church, but this was located  “on Michigan Street, just east of Market.”  See also Chicago and the Great Conflagration, p. 293.

[ccxxxiii].  L. Barber & Son, 117 Franklin (Street?)

[ccxxxiv].  Peter Schuttler, wagon manufacturer

[ccxxxv].  Charles Pick, 212 Randolph Street

[ccxxxvi].  The Briggs House was a hotel on the corner of Randolph Street and Wells Street.

[ccxxxvii].  The Metropolitan Hotel, corner of Randolph Street and Wells Street

[ccxxxviii].  The Washington House was a hotel at 244 Randolph Street.

[ccxxxix].  Steamer R.A. Williams No. 17, Charles T. Brown, foreman.

[ccxl].  Garden City Hotel, on Madison and Market

[ccxli].  Appears to be Baker & Brothers, 55 Market.  --Either D.W. or Henry Baker. Cromie, page 89, says it was Henry Baker.

[ccxlii].  Somewhere at this point the Tribune points out that a commissioner asked "how much" eagerly.

[ccxliii].  Steamer T.B. Brown No. 12, Frederick W. Taplin, foreman

[ccxliv].  For information on the "other" fire of Saturday night, see Inquiry, Benner, 4:120.  Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is little other information about this fire.  The October 8, 1871 Tribune was full of info about the Lull and Holmes fire, but had nothing about this fire.  Also, The 1872 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF POLICE, IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, contained a listing of all fires.  This Wells Street fire of October seventh is not shown.

 

[ccxlv].  Christopher Schimmels, Conway's foreman, testified the day before; he stated that there were eighteen lengths of hose in the basement.  (See 1:136).

 

[ccxlvi].  John Schank, first assistant fire marshal

[ccxlvii].  Isaac N. Arnold, a prominent Chicago lawyer.  He lived at the corner of Pine Street and Erie Street.

[ccxlviii].  Do they mention roofing material because of the theory that the blowing of this caused the spread of the fire?

[ccxlix].  Mahlon Ogden, who lived on Lafayette Place, between Clark Street and Dearborn Street. 

[ccl].  A very close estimate.  The Report of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society (see page 10) estimates the number of buildings to be about 18,000.

[ccli].  Again, the fire department protects itself!

[cclii]. Dalton's house

[ccliii].  Here the commissioners had the chance to ask Dorsey about the cause.  But instead, they asked him about the fire department!

[ccliv].  12th and Canal was fire alarm box 296, located at Goll's drugstore.  This was about 3 and 1/2 blocks from the O'Leary barn.  The closer alarm that Dorsey is talking about is no doubt alarm box 295, located only 2 and 1/2 blocks away.

[cclv].  What is a private signal?  I checked Musham, and it doesn't say.  Cromie doesn't help, either.

[cclvi].  Per Musham, page 86:  "The Department had a system of three calls.  The first could be turned in on any box and it brought out sufficient apparatus to handle ordinary  fires.  When additional help was needed a Marshal pulled the box again, giving a second alarm.  If still more was required he pulled the box a third time.  This was the third or general alarm and brought out the entire Department."

[cclvii].  Was this how private parties got a hold of firemen's coats?   (Remember that somewhere I read that it was suggested that what people saw firemen drinking, it was actually private citizens, wearing firemen's coats, drinking.  I think this was mentioned in Andreas.

[cclviii].  That is, the fire house of the Little Giant Steamer No. 6, located at 147 Maxwell Street.

[cclix].  Washington Hose Company No. 5

[cclx].  Matthias Benner, third assistant fire marshal

[cclxi].  Steamer Fred Gund No. 14

[cclxii].  Steamer T.B. Brown No. 12

[cclxiii].  Charles A. Anderson was the driver for America Hose Company No. 2

[cclxiv].  The 1870 city directory has a listing of a "J. Connors."

[cclxv].  Waubansia No. 2, a steamer.

[cclxvi].  No doubt St. Paul's church, corner of Mather Street and Clinton Street.

[cclxvii]. Box 13 was located at the corner of Madison Street and Market Street, many blocks north of the O'Leary home.

 

[cclxviii]. T.B. Brown No. 12, a steamer

 

[cclxix]. Steamer Economy No. 8

 

[cclxx]. Steamer Long John No. 1

 

[cclxxi]. Lorenz Walters, Second Assistant Fire Marshal

 

[cclxxii]. Box 276 was located at the house of the Tempest No. 1 hose company, which was located at the corner of Clinton Street and Washington Street

 

[cclxxiii]. Probably Pioneer Hook and Ladder No. 1

 

[cclxxiv]. Box 28 was located at the corner of Twelfth Street and Clark Street.

 

[cclxxv]. Clearly a reference to former alderman James ___ Hildreth's efforts________________?

 

[cclxxvi]. David M. Ford owned a foundry and machine shop on West Washington Street.

 

[cclxxvii]. Chicago No. 5, a steamer.

 

[cclxxviii]. An unusual question; The map of the area burned by the fire, as set forth in Goodspeed's History of the Great Fires in Chicago and the West clearly shows that this corner escaped unscathed by the fire.

 

[cclxxix]. Michael Dolan, pipeman of the steamer Little Giant No. 6.

 

[cclxxx]. Christian Schimmels, foreman of Chicago No. 5

 

[cclxxxi]. Transcriber wrote "No. 1" here.

 

[cclxxxii]. The steamer Illinois No. 15

 

[cclxxxiii].  Mention what Number 1 probably was.

[cclxxxiv].  Clearly the transcriber made a mistake here.

[cclxxxv].  At the time of the fire, Michael Hickey was captain of the first precinct.  In 1873 he resigned from the force, apparently amidst charges of corruption.  The Board of Police found him innocent and ordered him reinstated.  Later, similar charges were brought against Hickey, but he was again vindicated.  In 1875 he was promoted to General Superintendent of Police, and Hickey remained at this position until he was removed by Mayor Carter H. Harrison in 1878.  See Flinn, pp. 123, 142-43, 147, 150, 165, 189-90, 205.

[cclxxxvi].  The police substation for the first precinct was on Cottage Grove Avenue.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 914; 1871 City Directory, p. 34; Flinn, pp. 119-20, 493.

[cclxxxvii].   The Bridewell was originally a prison and was located at the northwest corner of Polk and Wells streets.  At the time of the fire, however, the Bridewell was home to the first precinct police station, as the precinct’s usual headquarters at the Armory building, which was at the southwest corner of Franklin and Adams streets, was undergoing repairs at the time.  See 1871 City Directory, pp. 34, 54; Andreas, vol. 1, p. 204; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 84, 730; Flinn, pp. 99, 132, 478; John Moses and Joseph Kirkland, eds., History of Chicago, Illinois (Chicago:  Munsell & Co., 1895), vol. 1, p. 259; Duis, pp. 337-38.

[cclxxxviii].  George Miller was a police captain at the second precinct station.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 914; 1871 City Directory, p. 629; Flinn, p. 120.

[cclxxxix].  This match factory was probably the Garden City Match Factory, located at 316-318 South Clinton Street.  See 1870 City Directory, pp. 300, 1059; “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 15 November 1871, p. 1; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 3.

[ccxc].  Louis J. Lull was a sergeant at the first precinct station.  See 1870 City Directory, pp. 509, 914; 1871 City Directory, p. 566; Flinn, pp. 120, 123.  Lull was the forty-fifth witness to testify during the inquiry investigation.

[ccxci].  James Morgan was a first precinct police officer.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 585; 1871 City Directory, p. 641.

[ccxcii].   In the Board’s final report (see Appendix E), the commissioners noted that “Powell’s roofing establishment” adjoined the gas works.  The formal name was probably Powell, Getchell & Co.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Evening Journal, 12 December 1871, p. [4]; 1870 City Directory, pp. 1096-97.

[ccxciii].  This was probably the infamous “Conley’s Patch,” which was on the city’s South Side near Adams and Wells streets. (Figures 5, 10)

[ccxciv].  “Ogden” was a famous Chicago name.  Mahlon D. Ogden lived on the city’s North Side in a palatial home that is now the site of the Newberry Library.  Although his house was in the “burnt district,” it survived the flames.  (Figure 75)  Ogden’s good luck angered his less fortunate neighbors.  He and his family received threats for weeks afterwards, and Hermann Raster, editor of the German newspaper, the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, even wrote that “this house must be confiscated for the shelterless, or the condition will become general that the rich Yankeedom wants to reconstruct Chicago as a Yankee city, at the cost of poor Germans and Scandinavians.  Also for another reason--hundreds of those who have lost everything have become half insane, and have only one thought that all should be equal in misfortune.  How if one of these unfortunates, with the idea of compensating an injustice of fate, were to put the burning torch to the millionaire Ogden’s house?”  William B. Ogden was not only the first mayor of Chicago, he was one of its leading citizens.  Both Ogdens had been partners in the real estate firm of Ogden, Sheldon & Co., although William Ogden had retired prior to 1871.  William Ogden was twice cursed by fire on October 8 of that year.  He was president of the Peshtigo Company, which owned 160,000 acres of Wisconsin pine trees.  William Ogden allegedly lost three million dollars’ worth of property in the Chicago and Peshtigo fires.  See Mayer and Wade, p. 15; Andreas, vol. 2,  pp. 569, 759; Pierce, vol. 2, p. 478; Pierce, vol. 3, p. 100; Wells, p. 142; Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 341; 1870 City Directory, p. [992]; Kogan and Cromie, p. 176; Miller, pp. 160-62; Sawislak, pp. 310-311; “The Story of Peshtigo,” Chicago Tribune, 31 October 1871, p. 2.

[ccxcv]. The Bryan Block was at the northwest corner of LaSalle and Monroe streets.  See Sheahan and Upton, p. 146; 1871 City Directory, p. 54.

[ccxcvi].  The Otis building was at the southwest corner of State and Madison streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p.  944; 1871 City Directory, p. 55.

[ccxcvii].  There are numerous references in the transcript to firemen going “on to” certain streets.  Although this original document indicates that the men are going “on to” the street, the intent was probably that they are going “onto” the street from an outside position, and hence in this context the word “onto” is used throughout these excerpts from the transcript.  See American Heritage Dictionary, s.v. “on, onto.”

[ccxcviii].  The Board of Trade was in the Chamber of Commerce building, which was at the southeast  corner of LaSalle and Washington streets.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 352-53, 357-58, 368-69.

[ccxcix].  Ed “Eddy” Longley was a deputy sheriff and jail keeper.  See “The Debtors,” p. 3.

[ccc].  The Sherman House was a hotel that was built in 1836-37 by Francis C. Sherman, who later became mayor of Chicago.  It was located at the corner of Clark and Randolph streets.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 502-03.

[ccci].  Hickey’s account of “taking responsibility” is consistent with Andreas’s History: “Captain Hickey, seeing that there was no hope of saving the building, ordered the cells to be

unlocked. . . .”  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 725.  But Hickey’s testimony seems to be slightly at odds with Longley’s version of these events.  An interview with Longley appeared in the December 4, 1871, Chicago Tribune.  It reads in part:

 

Reporter: Had you received any orders to release the prisoners?

Longley:  Yes, I got an order from Mayor Mason.  Here it is.

 

SHERIFF: Release all prisoners from the jail at once, keeping them in custody if possible.

                                                                              R. B. MASON, Mayor.

 

Almost as soon as I commenced to let the men out, the policemen came in.  My idea was to secure the murderers first and send them out.  When I saw the officers I unlocked the cells of the murderers, and of Jack White, the confidence man, and delivered them to the officers, telling George Hutchinson, a Deputy Sheriff, to take charge, and see that they were locked up in the Huron Street Station.

 

See “The Debtors,” p. 3.  Mason’s letter recently resurfaced, is now in the collections of the Chicago Historical Society, and is shown as Figure 81.  It appears to be unique, being correspondence that was written during the fire and not afterwards.  For more information concerning the letter, see Mark LeBien, “Fragile Note Illuminates City’s Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 2 October 1998, sec. 1, pp. 1, 24, hereafter cited in text as “Fragile Note Illuminates City’s Great Fire.”

[cccii].  Hickey is referring to the courthouse bell falling.

[ccciii].  The quotation marks around “manholes” appear in the original transcript.

[ccciv].  Even though the police department’s first precinct had vacated the Armory because of building repair work, perhaps prisoners were still being held there.  Or perhaps the questioner and Hickey are referring to the first precinct’s present location in the Bridewell as the Armory.  Flinn notes, for example, that even though the headquarters of the second precinct was eventually moved from the corner of Union and Madison streets to the Desplaines Street station, “it was always known by the old name of the ‘Union street station.’” See Flinn, pp. 119-20.  At the time of the fire there were twenty-five prisoners in the Bridewell.  Andreas comments that when the building caught fire, not every prisoner was eager to escape:   “The keeper opened the door, and bade them run for their lives.  They obeyed with fleetness--all save one, who was lying on the floor, stupidly drunk.  The keeper could not rouse him.” See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 730.

[cccv].  The “Central Station” was the headquarters of the police department.  Prior to the fire it was in the basement of the west wing of the courthouse.  After the fire, because the courthouse was destroyed, the headquarters was moved to the Union Street police station, also known as the second precinct police station.  The inquiry investigation was conducted at this station, which, as noted above, was located at the corner of Union and Madison streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 914; 1871 City Directory, p. 34; Flinn, pp. 119-120, 127-28, 132, “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 26 November 1871, p. 1; “The Smelling Committee,” Chicago Times, 29 November 1871, p. [4]; “How They Look and Act,” p. [3].

[cccvi].  The Northwestern Manufacturing Company hosted the auction of the courthouse bell. (Figure 14)

[cccvii].  While the police force was working, Marshal Williams was rescuing not only his wife but also his piano, carpet, and stove.  See Robert A. Williams, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 264-65.

[cccviii].  Post-fire newspapers do reveal a few police improprieties.  The October 27 Evening Journal and Republican reported that two sergeants were ordered to return “rewards” for recovering civilians’ personal property.  These incidents prompted the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners to issue a notice prohibiting policemen from accepting presents in exchange for any police service.  Four days later the Journal reported that an officer was dismissed from the force for “dishonorably taking possession of some property belonging to a Mr. Moore, during the fire. . . .”  See “Police and Fire Commissioners,” Chicago Evening Journal, 27 October 1871, p. [4]; “Police and Fire Commissioners,” Chicago Evening Journal, 31 October 1871, p. [4]; “Fire and Police,” Chicago Republican, 27 October 1871, p. [4]; “Fire and Police,” Chicago Republican, 31 October 1871, p. [4].

[cccix].  The quotation marks around “lit out” are in the original transcript.

[cccx].  This store was probably the dry goods store of  John V. Farwell & Co., located at 106-112 Wabash Avenue.  See 1870 City Directory, pp. 1002-3.

[cccxi].  Roswell B. Mason was mayor of Chicago at the time of the fire.  His son was Roswell H. Mason.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 51, 725. 

[cccxii].  The “chief engineer” Hickey is referring to is probably Ellis S. Chesbrough, Chicago’s City Engineer from 1861 to 1871.  Chesbrough designed Chicago’s sewerage and water systems.  Historian A. T. Andreas claims that he “stands among the world’s great civil engineers.” See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 56, 65; 1871 City Directory, pp. 34, 195; Hugo S. Grosser, Chicago: A Review of its Governmental History from 1837 to 1906 (privately printed, 1906), pp. [28, 45-46], hereafter cited in text as Grosser.

[cccxiii].  This “eating house” was probably the restaurant of  H. M. Kinsley, 93 Wabash Avenue.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 1095; 1871 City Directory, p. 1077.

[cccxiv].  The Second Presbyterian Church was at the northeast corner of Wabash and Washington streets, on Chicago’s South Side.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 932; 1871 City Directory, p. 43.

[cccxv].  The Drake and Farwell Block was at the corner of Wabash Avenue and Washington Street.  See Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 289.

