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Title: The burning of Chelsea
Author: Walter Merriam Pratt
Release date: May 19, 2026 [eBook #78708]
Language: English
Original publication: Boston: Samson Publishing Company, 1908
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78708
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BURNING OF CHELSEA ***
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE BURNING CITY FROM POWDERHORN HILL]
THE BURNING OF CHELSEA
BY
WALTER MERRIAM PRATT
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
[Illustration]
_BOSTON_
SAMPSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
1908
_Copyright, 1908, by_
SAMPSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
First impression, June, 1908
_Printed by The Sparrell Print
Boston, Massachusetts_
_The author dedicates this book to Captain James H. Smyth, Lieutenant
Olin D. Dickerman, Lieutenant Harry J. Kane, and the enlisted men of
the Eighth Company, Coast Artillery Corps, with whom he served in
Chelsea on Provost Guard during the week following the fire._
PREFACE
This book is intended by its author to be a story of THE BURNING
OF CHELSEA as he saw it,--a contribution to local history based on
personal knowledge and observation. No one man saw, or could see, all
the phases of the conflagration, but the writer saw more than most.
He was actively engaged during the entire course of the fire in the
saving of persons and property, and was able to closely observe the
whole progress of the flames. He served as a volunteer fireman for
many hours and afterward on provost guard, being at work continuously
for forty-eight hours without sleep. As he was thus present during the
entire period of greatest stress, his narration consists of first-hand
facts.
It was thought advisable to add chapters on the history of Chelsea,
and some phases of the period immediately following the fire, for the
information of those not familiar with the city, and also a chapter on
the future of the city.
The illustrations are from photographs, and the author’s thanks
for courteous permission to use them is due to Frank Roy Fraprie,
Robert Buck Jeffers, of Chelsea, Mass., _Leslie’s Weekly_, William J.
McClintock, Frank Thompson, the Utica _Saturday Globe_, and Royal S.
Wentworth.
Mr. Jeffers is maker of the frontispiece, and pictures on pages 56, 78,
and 102.
CONTENTS
I Historical Chelsea 15
II Statistics of the Fire 31
III The Start 39
IV Beyond Control 52
V Under Control 72
VI Night among the Ruins 75
VII Day Dawns upon the Ruins 83
VIII The Firemen 87
IX The Militia 93
X Expressions of Sympathy 104
XI The Relief Work 109
XII Chelsea’s Future 134
ILLUSTRATIONS
View of the Burning City from Powderhorn
Hill _Frontispiece_
The Bellingham-Cary House 16
The Pratt House, built about 1700 18
Broadway before the Fire, looking South from
Bellingham 22
Broadway, a few Weeks after the Fire, looking
South from Bellingham 24
Ruins of the Baptist Church and City Hall 32
The Lynn Engine destroyed by the Flames 34
Start of the Fire near the Everett Line 38
Responding to the First Alarm 42
Granite Block, Dynamited during the Fire 48
A Boston Fire Boat fighting the Fire 56
Brown Stone Houses Fared no Better than
Wooden Tenements 56
Junction of Washington Avenue and Broadway
before the Fire 58
Residence of Ex-Mayor Thomas Strahan before
and after the Fire 62
Boston and Albany Railroad Bridge, with
Wrecked East Boston Bridge and Burning
Oil Tanks in Background 68
The Fitz Public Library before and after the
Fire 70
Where the Fire was stopped on Sixth Street 74
Ruins of the Central Congregational Church 78
A Vast Expanse of Ruins 82
The Highland School before and after the Fire 84
Shurtleff Street before and after the Fire 86
Chief Spencer during the Fire 88
The Eighth Company, Coast Artillery, keeping
back the Crowd in Winnisimmet Square 94
Troop A, First Squadron of Cavalry 96
Granite Crumbled to Gravel under the Heat 102
The Court House, used as City Hall after the
Fire 108
The Bread Line 114
Effect of Fire on Granite Walls and Curbing 120
The Shurtleff School before and after the Fire 128
Map showing Burned District 134
County Road, in the Residential Section 136
The Wentworth Residence, among the Places
not Destroyed 140
Residence of Ex-Mayor Pratt, in the Prattville
District, One of the Many Attractive Places
in Chelsea not Burned 144
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL CHELSEA
Before relating the story of THE BURNING OF CHELSEA it seems that a
slight sketch of the history of the city may be appropriate. Thousands
of people read, with mingled interest and horror, newspaper accounts
of the burning of Chelsea, who had previously only heard of the city
in a casual way, perhaps in connection with the unfair and time-worn
expression, “Dead as Chelsea.” Few people who have not made a study of
the matter realize how much Chelsea stands for in history. To quote
from a speech made by the late historian, Judge Mellen Chamberlain,
L.L.D., at the laying of the corner-stone of the Prattville
Schoolhouse, the city is associated with more really “first things”
than any other city of this State or continent.
The first settler, Samuel Maverick, landed on the shore of what are
now the United States Naval Hospital grounds in 1624. In 1625 he built
a fortified house near the water’s edge, which, according to the
historical tablet, erected near Chelsea Bridge, was the first house in
the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Here Governor Winthrop was entertained in
1630. In 1631 the first ferry in the country was established here, the
landing being near the present pier on the government grounds, where
the first county road in the colony, ending at Salem, began. There is a
story to the effect that Maverick’s house was attacked by the Indians,
but being completely repulsed, they never attacked again. Maverick
traded with the Indians, and in this way acquired some five thousand
acres of land, comprising what is now Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, and
Saugus, then known as Winnisimmet.
[Illustration: THE BELLINGHAM-CARY HOUSE]
In 1630 Noddle’s Island, now East Boston, was sold to him. About 1632
Maverick sold Winnisimmet to Richard Bellingham, afterward governor,
after whom Mount Bellingham was named. Bellingham built the Cary house,
which is still standing, and used it as a shooting lodge, his home
being in Boston. Later it was bought by the Carys and greatly altered.
Tradition says that British troops were quartered in the house and an
officer committed suicide there. There is a secret chamber in the top
of the house, reached only by a peculiar passage, which winds about the
chimney from the cellar. Although the house is two hundred years old,
it is still used as a dwelling, and fortunately escaped the fire.
Until January 10, 1739, Chelsea was a part of Boston. On that date, by
the terms of an act passed by the Great and General Court, that part of
Boston known as Winnisimmet Village, Rumney Marsh, and Pullin’s Point,
including what is now known as Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, and Saugus
was, “in consideration that they had long since built a meeting-house
and supported the same,” set off as a town, to be known by the name of
Chelsea.
The first naval battle in the history of the United States occurred
in Chelsea Creek on May 27, 1775. The conflict occurred between the
Provincials and the British troops. Its outcome was that the armed
schooner “Diana” was captured by the former and burned on the Chelsea
shore.
During the siege of Boston, in 1776, revolutionary troops under command
of Colonel Gerrish were stationed in that part of Chelsea known as
Prattville, and General George Washington on a tour of inspection took
dinner at the Pratt homestead. This house was demolished in 1855. Its
doorstep was built into the wall of Washington Park, where it may still
be seen. The other old Pratt house which is still standing belonged
to the same family. It is the second oldest house in Chelsea to-day,
having been built about 1700. It was in this house that Increase Mather
(president of Harvard College from 1684 to 1701) took refuge from the
persecution of Governor Andros.
[Illustration: THE PRATT HOUSE, BUILT ABOUT 1700]
In 1802 The Chelsea Bridge and Salem Turnpike Company received a
charter, and during that year and the next built a toll bridge between
Chelsea and Charlestown. Up to this time the only way to reach Boston
with a loaded team was through Malden, Medford, Cambridge, Roxbury, and
over Boston Neck, the trip usually requiring a whole day.
On February 28, 1828, the State ceded to the General Government the
property now used for the Naval and Marine hospitals.
In 1831 an act was passed giving Boston the exclusive control of county
buildings and relieving Chelsea from all expense attached to them.
If at any time Chelsea should wish to be set off to another county,
Boston has no power to appear in opposition.
In 1831 Francis B. Fay and others, acting for a proposed ferry company,
purchased of Thomas Williams his farm and ferry for the sum of $22,500.
The company, which still exists, was incorporated in 1833.
In 1832 the first store in the village was built at the corner of
Broadway and Everett Avenue, by John Low, and he was ridiculed by his
friends for locating a store so far out of the way, as they said there
would be few or no dwellings near him for twenty years. In this store
were kept dry goods, groceries, medicine, the post-office, and baiting
for horses. This being the only public place in the village, it was a
general resort for the few early inhabitants, and records show that
many pleasant evenings were spent there by Major Chase, Squire Knapp,
Samuel Batchelder, Thomas Pratt, Dr. Stedman, Colonel Fay, Joseph and
Charles Hanscom, and the “Ferry hands.”
The first postmaster was Rev. Horatio Alger, followed by Abel Bowen and
then Benjamin Dodge.
In 1835 the town house was built. The town appropriated $3000. The
building committee expended $3036.33, and for this excess “asked the
indulgence of the town.”
The first fire in Chelsea of which there is any record occurred in
1834, in Winnisimmet Square. There was no engine in Chelsea at the
time, but No. 15 came over from Boston. After this fire the town bought
an engine, and in 1835 the original Chelsea No. 1 was bought, and a
house built for it in the square. In 1837 a second engine was bought
for $150, and a company organized under the name Volunteers No. 2, with
quarters on Park Street.
On February 22, 1841, a narrow strip of land extending from Malden,
Melrose, and well into Wakefield, known as the Panhandle, was set off
to the town of Saugus.
On March 19, 1846, North Chelsea, now Revere and Winthrop, was set
off, reducing the town to its present size, which is about two and one
quarter square miles or fourteen hundred and forty-one acres.
In February, 1849, the Grand Junction Railroad was granted a charter
to run from East Boston through Chelsea to Boston, thus giving Chelsea
railroad connection with the outside world.
In February, 1857, as the population was in excess of twelve thousand,
the town petitioned the Legislature for a city charter, and on March 13
it was granted. On March 23 the charter was presented to the town and
accepted by a vote of seven hundred and thirty-three to one hundred and
seven. In the same year the Boston and Chelsea Horse Railroad received
a charter to run from Revere along Broadway to Boston, and at the same
time the Winnisimmet Railroad got a charter to run from Prattville
through Washington Avenue, Park and Winnisimmet streets, to and across
the ferry.
[Illustration: BROADWAY BEFORE THE FIRE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM BELLINGHAM]
When the Civil War broke out Chelsea was among the first to send men to
the front, and during the war over one thousand men were forwarded.
Hon. Frank B. Fay, who was mayor at the time, was made chief of the
United States Sanitary Commission, and spent nearly two years at the
front.
On June 5, 1868, tolls were abolished on Chelsea Bridge and the Salem
Turnpike, and they were made free public highways.
Many famous people in all walks of life, both living and dead, came
originally from or live at present in the city of Chelsea.
Among them are Benjamin P. Shillaber, better known in the literary
world as Mrs. Partington; Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who became
famous by his heroic work in blowing up the “Albemarle” during the
Civil War; Mellen Chamberlain, L.L.D. and L.L.B., lawyer, judge,
statesman, and historian; Hon. Frank B. Fay, chief of the United
States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War; Hon. Rufus S. Frost,
congressman and ex-president of the National Association of Woolen
Manufacturers; John F. Low, inventor of the famous Low Art Tiles;
Herman Atkins MacNeil, the sculptor; Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury,
United States Navy, assistant chief of the Bureau of Navigation;
Captain J. B. Briggs, United States Navy; Miss Ellen M. Stone, the
famous missionary; Congressman Ernest W. Roberts; Ex-Governor John
L. Bates; David and Levi Slade, known by their famous spices; Henry
Mitchell, the foremost engraver in this country; Fred L. Cutting, late
insurance commissioner of Massachusetts; Colonel William Grantman of
the Civil War; Mr. Frank Roy Fraprie, the author; Hendricks A. Hallet,
the well-known artist; Jabez K. Montgomery, the ship builder; Samuel
Orcutt, inventor of the first rapid printing-press ever patented in
the United States; Hon. Eustis C. Fitz, trustee of Brown and Wellesley
colleges and ex-president of the Boston Board of Trade; William E.
McClintock, chairman of the Massachusetts State Highway Commission;
Dr. William G. Wheeler, associated with Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
as examining physician for the Federal Government during the war;
Mr. Joseph Lincoln, the author; Miss Laura Lee, the artist; Thomas
and William Martin, manufacturers and exporters of elastic webbing;
Miss Helen Fitz, president of the National Daughters of the American
Revolution. There is practically no city of any size in the United
States that does not contain former Chelsea people.
[Illustration: BROADWAY, A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE FIRE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM
BELLINGHAM]
In Chelsea there are located many manufacturing concerns, famous not
only locally but all over America, and in many cases throughout the
civilized world. Among them are The Magee Furnace Company; George D.
