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

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

RUINS OF THE GERMAIN ST. BAPTIST CHURCH BY MOONLIGHT.

From a Sketch by John C. Miles, Artist.

THE STORY

OF THE

JUNE 20th, 1877.

BY

GEORGE STEWART, Jr.,

OF ST. JOHN, N.B.

BELFORD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.

ST. JOHN, N.B.: R. A. H. MORROW; MONTREAL, P. Q.:
DAWSON BROS.; TORONTO, ONT.: JAS. CLARKE &
CO.; DETROIT, MICH.: CRAIG & TAYLOR;
BOSTON: LOCKWOOD, BROOKS & CO.

Entered according to the Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, by Belford Brothers, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.

TO

GILBERT MURDOCH, C. E.,

MY FIRST FRIEND,

I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

• [RUINS OF THE GERMAIN ST. BAPTIST CHURCH BY MOONLIGHT (Frontispiece).]
• [THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PANORAMIC VIEW OF ST. JOHN, 1828 OR '30.]
• [MARITIME BLOCK (1873) SHOWING VIEW OF PRINCE WILLIAM ST.]
• [THE BUILDING WHICH PREVENTED THE FIRE FROM EXTENDING UP KING ST.]
• [KING STREET.]
• [PINE'S BRICK BUILDING KING ST., THE ONLY BRICK BUILDING BETWEEN CANTERBURY AND GERMAIN STS.]
• [BELL TOWER AND KING SQUARE.]
• [VIEW OF KING ST., SHOWING ST. JOHN HOTEL, 1837.]
• [NORTH SIDE KING ST. AND BELL TOWER.]
• [TRINITY CHURCH.]
• [ACADEMY OF MUSIC.]
• [ST. ANDREW'S KIRK.]
• [VICTORIA HOTEL.]
• [GERMAIN STREET, SHOWING VICTORIA HOTEL.]
• [VIEW FROM QUEEN SQUARE.]
• [WENTWORTH STREET.]
• [BURNT DISTRICT, SHOWING GAS HOUSE CHIMNEY AND SMOKING RUINS, TAKEN FROM LOWER COVE.]
• [WESTERN SIDE OF CITY, TAKEN FROM LOWER COVE, SHOWING RUINS OF GAS WORKS.]
• [VICTORIA SCHOOL HOUSE, CORNER OF DUKE AND SYDNEY STREETS.]
• [VIEW FROM QUEEN SQUARE.]
• [CANTERBURY ST., SHOWING RICHIE'S BUILDING IN THE DISTANCE.]
• [INSIDE THE SAVINGS BANK.]
• [PRINCE WILLIAM STREET.]
• [PRINCE WILLIAM STREET.]
• [RUINS OF BANK OF NEW BRUNSWICK.]
• [NEW POST OFFICE.]
• [RUINS OF CUSTOM HOUSE FROM NORTH END AND EAST SIDE.]
• [THE TEMPORARY W. U. TEL. OFFICE.]
• [KING SQUARE AFTER THE FIRE, ENCAMPMENT OF THE 97TH REGIMENT.]
• [SKATING RINK.]

THE STORY

OF THE

GREAT FIRE IN ST. JOHN, N.B.

CHAPTER I.

The Great Fire—Its Extent—Its Terrible Rapidity—A Glance Backward—What the People Passed Through—The First Fire—Protective Movements—The People Who Lent the City Money—Minor Fires—Fire of 1823—The Great Fire of 1837—The Calamity of 1839—The Trials of 1841—The King Street Fire.

One of the most destructive fires of modern times occurred at St. John, N.B., on Wednesday, the 20th June, 1877. It was more calamitous in its character than the terrible conflagration which plunged portions of Chicago into ruin, and laid waste the great business houses of Boston a few years ago. In a relative sense, the St. John fire was a greater calamity, and its people for a time suffered sterner hardships. The fire in the large American cities was confined to a certain locality, but in St. John an immense area of territory was destroyed in the incredibly short space of nine hours, and fully two-fifths of the entire city were laid in ashes, and one thousand six hundred and twelve houses

levelled to the earth. The fire raged with overwhelming violence, carrying in its wake everything that came before it. At one time three portions of the city were burning at once, and all hope of checking the conflagration died in the hearts of men as the terrific volume of flame thundered and crackled, and hissed in sheets over their heads. The blinding smoke rolled heavenwards in a thick heavy mass; the flying embers were carried along for miles, and the brisk north-western wind brought the destroying flame to a thousand households. Men and women stood paralyzed in the streets, fearing the worst and hoping against hope. Those who had worked all afternoon trying to save their property now sank to the earth and barely escaped with their lives, for the fire was upon them. Nothing appeared to stay the march of the fiend. Immense piles, that seemed to stand like an army of picked guardsmen, were swept away in an instant; granite, freestone, brick and marble were as ineffectual in staying the conflagration as the dryest tinder-box houses which fed the flames at every turn. Even old stone buildings that had stood for sixty years, in the outskirts of the city, and had withstood many a serious fire before, now crumbled and tumbled before the conquering scourge.[A] 200 acres were destroyed, all that part of the city south of King Street, regiments of houses, stores and public buildings were burned, and the fire was only stayed when the water-line prevented its going further. The boundary of the burnt district followed a line on the

eastern and northern sides of Union Street to Mill Street, Mill Street to Dock Street, northern and eastern sides of Market Square, centre of King Street to Pitt Street, Pitt Street to its junction with the water; thence around by the harbour-line to the starting point. In brief, this was the battle-ground through which the grand charge of the fire was made—unparalleled in its brilliancy by any similar exploit which the annals of military deeds unfold. Men, horses, rows of stoutest building material, steam, water, all succumbed and went down like chaff before the whirlwind. Nothing was too strong to resist, nothing too weak to receive clemency.

A glance at the earlier history of St. John will show that destructive fires have been of frequent occurrence, and its people have suffered much from this system of devastation. In 1784, on Friday, the 18th June, the first fire of which we have any knowledge took place. At that time it was considered a terrible blow, and the sparse population thought that many years would elapse before the little city could recover from the wreck which the fire had made. Eleven houses were burned, and a large number of discharged soldiers of the 42nd Regiment were the principal sufferers. About this time a woman and child were burned to death at the Falls, and seven houses in this quarter were destroyed.

In April, 1787, the people decided to take active measures for protection against fire, and accordingly the following document was drawn up:

We, the subscribers, taking into our serious consideration the alarming situation of the city for want of fire-engines and public wells, should a fire break out in any part of it, and, at the same time, being sensible of the present inability of the city corporation to advance money for the purpose, do severally promise to pay the mayor, aldermen and commonalty, of the City of St. John (or to such persons as they shall appoint), the several sums annexed to our names as a loan upon interest, for the purpose of importing from London two suitable fire-engines, and for sinking a sufficient number of public wells in this city.

"Which several sums the said corporation have engaged to repay to each separate subscriber with interest annually, as soon as their funds will enable them so to do, as appears by an abstract from the minutes of the common council, dated the 20th March last:

"City of St. John, N.B., 5th April, 1787.

			£	s.	d.
"	Gabriel G. Ludlow (Mayor)		10	0	0
	Ward Chipman (Recorder)		10	0	0
	Jonathan Bliss (Atty.-General)		10	0	0
	James Putnam (Judge)		10	0	0
	Christopher Billop		5	0	0
	Zeph Kingsley		10	0	0
	Samuel Randall		10	0	0
	Gilbert & Hanford		10	0	0
	Isaac Bell		5	0	0
	Robert Parker		10	0	0
	BENEDICT ARNOLD		10	0	0
	William Wyly		10	0	0
	Mark Wright		3	0	0
	C. C. Hall & Co.		5	0	0
	William Pagan		10	0	0
	John Colwell		5	0	0
	Thomas Bean		10	0	0
	Francis Gilbert		5	0	0
	Samuel Hallet		3	0	0
	William Hazen		10	0	0
	James Ruon		5	0	0
	John Califf		4	13	4
	Isaac Lawton		5	0	0
	Samuel Mills		5	0	0
	Paul Bedell		5	0	0
	William Wanton (Collector Custom)		10	0	0
	Adino Paddock, M. D.		5	0	0
	McCall & Codner		10	0	0
	Thomas Horsfield		10	0	0
	John McGeorge	}
	Thos. Elliot		10	0	0
	William Bainy
	Thompson & Reed		10	0	0
	Christopher Lowe, (King's Printer)		5	0	0
	W. S. Olive, (Sheriff)		5	0	0
	Wm. Whittaker		5	0	0
	Peter Quin		3	0	0
	Charles Warner		5	0	0
	Abiather Camp		5	0	0
	James Peters		5	0	0
	Daniel Michean		3	0	0
	Fitch Rogers		5	0	0
	Munson Jarvis		5	0	0
	Nehemiah Rodgers		5	0	0
	Edward Sands		3	0	0	."

On the 2nd February, 1786, the corporation paid Peter Fleming £136 6s. 8d. for two fire engines. These must have proved ineffectual, for the reader will notice that the above loan was made up hardly a year afterward, and the present sum was raised for the special purpose of buying London engines, and sinking wells.

The movement was not inaugurated a moment too soon, for in 1788 the following year, a fire occurred in the store of General Benedict Arnold, of revolutionary fame, which threatened to become very serious before it was got under way. Arnold's store was situate in Lower Cove, where the sewing machine factory adjoining John E. Turnbull's sash factory stood, till the late besom of fire swept it away. A good deal of excitement was occasioned at the time of the fire in Arnold's premises. His former partner, Hoyt, charged him with setting fire to the store. Arnold sued him for slander, and recovered a verdict of twenty shillings!

The next fire broke out in 1816 in a large two-story house on the corner of Germain and Britain Streets, occupied by a military physician named Davis. The doctor and his wife were saved from burning by the heroic conduct of their next door neighbour. A party of soldiers were engaged the next day sifting the ashes and searching for the silver which had melted; not a trace of it was found however.

The fire of 1823 was a very serious one, and caused great destruction. It began on Disbrow's Wharf and took along with it nearly both sides of Prince William Street;

the old wooden building on the latter street lately occupied by The Telegraph newspaper, alone escaped. The lot on which it stood cost Dr. Adino Paddock five shillings in 1786. During this fire over forty houses were burned, and the loss of property and goods was estimated at £20,000, which in those days was felt to be enormous.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PANORAMIC VIEW OF ST. JOHN, 1828 OR '30.

The fire of 1837 will linger long in the memory of many of the inhabitants of St. John. It was the most wholesale destruction of property which the people had ever known. Many to-day contrast the misfortunes of that day with those of the present hour. Even when the flames were carrying death and destruction on all sides on that warm day in June, 1877, men stopped to compare notes and whisper a word or two about the fire of 1837. Of course the loss was not as great then, or the number of lives lost so large, or so much valuable property destroyed as at the present time, but the people were less able to bear the trials which came upon them then, and many never recovered from the shock. The city was young and struggling to gain a foothold. The city was poor and the people were frugal. They were not able to bear the burdens which were in a night entailed upon them, the magnificent system of relief from outside sources was not in operation, and without help of any kind save that which they themselves brought into requisition, the citizens nobly worked long and hard to rebuild their little seaport town. There was a prejudice against insurance, and many lost every dollar they posses

sed. The hardships of those days are remembered by many who passed through them then, and who once more endure the horrors of a great calamity with almost Spartan courage. The time of the '37 fire was in the very heart of a rigorous winter, on the 13th of January, and we can only picture the destruction of Moscow to enable the reader to understand how terrible the sufferings of the people must have been, when snow and ice were on the ground, and not a shelter covered the heads of the afflicted women and tender babes. It was a day remembered long after by those who had passed through its trials. The fire originated on Peters's Wharf, and in a moment, like lightning, it darted along South Market Wharf and extended up to the ferry boat. Both sides of Water Street and Prince William Street between Cooper's Alley and Princess Street were destroyed. The old Nichols House was saved; it was occupied then by Solomon Nichols and stood on the corner of Cooper's Alley and Prince William Street, lately the site of Farrall & Smith's dry goods store. It was originally built of wood and it was a marvel that it was not carried away with the rest; but it stood like an oasis in Sahara, or the old sentinel who was left on guard and forgotten after the army had fled. One hundred and fifteen houses were consumed, and nearly the whole of the business portion of the city, and one million dollars' worth of property were destroyed.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

MARITIME BLOCK (1873) SHOWING VIEW OF PRINCE WILLIAM ST.

Climo, Photo.

Hardly had the people recovered from the disaster of 1837, when another scourge came upon them causing nearly as much destruction as before. This was in August,

1839, when a fire started in Nelson Street and burned the entire north wharf, both sides of Dock Street, Market Square, with the exception of the house standing on the site now occupied by the Bank of British North America, and a house on Union Street west, occupied by Mr. Hegan. It didn't cross Prince William Street. The old Government House, Union Street, escaped.

