the opportunity was lost. The time when thorough organization could have blown up buildings, or prepared for the emergency, had been allowed to pass, and it was now a fight for life. The wind blowing a stiff gale had possession of the flames, and the beautiful buildings, Chicago's glory, lay before them. Harrison, Van Buren, Adams, Monroe, and Madison streets were soon reached, the intervening blocks from the river to Dearborn street, on the east, being consumed and within an incredibly short space of time nearly a mile of brick blocks was consumed, as if by magic.

It being Sunday evening, this part of the city was nearly deserted. Proprietors and employés were at home, utterly unconscious of what was taking place. Those who saw the light of this fire supposed it was the remains of Saturday night's fire, and, having confidence in the Fire Department, were unconcerned ; but between 11 and 12 o'clock, a rumor got abroad that the fire was in the business portion of the city. Then everybody was on the alert, and from the southern part of the city a stream of people poured toward the scene of the conflagration. By this time nearly all the public buildings were either consumed or in flames. The air was filled with burning brands, which, carried north and east by the wind, kindled new fires wherever they fell. The fire-engines were powerless. The streams of water appeared to dry up the moment they touched the flames. An attempt was made to blow up the buildings; but this availed little, as the high wind carried the flaming brands far across the space thus cleared away.

To add to the horrors of the scene, the wooden pavements took fire, driving the firemen from stations where their efforts might have been continued for many precious minutes. Nothing could long resist the terrible heat of the flames. They seemed to strike right through the most solid walls. Buildings supposed to be fire-proof burned like tinder, and crumbled to pieces like charred paper. Block after block was consumed. The red hot coal shot higher and higher, and the flames spread further and further, until that part of the city lying north of Lake street was a vast sea of fire. At one time the people were so hemmed in by the circle of flame that thousands were in danger of perishing, and escaped only by a precipitate retreat. The hotels were hurriedly emptied of their guests, who swarmed into the streets with whatever they could carry away. . Those who could do so, made their way to the yet unburned bridges, and escaped across the river, while others fled to the lake shore, and found a safe line of retreat to the southern part of the city. This, it must be borne in mind, was in the night-time, but the city and the country and lake for miles around were illuminated with a lurid light.

When morning dawned at length, there was but one block of buildings left in what the day before had been the most flourishing business part of the city. The magnificent Court House, the Board of Trade building, the Sherman House, and other hotels, and hundreds of stores and offices, were in ruins. The Tribune block alone remained unharmed. A wide space had been burned around it, and its safety was supposed to be assured. A patrol of men, under Mr. Samuel Medill, swept off live coals and put out fires in the side walls; and another patrol, under the direction of the Hon. Joseph Medill, watched the roofs. Up to 4 o'clock in the morning, writes the correspondent of the World, the reporters had sent in detailed accounts of the fire. At 5 o'clock the forms were sent down. In ten minutes the two eight-cylinders in the press-room would have been throwing off the morning paper. Then the front basement was discovered to be on fire. The plug on the corner was tapped, but there was no water. The conflagration which had for some time been raging on the north side had destroyed

the Water-works. There was not a drop of water in the city. The pressmen were driven from their presses. The attachés of the office said good-by to the handsomest newspaper office in the Western country, and tearfully withdrew to a place of safety. In a very short time the office was enveloped in fire, and by 10 o'clock the whole block was a mass of blackened ruins. M'Vickar's fine theatre, the Crosby Opera House, which was to have been reöpened Monday evening, the office of the Pullman Car Company, the great Union Railroad Depot at the foot of Lake street, all the banks, and many of the finest churches in the city had already been destroyed.

By the destruction of the Water-works, on the north side of the river, early in the day, the efficiency of the Fire Department was fatally impaired. It was impossible, owing to the smoke and fire, to get to the lake or river. So intense was the heat that the sluggish river seemed to boil, and clouds of steam rose from its surface to mingle with the smoke from the flames.