Emery, the largest mahogany works in the United States, which maintains
a line of steamers between Chelsea and South American ports; The Revere
Rubber Company; the Low Art Tile Works; the D. & L. Slade Company,
spices; Thomas Strahan & Company, whose wall paper is considered the
finest made in America; T. Martin & Brothers, elastic fiber; Atwood &
McManus, box manufacturers; and many large shoe factories.
There are three prominent hills in Chelsea, Mount Bellingham, already
mentioned, which was burned over in the recent fire; Sagamore Hill in
Prattville, where lived the tribe of Sagamore Indians, and where up to
recent years it was a common thing for Indian graves and relics to be
found, better known as Mount Washington, after the visit of General
George Washington; and Powderhorn Hill, which tradition says was once
sold for a horn of powder. The top of this hill, which was purchased
by the city in 1897, is set aside to be enjoyed forever as a public
park. From the top of this hill during the Revolution signals were
made to the people in Roxbury and Cambridge, giving the news of any
movements of the British army in Boston. During the winter of 1775-6
three companies of Colonial troops had their quarters on the south side
of this hill.
In addition to the park on Powderhorn Hill, Chelsea has Union Park in
the heart of the city, adjoined by two smaller parks at the railroad
station, Washington Park in Prattville, and two playgrounds, one in
the Highland district, and the other in the extreme western end and
adjoining the boulevard. The latter contains a quarter-mile cinder
track, a football field, and two baseball diamonds. The Revere
Beach Parkway passes through the northern end of Chelsea and adds
twenty-one and one fifth acres of boulevard and parks to its open
spaces. It connects the city directly with the beautiful Middlesex
Fells Reservation of eighteen hundred and eighty-five acres, and the
wonderful five-mile Ocean Drive just completed from Winthrop to Revere
and Lynn.
Chelsea is the easiest to reach of all the suburbs of Boston, being
connected with it by the Winnisimmet Ferry, the Boston Elevated by the
East Boston Tunnel, the Boston and Northern Electric line, and the
Boston and Maine Railroad. From Chelsea Square to Scollay Square, in
Boston, the running time is but thirteen minutes. Chelsea has the same
postal service as Boston. It has the advantage of the Metropolitan
water system and the Metropolitan sewerage system, both acknowledged
unexcelled. Its schools are considered by the best colleges as of very
high standing, and up to April 12, 1908, it had many miles of beautiful
shaded streets and many natural advantages over other cities.
Why is it, then, that during the few years previous to the fire Chelsea
had lost so many desirable citizens? Why was it that in less than
fifty years it had entirely lost its standing as the most aristocratic
suburb of Boston, a place where people came to spend their summers, as
they go to-day to Clifton, Magnolia, and Manchester, with a fashionable
hotel on Powderhorn Hill, now the “Soldiers’ Home,” and beautiful
country places leading down to the water along Marginal Street? How was
it possible for a city of wealth, with a population of ten to fifteen
thousand, to change in so short a time to a business and manufacturing
community with a population of forty thousand, including ten thousand
Hebrews?
This is what happened. In 1846 North Chelsea was set off, leaving an
area of only two and one fourth square miles, including the United
States Naval and Marine Hospital grounds and the United States Magazine
Reservation. As the population increased business crowded the people
back, until those who wished large estates migrated one by one to
Brookline, Newton, Malden, and other places. The Winnisimmet Ferry
Company reduced its fare to three cents, and the crowded North End of
Boston overflowed into Chelsea. Fire restrictions were placed on North
End property in Boston and more Hebrews landed in Chelsea and set up
their rag shops. It was gradual,--so gradual that old residents did
not realize the number that were locating in the city. The water front
properties were too valuable to lie idle, and large manufacturers
secured them and located their factories there. With them naturally
came a poorer class, and every two that came drove one old resident
away. Young people married and moved away and the old people gradually
died. This is why on April 12 this change had taken place, and Chelsea
had become the most thickly populated city in the United States in
proportion to its size, having forty thousand population in less than
two square miles.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND CITY HALL]
CHAPTER II
STATISTICS OF THE FIRE
Few people realize the size of the Chelsea fire from the newspaper
accounts. In no cases were they exaggerated, while accounts in the
New York and Western papers invariably underestimated the size of the
burned district. On the authority of the “Fireman’s Herald” of New York
it was the third largest fire in point of area in the history of this
country. The San Francisco fire burned over twenty-seven hundred acres,
the Chicago fire twenty-one hundred and twenty-four acres, the Chelsea
fire four hundred and ninety-two acres, and the Portland, Me., fire
four hundred acres. The great Boston conflagration of 1872 covered only
sixty-five acres.
The Chelsea fire swept the center of the city, covering a space a
mile and a half long and three quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed
practically all the business section, most of the municipal buildings,
and twenty-eight hundred and twenty-two other buildings, making
seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty people homeless.
It burned thirteen churches, eight schools, twenty-three oil tanks,
the City Hall, the Frost Hospital, the Board of Health building, the
Young Men’s Christian Association, the United States Post-office,
four newspaper plants, the Masonic Temple, three fine bank buildings,
two fire stations, and over three thousand shade trees, and ruined
miles of granite curbing. There were over seven hundred business firms
and professional men burned out. They included fifty grocery stores,
twenty-nine barber shops, twenty-eight doctors, twenty-eight tailors
and dressmakers, twenty-one real estate offices, seventeen insurance
offices, thirteen apothecaries, and twelve bakers.
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
THE LYNN ENGINE DESTROYED BY THE FLAMES]
The fire spread so rapidly that three engines were caught in its
path and destroyed, one from Lynn and two from Boston. A peculiar
coincidence is that one of the Boston engines was “Big 15,” bearing
the same number as the engine which in 1834 came across the river
and helped Chelsea put out its first fire. The insurance loss was
$8,846,879, according to the figures given in the speech of President
Burchell at the annual convention of the underwriters, on May 14, 1908.
The taxable value of the property destroyed is estimated as $12,450,000
and other personal property brought the loss close to $20,000,000.
The insurance loss was well divided, although the various companies
located in Hartford, Conn., lost in the vicinity of $1,000,000. The
Royal of England was the heaviest single loser, with a loss roughly
estimated at $500,000. The Phœnix and Hartford Home offices came next,
with losses figured at $250,000 each. The losses in addition to those
mentioned above were as follows:--
Ætna, Hartford $165,000
American, New Jersey 60,000
American Central, St. Louis 200,000
American Lloyds, New York 4,000
Agricultural, New York 60,000
Alliance, London 35,000
Alliance, Pennsylvania 2,500
Albany, New York 7,500
Ben Franklin, Pennsylvania 5,500
Boston 90,000
Buffalo-German, New York 15,000
Cambridge Mutual 30,000
Caledonian, Scotland 50,000
Capital, New Hampshire 10,000
Camden, New Jersey 15,000
Citizens, Missouri 27,000
Colonial, New York 20,000
Concordia, Wisconsin 32,500
Connecticut 50,000
County, Pennsylvania 13,000
Delaware 35,000
Dixie, North Carolina 8,000
Dutchess, New York 6,000
Eastern, New York 4,000
Empire City, New York 5,000
Fire Association, Pennsylvania 80,000
Firemen’s, New Jersey 60,000
German-Alliance, New York 30,000
Girard, Pennsylvania 12,000
Granite State, New Hampshire 15,000
Hanover, New York 175,000
Hamburg Bremen, Germany 40,000
Holyoke Mutual, Holyoke 150,000
India Mutual, Boston 2,500
Insurance Co. of North America, Pennsylvania 185,000
Jefferson, Pennsylvania 35,000
Law Union and Crown, England 1,000
Liverpool & London & Globe 100,000
London & Lancashire Co 94,700
London Assurance Corporation 85,000
Mechanics, Pennsylvania 3,000
Mercantile Fire and Marine 15,000
Merchants & Farmers Mutual 30,000
Middlesex Mutual, Concord 60,000
Milwaukee Mechanics, Wisconsin 12,000
Nassau, New York $15,000
National, Connecticut 60,000
National, Allegheny 4,000
National, Pennsylvania 2,000
National Union, Pennsylvania 83,000
New Brunswick, New Jersey 10,000
New York Underwriters 25,000
Niagara, New York 115,000
North River, New York 65,000
North British, New York 10,000
Norwich Union, England 300,000
Old Colony, Boston 5,000
Orient, Connecticut 95,750
Palatine, London 95,000
Pennsylvania 96,000
Phenix, New York 200,000
Philadelphia Underwriters 35,000
Providence-Washington, Rhode Island 30,000
Queen, New York 95,000
Richmond, New York 1,600
Royal Exchange, England 35,000
Scottish Union and National 50,000
Security, New York 20,000
Southern, Louisiana 5,000
St. Paul Fire and Marine, Minnesota $12,000
Spring Garden, Pennsylvania 50,000
State, Pennsylvania 7,000
Sun, London 125,000
Svea, Sweden 25,000
Union, Pennsylvania 25,000
Western, Pennsylvania 10,000
A relief fund was raised through Messrs. Lee, Higginson & Company of
Boston, amounting at this writing to over $350,000. The contributions
to this fund were almost entirely from citizens of Massachusetts, as
outside help was not asked for. They came from all classes of the
community, and were sent in with the spontaneity and promptness with
which the people of Massachusetts always respond to an appeal for
merited aid.
The fire traveled more rapidly than any other of the large fires. It
reached its most distant point inside of five hours, and inside of ten
hours all of the buildings burned were totally destroyed. How many
persons lost their lives in the fire will probably never be known.
Eighteen bodies were recovered, and it is safe to estimate that as many
more were entirely burned. Over three hundred injured were treated at
the United States Naval, United States Marine, and the Massachusetts
Soldiers’ Home hospitals.
The Metropolitan Water Commission records show that forty million
gallons of water were used in Chelsea on April 12, instead of an
average consumption of 3,000,583, the cost of extinguishing the fire in
water alone being $1600.
[Illustration: START OF THE FIRE NEAR THE EVERETT LINE]
CHAPTER III
THE START
The fire started a little before eleven on Sunday morning, April 12,
1908. Its origin will probably never be positively known. The most
plausible theory, however, is that the roof of a building of the Boston
Blacking Company, which is located just off Summer Street, close to
the Everett line, in the extreme western part of the city, caught fire
from a burning pile of rags on the dump to the windward. At all events,
the flames were first seen just before eleven o’clock licking up this
inflammable building with its contents of oil, and sending a shower of
sparks blown by a forty-mile gale towards the heart of the city, and an
alarm was at once sent in.
Immediately upon his arrival Fire Chief Spencer ordered a second alarm
sounded as a matter of precaution, owing to the high wind. The firemen
did good work and soon had the initial blaze well in check, as is shown
by the fact that the remaining buildings of this company close by were
saved.
Soon after the second alarm was sounded the firemen and spectators were
astonished to see the three-story rag-shop of T. Lewitzky & Son, fully
two blocks away, burst into flames. Apparatus to successfully fight its
burning was not available. It was this fire that doomed Chelsea, for
sparks from it started fires in several directions.
Opposite Lewitzky’s factory was the tar paper factory of Chapin &
Sawdin. The fierce heat from the tar paper drove the firemen back.
A shed containing a large quantity of gasoline near by soon caught
fire and blew up, just after a man, who was trying to save it, was
ordered off by the police. This explosion set fire to houses in the
vicinity, which were principally of old-fashioned wooden construction,
and allowed the fire to get such impetus that it spread out diagonally
across the wind like a fan. When it reached Everett Avenue on the north
and set fire to Justin S. Perkins’ hay shed it looked as if nothing
could save the Standard Oil Station, not over two hundred feet to the
windward. “Cy” Coben was showing his nerve by sticking to his plant,
but it was to the Malden firemen that Chelsea people are indebted for
the saving of the northern section of the city. They arrived just in
the nick of time and without thought of their personal safety, or of
the awful result if the thousands of gallons of naphtha blew up, stuck
by and saved the building.
If this plant had burned the exploding oil would have set fire to the
great building of the Eastern Storage Company across the railroad
track, and nothing could have prevented it making a clean sweep of
Caryville, increasing the burned area by at least one hundred acres.
As it was, the fire did not cross the tracks until an hour later, and
then there was enough apparatus to extinguish it. After once getting
hold of the little buildings on Maple Street, the flames almost
simultaneously laid relentless hold of wooden buildings on all the
surrounding streets. It raced down Summer, West Third, and Elm streets
to Arlington Street, burning everything on Spruce Street and Everett
Avenue.
Although it took but a short time for the fire to reach and burn the
city stables, through the energy of City Engineer O’Brion all of the
horses, carts, harnesses, tools, etc., were saved, which was fortunate,
as it enabled the city to set large numbers of unemployed to work the
next day cleaning the streets.