The spring of 1841, 17th March, was the scene of another fire, when four lives were lost and much excitement prevailed. Mr. Holdsworth, of Holdsworth & Daniel, (London House) perished while endeavouring to keep off the sparks from the roof of his store.

On the 26th August, a £30,000 fire in Portland carried off sixty houses; and on the 15th November, 1841, a fire broke out on the South Wharf and burned the whole of that wharf together with Peter's Wharf, south side of Water Street, and the large brick Market-house in Market Square, which was occupied by butchers in the ground flat, and used for the civic offices in the second story. This building could have been saved, and was lost through gross carelessness. Incendiarism was rampant and the greatest excitement filled the public mind.

In 1845, 29th July, forty buildings were burned from a fire which took its start in Water Street, and in 1849 the famous King Street fire broke out in a store in Lawrence's building. The Commercial Hotel, then kept by the late Israel Fellows, father of James I. Fellows, Chemist, was destroyed, together with the Tower of Trinity

Church, which had to be pulled down that the Church might be saved. Pilot Mills climbed to the cupola and secured the fastenings by which it was brought to the ground.

The fire in Prince William Street of March 8th of the present year, which broke out in the building owned by the Ennis and Gardner estate, and resulted in the loss of seven lives and nearly two millions of dollars' worth of property, is still fresh in the minds of our readers.

Thus the reader will see that St. John has had a goodly share of the great fires, which, in a moment lay prostrate a city, and plunge her inhabitants into almost hopeless ruin. We come now to that day of our last and greatest tribulation when the city was shook to its very foundation and was well nigh thrown out of existence.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The exact acreage, from actual measurement is 200 acres; streetage, 9.6 miles.

CHAPTER II.

The Late Fire—Its Origin—Bravery of the Firemen—The High Wind—The Fire's Career—Fighting the Flames—Almost Lost—The Escape from the Burning Building—Destruction of Dock Street—Smyth Street in Flames—The Wharves—Demolition of Market Square—Something about the Business Houses there—The Banks—Fire checked at North Street.

The great fire, for we must distinguish it by that title, since in vastness it overpowers all other similar calamities which have befallen St. John, originated in the late Joseph Fairweather's building, York Point, Portland, at half past two on Wednesday afternoon, 20th June. The writer and Mr. Frederick R. Fairweather were walking down King Street at the time of the alarm, and, in company with hundreds of others, visited the scene of what promised at the time to be a very small affair indeed. When the place was reached, McLaughlin's boiler shop was in flames and all efforts of the firemen to put out the fire were checkmated at every turn by the fierce north-west wind which was blowing a perfect gale. In a few minutes the fire spread with alarming rapidity, and houses went down as if a mine of powder had exploded and razed them. The wind lifted from the roofs immense brands and sparks, and by three o'clock the city was in flames at a dozen points. Lower Cove was on fire, and the dryness of the houses rendered them as useless to withstand the blaze as bits of paper would have been. The huge blazing brands

were carried along in the air for miles around, and where-ever they dropped a house went down. The engines were powerless, and the firemen, though they worked like heroes, availed but little. The wild, mad flames, now in sheets, now with a million tongues of angry fork-like columns, dashed against the wharves, levelling them to the water's edge, ripping up the pavements of the streets, and crushing houses out of existence in a single swoop. Nothing could be done. The leaping demon swept all before him. Hare's Wharf with its buildings bowed before the destroyer, and with a roar which thrilled every heart, and unnerved every man who stood there, the whole force of the fire dashed into Smyth Street and shattered every building in it. J. W. Nicholson's wine vaults, Harrison's flour warehouse, Logan & Lindsay's storehouse, Robertson Place, which exceeded in value half a million of dollars, were snapped up in a second. The flames spread into Drury Lane and Mill Street, and soon both sides of Dock Street were in the common ruin. But while this was going on, the rear of the London House, in Market Square, was threatened and the old barracks in Lower Cove were on fire. A reinforcement from Carleton and Portland fire departments came to the assistance of the firemen at this juncture, and every man worked with a will. The hose was directed with admirable expertness but the high wind baffled the efforts of all who stood before it. It could rise higher than the water, and it could travel faster than man. A mass of flames at the end of Smyth Street and Drury Lane burned close to an engine,

but the dauntless firemen, holding boards over their heads to protect their faces and eyes from the heat, gave battle to the relentless foe. It was a fight of water and human endurance against fire, and fire prevailed in the end. The unequal combat lasted some minutes, and it was only when death seemed imminent that the men drew away, and even then they only yielded the ground inch by inch, till they could no longer stand up before the charging enemy. The fire was now going with headlong speed down Dock Street. Frantic women wildly sobbing filled the roads with the few sticks of furniture and portions of bedding which they had managed to save. Children hastened along crying aloud, and making the scene more dreadful as they ran barefooted over the hot sidewalk. Men with picture frames and books rushed past, calling and threatening, and moaning. It was a scene terrible in its reality. People were driven from street to street, and hurled forward, till, with horror in their blanched faces, they turned and saw in their rear the wild flames hemming them in. With many a shriek they dashed into the side streets. Some ran along Water Street, only to meet the flames there, and a few sought refuge in rafts and boats, and sped to Carleton, losing in the excitement every dollar they owned in the world. The old McSweeney lime-stone building, which came to a point on the corner of Union and Dock Streets, early succumbed and was a mass of crumbling ruins. It was near this edifice that a woman rescued her child from instant death, and pulled her

away just in time to escape being buried in a mass of stone, which came tumbling down in a thousand pieces. The Rankine bakery, another building known far and wide, suffered demolition, and was soon a heap of ruins. Some young men, three in number, entered a store on Mill Street, to avoid the dust and smoke. In a little while they saw with agony the flames burst in upon them from the rear door, ten or twelve feet from the entrance. They called for help, and attempted to gain an exit from the place which was now filled with heavy black smoke. Three times they sought the door, and every minute they began to realize the imminence of their danger. The flames and smoke drove them back, and now the water from the hose came tearing into their faces, knocking their breath away, and saturating them with the wet. Two jumped with the frenzy of madmen and the wildness of despair, and landed into the street safe, but paralysed with fear. The other man groped his way on his hands and knees along the floor and felt for the door. He succeeded after enduring much suffering, in crawling into the street. All that these three saved was on their backs. In the midst of the commotion in Dock Street, merchants were busily engaged in securing their books and private papers, and hurrying out with them. Some trusted to their safes and locked their doors. The sweep in this street was a clear one. The old "Hammond House" went shortly after the McSweeney building, and the Figaro Opera House followed shortly after. This building was built a few years ago, as an exhibition hall, by Otis Small,

Esq., and leased to Major George Bishop, as a concert room. He occupied it awhile, and Pete Lee succeeded him in the lesseeship and management of the concern. Some excellent performances of the variety kind have been given in this building. The hall was comfortably seated and tastefully arranged. Latterly it was converted, by Prof. Neilson, into a ball-room and dancing academy, when it received its new name, "Figaro Opera House."

Dock Street was soon in ashes, and it was while this street was burning that a grand rush was made by the merchants and private bankers, to the Bank of New Brunswick. Piles of bank notes, bills of exchange, mortgages, bonds, specie, books of account, ledgers, &c., &c., were placed in tin boxes, when practicable, and deposited, through the courtesy of George Schofield, Esq., of the bank, into the vaults. They were not a moment too soon, for now the splendid front of the Market Square was in a blaze, and Hall & Fairweather's store on South Wharf was burning. An immense amount of damage was being done. On this square a vast deal of business had been done for many years, and leading merchants had made and lost fortunes on its site. The London House, Messrs. Daniel & Boyd's wholesale establishment, represented a large value. It stood in the centre of the square, and the gradual sinking of this structure was a sad but grandly imposing sight. It was here where enterprise was to be found, and Daniel & Boyd's name was ever the synonym for honesty, integrity, and truth. It was in this spacious warehouse where the busy merchants were to be seen,

eager to help the young men of the city, and anxious to develop the resources of the country. In every good work, in every deed of charity, Thomas W. Daniel and John Boyd headed the list, and to them many a young merchant to-day is indebted for that teaching, which, in after life, made him honourable in his dealings. This prominent house was started in 1831 by Holdsworth & Daniel. The fire of 1839 carried their store away, and for a while the firm occupied the store known as Jardine's, Prince William Street. In 1839, the land on the market square was purchased by Mr. Thos. Daniel for £4,000. (In 1811 this place was used as a blacksmith's shop.) In 1847, Mr. Thomas Daniel left the firm and went to England. His nephew, the present head of the house, Thos. W. Daniel, began business on his own account, and soon after 1852, he admitted John Boyd as a partner in the house, under the style of T. W. Daniel & Co. Shortly after the style of this firm was changed to Daniel & Boyd. On the corner to the right of Daniel & Boyd, No. 1 Market Square, was the staunch old drug establishment of the late W. O. Smith, Esq. Mr. Smith, the father of our present ex-Mayor, opened here after the fire of 1839, and the business has been conducted here till the late fire, by his son, A. Chipman Smith, since 1871, when his father died in March of that year. In the adjoining store, so many years occupied by Lawton & Vassie, Messrs. Manchester, Robertson & Allison, may be said to have begun business. They left here, W. W. Jordan taking the store, to occupy their commodious premises in King Street, which alone

kept off the fire from the north side of King Street. The saving of this building was one of the marvels of the present calamity. It really held the key to the whole of this side of the street. But for the laundry and the well managed protective means employed by the firm and their friends, the destruction of this house and the entire street would have been accomplished. Men stood idly in the courtway folding their arms and telling one another that the building could not possibly be saved, when Mr. Manchester, in his short impulsive way, told them if every one did as they were doing, it could not; but he intended to use every effort in his power before he gave it up. The firemen here worked with a will, and were rewarded with a splendid result. It was on this side of the street that the Western Union Telegraph Office was situated, and it and Mr. J. W. Hall's new building were the first to go. The Maritime Block—a splendid structure—in which the banks, Maritime, Montreal and Nova Scotia, were established, and which faced the Market Square, went down while it was yet daylight. In this building the offices of the school trustees, Dun, Wiman & Co., A. P. Rolph, Lumber Exchange, and Board of Trade were held. While Mr. Rolph was engaged in getting his things ready to move out, Mr. Richard Thompson's men were hastening in with silver-ware and jewelry, thinking in their excitement that this building was at all events safe. Mr. Thompson's loss is very heavy, and the damage to his elegant and costly stock is considerable. The lot on which the Sheffield House stood was offered some years ago, at

private sale, to John Wilmot, Esq., father of Senator R. Duncan Wilmot, by James Brimner, for £2,000. Mr. Wilmot refused it, and attended the auction sale when it was knocked down to him for £2,950. The police office went next, Watts & Turner's, H. & H. McCullough's, and round again to the north wharf, carrying Lewin & Allingham, Chas. R. Ray, W. H. Thorne & Co. (retail), and Thomas M. Reed, along with it. The destruction on the north wharf totally demolished the establishment of Jas. Domville & Co., and the books of the firm which had been taken to the Maritime Bank for safe keeping, were subsequently burned there. The saving of the Bank of British North America, the only monetary institution in the city which resumed business the next day as usual, was one of those wonderful events which only occur at rare intervals. The fire roared lustily in the rear of the bank, but something seemed to command it to halt there, and advance no further. A large barn went down, and now it was deemed certain that the bank would go next, but no, the fire crossed the square, dashed along Water Street, cut into Ward Street, destroyed a slip full of schooners and wood boats, slipped into Tilton's Alley, and rushed along with frightful rapidity on both sides of every thoroughfare in its way. On the one side of the city the fire was stopped at North Street, having reached J. & T. Robinson's house and store.

THE BUILDING WHICH PREVENTED THE FIRE FROM EXTENDING UP KING ST.

CHAPTER III.

The Fire in King Street—Recollections—The Old Coffee House Corner—The Stores in King Street—The Old Masonic Hall—The St. John Hotel—Its Early Days—The Bell Tower—King Square—A Night of Horror—The Vultures at Work—Plundering the Destitute.

