The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877 Part 1

The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877.

by George Stewart.

CHAPTER I.

The Great Fire--Its Extent--Its Terrible Rapidity--A Glance Backward--What the People Pa.s.sed Through--The First Fire-- Protective Movements--The People Who Lent the City Money-- Minor Fires--Fire of 1823--The Great Fire of 1837--The Calamity of 1839--The Trials of 1841--The King Street Fire.

One of the most destructive fires of modern times occurred at St. John, N.B., on Wednesday, the 20th June, 1877. It was more calamitous in its character than the terrible conflagration which plunged portions of Chicago into ruin, and laid waste the great business houses of Boston a few years ago. In a relative sense, the St. John fire was a greater calamity, and its people for a time suffered sterner hardships. The fire in the large American cities was confined to a certain locality, but in St. John an immense area of territory was destroyed in the incredibly short s.p.a.ce of nine hours, and fully two-fifths of the entire city were laid in ashes, and one thousand six hundred and twelve houses levelled to the earth. The fire raged with overwhelming violence, carrying in its wake everything that came before it. At one time three portions of the city were burning at once, and all hope of checking the conflagration died in the hearts of men as the terrific volume of flame thundered and crackled, and hissed in sheets over their heads. The blinding smoke rolled heavenwards in a thick heavy ma.s.s; the flying embers were carried along for miles, and the brisk north-western wind brought the destroying flame to a thousand households. Men and women stood paralyzed in the streets, fearing the worst and hoping against hope. Those who had worked all afternoon trying to save their property now sank to the earth and barely escaped with their lives, for the fire was upon them. Nothing appeared to stay the march of the fiend. Immense piles, that seemed to stand like an army of picked guardsmen, were swept away in an instant; granite, freestone, brick and marble were as ineffectual in staying the conflagration as the dryest tinder-box houses which fed the flames at every turn. Even old stone buildings that had stood for sixty years, in the outskirts of the city, and had withstood many a serious fire before, now crumbled and tumbled before the conquering scourge.[A] 200 acres were destroyed, all that part of the city south of King Street, regiments of houses, stores and public buildings were burned, and the fire was only stayed when the water-line prevented its going further.

The boundary of the burnt district followed a line on the eastern and northern sides of Union Street to Mill Street, Mill Street to Dock Street, northern and eastern sides of Market Square, centre of King Street to Pitt Street, Pitt Street to its junction with the water; thence around by the harbour-line to the starting point. In brief, this was the battle-ground through which the grand charge of the fire was made--unparalleled in its brilliancy by any similar exploit which the annals of military deeds unfold. Men, horses, rows of stoutest building material, steam, water, all succ.u.mbed and went down like chaff before the whirlwind. Nothing was too strong to resist, nothing too weak to receive clemency.

A glance at the earlier history of St. John will show that destructive fires have been of frequent occurrence, and its people have suffered much from this system of devastation. In 1784, on Friday, the 18th June, the first fire of which we have any knowledge took place. At that time it was considered a terrible blow, and the spa.r.s.e population thought that many years would elapse before the little city could recover from the wreck which the fire had made. Eleven houses were burned, and a large number of discharged soldiers of the 42nd Regiment were the princ.i.p.al sufferers. About this time a woman and child were burned to death at the Falls, and seven houses in this quarter were destroyed.

In April, 1787, the people decided to take active measures for protection against fire, and accordingly the following doc.u.ment was drawn up:

We, the subscribers, taking into our serious consideration the alarming situation of the city for want of fire-engines and public wells, should a fire break out in any part of it, and, at the same time, being sensible of the present inability of the city corporation to advance money for the purpose, do severally promise to pay the mayor, aldermen and commonalty, of the City of St. John (or to such persons as they shall appoint), the several sums annexed to our names as a loan upon interest, for the purpose of importing from London two suitable fire-engines, and for sinking a sufficient number of public wells in this city.

"Which several sums the said corporation have engaged to repay to each separate subscriber with interest annually, as soon as their funds will enable them so to do, as appears by an abstract from the minutes of the common council, dated the 20th March last:

"City of St. John, N.B., 5th April, 1787.

s. d.

