The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877 Part 16

Money cannot supply these. Many of them are endeared to us through a.s.sociation. Some are the gifts of friends who have since pa.s.sed away, never to return, and others again came into our possession in various ways. We may supply, with a portion of our insurance money, a few books, copies of the ones which we have lost, but these will not be the same.

They will not be our copies. We love to read our own books. No Suckling can be the same as the one we lost the other day. It was not a rich copy, but it was a whole-souled, generous old fas.h.i.+oned volume, full of the old Knights daintiest bits of melody. We used to love to linger over the little age-stained page, and recover lines we had lost. And dear old Shenstone, too, is gone. We can easily get another Shenstone, but it won't seem at all like the old copy. In our own books we know just where to find what we want, and new copies never seem the same. And then there are books we like to take up now and then, just to fill in the odd moments of our lives; books of engravings and the like, and volumes of _Punch_, and great volumes of cartoons of say forty and fifty years ago.

These are all gone now and few can be replaced.

What great inroads the fire has caused among our private libraries, what a wreck it has made of those precious books we all loved so dearly. And those pamphlets, too, upon which we placed so much value, and the thousand little odds and ends of literature which we so tenderly gathered year in and year out. And our sc.r.a.p-books--great, good-natured fellows, with broad sides and liberal pages, ready to take in all sorts of matter. These are no more. And whole hosts of unbound magazines, which we had tied together, and expected every day to send off to the binders. These are ashes too. We hesitate before we turn over the books we rescued from the burning, lest we discover greater losses, and miss fairer treasures. How many sets of books have been destroyed, how many ma.s.sive tomes have been withered by the heat, how many dainty books of poetry have been swept away!

What lovely companions books are. What glorious friends they make. How kindly they speak to us and tell us what they think. We read gruff Tom Carlyle, and pause at his estimate of Cromwell, and hunt through the histories of England to see what Smollett and Hume have to say about the same grim protector. We run through a few pages of Taine and discover how grandly he criticises the masters of English literature, but after all we go back fondly to our own Arnold, and read what he has to tell us before we quite make up our mind that the clever Frenchman is right. We sit at the feet of Holmes and read a chapter or two of his matchless Autocrat, and then with our mind full of the delicious sweets, we get down our copy of Hunt and after skimming a page or two of his "Seer,"

dip into the crisp and sparkling pages of Hazlitt's _Round Table_. Ah, yes! the fire may take all else we have if it will only leave us our books. True, a man, as the bard hath it--

"May live without books--what is knowledge but grieving?

He may live without hope--what is hope but deceiving?

He may live without love--what is pa.s.sion but pining?

But where is the man who can live without dining?"

But after all the mind craves as much for food of its kind, as the stomach does for meats and bread.

Though in St. John we had no public library, there were very many private collections of books in the city. Some of them were very large and well-selected. Dr. Wm. Bayard's collection, not one volume of which was saved, was beyond all question the fullest and ripest medical library in the Dominion. It was the acc.u.mulation of many years. The collection was begun by his father and added to largely by the Doctor himself. Some rare medical works, rich in plates, costing as high as 30 sterling each, were to be found here, besides books covering the whole range of medical thought and practice. The English cla.s.sics, exhibiting the very cream of letters, and some fine specimens of modern literature filled acceptably the doctors shelves. Not a volume was saved. Indeed a photograph alb.u.m was the only article rescued from the burning house.