The fire entered King Street in the western side from Germain and Canterbury Streets. It began by burning down Lawton & Vassie's brick store, erected on the site which contained the famous Bragg building. This stout building and Bowes & Evan's premises were soon buried in the common ruin. The fire went along King Street, destroying Mr. Sharp's dry goods store, Jas. Adams & Co's., James Manson's magnificent palace, including his safe and all his valuable papers, John K. Storey's and Magee Bros., Imperial Block. This last place is quite historic. This block was erected in 1852, by the late John Gillis. It was built on the site where the memorable coffee house stood. Here of an evening for years and years the old men of the place used to sit and gossip and smoke and sip their toddy. Here in 1815 they met to learn the news of the war between France and England, and read the story of Waterloo four or five months after it was fought and won. In this sort of Shakspeare tavern, the leading merchants of the day met and chatted over large sales, and compared notes. Here a verbal commercial agency was established, and here delightful old gossips,

like busy Sam Pepys and garrulous old busybodies, like Johnson's Bozzy, met and told each other all about everybody else's affairs. What a time these old fellows had every night sitting there in that quaint old coffee house, chatting and smoking, smoking and chatting again. And there were Ben Jonsons in those days, who wrote dramatic pieces and showed them to their friends over a cup of hot spiced rum. And poets too, full of the tender passion, sighed out hexameters of love in that old coffee house so dear to some of the men we meet to-day who lost everything in the flames on that dark Wednesday in June. Ah, yes, the grand old coffee house was torn down in 1852 to make room for the handsome pile of stone and brick which perished only the other day. The corner is again bare, and the few who remember the coffee house are fast passing away.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

KING STREET.

The fire now gained great headway, and soon it was seen taking prodigious leaps, going ahead, and then seemingly to dart back again and finish what it had already begun. The people everywhere were in the wildest state of excitement. In the back streets the fire was progressing and destroying the residences of the men who were trying to save their business property in the marts of commerce. People sent car loads of their more valuable goods to places which appeared to be safe, but which turned out in the end to be of only temporary security. Men had their stores burned at four and five o'clock, and their goods burned at seven and eight o'clock. It was only putting off the evil for a few brief hours. Cartmen

charged wildly and exorbitantly—some having to pay as high as fifty dollars to have carted away a cartload of stuff. On every roof in King Street clerks and employers stood with hose and buckets of water, but nothing that man could do or devise held the flames at bay, or kept them off for the brief space of a moment. The fire was determined on a clean sweep, and despite the most strenuous exertions it had its own way, and baffled the efforts of those who attempted to stay its fierce will. Beek's corner, lately in the occupancy of H. R. Smith, bookseller, and a perfect feeder of a fire like this, was an easy prey, and with a loud roar its rafters fell, and a well-known corner was no more. Mullin's shoe store, a building of similar construction, went down in another moment, and now the only brick building in the block from Canterbury Street to Germain Street was attacked by the fire. This was Pine's brick building, a fine structure which several years ago Mr. George Jury Pine built, and in which I. & F. Burpee commenced business, and George Stewart, of Stewart & White, began trade. Messrs. Della, Torre & Co. occupied No. 30, and Geo. Stewart, Jr., Druggist, held the other store, No. 32. The present owner of the building, Stephen Whittaker, of Fredericton, had lately begun the erection of a spacious rear addition, and improvements on a liberal scale had been commenced in the upper stories. The rest of the building was known as the Russell House. This building went to pieces about six o'clock. The photograph rooms were destroyed before Pine's building went, and the flames sped quickly, carrying be

fore them the stores of Bardsley Bros., Scott & Binning, W. K. Crawford, Geo. Salmon, and Hanington Bros.' drug store, formerly Fellows & Co.'s establishment on Foster's Corner, corner King and Germain Streets. The contents of this store were quickly snapped up by the fire, and pills and plasters, soaps and perfumes were spilled about in hopeless profusion and confusion. Mr. T. H. Hall's twin buildings were across the street, but a barrier like that was an easy jump for the infuriated flames. They leaped into the windows, attacked the wood-work, and with a strong pull the two splendid stone buildings were borne to the ground, and thousands of dollars' worth of property lay scattered about in all directions. Mr. Hall occupied the corner store as a book-store, and T. L. Coughlan had the other. Dr. J. M. C. Fiske, dentist held the room overhead.[B] The Gordon House, Fred. S. Skinner's grocery store, a row of wooden shanties, Landry's brick building, with a rich stock of organs in it, Logan, Lindsay & Co.'s large grocery, A. & J. Hay's, Geo. Nixon's, Wm. Warn's bath-rooms, W. H. Watson's, Geo. Suffren's, W. H. Patterson's, Taylor & Dockrill's, George Sparrow's, R. McAndrew's, and the United States Hotel, only lived a short time in the very heart of the fire.

PINE'S BRICK BUILDING KING ST., THE ONLY BRICK BUILDING BETWEEN CANTERBURY AND GERMAIN STS.

The fire closed here for a moment, engaging a building dear from long and good service to the people of St. John, and eminently historical in its way. The United States Hotel, as Mr. Hinch, the photographer, called it, when he

took possession of it a few years since, was known for many years as the old Masonic Hall. It stood on the corner of King Street and Charlotte Street, and was commenced by the Free and Accepted Masons in 1816. It was decided to erect this Temple of Masonry at a meeting of the craft held April 1, 1816. The lot of land was leased from the corporation of Trinity Church, and on the 28th September following the corner-stone was laid, on which was inscribed the following:—

"This stone of the Masonic Hall was laid on 28th Sept., 1816, of the era of Masonry 5816, and the reign of George the Third, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in the mayoralty of John Robinson, Esq., by Thomas Wetmore, Esq., H.M. Attorney-General of N.B., as Grand Master, substitute of John Pike, Esq,. Grand Master of the Society of Masons, Nova Scotia, and the jurisdiction thereof."

BELL TOWER AND KING SQUARE.

The movement was not successful in a pecuniary sense, for in 1819 the building was sold at sheriffs sale, at suit of James Hendricks. The purchaser was Israel Lawson. Mr. Lawson had the building completed, and leased the third or upper story to the Masons. The room was 60 feet by 30 feet, with two large ante-rooms. It was in this room that all the concerts, balls, public parties, and public meetings given in the city were held for many years. Up to 1836 the house was known as the Masonic Hall, but after this year its name was changed. The St. John Hotel Company was formed, and the building was purchased from Mr. Lawson and converted into a hotel. It

was called the "St. John Hotel," and Mr. Cyrus Stockwell father of the Honourable Mr. Stockwell, editor of the Boston Journal, opened it on May 24th, 1837. He was its first proprietor. A copy of the company's original seal is given below. It was made of brass, and was two inches in diameter.

This was the first hotel in St. John. It was here that Governor-General Poulet Thompson and Lord

Elgin stopped, and all the notables who from time to time visited the city. In 1840, Mr. Stockwell retired, and Messrs. W. & J. Scammell succeeded him in the management of the hotel. These enterprising gentlemen set to work at once to remodel the building, and they soon had it in splendid working order. The same energy which the present firm of Scammell Bros. throw into their business, was characteristic of the old firm of Scammell Bros. in 1840. In 1851, W.

& J. Scammell left the St. John Hotel, and took up their quarters in the Waverley House, nearly opposite. The [picture] which accompanies this sketch of the old

hotel represents the building as it appeared in 1837. It is taken from an old picture, and as but two or three copies were known to exist before the late fire, it is a question now if more then one copy was saved. The old St. John Hotel is full of associations, pleasurable in every case, to travellers who used to come to St. John thirty and forty years ago. Even in 1858, when Messrs. Whitney & Adams kept it, it was still a home for the stranger. There was a freedom about its old rooms, and a positive luxuriance which one looks for in vain in the hotels of our later days. About 1861-62, people used to sit in Ned Sharland's book-store, which was on the ground-flat, and sketch the Bell-tower, which was then certainly "a thing of beauty," even if Mr. Warner found it the reverse in 1874, when he climbed up to the triumphal arch and found it was made of wood, painted and sanded, instead of solid stone, as he thought it was. This bell-tower was erected in 1851, and the large bell which for years tolled out that fire was at hand, was made in 1852, and came from Meneely's, West Troy, New York. Before that day, men struck a gong from a scaffold whenever there was a fire. The tower was useful even in its latter days, if its beauty had departed three years ago. The cut which we supply will give the reader at a distance some idea of the old tower, as it appeared in its lusty young days. When the city comes to be built up again, the site of the late hotel must not be forgotten. It is eminently adapted for an hotel. It is centrally located, and has a frontage of 120 feet on King Street, by 100 feet on Charlotte Street.

King Square did much to stay the onward march of the fire. It was a haven of rest for those weary ones who were flying from the flames, with the few things they had saved from the burning. It was the camping ground of the soldiery, and the hospital bed of the sick and wounded, who were borne to the fresh grass, and laid there until help was brought to them. The Square, the first few days of the fire, was filled with furniture, and books, and household utensils. It was in this square that half-famished women, that night, hugged their little ones to their hearts, and rocked them, hungry and cold, on the sward till they went to sleep, only to awaken again and cry for something to eat. It was here that women gathered into slips the flying feathers that danced upon the grass and were the playthings of the wind, trying to save enough of what remained to make a rest for their heads. It was here they sat with wildly staring eyes, looking out into the night, while all around them the embers flew about, and the heavens were red with the sporting flames. It was before this that the Bell-tower fell with a deafening crash, and many a heart quailed in the Square, for this told that another historic fragment was swept away, and that the terrible fire was near at hand. Sobbing children ceased their wailing for a time, and feeble mothers prayed that God in His mercy might avert the calamity, and stay the warring flames. There was no more sleep for the tired ones. They must wander about, ringing their hands and crying aloud in their awful despair. Even men who had faced a thousand dangers,

quailed before the advance of the fire. The streets were alive with hurrying pedestrians. Horses were driven at breakneck speed, and the clattering hoofs told that danger was at hand. Human vultures stood, with their "pickers and stealers," ready to pounce upon everything that could be seized, and the presence of an appalling danger did not deter them from plundering the unfortunate and the destitute. It was the old war again, of the strong against the weak and powerless. A female vampire helped a widow lady to gather her little things together in a bundle, while her children stole the silver and jewelry, and made off with their plunder. Rough half-grown men stopped children in the streets, and snatched from their arms the treasured fragments from a broken home, which they were trying to rescue from the elemental spoiler. Loafers and thieves held high carnival, and despite the agony which was felt on all sides, these miscreants never for an instant forgot that they were thieves, or neglected to ply their calling when chance threw anything in their way. All night they roamed the streets, and thrived on the misfortunes of others. Ask them for assistance, and they knocked you down. Give them something to hold a minute, and they made off with it. The vilest scum that ever filled a penitentiary stalked abroad that night, and their lawlessness but added to the horror of the hour.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

VIEW OF KING ST., SHOWING ST. JOHN HOTEL, 1837.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

NORTH SIDE KING ST. AND BELL TOWER.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] The Orangemen of St. John District met in this hall.

CHAPTER IV.

The fire in Germain Street—The first brick house in St. John—Old Trinity—The Loyalists—Curious ideas about insurance—The rectors of Trinity—The Clock—The Royal Arms.

The fire along Germain Street was of great volume, and dealt out destruction in a thoroughly wholesale manner. A good many buildings of more than ordinary note were situate in this pleasant street, and to these may be added a large number of churches, some of them being of especial importance in an historical point of view. The fire came along briskly, carrying Foster's Corner, Foster's shoe store, and the little buildings adjoining, till it reached Dr. Ring's residence, the old Disbrow property, the first brick house in St. John. The doctor had lately improved it by extensive building operations, but in an hour or two hardly a fragment remained to mark the spot, save parts of the well-built walls and the tall chimneys. Mrs. Chas. K. Cameron's millinery store and Hamilton & Lounsbury's place of business were in the two stores in this building, and they very soon were lost to sight. Lordly, Howe & Co.'s furniture warerooms, filled with new stock, were greedily devoured by the flames, and Geo. Hutchinson, jr., who kept the time ball in working order, lost all his jewelry and stock. The precious stones and gold and silver ornaments in his safe were totally ruined also. The Mansion Hotel, a small boarding house, was soon

among the general mass of debris, and the fire whizzed across the street, and directed its entire force on Old Trinity. First the steeple went, and then the whole body of the old church was in a sheet of flame, and there was barely time left to save the historic Royal Arms which Captain Frank B. Hazen got out of the building, and a few prayer books in the vestry, and the minister's surplices, which Colonel Chas. R. Ray rescued from destruction. The communion plate was in a safe, and it too was saved; but this was all. During the burning of this sacred edifice the greatest consternation prevailed among the people who lined the streets. Now surely there was no resisting the fire. The hoarse roar of the tornado of flame seemed to sound like a mocking laugh, and when the rafters of the oldest church in the city fell with a dull thud, all felt as if a friend had been torn ruthlessly from their gaze. Many exhibited real emotion; and there were women who cried that afternoon, as they thought of this last relic of their loyalist forefathers being swept away in the cruel and all-devouring fire. Trinity Church has a very remarkable history of its own, and the [picture] which we supply of it will be perhaps the most attractive of our illustrations to the great mass of the residents of the city. It was ever a monument of the piety and religious tenets of our first settlers. A heritage which they left to their children. It never laid claims to architectural beauty, but it was commodious and homely; and men felt while inside its grand old walls that there was something more than the mere name in religion after all,