[cccxvi].  The Times described this incident as follows: “A man went into an alley to urinate when he was set upon by a crowd of people and pounded with stones and sticks, and abused shamefully; they threatened to hang him to lamp posts, and would have done so had he not been rescued by the police.”  See “The Smelling Committee,” Chicago Times, 29 November 1871, p. [4].

[cccxvii].  The Times commented that “this gentleman is well known among journalists as having at one time been the publisher of a newspaper, after that a reporter on the Evening Post, and subsequently a solicitor of advertisements.”  See “The Smelling Committee,” Chicago Times, 29 November 1871, p. [4].

[cccxviii].  Michael Hickey told the fire officials that he interrupted two attempted hangings, but General Sheridan’s October 17 report to Mayor Mason appears to contradict Hickey’s testimony:  “I respectfully report to your Honor the continued peace and quiet of the city.  There has been no case of violence since the disaster of Sunday night and Monday morning.  The reports in the public press of violence and disorder here are without the slightest foundation.  There has not been a single case of arson, hanging or shooting--not even a case of riot or street-fight.  I have seen no reason for the circulation of such reports.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 776, 780.

 

On the other hand, John J. Flinn wrote in his History of the Chicago Police that “exaggerated reports of disorder, tumult, riot, loss of life, lynchings, etc., were sent out by excited or unscrupulous newspaper correspondents for a week after the fire. . . .  That a number of persons met death at the hands of excited citizen-policemen is most probably true, but that the number exceeded, or even reached, half a dozen, all told, is very improbable.” See Flinn, pp. 129-30.

 

Can the disparate views of Sheridan and Flinn be reconciled?  Probably not.  But Hickey might have been telling the truth.  It is possible that the attempted lynchings he witnessed never escalated into “riots or street-fights” and so were never reported to General Sheridan.

[cccxix].  Hickey testified about two attempted lynchings.  The first apparently took place on Michigan Avenue.  The second was at the corner of Harrison and Clark streets. The Chicago Republican wrote of an alleged third incident, but this time the unsuccessful hanging was on LaSalle Street.  Hoping to halt the spread of the flames, a young man procured a keg of powder and entered the basement of a store “with the intention of blowing the building to atoms.”  Some citizens saw him “in the very act of applying the match” and mistook him for an incendiary.  The men were “dragging a cowering victim to the nearest lamp-post” when Hickey stopped them.  It appears that Hickey failed to mention this third attempted hanging when he testified before the fire officials.  But Hickey testified on November 28.  The Republican reported this incident the next day, and its article included this statement: “Capt. Hickey is the medium through which the unknown young man’s exploits and hair-breadth escapes have come to the ear of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners.”  Perhaps Hickey did tell the Board on November 28 of this third attempted hanging.  Although it is possible that the shorthand reporter failed to memorialize Hickey’s comments,  it seems equally possible that this story was an “off the record” statement made to the Board either before or after Hickey’s formal inquiry testimony.  See “A Narrow Escape,” Chicago Republican, 29 November 1871, p. [4].

[cccxx].  Hickey is testifying that he saw First Assistant Fire Marshal John Schank on the other side  of State Street.

[cccxxi].  The Armory was located at the southwest corner of Franklin and Adams streets.  The South Side facility of the Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company was originally on Monroe Street (a street parallel to and one block north of Adams) near Market Street, but the works was later extended south to Adams Street.  Thus, the Armory was on the south side of Adams Street, and the gas works was across the street on the north side.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 702; Flinn, p. 99; Cromie, inside front cover; 1870 City Directory, p. 943; 1871 City Directory, p. 54.

[cccxxii].  Contemporary sources spell this witness’s surname in several different ways.  The inquiry transcript clearly identifies him as “John Tolland,” and his name is spelled accordingly in this book.  The Tribune’s summary of his testimony, however, refers to him as “John Lolland.”  The Times calls him  “John Tollen,” “John Tolby,” and “John Tolly,” and the Republican identifies him as “John Talmed.”  The Evening Journal refers to this witness as “John Follam,” and the 1870 Chicago city directory includes a listing for “Follen James, wks. waterworks.”  See “The Fire Investigation,” Chicago Tribune, 29 November 1871, p. 4; “The Smelling Committee,” Chicago Times, 29 November 1871, p. [4]; “How Was It?,” p. [4]; “How They Look and Act,” p. [3]; “The Fire Investigation,” Chicago Evening Journal, 28 November 1871, p. [4]; 1870 City Directory, p. 281.

[cccxxiii].  Every Chicagoan knows that Lake Michigan laps the eastern shores of the city.  As the water crib was two miles offshore, the importance and necessity of this question seems somewhat questionable.

[cccxxiv].  Sparks traveled even farther than the crib.  Historian Frank Luzerne wrote that “a man was plowing up at Evanston [Evanston, Illinois, a city north of Chicago], and that’s 10 or 12 miles, and he saw sparks falling all around him. . . .” See Luzerne, pp. 173-74.

[cccxxv].  For a colorful account of Tolland’s fiery travails, see Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 352.

[cccxxvi].  A reference to the Metropolitan Hall.

[cccxxvii].  This line of questioning no doubt relates to the fact that it is said that the courthouse caught fire sparks falling inside a broken window and then catching fire inside.  (See Andreas, p. 724).

[cccxxviii].  "The first building that caught fire in the immediate neighborhood [of the water works] was a cooper and paint shop on the lake shore, at least six hundred feet distant."  (Andreas, page 742).

[cccxxix].  John A. Huck Hose Company No. 3, located at 180 North Dearborn Street between Superior and Huron Streets.

[cccxxx].  The Revere House was an hotel located at 42 North Clark. Street, the corner of Clark and Kinzie. 

[cccxxxi].  Magie's Building was located at the southwest corner of LaSalle and Randolph.

[cccxxxii].  I could find nothing on the Humboldt House.

[cccxxxiii].  People throwing things in the street, to be burnt up.  .

[cccxxxiv].  Northeast corner of North Wells Street and Kinzie Street

[cccxxxv].  The steamer known as Chicago No. 5

[cccxxxvi].  The Hiram Wheeler grain elevator (Luzerne, p. 107)

[cccxxxvii].  "The burning of the Northwestern Depot and the large elevator at the forks of the river generated another tremendous center of fire which, like that at Wright's stables a half mile to the east, raged off to the northeast on another wild career of destruction...."  (Musham, page 135)

[cccxxxviii].  The Munger & Armor's Galena grain elevator (Luzerne, p. 107).  Musham, page 163, notes that this fire was started at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning by brands from the Conley's Patch fire.  (page 163).  Per Musham, page 130, this was located near the Rush Street bridge.

[cccxxxix].  Lawrence J. Walsh

[cccxl].  Arthur B. Meeker was a dealer in pig iron and coal, with offices at 7 North Market Street and 45 Dearborn Street.  As Market Street was five blocks further west of Dearborn, undoubtedly reference is here to the Dearborn address of Meeker's.

[cccxli].  The steamer Chicago No. 5

[cccxlii].  Box 7 was located at the corner of Lake Street and Market Street.

[cccxliii].  The text says "hose," but the inference is that the writer meant "house," and thus it was changed to house.

[cccxliv].   Probably Edward Iverson, 208 Randolph Street

[cccxlv].  James Wright, 169 Madison Street

[cccxlvi].  How did the fire spread to the south, when the wind was blowing from the southwest? 

See page xxiii of the Reminiscences book, which states how the fire was able to travel straight east and south, by eating into the wind, and also because of the way it threw out burning brands in advance of the main body of the fire.

[cccxlvii].  Conley's Patch was south of the Armory.  This illustrates the fact that the fire did indeed at times "eat against the wind."

[cccxlviii].  The engine was formerly known as the Jacob Rehm.

[cccxlix].  This comment as to a correction, and the following one, were both in the transcripts.

[cccl].  Probably Charles Osborne

[cccli].  Doyle lived at 428 Larrabee; the engine house was at the corner of Larrabee Street and North Avenue.

[ccclii].  Lorenz Walters, Chicago Fire Department second assistant

[cccliii].  Musham notes that "the department had a system of three calls.  The first could be turned in on any box and it brought out sufficient apparatus to handle ordinary fires.  When additional help was needed a Marshal pulled the box again, giving a second alarm.  If still more was required he pulled the box a third time.  This was the third or general alarm and brought out the entire Department."  (Page 86).

[cccliv].  The steamer, Long John No. 1

[ccclv].  Heath & Milligan's, 170 and 172 Randolph Street, seller of "oils, paints, and glass." (Per city directory)

[ccclvi].  Again another reference to the Cinnis--Cirrus? building.

[ccclvii].  The steamer, J.B. Rice No. 10

[ccclviii].  The transcript says "know" here.  The speaker no doubt said, however, "no."

[ccclix].  Musham notes that "each engine company had a two-wheel hose truck carrying a reel of 500 or 600 feet of hose in 20 or 40 foot lengths...."  (Page 81)

[ccclx].  The transcript says "there."

[ccclxi].  The transcript says "there."

[ccclxii].  Probably Joseph Lagger

[ccclxiii].  This is interesting that the commissioners asked if the Little Giant was the first engine on the scene.  Andreas describes the controversy regarding who was there first.  On page 709 he writes, citing the final report of the Board inquiry, that "the hose Company--the "America"--went eleven blocks, and attached their hose to the fire plug and got water on the fire before any engine did, although two engines were located considerably nearer the fire."  In an apparent comment to this, however, Andreas adds in a footnote that "this statement is incredible.  No. 6 engine [the Little Giant] sent the first stream, and had been at work at least fifteen minutes before the "America" arrived."

 

Andreas' editorial comments are echoed by William Musham, then foreman of the "Little Giant."  Andreas took down his statement in 1884 (page 711).  Andreas writes on page 711  "for more than thirty minutes this engine [the Little Giant] battled alone."

 

This controversy is also set forth in the inquiry.  Here, John Campion states that the Little Giant was first on the scene.  However,  note that on page 62 of the inquiry that John Dorsey implies that he and his America Hose Company were first on the scene.

 

A possible explanation to this apparent contradiction is as follows:  the inquiry testimony is full of testimony to the effect that the firemen were too busy to notice who was at a specific location, working away with them.  Campion testifies here that he took the fire plug at Jefferson and De Koven.  Dorsey earlier testified at the inquiry [page 62] that he and the America took the plug at the corner of Taylor and Clinton.  This was one block north and one block east of the Little Giant's plug.  It is perhaps reasonable to theorize that both teams, fighting the fire from different locations, were too busy to see each other.

 

Interestingly, Cromie, page 33, explains it away by stating that the America, a hose cart, was the first equipment on the scene, while the Little Giant was the first steamer on the scene.

 

Note:  Page 24, REMINISCENCES OF CHICAGO, states that the Little Giant was first on the scene.

[ccclxiv].  It appears, then, that he led in between the O'Leary's house and the house west of the O'Leary's.  This is in direct contradiction with the drawing in Musham, page 98, which indicates that he led in between the O'Leary's and the home east of their home.

[ccclxv].  "Bill" is probably William Musham, foreman of the Little Giant.

[ccclxvi].  There was a fence, though, that ran from Dalton's home to the shed located at the rear of this property  (Andreas, 2:714)

[ccclxvii].  Interesting that they had the chance to ask someone who was allegedly there first at the fire, about whether or not he saw anybody suspicious, and chose not to do so!

[ccclxviii].  For a brief history of the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company, see Andreas, 1:155-56, 2:701-02.

[ccclxix].  In a letter published in the Chicago Tribune more than a week before, Burtis stated that he did not allow the gas to escape.  See Chicago Tribune, November 20, 1871, page 2, entitled "The Gas Works."

[ccclxx].  See Waskin's book, page 125, wherein he states that the burning of alcohol is similar to the burning of comet gases.

 

Waskin also states that basements were burning, but not the upstairs. (see my comet notes)  This, though, could be because of the gas pipes in the basement.

 

Note in a previous inquiry witness, I think that the guy said that the flame was blue, but that it was not alcohol! 

 

This may have been Louis Fiene, the Tribune of November 26 comments on this.

[ccclxxi].  Musham said, how the winds increased because of the fire--away from the fire, the wind was not as strong.

[ccclxxii].  The transcriber wrote "+c" here.  As set forth in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, second edition, 1987, Random House, Inc., page 2221. I have chosen to silently change this to "and so forth," throughout this annotation, instead of using this symbol.

[ccclxxiii].  John Allaby, foreman

[ccclxxiv].  This is the key as to what happened to the gas.  It was not deliberately let out; it was leaked out of its own accord.

[ccclxxv].  The transcripts clearly indicate that Burtis said that "we sent from the South to the North the most," but subsequent testimony seems to indicate the opposite, that gas was drawn "from the North" to the South Side.

[ccclxxvi].  David Manwell, hoseman

[ccclxxvii].    blank in original.

[ccclxxviii].  The speaker did not say this!  The board was probably thinking of past testimony, where this was mentioned

[ccclxxix].  Original transcript states: "say."  This is undoubtedly a mistake.

[ccclxxx].  The transcripts say "Smith, No. 3," but the report makes it clear that it was John C. Schmidt of Hose Cart No. 4.

[ccclxxxi].  While the transcripts say that Lincoln Hose Company is No. 3, the Report of the Fire Department  (what I copied, but check out to confirm) says that Lincoln Hose Company was No. 4.

[ccclxxxii].  It is assumed here that the speaker is stating that he was on the "north side" of Kinzie Street.

 

[ccclxxxiii].  The November 30, 1871 Chicago Tribune  states that John Schmidt's "testimony was valueless, except to give Mr. Sheridan an opportunity to remark that, though all the carts took a full supply of hose, they all appeared to have devoted the greater part of their time to looking for hose."

[ccclxxxiv].  The summary of Hildreth’s testimony that appeared in the November 30, 1871, Tribune included the following introductory comments:  “It was stated that this gentleman was in the sergeants’ room, and a messenger was despatched to find him.  He had considerable objection to be interviewed by the city authorities and reporters.  The Commissioners told him that they were accused of hearing only the Fire Department, and would like to hear his statement.  He said if there was any liability he would speak out.  He was then sworn, and made the following statement.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 30 November 1871, p. 4.

[ccclxxxv].  The November 30, 1871, Tribune referred to this man as “McClelland.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 30 November 1871, p. 4.  It does not appear that this is the same person that Michael C. Hickey rescued from a hanging.  See Michael C. Hickey, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 170.

[ccclxxxvi]. Mr. Locke’s full name was Joseph A. Locke.  See 1871 City Directory, p. 557; Cromie, p. 47.

[ccclxxxvii].  Locke was Assistant Engineer in the Water Department.  See “The Water Supply,” Chicago Tribune, 15 October 1871, p. [4], hereafter cited in text as “The Water Supply.”

[ccclxxxviii].  The transcript clearly indicates that Hildreth is referring here to “power” and not “powder.”

[ccclxxxix].  The questioner is probably referring to “Ben Bullwinkle” and not “Dan Bullwinkle.”  Captain Benjamin B. Bullwinkle was the Superintendent of the Fire Insurance Patrol.  This group was organized by the Chicago Board of Underwriters on October 2, 1871, only days before the fire.  It was not under the corporate control of the fire department.  Bullwinkle was the thirty-ninth person to testify at the inquiry.  The Chicago Republican may have been alluding to this insurance wagon when it wrote that while the city was in flames, the insurance patrol charged private citizens a fee to move their belongings to safety:  “It is said that, during the recent fire, the plunder wagon alias [emphasis in original] the Fire Insurance Patrol wagon realized very handsomely on $5 per trunk.  Will Mr. Bullwinkle please rise to explain in the premises?”  See “Chicago Condensed,” Chicago Republican, 21 November 1871, p. [4]; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 94; Andreas, vol. 3, p. 462; Musham, pp. 183, 187.  Bullwinkle commented on these charges during the inquiry investigation:

 

Q.  (By Williams)  Did you haul any trunks that night?

A.  Yes sir, we hauled one or two trunks.

Q.  Did you get any present?

A.  I admit to getting a present of five or ten dollars for a trunk that I saved.  I did not charge anybody any such price at all.  It was voluntarily given to me.  It was divided between the men.  They were burned out and had no place to go.