"Gabriel G. Ludlow (Mayor) 10 0 0 Ward Chipman (Recorder) 10 0 0 Jonathan Bliss (Atty.-General) 10 0 0 James Putnam (Judge) 10 0 0 Christopher Billop 5 0 0 Zeph Kingsley 10 0 0 Samuel Randall 10 0 0 Gilbert & Hanford 10 0 0 Isaac Bell 5 0 0 Robert Parker 10 0 0 BENEDICT ARNOLD 10 0 0 William Wyly 10 0 0 Mark Wright 3 0 0 C. C. Hall & Co. 5 0 0 William Pagan 10 0 0 John Colwell 5 0 0 Thomas Bean 10 0 0 Francis Gilbert 5 0 0 Samuel Hallet 3 0 0 William Hazen 10 0 0 James Ruon 5 0 0 John Califf 4 13 4 Isaac Lawton 5 0 0 Samuel Mills 5 0 0 Paul Bedell 5 0 0 William Wanton (Collector Custom) 10 0 0 Adino Paddock, M. D. 5 0 0 McCall & Codner 10 0 0 Thomas Horsfield 10 0 0 John McGeorge } Thos. Elliot } 10 0 0 William Bainy } Thompson & Reed 10 0 0 Christopher Lowe, (King's Printer) 5 0 0 W. S. Olive, (Sheriff) 5 0 0 Wm. Whittaker 5 0 0 Peter Quin 3 0 0 Charles Warner 5 0 0 Abiather Camp 5 0 0 James Peters 5 0 0 Daniel Michean 3 0 0 Fitch Rogers 5 0 0 Munson Jarvis 5 0 0 Nehemiah Rodgers 5 0 0 Edward Sands 3 0 0."

On the 2nd February, 1786, the corporation paid Peter Fleming 136 6s.

8d. for two fire engines. These must have proved ineffectual, for the reader will notice that the above loan was made up hardly a year afterward, and the present sum was raised for the special purpose of buying London engines, and sinking wells.

The movement was not inaugurated a moment too soon, for in 1788 the following year, a fire occurred in the store of General Benedict Arnold, of revolutionary fame, which threatened to become very serious before it was got under way. Arnold's store was situate in Lower Cove, where the sewing machine factory adjoining John E. Turnbull's sash factory stood, till the late besom of fire swept it away. A good deal of excitement was occasioned at the time of the fire in Arnold's premises. His former partner, Hoyt, charged him with setting fire to the store. Arnold sued him for slander, and recovered a verdict of twenty shillings!

The next fire broke out in 1816 in a large two-story house on the corner of Germain and Britain Streets, occupied by a military physician named Davis. The doctor and his wife were saved from burning by the heroic conduct of their next door neighbour. A party of soldiers were engaged the next day sifting the ashes and searching for the silver which had melted; not a trace of it was found however.

The fire of 1823 was a very serious one, and caused great destruction.

It began on Disbrow's Wharf and took along with it nearly both sides of Prince William Street; the old wooden building on the latter street lately occupied by _The Telegraph_ newspaper, alone escaped. The lot on which it stood cost Dr. Adino Paddock five shillings in 1786. During this fire over forty houses were burned, and the loss of property and goods was estimated at 20,000, which in those days was felt to be enormous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PANORAMIC VIEW OF ST. JOHN, 1828 OR '30.]