and the word which they heard was true and good. The Loyalists who settled here in 1783, on that memorable 18th of May, were composed of that stuff which the poet tells us warriors sometimes feel, and they diligently set to work to build on this sterile, rocky soil a city that future ages would acknowledge. They had thrift, integrity, great zeal, enterprise and piety, and these attributes were their strongest points. The man who possesses all these characteristics can give battle to the world and he will conquer. They had true courage in them, these pioneers. They had stability, nerve and character, and were just the men to found a city and plant the seeds of civilization in a community. They erected simple houses at first, and then a church was built in which they could worship that God who had befriended them and journeyed with them to their new homes. The first church was erected in Germain Street, between Duke and Queen Streets, in the lot where Mr. James McMillan lived till he was burned out of it the other day. The faith adopted here was that of the Church of England—as the major portion of the Loyalists were of that persuasion. When the city lots were divided, the "Old Burial Ground" was laid aside for church and burial purposes, and at the south-west corner—where the court-house now stands—it was intended to build a church, and a frame for that object was obtained. The fire of 1784, however, passed over this section of the city, and the founders changed their ideas about the locality in which the projected edifice should stand. The Germain Street building had not been consecrated, and the people

continued to worship there until 1791, when the Trinity Church was erected. The first church then continued to be occupied by various denominations, by the Methodists first, and then by the Baptists, until meeting-houses and chapels of their own could be built; latterly it was used as a private dwelling-house and school-house. The first sermon in Trinity was preached on Christmas Day, 1791, by Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, rector. The following year a bell was put up, and, in 1803 or 1804, stoves, for the first time, were placed in the church. The first Bishop of Nova Scotia, Right Reverend Dr. Charles Inglis, performed the consecration services of the church. This eminent divine was grandfather of Major-General Sir John Inglis, whose deeds of valour at Lucknow will never be forgotten while glorious exploits in military history live in the memory of men. Thomas Horsfield and Fitch Rogers were the first church-wardens of Trinity, and the vestrymen were Hon. Gabriel Ludlow, Ward Chipman, Munson Jarvis, Thomas Whitlock, Nathan Smith, Thomas Elmes, William Hazen, Colin Campbell, Nehemiah Rogers, Isaac Lawton, Thomas Bean, and Samuel Hallet; vestry clerk, Colin Campbell; sexton, James McPherson. General Coffin and Thomas Whitlock gave the ground for the building, and Messrs. Bean & Dowling were the builders. This Mr. Bean was the gentleman who, in June, 1811, when the church wanted to borrow £200, agreed to lend it that sum on the express condition that the insurance policy then on the building should be at once cancelled. An order was passed cancelling the policy without delay. Thus was

Trinity for a while without insurance. Had Mr. Bean's ideas prevailed to-day the congregation would, in all likelihood, mourn the loss of $20,000, which is the amount that was on the building at the time of the fire. When the edifice was finished, it was found to be of a peculiar shape, and its breadth was out of all proportion to its length. This was not an accident, however, for the builders wisely thought the city would grow, and that as the requirements of the people needed it, the church might be made larger. Little change had taken place in the interior arrangements of the church at the time of its destruction. The same pews had stood over four score of years, and all the alteration that was made was a slight cutting down of the backs of some of the centre ones. The side pews remained the original height. For seventy-three years the old organ has been in constant use in Trinity. It was brought from London in 1804, and cost a good round sum. The freight on it alone was one hundred guineas, but the owner of the vessel which brought it over, Hon. Wm. Pagan, remitted the amount back to the corporation of the church. To its last days, this organ has been a good instrument. In 1792, Mr. William Thomson presented Trinity with a bell, for which he received a cordial vote of thanks. This bell was in active service till 1857, when the bell which tolled a few days ago its last sad peals, was mounted in the belfry. The town-clock, as every one was accustomed to call the clock which told of the passing hours, too, has a history. In 1810, Mr. John Venning erected the tower and cupola.

He had nearly completed his work one May morning, when owing to a light fall of snow the staging became slippery, and when Mr. Venning stepped upon it he slipped from it to the roof, and from thence to the ground, where he was picked up dead. In 1812, the clock was placed in position, and has remained there, till the events of Wednesday ended its career. Barraud, of Cornhill, London, was the maker, and it cost £221 19s. sterling; the Common Council voted £50 towards it. Up to 1814, the church paid for having the time-piece wound, and in this year the winding cost £6 15s., when the church people decided that they would no longer attend to this service, and maintained that the commonalty should see to it. The Council, on December 24th, 1814, resolved to act on the suggestions of the Church corporation, and took upon themselves the duty of keeping the clock wound up and in repair. Edward Taylor assisted in putting up the clock and assumed control of it, till Mr. Wm. Hutchinson, father of Geo. Hutchinson, jr., took charge of it. Previous to 1857, it had three dials, but in this year a fourth was added, and a spire was placed upon the church.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

TRINITY CHURCH.

In 1811-12 the church was lengthened, and in 1857 it was enlarged again.

The first rector was the Rev. George Bisset, A. M., an Englishman. Before the revolutionary war he was assistant to the rector of Trinity Church, at Newport, Rhode Island. He became, two years later, the rector of that church, and remained in that position until 1779, when the British forces evacuated the island, and Mr. Bisset

went to New York. At the close of the war he came to St. John and was chosen rector of the new parish. In 1786, he went to England on private and public business, and while there raised quite a large sum to further the interests of his church, and to assist materially in the building of the edifice. But in 1788, without seeing his hopes realized, he died, and was buried in the Germain Street church-yard, and subsequently his remains were interred in the Putnam tomb, in the old burial ground, where they still lie.

A Harvard graduate of the class of 1751, was the next rector of Trinity, the Rev. Mather Byles, D.D. For fifteen years, he had laboured as a Congregational minister at New London, and then left that church to link his fortunes with the Episcopalians. He joined the Church and became rector of Christ's Church, Boston, Mass. He left his charge, when the British troops abandoned Boston, and went to Halifax, N. S., where he became Garrison chaplain. When Mr. Bisset died Dr. Byles removed to St. John, was made rector, and preached, as we have said, the first sermon that was ever preached in Trinity Church. In his latter days Dr. Byles was very infirm and required an assistant. He was rector of St. John for 26 years, and died at the age of 80 in March, 1814, loved, honoured and respected. He was a man of fine parts, an excellent talker, of quick and lively nature, and he possessed a rich fund of anecdote and humour. A bundle of his sayings and doings has been published.

Rev. George Pidgeon was the third rector. He was a

learned graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1761. He was an ensign in the rifles, and had served in America during the war. He subsequently went to Halifax, took orders in the Church, became rector of Fredericton and Ecclesiastical Commissary for the Province in 1795, and in 1814, on the death of the incumbent, he was made rector of St. John. His health failed him, however, and for a time the church was closed, when finally he died, May 6th, 1818. He was buried in the old burial ground, and his monument may still be seen there.

The fourth rector was the Rev. Dr. Robert Willis—a Navy chaplain and a very eminent man. His ship was at Halifax coaling, when intelligence reached him that Mr. Pidgeon was seriously ill, and that the church in St. John was closed in consequence. He left at once for St. John where he officiated for several weeks, and on the death of Mr. Pidgeon was chosen rector. The Stone Church and St. George's, Carleton, were erected during his incumbency, and this caused a division in the Parish. Dr. Willis became rector of St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1825, and Arch-Deacon of Nova Scotia, which offices he held until the year 1865, when he died at the age of 80. He was the father of Rev. Cuthbert Willis, rector of Salisbury, who was formerly of the 15th regiment of foot.

In 1825 the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray,

D.D., succeeded Dr. Willis as rector of St. John. He was born in Boston 1768, and on the departure of the British troops from that city, while yet a child, he went with his father to

Halifax. He graduated at King's College, Windsor, completed his education in England, and was ordained minister in 1796 by Bishop Inglis at Halifax. Some years were spent by him as minister among the Maroons, a discontented body of savages which the British Government placed in Nova Scotia to the great annoyance and fear of the inhabitants. The Doctor spent several years in connection with various missions throughout Nova Scotia until 1819, when he became rector of St. George's, Halifax. He laboured as rector in St. John on the death of Dr. Willis, for fifteen years, when in 1840 he resigned his position. He lived till 1854, when at the advanced age of 86 he died full of honours and respect. He was a man of elevated tastes and liberal ideas. He loved science, art and literature, and was a well informed and polished writer and thinker. In 1833 one of the greatest calamities which ever befell man happened to Dr. Gray. His house in Wellington Row took fire, and before aid could come it was burned to the ground, together with the rector's wife and a female domestic. No sympathy could alleviate the suffering of the distracted husband, no words of man could take away the agony of his deep grief and sorrow. It pressed heavily upon his mind, and he was never again the same man. At this fire he lost his valuable library which contained many rare and costly books and manuscripts, together with the complete records of his parish.

He was succeeded by his son, Rev. John William D. Gray, D.D., a very able man. He was born in 1798, at

Halifax, and graduated at King's College, Windsor. He became rector of Amherst, N.S., and in 1825, when Dr. Willis resigned his office in St. John, a movement was made to get the rectorship for Dr. Gray. This was not done, however, for the father was appointed, and the son became his assistant. In 1840, on the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Gray, the sixth rector received the appointment which he held until his death, in 1868. For twenty-eight years this eminent clergyman laboured for his church and his people, and all remember him as a kindly, thoughtful, generous man. He had abilities of the highest order, and, whether as a preacher or a writer, his reputation filled no second place. He wrote with a nerve and a boldness which carried all before it, and his extensive erudition and vast powers of concentration of thought made his works valued and esteemed. His notable writings were chiefly controversial pamphlets, and few entered the lists with him and gained a victory. His vigorous pamphlets on the Catholic question, and the Moses and Colenso controversy will be remembered by many who read these pages

to-day, and all will regret that the great rector never published a theological book or placed his ripe thoughts on some enduring record. He was an able exponent of the Scriptures, and he wrote in a superior and beautiful style. His sermons were models of elegant English and sound doctrinal ideas, and no rector of Trinity ever filled the position so grandly and so loyally as good old Dr. Gray. He died at the age of seventy years, and in the forty-seventh year of his ministry. He was accounted

the best reader in the Province, and his delivery was forcible, and distinguished for a certain gracefulness of style. The Rev. James J. Hill, M. A. succeeded Dr. Gray. He is a native of Nova Scotia. His failing health caused him to resign the rectorship in a few years. At a meeting of the St. John Parish, held on the 21st of July, 1873, the Rev. F. H. J. Brigstocke, of Jesus College, Oxford, was unanimously nominated to the rectorship. He had been in orders twelve years, and for five years had been curate to the Dean of Canterbury. Mr. Brigstocke assumed his duties in October, 1873, and is the present rector of the parish.

The stained-glass windows in the chancel of the old church were placed there in 1859, and were presented by John V. Thurgar, Esq., a respected retired merchant of this city, whose old stand was burned down on the North Wharf during the great fire.

The old arms of Trinity Church have an historic interest of very great importance. A glance at them will reveal the fact that they are military arms and not those of the church. They have escaped fire once or twice, and in the early years of their existence witnessed many a heated controversy, and experienced marvellous escapes from destruction. The first we hear of them was in Boston where they adorned the walls of the Council Chamber of the Old Town House. On March 17th, 1776, they sailed out of Boston Harbour and were carried to Halifax, where they had a temporary abiding place in the old chapel there. They were afterwards placed, in 1791, in

Trinity Church, where they have remained ever since, until Captain Hazen rescued them from the flames on Wednesday afternoon. A story is current that a hundred years ago, these arms were snatched from Trinity Church, New York, when that edifice was in flames, but this lacks confirmation, and the best authorities are unanimous in holding that their peculiar build unfitted them for church use, and that they were certainly intended to adorn the walls of council chambers. That they were with the British army, whether on its march or at its station, is settled beyond dispute. This ends the story of old Trinity, the most historic edifice in the city—the first church—the quaintest structure—the last link which bound the old and the new together. The school-house fronting on Charlotte Street was burned at the same time as the church.

CHAPTER V.

The Old Curiosity Shop in Germain Street—A Quaint Old Place—"Rubbish Shot Here"—Notman's Studio—The Mother of Methodism—Destruction of the Germain Street Methodist Church—Burning of the Academy of Music—The Old Grammar School—Presbyterians among the Loyalists—The "Auld Kirk"—Saint Andrew's—The grants of Land—Legislation—The building of the Kirk—Ministers—The "Victoria" in Flames—Fascination of the Fire—The "Victoria" in Ruins—What might have saved it.