Q.  You didn’t take the trunk expecting to have any pay when you took it?

A.  I never dreamed of anything of the kind.  Moreover, the trunk was thrown into our wagon.  I did not know it was there till afterwards.  If I had known the trunk belonged to the character it did, I should have thrown it out.

Q.  That money was very acceptable, was it?

A.  It was at that time, yes sir.  None of us had a cent, no place to eat, we were living on a church at that time.  I lost everything, house and home, and the men the same way, no place to go.  Those that lived on the North Side were burned out, had no place to go to and the same on the South Side.  We were left on charity, going to church to get our meals at that time.  (See Benjamin Bullwinkle, Inquiry, vol. [3], pp. 296-97.)  For Chicagoans’ reminiscences of Bullwinkle, see Herma Clark, “When Chicago Was Young,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, 9 February 1941, sec. 7, p. 2; Herma Clark, “When Chicago Was Young,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, 23 February 1941, sec. 6, p. 8; Herma Clark, “When Chicago Was Young,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, 2 March 1941, sec. 7, p. 5.

[cccxc].  The December 3, 1871, Chicago Times indicates that “representatives of the press” were present while inquiry witnesses were interviewed.  Hildreth’s testimony suggests that not only were reporters present, they were also allowed to ask questions.  See “How They Look and Act,” p. [3].

[cccxci].  Steamer Fred Gund No. 14.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[cccxcii].  A Babcock was a type of fire extinguisher.  See “The Babcock Fire Extinguisher!,” Chicago Tribune, 7 October 1871, p. 1; “The Babcock,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 7; 1870 City Directory, p. 1013; 1871 City Directory, p. 1016.

[cccxciii].  The Oriental Building was on the west side of LaSalle Street between Washington and Madison streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 944. 

[cccxciv]. Williams’s statement is ambiguous.  At first it appears that he is referring to Congress Street.  (See, e.g., Hildreth’s testimony at page 143.)  But Congress Street was parallel to and six blocks south of Washington Street.  Sheahan and Upton’s The Great Conflagration, Colbert and Chamberlin’s Chicago and the Great Conflagration, and Goodspeed’s History of the Great Fires in Chicago and the West all contain comprehensive lists of principal buildings destroyed by the fire.  None of the lists includes a “Congress Building.” See Lowe, p. 42; Sheahan and Upton, pp. 146-51; Colbert and Chamberlin, pp. 288-98; Goodspeed, pp. 395-97.

[cccxcv].  The Union National Bank was located at the southwest corner of LaSalle and Washington streets.  See Sheahan and Upton, p. 151. The December 1 Chicago Evening Journal commented somewhat sarcastically on Hildreth’s bank-related exploits: “It appears that ex-Alderman Hildreth was the man who blew up buildings with powder, during the late fire, to check the conflagration.  He says he and those helping him thus blew up thirty or forty buildings on the South Side.  Among those he tried to explode, but couldn’t, was a bank.  This speaks well for the bank.  The ex-Alderman is entirely satisfied that it is folly for anybody to try to ‘burst up’ a Chicago bank.  It can’t be done--not even with powder.”  See Untitled article, Chicago Evening Journal, 1 December 1871, p. [2], col. 2, fourth article.

[cccxcvi].  Smith & Nixon’s Hall was a theater located at the southwest corner of Washington and Clark streets.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 611.

 

[cccxcvii].  On December 2 the Evening Journal commented again on Hildreth’s testimony: “Ex-Alderman Hildreth, in testifying before the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, in regard to the part he took in blowing up buildings, said he attempted to blow up [the Union National Bank], and kicked in the heads of five [emphasis in original] kegs of powder, but the explosion was not a success, the room was too large.  Now we learn from those connected with the bank who were there, that no such attempt was made as is described by the florid ex-Alderman, and what is more, he could not have reached there at the time he states if he had tried it with ‘five kegs of powder.’  We are aware that Hildreth did a good deal of blowing at the time referred to, but, like the wonderful exploit he describes, ‘it was not a success.’”  See “Not Much of a Blow,” Chicago Evening Journal, 2 December 1871, p. [4]; 1870 City Directory, p. 958; 1871 City Directory, p. 981.

[cccxcviii].  The Hazard Powder Company was located in the village of Brighton, about seven or eight miles from the fire.  See Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 251; Pierce, vol. 2, p. 92; “Tales of the Great Fire,” p. 2; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 735.

[cccxcix].  Robert Cromie maintains that the “spotted church” got its name from the mottled appearance of the stone used in its construction.  See Cromie, p. 210.

[cd].  This question concerning a “boot and shoe establishment” is clearly a reference to Michael Hickey’s prior testimony.  See Michael C. Hickey, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 168.

[cdi].  This is probably not Hermann Raster, editor-in-chief of the German newspaper Illinois-Staats Zeitung.  The Times of October 20 identifies this person as “a young man named Herman, a nephew of A. H. [illeg.].”  See “The Gun-powder Plot,” p. [3].

[cdii].  David A. Gage was Chicago City Treasurer in 1871.  After the fire he was appointed treasurer of the General Relief Committee--or as more colorfully described in Andreas’s History of Chicago, “the treasurer and custodian of the world’s contributions to the sufferers by the fire.”  Gage was not reelected city treasurer in 1873, and auditors later discovered that he had embezzled over $500,000 in municipal funds.  But there must have been early indications of improprieties.  On October 28, 1871, the Republican reported that “there are anxious inquiries concerning Mr. David Gage’s use of the city funds since he has been Treasurer.  Will he rise to explain?”  See 1871 City Directory, pp. [33], 341; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 768; Andreas, vol. 3, p. 845; Sawislak, pp. 267, 352; Pierce, vol. 3, p. 343; Grosser, pp. [51-52]; Untitled article, Chicago Republican, 28 October 1871, p. [2].

[cdiii].  Terrace Row was located on the west side of Michigan Avenue between Van Buren and Congress streets.  It consisted of a connected block of eleven row houses or town houses. The matching homes were solid brick, faced with carved limestone, and four stories high.  All were destroyed in the fire. (Figures 82-83) See Kogan and Cromie, pp. 17-18; Pierce, vol. 2, p. 140; Lasswell, pp. 196-97; Miller, p. 158; Lowe, p. 42; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 733, 739.

[cdiv].  Munn & Scott’s foreman was Cornelius Mahoney.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 543; 1871 City Directory, p. 600.  Cromie erroneously refers to the foreman as “Edward Mahoney.”  See Cromie, p. 216.

[cdv].   Munn & Scott was a grain elevator company owned by Ira Y. Munn and George L. Scott.  By 1871 Chicago was a leader in the bulk grain trade, with fifteen elevators and a total storage capacity of 11,375,000 bushels. These elevators would receive grain from railroad cars, canal boats in the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and ships along the Chicago River.  A train or ship would come up to one side of an elevator, and the grain would be pumped from the train or ship into the elevator and then poured out into other railroad cars or boats waiting on the opposite side of the elevator.  Munn & Scott’s City Elevator was located along the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the tracks of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company.  The elevator had a storage capacity of 1,200,000 bushels.  It was not destroyed by the fire.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 134, 373-76; Kogan and Cromie, p. 18. 

[cdvi].  John Driscoll was a first precinct policeman.  See 1871 City Directory, p. 276.

[cdvii].  Edward Hood was a sergeant in the first precinct police station at the time Michael Hickey was captain.  Cromie refers to him as Edward“Wood,” a mistake surely due to the poor penmanship of the transcript.  See Flinn, p. 134; Cromie, p. 216; 1871 City Directory, p. 443.

[cdviii].   The Michigan Avenue Hotel opened to the public in 1870 and was located a block south of Terrace Row at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street.  After John B. Drake watched his hotel, the Tremont House, go down in flames, he happened to walk by the Michigan Avenue Hotel.  With the fire burning across the street, but taking the chance that the hotel would be spared, Drake went inside and offered to buy the building.  The offer was accepted, and Drake handed over one thousand dollars as a down payment.  Drake’s luck later turned.  First Assistant Fire Marshal John Schank and the steam engine T.B. Brown No. 12 managed to keep the flames at bay.  (Hildreth claimed that the blowing up of buildings also helped save the hotel.) After the fire Drake came back with the balance of the purchase price.  Legend has it that when the proprietor refused to close the deal, Drake left and returned a few moments later with several friends.  Drake laid a watch on the table and told the man that he wanted possession in five minutes or else the man would be thrown in the lake.  Drake took possession, presumably within the requisite five minutes, and renamed the hotel the Tremont House after his ruined building.  See Kogan and Cromie, p. 113, Cromie, pp. 219, 261; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 502, 508-09; Miller, pp. 158, 162; John Schank, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 217-19; James H. Hildreth, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp.157-58; 1871 Pay Roll; Musham, p. 181; “Tremont House,” Chicago Times, 19 October 1871, p. 1.

[cdix].  The Tribune’s summary of Hildreth’s testimony refers to Hough as “O. M. Hough.”  But in an October 15 article about a meeting of the members of the Board of Trade, the Tribune mentions a “Colonel R. M. Hough.”  The 1870 Chicago city directory includes a listing for a bank messenger named “R. M. Hough” who boarded at 360 Wabash Avenue.  The 1871 directory notes that an “O. S. Hough” lived at 360 Wabash Avenue.   Charles G. Wicker testified that “Mr. Hough is on the corner of Harrison and Wabash, that they begun to tear down. . . .”  The Robinson’s Atlas indicates that the northeast corner of Harrison and Wabash is 360 Wabash Avenue.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records disclose that “Oramel S. Hough” owned the lot at this northeast corner.  The 1869 city directory confirms that “O. S. Hough” is “Oramel S. Hough.”  Although Oramel S. Hough owned and lived at this property, Colonel R. M. Hough also lived there; therefore, it is possible that Colonel R. M. Hough is the man Hildreth is referring to throughout his testimony and that his house was at 360 Wabash Avenue.  Andreas indicates that during the Civil War, the 67th Illinois infantry regiment was commanded by Colonel Rosell M. Hough and that both he and Oramel S. Hough were involved in various facets of Chicago business since 1839.  R. M. Hough retired from the packing firm of Jones, Hough & Co. in 1868. Perhaps he continued to work even after formal retirement; this would explain the 1870 Chicago city directory bank messenger listing.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 30 November 1871, p. 4; “Board of Trade,” Chicago Tribune, 15 October 1871, p. [4]; Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 227, 338-39; [Edwards’ Twelfth Annual Directory of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, and Manufacturing Establishments of the City of Chicago, Embracing a Complete Business Directory for 1869] (Chicago:  Richard Edwards, 1869), vol. 12, p. 428; 1870 City Directory, p. 398; 1871 City Directory, p. 447; Charles G. Wicker, Inquiry, vol. [4], p. 63, Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 1, plate 7.

[cdx].  General John A. Logan, Civil War hero and later United States senator.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 168-69.

[cdxi].  This line is in the original transcript.

[cdxii].  H. A. Musham maintains that this minister was the Reverend Simon McChesney of the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.  But on the other hand, the 1871 Chicago city directory and Robert Cromie both indicate that R. M. Hatfield was the minister of this church.  Andreas is of little help, noting that “in 1870, Rev. Mr. Hatfield again became pastor, and was succeeded, in 1871, by Rev. S. McChesney.”   See Musham, p. 134; 1871 City Directory, p. 43; Cromie, pp. 216-17; Andreas, vol. 2, p. 426.

[cdxiii].  Although the transcriber’s handwriting is difficult to decipher, it appears that he wrote “Harry” here.  If so, this is very likely a mistake.  Apparently James H. Hildreth was known informally by his middle name.  However, the listing for Hildreth in the 1870 Chicago City Directory (confirmed in the 1871 directory) indicates that this name was “Henry” and not “Harry”:  “Hildreth Henry, alderman, r. 574 S. Halsted.” Also, the Chicago Republican’s summary of Hildreth’s testimony refers to him as “Hank Hildreth.”  See 1870 City Directory, p. 382; 1871 City Directory, p. 429; “Among Ashes,” Chicago Republican, 30 November 1871, p. [4], hereafter cited in text as “Among Ashes.”

[cdxiv].  Both Musham and Cromie claim that this church was the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.  Hildreth also refers to the Methodist Episcopal church in his testimony at pages 167-68.  Musham maintains that this church was at the northeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Harrison Street. However, as noted above, Oramel S. Hough owned the land at this intersection. The 1870 Chicago City Directory states merely that the “Wabash Avenue” Methodist Church was at the “Corner Harrison street.” Other directories contain similar inconclusive entries.  But Chicago Title Insurance Company records and Andreas’s History of Chicago indicate that the church was at the northwest corner of this intersection.  After the fire the post office was moved to this church, as it survived both the flames and Hildreth, who agreed to “let it stand.”  See Musham, p. 134; Cromie, pp. 216-17; 1870 City Directory, p. 931; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 389-90; Andreas, vol. 3, p. 791; Chicago Title Insurance Company records.

[cdxv].  Andreas mentions the “Ogden Slip” when describing how Isaac N. Arnold, one of Chicago’s early settlers and leading citizens, and his family fled their burning home: “The air was full of cinders and smoke; the wind blew the heated sand worse than any sirocco.  Where was a place of refuge?  William B. Ogden had lately constructed a long pier, north of, and parallel with, the old United States pier, which prolonged the left bank of the river out into the lake, and this had been filled with stone, but had not been planked over; hence, it would not readily burn.  It was a hard road to travel, but it seemed the safest place; and Mr. Arnold and his children worked their way far out upon this pier.  With much difficulty, the party crossed from the Ogden slip, in a small row-boat, and entered the light-house, where they, with Judge Goodrich, Edward I. Tinkham, and others, were hospitably received.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 748; see also Goodspeed, p. 385; Smith, 82.

[cdxvi].  The Republican’s summary of that portion of Hildreth’s testimony concerning his drinking more than the firemen is as follows; emphasis is in the original: “[Hildreth] was very tired himself, having eaten nothing and drunk more, probably, than the firemen did; witness thought that the explosion in the Union National Bank, Smith & Nixon’s, or at Brown & Matthew’s, did not check the fire any. . . .”  This newspaper account is significant because not only does it suggest that the inquiry transcript is an accurate account of what Hildreth said, it also indicates that the Board did not interrupt Hildreth after this remark and ask him for further explanation.  But the importance of Hildreth’s comment was not lost on the Republican.  Its article describing his testimony included this lengthy, sensational, and boldfaced subtitle that was surely a precursor to the headlines of today’s grocery store tabloids: “The Fire Investigation--Hank Hildreth--What He Knows About Blowing Up Buildings--Phil. Sheridan, and How He Behaved--Who was Drunk?--The Inside History.”  See “Among Ashes,” p. [4].

[cdxvii].  The quotation marks around “powder” do not appear in the original transcript.

[cdxviii].  The emphasis on “powder” and the quotation marks around it are in the original.

[cdxix].  Brown & Mathews were tailors at 93 Wabash Avenue.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 121.

[cdxx].  Hotchkiss, Eddy & Co. was a wholesale firm that sold hats, caps, and furs.  It was located at 114 and 116 Wabash Avenue.  See Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 298; 1871 City Directory, p. 1028.

[cdxxi].  Patrick O’Neill owned the building at the southeast corner of Harrison and Dearborn streets.  Goodspeed claimed that “O’Neil’s brick block was blown up by powder, and prevented the further spread in that direction.”  See Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Goodspeed, p. 147.