The fire of 1837 will linger long in the memory of many of the inhabitants of St. John. It was the most wholesale destruction of property which the people had ever known. Many to-day contrast the misfortunes of that day with those of the present hour. Even when the flames were carrying death and destruction on all sides on that warm day in June, 1877, men stopped to compare notes and whisper a word or two about the fire of 1837. Of course the loss was not as great then, or the number of lives lost so large, or so much valuable property destroyed as at the present time, but the people were less able to bear the trials which came upon them then, and many never recovered from the shock. The city was young and struggling to gain a foothold. The city was poor and the people were frugal. They were not able to bear the burdens which were in a night entailed upon them, the magnificent system of relief from outside sources was not in operation, and without help of any kind save that which they themselves brought into requisition, the citizens n.o.bly worked long and hard to rebuild their little seaport town. There was a prejudice against insurance, and many lost every dollar they possessed. The hardships of those days are remembered by many who pa.s.sed through them then, and who once more endure the horrors of a great calamity with almost Spartan courage. The time of the '37 fire was in the very heart of a rigorous winter, on the 13th of January, and we can only picture the destruction of Moscow to enable the reader to understand how terrible the sufferings of the people must have been, when snow and ice were on the ground, and not a shelter covered the heads of the afflicted women and tender babes. It was a day remembered long after by those who had pa.s.sed through its trials. The fire originated on Peters's Wharf, and in a moment, like lightning, it darted along South Market Wharf and extended up to the ferry boat. Both sides of Water Street and Prince William Street between Cooper's Alley and Princess Street were destroyed. The old Nichols House was saved; it was occupied then by Solomon Nichols and stood on the corner of Cooper's Alley and Prince William Street, lately the site of Farrall & Smith's dry goods store. It was originally built of wood and it was a marvel that it was not carried away with the rest; but it stood like an oasis in Sahara, or the old sentinel who was left on guard and forgotten after the army had fled. One hundred and fifteen houses were consumed, and nearly the whole of the business portion of the city, and one million dollars' worth of property were destroyed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

MARITIME BLOCK (1873) SHOWING VIEW OF PRINCE WILLIAM ST.

Climo, Photo.]

Hardly had the people recovered from the disaster of 1837, when another scourge came upon them causing nearly as much destruction as before.

This was in August, 1839, when a fire started in Nelson Street and burned the entire north wharf, both sides of Dock Street, Market Square, with the exception of the house standing on the site now occupied by the Bank of British North America, and a house on Union Street west, occupied by Mr. Hegan. It didn't cross Prince William Street. The old Government House, Union Street, escaped.

The spring of 1841, 17th March, was the scene of another fire, when four lives were lost and much excitement prevailed. Mr. Holdsworth, of Holdsworth & Daniel, (London House) perished while endeavouring to keep off the sparks from the roof of his store.

On the 26th August, a 30,000 fire in Portland carried off sixty houses; and on the 15th November, 1841, a fire broke out on the South Wharf and burned the whole of that wharf together with Peter's Wharf, south side of Water Street, and the large brick Market-house in Market Square, which was occupied by butchers in the ground flat, and used for the civic offices in the second story. This building could have been saved, and was lost through gross carelessness. Incendiarism was rampant and the greatest excitement filled the public mind.

In 1845, 29th July, forty buildings were burned from a fire which took its start in Water Street, and in 1849 the famous King Street fire broke out in a store in Lawrence's building. The Commercial Hotel, then kept by the late Israel Fellows, father of James I. Fellows, Chemist, was destroyed, together with the Tower of Trinity Church, which had to be pulled down that the Church might be saved. Pilot Mills climbed to the cupola and secured the fastenings by which it was brought to the ground.

The fire in Prince William Street of March 8th of the present year, which broke out in the building owned by the Ennis and Gardner estate, and resulted in the loss of seven lives and nearly two millions of dollars' worth of property, is still fresh in the minds of our readers.

Thus the reader will see that St. John has had a goodly share of the great fires, which, in a moment lay prostrate a city, and plunge her inhabitants into almost hopeless ruin. We come now to that day of our last and greatest tribulation when the city was shook to its very foundation and was well nigh thrown out of existence.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The exact acreage, from actual measurement is 200 acres; streetage, 9.6 miles.

CHAPTER II.

The Late Fire--Its Origin--Bravery of the Firemen--The High Wind--The Fire's Career--Fighting the Flames--Almost Lost-- The Escape from the Burning Building--Destruction of Dock Street--Smyth Street in Flames--The Wharves--Demolition of Market Square--Something about the Business Houses there-- The Banks--Fire checked at North Street.

