Chapter I: 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