 

[cdxxii]. Although the transcriber wrote “Taylors” here, it seems likely that Hildreth is referring to the “tailors’” buildings (or building?) of John H. Brown and George W. Mathews.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 121.  (A similar reference is at page 170 of Hildreth’s testimony, but there the transcriber wrote the singular “building.”  Hildreth had previously mentioned “Brown and Mathews” at page 153 of his testimony.)

[cdxxiii].  The exclamation point appears in the original transcript; the quotation marks around “powder” are added.

[cdxxiv].  The firehouse of the steam engine Long John No. 1.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[cdxxv].  This is apparently a reference to America Hose Cart No. 2.  Marshal William’s testimony is curious, however, in that he is referring to the America as an engine and not as a hose cart.  The Chicago Fire Department did not have an America steam engine.  See 1871 Pay Roll, Musham, pp. 181-87.

[cdxxvi].  The word “engine” was originally written here but crossed out.

[cdxxvii].  At first this also appears to be a reference to newspaper editor Hermann Raster.  However, this is probably not the case.  The Staats Zeitung building was at 104 Madison Street, which was between Dearborn and Clark streets.  Although this building was destroyed by the fire, it was several blocks north of the area blown up by Hildreth.  Hermann Raster lived at 600 North Dearborn Street, but again, this was north of the area where Hildreth was working.  See 1870 City Directory, pp. 678, 783, [913], 1066; 1871 City Directory, pp. 740, 847, 1054; Sheahan and Upton, p. 149; Lowe, p. 42; Jim Murphy, The Great Fire (New York: Scholastic, 1995), pp. 98-99; Sawislak, p. 75; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 3, plate 21.

[cdxxviii].  George W. Gage was a former alderman and one of the founders of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society.  This organization was incorporated in 1857; its purpose, as described by Andreas, was to aid in “the general relief of the needy.”  On October 13, 1871, just days after the fire was extinguished, Mayor Mason transferred the task of municipal relief from the General Relief Committee to this society, proclaiming that “I have deemed it best for the interest of the city to turn over to the Chicago Relief and Aid Society all contributions for the suffering people of this city.”  But tales of inefficiency, favoritism, dishonesty, and fraud soon surfaced, and in a litany of editorials, articles, and letters, the Chicago Republican attacked the society.  Typical of these is the following allegation that compared the Executive Committee of the Relief and Aid Society to Tammany Hall, the Democratic machine that ruled New York City under the infamous William M. “Boss” Tweed:  “We accuse [the Executive Committee] here, public[l]y, in the face of the whole country whose bounty they have squandered, in the presence of their helpless wards whose interests they have betrayed, of acting as dishonorably as Tweed, Sweeny and the arch-thieves of the broken Tammany ring could have done, and now proceed to proof.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 49-50, 670; Sawislak, p. 81; Report of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, p. 121; “The Relief Funds,” Chicago Republican, 22 November 1871, p. [2]; “Public Opinion,” Chicago Republican, 23 November 1871, p. [2]; Untitled articles, Chicago Republican, 23 November 1871, p. [2],  col. 1, first, fourth, and sixth articles; Untitled article, Chicago Republican, 27 November 1871, p. [2]; “Opening Fire,” Chicago Republican, 2 December 1871, p. [4]; “Wirt’s Work,” Chicago Republican, 2 December 1871, p. [4];  Untitled article, Chicago Republican, 2 December 1871, p. [2], col. 2; “Indorsed,” Chicago Republican, 4 December 1871, p. [4]; “Public Opinion,” Chicago Republican, 4 December 1871, p. [2].  For a critical look at the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, see Sawislak, pp. 69-119 passim; Karen Sawislak, “Smoldering City,” Chicago History 17 (Fall and Winter 1988-89), pp. [70]-101; Smith, pp. 64-77.  For a more sympathetic view, see Elisabeth Kimbell, “We Could Not Do Without the Chicago Fire . . .,” Chicago History 1 (Fall 1971), pp. 220-231.

[cdxxix].  “Mr. Hayes” is probably Samuel S. Hayes, who was also one of the founders of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society.  After the fire Hayes drafted a proclamation that informed Chicagoans of what was being done for the sufferers.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 105, 670, 763-64; Report of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, pp. 15-16; “Common Council,” Chicago Republican, 15 November 1871, p. [2].  The proclamation read as follows:

 

                                                             PROCLAMATION.

 

WHEREAS, In the providence of God, to whose will we humbly submit, a terrible calamity has befallen our city, which demands of us our best efforts for the preservation of order and the relief of suffering:--

Be it known, That the faith and credit of the city of Chicago are hereby pledged for the necessary expenses for the relief of the suffering.

Public order will be preserved.  The police and special police now being appointed will be responsible for the maintenance of the peace and the protection of property.

All officers and men of the Fire Department and Health Department will act as special policemen without further notice.

The Mayor and Comptroller will give vouchers for all supplies furnished by the different relief committees.

The headquarters of the City Government will be at the Congregational Church, corner of West Washington and Ann Streets.

All persons are warned against any act tending to endanger property.  Persons caught in any depredation will be immediately arrested.

With the help of God, order and peace and private property will be preserved.

The City Government and the committee of citizens pledge themselves to the community to protect them, and prepare the way for a restoration of public and private welfare.

It is believed the fire has spent its force, and all will soon be well.

R. B. MASON, Mayor.

GEORGE TAYLOR, Comptroller.

(By R. B. MASON.)

CHARLES C. P. HOLDEN, President Common Council.

T. B. BROWN, President Board of Police.

October 9, 1871, 3 P.M.

 

[cdxxx].  Andreas writes that “it was [at the Wabash Avenue Methodist Church] that Mark Sheridan made his famous stand against the fire to save the church.”  Perhaps this comment is the “famous stand” that Andreas is referring to.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 390.

[cdxxxi].  Third Assistant Fire Marshal Mathias Benner testified that at one point a turret on the northeast side of the church was on fire, but because “solid masonry” was beneath the turret, the fire could do no harm.  Both Benner and Hildreth apparently then left the area, Hildreth to the North Side and Benner to the corner of Congress Street and Michigan Avenue just two blocks  away to the northeast.  This may be why neither man told the Board how William Haskell, a former professional gymnast who had served as a Union scout during the Civil War, allegedly extinguished this fire and saved the church.  Haskell first clambered up a ladder to the roof of the church.  He carried a rope with him to haul up water, which was provided by a bucket brigade that formed a line to the lake.  Throwing water on the rocks of the turret to cool them (the inside of this tower was on fire), he then climbed the side of the turret to the top, which was one hundred feet from the street.  By now his clothes were smoldering; nonetheless, he managed to lower himself into the tower and put out the fire.  See Mathias Benner, Inquiry, vol. [4], p. 162-63; James H. Hildreth, Inquiry, vol. [3], pp. 150-52, 168; Cromie, pp. 220-22; Lowe, p. 42.

[cdxxxii].  Colonel “Hough” is referred to as “Huff” and “Hull” on pages 168 and 169 of Hildreth’s testimony.  This appears to be an obvious error and has been silently corrected. 

[cdxxxiii].  As Harrison Street is an east-west street, it is not clear what the phrase “this was after the fire was all stopped on Harrison Street east” means. This ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as it appears in the transcript.

[cdxxxiv].  Steamer A.D. Titsworth No. 13.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[cdxxxv].  Although the transcriber wrote “Taylors” here, it seems likely that Hildreth is again referring to “tailors’.”

[cdxxxvi].  “Mr. Stearns” is probably Colonel M. C. Stearns.  Colbert and Chamberlin wrote of the personal experiences of Horace White, editor of the Tribune, who commented:  “At what time the effort was first made to reach this magazine, and bring powder into the service, I have not learned, but I know that Colonel M. C. Stearns made heroic efforts with his great lime wagons to haul the explosive material to the proper point.”   This is probably the “Mr. Stearns” to whom Hildreth is referring.  See Colbert and Chamberlin, pp. 246, 252.

[cdxxxvii].  General Sheridan would soon have more important things to worry about than powder.  The fire was barely extinguished before newspapers began reporting stories of criminals and incendiaries stalking what was left of the streets of Chicago.  On October 11, 1871, Mayor Mason, concerned about an outbreak of lawlessness, transferred absolute police authority to the general.  Sheridan ordered that a regiment of volunteers be formed.  On the night of October 21, Thomas W. Grosvenor, the city’s prosecuting attorney, was walking home after visiting a friend.  He was stopped about two blocks from his house by a twenty-year-old college student named Theodore Treat, who was one of these volunteers.  Treat told him to halt, but Grosvenor ignored him, kept walking, and recklessly told Treat to “go to hell and bang away.”  Treat fired his rifle and killed Grosvenor.

 

In an editorial the next day, the Times angrily protested Sheridan’s presence in the city: “It is reported that General Sheridan is the generalissimo whom the valiant college boys have regarded as the authority for their lawless proceedings.  Who is General Sheridan?  Is he some imperial satrap in whose favor the city of Chicago or the state of Illinois have abdicated their functions?  Who gave General Sheridan authority to put muskets in the hands of a parcel of crack-brained college boys?” The Board of Police held a special meeting on October 21.  The Board drafted a letter to the mayor, suggesting that the presence of armed military forces patrolling the streets was “a nuisance fraught with evil consequences” and that all but “regular troops” should be relieved of further duty in the city.  On October 24 the troops were withdrawn and the volunteers were disbanded.

 

But as the troops moved out a sense of uneasiness moved in, and on October 28 a number of leading Chicagoans wrote Sheridan and asked him to send four companies of United States Infantry, to be stationed at or near the city until the threat of “riotous proceedings” passed.  Sheridan did not hesitate to comply with this request.  The Evening Journal heartily approved, editorializing “that the people of Chicago have a right to the security which the presence of these troops affords them, no one with a grain of sense will pretend to question.”  But Governor of Illinois John M. Palmer was opposed to the return of military troops to Chicago.  By this time Palmer had investigated the Grosvenor killing, and on October 28 he wrote Attorney General Washington Bushnell and charged that the actions of Mayor Mason and General Sheridan were illegal in that they had suspended the laws of the State of Illinois and the U.S. Constitution in favor of the law of military force.  He added one final note:  “I have to request that you, in conjunction with the State’s attorney of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, will bring all the facts before the grand jury of Cook County, in order that all persons concerned in the unlawful killing of Thomas W. Grosvenor may be brought to speedy trial.”

 

Two days later Governor Palmer wrote to Charles H. Reed, state’s attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit: “The matter has occasioned me a great amount of anxiety; and after the most mature reflection, I am forced to the conviction that the indictment against Treat, the person who inflicted the wounds upon him, should also include Philip H. Sheridan. . . .”  Although an inquest was held and a coroner’s jury determined Grosvenor’s death to be a homicide, it appears that no further action was taken against either Treat or Sheridan.

 

Sixteen years later John J. Flinn published his History of the Chicago Police.  Flinn was generally charitable in his assessment of these citizen patrols, but even he concluded the following: “Undisciplined, inexperienced, panicky and inclined to look with suspicion upon every stranger who came along, they served to increase rather than to diminish the alarm of honest people in many quarters.”  (Figure 84)  See Cromie, pp. 270-76; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 773-80; “Shocking Calamity,” Chicago Tribune, 22 October 1871, p. 1; “The Grosvenor Tragedy,” Chicago Tribune, 23 October 1871, p. 1; “The Grosvenor Tragedy,” Chicago Tribune, 24 October 1871, p. 1; “The University Assassins,” Chicago Times, 22 October 1871, p. [2]; “The Grosvenor Homicide,” Chicago Times, 24 October 1871, p. 1; “Sheridan’s Indictment,” Chicago Times, 4 November 1871, p. 1; Untitled article, Chicago Times, 4 November 1871, p. [2]; “United States Troops in Chicago,” Chicago Evening Journal, 2 November 1871, p. 1; “Fire Mayor of Chicago Built Many Railroads,” Chicago Evening Post, 8 October 1921, Chicago Fire Edition, sec. 4, p. 18; Shia Kapos, “Disaster Tests Mayor in Another City, Time,” Chicago Tribune, 21 October 2001, sec. 2, p. 8; Colbert and Chamberlin, pp. 398-99; Manly W. Mumford, The Old Family Fire (Evanston, Ill.: Chicago Historical Bookworks, 1997), pp. 16-17; Sawislak, pp. 55-63, 297-99; Flinn, p. 126; 1871 City Directory, p. [33].

[cdxxxviii].  Spelling of name is pursuant to Musham.

[cdxxxix].  "Bob" is identified in the December 2, 1871 Chicago Tribune as being marshal Robert Williams.

[cdxl].  There appears to have been no love lost between Fire Marshal Williams and First Assistant Marshal John Schank.  An article in the November 17, 1871 Chicago Tribune  was devoted to the issue of whether or not Williams saw Schank during the fire:

 

The reporter said to him "Mr. Schank, I've searched for you some days," and then said, "I see your friend Williams didn't see you throughout the whole fire.  That's a little rough on you, isn't it?"

 

Schank.  "It's a d--d lie.  I'll just tell you exactly how it was."

 

Marshal Williams was interviewed in the November 15th, 1871 Chicago Tribune.  Williams noted that while "wetting down" the Sherman House, located on the city's South Side, he was told that the Water Works, located across the river on the North Side, was on fire.  He then left his position in front of this hotel and went to the Water Works.  Schank then commented on this to the reporter in the November 17th, 1871 Chicago Tribune:

 

I'd like to know what business Williams had running off to the North Side to see the Water Works burn?  What would you think of me if I had let my work go, just for the same thing?   He couldn't do any good there.

 

Note that the transcripts do not indicate why Williams told Schank to go to hell.  The December 2, 1871 issue of the Chicago Tribune clarifies this, but also illustrates an example of where the shorthand reporter apparently omitted some testimony: “He [Francis Swenie] asked Assistant Marshal Schank why Bob Williams did not move the engines to the north of the fire.  Schank said he had made the suggetion, but Williams told him to ‘to to h-ll.’” (See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 2 December 1871, p. 4.)

[cdxli].  Lorens Walters, Second Assistant Fire Marshal (spelling is per page 78 of the 3-31-72 Report.  By this time, though, he was a foreman.  But Musham spells the name wrong; this spelling is the same as that used in the City Directory, too).

[cdxlii].  The transcripts clearly indicate, with no explanation, that the question was, "did you go west to Clinton Street, with the answer, "no sir, I went west on to Clinton Street."

[cdxliii].  Musham notes (page 86):  "The Department had a system of three calls.  The first could be turned in on any box and it brought out sufficient apparatus to handle ordinary fires.  When additional help was needed a Marshal pulled the box again, giving a second alarm.  If still more was required he pulled the box a third time.  This was the third or general alarm and brought out the entire Department."

[cdxliv].  Paul Angle points out in The Great Chicago Fire:  the Human Account (pages 13 and 14) and also (the book that was the Harpers Weekly reprint--pages 9 and 10) that many of the letters written by onlookers after the fire talk about the  fierce wind.  The firemen, though, correctly point out that the wind, in and of itself, was not strong, but rather, the wind got stronger near the hot air.

[cdxlv].  Probably a reference to Steamer Fred Gund No. 14.  Note that the foreman, as per the March 31, 1871 Report, was "Dennis J. Swenie."  I am pretty sure that this was the brother of Francis

[cdxlvi].  The term "hose" factories is merely a best guess here.

[cdxlvii].  The March 31, 1871 Report, on page 90, begins to list supplies.

 

The November 17, 1871 Chicago Tribune indicates that a length of hose is 12 feet.  On the other hand, Musham, page 81, states that hose truck carried reels of 500 or 600 feet of hose in 20 or 40 foot lengths.

[cdxlviii].  Here, while the speaker may have intended to say "onto," the author wrote what the transcriber noted in the transcripts, which was "on to."

