The following account of the great fire occurring at London, on the morning of February 2, 1854, by which nearly the entire business portion of the village was destroyed, appeared in the Reveille of Saturday, February 4, 1854:
It is with deep regret that we announce to our readers that our little town of London was visited with a destructive conflagration on Thursday last, at about l o'clock in the morning. The fire was first discovered breaking through the roof of V. S. Chamberlain's clothing store. From thene it sprrad and took within its march of destruction the following buildings:
• James Smith, grocer, loss $80O.
• V. S. Chamberlain, clothing store, loss $6OO.
• J. C. Kemp, grocer, loss $400.
• A. Shanklin, dry goods, loss $2,000, fully insured.
• W. Dungan, cabinet warerooms, loss $1,300, no insurance.
• J. Kanncaster, shoe store, loss $1,500, partially insured.
• J. B. Evans, dry goods, loss $1,000, insured.
• I. Warner, dry goods, loss $4,5OO, insured $3,500.
• H. Warner, store-house, loss $1,800, no insuranre.
• T. Jones, druggist, loss $2,000, insured $1,000.
• A. Winchester, dwelling and store, loss $1,000, no insurance.
• A. E. Turnbull. loss $300. no insurance.
• H. Fellows, storehouses, loss $3,000, no insurance.
• Dunkin & Boals, buildings, loss $500.
• George Phifer American Hotel, loss $3,000, no insurance.
• William Jones, keeper of American Hotel, loss $1,500, insured $600
• J. J. Jones, dwelling, loss $1,000, no insurance.
• R. Acton, saddler, loss $400, no insurance.
• G. W. Sprung, Madison Reveille, loss about $700, no insurance.
• Fellows & Chandler, dry goods, loss not known.
• Masonic Lodge, everything lost.
• Odd Fellows Lodge, saved their books.
• J. Lewis, dwelling, loss $800.
• Telegraph office, with contents.
• R. Hall, merchant, loss not known.
The above estimate of losses and insurances was furnished us by a friend and we suppose they are literally correct. In addition to the above buildings, several stables at a considerable distance from the main fire, caught and burned down. So violent was the wind, during the above conflagration, that parts of the roofs of the burning houses were carried a distance of one-fourth of a mile from town, and communicated fire to buildings wherever it fell. Had it not been for the great exertions made by our citizens in tearing down several buildings adjoining those burnt down on Main street the whole town would have been one pile of ashes. Let us be thankful it is no worse. No lives were lost, nor any person injured during the fire.
The clothing store of Mr. Chamberlain, where the fire originated, was located on West High street one door east of the alley; and the course of the fire was east on High to Main street, and down the west side of Main to Second street, sweeping away the entire block, and the flames, on reaching Main street from High, extended across to the east side of Main, and down the same to a point where extinguished.
The following lines, on the above fire appeared in the Reveille over the initials J. O. B.:
"The hub bub is past, and expired the flame,
Yet the ravages meet the sad eye;
But LONDON will yet cut a figure in fame,
And raise her droop'd head to the sky!
"Like the Phoenix she'll rise with her plumage more gay,
Than it was ere she sunk in her pyre,
Thus, 'onward and upward,' her sons will display
New life from the purgative fire!
"Combustible 'Shantees' no more shall they rear
The disgrace and annoyance of all;
Henceforth the hard granite and brick will appear,
Top'd off with the fire-proof wall.
"Already the press (stilled down by the heat)
Resumes its vocation, I see.
And the force that had sadly to beat the 'Retreat' Now joyfully heats 'REVEILLE!'
"Success to the press, and the friends of the press,
Whose energies keep her alive.
May they never know sorrow or pain and distress,
But ever be happy, and thrive."