Mr. James R. Ruel, the Collector of Customs had a fine library, rich in theology and literature of the higher cla.s.s. Controversial works, books of science, and the whole range of British Poetry, ever found a welcome on Mr. Ruel's library table. In the departments of History and Geography this library was especially rich and full, and every work of character about the Reformation in England could here be consulted. Mr. Ruel's reading in this department was extensive, and he made writings of this kind his especial study. His whole collection, rare and costly as it was, and representing the labour of many years, perished before a hand could be raised in its defence. Mr. B. Lester Peters's library showed great care and culture in its selection. It too was very complete in History, Biography, Belles-lettres and Theology. Mr. Peters's fine literary taste served him well in making his collection of books, and nearly all his volumes displayed wonderful skill in rich bindings. In old play-wrights, such as Shakespeare, Jonson, Ma.s.singer, Beaumont and Fletcher, and the other famous ones of that glorious age in literature--The Elizabethan--Mr. Peters's library was ample. Indeed, in works of this cla.s.s no finer collection existed in the city. And in poetry which exhibited the rarest thoughts of the bards, in the works of such poets as Milton, Chaucer, Spenser, Dryden, Pope and Clough, Mr.

Peters's shelves contained a perfect mine of wealth. His collection of pamphlets, the labour of thirty years, was unique and full. He had the whole of the famous Connolly and Wilmot controversy, the scattered papers of the late Dr. Gray, the Maturin pamphlets, the Colenso pamphlets, the notes on the Lost Tribes of Israel, and a thousand others, neatly and carefully put away in cases specially prepared for them. Those are all gone, and not a fragment remains. The gorgeous library of John Boyd, Esq., of Queen Square, with its enormous collection of works belonging to modern literature, its rare list of old books, its magnificent sets of presentation volumes from the authors, its numberless volumes that come from the publishers to Mr. Boyd as gifts, were swept away in an instant. The books in Mr. Boyd's cases were a reflex of the owner's taste and judgment. He had not a poor book among the whole. The entire range of English and American essayists, the whole course of British and American poetry, the cream of historical books, the ripest thoughts of the philosopher, the most delightful gems of fiction, the works of the scientists, and the great tomes of biography, clad in the most luxuriant of luxurious bindings, were the companions of Mr. Boyd's study. His lectures, common-place books, sc.r.a.p-books, in fact everything which he possessed of a literary character were burned. Even the literary notes which he made from time to time in his record books during the odd moments of his too unfrequent leisure, and the bits of criticism on new poems which he occasionally made for future use on the platform and elsewhere, perished in his desk. His entire intellectual labour vanished in an hour. Mr. A. L. Palmer's splendid library with his own valuable annotations, Mr. A. A. Stockton's voluminous and admirable library, begun by his late uncle, and Mr. Chas. W. Weldon's Law and general library were destroyed before their owners could save a single book. The Rev. Dr. Watters's library, so rich in theology and biography, was burned almost entirely. Lately large additions had been made to this delightful collection. A good many of the late Judge Chipman's best books found their way here, and the most of these were lost. Rev. Mr.

Stavely's books were all burned, and not one of Rev. Mr. Carey's fine collection escaped. Some of his books were very rare and high-priced.

Mr. Robert Britain's books were of general and private interest. The former embraced almost the whole range of English literature, and the latter included the best books on chemistry and science. Indeed in books belonging to the latter cla.s.s, it will be difficult to find so large a collection anywhere. Mr. J. D. Underhill possessed a library of rare beauty and value. It was very large in historical works and the writings of the princ.i.p.al British, American and French authors. In biography and fiction of the higher order there was a good supply. Mr. Underhill, for several years, had been a great book-buyer, and hardly a trunkfull was saved. For costly books, handsomely bound, no richer collection existed in St. John than the splendid library of Mr. Fred. R. Fairweather. He had the entire set of Balzac's works in the original, luxuriously and ma.s.sively bound. His Shakespeares, for he had several editions, copiously ill.u.s.trated and exquisitely finished, were bound in heavy antique morocco. His books of plates, his dramatic library, his collection of plays of the c.u.mberland edition, his books on costumes from the time of the Saxons to our own day, represented large value, and a refined and cultured taste. In dramatic literature alone, Mr.

Fairweather's library was probably the fullest in the Dominion. Indeed his loss in this department is a positive loss to literature, and a collection such as he owned can never be again supplied. Many of the books are out of print, and cannot be purchased to-day at any price. The books lost in the city, on the day of the fire, will number many thousands of volumes. No city of the size of St. John could boast of finer private collections of books, anywhere. It will be many years before collections as rich, as unique, and as delightful can be procured again.