[cdxlix].  Another example of the firemen knowing about the wind vis a vis the proximity to the fire.

[cdl].  Foreman of the steamer Long John No. 1.  (spelling okay per the March 31, 1872 Report).

[cdli].  Southwest corner of Madison Street and LaSalle Street (page 944, 1870 City Directory).

[cdlii].  The waterworks pumped water from Lake Michigan through a tunnel that ran to a crib  about a mile off shore.  After the waterworks burned at about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, the nearby water tower continued to furnish "dead," or non-pumped water that remained in the water mains and the water tower, as long as this stored supply lasted.  (Musham, pp. 74, 75, 122, 123).

 

[cdliii].  This was undoubtedly "Lake Park," located on the lakefront at the foot of Washington and Randolph Streets.  (See Federal Writers' Project (Illinois) Work Project Administration, Baseball in Old Chicago (Chicago:  A.C. McClurg & Co., 1939), 11, 23; Pierce, 2:340; Robinson Atlas, 1:7).  During the fire, people sought refuge on the baseball grounds--until the advancing fire drove them further south:  "[I]n a few minutes, with the fences, seats, and pavilion of the base ball grounds, were withered to ashes, and the ashes swirled out into the wailing waters of the lake."  (See W.S. Walker, "Description of the Great Fire," The Lakeside Monthly, January 1872, 33).

[cdliv].  Dearborn Park was the oldest park in the city of Chicago, located at the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Washington Street.  (See Pierce, 2:340; Paul Gilbert and Charles Lee Bryson, Chicago and its Makers (Chicago & New York:  Felix Mendelsohn, 1929), 87-88; Moses and Kirkland, vol. 1, p. 145; Kogan and Cromie, 46.

[cdlv].  The Chicago Tribune of December 2, 1871 reported on Swenie's testimony.  Its final paragraph stated that "[Williams] then cross-examined the witness.  The replies tended to show that there was very little affection wasted between the two."

[cdlvi].  Possibly the Garden City Match Factory, 316 and 318 S. Clinton. Note that the church was near the corner of Mather and Clinton.  The match factory was north of this church--on Clinton?

[cdlvii].  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate the width of the block to be actually 349.60 feet--still a good estimate.

[cdlviii]. John Dorsey

 

[cdlix]. Transcriber originally wrote "way" here, but possibly crossed it out in order to write something else.  This latter writing, if anything, is illegible.

 

[cdlx]. William McIntyre

 

[cdlxi]. "...it was not flame but a solid wall of fire which was hurled against the buildings & the houses did not burn, they were simply destroyed."

 

[cdlxii]. Williams asked this same question (and got an answer, albeit a drastically different one) from the previous witness!  (See page 3:227).

 

[cdlxiii]. Recollections of a Fire Insurance Man, interestingly enough, also referred to this planing mill this way:  "There had been on Saturday night an extensive fire on the west side in Chicago, which burned a famous special hazard, known as the "Red Mill and set fire to a coal yard."  (Pages 81-82).

 

[cdlxiv]. Transcriber wrote "one" here, but, since Fraser has been talking about his activities on Sunday, the day the fire began, the transcriber probably intend to write "on" here.

 

[cdlxv]. The city directory notes a "Michael Keeley, soda water manufacturer, at 295 Canal Street.

 

[cdlxvi]. The transcriber wrote here, "upon," but the speaker probably said "up on" here.

 

[cdlxvii]. After reading Fraser's statements, it is understandable why the December 2, 1871 Tribune  wrote the following of his testimony:  "...beyond stating that Omnipotence could not check the fire, and that he rode down to it on a hose cart, he informed the Commissioners of nothing."

 

[cdlxviii].  The transcripts and the December 2, 1871 Tribune refer to a "Charles G. Emory."  Musham and the 1872 Report both refer to a "Charles H. Emery" who  was a driver for the steamer Chicago No. 5.  In light of what is stated in the following note 2, it does not appear that these are one and the same.  Furthermore, note that the 1870 Chicago city directory gives listings for both a "Charles Emory" and a "Charles H. Emery."

[cdlxix].  Musham, page 187, notes that "Fire Insurance Patrol No. 1" was in the alley in the block  bounded by Monroe, Dearborn, Adams, and Clark Streets.  It was not a part of the Fire Department, but rather, was under the control of the Chicago Board of Underwriters.

[cdlxx].  The punctuation in this section is very sparse.  It is not clear if the speaker said "some of it was blasting powder, I think in large kegs," or, "some of it was blasting powder, I think, in large kegs."  I chose the latter translation.

[cdlxxi].  An unusual question--Emory had already stated that the powder was covered!

[cdlxxii].  The writer probably intended to write "your orders" here.

[cdlxxiii]. The 1970 city directory lists a "Henry J. Hirtlorff," watchmaker, who worked and lived at 165 W. Randolph.

 

[cdlxxiv]. The transcriber here wrote "+c."  This has been translated as "and so forth," pursuant to The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged:  Random House, Inc, New York, p. 2221, 1987.

 

[cdlxxv]. In the original transcripts the ink is so faint and indistinct as to be almost illegible.  The word most likely, though, is "then."

 

[cdlxxvi]. Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that Van Buren Street was indeed 66 feet wide.

 

[cdlxxvii].  See Andreas, page 94, Volume 2.  (Note that mentioned Bullwinkle in the Hildreth testimony.)  See the following Chicago Tribune articles about Bullwinkle in “Notes on the Chicago Fire,” Harry A. Musham Papers, Research Center, Chicago Historical Society: February 9, 1941, February 23, 1941, March 2, 1941.

[cdlxxviii].  See note 8, 35th witness, for a discussion of the signficance of this "third alarm."

[cdlxxix].  No doubt Alexander McMonagle, foreman of the Steamer Long John No. 1.

[cdlxxx].  This name is only a best guess.  No further information could be found on it.

[cdlxxxi].  Boone Block was located on the east side of LaSalle Street, between Washington and Madison Streets.

[cdlxxxii].  The southwest corner of Dearborn and Madison Streets

[cdlxxxiii]. Goodspeed, page 270, does refer to the "prominent merchant" known as "Hamlin & Hale."  See also the 1871 City Directory, p. 1010.

 

[cdlxxxiv].  This question is no doubt a result of comments made on page [4] of the Chicago Republican of 21 November 1871: “It is said that, during the recent fire, the plunder wagon alias the Fire Insurance Patrol wagon realized very handsomely on $5 per trunk.  Will Mr. Bullwinkle please rise to explain in the premises?”

[cdlxxxv].  It is unclear what the "Skinner" was.  The aforementioned Tribune is of no help, stating strangely that Dorset "was driver of the fire escape." 

[cdlxxxvi].  The 1870 City Directory, though, lists the address of this livery stable as 27 to 31 West Madison Street.

[cdlxxxvii].  Musham notes that one of the truckmen for Pioneer Hook and Ladder No. 1 was "Francis Flannigan."  The 1869 Report and the 1870 city directory both note George Dorsett as working for Hook and Ladder No. 1.  Consequently, the reference to "Skinner," page  3:298, is especially peculiar.  While doubtful, perhaps Dorsett said that he belonged to the "Pioneer" but the transcriber wrote "Skinner" instead. 

[cdlxxxviii].   "Truck One" undoubtedly refers to "Pioneer Hook and Ladder Truck No. 1."

[cdlxxxix].  Musham (page 89) succinctly describes this block as follows:  "In the block were a vinegar works, a lumber yard, dwelling houses, sheds, outhouses and a saloon, practically all of frame construction."  See also Andreas, page 2:705.

[cdxc].  This tunnel under the Chicago River was opened to the public on July 4, 1871.  Its length was 1890 feet and cost $566,000.  (See Andreas, 2:65).

 

"At the time of the fire, when the bridges were swept away by the flames, great crowds of people surged through [the LaSalle Street and Washington Street tunnels], and thousands found shelter in their depths from the fiery element."  See 7 Days in Chicago (Chicago:  J.M. Wing & Co. [1877]), 37.

 

Andreas further notes (2:65) that the fire warped the railing around the entrances to the tunnel, "rendering a considerable portion of it unfit for anything but scrap iron."

[cdxci].  Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company

[cdxcii].  Andreas, 1:156:  located the south side of Monroe Street, near Market.   There was also a gas works on the North Side (seeAndreas, 2:702)..

 

[cdxciii].  The firm of Barrett and Arnold, at 230 Monroe Street, manufactured roofing materials. Note that at 4:187, witness #46, they mention that a McDonald owned a lumberyard at Market Street.  Perhaps this is the same McDonald.

 

[cdxciv].  As noted in Inquiry 3:48, this would appear to be Peter T. Burtis.

[cdxcv].  This testimony is written in a very faint ink.  This word, while almost illegible, does appear to be "around."

[cdxcvi].  165 feet

[cdxcvii].  No doubt Jerome Beecher, Secretary (Andreas, 1:156) 

[cdxcviii].  That is, across the river to the North Side.

[cdxcix].  Here, and on page 37, they clearly say "Burritts."  However, the inquiry is probably referring to either Peter T. Burtis, Superintendent of the Gas Works, or Thomas B. Burtis, Assistant Superintendent, both of whom testified earlier.  (Note that, per Andreas, page 1:156, that James Burtis was the treasurer of the gas company).

 

[d].  The transcriber has used throughout the English spelling, "metre."  I have chosen to use the American spelling, "meter."

[di].  This last sentence is unclear.  Perhaps the transcriber meant to indicate that the speaker was referring to a diagram.

[dii]. words are illegible, but the best guess was that it read"  "is here."

[diii].  Probably James K. Burtis (see Andreas, 2:701-02).

[div].  This was no doubt mentioned as a result of Michael Hickey's comments, 2:178-79. The Armory was located at the corner of Franklin and Adams.  It normally served as headquarters of the first precinct police station.  However, at the time of the fire, the precinct had moved to another location, since the Armory was then undergoing repairs.  That being the case, it is puzzling as to what men were residing there.  Perhaps Ockerby was referring to when it was used as a police station. (See Andreas, 2:84; John J. Flinn, History of the Chicago Police, published by Patterson Smith, Montchair, New Jersey, the 1973 reprint, page 478; also History of Chicago, Illinois, edited by John Moses and Joseph Kirkland, Volume 1, page 259, Chicago & New York, Munsell & Co., publishers, 1895.

 

[dv].  U.P. Harris was one of the most popular fire chiefs of his time.  (See Andreas, 2:91)

[dvi]. There is no indication as to why the board felt compelled to call him to testify.  Wicker seemed to give no real additional information as to what happened. This Wicker is also mentioned in #46 - believe he was Charles G. Wicker, ex-alderman (See Andreas, 2:50).

 

dxlix.  Could not find the identity of "Capt. Averill."

dl.  "Kimbark" is unidentifiable.

[dix]. Probably Thomas Wilce

 

 

[dx]. "Michigan Terrace" is probably a reference to "Terrace Row," that strip of fashionable homes on the west side of Michigan Avenue north of Congress Street.  (See Kogan and Cromie, 18; Gilbert and Bryson, 183, Colbert and Chamberlin, 210, Sheahan and Upton, 80).

 

[dxi]. Probably Jonathan Young Scammon, one of the founders of the Chicago Historical Society.  (His residence was 209 Michigan Avenue.)

 

[dxii]. Oramel S. Hough, northeast corner of Harrison and Wabash.  (See Chicago Title Insurance Company records).

 

[dxiii]. Jonathan Young Scammon's home was on the west side of Michigan Avenue between Congress and Van Buren Streets.  His home was located in that famous area of elegant homes known as "Terrace Row." (See Chicago Title Insurance Company records; Kogan and Cromie, page 17).

 

[dxiv]. This word is barely legible; "north" does appear to be correct, though.

 

[dxv]. The City Directory lists a Dunham who lives as a neighbor of Scammon at 233 Michigan, and has a building at 6 State Street.    Perhaps this is the "Dunham building" referred to here.

 

[dxvi]. It is presumed that the  witness said "[A]t least I saw it was not burned, anyway...." and not "[A]t least I saw it was not burned any way...."

 

[dxvii].  Spelling is as per the city directory--not what was written.

[dxviii].  Possibly William Buckley-.

[dxix].  Possibly George M. Miller

[dxx].  Probably Michael C. Hickey

[dxxi].  Although the transcriber wrote "any more" here, more likely the Mr. Lull said "anymore"--that is, that he could not stop the fire any longer.

[dxxii].  No listing in the CT tract books. Page 66 of the City Directory notes a Barrett & Arnold at 230 Monroe.  Thus, Robinson Atlas indicates that the tar works would have been south of Monroe, between Market Street and Fifth Avenue.  See Robinson Atlas, volume 1, plate 1.

[dxxiii].  South side of Madison Street, between Franklin Street and Wells Street.  (See Robinson Atlas, volume 1, plate 1).

[dxxiv].  The Oriental Building was located on the west side of LaSalle Street, between Washington and Madison.

[dxxv].  The Long John was stationed at 127 LaSalle Street  Note that I think it was near the Oriental Building--per ad in the city directory on page 804, this was 122 LaSalle St.  So, should be in the same block--but on opposite sides of the street.

[dxxvi].  The Central Station was in basement of the west wing of the courthouse.  (see city directory, page 914).

 

But note:  later on he talks of the Central Station being in the "old part" of the courthouse that got burned.  The old part was the original part--the wings were added later.   Also, Andreas, 2:93, states that the "central office" of the fire station was in the main part of the courthouse, in the cupola.

[dxxvii].  Musham notes that the courthouse "took fire" at 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning.  (page 115).

[dxxviii].  This was immediately south of the courthouse, located at the southeast corner of Washington and LaSalle.  (Andreas, 2:353, 358)  Andreas notes that it burned between one and two o'clock on the morning of October 9.  (Andreas, 2:368)

[dxxix].  See Inquiry, 3:137 et seq.

[dxxx].  Transcriber wrote "policeman" surely in error.

[dxxxi].  "Commissioner's" was written here, but  more likely Lull said "commissioners'."

[dxxxii].  The Sherman House was located north of the courthouse at the northwest corner of Randolph and Clark.  (City Directory, page 1035, Musham, p. 115, see map in Cromie book)

[dxxxiii].  The Smith & Nixon building, south of the courthouse, was located at the corner of Washington and Clark.

[dxxxiv].  This was at the corner of LaSalle and Washington, south of the courthouse.

[dxxxv].  The original courthouse was completed in 1883.  Feeling that this building was inadequate for their needs, however, in 1869 the Board of County Commissioners and the Common Council of the city agreed to enlarge it.  Two wings and an additional story were added in 1870.  Perhaps, then, Lull's references to the "old part" and "new part" are to, respectively, the original courthouse,  made of marble, as opposed to the newer wings. which were constructed out of stone.  (See Andreas, 1:180-81, 2:66).

[dxxxvi].  While it appears that the transcriber wrote "Haven Block" here, most likely what was said was "De Haven Block," which was located on Dearborn, between Quincy and Jackson.  (See Sheahan and Upton, 146).  (Note, though, that it is tempting to think that the speaker said "Honore Block," as this is the block directly north of the Bigelow House.")

[dxxxvii].  The transcriber wrote "Aleck" here, but most likely Lull said "Alec"--the apparent nickname of Alexander McMonagle, foreman.  All references to "Aleck," then, have been changed to "Alec."  (See Sheahan and Upton, p. 165, Chicago Tribune, November 15th, 1871.

[dxxxviii].  This church was probably the Quinn's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal church, located at the corner of Jackson Street and Fourth Avenue.  (See city directory, page 931).

[dxxxix].  The Palmer House was located at the northwest corner of State Street and Quincy Street.  W.F.P. Meserve was the first proprietor.  (Andreas, 2:509)

[dxl].  Transcriber wrote "moved" here, obviously wrong. 