The great fire, for we must distinguish it by that t.i.tle, since in vastness it overpowers all other similar calamities which have befallen St. John, originated in the late Joseph Fairweather's building, York Point, Portland, at half past two on Wednesday afternoon, 20th June. The writer and Mr. Frederick R. Fairweather were walking down King Street at the time of the alarm, and, in company with hundreds of others, visited the scene of what promised at the time to be a very small affair indeed.

When the place was reached, McLaughlin's boiler shop was in flames and all efforts of the firemen to put out the fire were checkmated at every turn by the fierce north-west wind which was blowing a perfect gale. In a few minutes the fire spread with alarming rapidity, and houses went down as if a mine of powder had exploded and razed them. The wind lifted from the roofs immense brands and sparks, and by three o'clock the city was in flames at a dozen points. Lower Cove was on fire, and the dryness of the houses rendered them as useless to withstand the blaze as bits of paper would have been. The huge blazing brands were carried along in the air for miles around, and where-ever they dropped a house went down.

The engines were powerless, and the firemen, though they worked like heroes, availed but little. The wild, mad flames, now in sheets, now with a million tongues of angry fork-like columns, dashed against the wharves, levelling them to the water's edge, ripping up the pavements of the streets, and crushing houses out of existence in a single swoop.

Nothing could be done. The leaping demon swept all before him. Hare's Wharf with its buildings bowed before the destroyer, and with a roar which thrilled every heart, and unnerved every man who stood there, the whole force of the fire dashed into Smyth Street and shattered every building in it. J. W. Nicholson's wine vaults, Harrison's flour warehouse, Logan & Lindsay's storehouse, Robertson Place, which exceeded in value half a million of dollars, were snapped up in a second. The flames spread into Drury Lane and Mill Street, and soon both sides of Dock Street were in the common ruin. But while this was going on, the rear of the London House, in Market Square, was threatened and the old barracks in Lower Cove were on fire. A reinforcement from Carleton and Portland fire departments came to the a.s.sistance of the firemen at this juncture, and every man worked with a will. The hose was directed with admirable expertness but the high wind baffled the efforts of all who stood before it. It could rise higher than the water, and it could travel faster than man. A ma.s.s of flames at the end of Smyth Street and Drury Lane burned close to an engine, but the dauntless firemen, holding boards over their heads to protect their faces and eyes from the heat, gave battle to the relentless foe. It was a fight of water and human endurance against fire, and fire prevailed in the end. The unequal combat lasted some minutes, and it was only when death seemed imminent that the men drew away, and even then they only yielded the ground inch by inch, till they could no longer stand up before the charging enemy.

The fire was now going with headlong speed down Dock Street. Frantic women wildly sobbing filled the roads with the few sticks of furniture and portions of bedding which they had managed to save. Children hastened along crying aloud, and making the scene more dreadful as they ran barefooted over the hot sidewalk. Men with picture frames and books rushed past, calling and threatening, and moaning. It was a scene terrible in its reality. People were driven from street to street, and hurled forward, till, with horror in their blanched faces, they turned and saw in their rear the wild flames hemming them in. With many a shriek they dashed into the side streets. Some ran along Water Street, only to meet the flames there, and a few sought refuge in rafts and boats, and sped to Carleton, losing in the excitement every dollar they owned in the world. The old McSweeney lime-stone building, which came to a point on the corner of Union and Dock Streets, early succ.u.mbed and was a ma.s.s of crumbling ruins. It was near this edifice that a woman rescued her child from instant death, and pulled her away just in time to escape being buried in a ma.s.s of stone, which came tumbling down in a thousand pieces. The Rankine bakery, another building known far and wide, suffered demolition, and was soon a heap of ruins. Some young men, three in number, entered a store on Mill Street, to avoid the dust and smoke. In a little while they saw with agony the flames burst in upon them from the rear door, ten or twelve feet from the entrance. They called for help, and attempted to gain an exit from the place which was now filled with heavy black smoke. Three times they sought the door, and every minute they began to realize the imminence of their danger. The flames and smoke drove them back, and now the water from the hose came tearing into their faces, knocking their breath away, and saturating them with the wet. Two jumped with the frenzy of madmen and the wildness of despair, and landed into the street safe, but paralysed with fear.