In pictures, the loss met with is really irreparable. We had no public gallery, because our citizens, whose means admitted it, purchased for the walls of their own houses a charming bit of colour now and then, or a delicate engraving or a drawing. A few of the masterpieces of the English and American artists found their way here from time to time, and in the way of engravings the collection was really quite large. We can only give a t.i.the of the pictures lost. Dr. McAvenney possessed a decided gem in water-colour, by Birket Foster, and a charming landscape in oil from the brush of Mayner, an Irish artist. The latter was a twenty pounds' picture, and one of the prizes which came to St. John last year from the Irish Art Union. It was exceedingly vigorous, and, though small in size, every detail was perfect. In addition to these, Dr. McAvenney lost several fine engravings and one or two exquisite drawings. Dr. Wm. Bayard's loss in pictures is quite large. He owned a capital landscape, _The Vale of Strathmore_, by John Cairns, of Edinburgh. This was burned, with some others of lesser note, together with a good many engravings, chiefly London Art Union subjects. Mr. R.

M. Longmaid lost all but one of his pictures. Some of these were of great value, and included, among a number of others, _Francis I. and Henry VIII. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold_, by the late G. F.

Mulvany, R.H.A., and one of Cairns' Scotch subjects, showing a striking bit of Highland scenery, called _Glen Cairn_. The one picture saved was a Welsh Landscape, by A. Vickers. This had been lent to a friend in the upper part of the town, and was accordingly not burned. Mr. Charles Campbell managed to preserve a number of his pictures; among them the bold _Coast Scene_, by John Cairns, which will be remembered by many who saw it as a very striking study. Mr. W. C. Perley, among the very few articles rescued from his house, saved two very pretty little landscapes, one an Irish scene and the other a delicious specimen of C.

C. Ward's art. Mr. B. Lester Peters lost nearly all of his engravings, but succeeded in rescuing a study by F. W. Hulme, and a little gem by A.

Vickers. Hon. George E. King saved a few water colours by eminent British artists, which he had. Mr. Donald G. MacKenzie, who had half-a-dozen striking oil paintings, recovered them all a few days after the fire. Mr. John Sears lost heavily in the Department of Art, but saved his one great picture, a portrait which is an undoubted Rubens, and one or two family likenesses. Mr. Stephen J. King, whose treasures consist in drawings by McKewan, Philps and others, and some oil-paintings, saved them all. Mr. W. P. Dole lost a pair of very beautiful water-colour drawings of Canadian scenery, by D. Gale, and three or four excellent engravings. He was fortunate in saving however, two charming works by Hulme, two small bits by Vickers, two by G. A.

Williams, one of C. C. Ward's pieces, and one of the late John T.

Stanton's best works. Mr. Stanton was a New Brunswick artist of fine taste and decided skill. Mr. Dole also saved some of his water-colours, notably those by Bell Smith and Frantz. The author lost an excellent drawing ill.u.s.trating an idea in Thackeray, and a number of clever caricatures from the pencil of an amateur artist, Mr. Forbes Torrance, of Como, besides several engravings of merit, and a ma.s.sive bronze figure representing Painting. Mr. Henry Vaughan lost his large costly painting from the John Miller collection, of Liverpool, England. Mr.

James Stewart lost his whole collection of paintings; several of these were of his own work, while a number were by foreign artists. Mr.

Stewart copied a landscape painting by an English artist which came out here as a prize, some years ago, and when his work was finished and the two paintings hung side by side, the owner did not know which was his own picture. This copy was for some days in Mr. Notman's studio before the fire, and it is believed that it is lost, as no trace has been had of it. The reader will see from this scanty enumeration of known losses, how great has been the destruction in art-treasures alone. We have not even hinted at the wholesale destruction of bronzes, bas reliefs and bits of sculpture and statuary. In these departments the loss has been also very severe. No money can replace these treasures. These were the things which rendered home bright and happy. It is the love of art and literature which refines and beautifies mankind. It is the book and the picture, and the figure of pale marble which rouse a thousand new delights. They take away the brutal in our nature. They lift us up as it were. We look around the room and the eye rests on something beautiful.