[dxli].  Musham notes that the Palmer House took fire at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning.  He notes, as does Lull, that at this time there was no water in the water mains.  (page 132)

 

Perhaps Lull wanted to take an engine to the lake shore for this reason:  Musham notes that since there was no water in the water mains, engines were lined up in series, with one engine taking water at the lake shore, and then successively pumped into other engines.  Perhaps Lull wanted to perform this function.  (page 132).  Or, perhaps it was simply because the engines were otherwise of little use, unless used to pump water directly from the lake or river.  (Musham, page 123).

 

[dxlii].  The Southeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Washington Street.  (see map in the Reminisces book)

[dxliii].  This was probably the depot of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, located near the Chicago River and the lake.  (See Andreas, 1:255, 2:131; Reminiscences, map between 36 and 37; Musham, 130, 133, map between 180 and 181, Cromie, inside front cover).

[dxliv].  Curiously, Hildreth, 3:142 used this same term.  Unfortunately, its meaning is unclear.

[dxlv].  Possibly John Tunison (city directory)

[dxlvi].  Northeast corner of Harrison and State.

[dxlvii].  The city directory lists  an A.W. Green with the U.S. mail ( Page 327).  He lived at 379 State Street.

[dxlviii].  Musham describes the movement of the fire as follows:  "[a]s the fire moved forward it was preceded by a deep zone of intensely heated air which preheated  houses and their contents to the point of combustion.  As it came nearer, black smoke--evidently from the furnishings--frequently poured out of chimneys, doors and windows far in advance of the flames.  Then the houses would suddenly burst into flames, fired most likely by a spark or brand carried forward by the light wind or some eddy of heated air."  (See Musham, pp. 135-36).

[dxlix].  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that this was undoubtedly the the house of Patrick O'Neill, located at the southeast corner of Harrison Street and Dearborn Street.

[dl].  The Tribune of December 3rd points out that it did not get back to work again until 2:40 that afternoon.

[dli].  Fire Marshal Robert A. Williams, in his 1872 Report, 22, had this to say about these divisions:  "The districts allotted to the three assistant fire Marshals, is by far too large:  it being necessary for them to visit all the houses in their respective districts daily, which occupies a greater part of their time, and is very often the cause of delay i[n] reaching a fire in season." 

Also, note that the possibly misleading punctuation in this system has been copied verbatim here.

[dlii].  Per city directory--is Larrabee and North Branch Streets,

[dliii].  With no punctuation here, it is presumed that Benner said that "[o]n Saturday evening, I think it was between seven and eight o'clock....," that he did not say "[o]n Saturday evening, I think, it was between seven and eight o'clock...."

[dliv].  While "foreman" was written, it appears that "foremen" was intended.

[dlv].  Here, the word "Giant" is clearly not here.  So, did the transcriber miss it or what?  What does this mean in terms of a short hand reporter taking notes, and then transcribing, or someone just writing as fast as they could?

[dlvi].  Inquiry spelled this as "Walters.".

[dlvii].  The Chicago Tribune of December 3, 1871 states:  "From this point for a long time the statement was superfluously tedious, dry, uninteresting, and irrelevant."

[dlviii].  Possibly Albin C. King, supply truck driver (see page 26 of 1872 report.  Also conforms to Musham.

[dlix].  This was undoubtedly the Turner Block.

[dlx].  Yes, it does say "in fire," and not "on fire."

[dlxi].  The 1870 directory says the factory is on Lake--this is clearly not right, it is too far north.

[dlxii].  Frederick Allen, engineer

[dlxiii].  Probably Silas M. Moore of S.M. Moore & Company

[dlxiv].  It is presumed that there is a period here, and not a comma.

 

Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that the Chicago Dock Company property was located at the southeast corner of Taylor Street and Stewart Avenue.

[dlxv].  There were no quotation marks here.  It is presumed that this is what he told McLean.

[dlxvi].  "Companies" was written, but "Company's was the clear intent."

[dlxvii].  This is probably a reference to Kehilath Benay Shalom, located one block east of the corner of Harrison and Clark at the northwest corner of Harrison and Fourth.  See, in this regard, Benner's testimony below at 4:139.

[dlxviii].  Probably Carter H. Harrison, lawyer

[dlxix].  George W. Wagner, pipeman

[dlxx].  Michael Sullivan

[dlxxi].  Charles G. Wicker, alderman of the third ward until November, 1869  (See Andreas, 2:50).

[dlxxii].   See Hildreth's mention of this church, possibly the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church,  at 3:151.  Also Cromie, page 210--was mentioned, though, in Hildreth. 

[dlxxiii].  Cromie, page 217, stated that the sand was for the roof and floors and that there were "wet carpets" to hang at the stained glass windows.  (Cromie, page 217)

[dlxxiv].  There are no commas here.  Comma placement is presumed to be this way, and not, "He and I and three others, I think went into that building...."

[dlxxv].  Again, the Wabash Avenue Methodist Church--see Cromie, page 220.

[dlxxvi].  There are no commas in the original transcript.  Thus, we don't know if it is questionable as to whether or not the Brown was ordered down to the lake, or, is it questionable as to what the Brown was ordered to do.

[dlxxvii].  axle?

[dlxxviii].  Transcriber wrote "away" here, clearly wrong

 

[dlxxix].  It appears that the transcriber wrote the number "12" here; however, the number just is not clear.

[dlxxx].  What are outside companies?

[dlxxxi].  Transcriber wrote "on," but it does appear to be "or."

[dlxxxii].  There is no punctuation here.  So, it is unclear whether the indecision is as to the identity of Mr. Wagner, or, what it was Mr. Wagner did.

[dlxxxiii].  The stoker was Joseph Lagger.  This was mentioned by William Musham at 3:30. 

 

[dlxxxiv].  As distinguished from, it seems, engines from other cities that had come to assist in putting out the fire.

[dlxxxv].  The city directory indicates he had yards at 280 Madison Street, 126 Market, and at the 18th Street bridge

[dlxxxvi].  This would be a nice place to insert more information on this, if I ever found anything about it.

[dlxxxvii].  This is probably a reference to Hose Elevator No. 2 (Knocke's patent).  (See Angle, THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE OF 1871, 1969, page [24].  But also see the 1972 Report; I bet that there is a picture of it and paragraph about it in there; that would be a better cite to use.

[dlxxxviii].  "Skinner" is undoubtedly a reference to Hose Elevator and Truck No. 1 (Skinner's patent).  See Angle, ibid.

[dlxxxix].  "Then" appears to be written, but more likely "there" was what was said.

[dxc].    So they did call him--the last witness--and then never even bothered to write down his testimony!  We only know of his testimony, what the newspapers reported!

[dxci].  The identity of the owner of this property is not clear.  Chicago Title Insurance Company records indicate that William H. Brown, who purchased three lots at the southeast corner of De Koven and Jefferson in 1854, was deceased at the time of the fire.  In April of 1871 there was recorded a deed to "the executors of W.H. Brown."  Perhaps, then, this "owner" was one of Brown's executors.

[dxcii].  The text says "codding,"  do you think they said "kidding?"

[dxciii].  The roster of the Little Giant indicates no firemen by the name of "Jack."

[dxciv].  The city directory indicates a Malcom McDonald at 178 Market.

[dxcv].  There appears, here, to be the word "were," with the word "was," written over it.

[dxcvi].  Written here was "ang," surely "and" was intended.

[dxcvii].  Identify this mill further.  This is probably the Bateham's planing mill.  See 4:145, the 21st witness.

[dxcviii].  The word is definitely "these," not "there."  Perhaps this is an example of how, when transcribing the shorthand, words get changed around.

[dxcix].  Undoubtedly a reference to the steamer Chicago No. 5.

[dc].  This sentence appears to be missing at least one word.  "Know" appears to be appropriate, judging from the subsequent testimony.

[dci].  There is no question between these two answers.  But, subsequent testimony seems to indicate that there is nothing missing, that there truly is here just one long answer.

[dcii].  Interesting that the board never asked what engines these were.  Compare this to page 4:224, when Schank is specifically asked, after referring to an engine working by the Pacific Hotel, what engine it was.

[dciii].  This sentence is devoid of punctuation.  It is assumed that Schank said "I told him then, I think, I had given orders to change them" and not "I told him then, I think I had given orders to change them."

[dciv].  Because of the lack of punctuation, it is not clear if he is mistaken as to the identify of the fire engine or the location of the fire plug.

[dcv].  Yes, it does appear to be "them" and not "him."

[dcvi].  Washington Hose Cart No. 5

[dcvii].  The 1870 city directory indicates that the United States Express Company had stables at 203 and 205 Monroe..

[dcviii].  There were two Sweenys (Swenie?) who worked for the fire department--Denis J. Swenie of Steamer Fred Gund No. 14 and Francis T. Swenie, foreman of Pioneer Hook and Ladder No. 1.  The record does not indicate what Sweeny this was.

[dcix].  Probably Judge Issac Milliken, who testified earlier as the 44th witness.

[dcx].  The Tribune of December 3, 1871 indicates that this is a reference to the railroad cars of the Rock Island railroad.  This is also clarified at 4:222, when he is asked about "moving the Rock Island cars."  But how did the board know it was the Rock Island cars he was moving, when it was not mentioned before, here?  Could the transcriber have again made a mistake, or, more likely, it is merely possible that the board knew from their knowledge of the city that it was the Rock Island cars he was referring to.

[dcxi].  The planing mill of Elijah Hubbard, located at the southwest corner of Taylor Street and Clark Street.  (Chicago Title Insurance Company records)

[dcxii].  Probably Albin C. King, per 1872 Report

[dcxiii].  The word appears to be "depots" here, but is that correct? But, it does appear to be "depots" and not "depot."

 

[dcxiv].  Charles G. Wicker testified earlier as the 43rd witness.  Schank questioned Wicker about this meeting at 4:57-59.

 

[dcxv].  Interesting expression--see page 869 of the American Heritage dictionary--this means, "by one's own efforts."

[dcxvi].  Aurora, Illinois sent fire equipment to help fight the blaze.  No doubt this is what is referred to here.  (Quote issue of Aurora Beacon here that mentions this).

[dcxvii].  This sentence  has no punctuation.  So, it is my presumption that Schank is unsure as to whether it was the Williams' house he sent the John to, and not as to what night it was.

[dcxviii].  The Chicago Times of December 4, 1871 comments here, stating that at this point “the marshal was unable to answer.  He grew confused, turned red and wandered hopelessly lthrough his narrative, and tried hard to convince the board it was the first assistant marshal who saved the city.”

[dcxix].  Here the transcriber wrote the words "do not," then changed it to "don't."  Could this be indicative of the interpretation of shorthand--that the writer, reading her notes, at first mistook it to be "do not," then changed it to "don't?"

[dcxx].  There are some words missing here.  This is a reasonable reconstruction, in light of what was said on page 4:229:  "Do you think you could have saved [the Michigan Avenue Hotel] without the blowing up?"

[dcxxi].  Cromie, page 211, states that this person was Emanuel Mandel, of the Mandel Brothers' store, located at State and Harrison.

[dcxxii].  Actually, at 4:212 Schank says it was at the corner of Madison and LaSalle, not Monroe and LaSalle.

[dcxxiii].  Probably a reference to the tar house of the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company, or, Powell's roofing plant, which was adjoining--see Musham, page 111.

[dcxxiv].  Try to identify this building better.

[dcxxv].  was there ever a theory that said that the fire crossed over from the West Side via Powell's?--Yes, see Musham, page 111--says that at midnight, a burning brand was carried across the river and fell upon the tar house of the Chicago Gas Light and Coke Company, which spread to Powell's roofing plant, which was adjoining.

[dcxxvi].  See the testimony of Francis Swenie at 4:175.

[dcxxvii].  Williams is undoubtedly referring to the Lull & Holmes planing mill fire of Saturday night.  His testimony indicates that he was at this fire all night and did not get home until seven o’clock Sunday morning.

[dcxxviii].  Box 7 was located on the city’s South Side at the corner of Lake and Market streets.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 914.

[dcxxix].  The 1872 Report of the Board of Police (pp. 106-8) contains a detailed table that indexes all fires that broke out in the month of October, 1871.  The categories for the table are: Date, Time, Street and Number, Class of Building, Owner, Occupant, Use, Cause, Loss, and Insurance. This elevator fire does not appear on the list.

[dcxxx].  The “old battleground” is undoubtedly a reference to the site of the Lull & Holmes planing mill fire of the night before.  Today firemen use the term “fire ground” when referring to a previous fire.  See Ken Little interview.

[dcxxxi]. Williams is probably referring to still-burning stockpiles of coal at the Lull & Holmes planing mill.  Coal stored along the Chicago River and in people’s homes continued to burn long after the fire.  Daniel Goodwin’s reminiscences of the Chicago Fire include this recollection: “The daily drives from my lakeside home to the city and back were very desolate.  Several days after the fire the coal stored in the hundreds of former homesteads burst into glowing flames, and many of them lasted for weeks. . . .  After sunset, through the fall and early winter, we drove through the waste of ashes with no gas lights; but the whole road was lighted by the blue flames from the hard coal fires.”  See Kogan and Cromie, p. 108; “The Fire Department,” Chicago Evening Journal, 23 November 1871, p. [4]; Mathias Benner, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 181-82; William Gallagher letter; Daniel Goodwin to Mr. [George M.] Higginson, February 1895, Chicago Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Chicago Historical Society, hereafter cited in text as Daniel Goodwin letter.  Daniel Goodwin’s letter was in response to Higginson’s request “to note some recollections of the Chicago Fire.”  In Higginson’s own fire narrative, he expressed an interest in collecting and preserving the personal histories of those who had suffered but survived the fire.  See Statement of George M. Higginson, “Account of the Great Chicago Fire of October 9, 1871,” June 1879, Chicago Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Chicago Historical Society.

[dcxxxii].  Mathias Benner, Third Assistant Fire Marshal.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxxxiii].  Box 28 was located at Twelfth and Clark streets, on Chicago’s South Side. See 1870 City Directory, p. 914.

[dcxxxiv].  Williams’s fire at Box 28 that “did not amount to anything” was a false alarm that was called in at seven o’clock Sunday evening.  See 1872 Report of the Board of Police, p. 108.

[dcxxxv].  At this time the wind was probably blowing at about twenty miles an hour from the south-southwest.  See  “Meteorological Observations by the United States Signal Corps”; Cox and Armington, p. 367. 

 

[dcxxxvi].  The corner of Taylor and Jefferson was immediately northwest of the O’Leary barn.  See Figure 10.

[dcxxxvii].  The “pipe” is the nozzle at the end of the fire hose.  See Ken Little to Richard F. Bales, 15 February 2001.

[dcxxxviii].  Steamer Illinois No. 15.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxxxix].  William Mullin, foreman of the Steamer Illinois No. 15.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxl].  John Dorsey, foreman of America Hose Cart No. 2.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxli].  “Charley” is Charles A. Anderson, driver for America Hose Cart No. 2.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxlii].  The punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[dcxliii].  Steamer Chicago No. 5.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxliv].  It appears that Williams is mistaken as to both the location of Forquer Street and also the number of blocks between him and the church.  From Taylor Street north the streets are Forquer, Ewing, Polk, and Mather.  St. Paul’s church was at the corner of Mather and Clinton streets.  Thus, Forquer Street was south of Ewing, not north, as Williams seems to indicate.  Also, there were only two blocks between his Ewing Street location and the church, not three.  See Cromie, inside front cover, 1870 City Directory, p. 928, Figure 10.