The fire has destroyed Mrs. Lyons's "old curiosity shop,"—an establishment known far and near as a place where everything, from a needle to an anchor, might be got. Mrs. Lyons is an old inhabitant, and for years was a constant attendant at every auction sale, and her judgment has more than once influenced and controlled the bidding. She bought everything, and, what is more curious still, she managed to sell it afterwards at a fair profit. Old books, old pictures, cheap prints, crockery, bedding, carpets, furniture; all had a home in that asylum for decayed rubbish. It was a pleasant place in which to while away an odd hour or two. The things were, at least, worth looking at; and one could sometimes turn over a good book or two, or dip into the pages of an old magazine and find a bit of poetry here and there, or a pleasant essay that was worth glancing over. Of course, nothing out of this stock could be saved, and the curious and out-of-the-way knick-nacks of the people were swept away

in a very short time. Mrs. Lyons is a very heavy loser by the calamity, and narrowly escaped with her life. Indeed she was reported missing at one stage of the fire.

Mr. Notman's beautiful studio with its gems of neat things in art, and its hundreds of elegant picture frames, went next. The premises had only recently been opened, and the reception room was a perfect gallery of beautifully arranged pictures and chromos, and India ink copies. A number of oil paintings, some of them of considerable value, a good many choice bits in water colour, some decidedly clever engravings together with pieces of statuary, and a bronze or two perished in an instant. Not a negative was saved, and the fine picture of Mr. John Melick's handsome boy, which was so artistically finished in India ink by Mr. James Notman, shared a like fate. The studio was full of handsome work, and lovers of the æsthetic whenever they had a spare minute or two always wandered into Notman's and inspected the new things he had there. It was a place of resort for the cultivated mind, and the eye always rested on something pleasing and charming. This building went so rapidly that the occupants barely escaped with their clothes. The fire crossed the street on both sides, and after sweeping down Mr. Edward Sears's house on the corner, and carrying with it Mr. Tremaine Gard's jewelry establishment, it rushed along levelling all before it, till Horsfield Street was reached. On this corner the Mother of Methodism was situated—the old Germain Street Methodist Church—called in olden times "The Chapel." This structure was located a few feet off

the street, and when the fire caught and hugged it in its grasp the concourse of people beheld a sight not easily effaced from their memory. The flames shot up, and for awhile nothing but an avalanche of fire was to be seen. The hot, thick volume roared out and crackled as timber after timber went down before the whirlwind, and rent asunder in an hour, an edifice which had withstood the blasts of the elements for seventy years. In 1808, on Christmas day, this chapel was opened, and dedicated to the service of God, by the Rev. Mr. Marsden. The leading layman at that time was the late John Ferguson, an influential citizen and a prosperous merchant. He did much for Methodism in his time, and it was through his exertions that the chapel was built. For many years this commodious building was the only place of worship that this body of Christians had in the city, and the various clergymen who from time to time preached from its old-fashioned, homely pulpit, developed sterling qualities and superior talents. Among its body of laymen were men distinguished alike for their zeal and religious principles. Such clergymen as Revs. Messrs. Priestly, Wood, Dr. Alder, John B. Strong, Bamford, Wm. Temple and H. Crosscomb, will be affectionately remembered by old members of this congregation, as ministers whose interests were ever closely identified with those of their hearers. The present Chief of Police, John R. Marshall, has been a member of this church all his life, and for thirty years he has led the singing. It was an unpretentious building with no attempts at architectural display. A few years

ago, to meet the wants of the community, it was enlarged and extended back, and the gallery was placed nearer the pulpit. While this building was burning the hospitable residences of James Lawton, Esq., and Wm. Davidson, Esq., were being reduced to ashes, and Dr. McAvenny's fine dental rooms adjoining those houses, went down also.

The burning of the Academy of Music[C] took place almost at the same time. Not a vestige of this splendid hall remains to tell of the dramatic triumphs that have been witnessed on its stage, or the matchless oratory that fell from the lips of Phillips, Beecher and Carpenter. Here it was that a few years ago the great performance of Richelieu took place, when Couldock enacted the Cardinal Duke, and Louis Aldrich was the impetuous De Mauprat. Here on this stage Carlotta Le Clercq won some of her grandest triumphs. Here Warner and Lanergan gave their wonderful interpretations of the Moor and Iago. Here Chas. Koppitz led his great orchestra the day

before he died, and here some of the sweetest voices have been heard emulating the notes of the nightingale. This building, which for several years enjoyed a splendid reputation, well stocked with scenery and properties, centrally and admirably located, seemed to melt into nothing on the day of the fire. The walls fell with a loud crash, and the grand temple of amusement, in which our people felt so much pride, was a thing of the past. It was owned by a joint stock company, and the late Dr. George E. Keator was the first president. On his death, Dr. Allan M. Ring was made president, and he has retained the office ever since. John R. Armstrong, Esq., has been the secretary from the beginning of the institution. It is only about a year ago that it was frescoed and painted and greatly improved inside. The Academy presented a noble appearance from the street, and the reader can form an intelligent idea of how it looked from the illustration which we give. The Knights of Pythias, New Brunswick and Union Lodges, occupied the upper story as a lodge room. It was neatly and attractively fitted up, and the knights took great interest in having it properly cared for. The loss with which this young organization has met, is quite large and is therefore severely felt.

The last theatrical performance at the Academy of Music was on Tuesday evening, 19th June, when Louise Pomeroy, an actress of charming genius, sustained the role of "Juliet" in Shakespeare's tragedy of the affections, "Romeo and Juliet." On Wednesday night she was to have performed "Rosalind" for the second time in St.

John, in the delightful comedy of "As You Like It." The company then playing were under the management of Mr. William Nannary, with Mr. P. Nannary as assistant manager, and Mr. W. E. Kelly, of Halifax, business agent. Mr. George B. Waldron was stage manager, and his wife, Isabella Waldron, the leading lady. The other members of the organization were R. Fulton Russell, F. G. Cotter, G. T. Ulmer, Harry Pierson, Belvil Ryan, Mr. Padget, Mr. Eberle, J. Reddy, Mr. Vanderen, Mr. Donaldson, W. F. Edwards, C. Mason, Lizzie May Ulmer, Pearl Etynge, Little Bell Waldron, Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Vanderen, Miss Hill, Mabel Doane, and Florence Stratton. All of these artists suffered by the fire. Some saved their wardrobes, only to have them stolen afterwards.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

ACADEMY OF MUSIC.

After Dr. McAvenny's office was burned, the fire shot into Messrs. Miller and Woodman's double house, the late residence of Hon. A. McL. Seely, and it was soon shattered to its basement. The fire then spread as far as Duke Street, burning on its passage Dr. W. Bayard's house, and the old McGrath residence, which latterly contained Dr. James E. Griffith's office. On the other side, the Grammar School was the first victim after the Old Chapel.

This building was a plain wooden house of rather squat appearance. It was erected on two lots of land, 80 feet front by 200 deep, which in 1807 were sold by Thos. Horsfield for £100. The first teacher was James Brimner. In 1818 Dr. James Patterson took charge, and remained head master till nearly the close of his life.

Rev. Mr. Wainright, afterwards rector of New York, and who died Bishop there, was at one time a teacher in the Grammar School. The masters who have taught here have been judiciously selected, and the school has been very successful from the first. Messrs. Hutchison and Manning, and Rev. Mr. Schofield, and latterly Rev. Dr. Coster, are all gentlemen of fine scholastic attainments and excellent imparters of knowledge to the youth. For many years the Corporation gave a gold medal annually to the bright boys of this institution of learning, and many of our prominent lawyers, doctors, engineers and merchants have been educated here. H. W. Frith, Esq., was for many years secretary to the Board who controlled this school, and continued in that office till the new school-law came into force. The Grammar School in its last days was a free school of the highest grade.

It has been said of Scotchmen that next to love of country they revere their religion. Indeed, the love is as warm for the one as it is for the other. The Bible and Home. God and Scotland. Their religion has been compared to their native Grampians, and some have said that it was as hard, cold, determined and unyielding as those grand old hills themselves, the very name of which sends a thrill through every Scotchman's breast. Every Scottish poet has sung of home, every native bard has written hymns and psalms. Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night" contains the germs of the Presbyterian faith, and Tannahill, Thomson, Campbell, Hogg and all the other tuneful minstrels have sung in the same key, and told of the old

faith which the Covenanters felt on their bleak hill-tops years ago, when it was deemed by some to be a crime to worship God in more ways than one. It is as rare to find a Scotchman unacquainted with the leading events in the Bible, the gist of the shorter catechism, and the whole of the Psalms of David, including the cxix, word for word, as it is difficult to enter a city all the world over, and not find the sons of the old land filling the leading positions in the place. Our readers may be sure that among the sturdy loyalists not a few Presbyterians were to be found. When they reached St. John, they settled in Lower Cove, and the first thing they did was to consider the advisability of building a kirk. In 1784, the leading men drew up a petition for a grant of land on which to lay the foundation for a house of worship. It was sent to Governor Parr, and on the 29th of June, of the same year, the grant was issued under the Great Seal of Nova Scotia. John Boggs and others, for the Church of Scotland, were the grantees. Their associates were Andrew Cornwall, James Reid, John Menzie, Charles McPherson, William Henderson, John Gemmill, and Robert Chillis, their heirs and assigns in trust. The document runs as follows, and sets forth that the grant was, "for the erection, building and accommodation of a meeting house or public place of worship for the use of such of the inhabitants of the said town as now or shall hereafter be of the Protestant profession of worship, approved of by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland * * * and further for the erection and building and accommo

dation of a dwelling house, outhouse, casements and conveniences for the habitation, use and occupation of a minister to officiate and perform divine service in the meeting house aforesaid, according to the form and professing aforesaid * * * and further for the building and erection of a public school house and public poor house, with proper accommodation and conveniences for the use of the inhabitants of the said Township of Parr,[D] forever, and upon this further trust and confidence to secure and defend the said piece and tract of land, and all such buildings, edifices, and improvements, commodities and appurtenances, to and for the several and respective public uses, intents and purposes aforesaid forever, but to or for no other or private use, intent and purpose whatsoever."

It further states that in case of the lands coming into possession of any other persons, they shall take the prescribed oath of allegiance within twelve months, and in case of their neglect to do so, the lands shall revert to the Crown. The grant was registered at Halifax, 29th June, 1784, and at Fredericton on December 23rd, same year. These lands were situate on the north side of Queen Street, extending east and west from Sydney to Carmarthen Streets, and north from Queen Street 100 feet. They contain 10 city lots and form a block of 100 by 400 feet.

Charles McPherson, once the owner of "Coffee House

Corner," survived the other trustees, who died before any of the buildings mentioned in the grant were set up. A change had come over the people's views since then, and the site was not approved of by those interested. It was not central enough, and in 1815 it was decided to ask for a site in the upper part of the town. Wm. Pagan, Hugh Johnston, senr., John Thompson, James Grigor, John Currie, Alexander Edmonds, and William Donaldson were the new Committee whose duty it was to provide "a meeting house for the use of such of the inhabitants as are of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland." In this year the survivor of the trustees of 1784, Charles McPherson, relinquished his interest in favour of the new Committee. James Grigor selected the present site of the church in Germain Street, and in 1815 he purchased it for £250 from J. V. Thurgar's uncle, Mr. John L. Venner. The lot is 100 feet in width and 200 feet in depth. Mr. Grigor and wife, by deed, on the 20th June, 1815, just sixty-two years ago, on the day of the fire, conveyed the property to Wm. Pagan and the rest of the Committee. On June 4th, 1816, another grant of land was given to the Committee by the Corporation of St. John. This lot was in Duke's Ward, and known on the plan as one of the public lots, letter B, bounded on the east by Carmarthen Street, on the west by Sydney Street, and on the south by lots 1086 to 1077 inclusive. The latter lots are on St. James' Street. This also was in special trust for the Kirk of Scotland in this city, and the grant was unconditional. This block was four

hundred

feet square, and a vacant field. The Committee built houses upon it some years after, and laid out the street from Sydney to Carmarthen, known as St. Andrew's Street. William Campbell was Mayor, and Charles J. Peters, Clerk.

The Act 56 George III., cap. 28, passed 16th March, 1816, recites to this effect:

"Whereas sundry inhabitants of the City of St. John and its vicinity, being of the Protestant profession of worship, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, have, by voluntary subscription, aided by a grant[E] of money out of the Province (1814), erected a large and handsome building for a place of public worship, which shall be in connection with the said Church of Scotland: And whereas, the title of the lots on which the said church has been erected, situated in Queen's Ward in the said city, and fronting on Germain Street, is now in the possession of the inhabitants of the said city, who hold the same in trust: Be it enacted, that the minister and elders of the said church, commonly called by the name of Kirk, whenever such ministers shall be chosen and appointed, the said lots shall be vested in them, they being known by the name of the minister and elders of the Church of Scotland in the City of St. John."