The other man groped his way on his hands and knees along the floor and felt for the door. He succeeded after enduring much suffering, in crawling into the street. All that these three saved was on their backs.

In the midst of the commotion in Dock Street, merchants were busily engaged in securing their books and private papers, and hurrying out with them. Some trusted to their safes and locked their doors. The sweep in this street was a clear one. The old "Hammond House" went shortly after the McSweeney building, and the Figaro Opera House followed shortly after. This building was built a few years ago, as an exhibition hall, by Otis Small, Esq., and leased to Major George Bishop, as a concert room. He occupied it awhile, and Pete Lee succeeded him in the lesseeship and management of the concern. Some excellent performances of the variety kind have been given in this building. The hall was comfortably seated and tastefully arranged. Latterly it was converted, by Prof. Neilson, into a ball-room and dancing academy, when it received its new name, "Figaro Opera House."

Dock Street was soon in ashes, and it was while this street was burning that a grand rush was made by the merchants and private bankers, to the Bank of New Brunswick. Piles of bank notes, bills of exchange, mortgages, bonds, specie, books of account, ledgers, &c., &c., were placed in tin boxes, when practicable, and deposited, through the courtesy of George Schofield, Esq., of the bank, into the vaults. They were not a moment too soon, for now the splendid front of the Market Square was in a blaze, and Hall & Fairweather's store on South Wharf was burning. An immense amount of damage was being done. On this square a vast deal of business had been done for many years, and leading merchants had made and lost fortunes on its site. The London House, Messrs. Daniel & Boyd's wholesale establishment, represented a large value. It stood in the centre of the square, and the gradual sinking of this structure was a sad but grandly imposing sight. It was here where enterprise was to be found, and Daniel & Boyd's name was ever the synonym for honesty, integrity, and truth. It was in this s.p.a.cious warehouse where the busy merchants were to be seen, eager to help the young men of the city, and anxious to develop the resources of the country. In every good work, in every deed of charity, Thomas W. Daniel and John Boyd headed the list, and to them many a young merchant to-day is indebted for that teaching, which, in after life, made him honourable in his dealings. This prominent house was started in 1831 by Holdsworth & Daniel. The fire of 1839 carried their store away, and for a while the firm occupied the store known as Jardine's, Prince William Street. In 1839, the land on the market square was purchased by Mr. Thos. Daniel for 4,000. (In 1811 this place was used as a blacksmith's shop.) In 1847, Mr. Thomas Daniel left the firm and went to England. His nephew, the present head of the house, Thos. W. Daniel, began business on his own account, and soon after 1852, he admitted John Boyd as a partner in the house, under the style of T. W. Daniel & Co. Shortly after the style of this firm was changed to Daniel & Boyd. On the corner to the right of Daniel & Boyd, No. 1 Market Square, was the staunch old drug establishment of the late W. O. Smith, Esq. Mr. Smith, the father of our present ex-Mayor, opened here after the fire of 1839, and the business has been conducted here till the late fire, by his son, A. Chipman Smith, since 1871, when his father died in March of that year. In the adjoining store, so many years occupied by Lawton & Va.s.sie, Messrs.

Manchester, Robertson & Allison, may be said to have begun business.

They left here, W. W. Jordan taking the store, to occupy their commodious premises in King Street, which alone kept off the fire from the north side of King Street. The saving of this building was one of the marvels of the present calamity. It really held the key to the whole of this side of the street. But for the laundry and the well managed protective means employed by the firm and their friends, the destruction of this house and the entire street would have been accomplished. Men stood idly in the courtway folding their arms and telling one another that the building could not possibly be saved, when Mr. Manchester, in his short impulsive way, told them if every one did as they were doing, it could not; but he intended to use every effort in his power before he gave it up. The firemen here worked with a will, and were rewarded with a splendid result. It was on this side of the street that the Western Union Telegraph Office was situated, and it and Mr. J.