Before this time assistance had been asked of Boston, Everett, Revere,
Lynn, Winthrop, Cambridge, Malden, Medford, and Melrose, and the
engines soon began to arrive; but from the moment the fire crossed
Arlington Street there was no formidable stand made against it, as it
spread so rapidly under the impulse of the gale and stretched out over
so long a front, backed by acres of lurid flames.
[Illustration: RESPONDING TO THE FIRST ALARM]
Not till it actually passed Arlington Street did people have any
apprehension that it would not be stopped at this line, where the
houses were of substantial brick construction. Ash Street, next to
Arlington, was soon blazing and spreading the fire towards the railroad
track in one direction, and Second Street in the other. The people on
Walnut Street, next beyond, began moving out, and soon Union Park, near
by, was filled with household goods. Women with babies in their arms
stood huddled in the smoke, old men stood guard over the few things
they had saved, and crying children hunted in vain for their parents.
All the section about Walnut Street was inhabited by poor people with
large families; Jews predominated, but all nations were represented.
Many could not speak English, and panic seized all.
It seems as if every one tried first to save a mattress, which would
become ignited before it was carried a block, and add to the volume
of the flames. The yards and open spaces were strewn with old bedding
and other inflammable material, which assisted in spreading the
fire. Trunks and other heavy things were dropped from upper windows,
regardless of those beneath. In some cases men and women fought as to
what they would save, while their houses burned. One man loaded a team
with old junk; some women cried and refused to look at the flames,
others were hysterical and looked and laughed. Many Jewish women
carried live hens in their arms. All fled towards the park, but this
haven of refuge was only temporary, for soon the suffocating smoke
drove them out, and a few minutes later the flames destroyed most of
the property laboriously removed from the houses. From here people
dragging little ones or some article of furniture made for the railroad
station, with the flames in close pursuit.
While the human beings were having such a hard time of it, dogs and
cats were also having their sufferings. Looking out into Walnut Street
one dog was seen, that had once been black, rushing madly about; its
hide had been singed to a crisp, and when last seen it was headed right
into the flames. On many streets dogs, cats, and hens were found after
the fire, burned to death, and many horses also perished, as more would
have, but for heroic work. In one instance Frank W. Wentworth, with
some help, saved nineteen horses from a burning building by covering
their eyes with blankets.
Huntington Smith of the Animal Rescue League estimates that as many as
two thousand cats were burned to death. He says that these figures are
conservative, and gives as the reason their devotion to their homes;
dogs, on the other hand, are more devoted to their masters, whom they
followed, and for this reason very few perished.
From Walnut Street the fire leaped across Fifth and entered the windows
of the new Jewish synagogue and literally lapped it up, and then hurled
itself against the imposing brick walls of the Central Congregational
Church at the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets. This church is one
of the largest in the city, yet the flames took but a few moments to
go from the basement up through the immense auditorium into the tower.
While these buildings were burning the fire had destroyed on the other
side of the city and at intermediate places the African Methodist
Church, two Jewish synagogues, one on Walnut Street and one on Fourth
Street, the Williams School, the Universalist Church and the Polish
Church on Chestnut Street, and was headed straight for Broadway.
The Universalist Church caught first in the steeple, as did most of the
churches. It burned very slowly, but finally the great golden cross
fell with a crash into Fourth Street. After this the pastor, Rev. R.
Perry Bush, went in by a back way and up into the pulpit to take a last
look at the familiar scene which was so dear to him. In a lecture which
he afterwards gave he described his feelings very dramatically, and
said that he stood in the pulpit until the church was filled with smoke
and the flames broke through the big stained glass window, then saying,
“Good-by, dear old church,” he went as he came.
The deacons had saved the communion service and had loaded a team with
other church property, including valuable books and documents. On top
of these they piled many pew cushions,--a fatal error. To quote Dr.
Bush, “Do not ever try to save cushions under such conditions; if we
hadn’t tried to, we would have our books and papers to-day.” The
cushions caught fire before they had been taken two blocks and were
instrumental in setting fire to several wooden houses in the vicinity
of Chestnut Street and Washington Avenue.
Chestnut Street was, until a few years ago, one of the best streets
in the city, and parts of it were still considered very nice. Among
the prominent people still living on the street was Dr. J. B. Fenwick,
whose wife lost her life in the fire, together with her niece, Mrs.
Walter C. Barnes, of New York, and Elvina Boyn, Mrs. Fenwick’s maid.
Mrs. Fenwick was prominent in Chelsea, being a member of the School
Board and an active member of the Woman’s Club.
It is not known how the women met their death, but it is believed they
left the house by the rear door, as the street in front was thick with
smoke and flying fire brands. They may have first turned up Cherry
Street, a narrow street which ran past the rear of their house, and
been stopped by the falling tower of the Polish Church. This would
have caused them to return towards Fourth Street. At about this time
Granite Block on Broadway, directly back of which their bodies were
found, was dynamited in an attempt to stop the conflagration, and the
women probably took shelter in the porch of the building where their
bodies were found, and were overcome by smoke.
[Illustration: GRANITE BLOCK, DYNAMITED DURING THE FIRE]
Dr. George Fenwick, the son, has told friends that the last he saw
of them was on the second floor of his home. As he was going to his
room on the third floor Mrs. Barnes stopped him and handed him a wet
towel to put over his face. The house had not yet caught fire, but
the windows were cracked and broken by the heat from the fires across
the street, and the building was full of smoke. He says he was not in
his room over five minutes collecting his valuables. When he returned
downstairs the women had left, and after making sure of this fact
he made a dash down the street to the fire lines. Here he met his
father, who had previously gone out with things of value and was not
allowed to return. As the women left before young Dr. Fenwick, both men
supposed them safe, and getting out their automobile, which was at a
garage, helped others save property. The bodies were not found for four
days.
On Chestnut Street, not far from the Fenwicks, lived Miss Ellen
M. Stone, the missionary, who a few years before was captured by
Macedonian brigands and held for a large ransom. People from all over
this country contributed. Her home was filled with priceless souvenirs
and a great many valuable books. Miss Stone was away from home over
Sunday, and her servants had been given a holiday. Her brother, knowing
that she was out of town, secured a horse and express wagon and drove
to the house to save whatever might be possible. The doors, of course,
were locked, and while he was battering one in the structure caught
fire. When the door finally yielded the interior was all ablaze, and
Mr. Stone had to flee without saving a thing.
Captain Frederick M. Whiting of the Eleventh Company, Coast Artillery
Corps, also lived on Chestnut Street. When his company was ordered out,
he went with it. When the fire reached his home, his brother gathered
some valuables into a trunk and removed them to the Armory for safe
keeping, but later the Armory burned and they were lost.
Dr. J. M. Putnam was another resident of Chestnut Street, and was
fortunate enough to save a few things with the aid of his son, Dr.
Ralph Putnam, who came over from Winchester.
CHAPTER IV
BEYOND CONTROL
Every one seemed to feel sure that the fire would be stopped at
Broadway, as the buildings on this street were substantial structures
built of stone and brick, and no one even then judged rightly the havoc
which must ensue before the fury would abate.
The local militia (the Fifth Company, Coast Artillery Corps) had been
summoned, and the militiamen had donned their service uniforms and
overcoats, leaving in their lockers, in security as they supposed,
their civilian clothes, their watches, and pocket money. Hardly had
they been assigned to their posts before Broadway was threatened,
and soon their new $100,000 Armory became a volcano of flame as the
element of destruction spread on.
It first reached Broadway between Third and Fourth streets. Here a
heavy battery of engines was assembled to prevent its crossing, but the
efforts of man and the floods of water were of no avail; the fire was
beyond human control.
Up to now the flames had rushed through the foreign tenement district,
but when it passed Chestnut Street it entered the business center.
Before the fire had even reached Chestnut and Fifth streets awnings
in Bassett Square, two and three blocks away, caught fire. The fire
reached Bellingham Station about two o’clock. The sight from here,
looking down Broadway and Hawthorne Street, was beyond description. The
fire fairly lay across the streets in a cyclonic whirl of flame.
All at once out of Hawthorne Street shot an engine, as if coming out of
a cannon. The driver was almost doubled up and the horses were going
at a two-twenty clip; where they came from or how they ever got out of
that furnace alive is a mystery.
The new six story brick Young Men’s Christian Association building
caught first in the upper story and then all over; hose was burned
at this point as fast as it was laid. An electric car of the Boston
and Northern Railroad which had been stopped on Broadway, just below
Bellingham, by the shutting off of the power, was pushed up the street
and over the bridge to safety by fully a hundred men.
Beyond Broadway lay blocks of substantial residences. The flames were
gnawing up the structures on Hawthorne Street, and the Unitarian Church
and Newspaper Row on Fourth Street were quickly burned. The fury of the
spreading flames was indescribable. There would be no sign of fire in
a building, when all at once it would seem to fairly burst into flames
and simply melt away. One large double house, which was timed, took
just eight minutes to burn from the moment the flames were first seen
until the building was a mass of ruins in the cellar.
All this time people were fleeing from the fire, many moving things
to what they considered a place of safety, only to be obliged to move
them again and eventually have them burned. Many people who lived
east of Broadway went out to see the fire before it had crossed that
thoroughfare, only to return and find their homes either on fire
or already destroyed. No one seemed to realize how fast the fire
was traveling, except those who fought it. If people had heeded the
first warnings of the soldiers and the police, many could have saved
something, but they waited, not wishing to appear timid, and afraid of
ridicule if they started to move too soon. In the face of the great
battle they had to fight, firemen and police officers could not give
heed to the frantic appeals of women to save furniture.
[Illustration: A BOSTON FIRE BOAT FIGHTING THE FIRE]
Many people, when they realized that they had lost everything, threw
themselves in the street and cried aloud in their suffering. It was no
uncommon sight to see white-faced women walking aimlessly along the
street, heedless of where they were going, yet carrying a frying pan or
tin dipper. One man rushed into his house, at the risk of his own life,
to save the family cat. After carrying it a block the cat scratched
itself free and dashed back into its burning home. Hundreds of people
saved canary birds, and one woman came along the street with a statue,
which had no head or feet, under one arm, and a bird cage with a cat
in it under the other. When asked why she was saving the broken statue
she looked at it in a dazed sort of a way and threw it away in disgust,
and then wonderingly inquired how her bird had got out of the cage,
never realizing that the cat had eaten it. One woman, remembering
that she had left a pocket-book containing $17 on her dining-room
table, rushed back into her home and grabbed up what she thought was
her pocket-book, but when she had gotten several blocks away she found
that in her excitement she had taken a piece of cut glass instead, and
it was then too late to return. Another woman was ordered out of her
house by a militiaman, but would not go until she had first filled her
teakettle with water. Afterward she couldn’t explain why herself. Many
people went temporarily insane. On the Washington Avenue bridge one
man stood for hours making appeals for volunteers to fight the fire;
his coat was off and his hair was mussed. People paid no heed to his
frantic gestures, but he probably imagined he was saving the city.
Another man committed suicide by shooting himself near Union Park. Some
lost the power of speech, but under the circumstances the number of
minds affected was small.
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
BROWN STONE HOUSES FARED NO BETTER THAN WOODEN TENEMENTS]
One woman lugged a great marble clock under one arm and a dog under
the other for three quarters of a mile. The dog couldn’t lay down for
three days, she had held him so tight. Many people saved things of
little value and left things impossible to replace. One man carried
twenty-two pieces of cut glass loose and unpacked, tied up in a
sheet and thrown over his shoulder, for over a mile, through all the
excitement, and not one piece was smashed.
A fireman entered Freeman’s drug store while it was burning and taking
the reflection of himself in the long mirror at the end of the store
for another fireman walked through the glass.
Two men trying to save an upright piano gave it up when the cloth in
the back caught fire. One opened the lid and played “There’ll be a
hot time in the old town to-night,” while the buildings all about him
burned.
Fate was especially kind to Eli C. Bliss, who lived in what is called
Chestnut Street Pocket,--a short blind end of Chestnut Street beyond
Washington Avenue, ending in a steep embankment at the railroad
tracks. The fire approached so rapidly that escape was impossible,
except by way of the embankment. Just as Mr. Bliss was leaving his
attractive home a passing freight train stopped directly at the end of
the street, and the train crew rushed up the bank and announced that
they had two empty box cars. Working like demons nearly everything in
the house of any value, including a grand piano, a lot of old mahogany
furniture, books, and paintings, was piled into the cars, until they
were nearly full. The train then pulled out just as the house commenced
to burn, none too soon, as the cars were smoking themselves. Mr. Bliss
later located his furniture in Lynn, after it had landed in Portland
and been shipped back.
[Illustration: JUNCTION OF WASHINGTON AVENUE AND BROADWAY BEFORE THE
FIRE]
The railroad tracks which passed through this part of the city have
always been considered an eyesore and have been the cause of much
regret to many residents. There is not a resident of Chelsea to-day,
however, who is not glad of their presence, as they were the means of
saving the northern part of the city, the best residential section. The
fire burned only a single building north of the tracks.