Early in the forenoon of Monday, it became evident that nothing could save the city, and all the streets leading southward and westward from the burning quarter were crowded with men, women, and children, all flying for life, and attempting to save something from the general wreck. The number is vaguely estimated at 75,000. Every sort of vehicle was pressed into service. With the selfishness which on such occasions comes uppermost in some natures, the truckmen charged enormous prices for transporting trunks, boxes, and packages, and turned a deaf ear to all who could not pay the money down. Thousands of persons, inextricably commingled with horses and vehicles, poor people of all colors and shades, and of every nationality, mad with excitement, struggled with each other to get away. Many were trampled under foot. Men and women were loaded with bundles, to whose skirts children were clinging, half-dressed and barefooted, all seeking a place of safety. Hours afterward these people might have been seen in vacant lots, or on the streets far out in the suburbs, stretched in the dust. Many pitiful sights were witnessed in the course of this terrible scramble for life. There were mothers and fathers, who, leaving children in places of supposed safety, had gone to save clothing and valuables from their burning houses, and returned to find their little ones swept away, and were seeking them in vain among the maddened crowd. There were men and women whom terror had made insane.

Among the saddest incidents of this calamity was the appearance in the streets of hundreds of men and boys in a state of beastly drunkenness. In the North Division the liquor saloons were broken open, and their contents flung into the streets, where they were eagerly seized upon by the maddened crowd, who seem to have felt the same impulse that leads sailors on a sinking ship to drown their terrors in the delirium of intoxication. There can be hardly any doubt that many of these poor wretches found their death in the flames from which they were helpless to escape. Several hundred persons sought refuge on a barge, and were towed out into the lake, where they remained all night. The loss of life cannot yet be definitely ascertained, but will probably reach several hundred.

Thus the dreadful day wore on, and night drew near. The principal business portion of the city, and the North Division, from the river to Lincoln Park, had been swept by the flames, comprising an area of more than 5 square miles. As the awful day drew to its close, thousands of anxious eyes watched the clouds of smoke that hung over the scene of desolation, dreading lest a change of wind might drive the flames upon that portion of the city which was still unburned, and fervent were the prayers for rain.

No pen can describe the horrors of the night. A hundred thousand people encamped in the fields and in Lincoln Park. The weather was tempestuous and cold. A heavy rain the day previous had drenched the turf, which the trampling feet of the thousands of fugitives from the fire had soon beaten into a morass. And there, on the bleak prairie, shelterless and half-naked, delicate women slept with their babes clasped to their breasts, or moaned in unspeakable anguish throughout the dreadful night, longing for day and yet dreading its dawn. What hearts were broken during that awful watch in cold, and darkness, and terror, what lives of lingering sickness and pain prepared, can never be known. It would seem as if such distress might soften the most obdurate heart; yet even there armed patrols were needed to guard the helpless from robbery and the baser passions of desperate ruffians, who, under cover of the general panic and disorganization, sought to inaugurate a new reign of terror. Houses were broken open and pillaged all over the town. Rape, and arson, and murder were not unfrequent; and it became necessary to form vigilance committees. Fortunately General Sheridan was at his post. The city was placed under martial law, and wretches caught in the act of pillaging or setting fire to buildings-for, incredible as it may seem, men became incendiaries in the midst of the burning townwere executed on the spot.

During the whole of the night of the 9th, the fire continued to burn on the north side; but the wind went down, and shortly after midnight rain commenced falling, and by daylight the flames were under control. Freed from anxiety in regard to the further spreading of the flames, the citizens took measures for the protection of property and for the care of the thousands who were homeless and shelterless. The first night few could be provided with shelter, and the most harrowing scenes were witnessed on every hand. Several children were born into the world in the midst of the storm, only to die. There were invalids of every age and condition of life, who had been taken from their beds and carried where death came to them less swiftly but not less surely than in the fiery flood.

In response to the cry for help that went up from the stricken city, instant and abundant relief was sent from every part of the Union. The General Government sent thousands of tents and army rations. Societies and private citizens sent money, clothing, and provisions. Railroad companies dispatched special trains laden with these gifts. From Canada and from Europe came expressions of sympathy and proffers of assistance. Wherever the news was carried, it awakened the best impulses of human nature.

The spirit and courage exhibited by the business people of Chicago is above all praise. The smoke still hung over their ruined city, when they met and resolved upon measures that would restore its fame and magnificence, and maintain its credit unimpaired. The newspapers, with their accustomed enterprise, immediately resumed publication as best they could, and generous assistance was afforded by the press of other cities, in the shape of type, paper, etc. Temporary buildings were erected in every direction, and in less than a week after the cessation of the fire, hundreds of houses were ready for occupation. The spirit of prostration gave way to one of confidence and hope. Every business man who could hire a shed resumed business. One hundred thousand dollars were subscribed toward rebuilding the Chamber of Commerce, and the work will be commenced at once. With this spirit animating her citizens, Chicago will soon recover from this great calamity, more magnificent and beautiful than she was before the fire.