The Boston Fire of 1872

The roots of Art Magic are to be found in Emma's life, in Boston, in the early 1870s, in The Western Star, her short-lived periodical of that period, and in her time there as a galvanic doctor.

As such, the Boston Fire of 1872 looms large, particularly as we have claims from both Emma (indirect, opaque) and Robert Fryar that Emma and William suffered significant property loss in the Boston Fire -- the lost material including, tantalizingly, Fryar's material on skrying, which he had apparently loaned Emma for inclusion in The Western Star.

At the time of the fire, Emma and William were living at 251 Washington Street (B), and the offices of The Western Star were a block or so away, around a corner, at 25 Bromfield Street (A) ( and how she must have loved that -- her mother's maiden name, nearly).

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The fire was extensive, and devastating.

Fortunately, a contemporary map-maker left us a rendition of downtown Boston at the time, showing the extent of the fire -- and more importantly, its boundaries -- and some enterprising souls have put that famous "Burnt District" map online, allowing us to see that, while Emma's home at 251 Washington (and the Banner of Light offices a bit away at 158 Washington, were at the edge of the fire, the offices of teh Western Star were a further block-and-a-half beyond the perimeter of the fire's damage.

A contemporary account of the fire-fighting in Emma's district -- from Conwell's History of the Great Fire in Boston -- is instructive (though it will tax the reader who's not also looking at a map):

As the conflagration swept onward, crossing street after street in its march, it was decided to blow up all the buildings on Milk Street on the south side from Devonshire Street, to and through Morton Place, as many of the buildings in this locality were of a very combustible nature, and would endanger the entire northern section of the city. This was between twelve and one o'clock on Sunday morning : but a sufficient quantity of powder could not be obtained in this city at that time ; and Alderman Jenks despatched a police-officer to the Navy Yard with a request to Commodore Parrott to furnish a quantity of that article. With commendable promptness, the commodore ordered five one-hundred-pound kegs of powder to be placed in a hack ; and the officer soon reported back, when the blowing-up of buildings on Washington, Devonshire, and Water Streets, was commenced. To make the corner of Milk and Washington Streets the objective point in the ravages of the fire northward, every effort was made, and fortunately proved successful. Then, to stop its crossing State Street, and sweeping the section of the city Iying beyond that point, a number of buildings were mined on the south side of that street and on Devonshire Street, between Water and State Streets ; but, before these extreme measures were required, the dreaded element was under control, and all further danger avoided.

The corner of Milk and Washington was a block from Emma's house, and two blocks from the offices of The Western Star but both were outside the perimeter, according to this account. The damage that The Banner of Light sustained - reported in numerous venues -- may well have been to its printing operation, rather than to its editorial offices, which were yet farther up Washington Street, on the fire's boundary line.

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