Not far from the Bliss estate lived the Millers. Miss Edith Miller was
to be married in a few days, but so hurriedly were they obliged to
leave that not even her wedding dress was saved, and all her beautiful
presents and trousseau were lost.
When the fire started up Mount Bellingham, hurried calls were made for
ambulances to take the patients out of the Frost Hospital. There were
twenty-five patients suffering from different injuries and diseases in
the building, and the doctors and nurses showed great heroism. But for
their running into the street and hailing all the automobiles and teams
in the vicinity, and making them carry the patients to the other three
hospitals in the city, none would have been saved. As it was, before
the last patient was out the roof was blazing. Meanwhile the children
at the day nursery had been taken care of and were nicely housed,
thanks to Mr. Jesse Knowlton, at his home on Powderhorn Hill.
The City Hall did not last long after the flames took their first
mouthful. The city treasurer, Thomas B. Frost, early recognized the
peril and removed all the city funds, while the books were locked
in the safes by the city clerk, Charles H. Reed, who stayed in the
building so long, saving property, that he was obliged to make his
escape through a second-story window. The beautiful Baptist Church
across the street melted away before the flames in a few minutes.
Many people made a frightful mistake by thinking they were safe in
fleeing to the Garden Cemetery. Those who did were surrounded on all
sides by the flames, and for hours they crouched behind tombs, fighting
the burning embers and gasping for breath.
The flames fairly shot up Bellingham Street, on which were many fine
homes. Chief among them, on the very top of the hill, was the beautiful
estate of Ex-Mayor Thomas Strahan, filled with valuable paintings,
tapestries, and art treasures, collected from all parts of the world.
The house was of brick and stone with a slate roof and plenty of land
about it, and it seemed as if it could be saved. The view from the
tower of the Strahan house can never be forgotten. As far as one could
see, a seething mass of flame, like a tidal wave, was rolling up the
hill. So fast had the fire approached that the Lynn engine, stationed
halfway up Bellingham Street, was unable to get away. The firemen did
not abandon it until their faces were burned and their hair singed. It
was beyond human force to withstand the terrific heat and suffocating
smoke, and it was with difficulty, when they finally abandoned it, that
they were able to save their lives, as the fire completely surrounded
them.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF EX-MAYOR THOMAS STRAHAN BEFORE AND AFTER
THE FIRE]
At this time the fire had already passed the Strahan house in the
valley to the left, and the Highland School, halfway up the hill on
that side, was in flames. Great pieces of burning wood came into the
tower and the wind was so strong that it was hard to stand against it.
So fascinating was the sight that it was not until the Strahan
barn, only a few feet away, burst into flames, as if it was made
of celluloid, that the writer descended from the tower to help the
Strahans to escape; but they, like too many others, had waited too
long, in hopes their home would be saved. With the help of the servants
we carried out several blankets filled with clothing, a chest of silver
and some jewelry, leaving thousands of dollars’ worth of beautiful
things to be devoured by the flames.
We fled down the hill in the direction of Orient Heights. Hundreds were
going the same way; poor and rich were on equal terms. The wind blew
with such force that women were blown into fences and trees or lost
their balance and fell. Great pieces of furniture went bounding end
over end down the hill, blown by the wind. Horses were running away,
and the scene was one of terrifying confusion. Escape was possible
only by enduring the hostile breath of the flames, running, tripping
over abandoned furniture in the blinding, sickening smoke, towards
the marshes to the northeast, where, although safe from the flames,
the refugees suffered untold agony from the hail-storm of stones and
showers of blazing embers that fell upon them, burning holes in their
clothes and starting grass fires in every direction.
One old lady’s celluloid back comb caught fire and her white hair was
burned down to the scalp in back before the flames could be smothered.
The many horses set loose on the marsh also endangered lives. The wails
of hundreds of frantic parents vainly searching for their children
added to the excitement. One mother fell in a dead faint when her
two-year-old child, whom she had given up as lost, was brought to her.
In the crowd racing down Mount Bellingham were many men, who had
assumed the duties of clearing houses of inmates, lending a hand to all
the weak and faltering, until they themselves were obliged to flee for
their lives. Perhaps the most touching spectacle was the old people,
forgotten by their relatives. In many cases these old women had to be
carried bodily to safety, and it speaks well for the city that there
were men doing this work amid the confusion and at the risk of their
own lives. Men and boys, crazed by the thought of losing their homes,
clambered to the roofs and tried to save them with puny buckets of
water, replying to frantic warnings to escape while there was time,
only with curses, until in many cases they had to be driven by blows to
a place of safety.
The flames came down the hill like a forest fire. They were upon the
people before they realized it, and when they attacked at the front
door there was but one thing to do, and that was to make a rush for the
rear door.
In the meanwhile, on the south side of the city the fire had burned
from building to building. There was no stopping it, although the
firemen worked desperately. It kept on towards the water front until it
reached the buildings of the Tidewater Oil Company. Here five oil tanks
caught fire and exploded and set fire to the docks along the water
front, and then three barges loaded with oil a little farther on caught
fire and spread to the Ellis yard, where more oil was stored. The fire
boats came as near as they dared and poured streams of water on the
flames, but it was like trying to check a volcanic eruption.
The two bridges to East Boston next fell and cut off this means of
escape, and in this way a Boston engine was burned and a boy lost his
life. Near the bridges were many fine yachts, that of Mr. Seaver being
worth $50,000. This, and many other vessels, were burnt. One broke
away from its moorings and drifted to the East Boston shore, setting
fire to the Standard Oil Works. This was about four o’clock, but from
the time the fire began to spread into the east side of Chelsea, East
Boston was in peril from the shower of sparks and burning brands which
the high wind swept over its roofs. More than half the residents packed
their belongings and were ready to move at a moment’s notice. Despite
the desperate efforts of the many engines the flames spread to a
one-story brick building, containing three hundred barrels of oil, and
soon four other buildings of the plant were burning. Next the great oil
tanks went up, the flames shooting several hundred feet into the air
and sending skyward great clouds of flame and thick, black smoke. This
swept down the harbor, across the bay, and out to sea, continuing to do
so for two days and two nights. Reports from Scituate, Cohasset, and
other places showed that showers of embers dropped from the clouds,
and in places good-sized pieces of burnt shingles were picked up.
Grass fires were started in Nantasket and Winthrop. The glare from the
fire in the evening was seen from Portland, Me. The natives at first
believed it to be York Beach, it was so bright.
Meanwhile about fifty houses in East Boston had their roofs badly
damaged. These fires, however, mark the extreme limit of the flames in
this direction and were soon extinguished.
Although much credit is due the firemen, they were greatly helped by
the fact that the velocity of the wind began to decrease about the time
the oil works caught fire.
While this contest was being waged, another army of firemen was
struggling on the north. About two o’clock the Armory burned; and
when it was all ablaze, a large quantity of ammunition which was
stored in the building exploded with a tremendous report, while tons
of burning wood were shot across the street and into the adjoining
buildings.
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD BRIDGE, WITH WRECKED EAST BOSTON BRIDGE AND
BURNING OIL TANKS]
The Public Library directly across the street, a gift to the city
from the Hon. Eustis C. Fitz, containing over eighty thousand volumes
and many historical records and relics, caught and burned without an
attempt being made to save it or its contents.
One of the best illustrations of the heat of the fire to those familiar
with the burning of books, is the fact that after the fire not one
scrap of paper was found. Granite will often crumble and iron melt
before a book will be totally burned up.
The Convent and Parochial School also were among the buildings which
caught from the Armory, and the twenty-eight sisters made a hasty
departure. Next went Saint Rose Catholic Church, remodeled at an
expense of $50,000 a short time before. Beyond this was the railroad
track, and here a determined stand was made. Thousands of people lined
the opposite side of the track, and water was played on most of the
buildings. Soon after the Catholic Church commenced to burn the Melrose
fire department crossed the track with a line of hose and climbed the
steep bank just in the rear of the church, which was like a flaming
furnace. Hardly had they got the water on when the roof fell. The heat
was so terrific that the firemen who held the hose were obliged to drop
flat on their faces with their hands under their bodies. Even then they
were more or less burned about the neck and ears. One fireman, who was
nearest the building, groaned in agony, “Give me hell in preference to
this.”
On Washington Avenue there stand to-day three wooden houses. They are
the only buildings, with the exception of part of Cobb’s stable on
Broadway, which were saved on that side of the Boston and Maine tracks,
and that they are still standing is due to two things:--
First, to the fact that Union Park and the park at the station are in
the rear and the fire had to burn around them and then up into the
wind.
Second, to Dr. Thomas Green and Robert Hamilton, who, after the others
had deserted their homes, remained and helped the firemen.
On the south of the city firemen were stubbornly fighting to save
Winnisimmet Square. The flames upon spreading along Everett Avenue had
made away with the great Chelsea Trust Company building on the corner
of Everett Avenue and Broadway. They then reached out to the other
corner and caught on every floor of the building. Across the street was
the Post-office and this was doomed, but at the Park Hotel the flames
were checked.
[Illustration: THE FITZ PUBLIC LIBRARY BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE]
CHAPTER V
UNDER CONTROL
By six o’clock the firemen were keeping the fire confined to the
buildings already burned on the south. On the north they had succeeded
in preventing its crossing the railroad tracks, and on the east and
west it had burned itself out, while in East Boston the firemen seemed
to be holding their own. It was not until one o’clock in the morning,
however, that Commissioner Parker announced that all danger of its
further spreading had passed.
Late in the afternoon the United States marines from the Navy Yard,
who had been ordered to Chelsea by Admiral Swift, arrived in Chelsea
Square. The detail consisted of one hundred and ten men under command
of Captain C. S. Hill, Lieutenants Moses, Williams, and Judson, with
rifles and ball cartridges, and they at once cleared the square and the
surrounding streets, and assisted the firemen in many ways.
The good work done by this corps and their ability to carry out
instructions is well illustrated by a story which went the rounds at
the Puritan Club a few days later, at the expense of Harry Frothingham,
one of the members.
It seems that the former Boston fire commissioner, “Ben” Wells, and Mr.
Frothingham went over to Chelsea, arriving shortly after the marines
had cleared the square. Mr. Wells’ fire badge admitted him through
the lines, and although Mr. Frothingham had no badge, he got through
at the same time. Reporters who recognized Mr. Wells joined him,
anxious to get an interview from a man of so much experience in fires.
A corporal of the guard who saw the crowd broke in with the remark,
“Have you fellows all got badges?” Mr. Frothingham had none and the
corporal ordered him out. The reporters could not stand for this,
and one excitedly exclaimed, “Look here, what are you doing? That is
Ex-Alderman Frothingham, and he is with Ex-Fire Commissioner Wells.” “I
don’t care who he is or who he’s with; if he hasn’t got a badge, out
he goes,” replied the corporal, and turning to one of his men he said,
“Put that man out and keep him out. See!” and Mr. Frothingham went.
[Illustration: WHERE THE FIRE WAS STOPPED ON SIXTH STREET]
CHAPTER VI
NIGHT AMONG THE RUINS
As night approached the problem of protecting the seventeen thousand
refugees and their goods confronted those in authority, and it was
realized that it was too great for the local artillery company and the
detail from the Marine Corps to handle. The State was called upon for
more military assistance and eight companies of the Coast Artillery,
four of the Fifth Infantry, six of the Eighth Infantry, and four of the
First Corps of Cadets were rushed to the scene, making twelve hundred
troops on duty before morning. At ten thirty the city was declared
under martial law, and no one was allowed in or out until morning.
Seven hundred tents and seven hundred and fifty blankets were ordered
down from the barracks at South Framingham, and a special train with
Battalion Adjutant Kendall in charge brought them through in record
time, arriving shortly after midnight. All trains on the Boston and
Maine, and all electric cars on the Boston and Northern and the Boston
Elevated had been stopped. The Chelsea Ferry was commanded to cease
its trips and a cordon of soldiers was thrown entirely about the city.
At the principal approaches it is estimated that one hundred thousand
curious people were turned back. The telephone exchange had been burned
and of course the service was useless. Early in the day the electric
power plant was shut down to prevent death by live wires, and the
streets outside the burned district would have been dark, but for the
glow which was reflected from the sky and the moon, which dimly beamed
through the pall of smoke. At the Court House, where scores of injured
were taken in ambulances, doctors and nurses, under charge of Dr. J.
A. Johnson, worked as best they could by the light of lanterns.
In the court room were homeless women huddled in gray despairing heaps
on the hard benches. At the back of the room rows of rubber-coated
men leaned back on their hard benches, their inflamed eyes completely
hidden by squares of soft absorbent cotton, soaked with ointments,
which showed up with startling effect against their blackened faces. In
the center of the room, under the sickly ray of a red lantern, stood
the big court table piled high with thick square loaves of bread,
big four-gallon cans of milk, and fifty-gallon cans of coffee. At
either end of this table were well-dressed women, their faces pale and
haggard, one cutting slices of bread and others pouring coffee. Men ate
in huge gulps and drank from thick white mugs and quart dippers, then
rushed out to the fire, taking handfuls of food to those who could not
leave their engines. The difference between the room, with its misery
and confusion, and the orderly hall of justice for which it had served
up to that day, was as marked a contrast as could readily be imagined.