[dcxlv].  Protection Hook and Ladder No. 2.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxlvi].  Steamer Jacob Rehm No. 4.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxlvii].  Denis J. Swenie, foreman of the Steamer Fred Gund No. 14.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxlviii].  The punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[dcxlix].  Marshal Williams is referring to a fire fighting tactic that is used when the nearest supply of water is farther away than the amount of hose carried by an engine company.  Assume, for example, that the nearest hydrant is one thousand feet from the fire.  The 1871 hose carts that accompanied steam engines carried six hundred feet of hose.  The first steamer would connect to the hydrant, and its hose cart would lead out six hundred feet of hose towards the fire and connect to a second steamer.  The hose cart of the second steamer would lead out four hundred feet of hose to the fire.  The first steam engine would pump water to the second engine, which would pump water to the fire.  This relaying of water from one engine to another is also called “going in line.”  This procedure was used in the area of Harrison Street and Wabash Avenue (the southeastern corner of the burnt district), where water was relayed from Lake Michigan through three steam engines in order to fight the fire.  See Ken Little to Richard F. Bales, 15 February 2001; Musham, pp. 81, 132; Denis J. Swenie, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp. 205, 229; Michael W. Conway, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp. 4-5; John Schank, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 215-17; “Story of the Great Chicago Fire,” sec. 3, p. 20; “The Great Fire,” Chicago Evening Journal, 12 December 1871, p. [4]; Lowe, p. 42.

 

An engine company consisted of a steamer and a hose cart.  As noted above, these hose carts carried six hundred feet of hose.  The Chicago Fire Department also had six other hose carts that were not assigned to steam engines.  These were the Tempest, America, John A. Huck, Lincoln, Washington, and Douglas.  Although the hose apparatus of these hose carts was the same as on the engine company carts, these six carts carried only five hundred feet of hose. This was possibly because the engine companies were composed of more men than the separate hose cart companies--enough men to handle more than one hose line.  See 1869 Report of the Board of Police, pp. 58-66 passim; 1872 Report of the Board of Police, pp. 74-84 passim; 1871 Pay Roll; Ken Little to Richard F. Bales, 18 December 2001; Leo Meyers, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 100.

[dcl].  This sentence originally contained confusing punctuation:  “I said ‘Boys, hang to it, or you will have to pull the engine away; just as soon as it falls it will be all right, as soon as the first breeze is over.’” The sentence, as amended, is probably what Williams said.

[dcli].  Steamer R. A. Williams No. 17.  See 1871 Pay Roll. 

[dclii].  Charles Anderson, driver for the America hose cart, graphically testified during the inquiry about the futility of using a door as a shield against the fire’s heat:

 

“[David Manwell] remained there alone for a minute, and there a man by the name of Charles McConners came and helped me, and he says, “Charley, this is hot.”  I said, “It is, Mac,” and he stayed with me perhaps a minute and could not stay any longer, apparently, and started off, and about a minute afterwards he came with a door and put it in front of me toward the fire.  Thinks I, I have it now; I can stand it a considerable time, and he could not stand there with the door, I do not suppose, more than half a minute, and he let go the door, and it dropped down, and it was all ablaze, and my clothes began to smoke, and my hat began to twist on my head. . . .”  It was apparently this incident on which the Chicago Evening Journal later sarcastically commented, noting that the fact that the fire was hot “will go far towards clearing up the mystery [of the cause of the fire.]” See Charles Anderson, Inquiry, vol. [3], pp. 99-102; Cromie, p. 42; 1871 Pay Roll; Untitled article, Chicago Evening Journal, 1 December 1871, p. [2], col. 2, third article.

[dcliii].  Alexander McMonagle, foreman of the Steamer Long John No. 1.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcliv].  In 1871 steam engines had an inflexible rubber suction hose that connected the steamer to the hydrant.  See Ken Little interview.

[dclv].  For an itemized listing of the losses sustained by the fire department as a result of the fire, see “Police and Fire Losses,” Chicago Evening Journal, 27 October 1871, p. [4]; 1872 Report of the Board of Police, p. 17.  The two lists are not identical.  For example, although the Journal reported that the loss of the Long John fire station and contents was $14,000, the 1872 Report of the Board of Police noted this loss to be $23,298.36.  Because the latter set of figures was apparently prepared months after the Journal’s, it is probably more accurate.

[dclvi].  In 1870 viaducts were constructed across Halsted Street, West Indiana Street, and West Adams Street.  See Grosser, p. [47].

[dclvii].  Steamer T.B. Brown No. 12.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclviii].  The quotations marks around “Merchants Union” are in the original.  This name is probably a reference to the American Merchants Union Express Company.  Although Williams indicates that its barn was on Monroe Street, its offices were at the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets.  Express companies were an alternative to the U.S. mail.  For example, this advertisement for another express company appeared in the 1870 City Directory: “Baggage and Goods of all kinds called for and delivered to any part of the City or Hyde Park.  Teams leave the office for each division of the City at 10 a.m. and 2 and 5 p.m. Hyde Park, 2 p.m. daily.  We guarantee the prompt and safe delivery of all goods entrusted to us, and at prices much below usual rates.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 126-27; 1870 City Directory, pp. 43, 1009; 1871 City Directory, p. 1012.

[dclix].  The punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[dclx].  On November 15, 1871, the Chicago Tribune inaugurated its “Boring for Facts” series of articles on “the origin and progress of The Great Fire, and the conduct of the Fire Department on the fatal night of October 9. . . .”  The first article included an interview with Marshal Williams.  At one point he indicated that “the wind was blowing so heavy at the time that the water would not go ten feet from the nozzle of the pipe.  We could not strike a second story window.”  See “Boring for Facts,” Chicago Tribune, 15 November 1871, p. 1.

[dclxi].  The quotation marks around “leading up” are in the original.

[dclxii].  The Metropolitan Hotel was located at the southwest corner of Randolph and Wells streets.  The Greenebaum Building was immediately south and adjacent to the hotel on Wells Street.  (As shown in Robinson’s Atlas, Wells Street was also known as Fifth Avenue.)  See 1870 City Directory, p. 567; 1871 City Directory, p. 623; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 3, plate 2; Hayner and McNamee, p. 132.

[dclxiii].  This bank was the Union National Bank.  See James H. Hildreth, Inquiry, vol. [3], page 137.

[dclxiv].  This is probably a reference to Benjamin B. Bullwinkle of the Fire Insurance Patrol. 

[dclxv].  The engine’s hard rubber suction hose that connected the steamer to the hydrant was about four or five inches in diameter.  As it had to connect to a two-and-one-half inch port on the hydrant, a reducer, or “taper,” was used.  See Ken Little interview.

 

[dclxvi].  Washington Hose Cart No. 5.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclxvii].  Miller’s jewelry store was at the southeast corner of Clark and Randolph streets.  When the prisoners were let out of the courthouse, a few of them ran across Clark Street to the store. Although some accounts have the prisoners breaking into the establishment, Mrs. A.H. Miller later wrote in her Reminiscences that her husband invited the prisoners to take the store’s goods, believing that it was better to do that than to let the items burn up. See Charles H. French, Inquiry, vol. [3], p. 314; “Mama” [Gookins?] to “Lizy” [Gookins?], 13 October 1871, Chicago Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Chicago Historical Society, hereafter cited in text as Gookins letter; Mrs. A. H. Miller, Reminiscences of the Chicago Fire of 1871, (privately printed, n.d.), pp. 3, 10; “Absurd Misstatements,” p. [2]; Foster, p. 29.

[dclxviii].  This is probably a reference to the wagon works of Peter Schuttler, located at the southwest corner of Randolph and Franklin streets, on Chicago’s South Side and on the western edge of the burnt district. The December 15, 1871, Republican noted that “Peter Schuttler’s new building, a large wagon manufactory 200x50 feet, of brick and four stories in height, will be located on the northeast corner of Clinton and Monroe streets.”  See 1871 City Directory, p. 1109; “Chicago Condensed,” Chicago Republican, 15 December 1871, p. [4]; Lowe, p. 42; Fire Edition Directory, p. 138.

[dclxix].  Williams is probably referring to the drug store of Gale & Blocki, 202 Randolph Street.  See 1871 City Directory, pp. 342, 1009.

[dclxx].  Williams boarded at 213 Randolph Street.  See 1871 City Directory, pp. 886, 953.

[dclxxi].  Marshal Williams volunteered this information.  Perhaps he did so in response to criticism from the press, such as this comment that appeared in the Times on November 22, only ten days before he testified: “If the man called Fire Marshal Williams can get time from the difficult labor of proving his wonderful and unprecedented generalship in fighting the Chicago conflagration, he should state whether the report is or is not true that, when he discovered that his boarding-house was in danger he left his post of duty, employed a team, and spent two or three hours in transporting his own private effects beyond the reach of danger.  Was or was not that the exploit in which he exhibited the greatest generalship?”  See Untitled article, Chicago Times, 22 November 1871, p. [2].

[dclxxii].  Steamer Winnebago No. 16.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclxxiii].  Fireman Michael W. Conway also referred to the Richards engine in his testimony.  This fire engine, however, is not noted in Musham’s monograph as being one of the city’s steamers, nor is it listed in the 1871 Pay Roll.  Rather, this was undoubtedly the fire engine of the Richards Iron Works, 47-55 South Jefferson Street.  The Chicago Tribune of October 28, 1871, contained a letter to the editor that read in part as follows: “The undersigned deem it their duty, as well as an act of justice to the Richards’ Iron Works, to place on record the important service rendered by their new steam fire engine, during the late conflagration.”  See “Justice Rendered,” Chicago Tribune, 28 October 1871, p. [4]; “Fire and Police,” Chicago Republican, 27 October 1871, p. [4]; Michael W. Conway, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 19; 1870 City Directory, p. 691; 1871 City Directory, p. 752; “The City,” p. [3].

[dclxxiv].  The 1871 Chicago city directory indicates that the Illinois River Elevator was located at the “foot W. Washington” Street.  This was probably where Washington Street intersected the Chicago River.  This grain elevator was not destroyed by the fire.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 373; Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 3, plate 2; 1871 City Directory, p. 1012.

[dclxxv].  The Chicago & Northwestern Railway passenger station was at the southwest corner of Kinzie and Wells streets.  See Robinson’s Atlas, vol. 3, plate 2.

[dclxxvi].  Williams appears to be alluding to a possible incendiary.

[dclxxvii].  The Tribune summary of Williams’s testimony provides a better explanation as to the possible nature of these chemicals: “While working there he [Williams] saw a great blue mass rolling down on them, which he subsequently found out to be chemicals from the telegraph battery.”  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 3 December 1871, p. 4.

[dclxxviii].  This is probably a reference to Hatch’s Hotel, which was located at 29 North Wells Street.  The Chicago Republican of Christmas Day, 1871, however, made a passing reference to the “Scene at Harry Hatch’s” (which apparently was a clothing store) in its gossip column, “Chicago Condensed.” See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 505; “Chicago Condensed,” Chicago Republican, 25 December 1871, p. [4]; “The Clothing Trade,” Chicago Tribune, 17 December 1871, p. 7.

[dclxxix].  Steamer William James No. 3; Steamer Liberty No. 7.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclxxx].  This is probably Albin C. King, driver of the fire department supply truck.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclxxxi].  This is probably a reference to Ellis S. Chesbrough, City Engineer.

[dclxxxii].  After the water works was destroyed, there was no longer a constant supply of water being pumped into the city’s water mains.  The only water remaining was the so-called “dead” water still left in the mains, and once that was gone, Chicago was virtually helpless in its fight against the fire.  So steam fire engines and railway locomotives were used to pump water from the Chicago River and Lake Michigan into the mains in an attempt to replenish the city’s water supply and thus ease the concerns of its citizens.

 

Although the Tribune maintained that this water was “suitable for general domestic purposes,” it appears that drinking the water prompted an outbreak of diarrhea and “gastric irritation.”  Residents were urged to boil or filter the water or treat it with alum before drinking it.  It seems that Chicagoan William Gallagher failed to heed this advice.  In a letter dated October 17, 1871, he explained the water problem to his sister: “You see, when the supply of water failed, the steam fire engines were set to work to pump water from the river into the pipes, so that in case fire broke out there might be some water to draw on.  Now, the river is moderately sluggish and dirty considering that all the sewers empty into it, and so the water in the pipes was rather foul.  Well!  Last Thursday they had succeeded in getting one of the engines at the Water Works repaired and commenced supplying us with water from the lake as usual.  Instead of letting the foul water run off, it was forced along, and mingling with the pure lake water came on the table everywhere, and everybody drank.  As a result, everybody is sick, not severely, but ailing, and with most of us it takes the form of a very weakening diarrhea.  The pure water, however, has now reached us and we anticipate no further trouble.” See William Gallagher letter; “The Water We Drink,” Chicago Tribune, 19 October 1871, p. [2]; “Miscellaneous Items,” Chicago Tribune, 12 October 1871, p. 1; “The Water Works,” Chicago Tribune, 13 October 1871, p. [2]; “All Around Town,” Chicago Evening Journal, 27 October 1871, p. [4]; “The Water Supply,” p. [4]; Francis T. Swenie, Inquiry, vol. [3], p. 204; Mathias Benner, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 182-83; John Schank, Inquiry, vol. [4], pp. 215-16; Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 396.

[dclxxxiii].  Frank J. Loesch mentioned the term “tan bark” in his Personal Experiences during the Chicago Fire: “Only a day or two before the fire the son of the owner of a residence had recovered from an attack of typhoid and the tan bark had been removed from the street.”  See Loesch, p. 21.  The inquiry transcript contains other references to this term.  Denis J. Swenie testified that while near a tannery, he helped extinguish a fire in some tan bark, and Michael W. Conway told the fire officials that he “worked on” a pile of tan bark on the city’s North Side.  See Denis J. Swenie, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp. 221-22; Michael W. Conway, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 33; “Chicago Losses,” Chicago Evening Journal, 20 November 1871, p. [3].

[dclxxxiv].  To “draft water” means to take the steam engine’s suction hose and place it into a pond, lake, river, or other water source and draw water from it.  See Ken Little interview; John Schank, Inquiry, vol. [4], p. 215.

[dclxxxv].  Timothy A. Moynihan was the Long John’s engineer.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dclxxxvi].  This is a reference to David Walsh.  Andreas’s History of Chicago indicates that he was an alderman in the following years:  1863, 1864, 1867, 1868, and 1869.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 49-50.

[dclxxxvii].  This is a reference to the Skinner Patent Hose Elevator, an aerial ladder that could be raised to a height of eighty-four feet.  As the name “hose elevator” implies, this aerial ladder had a small movable platform on which a fireman could stand with a hose line, directing water into the upper floors of a burning building.  See Little and McNalis, pp. 114, 128.

[dclxxxviii].  The Long John’s firehouse was on LaSalle Street between Washington and Madison streets, on Chicago’s South Side. See Little and McNalis, pp. 6-7; 1870 City Directory, p. 914; 1871 City Directory, p. 34.

[dclxxxix].  Although the Tribune of October 11, 1871, indicates that Aurora sent three engines, it appears that Marshal Williams is correct in claiming that the city sent only one engine.  See “Items in General,” Chicago Tribune, 11 October 1871, p. 1; “The Aurora Firemen,” Chicago Tribune, 23 November 1871, p. 4, hereafter cited in text as “The Aurora Firemen”; “The Foreign Firemen,” Chicago Republican, 24 November 1871, p. [4], hereafter cited in text as “The Foreign Firemen.”

