The business quarter of Boston was destroyed by fire on
Sun- day. No one knows how it broke out, but it appeared at seven on Saturday, spread through the wooden Mansard roofs with frightful rapidity, burnt till one on Sunday, and broke out again for a short time on Sunday evening, destroying altogether 959 buildings, of which 125 were dwellings, and the rest warehouses, and consuming about £14,000,000 worth of property, principally leather and other goods. The fire was only stopped by blowing up houses, the engines having little power over flames which pul- verised the granite houses as if they were built of chalk. The most notable fact about the fire was, that brick proved a much better defence than granite, an old brick church having withstood the fury of the flame. The English Insurance offices have paid all their claims at once, but the Massachusetts' offices, will, it is said, pay only half, their re-insurances, if effected at all, being apparently only among themselves. The disaster has roused the whole Union, assistance was pouring in, and the last report was that rebuilding had already commenced.