All night long ambulances dashed from the ruins to the United States
Naval Hospital, where, under the direction of Medical Inspector H.
E. Ames of the United States Navy the majority of the injured were
treated, and to the United States Marine and Soldiers’ Home hospitals,
and but for the unflagging efforts of the hospital sergeants, doctors,
and nurses many more lives would have been lost.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH]
One man, when picked up by the ambulance with his face and arms
terribly burned, was nearly dead. Attempts were made to learn his name
in case he should die, but in reply to the attendant’s question he only
moaned, “My God! My God!” Another man was picked up with both legs
broken, still another had a terrible gash in his forehead caused by
a falling wall, another man fell from a roof and broke two ribs, and so
it went. In all, three hundred injured persons were treated.
Mayor Beck, who had lost his home and his newspaper plant, was
everywhere, and it was nearly morning when he lay down on a policeman’s
cot at the station for a few hours’ sleep. Many of the policemen who
were on duty lost their homes, but stuck to their posts, although they
did not know where their wives and families were.
About midnight a gang of men started to clear the street railway tracks
on Broadway and Everett Avenue, which are the outlets from Boston
to many of the northern suburbs. In places they were piled several
feet high with bricks, granite blocks, and other debris. The rails
themselves had been twisted and bent into all conceivable shapes by
the heat, and the trolley wires and poles were down. In spite of the
several miles of track thus destroyed the company ran cars through
the city the second day after the fire. Through the orders of Henry
Mitchell, chairman of the High School Committee, the doors of the
High School on Crescent Avenue had been thrown open early in the day
to hundreds of women and children who were wandering aimlessly about
the streets and parks. The corridors were now filled to overflowing
with sobbing women, little children, and a few old men. Husbands and
brothers were out hunting for relatives, directing people to shelter
or helping in some other way. Few men slept during that night, and
hundreds had their eyes so badly burned and inflamed by the smoke and
heat that they were in great pain.
The High School could hold only a limited number, and it was pitiful
to see women and children huddled together for warmth in little groups
along the railroad tracks, in the parks, or in side streets. Thousands
flocked to Powderhorn Hill and spent the night sobbing out some story
of woe to any bystander who might seem at all interested.
During the evening a citizens’ meeting was held in the High School,
which was attended by many prominent men. A Relief Committee was formed
to care for the destitute and needy. Mr. Wm. E. McClintock, chairman
of the State Highway Commission, was chosen chairman; City Treasurer
Thomas B. Frost, treasurer, and Benjamin P. Nichols, secretary. After
sending out the following letter of appeal the meeting was adjourned
until eight o’clock in the morning.
“Chelsea, April 12, 1908.
“We have been visited by a most terrible catastrophe. One half
the area of our city has been swept by fire. Fifteen thousand
people are homeless.
“Twelve million dollars’ worth of property has been destroyed.
Our business section is almost wholly wiped out. We are in sore
need. We have not lost our courage, but are applying ourselves
with all our ability to the task before us.
“But that task is stupendous, and we ask assistance of all who
are beneficently inclined. He who gives quickly gives double.
Subscriptions may be sent to City Treasurer Thomas B. Frost.”
(Signed)
“JOHN E. BECK,
“Mayor of Chelsea.
“WILLIAM E. MCCLINTOCK,
“Chairman of Relief Committee.”
Later it was decided to accept no aid outside the State of
Massachusetts.
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
A VAST EXPANSE OF RUINS]
CHAPTER VII
DAY DAWNS UPON THE RUINS
As the sky grew light and the morning mist cleared away, it disclosed a
vast expanse of smoking ruins. The night had passed, and what a night!
filled with vivid, awful memories of the dead and injured, the homeless
and destitute. The great blackened tract over which the fire had swept,
which only the day before had been covered with dwellings, stores, and
public buildings, was deserted, save for the soldiers, and here and
there little groups of firemen, tired and worn out, but still working.
As it grew lighter more people appeared. On the playground to the west
soldiers were pitching tents for the homeless. As far as one could see
lay nothing but a barren waste, with here and there the ragged walls
of a church or school standing out against the sky, like the ruins of
some old castle.
On the sides of Bellingham Hill, with the exception of the walls of
the Highland School, nothing remained. Far off in the distance towards
the west stood the ruins of the big Frank B. Fay School, named for
Chelsea’s war mayor.
[Illustration: THE HIGHLAND SCHOOL BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE]
Broadway had been partly cleared during the night and was passable.
The other streets, however, were piled with debris. The telephone,
electric light, and street railway wires were in a tangled mass all
over the city. In spite of this, by noon the telephone people had six
lines operating for official business. A line of hose had been kept
playing on the vaults of the County Savings Bank all night, and about
ten o’clock they were opened. A great cloud of smoke poured out, but
the contents were intact, giving confidence to the other bank officials
that their securities were safe, which later proved true. To the
southeast the huge oil tanks still belched forth clouds of smoke and
flame, showing that here the fight was not yet over.
The granite curbs that edged the streets were crumbled into little
piles of sand and gravel, and in the entire area there was not enough
inflammable material to kindle a kitchen fire. So intense and searching
had been the heat that the telegraph poles in places were burned two
feet into the ground. Nowhere were there any ashes; they had all gone
with the gale. It was the most complete sweep that could be imagined;
hardly a brick wall stood, save those of public buildings. The sight
was like nothing so much as the skeleton of Pompeii, with the great
smoke clouds of the oil tanks to represent Vesuvius in eruption. The
cellars were often filled with glowing coals, with here and there a
darting flame and drifts of black smoke.
The horror of the devastation thrilled the tingling nerves, and it all
seemed like a fearful dream until a sharp, “Halt! Who’s there?” from a
guard, brought back the reality of the thing.
With the dawn the people of Chelsea got their first glimpse of the
burnt area, and began to realize what the fire demon had accomplished.
The work of over one hundred years had been destroyed in a few hours.
In every direction were the skeletons of what had been beautiful shade
trees that it had taken God fifty years to grow, and which “Hell’s
breath” had withered and killed in a few minutes.
With the daylight people took courage; there was no weeping, and
the excited crowds of the day before were no more. Men who had lost
everything smiled and extended sympathy to others. The one thing that
impressed the observer was the matter-of-fact way in which all took
their losses. They kept their troubles to themselves and got to work
helping others.
[Illustration: SHURTLEFF STREET BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE]
CHAPTER VIII
THE FIREMEN
No set of men ever worked harder than the firemen. They put up as
gallant a fight as was ever fought on a battlefield. Old men, who had
spent their lives fighting the flames, admitted that it was the hottest
fire that they had ever seen. No amount of apparatus could have stopped
it after the second fire had got started. The way the gale swept the
flames along was beyond comprehension.
The Chelsea firemen had been kept constantly on the jump for two
years previous to the fire in the performance of their duties, and
when this fire started they, like other citizens, thought it would be
extinguished, as many others had been in that district, without much
loss, but the second fire changed everything.
At the meeting of the Fire Chiefs’ Club of Massachusetts, held at the
Hotel Cecil, Boston, on April 15, the sentiment expressed was that
no fire-fighter in the country could have done any better than Chief
Spencer, with such odds against him, and as a token of their sympathy
and esteem they elected him their president. They agreed, however, that
the fire was not handled systematically, but that this was through
no fault of Chief Spencer. If he had had a corps of deputies, there
would have been some one in authority to meet the out-of-town firemen
when they arrived. As it was, these companies had to rely on their own
judgment and get to work without making a report.
[Illustration:
COURTESY OF UTICA SATURDAY GLOBE
CHIEF SPENCER DURING THE FIRE]
And speaking of Chief Spencer, a good story is told at his expense.
During the fire a bundle of woman’s wearing apparel was left at the
Central Fire Station for safety. Shortly after Chief Spencer entered
the building and threw his hat down upon the bundle, and when he
left, hurriedly grabbed up a different hat. Later in the day the
Central Fire Station burned, and one of the firemen, assuming that
the chief had packed up his uniform in the bundle from the fact that
his hat was on top of it, with much difficulty carried the bundle to
a place of safety. The next day the man proudly went to his chief and
notified him that he had saved his uniform. The chief was greatly
surprised, but naturally pleased, and thanked him cordially, at which
the blushing fireman replied he was glad to have been of service to
him. The chief sent for the things, and notified his wife that he had
sent his uniform home and asked her to open the bundle and hang it up.
But it was up to the chief to explain, when his wife met him in the
front hall with indescribable articles of female wearing apparel and
demanded to know if they were a part of his uniform.
Many firemen were injured or burned during the day; all suffered
terribly with their eyes, and men like Dr. W. S. Walkley (and there
were a lot of them), who went about among the firemen bathing their
eyes and putting cold cream on their burns, were a godsend and did much
good.
A great many Chelsea firemen lost their homes, but even when it became
apparent that they were to be destroyed, they did not waver, but stuck
to their duty. They would enter a burning building with their hose and
stay there in an attempt to save it until their clothes were on fire,
enduring suffocating smoke and intense heat, and many times did not
leave their positions until their lines commenced to burn. In many
cases they stuck to their posts, playing streams of water on burning
oil tanks and buildings containing explosives, when at any moment they
were liable to be blown into eternity. Their courage and their loyalty
to their superior officers will always be a lesson to follow to those
who were among them. No criticisms have been made of their work; it
has been universally acknowledged that no human agency could have won
out against such odds on that day.
The following letter, sent by Mayor Hibbard of Boston to Fire
Commissioner Parker, would apply to the firemen from any of the many
cities that gave aid to Chelsea. Each department was responsible for
checking the fire and saving some portion of the city.
“April 15, 1908.
“Samuel D. Parker, Esq.,
“Fire Commissioner:
“My Dear Mr. Parker,--I congratulate you and the officers
and men of the Fire Department on behalf of the city for the
magnificent work done in the Chelsea and East Boston fires on
Sunday last.
“The latter district owes its preservation to the courage and
ability of the Fire Department of the city of Boston.
“Only those familiar with the conditions can appreciate how
magnificently the work was handled.
“Let me add my personal thanks and congratulations to you and
your men.
“Yours very truly,
“G. A. HIBBARD, Mayor.”
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
THE EIGHTH COMPANY, COAST ARTILLERY, KEEPING BACK THE CROWD IN
WINNISIMMET SQUARE]
CHAPTER IX
THE MILITIA
Troops arrived all night on April 12, coming from different parts of
the State. They were quartered in the electric cars stalled in Chelsea
Square, in Grand Army Hall, in stores, and in fact, about any place
where they happened to be. It mattered little, as very few men got a
chance to sleep. Headquarters were established at the Police Station
in the Court House, Colonel Charles P. Nutter taking command, being
relieved later by Colonel E. Leroy Sweetser. A very heavy sentry detail
was swung out during the night, forming a complete cordon around
the burned area and the houses on the edge, which were only partly
destroyed. Each man had ten rounds of ball cartridges issued him with
instructions to use them if his challenge was unheeded. Orders had
been issued to pass no one in or out of the burned area during the
night, but early in the morning orders were given to admit those with
passes.
The following is the first general order issued in Chelsea:--
“Headquarters Provisional Battalion,
Chelsea, Mass, April 13, 1908.
“General Orders No. 1:
“1. The headquarters of this Battalion will be at police
headquarters until further orders.
“2. Officers will be held strictly accountable for the safety
of all private property within their districts, and will allow
no one to disturb or carry away any private property from the
ruins without a permit signed by Herbert W. Stebbins, or upon
orders from the proper authorities.
“3. Enlisted men will not leave the street to trespass upon
private property, nor will they touch any private property,
except to save it from loss, and then turn it over at once to
their company commanders. Sentinels will treat all persons
courteously in enforcing orders.
“4. All officers and men will cooperate and assist the members
of the city government, the police department, and authorized
committees in their work.
“5. Lieutenant Williams, assistant surgeon, Eighth Infantry,
will make an inspection of the sanitary conditions within the
city limits and report to these headquarters.
“6. Captain Whitney, Fifth Infantry, will inspect and report
all walls that are unsafe within the burnt district.
“By order of Colonel Sweetser,
“HARRY F. BROWN,
“First Lieutenant and Battalion Adjutant,
“Acting Adjutant.”
There were three forms of passes issued, a blue one, which admitted to
the lines, which was taken up; a white one, which permitted the bearer
to search among the ruins; and a special one, allowing the holder to
open a safe, which read as follows:--
“Permit to Enter upon Property.