[dcxc].  On November 19, 1871, the Tribune accused the Milwaukee; Janesville, Wisconsin; and Aurora, Illinois fire companies of accepting offers of money in exchange for turning their hoses on favored properties.  The following day the Tribune claimed that before the Aurora firemen returned home, thirteen of them took overcoats from the relief supplies already donated by other cities.  These two newspaper articles prompted an angry rebuttal from S. B. Sherer, Aurora’s First Assistant Fire Marshal, which the Tribune published on November 23, and the Aurora Committee on Fire and Water passed a resolution to “ascertain all the facts in the case and have them as prominently and extensively published as the scandalous reports have been.”  By November 24 the Tribune had backed down and apologized to the Milwaukee firemen, writing that the charges were “wholly unfounded” and “destitute of foundation” and that “the article was inserted in the absence, and without the knowledge, of the responsible editor of the Tribune.” The December 13 Tribune contained a similar apology to the Aurora firemen.  The newspaper extended the olive branch to the Janesville fire department on December 16.  See “Unparalleled Meanness,” Chicago Tribune, 19 November 1871, p. 6; “Justice Rendered,” Chicago Tribune, 20 November 1871, p. 6; “The Aurora Firemen,” p. 4; “The Milwaukee Firemen,” Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1871, p. 3; Untitled article, Chicago Tribune, 13 December 1871, p. 4; “The Janesville Firemen,” Chicago Tribune, 16 December 1871, p. 4; “Greedy of Gain,” Chicago Republican, 20 November 1871, p. [4]; “The Foreign Firemen,” p. [4]; “L’Amende Honorable,” Chicago Republican, 24 November 1871, p. [2]; Untitled article, Chicago Republican, 25 November 1871, p. [2], col. 1, fourth article; Untitled article, Chicago Republican, 25 November 1871, p. [2], col. 1, fifth article; Aurora Committee on Fire and Water Resolution on Tribune Slander of Fire Department, 20 November 1871, Aurora (Ill.) Regional Fire Museum.

[dcxci].  The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway freight depot was located at the corner of Stewart Avenue and 18th Street, on the city’s West Side, just west of the Chicago River.  See 1870 City Directory, p. 659; Chicago & Vicinity 6-County StreetFinder, p. 57 (Cook County).

[dcxcii].  Andreas lists all the Chicago elevators and the railroad or waterway via which these elevators received their grain shipments.  The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway is not shown on this list.  See Andreas, vol. 2, p. 373.

[dcxciii].  When the safes were opened up after the fire, the hot contents would sometimes burst into flames upon being exposed to the air.  Consequently, the fire engines sprayed water on the safes in an attempt to cool them down prior to being opened.  See Statement of Charles Elliott Anthony, “Experiences of the Anthony Family during the Great Chicago Fire October 8 and 9, 1871,” n.d., Chicago Fire of 1871 Personal Narratives Collection, Chicago Historical Society; Goodspeed, p. 364; Kogan and Cromie, p. 139; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 630, 722, 759; “The Ruins,” Chicago Tribune, 12 October 1871, p. 1, hereafter cited in text as “The Ruins”; “Stories of the Big Fire,” p. 13; Herman Kogan and Lloyd Wendt, Chicago: A Pictorial History (New York: Crown Publishers, Bonanza Books, 1958), p. 127, hereafter cited in text as Kogan and Wendt.

 

Shortly after the fire the West Chicago Park Commissioners commissioned architect William Le Baron Jenney to design a monument to the fire that would be constructed in Central Park (later renamed Garfield Park) out of ruined safes and other fire relics.  The public was asked to donate safes; the name of each donor would be inscribed on a metallic plate and fastened to each safe.  (As these safes did not pass through the fire unscathed, it is perhaps understandable why the name of each safe maker would not be similarly displayed.)  Jenney suggested a 120-foot-tower, capped by a spherical safe, and surrounded by broken columns (Figure 86).  The commissioners accepted this proposal but later rejected it, deciding that “something more monumental in character was desirable.”  The October 28, 1872, Tribune contained a lengthy description of Jenney’s second proposed monument.  The newspaper indicated that “the design now adopted contemplates a total height of 125 feet.  The base is a Gothic circular arcade, composed of twelve groined arches, resting on a raised platform of thirty-six feet diameter. . . .  The spire of the monument is composed of safes contributed by the Chicago merchants; the whole terminated by a Gothic column surmounted by a female figure holding aloft, in both hands, a flaming torch, emblematic of destruction by fire.”  Although the cornerstone for this monument was laid on October 30, 1872, it was never completed, and the site was eventually razed in 1882.  Chicago would wait more than eighty years before it commissioned another fire memorial.  In the 1950s the city built the Chicago Fire Academy, a training school for firemen, on the O’Leary property and other land along DeKoven Street.  Egon Weiner’s metal sculpture of a flame stands in the academy’s courtyard.  (Figure 87)  See “Chicago Condensed,” Chicago Republican, 25 November 1871, p. [4]; “Chicago Condensed,” Chicago Republican, 29 November 1871, p. [4]; “The Fire Monument,” Chicago Evening Journal, 14 December 1871, p. [4]; “The Safe Monument,” Chicago Tribune, 25 November 1871, p. 6; “The Fire Monument,” Chicago Tribune, 28 October 1872, p. 7; “The Fire Monument,” Chicago Tribune, 31 October 1872, p. 3; “Those Roasted Safes,” Chicago Times, 15 December 1871, p. 3; “OK Sale of 1st Ward Land to Industry,” Chicago Daily Sun-Times, 10 July 1956, p. 3, hereafter cited in text as “OK Sale of 1st Ward Land to Industry”; Gerald A. Danzer, Public Places: Exploring Their History (Walnut Creek, Calif.: Sage Publications, AltaMira Press, 1997), pp. 77-86; American Apocalypse, pp. 146-49; Pierce, vol. 3, p. 18; Andreas, vol. 3, p. 179; Kogan and Cromie, p. 227; Third Annual Report of West Chicago Park Commissioners for the Year Ending February 29, 1872 (Chicago: Chicago Legal News Co., n.d.), pp. 35-36.

[dcxciv].  This is probably a reference to a fire breaking out in Hoyne’s barn on Friday, October 13.  The October 14 Tribune reported that “a barn in the rear of No. 270 Michigan avenue, owned by Thomas Hoyne, and occupied by Jul[i]us Bauer & Co., dealers in pianos, caught fire at half-past 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon.  An alarm was promptly given, a bucket brigade was organized, and water in abundance was obtained from the lake.  Everybody worked with a will, and the flames were subdued after about $200 damage had been done.  No explanation regarding the origin of the fire was given; no one seemed to know anything about it, the general impression being that it was the work of an incendiary.”  Hoyne’s Chicago Fire reminiscences suggest that a fire department steam engine eventually arrived to help extinguish the blaze; however, this fire is not listed in the table of fires contained in the 1872 Report of the Board of Police.  See “Incendiary Fires”; “Musical Instruments,” Chicago Evening Journal, 13 November 1871, p. [3]; Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 595, 737-38; Alexander McMonagle, Inquiry, vol. [2], p. 252; Sheahan and Upton, pp. 353-54; Colbert and Chamberlin, p. 298.  The possible incendiary nature of this fire was alluded to in the following letter dated the same day of this fire:  “We are at Mr. Philpot so far and safe, but as the city is full of incendiaries, no knowing how long we can remain so. . . . This afternoon Mr. Tom Hoyne’s stable on Michigan Avenue was set on fire, and we came near another fearful conflagration.”  See Gookins letter.

[dcxcv].  Steam engines Waubansia No. 2 and J. B. Rice No. 10.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxcvi].  It appears that the transcriber blindly adhered to the shorthand reporter’s symbols and characters and not to what made sense or was grammatically correct.  Although “went” appears to be correct, and although the transcriber originally wrote the word “went” in the inquiry transcript, he or she apparently crossed out the last two letters “nt” and inserted the letters “re,” resulting in the following: “werent,” or “were.”  See also Catherine O’Leary, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 72, where the transcriber, referring to the “roar” of the fire, crossed out the word “roar” and replaced it with “roll.”

[dcxcvii].  Except for the possible correction of the word “went,” the punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[dcxcviii].  Maurice W. Shay was the foreman of the steam engine A. D. Titsworth No. 13.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dcxcix].  After the fire Judge Lambert Tree recalled that “when I arrived at the building where my office was located, the roof and cupola of the Court-house were already beginning to burn; several other buildings south and west of the Court-house were in flames, and the air was full of sparks, cinders, and pieces of flaming felt torn from the roofs of the houses, and being carried in a northeasterly direction by the wind, which was blowing a gale.”  The Tribune commented that “this tarred paper, when once kindled and torn off by the wind, flew over the city in myriads of fireballs, igniting without fail whatever it lighted upon.  It is doubtful whether, after the wind itself, any one cause is more blamable for the spread of the conflagration than this sort of roofing.”  See Reminiscences of Chicago during the Great Fire, pp. 92-93; Untitled article, Chicago Tribune, 18 November 1871, p. 4.

[dcc].  The 1871 Chicago City Directory indicates that Joseph A. Locke was the Assistant Engineer for the Board of Public Works.  See 1871 City Directory, p. 557; see also James H. Hildreth, Inquiry, vol. [3], pp. 125-26.

[dcci].  Horace C. Silsby was one of the founders of the Silsby Manufacturing Company of Seneca Falls, New York.  The Silsby Company manufactured steam engines; an example of a Silsby engine is shown at Figure 80. The Waubansia No. 2 was also a Silsby engine. See 1872 Report of the Board of Police, pp. 16, 30; Little and McNalis, pp. 11, 42; William T. King, History of the American Steam Fire-engine (n.p., 1896; reprint, Chicago: Owen Davies, 1960), p. 21.

[dccii].  The town of Quincy, Illinois, was one of several communities that sent fire engines or other fire apparatus during the fire.  See 1872 Report of the Board of Police, pp. 15-16.

[dcciii].  This is probably a reference to the depot of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company.  A drawing of “The Old Galena Depot” appears in Andreas, vol. 2, p. 133.  This railroad merged with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company in 1864.  The new company retained the name “Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.”  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 133-35.

[dcciv].  It probably was not just the heat and height of a burning grain elevator that was of concern to Marshal Williams, as it appears that such fires were difficult to put out.  The October 12, 1871, Tribune recounted that “another engine was near the Central Elevator, playing upon an immense hill of wheat, which was in Elevator A, and which was bursting out in little puffs of smoke all over its surface.  It cannot be very easily extinguished, and all that is to be expected is that it will gradually moulder away.”  See “The Ruins,” p. 1. Years later Chicagoan Daniel Goodwin expressed similar thoughts when he recalled that “the grain in the burned elevators was on fire for months.”  See Daniel Goodwin letter.

[dccv].  A few of Marshal Williams’s recommendations and comments are found in the 1869 Report of the Board of Police, pp. 16-23.  They include the following observation: “Although this department has repeatedly suggested that more rigid laws be passed, and more power be given this department to regulate the construction of buildings, too little attention has been paid to these suggestions, and the result is well known.”

[dccvi].  Uriah P. Harris was William’s predecessor.  Harris was extremely popular; Andreas wrote that “if the boys ever had an idol to whom they bowed down and whom they worshiped, that idol was U. P. Harris.  One secret of his popularity was his personal magnetism, by which he gained many friends and which he seemed to instil into the natures of those under him, so that, when his eye was upon them, they fought the flames like valiant soldiers.”  Harris retired from active service in 1868 and died in June 1871.  See Andreas, vol. 2, pp. 91-92; Little & McNalis, p. 36.

[dccvii].  Williams appeared before the Board and fire officials on December 2, and although he testified about several of the improvements that he had recommended prior to the fire, he did not comment during his testimony on his department’s lack of fire hose.  He was not as reserved in his lengthy letter to the Chicago Tribune that was published fifteen days earlier on November 17:   “One other circumstance that has greatly crippled our Fire Department, is the scanty supply of hose purchases from year to year. . . .  I have always failed to obtain the amount of hose I have asked for from time to time, as in the case of the present year I requested 15,000 feet, which was small enough an amount for the number of fires we are having in Chicago (amounting to nearly 700 during the last year).  Instead of allowing me the full amount, I was cut down one-third, and allowed 10,000 feet.”  See “On the Defensive,” p. 4.  But as noted in chapter one, fireman Leo Meyers expressed a completely different opinion when he testified: “It has been the remark that we had better facilities for the last three or four years for the extinguishment of a fire than we ever had before in Chicago.  It has been a usual remark through the department that our facilities were better for extinguishing fires.”  See Leo Meyers, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp. 99-100.

[dccviii].  In his history of the fire, Robert Cromie quotes Williams’s statement about the fire department being “right on their taps and on it before it got started” but then adds a postscript: “Out of charity or tact, [Williams] made no mention of how the mix-up in alarms had prevented the department from doing just that on October 8.”  See Cromie, pp. 280-81.

[dccix].  The punctuation and wording of this somewhat ambiguous sentence is shown exactly as the sentence appears in the transcript.

[dccx].  This appears to be an ambiguous reference to the City of Chicago and not the steam engine Chicago.

[dccxi].  Frank Luzerne’s history of the fire includes an interview with Marshal Williams that originally appeared in the Chicago Evening Mail.  In the interview Williams adamantly denied that his firemen were drunk and vehemently defended his men: “But bless your soul (and here the Marshal got interesting, 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 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.”  See Luzerne, pp. [171]-72.

[dccxii].  This question appears to be especially inane in light of the following news item that was published in the Evening Journal only twelve days before Williams testified: “This forenoon another accident happened, owing to the falling of a brick wall--portions of the ruins of a building on State street, near the corner of Randolph.  Two men were seriously injured.  Their names are James Rosener, of No. 334 ½ Twenty-fifth street, and O. Peterson, of No. 21 Hubbard street.  The men were conveyed to their respective homes, where medical aid was summoned.  It is high time that the city authorities should take steps toward pulling down the dangerous ruins.”  See “Two More Men Hurt,” Chicago Evening Journal, 20 November 1871, p. [4].

 

The danger of these ruins is horrifically illustrated in the reminiscences of Martin Stamm.  Stamm was pastor of Chicago’s First Evangelical Church at the time of the fire, and in his remembrances, written in the 1920s, he told of almost being killed by a falling wall: “One of the men glanced casually across the street and observed that the wall swayed slightly and that we were all in the greatest danger if it fell out towards us, as we would be covered.  He called out, ‘Gentlemen, we are all in danger of our lives.’  We all looked up at the dangerous wall.  At the same moment each of us recognized our danger, leaped up, and fled in all directions.  I ran south on Dearborn Street.  I never ran in all my life as at that moment.  Fortunately, I reached the south end of that wall, perhaps 20-25 feet beyond, when it fell with the sound of thunder behind me and completely covered the street.  Whatever living thing had not excaped [sic] was destroyed.”  See Kathy Ranalletta, ed., “‘The Great Wave of Fire’ at Chicago: The Reminiscences of Martin Stamm,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 70 (May 1977), pp. 149, [155].

 

But perhaps the city’s firemen had devised their own means of at least minimizing the perils of falling walls.  In 1893, while reminiscing about the Chicago Fire, Denis J. Swenie told a reporter about one recent close escape: “‘You see I was up an alley sort of blocked in each side by the fire,’ he said.  ‘The wall of the burning building started to fall.  I saw the thing coming, but I couldn’t get out at the side, and if I ran straight out I’d have got that wall on my neck good and hard, and I didn’t want it.  So I turned and charged the wall as it fell, meaning to break through.  I would have got a bit scorched in the fire, but that was better than getting smashed.  If that wall hadn’t been so thundering thick I’d have been all right, but I only got half way through when the wall came down.  I got my share of it, but wasn’t hurt. . . .’”  See “Story of the Great Chicago Fire,” sec. 3, p. 20.

[dccxiii].  The transcriber wrote “when there is bricks +c falling,” apparently using “+c” as a synonym for “and others.”  See Random House Dictionary.

[dccxiv].  Lorens Walter, Second Assistant Fire Marshal.  See 1871 Pay Roll.

[dccxv].  Although the proceedings were adjourned to the following Monday, the transcript contains no further testimony.  Marshal Williams was the forty-ninth person to appear before the Board and fire officials.  Although the foreman of Ryerson & Co.’s lumberyard, the fiftieth and final witness, testified Monday afternoon, it appears that no one made a record of his statements.  See “The Great Fire,” Chicago Tribune, 5 December 1871, p. 2.