W. Hall's new building were the first to go. The Maritime Block--a splendid structure--in which the banks, Maritime, Montreal and Nova Scotia, were established, and which faced the Market Square, went down while it was yet daylight. In this building the offices of the school trustees, Dun, Wiman & Co., A. P. Rolph, Lumber Exchange, and Board of Trade were held. While Mr. Rolph was engaged in getting his things ready to move out, Mr. Richard Thompson's men were hastening in with silver-ware and jewelry, thinking in their excitement that this building was at all events safe. Mr. Thompson's loss is very heavy, and the damage to his elegant and costly stock is considerable. The lot on which the Sheffield House stood was offered some years ago, at private sale, to John Wilmot, Esq., father of Senator R. Duncan Wilmot, by James Brimner, for 2,000. Mr. Wilmot refused it, and attended the auction sale when it was knocked down to him for 2,950. The police office went next, Watts & Turner's, H. & H. McCullough's, and round again to the north wharf, carrying Lewin & Allingham, Chas. R. Ray, W. H. Thorne & Co. (retail), and Thomas M. Reed, along with it. The destruction on the north wharf totally demolished the establishment of Jas. Domville & Co., and the books of the firm which had been taken to the Maritime Bank for safe keeping, were subsequently burned there. The saving of the Bank of British North America, the only monetary inst.i.tution in the city which resumed business the next day as usual, was one of those wonderful events which only occur at rare intervals. The fire roared l.u.s.tily in the rear of the bank, but something seemed to command it to halt there, and advance no further. A large barn went down, and now it was deemed certain that the bank would go next, but no, the fire crossed the square, dashed along Water Street, cut into Ward Street, destroyed a slip full of schooners and wood boats, slipped into Tilton's Alley, and rushed along with frightful rapidity on both sides of every thoroughfare in its way. On the one side of the city the fire was stopped at North Street, having reached J. & T. Robinson's house and store.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BUILDING WHICH PREVENTED THE FIRE FROM EXTENDING UP KING ST.]

CHAPTER III.

The Fire in King Street--Recollections--The Old Coffee House Corner--The Stores in King Street--The Old Masonic Hall--The St. John Hotel--Its Early Days--The Bell Tower--King Square-- A Night of Horror--The Vultures at Work--Plundering the Dest.i.tute.

The fire entered King Street in the western side from Germain and Canterbury Streets. It began by burning down Lawton & Va.s.sie's brick store, erected on the site which contained the famous Bragg building.

This stout building and Bowes & Evan's premises were soon buried in the common ruin. The fire went along King Street, destroying Mr. Sharp's dry goods store, Jas. Adams & Co's., James Manson's magnificent palace, including his safe and all his valuable papers, John K. Storey's and Magee Bros., Imperial Block. This last place is quite historic. This block was erected in 1852, by the late John Gillis. It was built on the site where the memorable coffee house stood. Here of an evening for years and years the old men of the place used to sit and gossip and smoke and sip their toddy. Here in 1815 they met to learn the news of the war between France and England, and read the story of Waterloo four or five months after it was fought and won. In this sort of Shakspeare tavern, the leading merchants of the day met and chatted over large sales, and compared notes. Here a verbal commercial agency was established, and here delightful old gossips, like busy Sam Pepys and garrulous old busybodies, like Johnson's Bozzy, met and told each other all about everybody else's affairs. What a time these old fellows had every night sitting there in that quaint old coffee house, chatting and smoking, smoking and chatting again. And there were Ben Jonsons in those days, who wrote dramatic pieces and showed them to their friends over a cup of hot spiced rum. And poets too, full of the tender pa.s.sion, sighed out hexameters of love in that old coffee house so dear to some of the men we meet to-day who lost everything in the flames on that dark Wednesday in June. Ah, yes, the grand old coffee house was torn down in 1852 to make room for the handsome pile of stone and brick which perished only the other day. The corner is again bare, and the few who remember the coffee house are fast pa.s.sing away.