In 1818, Act 58 was passed, and this statute authorized the Kirk's ministers and elders to have full power to purchase, receive, hold, and enjoy lands, and tenements, and to improve and use the same for the purpose of support

ing and maintaining the building erected in St. John for a place of public worship, and of its minister for the time being; but such rents, with the rents of pews, shall not exceed annually the sum of £500.

An important discovery was made in 1832, when it was found that the legislation that had been had was entirely at variance with Presbyterian usage, which separated the spiritual from the temporal affairs of the church, leaving the spiritual department in the hands of the minister and his elders, and vesting the management of the temporalities in a body of trustees to be named. A new bill was prepared, and accordingly the following was speedily enacted by 2 William IV. cap. 18, "that according to the form and usage of the Church of Scotland the spiritual and temporal affairs of the said church are kept separate, and that the present acts of incorporation vesting the temporal affairs of the St. Andrew's Church, in the City of St. John, in the minister and elders is at variance with the form and usage of the said Church of Scotland."

All previous acts were repealed, and the following gentlemen, who were the committee of management then: Thos. Walker, Robert Rankin, John Wishart, John Robertson, James Kirk, Robert Keltie, James Burns, Henry Hood, William Parks, William Walker, James Robertson and Daniel Leavitt, with the elders, John Paul, Robert Robertson, Thomas Nisbet, William Hutchinson, Angus McKenzie and John Gillis, were appointed interim trustees until the election of twelve other trustees as provided by

the Act, could be had. This Act is still in operation, and it fixes the annual rents at not more than £500, and prescribes the proceedings as to the election and choice of trustees, ministers, and elders, the sales and leases of pews, lands, &c.

In 1815 the kirk was finished, and the trustees were Messrs. Pagan, Johnston, Thomson, Grigor, and Edmond, Rev. Mr. Waddell, father of Dr. Waddell, many years resident physician at the Lunatic Asylum, preached the first sermon. The Rev. Geo. Burns was the first regularly appointed minister, he had been an assistant minister in Aberdeen, Scotland, Mr. Hugh Johnston who had been commissioned to go to Scotland for a clergyman, chose Mr. Burns who was a young man of 26 years of age, and a doctor of divinity. The degree was conferred on him by the University of St. Andrew on his departure for America, and the new Kirk was called "St. Andrew" in compliment to Dr. Burns's Alma mater. The young doctor arrived in St. John on Sunday, the 25th of May, 1817, and on that day preached his first sermon from Psalm cxxii, 1, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the House of the Lord." Dr. Burns continued minister until 1829. He left St. John May, 1831, and on the 5th February, 1876, he died in Edinburgh at the ripe age of 86. The Rev. Robert Wilson was the second minister of the Kirk, and he officiated from 1830 to 1842. The Rev. Andrew Halket succeeded him from 1842 to 1848. He died in the fall of 1875, at Brecken, Scotland. The Rev. Wm. Donald, D.D., was

the fourth minister of this now influential church, he was ordained at Aberdeen, in May, 1849, and on the 18th of June he reached St. John, and took immediate possession of his charge. His ministry was a long and able one, and no minister was ever loved more and respected higher than this teacher of the sacred word. He was ever kindly disposed towards his people and his congregation were ever devoted to him, their interests were his interests, and his interests were theirs. When he died 20th Feby., 1871, the whole city mourned, and old St. Andrew's refused to be comforted. The Rev. R. J. Cameron, who was Dr. Donald's assistant for some time, succeeded him in the ministry of the church. The Rev. Mr. Mitchell, who began his labours on the 30th January, 1877, was the last incumbent. During the long career of the old kirk—the oldest Presbyterian church in the Province—it has changed but little since it was erected. Some trifling alterations have been made in the interior, but externally it has remained for over three score years the same. Three memorial tablets had been placed upon the walls, the first was in memory of William Pagan, the second William Campbell, and the third Dr. Donald. The first Presbyterian minister who died in St. John was the Rev. Thomas Wishart.[F]

ST. ANDREW'S KIRK.

There are some interesting items in connection with Old St. Andrew's personal history which are worth recording.

The solid silver communion service which was used was the gift, in the year 1818, of the Earl and Countess of Dalhousie, and Miss Campbell gave the two peculiarly shaped silver plates which contained the bread when the Sacrament was administered. These articles were saved, and are now in the possession of William Girvan, Esq. Mrs. James Lawton, about the year 1839, presented the Church with the Pulpit Bible. This was unfortunately burned, as well as the two oil paintings which hung in the vestry, and were portraits of Revs. Drs. Burns and Donald. It was to see these pictures that Dr. Burns's nephew came to St. John on the very day of the fire, but before he arrived they were no more.

VICTORIA HOTEL.

Very little time was lost between the destruction of Trinity, the Germain Street Methodist, and "Old St. Andrew's." They took fire nearly at the same time, and within an hour of each other the three were consumed. The fire was extraordinarily rapid in its work, and the frame buildings seemed to add zest to its voracious appetite. An engine might have saved the Victoria Hotel, but it was far away, and helplessly the people looked on and saw one after the other of their cherished churches, hotels, houses of entertainment and dwellings, sink down before the red glare of the serpent, which wound its coils round-about and encompassed all with its fangs and fork-like tongue. It was a sight that the eye sickened at, and the heart grew faint, and despair fell upon the people, and many moved away. But there were others who gazed on the tottering ruins with a fixed and glassy stare, and as

the huge boulders came thundering down from the heights above, and the half famished flames shot out in long, thin lines from the windows, and darted back again like a wiry thing of life, and shouts rent the air from the lips of the wounded, these men never moved from the spot on which they stood. The church was in ashes, and the great walls of the Victoria were red with the demon flames. They scaled the heights, they flew back again. They hid in the chimneys, they ran along the roof, they melted the sashes and tore down the door-ways. The marble steps were in fragments, and all through the long corridors of the house the shrieks of startled women rang, and hastening refugees from the flames leapt with the courage and skill of acrobats into the crowded street. It was a time in which men held their breath. The fascination of that sight was terrible. All were dismayed. All were paralyzed. The "Victoria," that Grand Hotel which was St. John to every traveller who came here—that massive pile of brick and stone—was no longer the standing monument of the city's enterprise. An engine might have saved it, but the engine was not there.

The Burland Desbarats Lith. Co. Montreal

GERMAIN STREET, SHOWING VICTORIA HOTEL.

This spacious hotel was commenced by a Joint Stock Company in 1870, and was built on the corner of Germain and Duke Streets. It was opened for business July, 1871, with Mr. B. T. Creagen as Manager, and the following Board of Directors:—Otis Small, Esq., President; John Magee, A. Chipman Smith, John McMillan and William F. Harrison, Esqrs. The hotel building cost one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars, and furnishing

seventy-five thousand dollars. In the Fall of 1873, the Victoria Hotel Club assumed control, and Mr. John Edwards was appointed manager. At the time of the fire the hotel was under the management of Mr. George W. Swett, a very popular and courteous gentleman. Many of the guests sought refuge in the squares, and some escaped from the building with scarcely more clothes than they had on.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] The outside dimensions of the Academy were 190x51 feet. The front 65 feet high, showing three stories in front. The finish was Italian in its general style, very rich and pleasing to the eye, with heavy and elaborate carved work. A large bust of Queen Victoria adorned the summit of the building, while over the main entrance an excellent bust of Shakespeare indicated the uses for which the building was intended. The front doors were massive in style, of solid walnut, and weighed sixteen hundred pounds. Inside.—The parquette was reached by a wide entrance; on either side of this entrance were broad and easy stairs leading to the balcony; while above this was the gallery for the gods, which was approached from a separate entrance. The parquette was furnished with 600 opera chairs, and the seating capacity of the whole building was 1,200. The scenery, ample in supply and excellent in character, was painted by Gaspard Maeder. The building when finished cost the Company over $60,000.

[D] St. John was formerly called Parr Town.

[E]

—— Legislature granted £250 towards erection of kirk.

[F] Three members of the congregation of this Church were lost at the time of the fire—Mrs. Thos. Reed, Mr. Joseph Bell, Capt. Wm. M. B. Firth.

CHAPTER VI.

The Odd Fellows' Hall—The fire in Horsfield Street—The Sweep along Germain Street—The old Baptist Church—Some early Ministers—Two fiery ordeals—The Brick Church—The Ruins—The Bay View Hotel—An old Landmark gone—The blazing Barracks—St. James's—The Hazen House—St. Malachi's Chapel—The first Roman Catholic Church.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a very numerous and widely respected body in St. John. Its roll of membership embraces many of the best names in the city, and the order has grown from a very humble beginning to quite an influential position in the community. It is only a few years ago that some zealous members of the order banded themselves together and formed Pioneer Lodge, No. 9. In a little time the lodge grew so rapidly that it became too cumbersome to work, and new lodges had to be made—first it was Beacon, then Peerless, and latterly Siloam, in this city alone; besides, the order is strong in Moncton and also in Fredericton. An encampment, too, flourishes, and is largely adding to its membership. The Odd Fellows' Hall was pleasantly situate in what used to be No. 5 Engine House. The hall was commodious and neatly furnished, and the ante-rooms were convenient and well adapted for carrying on the exercises of the order. The ground flat and second story were occupied by Mr. Richard Welch, and the Odd Fellows met in the room immediately overhead. The loss

by fire to the order was quite extensive, though a good deal of the regalia and paraphernalia were saved through the forethought of some of the members who managed to get into the building in time. The fire swept both sides of Horsfield Street, and carried along with it the dwelling of P. Besnard, Esq., and the house where James Hannay, the historian, lived. Mr. Hannay, who was at Oakpoint during the conflagration preparing his history of Acadia, lost a number of valuable books, including some high-priced and scarce volumes.[G] Some two or three hundred pages of his history were printed, but these were destroyed in the printing houses where they were kept. Fortunately Mr. Hannay had with him one copy of the sheets as far as printed, so the loss is not irretrievable. A portion of the unprinted manuscript, however, shared the common fate of everything that came in contact with fire on that fatal day, and this the historian had to re-write. In this street the old Theatre[H] once stood, in which professionals and amateurs read Shakspeare and Massinger to admiring audiences. Among the amateurs, some of our readers may remember, were the late Richard Seely, who was accounted a good actor in his day, and the late Col. Otty, whose Othello was a really creditable performance. While the fire was rendering desolate this street, the other wing of it was ruthlessly invading Germain Street, to the very water's

edge. Otis Small's corner house, the Thomson House, some of the inmates of which had to flee in small boats, the residences of the Messrs. McMillan, father and son, the old Bayard House, the Seed's property, the former residence of W. O. Smith, Esq., No. 119, and then in the occupancy of the inmates of the Home for the Aged, some of whom got away in hardly enough time to save their lives.

Mr. Carey's Parsonage was on fire very soon after this, and all efforts to save it or the old Baptist Church next door, proved unavailing. In a short time only a blackened wall of smouldering ruins stood there to tell in more eloquent language than words could relate, of the sad havoc which the fire-king had made. For many years this church was to the Baptists, what Trinity, St. Andrew's, and Germain Street Chapel were to their denominations. It, too, had a history of its own, as dear to the people who Sunday after Sunday sat within its walls and heard the word of God spoken, as the historic data which filled every niche and corner of the first English Church in the city. It was first built of wood three score years ago, on the old site where the brick church stood, a period ago since, and such men as John M. Wilmot, Thomas Pettingill, and Jeremiah Drake, were the leading pillars and supporters of a body of Christians distinguished alike for their charity, faithfulness, and liberality. The church was organized in 1810, ground was broken in 1818 and the large frame building was opened for service July 12th of the same year. Wm. Stenning and Thomas

Harding purchased the site, and the former gentleman superintended the building of the edifice. For many years this was the only meeting-house which the Baptists had, and there are men living to-day who remember the struggles and trials which the denomination experienced in trying to plant a foothold in the sparsely populated district which St. John then was. The pastors of this church were known far and wide as earnest and faithful men, and such names as Samuel Robinson, Casewell, Bill, Henry Vaughan, and G. M. W. Carey, live in the hearts of all people and add lustre to any faith. When the question of tearing down the old structure which had withstood the storms of nearly half a century, and the replacing of it with a new one to be built of brick was proposed, there were many in the congregation who had grown up with the church through the long decades of time, and who had watched the building step by step, advance to its completion, and proudly take its place among the sacred edifices of the street of churches. These men opposed the measure, but the march of new ideas prevailed, and in 1863, the last of the old church was borne away and a handsome brick building was begun. The former vestry was converted into a parsonage, and the Rev. Henry Vaughan, son of the late Simon Vaughan, of St. Martin's, was the minister in charge. The church cost forty thousand dollars. Mr. Vaughan died in 1864. When Mr. Carey, the present pastor, arrived in St. John in 1865, the church was being built and he preached for a while in the basement, and in December, 1866, the first sermon in

the church proper was preached by the same eloquent minister. A tablet was erected to the memory of his predecessor in the church. In 1873 this church was partially destroyed by fire, but the enterprising congregation soon had it up again. Thus has this edifice passed through two ordeals of like character. The church had just begun to recover from its first disaster. The liberality of its people had placed it out of debt, and while in the enjoyment of a splendid prosperity it was stricken down before the very eyes of the powerless people who loved it most. No one could do anything but watch the rapid demolition, and behold the rafters swing and the building rock and shake, and observe the long sinewy flames grapple with the walls and hurl them to the earth. There were strong men that day who wept when they witnessed the destruction. And when the sad work was done, some gathered near the ruins and looked down upon the site that had held a church while they were yet babes, and old gray-haired veterans who had worshipped here all their lives, felt that death would not be so bitter now since church and home were gone forever. The insurance on this church was very light and the loss is very heavy. The pastor saved literally nothing of his own effects and his fine library and the intellectual labour of twenty years, passed from his gaze with the rapidity of the whirlwind.