We feed our tastes. The picture on the wall refines us, the open book fills the mind with a hundred delicate, footless fancies. We breathe a new air. The etchings on the table, the portfolio of drawings and the books of engravings give to our mind a delight as wonderful as it is delicate and delicious. Can money replace these? Can money buy for us these pictures and books which have been for so many years our companions and friends? Can money replace the bronze figure? Can money bring to us again the portrait of the dear one who lies out there in the green wood buried? Can money supply us with that precious volume of poetry which the author gave us just a year before he died? We may make our homes bright again. We may hang pictures on the walls. We may fill to the full our book-cases and hanging-shelves once more with the great things in literature, but our thoughts will wander back to the days before the fire came and robbed us of all those delights which peopled and filled our homes. But we must not give way altogether to gloom and despondency. We must try and forget the past and devote all our energies, all our brains and skill to the rebuilding of the homes and workshops which have been scattered to the winds. We must never rest till the great end is accomplished; we must never cease working. As Christians, as men, as the proud descendants of a st.u.r.dy and stalwart race, we must show the world that we are not a generation of pigmies, and that from these very ashes and ruins a brighter, a more glorious and more prosperous city will arise and resume her old place as the metropolis of the Lower Provinces.

I have told the story of the great fire in St. John in my own way. I have tried to do justice to my theme. Like many others I have pa.s.sed through the flames, and received as it were my first "baptism of fire."

My book has many imperfections. It was necessary that it should be hastily prepared. My publishers demanded this, and gave me a fortnight to write it in. I can therefore claim nothing in favour of the book from a literary point of view, but this I can claim--the history is reliable in every particular. Not a statement within its pages was committed to paper until it was thoroughly and reliably avouched for. I have verified every word which this volume contains; and while the haste in which it was prepared precluded my paying much attention to style, the book is a complete record of the fire as it was, and not as a lively imagination might like it to be. Before taking leave of my readers, I must publicly thank Mr. Joseph W. Lawrence for the splendid aid which he gave me in furnis.h.i.+ng the data and historical information about our old churches and other edifices. I had full access to his records and commonplace books, and through these means was enabled to verify much that had come to me in an imperfect condition. To Mr. Gilbert Murdoch, C.E., and Mr.

Wm. Murdoch, C.E., of the Water Works and Sewerage Departments, I must also return my thanks, for valuable information about the water supply, for the capital map which accompanies this volume, and for facts connected with the acreage and streetage of the district burned. General Warner, Mayor Earle, Mr. A. C. Smith, Mr. John Boyd, Mr. A. P. Rolph, Mr. Dole, Mr. Hiram Betts, Mr. Elder, Mr. J. L. Stewart, Mr. McDade, Mr.

O'Brien, Mr. Stanley, Mr. G. B. Hegan and others, also largely rendered me a.s.sistance in collecting information, and to these gentlemen I return my grateful thanks.

The little picture of the ruins, by moonlight, of the Germain street Baptist Church, was very kindly supplied by Mr. John C. Miles, a St.

John artist of good reputation. I have great pleasure in acknowledging his politeness here, and at this time.

In conclusion, I might add, that to Mr. E. Lantalum belongs the credit of sounding the first alarm of our great fire.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE FIRE IN THE TOWN OF PORTLAND, SAt.u.r.dAY MORNING, 20TH OCTOBER, 1877.