Good for this day only
---- has permission to enter upon ---- Street, previously
occupied by him, to examine premises, open safe and remove
property belonging to him, between the hours of 8 A.M. and 5
P.M.,----April --, 1908.
“GASPAR G. SHANNON,
“Chief of Police.
“Use of Explosives Forbidden.”
[Illustration:
COPYRIGHT, JUDGE CO., 1908
TROOP A, FIRST SQUADRON OF CAVALRY]
Many who had fled from the city when their homes were burned were
unable to get back without much trouble, having first to satisfy guards
on Chelsea Bridge and the highways leading to Everett and Revere that
they had a right to be in the city. After they got through these
outposts they could not get into the burned area without a pass from
Colonel Nutter, who was in command. During the early hours hundreds of
residents on the farther side of the fire desired to go to Boston and
other places to work, but could not do so on account of the cordon of
soldiers, until arrangements were made to gather the people together in
large groups and march them through.
The police willingly gave in to the soldiers, and in no instance did a
clash occur. Every one was stopped at the picket line and only firemen,
policemen, and people with passes got by. Many people were indignant
when stopped, and commenced to abuse the soldiers, but as a rule the
reply, “Those are the orders, sir,” brought a smile and, “Well, I’m not
blaming you.”
An incident of the military patrol of the ruins was an encounter
between the sentries and a gang of one hundred and fifty Italian
laborers, who failed to comprehend the fact that they could not pass
the guard lines without permits, although they had been sent to work
on the ruins. The gang tried to rush the lines and a hand-to-hand
tussle followed, in which some of the workmen were roughly handled.
Another incident occurred on Broadway. A soldier ordered a chauffeur to
stop his machine. The man replied in an insulting manner and continued
on his way. He was placed under arrest and turned over to the civil
authorities. Judge Bossom sentenced him to six months in the House of
Correction, stating that his conduct was reprehensible, and that at
such a time every one should obey orders of those in charge and do
everything in his power to assist.
There is no question that the militia did its duty; the men worked
hard, with practically no sleep and little food for days. They not only
did guard duty, but helped in the relief work, and volunteered for many
other duties.
Soldiers were detailed to search among the ruins for bodies; and when
one was found, a guard was placed over it and was obliged to stay
there, sometimes for hours, until the coroner could be found. They
kept people away from the threatening walls and guarded what property
was left. They acted as messengers and stood for six to eight hours
at a stretch on guard. The rations consisted of whatever could be got
together, always coffee and bread, with sometimes canned meats or
beans, which was very meager compared to the regulation field ration.
It was unjust and contemptible for a certain Boston paper to come out
with big headlines to the effect that the soldiers were looting, and
the fact that this paper made an editorial apology the next day does
not excuse the city editor for allowing it to get in. In the first
place the soldiers had no time for looting, and in the second there
was nothing of value left to steal. The following article taken from
“Practical Politics” expresses the writer’s feelings very well:--
“Whoever framed up the story that there was looting by the
soldiers placed to guard people’s property as well as the
lives of the community, did the soldier boys a great wrong,
for the story went broadcast all over the country, to the
effect that they had been guilty of the most heinous offense,
either in times of war or peace, that of looting the dead and
the helpless people. The stories did a great injustice to the
marines and jackies from the Navy Yard, as well as to the State
forces, and that it was not true was very promptly shown by
the governor and the adjutant general, both of whom nailed
the story before it had traveled much. The harm was done when
the press associations, accepting it as a bonafide piece of
news, sent it to all parts of the world. One of the odd things
about the accusation is that two members of the Massachusetts
Legislature, Senator Tilton S. Bell and Representative J. B.
Ferber, were among the soldiers on guard at Chelsea during the
critical times, and they did not see or hear of any looting.”
Editorials like the following appeared in many papers through the
State:--
“We have no hesitation in saying that the charge of looting
made against the militia on duty in Chelsea is wholly
unwarranted, and that even were some individual member of our
military force guilty of such unsoldierly conduct, his offense
is no excuse for wholesale accusations against the body. The
troops, national and State, on duty in the burnt district have
been doing splendid work; everybody who has watched their
course has spoken in the highest terms of their care, courtesy,
vigilance, and soldierly bearing; and their services have
been of great value to the afflicted community in preserving
peace and property and facilitating the humanitarian work the
occasion demanded.
“We have every confidence in the discipline, efficiency,
integrity, and fidelity to duty of our troops; and if any
individual militiaman has deflected from the standards of
conduct expected and enforced, we may confidently count on his
punishment for his offense and his expulsion from the body.
Accusations against our troops are in bad taste and should not
be indulged in unless backed by the best evidence.”
Upon the withdrawal of the State troops from Chelsea, Mayor Beck sent
the following letter to Adjutant General Brigham:--
“William M. Brigham, Adjutant General:
“Dear Sir,--As mayor of the city of Chelsea, I desire to
tender this official recognition of the prompt, efficient, and
valuable services rendered by the militia under your command,
detailed to preserve order and protect life and property in
Chelsea during and since the great conflagration.
“Order was maintained by your officers and troops under the
most trying circumstances, and no just criticism of their
conduct, other than that which is creditable, can exist.
“I feel especially grateful to both Colonel Charles P. Nutter
and Colonel E. Leroy Sweetser for their harmonious cooperation
with the civil authorities during this period.
“My grateful acknowledgment of obligation is also due to the
rank and file of each company, including the Fifth Company,
C. A. C., a large number of which, although their entire
possessions were lost and their families rendered homeless by
the fire, responded faithfully to the high call of military
duty without regard to their personal interests.
“Respectfully yours,
“JOHN E. BECK, Mayor.”
[Illustration: GRANITE CRUMBLED TO GRAVEL UNDER THE HEAT]
CHAPTER X
EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY
Before the fire was extinguished messages offering aid and sympathy
began to pour in. One of the first was a telegraphic despatch from
President Roosevelt as follows:--
“Mayor John E. Beck, Chelsea, Mass.
“In company with all our people, I am inexpressibly shocked at
the tragedy that has befallen Chelsea. Is there anything the
national government can do, in connection with the Navy Yard
or with either the military or naval establishments at Boston,
which will be of service?
“THEODORE ROOSEVELT.”
to which Mayor Beck by the light of the fire wrote the following
despatch in reply:--
“President Roosevelt,
Washington, D. C.
“Your telegram of sympathy and tender of service is deeply
appreciated by our people. The marines from the Navy Yard have
done yeoman service for us. In the hour of this sad affliction
the kind words of our sister cities and States have steeled
our arm. We will arise from the ashes and build a new city
that will show to the world the courage and fortitude of the
citizens of Chelsea. Respectfully,
“JOHN E. BECK, Mayor.”
The Massachusetts senators sent the following:--
“John E. Beck, Mayor, Chelsea, Mass.
“We have learned with deep regret of the great misfortune which
has befallen Chelsea. If there is anything we can do to aid
you, please let us know at once.
(Signed) “HENRY CABOT LODGE.
“WINTHROP MURRAY CRANE.”
Congressman Roberts of Chelsea telegraphed: “Do you want me to
introduce a resolution in Congress for blankets?”
Acting Governor Draper went to Chelsea as soon as he learned of the
catastrophe, and offered the aid and sympathy of the State.
A cable was received at the State House from the Irish National Party
as follows:--
“Dublin, Ireland, April 13, 1908.
“To Governor, State House,
Boston, Mass.
“Irish National Party deeply sympathize with Boston in tragic
calamity.
“(Signed) REDMOND.”
to which the governor replied:--
“April 14, 1908.
“Hon. John E. Redmond, M. P.,
Dublin, Ireland.
“Thanks for expression of sympathy. While great loss of
property and much suffering, our people have situation well in
hand.
“(Signed) DRAPER, Acting Governor.”
The following despatch was sent to Mayor Beck immediately after a
hurried meeting of the citizens of Brookline had been called:--
“In behalf of the town of Brookline, I send to you our deepest
sympathy for the calamity which has come to your city.
“I authorize you to draw on the town of Brookline now for
the sum of $1000, and further steps will be taken to aid you
financially. I trust you will call upon me at the Brookline
Town Hall if there is any other assistance which our citizens
can render you at the present moment. We stand ready to help
you in whatever way we can.
“Respectfully yours,
“WILLIAM CRAIG,
“Chairman Board of Selectmen.”
General Booth of the Salvation Army cabled from London as follows:--
“Mayor, Chelsea: I mourn with you in this calamity. Sympathize
with sufferers and pray that God may be with them and comfort
them.
“WILLIAM BOOTH.”
Hundreds of similar messages were received from all parts of this
country and abroad, and the two telegraph stations, hurriedly
established, one on Charlestown Bridge, and the other at the Boston
and Maine railroad station, were kept busy. Hundreds of telegrams and
cables were received which could not be delivered as the people to whom
they had been addressed had been burned out and in many cases had left
the city.
[Illustration: THE COURT HOUSE, USED AS CITY HALL AFTER THE FIRE]
CHAPTER XI
THE RELIEF WORK
The work of relief started almost before the flames of the first
section destroyed had died away. Acting Governor Draper, who had
arrived in Chelsea about the middle of the afternoon, at once realized
the immediate need of assistance, turned about and had his chauffeur
take him speedily to his office at the State House. Here he got
into communication with the City Hall, and a meeting was arranged
at the mayor’s office. Mayor Hibbard, who was at his summer home in
Provincetown, arrived about six o’clock. The first move was to get
hospital service to the city and all available doctors, nurses, and
ambulances were sent to Chelsea.
Messengers were despatched to bring many prominent citizens to a
citizens’ meeting, and among the first to arrive was Major Henry
L. Higginson of the firm of Lee, Higginson & Company, who at once
offered all immediate financial assistance necessary. Provisions for
the refugees were the first necessity, and the authorities in Boston
and Chelsea combined to secure them. Bakers, provision dealers, and
restaurant keepers readily volunteered to furnish them, and what is
more important, had them ready and delivered in Chelsea by midnight.
Meanwhile, the residents of Chelsea had not been idle. While the fire
was at its height, J. Travis Roberts went to the junction of County
Road and the Boulevard, and stopped every motor car that came along,
courteously requesting the drivers to loan their cars to the city. In a
very short time about fifty cars had been secured, and their help was
of great value.
Dr. Charles N. Cutler organized a rescue corps with motor cars to take
the needy people to the First Congregational Church on County Road,
where Mrs. Henry A. Tenney had charge, and was assisted by Mr. Herbert
Slade, Miss Florence H. Mitchell, and many others. H. P. McManus of
the firm of Atwood & McManus summoned all his teamsters and got out
ten double wagons, which he ordered into the burning district and put
at the disposal of the fleeing population. In this way a great many
families saved most of their belongings. He then secured ten bushels
of sandwiches to feed the fire fighters. All about the edge of the
fire luncheons were to be had for the asking. Mr. R. H. Grant made
and served many gallons of coffee. Dr. Charles Reeds went through the
burning district near his home, handing out food to the soldiers and
firemen. Every namable kind of relief sprang into action, and the
organized Relief Committee was relieved of a large proportion of its
duty. The National, American, and Adams Express companies put their
teams at the disposal of the Relief Committee and offered to transport
all relief supplies free.
Mr. Albert Tenney, manager of the Suburban Electric Company of Malden,
placed five automobiles at the disposal of the committee, and ran one
himself for several days.
The Chelsea Relief Committee, which was selected early in the evening,
set up headquarters in the High School building just outside the fire
lines. The first step was to open an information bureau, where the
homeless were directed to churches and other places open to receive
them, and where the missing could report and the lost get in touch with
their friends.
The next morning there were organized a bureau of general information,
a committee for medical relief, and a housing and employment bureau.
The insurance companies also established a bureau of information.
In the basement a bakery and lunch counter was started, and great
four-horse loads of food were delivered at one door and distributed at
another.
The Scenic Temple on Second Street, at the other end of the city, was
opened as a dispensary distributing station, in charge of George H.
Willie and George H. Dunham. Other places of refuge were the Salvation
Army Barracks in Chelsea Square, Saint Luke’s Parsonage, the Cary
Avenue Methodist Church, the First Congregational Church, the Soldiers’
Home, and scores of other places where small numbers could be cared for.
William E. McClintock, chairman of the Relief Committee, opened his
headquarters at his residence opposite the High School. The Young
Men’s Christian Association opened headquarters in the Review Club
next door. Voting booths were erected on the club’s tennis court for
the use of the city officials. Crowds gathered on the streets about
these buildings, and it took a large detail of soldiers to keep things
straightened out. In the High School, lines of young women were busy
making card catalogues of new addresses and telling the inquirers where
their friends and relatives were to be found. In the rooms off the
corridors, committees inquired into each case, and issued cards for
food and clothing. At every entrance stood sentries to keep out the
merely curious, and outside other soldiers kept the deserving crowd
in a line, which for days reached far down the street and turned the
corner. On the third floor were piled articles of clothing. At first
there was naturally a great confusion, but soon the committee got
things down to a system.