The fire next crossed the street, and attacked Mr. Harding's houses, destroying his residence, and that of Mr. Joseph Allison. Queen Street shared the common fate; and

on the side of Germain Street opposite the church, in the building where Mrs. Crane had her seminary for young ladies, the inmates were forced to escape in the International steamer, and get away from the fire by water. The street was impassable, and all hope of getting through to a locality which had not yet been reached by the flames had to be abandoned. Terror seized the ladies for the moment, but the courage which sometimes comes with despair, made them cool enough to think of the water. The strength of iron came to them, and in a moment they were saved. It was before this house that a woman fell on her knees and offered up prayer; and here it was that another woman, fearing the judgment day at hand, gave utterance to loud wails and cries, that sent a pang to every heart. In the melee, an old lady belonging to the Home for the Aged was lost, and her feeble sisters in adversity moaned and mourned for her all through the night. The next day she was found, and joy came to some hearts that had known no like emotion for several years. Those kindly old ladies living so long together were as one family, and a vacant chair at the table cruelly reminded them of the broken homes they had too often seen. The houses across Queen Street, on this same side of Germain Street, were not long in following. Pagan Place, the old residence of the late Edward Allison, Stephen Blizard's house on the other side, John W. Cudlip's residence, in Germain Street, seemed to burn at the same time. The Bay View Hotel—a valuable structure that reminded the spectator of the old feudal time, when castles were resi

dences of the great, was erected in the year 1819, by Henry Wright, Collector, and used as a private residence up to about twelve years ago. It was built by day's work, and in those days the workmen received every Saturday night their pay in Spanish doubloons. Change was very scarce, and there was no paper money. Mr. Henry Wright died in 1829, and the house then fell into the occupancy of the late Wm. Wright, Advocate General, and John Boyd, M.D. Mr. Wilson was its lessee latterly, and it became an hotel under his management. It held a commanding position, and looked far out to sea. Strangers always paused to look up to the splendid front and defiant head, which reminded them of the old strongholds which render historic every inch of the old land across the blue water. And to-day, the ruins look even more picturesque and grand than the building did in its proudest days. Another landmark has been taken away, and it did not long survive those who dwelt in its spacious halls in the days of the long ago.

But while the fire was busy with this portion of the City, it was also extremely active and equally destructive in the lower part of St. John. The barracks were even burned down long before it was deemed likely that the Victoria Hotel would go. The sparks travelling in this direction with great rapidity, soon communicated with the long, low building which was built for the troops in 1819.[I] The fire, when it reached here had full scope.

Nothing stood in its way, and it really spent its greatest strength here. The majority of the houses in this quarter were composed of wood, and so many of them were close together, that four or five houses were burned to the ground in about the same space that in ordinary times would be spent in consuming one. The burning of the barracks was witnessed by several thousand persons, and, for a while there were some who fancied that the blaze would cease with the destruction of this property. But, alas, for the fallacy of human hopes. The great headway of the flame was made, and nothing could stop it, till from sheer exhaustion, it spent itself. But the eager wind kept fanning it into fury whenever it shewed signs of abatement and not until it reached the barren banks along the water's edge did it relinquish its grasp on men's household goods and homes. Even then it did not stop at once, for small scrubs of trees, bits of shrubbery and grass fed it for a while. Indeed the fire may be said to have taken a new lease of life in those back places, and the rookeries of whole streets were swept into ruin and their inmates hurried into greater misery than they had ever known before. In Main Street, St. James (Episcopalian) Church was burned; it caught very soon from a flying spark. This church was erected in the summer of 1850 by Trinity Church. The parish was set off from Trinity in 1852, but the church was built two years before; the dividing line of the parish was south of Queen Street; the first rector was the Rev. John Armstrong who was succeeded by his son, Rev. Wm. Armstrong who held the rectorship nearly twenty years.

The building was of the Gothic cruciform style of architecture and Mr. M. Stead was the architect. It had no tower. The first wardens were the late John R. Robinson, Esq., father of the agent in this city of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and the late Wm. Wright. The church was situate on the south side of Main Street, between Sydney and Carmarthen Streets and the lots ran through to Sheffield Street. The Sunday-school building was built in the rear.

The Sheffield Street Mission House and the Carmarthen Street Mission House (Methodist) were structures of late origin, and for a while did much good in the locality where they were placed. The fire visited them very soon and they were burned in a short time. All along Carmarthen Street the flames sped quickly, completely encircling every house with which it came in contact, and whenever they met a crossing street the fire drove through it with seeming greater fury and impetuosity. The lately erected Adam's terrace—a row of comfortable dwellings just finished within the year—burned with a tremendous roar that was heard above the din, for blocks away. In these houses were the families of Robt. Turner, Fred. R. Fairweather and W. C. Watson, Esqs., and so quickly did the flames spread that hardly a stick of furniture was saved, and hundreds of valuable books were burned. Judge Watters's residence, the home of Attorney-General King, Henry A. Austin's, Madame Caritte's, and the Henderson houses, hardly lived thirty minutes in the winding sheets of flame. The fire came up Carmarthen Street, up Prin

cess Street, up Leinster Street, up Duke Street, up Orange Street, to the rear of those streets and down King Street east and also in its rear on a portion of the south side. Many believed and there seemed good grounds for that belief, that but for the torch of the incendiary, Leinster Street would have been preserved. No one doubts but that it was set on fire by some miscreant either through madness or through the hope of gain. This is beyond dispute. The fire was going in the opposite direction, nothing could bring it up towards King Square and the head of Leinster Street. It was out of all reason to suppose that the sparks could be carried to these points for the wind was opposite, and the open square had, till late in the evening, kept the flames away and broke the connection. The old[J] Hazen House built by Dr. Thomas Paddock, which is still standing to-day, and passed safely through the fire, stood invincible at the head of a column of buildings. The fire was confined to its own seething territory, and this block between Leinster and East King Street, and the whole of King Square were safe. But as the night advanced,[K] a house far away from the reach of

flying cinders, was observed on a sudden to be throwing out flames, and from that moment all knew the eastern portion of the city was doomed to destruction. Christian Robertson's mammoth stable, with its splendid livery appointments, and large stock of feed and hay, representing large value, was only a plaything of the moment. Old St. Malachi's Chapel, the first Roman Catholic Church in the city, caught from the sparks which were borne on the breeze from the stable. Its destruction was complete. The first service held by a clergyman of the Faith in St. John, was in the City Hall, Market Square, 1813, by Rev. Charles French. St. Malachi's Chapel was opened by that gentleman, October 1st, 1815. Among the

priests who succeeded him in that place were Father McQuade, who in 1819, had thirty women and thirty-five men for a congregation, and Fathers Macmahon, Carrol, and Dumphy. Mr. Carrol came from Halifax, and was the nephew of the first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Maritime Provinces—Bishop Burk. Of late years St. Malachi's was used for school, lecture, bazaar, and other purposes. Some of the most eloquent efforts of J. C. Ferguson and R. J. Ritchie, have been delivered from the platform of this Hall, on temperance and other topics. St. Malachi's was used as a church until the cathedral was opened under Bishop Connolly's charge. The St. Vincent De Paul Society met in this hall for several years, as well as those other excellent institutions, the C. T. A. and St. Joseph's Societies.

FOOTNOTES:

[G] Smith's History of Virginia, Ed. of 1627, on large paper: Smith's History of New York, large paper edition, 1758, presentation copy to Governor Ellis, of Georgia: and a very valuable historical library on New England and Acadian History.

[H] This was the old

Friary.

[I] Before this the troops lived on Fort Howe Hill, and the artillery at Hare's Wharf.

[J] The lot where the Hazen House now stands (King Square) was bought in 1790, by Mr. Thomas Horsfield for £6 5s., and sold by him five years later for £5, to a number of gentlemen who erected a grist mill there. In 1800, they abandoned the enterprise, and in 1818, the spot was used as a barracks at the time when one-third of the militia were called out for a few months, when war with the United States was threatened. A day or two after the fire in June, 1877, the Bank of New Brunswick opened a temporary office there for a few days, and a soldier of the 97th regiment kept guard over the building at night. Some of the 62nd also did duty here.

[K] The fire broke out in rear of Dr. Boyle Travers' residence.

CHAPTER VII.

A hard-working Manager—The Dramatic Lyceum—The Temperance Hall—The Water-Works Building—A Hard Fight—Another Rush of the Homeless—The Weary March of the Unfortunates—History of the Water Supply—Early Struggles—Changes—The Old Way—The St. John Water Company—Placed in Commission—The Company To-day.

The cosy Dramatic Lyceum, endeared to old theatre-goers on account of many pleasant memories, was reduced to ashes after the fire had destroyed the marble establishments of Jas. and Robt. Milligan and S. P. Osgood. Like Robertson's stable it was not long in the throes of dissolution, for it parted company with the earth in a few brief moments. It had been built a score of years and more, and for a long time it was the chief place of amusement in the city. Its builder was the father of theatricals in St. John, and no man ever did more for his chosen profession than he. He worked with the vigour which only an enthusiast feels, and now at the close of his long managerial career, extending over a quarter of a century, he can look back with pride and satisfaction on the work he has done. He has taught the people all they know of dramatic affairs to-day. He has educated and elevated their tastes, and by the production of the great masterpieces of Shakespeare, Jonson, Massenger, Bulwer, Goldsmith and Sheridan, he has instilled into the minds of the citizens a love of all that is admirable and beautiful in our common literature. He it was, who at great pecuniary sacrifice brought such an artist as Charles Mathews

here, and it was under his management that Charles Dillon, E. L. Davenport, Frederic Robinson, Wyzeman Marshall and the famous comedian, Wm. J. Le Moyne,[L] played short engagements in our city. When the plain, but comfortable Lyceum was built, it was the first step towards a regular theatre that had been made, and in his early days Mr. Lanergan had much to contend against and many old prejudices to break down. A hundred arguments were brought to bear against his enterprise. Many good people, unskilled in the knowledge of the world, and who had never in their lives attended a theatre, were the most open in their denunciation of it and its teachings. Fathers were exhorted to keep their boys at home, and men and women were enjoined not to attend the performances in this "devil's house." But Mr. Lanergan showed his patrons that he could furnish a species of amusement harmless in its character and respectable in its quality. He selected from the wide range of plays only those which taught good lessons, and the ladies and gentlemen he secured to give utterance to the thoughts of the masters in literature, were persons of irreproachable character and conduct. He saw his efforts rewarded at length, and during the last ten years of his career his audiences comprised the elite of the city. The old Lyceum was ever a pleasant place. It was cosy and easy and roomy, and one could always see an acceptable performance on its little stage. The build

ing was sold to the Irish Friendly Society a few months ago and it was used by them for concerts, entertainments, &c. On the night of the fire it was under engagement to a minstrel party.[M]

After this temple of art was overthrown the fire burned along the square till it struck the Hazen building, now owned by C. M. Bostwick, who had but recently renovated

it from top to bottom. But this corner house was too much for the fire, the fiend was baffled in its object, and though late through the night it made several inefficient attempts to raise its head, when the morning dawned, the Hazen Building was still safe and defiant, for the flames were at its feet helpless and weak. The fire crept along the square and passed the burned district when it divided itself into two wings. The right body went up Leinster Street, and the left wing proceeded around by the square, attacked the Court House, was repulsed, when it burned the buildings adjoining No. 2 Engine House, and made a sortie in rear of the jail. It was well nigh successful in its object, and indeed a portion of this edifice was burned. The prisoners were made secure, and a grand exit took place under the immediate supervision of Deputy Sheriff Rankine. Two or three of the culprits managed to escape, but they returned next day, after wandering about the city, and gave themselves up, fearing lest they would starve in the desolate and destitute town. The jail successfully resisted the flames, but not so the old Temperance Hall which stood beside it. This antiquated and wholly unattractive meeting-house was put up about thirty years ago, and was originally intended for a school in connection with the poor-house, which stood on the corner of Carmarthen and East King Streets. The Temperance Order was organized in St. John, May 12th, 1847, and the leading men were Hon. S. L. Tilley, C.B., Lieut.-Governor of the Province, Chas. A. Everett, the Smilers, John Rankine, W. H. A.

