USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Chelsea > The burning of Chelsea 1908 > Part 3
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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 en- dangered 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-
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year-old child, whom she had given up as lost, was brought to her.
In the crowd racing down Mount Bell- ingham were many men, who had as- sumed 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
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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. Sea- ver being worth $50,000. This, and
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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, con- taining 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 sky- ward great clouds of flame and thick, black smoke. This swept down the har- bor, across the bay, and out to sea, con- tinuing to do so for two days and two nights. Reports from Scituate, Cohas- set, and other places showed that showers
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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 fire- men, 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
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BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD BRIDGE, WITH WRECKED EAST BOSTON BRIDGE AND BURNING OIL TANKS
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burning wood were shot across the street and into the adjoining buildings.
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
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water was played on most of the build- ings. Soon after the Catholic Church commenced to burn the Melrose fire de- partment 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 build- ing, 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
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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.
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CHAPTER V
UNDER CONTROL
By six o'clock the firemen were keep- ing 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 an- nounced 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
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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, arriv- ing shortly after the marines had cleared the square. Mr. Wells' fire badge ad- mitted him through the lines, and al- though Mr. Frothingham had no badge, he got through at the same time. Re- porters 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
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fellows all got badges?" Mr. Frothing- ham 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.
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CHAPTER VI
NIGHT AMONG THE RUINS
As night approached the problem of protecting the seventeen thousand refu- gees and their goods confronted those in authority, and it was realized that it was too great for the local artillery com- pany 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
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and fifty blankets were ordered down from the barracks at South Framingham, and a special train with Battalion Adju- tant 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 Bos- ton 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 ap- proaches 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 out- side the burned district would have been dark, but for the glow which was re- flected 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, doc-
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tors 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
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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 hospi- tals, and but for the unflagging efforts of the hospital sergeants, doctors, and nurses many more lives would have been lost.
One man, when picked up by the ambulance with his face and arms ter- ribly burned, was nearly dead. At- tempts 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 fore-
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head 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 every- where, 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 ยท 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
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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 hunt- ing 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 Powder- horn Hill and spent the night sobbing
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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 chair- man; City Treasurer Thomas B. Frost, treasurer, and Benjamin P. Nichols, sec- retary. After sending out the following letter of appeal the meeting was ad- journed until eight o'clock in the morn- ing.
"Chelsea, April 12, 1908.
"We have been visited by a most ter- rible catastrophe. One half the area of our city has been swept by fire. Fifteen thousand people are homeless.
"Twelve million dollars' worth of prop- erty has been destroyed. Our business section is almost wholly wiped out. We are in sore need. We have not lost our
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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.
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A VAST EXPANSE OF RUINS
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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 be- fore 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 play- ground to the west soldiers were pitch- ing tents for the homeless. As far as one could see lay nothing but a barren
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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 High- land 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.
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 tan- gled 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 offi- cials that their securities were safe, which
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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 ma- terial 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
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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 cour- age; there was no weeping, and the ex- cited 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 ob- server was the matter-of-fact way in which all took their losses. They kept their troubles to themselves and got to work helping others.
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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 fight- ing 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
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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 ex- pressed 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 com- panies had to rely on their own judgment and get to work without making a report.
And speaking of Chief Spencer, a good story is told at his expense. During the fire a bundle of woman's wearing ap- parel was left at the Central Fire Station for safety. Shortly after Chief Spencer entered the building and threw his hat
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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 wear- ing 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
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their eyes, and men like Dr. W. S. Walk- ley (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 build- ings 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
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been made of their work; it has been uni- versally 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 respon- sible 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 congrat- ulate 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 preser- vation to the courage and ability of the Fire Department of the city of Boston.
"Only those familiar with the condi-
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tions 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."
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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 es- tablished 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 de- stroyed. Each man had ten rounds of ball cartridges issued him with instruc-
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