Just four months after the great calamity in St. John, the people of the Town of Portland were called upon to endure a hards.h.i.+p of almost equal dimensions. In one sense their endurance demanded even greater strength, for their trouble came, not in summer when the gra.s.s was green, and the air was soft and balmy, but in the very heart of a New Brunswick Fall, when the wind pierced the coa.r.s.est garment, and the ground was white with frost. It was in the small hours of the morning too, that men and women, half asleep and palsied by terror, rushed wildly into the street, s.h.i.+vering with cold and trembling with fear, as they heard the mad bell tolling the alarm. They lived in the merest tinder boxes, and in many of these were domiciled three, and sometimes four and five families. It was a fire of terrible importance, and at one time the destruction of the whole town was feared. But the lesson which the fire of June 20th taught had a salutary effect on the people, and, aided by a brave band of firemen, they made every effort to stay the onward march of the flames, and in this, success was partly attained. The fire destroyed seven blocks of buildings, and threw into the street two hundred and ninety-five families, which numbered, in the aggregate, fully three thousand persons. Of buildings swept away, there were ninety-seven dwelling houses, the Methodist Church and the Temperance Hall. The actual loss is estimated at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the insurance scarcely reaches the sum of seventy thousand dollars. One man suffered a horrible death, and a number of people were injured more or less seriously. The fire was indeed a sore and bitter trial, and had it not been that the community had only a short time before experienced the horrors of the greater conflagration, the present calamity would have ranked as one of the great fires of Canada. Coming so soon after the St. John's scourge, men failed to realize at once the magnitude of destruction which it caused. But those who had twice pa.s.sed through the flames knew to their cost, and realized in an instant, what it was to be burned out a second time. Seven hundred persons from the burnt district of St. John's had taken up their residence in the suburban town. They were in most cases poor in a pecuniary sense, but their bands were strong, and their hearts were not downcast. The flames had carried away all their earthly possessions, and they found themselves the day after the fire comparatively penniless. But there was work to do, and these men and women sternly resolved to do it. They removed to Portland, secured quarters there, and had just completed their arrangements for the winter, when this fresh trouble broke out, and once more they found themselves, with twenty-three hundred others, in the street without a home, and no sheltering roof over their heads. Their lot was indeed a sad one, and no wonder is it, that some of them were loud in complaint, and that many, women walked down from Fort Home that day, and wept bitterly at the heartrending sight which met their eyes. They saw desolation on the plain below, and tall chimneys kept watch and ward over a field of smouldering embers. The steam engines still continued to play on the dying flames, though the sixth hour of the fire had long since pa.s.sed away, and men in command hurried along the streets now giving orders, and now working with the rank and file, striving to save what remnants of property yet remained unburned, and caring for the immediate needs of sufferers.

The fire broke out at a quarter to three o'clock in the morning, and originated in a wood-house in the centre of the block, between Main and High Streets. This wood-house was in the rear of Henry Pratt's house, and as fire had been discovered in this locality, twice recently, many believed that it was the fiendish work of an incendiary. The fire spread with great rapidity, though there was little wind at the time, and by three o'clock the entire block, Main Street on the north, Chapel Street on the south, Acadia Street on the east, and Portland Street on the west was one ma.s.s of flame. In another hour the fire raged more violently, and was extending to the lower streets. The firemen, who were early on the spot, worked with untiring energy, and displayed almost superhuman endurance and wonderful courage. Aid from the city came very soon after the fire was observed, and the new contingent also worked with admirable nerve, and exhibited splendid skill in preventing the conflagration from spreading. Members of the Town Council, with Chairman Henry Hilyard at their head, made extraordinary efforts to keep the flames back, and indeed the whole arrangements for fighting the fire were excellently conceived and well carried out.

At five o'clock the fire had reached its height. The blocks from Main Street to High Street, inclusive, were completely obliterated, and only gaunt chimneys remained. From High Street to the very water's edge the flames sped on unresisted. Camden Street was burning, the large houses on the foot of Portland Street, the houses from Temperance Hall, in Simonds Street to Thomson's slip were consumed. Rankin's wharf with immense piles of dressed lumber was threatened with immediate extinction. The steamers "Ida Whittier," "Xyphus," and "Victor," were for a time in danger. Three tug boats arrived opportunely, and the water which they threw saved the wharf and lumber. At half-past eight the fire was subdued.