Keans, S. B. Paterson, O. D. Wetmore, and of late years, Samuel Tufts, Edw. Willis, A. G. Blakslee, J. A. S. Mott, and Sheriff Harding. The organization met in King Street till they were burned out, after which they settled in the Temperance Hall near the jail, where they have remained ever since. The interior of this block was burned, and only the Court House, which was opened for the first time for Supreme Court uses by Judge Botsford at the January Circuit of 1830, the Registry Office, and the City Prison were left. It was only by dint of the most strenuous exertions that these buildings were kept proof against the levelling qualities of the left wing, which again and again reared its front till it was firmly laid low at eleven in the evening of that terrible day. The old poor-house in Carmarthen Street was hemmed in by the united forces of left and right, and it easily succumbed without even a show of resistance. The defence of the office of the Superintendent of Water Supply[N] was one of the memorable events in connection with the history of the fire. In the yard people from all quarters of the city had stored their goods in the vain hope that the fire could never reach them. The situation of the office seemed to promise safety. It was far away from the business portion of the town, and no one dreamed of

its being attacked from the contingent which moved along Carmarthen Street. Here at least many persons thought, was a place of safety. From four o'clock in the afternoon, while the rich row of buildings in the Market Square were struggling against overwhelming odds, load after load of furniture, merchandise and general chattels poured into the spacious yard, and even the office itself was for a time a vast warehouse. It was only when the work of the incendiary showed itself in Leinster Street and old Malachi's toppled over, that the destruction of the well-equipped office was considered imminent. Then it was that heart-sick and weary men and women, who had worked all day, and who had lost nearly all they possessed, and had hoped what little they had taken to the water-office yard would be saved, began to realize the situation. Where could they go now? Where could they take the only remnants which reminded them of the bright home they had had that morning. Twice had they gathered up the fragments, and in each removal the little heap grew smaller than before. But it was worse now. In the afternoon teams could be had for five dollars a load, and now as high as thirty, and even fifty dollars were refused by inhuman drivers. Calamities sometimes make barbarians of men, and the nearer the flames got, and the hotter the breath of the fire became, the more exorbitant was the price asked by owners of vehicles, and the more inhumanity mankind exhibited. Women cried and groaned as they fell on all that was left, and some begged

piteously for help. But when they got a dray or a sloven, where could they go? The wild behemoth could overtake them where'er they went. But on came the fire, both sides of the street, back again by Carmarthen Street, up by Carmarthen Street. Here the force united, and crushing out all before it, drove with tremendous energy and iron-like rigour into the very heart of the building. In an instant it was on fire in ten places, and the huge pipes alongside that looked so like an array of mounted cannon, were all that remained in the yard the next day. The blacksmith shop, oil-house, stable, and everything near showed scarcely a trace of what they had been. The great bulk of the valuable records, papers and plans and specifications of the office were saved through the untiring vigilance of the superintendent, his valuable aids and the workmen in the employ of the Company. Nothing, indeed, that could not be replaced in a little time was lost.

In this connection, a brief sketch of the water supply of St. John will not be without interest. It is only half a century ago that the inhabitants of this city were dependent on wells for the water which they drank and used. Even at later date than that it used to be sold about the streets from tall casks, at a penny a bucketful. The chief wells were in King's Square, Blockhouse Hill—the vantage ground of many a well-contested fisticuff battle between the rising generation; Princess Street, near Charlotte; Queen Square, the foot of Poor House Hill, which in winter made such a splendid coasting road; and in Portland close by the first public hydrant, now in

Main Street. In 1820, agitation was made for a better system of water supply; but it was not until 1825 that the question took definite shape, and an Act for the incorporation of a water company, with a capital of £10,000 passed the Legislature. Surveys were at once made, and estimates were laid before the stockholders, but the capital subscribed was deemed insufficient to enable them to go on with the work in hand. The money was accordingly lent out on interest until the next year, when each stockholder received back the sum he had paid in, with three per cent. added. A number of new wells were sunk at once, and every effort made to secure for the people a fuller supply. In 1832, Hon. William Black, Nehemiah Merritt, James White, John Ward, George D. Robinson, Thomas Barlow, Hugh Johnston, John M. Wilmot, James Hendricks, Thomas Millidge, Robert W. Crookshank, Zalmon Wheeler, Robert Parker, William B. Kinnear, Richard Sands, Lauchlan Donaldson, Charles Simonds, James T. Hanford, William Leavitt, and Noah Disbrow had an Act passed for the Incorporation of the St. John Water Company. It started with a subscribed capital of £20,000, five per cent. of which was to be paid in a year from the date of the passing of the Act. The shares were placed at £5 each. Directors were to be elected every year, and consist of thirteen in number, and seven of the old directors were to remain in office each year. In 1834, a new Act was passed, amending the one which was sanctioned two years previously, but the Company was not regularly organized until 1837. Colonel

Baldwin, C.E., during this year, made surveys, and on his advice the first practical attempt at bringing the water into the city from Lily Lake was made. An engineer was appointed, and, under his management, the first City Water Works were built. The water was not brought, as in the opinion of eminent engineers it should have been, directly from Lily Lake to the city by its own gravitation, but was taken from the tail of Gilbert's Mill, and conducted thence by a sluice to a reservoir or a cistern, which was placed a few yards to the south-west of the Marsh-bridge. An engine and pumping-house was erected over the cistern, a steam-engine and gear were procured, and the water was sent through a ten-inch main to the reservoir, which was on Block House Hill. The water was first brought through the pipes to the city in October, 1838. The supply passed through a very limited number of pipes, and the inhabitants, up to 1850, could only get water two hours each morning. The Company, from its first organization, suffered the pangs of financial troubles. The stock had met with many takers, who subscribed readily, but when called on for their payments failed to respond. A loan of £5,000 was received from the Legislature, which relieved the company somewhat for the nonce. In 1850, an appeal was made to the citizens on public

grounds, and they were earnestly solicited to take up the new shares which were offered. The money from this source was to be applied to the extending of the works to, and bringing the water from, Little River at Scott's Mill, five miles away from the city. This

course had been recommended by Chas. W. Fairbanks, Esq., C.E., of Halifax, under whose supervision the water had been introduced into that city. The city took up 900 shares, and private individuals bought the balance. The site at Scott's Mill was purchased, a small dam was built, and a twelve-inch main, four and a half miles in length, was laid. This main the company connected with the ten-inch main that was laid in 1837-8. The same main is still perfect, and to-day works as well as ever. In 1852 an Act was passed, authorizing a further increase in the capital to the amount of £10,000, to be made preference stock. This was necessary to meet the growing demand of consumers, and to enable the company to extend their pipes through the streets. In April, 1855, an Act was passed to allow the company to transfer their property and works to the City Corporation and Sessions. This step was deemed prudential for many reasons, the chief of which was the great difficulty the company experienced in running the water and sewerage systems separately. The conveyance was made. The Act authorized the Commissioners to issue debentures, bearing six per cent. interest, payable half-yearly, and redeemable at periods not exceeding forty years from their date. Two of the commissioners, one of whom should be chairman, were to be appointed by the Common Council, and another by the County Sessions. John Sears, Esq.—who lost in the great fire all his private papers, historical recollections which he had been collecting for forty years, and a number of rare oil paintings and

portraits, an irreparable loss—was the first chairman, with the late John M. Walker, and John Owens, Esquires, as Commissioners. In 1864, Edward E. Lockhart,

Esq., the present chairman, was appointed to the office, and the late Thomas King, and J. D. Woodworth, Esquires, Commissioners. On Mr. King's death, Mr. Stephen K. Brundage was appointed, and Mr. William Seely took Mr. Woodworth's place.

VIEW FROM QUEEN SQUARE.

The first step taken by the commission was the improvement of the works. The dam at Little River reservoir was built higher and stronger, and during the progress of operations on it, it burst twice, and Gilbert Murdoch, Esq., the chief engineer, narrowly escaped drowning on one of these occasions. A twenty-four inch main was laid from the reservoir, and almost at the same time, and for most of its length, beside the ten inch main put down in 1850. This came across the Marsh bridge, and was connected, along with the twelve inch main, with an iron chamber, from which the water flowed into the original ten inch main, running up Brussels Street to the reservoir; a twelve inch main up Waterloo Street; a twelve inch main which went by the city road to Portland, and mains which have been put down later. The reservoir in Leinster Street was also thoroughly improved.

A new twelve inch main was laid up Erin Street, through St. Patrick and Wentworth Streets, to Princess, in 1868. The twelve inch main that is laid up Waterloo street, also goes along Sydney to Princess streets, and the Portland twelve inch main is extended nearly to the spot

where the defunct street railway stables were, on Main Street, where an eight inch pipe joins it, and carries the water as far as Rankin's mill, by way of the steamboat wharves.

This brings the history of the water supply down to about nine years ago. Since that time, the progress which has been made upon it has been great and rapid. A vast amount of money and skill have been expended to bring the works down to the splendid state of perfection in which they are now. The water supply is excellent, and the system of sewerage is unsurpassed anywhere. Under great natural difficulties the work has been prosecuted, but the engineers and their workmen, by dint of perseverance, have surmounted the many obstacles which beset them on every side. Before leaving this subject, a remark or two may be made about the source from which our people receive their supply of water. The Victoria spring is situate on a hill-side, about a mile this side of Loch Lomond. Its waters form the head of Little River. Lake Donaldson is near the spring, and the Victoria is supposed to drain it. The stream from the spring flows into Douglas Lake, a sheet of water on the south side of the Loch Lomond road, eight miles from the Marsh Bridge. It is three miles from Lake Douglas to the reservoir. Lake Latimer, one of the feeders of Little River on the south side, is nearly as high as Loch Lomond. Its waters are as clear as crystal. Lake Buck, which also flows into Little River, lies about a quarter of a mile away from it. Long's Lake which is on the right side of Little River as it flows towards Court

eney Bay, is about a mile to the north of Loch Lomond Road, and empties itself into the reservoir. That a still further head may be had when wanted, the Commissioners purchased land through which they can bring a strong supply of water from Loch Lomond. There is an abundance of water in Little River for the immediate requirements of the city, but the supply can be doubled easily by tapping Loch Lomond.

The water in the Little River Reservoir is one hundred and sixty feet above high tide level; and in the Leinster Street Reservoir it is one hundred and thirty-two feet. A good deal of nonsense, during the excitement of the present fire, was talked about an inadequate supply of water to meet the wants of the exigency, but this was found to be fallacious. There was plenty of water all the time, and while there was much reckless and needless waste, there was sufficient of the element to meet the demands of the firemen and hose-men. It is a popular cry to raise at a fire which cannot be got under way, that there is no water. On the best authority the writer is happy to be able to place it on record that the supply of water was in every way adequate to the requirements of the hour.

FOOTNOTES:

[L] Mr. Le Moyne's second appearance in St. John was at the Academy of Music, in October, 1876, when he appeared in a round of favourite characters from dramatizations of Dickens' novels, under the management of Mr. Charles H. Thayer, of Boston.

[M] As many readers take interest in the programmes used on first nights of theatres we give a copy of Mr. Lanergan's opening bill, at the Lyceum. It runs as follows:

ST. JOHN DRAMATIC LYCEUM.

South Side King's Square, St. John, N. B.

GRAND OPENING NIGHT!

The above new and elegant place of amusement will open for the first regular Dramatic Season, on Monday evening, June 15, 1857, with a full, Efficient and Talented Dramatic Company,—comprising the following well known Ladies and Gentlemen:

The entertainment will commence as above with the National Anthem!

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN,

By the Orchestra.—After which an Original opening Address written, and to be delivered by

G. F. TYRRELL.

To be followed by Sir E. L. Bulwer's Chaste and Elegant Comedy in 5 acts, entitled
Money!