[Illustration:
BY WM. J. MCCLINTOCK
THE BREAD LINE]
The Massachusetts Chelsea Relief Committee issued the following
bulletin for information of fire sufferers and others:--
Executive Headquarters--Chamber of Commerce, Boston, Mass.;
telephone, Fort Hill 1834. Edmund Billings, executive
secretary, James J. Storrow, chairman.
Treasurers--Lee, Higginson & Company, 44 State Street, Boston,
Mass.
Chelsea Relief Committee--High School Building, Chelsea.
Insurance Information--High School Building, Chelsea.
Receiving Station--For supplies, except food, Keany Building,
251 Causeway Street, Boston; telephone, Richmond 777.
Registration for Lodgings--Municipal Building, 427 Blossom
Street, Boston; telephone, Haymarket 427.
Registration for Volunteer Workers--Room 31, Charity Building,
Chardon Street, Boston; telephone, Haymarket 847.
Automobiles--Owners who can loan their machines for use,
telephone Room 31, Charity Building; telephone, Haymarket 847.
* * * * *
All supplies (except food) should be sent to the Keany Square
Building, 251 Causeway Street, which is in charge of Miss
Katherine D. Loring of the Red Cross Society.
From this point they are distributed on proper requisition to
the various points where the refugees are located.
There is a great necessity for underclothing, men’s, women’s
and children’s, babies’ blankets, blankets, sheets, and pillow
cases.
They cannot use anything that is dirty or torn, nor clothing
trimmed with lace, or evening dresses.
Offers of food, milk, and other perishable supplies should
be made to Mr. Billings, the executive secretary. Chamber of
Commerce Building; telephone, Fort Hill 1834.
* * * * *
All persons who had any fire insurance and who had a fire loss
should apply to the Insurance Information Committee, High
School Building, Chelsea, Room 11.
The fire insurance companies have established this committee
to furnish free information and advice to any person who was
insured and suffered any fire loss, whether their policies were
burned or not.
There is a great need for automobiles to be used in moving the
sufferers and in distributing nurses, etc., both in Chelsea and
Boston.
Owners who are willing to loan their cars for such use should
telephone to Room 31, Charity Building, Boston, Haymarket 847.
The following relief stations were established by the committee:--
First District--High School Building, Crescent Avenue.
Second District--Lincoln Hall, Second Street.
Third District--First Congregational Church, County Road.
Fourth District--880 Broadway.
Fifth District--Spencer Avenue School Building.
These were the only ones provided for by the committee in Chelsea,
although special interests looked out for their own people. Among them
were the following stations:--
Central Congregational Church--Washington Avenue opposite Heard
Street.
Christian Science Church--Rear of 2 County Road.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church--Parish house, Washington Avenue,
corner Spruce Street.
All denominations--Cary Avenue Methodist Church.
Catholic--Old parochial residence, Crescent Avenue near
Broadway.
Labor Unions--195 Broadway.
Elks--Corner Williams Street and Broadway.
Eagles--Broadway, opposite Court House.
Foresters and Knights of Columbus--66 Williams Street.
Red Men--Towne’s store, Broadway Square near Second Street.
Hebrew Information Bureau--129 Winnisimmet Street.
N. E. O. P.--371 Spruce Street.
Masonic Bodies--136 Broadway.
District Nurses--Lincoln Hall, Second Street.
Knights of Columbus--Old Salvation Army building, Park Street.
Christian Scientists--General distribution of relief supplies,
carriage house rear of Wilson estate, Carter Street off
Washington Avenue.
The regular relief stations in Chelsea in one day distributed the
following supplies:--
FOOD
Milk, gallons 400
Coffee, gallons 600
Canned meat, cases 75
Canned soup, cases 100
Canned salmon, cases 50
Dry codfish, large boxes 50
Coffee, pounds 100
Condensed milk, cans 1,200
Granulated sugar, pounds 500
Eggs, dozens 1,000
CLOTHING
Boys’ suits 500
Children’s underwear 500
Men’s underwear 500
Men’s trousers 250
Men’s shoes, cases 25
Women’s shoes, cases 25
Women’s underwear, suits 100
Hosiery, men and women, pairs 1,500
Blankets 1,000
Mattresses 500
Pillows 500
[Illustration: EFFECT OF FIRE ON GRANITE WALLS AND CURBING]
Among the Chelsea women who worked untiringly for days at the relief
stations were: Mrs. Grace D. Bancroft, Miss Mary Keen, Miss Alice
Dorkhann, Mrs. Charles Bourne, Mrs. Boyd Bartlett, Mrs. Andrew T.
Hunnewell, Miss Ethel F. Bourne, Mrs. C. Willis Gould, Miss Edith Bush,
Miss Margaret H. Ames (Naval Hospital), Miss Agnes Peck, Mrs. F. L.
Avery, Miss Abbie Tarrell, Mrs. E. Frank Guild.
It was found after the second day that many applicants who crowded
into the relief stations were simply taking bundles of clothing and
supplies across to Boston and selling them for what they would bring.
It was learned that some of these people did not live in Chelsea at
all, being impostors from various quarters, who were fraudulently
obtaining places in the relief line, and it was found absolutely
necessary to have some kind of personal identification. The committee,
therefore, adopted the following identification card:--
SAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF
and help the committee by having the attached card of
identification filled out and signed by your pastor, doctor,
or some business or professional man known to the committee.
With the identification card you will be served without delay.
Without the identification card you will go to Room -- and be
specially examined.
Below is a blank, as follows:--
I am personally acquainted with ---- of No. -- ---- Street, and
know that he is worthy of aid. I recommend that he be given
----, etc.
An average of twelve thousand people a day were fed at the various
relief stations for weeks. H.P. Hood & Son sent wagon loads of fine
milk free of charge. Henry Siegel wired his Boston manager to establish
immediately a tent for the free distribution of soup, sandwiches, and
coffee, and the instructions were carried out. A. Shuman sent over one
thousand dollars’ worth of wearing apparel.
A relief station was established at the Keany Square Building in Boston
and was under the charge of Miss Katherine Loring, who was assisted by
Miss Eleanor Sears, Miss Higginson, Miss Hunnewell, Miss Olive Ames,
Mrs. Arthur D. Cook, Miss Dorothy Forbes, and other young society
leaders of Boston. A detachment of ten signal corps men were placed
here under command of Lieutenant R. E. Blecher to guard the place and
help sort goods sent in.
Mr. Herbert Norton, chairman of the Chelsea License Commission,
immediately canceled all licenses which had been issued in Chelsea and
Police Commissioner O’Meara of Boston issued the following order the
night of the fire:--
“City of Boston, Police Department.
“April 12, 1908.
“Under the authority conferred upon me by sec. 19, chap. 291,
acts of 1906, I hereby suspend and make inoperative until
further notice all licenses to sell intoxicating liquors in
police division 7 (East Boston) and in that part of police
division 15 (Charlestown) lying between Mystic and Charles
rivers and the harbor on the north and east and southwest and
a line on the west drawn through Everett Street, extended to
Mystic River, Concord Street, Monument Square, Pleasant and
Devens streets, Rutherford Avenue and Arrow Street, extended
to the water, including both sides of said streets, square, and
avenue.
“Sec. 19 provides further that:--
“Any licensee who personally or by his servants or agents
sells, furnishes, or delivers any intoxicating liquors during
such suspension shall be punished by a fine of $200 for said
offense, and his license shall become forfeited.
“This suspension will be revoked as soon as it becomes evident
that public safety and order in the parts of the city specified
no longer require it.
“(Signed) STEPHEN O’MEARA,
“Police Commissioner of the City of Boston.”
Nearly two hundred refugees were sent to the South Armory, and housed
in the quarters of Battery A, Field Artillery. Armorer George Thorpe
worked untiringly for their comfort. The Mellin’s Food Company sent to
Chelsea twenty-five cases of malted milk, the National Biscuit Company
two hundred boxes of Uneeda biscuits. The Horace Memorial Church on
Webster Avenue took care of two hundred people. The Magee Furnace
Company, the Revere Rubber Company, the Forbes Lithograph Company, and
many other big manufacturing plants, established relief stations for
their own employees.
The rector of Saint Rose Catholic Church issued the following notice:--
“Chelsea, April 15, 1908.
“The parish is fully covered by insurance and has no need of
assistance, and has a glorious future before it. We have no
need to think of that now. Provision will be made for masses
and everything of that kind.
“What we are wholly intent on now is the relief of the poor. We
have three bureaus of supplies open day and night, and all may
come for relief. All who are in the city, whether of our faith
or not, will be gladly welcomed. We will supply them with food
and clothing, and will engage and furnish tenements in Boston
and elsewhere. We beg Chelsea people who have left the city,
and are temporarily with friends, but who cannot stay long
where they are, to come and let us provide for them.
“Our depots are at the Spencer Avenue Catholic school, at the
old parochial residence, Broadway and Crescent Avenue, and at
the corner of Williams and Broadway.
“THOMAS J. CUSICK, Rector.”
The three banks which were destroyed secured temporary quarters in a
building near the Court House, and inside of twenty-four hours had
their securities out of the ruins, and were able to pay depositors who
needed money.
The morning after the fire the Chelsea Post-office opened temporary
quarters in a pool room on Park Street. All mail that was in the burned
Post-office was saved by heroic work of the department, and three
deliveries were made during the day following the fire, although the
majority of people to whom mail was addressed could not be found.
Congressman Roberts at once introduced a bill in the House of
Representatives appropriating $125,000 to provide for a new building.
Furniture companies and other business concerns took immediate measures
to relieve their patrons. Instalment houses announced that their
customers having unsettled accounts need not worry about payment, as
all goods sold were insured.
Major Walter E. Lombard made an appeal to the military organizations
throughout the State for funds to relieve the members of the Fifth
Company, Coast Artillery Corps, whose Armory had been destroyed, and
who had lost, not only their clothes, but in thirty-five cases their
homes. Over $1500 was contributed to this fund.
The labor unions of Boston were prompt in coming to the aid of their
members who suffered in the fire.
Hundreds of loaves of bread came over in the wagons of Ferguson, Fox,
and other bakers, while Cobb, Bates & Yerxa and S. S. Pierce & Company
had great four-horse wagons early on the scene, loaded with provisions
of all sorts. Supplies piled in from all sides. The Keany Square Relief
Station looked like a great warehouse. In one day the following gifts
were acknowledged by this station:--
A carload of clothing from the Phillips Brooks House, a carload of
suits from the Brookline relief committee, a box of clothing from
Mrs. Kennison, gifts from the First Presbyterian Church on Columbus
Avenue, clothing from boys of Phillips School, gifts from Shepard,
Norwell & Company, gifts from C. F. Hovey & Company, an express load of
packages from the city of Somerville, gifts from the King’s Daughters
of Cambridge, twelve barrels of gifts from the Salem Thought and
Work Club, gifts from W. S. Butler, fifteen mattresses from the New
York Mattress Company, three boxes of goods from the Jordan Marsh
Company, goods from James A. Houston & Company, goods from W. H. Brine
& Company, goods from High School at Dorchester Heights, goods from the
Friendly Society of the South Congregational Church, goods from the
Concord Woman’s Club, one hundred and seven dozen pairs of stockings
from the Star Theater Company, goods from the Women’s Guild of the
Church of the Good Shepherd, and gifts from G. B. H. Macomber.
[Illustration: THE SHURTLEFF SCHOOL BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE]
The spirit the citizens themselves showed, compelled admiration from
every outsider. They were courageous, to say the least, and the general
sentiment among them was not downheartedness, but determination to
relieve the suffering at once, and then to reestablish the municipality
on a better basis than formerly.
The people fully appreciated the generosity shown them throughout the
State, and more than one, big, strong, able-bodied man felt a lump come
into his throat when he read of and saw the many things that were being
done by strangers outside of the city for its relief.
Two days after the fire the city had hundreds of unemployed at work
clearing the streets. Judge Bossom announced that until conditions
were relieved he would deal stringently with drunkards and other law
breakers, and suiting his actions to his words, gave four men arrested
the night after the fire the full penalty allowed by the law.
The prompt and systematic organization for relief gave assurance to
the people of the State that their funds would be wisely directed in
relieving the needs of the people and resulted in private purses being
opened in a most generous and liberal way.
Lee, Higginson & Company received sums ranging from a few dollars up
to several thousand, aggregating in the neighborhood of $350,000.
In spite of all that was done in the city there was not room for all,
and the surrounding towns and cities made Chelsea’s needs their own.
The Revere Town Hall was thrown open to the refugees, the Revere
Women’s Club taking care of one hundred and fifty at night and feeding
more during the day.
In Malden Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, the First Baptist Church, the
Congregational, the Methodist, and the Catholic churches were thrown
open to the needy.
Everett, Medford, and Winthrop also took care of many of the destitute.