The property destroyed consisted of all the houses in Main Street between Jones's corner and Orange corner; all on Chapel Street, all on Acadia Street except a small block and the greater part of Chapel Street; all along the east side and part of the west side of Portland Street, the east side of Simonds Street from High Street to the water, and both sides of Camden Street. Of course a great deal of drunkenness prevailed and numerous arrests were made. Thieving, as usual, was largely indulged in.

The saddest event of the day was the loss of life. George Baxter, a s.h.i.+p carpenter, who dwelt in High street, was found in a charred state in the ruins of his house. It is thought he went in to save some of his effects, and being unable to make his way out again he was smitten to the ground and suffered one of the most terrible of deaths. The other casualties were John Henry Maher, slightly injured, James Ennis badly cut on the head. Nicholas Ryan fell off d.i.c.kinson's house, Chapel Street, and sustained serious bruises. Mrs. Reed was struck by a falling ladder. John Cobalan, jr., had one of his fingers broken, and Mrs.

Nowlan was slightly hurt. Wm. Carr and James Kennedy were injured slightly.

The destruction of the Methodist Church is a very serious loss. It was built in the year 1841, and succeeded the structure built in 1828, which was destroyed in the former year. The first trustees were Alex. McLeod, Samuel H. McKee, George Whittaker, William Nesbit, H. Hennigar, Robert Chestnut, Robert Robertson, G. T. Ray, John B. Gaynor, George Lockhart, James Bustin, John Owens and Francis Jordan, Rev. Messrs. R. Williams, J. B. Story, and S. Busby were strong supporters of the church in its young days and were long identified with its interests. On the first Sunday after the fire of 1841 the congregation met in the open air and prayed and sang hymns. The Rev. Mr. Allen addressed the people from a rock. Rev. Mr. Teed was the pastor at the time of the present fire. When he came to preside over its destinies he found the church struggling with a debt, and he worked with great zeal to free it from this burden.

The Temperance Hall was one of the most useful inst.i.tutions in the town, and many will deplore the destruction of this building.

The following is a complete list of the buildings burned. The first name mentioned in each case is that of the owner, the other, that of the occupants:--

_Main street, south side, from Acadia street to Portland Street._--Mr. Woods, occupied by self as a boarding house, and by R. Jones as a grocery store--two families.

Andrew Pratt, by self as a dwelling; Miss Pratt as millinery store; Henry Pratt, as dwelling; and by Mr. Hopkins as a book store--4.

Chas. Long, James Meally, tin shop; Robt. Adamson, and John W.

Perkins--3.

Wm. Gray, by self, Gray & Scott, meat store; Mrs. Cotner--4.

Widow Gordon, by self as a grocery store and dwelling--1.

Widow McJunkin, by self as a boarding house, and by Robert C.

Gordon, as a liquor store, and by John S. Mitch.e.l.l--3.

John Bradley, by A. G. Kearns, as a grocery and liquor store--1.

Thos. McColgan, by T. M. & S. B. Corbett, groceries; Thos.

McMasters, hair-dressing saloon; John Carlin, S. R. Lindsay, Wm.

Hooper, Messrs. Kyle & Tait--7.

_Portland street, east side, from Chapel to Main street._--Thomas McColgan, by self as a liquor store; Edward Brown, Joshua Russel--3.

_Chapel street, north side, east from the Pond to Portland street._--Wm. d.i.c.kson's house (damaged), by self, Robert Currie, Widow McAnulty, Arthur McCauslin--4.

Widow Farson, by self, Wm. Conway, Widow Gallagher, Geo. Kimball, Daniel Leary, John Mohan, Jas. Daley, Mrs. Daley, Mrs. Knowles, Chase & McCallum--11.

Charles Long, by self, John Law--2.

Barn belonging to Wm. Gray.

Barn belonging to Robt. Gordon.

Barn belonging to John McJunkin estate.