The Civil Service House in Boston was opened from the beginning of the
trouble, and most of the lost children were sent there. The Boston
English High School opened its doors and took care of about one hundred
refugees as long as was necessary.
A monster dramatic entertainment was held at the Boston Theater, and
all the actors playing in Boston at the time gave their services. The
entire proceeds were given to the relief fund. The best seats sold at
large premiums, and every seat and all standing room was taken.
Mrs. Pelbouth of the Dennison House, offered the service of women
connected with that institution; the Wayfarers’ Lodge accommodated two
hundred men; the Bay State House on Hanover Street took care of from
thirty to forty; the Parker Memorial on Appleton Street offered the
use of its rooms; H. F. Denny of the Lakeshore Home, Sharon, took care
of fifty women and children; Sister Gabriel of the home for Destitute
Children offered shelter for children left homeless; about five hundred
people found shelter at the Salvation Army Palace; the Saint James
Hotel, Bowdoin Square, Boston, offered to take care of a number; the
Massachusetts General Hospital offered employment to five men and
agreed to take twenty to thirty sick people and supply nurses.
The Animal Rescue League sent men to Chelsea to look out for the
homeless dogs and cats in the burned district. Those suffering from
injuries were at once chloroformed; the others were taken to the Carver
Street Home and held for owners to claim.
Help of every description was offered to man and beast. It came quickly
and in abundance without being called for; and those who wondered
during the fire if there was a God, soon found him in the hearts of the
people of the Commonwealth.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING BURNED DISTRICT]
CHAPTER XII
CHELSEA’S FUTURE
In spite of the fact that no municipality in the State ever had such a
blow as Chelsea, which lost millions of taxable property and fully one
third of its population, the city has a glorious future before it. Of
this there is no doubt. It will be rebuilt, bigger and better in every
way. It will be a different kind of a city, however. The conservative
people, who have lived in their old houses year after year, although
the environment about them had changed, will in many cases rebuild in
different sections of the town. The old style of architecture will give
way to the new. There will be a relocation of schools and churches, and
the City Hall and other public buildings will be more conveniently
located. Streets will be widened and laid out differently in many
cases, and the old houses and buildings which had been remodeled into
stores along Broadway will be replaced by fine business blocks of brick
and concrete construction. Hardly had the smoke of the fire cleared
away when the people turned their thoughts towards rebuilding.
[Illustration: COUNTY ROAD, IN THE RESIDENTIAL SECTION]
Chelsea is the home of many able and influential people, representing
large manufacturing, banking, political, and professional interests.
These men, who had their business and property interests at stake,
decided that to secure confidence in the city and rapid rebuilding was
impossible under the existing city charter, but that if a board of five
competent men were appointed by the governor and given the power of
the mayor, Board of Aldermen and School Committee for five years, it
would be possible. The appointment of such a board or commission, it
was believed, would cut out all political strife. A bill was therefore
introduced and at a hearing held on April 28 at the State House nearly
all the prominent citizens were present. As a matter of record the
following speeches are of interest, showing, as they do, the general
feeling of the people.
* * * * *
Mayor John E. Beck spoke as follows:--
“We have come to the conclusion, regardless of everything else
in the city, that legislation is needed to promote the welfare
and future of our city. Nearly five hundred acres have been
destroyed by the fire, and now we are confronted with the task
of rebuilding the city. We have agreed, I believe, in the city
of Chelsea, almost to a man, that if we have Chelsea’s future
at heart, and we believe that her future must be protected,
that legislation of this kind is needed. Political ambition
and other things of that nature must be eliminated. We have
come to you as a unit from the city of Chelsea, to ask you
gentlemen of the committee to give us this bill. It will
then be in the hands of the governor to appoint whom he sees
fit, citizens, as the members of that commission, so long as
they are of our own citizenship. We can then bring back the
confidence that is desired, and build a more beautiful and
substantial Chelsea than before. The mayor or Board of Aldermen
lack the power to do what is now needed to accomplish this
work. The work of reconstruction must be carried on by a body,
independent in action, and as a citizen, I wish to further
those things which are of essential benefit to every inhabitant
of our city. This cannot be accomplished by politics. This is
my first year as mayor; I am willing to sacrifice that and all
my own political ambitions, that our city may prosper in this
year of progress and take its place among the leading cities of
the Commonwealth. A bill of this nature carries with it the one
thought, that we must have the best men possible; in order to
restore confidence and thus secure results which will insure
the future and best interest of the city.”
Congressman Ernest W. Roberts said:--
“The little I have to say will be as a citizen of Chelsea, a
resident of that municipality for over forty years. Chelsea of
to-day is not a city of wealthy people. You have heard from the
city treasurer somewhat of the losses that we have sustained.
If our city is to be rehabilitated, if we are to become once
more a flourishing municipality, it is necessary in the first
instance to restore confidence, both in the people now living
in Chelsea and those who have been forced out of the city by
reason of this fire, and what is much more important, the
confidence in financial men in the future of that city. We
have got to have large amounts of money poured into the city
to rebuild it, and without that basic principle of confidence
in the future of the city we are not going to get the money.
I am not in favor of government by commission, but there are
times and conditions when it seems to me that the commission is
the only solution of the problem, and I firmly believe to-day
that the question confronting the people of Chelsea can only
be solved through a commission. Without a commission there
would be a lack of continuity of government, so essential for
the successful solution of the problem that now confronts the
people of Chelsea. Through a commission a comprehensive scheme
can be laid out and can be carried out, step by step. After
its conclusion and when the commission has done that work,
the government of the city can be turned back to its citizens
under its present plan, or such other plan as the conditions
then presented to the city and country may warrant. I am not
here to argue for every line in the bill, but I am in favor of
the basic idea of the bill, which is a commission which shall
have a fixed tenure of office in order that there may be given
to those men sufficient time to carry out their plans. If
your bill does not provide enough time, you are not going to
accomplish what we want, and that is the creation of confidence
among monied men. I would suggest for the consideration of the
committee one possible amendment, and that would be towards
fixing a definite sum of money which the commission could raise
by the issue of bonds. It would seem to be wise not to leave
the matter entirely open in the bill as it is to-day.”
[Illustration: THE WENTWORTH RESIDENCE AMONG THE PLACES NOT DESTROYED]
Hon. Willard Howland spoke as follows:--
“I think there has been wiped out no single complete ward.
The area of the city is fourteen hundred acres, and about
four hundred and ninety have been devastated. That is a strip
about six thousand feet long and one thousand feet wide. It is
estimated that about $8,000,000 of its taxable property has
been destroyed. This bill comes before you as the result, I
think, of a very great concerted action among all the citizens.
Necessarily, some one must take the lead. Shortly after the
fire, within a day or two, representatives of the financial
interests and the insurance interests, manufacturing and
other interests of the city, were called together by some few
representative men and others and discussed the prospective
needs of the city. The great problem is the one of to-morrow,
and it was believed that inasmuch as a very large proportion
of the property destroyed must be rebuilt by capital borrowed
for the purpose, the essential was a large degree of confidence
in the city’s ability to go forward and pay the debts which it
would be obliged to incur, a confidence which it was necessary
to reestablish, if it had been destroyed. Now it is true that
the fire passed through largely the residential portion of
the city, and on both sides of the fire-swept district remain
many business enterprises. I think there were thirty-seven of
the various institutions represented in the consideration of
this matter, for we have some manufacturers there who employ
a thousand men and whose payroll amounts from $10,000 to
$11,000 a week. The people’s opportunity for employment has not
been interrupted, but their homes have been destroyed. It is
intended to rebuild them, but the constitutional limitations
would prevent our asking for aid for the accomplishment of
that purpose. That must come through the confidence of private
investors in our ability to rebuild and maintain our city.
“I think, however, it may be said that there are three
propositions on which we agree absolutely, and that is, that
there should be at this time a commission appointed to take
charge of financial affairs and administer the government for
the city. I think we are agreed that the commission should be
appointed by the governor with the advice of the council.
There is necessity for the State’s assistance to be rendered
in this emergency. We differ on some things which I think
are not so essential as those things upon which we agree. I
think that the appointment of the commission should be in the
hands of the governor, without the limitation as made. We are
not agreed as to the terms of the commission, that is, the
length of time that it should serve. My own opinion of that
is this, that we should appoint a commission for such term as
should be sufficient to warrant the opinion that some policy
could be defined and carried out. If the Legislature chooses
at some future time to change the situation, they can do so.
If any citizen desires a change, he, individually, or they,
collectively, can come to the Legislature and ask for a change.
If government by commission is to the satisfaction of all
citizens, it may continue without further legislation. The
necessity is apparent and I think nine tenths of the citizens
are in favor of the bill. You may feel that some of its
elements should be changed or limitations made, and, of course,
that is open to your consideration.”
Others who appeared in favor of the commission were: Judge Albert D.
Bossom, Ex-Mayor Carter, Ex-Mayor Mitchell, A. B. Atwood, Rev. R. Perry
Bush, Hon. James Gould, William Martin, Hon. H. W. Pratt, Walter C.
Mitchell, Ex-Mayor Strahan, Benjamin F. Dodge, Colonel Moses, Councilor
Hoag, Charles G. Roberts, H. P. Sanborn, Royal S. Wentworth, C. Willis
Gould, John Duncan, William Prescott, George H. Buck, Reinhard E.
Bartels, Lorenzo D. Dixon, George H. Dunham, Hon. Eugene T. Endicott,
George B. Guild, Ralph W. E. Hopper, Andrew T. Hunnewell, Geo. E.
Morrill, Herbert L. Slade, Henry H. Stickney, Leonard A. Treat, Walter
Whittelsey, and James S. Wilson.
The hearing was practically unanimous in favor of the bill as presented.
The next day two other bills were put in, not greatly different,
and after a tiresome delay a combination of the three was made up by
the Committee on Metropolitan and City Affairs and put before the
Legislature. The bill quickly passed the Senate, only to be held up in
the House, but finally after a lengthy debate passed, to the general
satisfaction of all those who had the best interest of Chelsea at heart.
It is pretty safe to say that any commission the governor appoints will
prohibit light and flimsy buildings. This will tend more than anything
else to drive out the undesirable citizens.
This commission will not be prejudiced for or against any particular
ward, neither will the members have any constituents to care for to the
detriment of the city.
Although Chelsea has an attractive residential district, which was not
destroyed by the fire, as can readily be seen by the illustrations,
it never again will be the residential city that it was fifty years
ago, as the area is too limited and the shipping facilities make it too
valuable for anything but manufacturing purposes.
When the work of dredging, now in progress along the water front, is
completed the city will have a mile of valuable wharf property, which
is bound to bring more business into the city and to increase the
valuation.
The shoe factories, which employ thousands of people, were just outside
the burned area, which was fortunate for the employees, who lost their
homes. Most of these people carried some insurance and can rebuild as
long as they are assured of employment.
The Chelsea Trust Company proposes to erect a fine building entirely
for their own use. The Chelsea Savings Bank has bought additional
property, and in rebuilding will double the size of its former building.
The city is assured of a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollar
Post-office. Ex-Mayor Strahan proposes to rebuild his beautiful home on
Bellingham Hill.
The Frost Hospital drew $35,000 insurance, and as much more is assured
to build a new hospital.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will certainly provide Chelsea with a
fine armory to replace the one destroyed.
Most of the churches will at once start to rebuild; and when the city
gets its many buildings up, it will not be long before many new and
desirable people will locate in Chelsea.
An attempt is to be made to get the Metropolitan Park Commission to
secure permission from the United States government and carry out the
plans originally made during Mayor Pratt’s administration for a Marine
Park along the Mystic River in front of the Naval Hospital.
At that time John D. Long was Secretary of the Navy and was interested
to the extent of visiting Chelsea and inspecting the project. It was
found, however, that the cost of filling would be too great.
Since then the government has appropriated money to dredge the Mystic
River, and the only expense would be to move the sea wall out several
hundred feet to the low-tide mark. The dredging could then be done by
the new hydraulic system, thus saving carting the dirt out to sea to be
dumped.
This improvement would not only greatly help Chelsea, but would make
the hospital grounds and neighborhood much healthier.
The residents of Chelsea are determined to drive out the Hebrew junk
dealers, and the insurance companies are helping by canceling all
policies on rag shops. The people of Chelsea have tolerated these
undesirable citizens as long as they propose to; fire after fire of
incendiary origin has taken place until there is no alternative,--they
have got to go.
As terrible as the fire was, God saw it was for the best, and in a very
few years the people are going to look at it in the same way. The new
city which is about to spring up will take the place that the Chelsea
of the sixties held,--excelled by none, and better than most.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF EX-MAYOR PRATT IN THE PRATTVILLE DISTRICT
ONE OF THE MANY ATTRACTIVE PLACES IN CHELSEA NOT BURNED]
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes.
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silently. Inconsistent spelling/hyphenation has been normalised.
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