Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 5.
The Great Fire in Hull
An Eye-witness Account
390 Sparks Street,
Sunday, April 16th, 1900
My dear Mabel: —
Will you excuse this letter in lead pencil because the only pens I can find here don’t suit me. I may as well begin with Thursday morning to tell you all I can about the fire. It is almost impossible to find time to write for there are so many visitors, and Papa is dreadfully restless and l have to watch him all the time for fear he should get out on the street and wander away. He does not seem to realize his loss but knows something is wrong and is always wanting to start for somewhere & I do hope he will settle down in a few days for it is an awful strain to have him like this, but I’m thankful he cannot feel like he did a few years ago or his heart would be broken.
That Thursday morning l drove him to town, did some shopping & laying in a supply of groceries and a lot of things he wanted. I had left Molly & Lily in Hull with the girls, and I called at Lizzie’s on my way home, soon after 11 o'clock, and she said there was a fire in Hull. We phoned George (Wright) to find out where it was & he said it was away back of the Model School-house, fully half a mile from our place. We drove on towards Hull & up past the old house where the Frank Scotts used to live, and had a view of the fire but never dreamed it would be such a dreadful one. We only stayed there a minute then turned and drove home.
I called the man to take the horse & he came running up from the stable & said he thought the hay-loft must be on fire as the stable was full of smoke. l made him run up to see and ran after him into the carriage-house where I immediately saw some boards of the floor smouldering. I rushed out down the road & shouted to the man to go & give the alarm at Eddys;. Then I tore back & met the blacksmith who had come up from the kilns to find the working- horses as usual. I sent him off for water & he was soon back with two pails which put out the fire, then they tore up part of the floor to make sure there was no more fire. That was about 11.30 a.m.
Rug came driving up soon after & got all the buildings closed up & sent for his men & stationed them about with pails. We had lots of water from our dam but no force. By that time the flames had got really to Main Street & little Molly was dancing with fright & though I never thought we should be burned up, I hated to see her so excited. So my little maid took both the children over to Lizzie’s through Hurdman's Lumber Yard. They could not get a car (electric street-car) and she had to carry Lily all the way, but I was thankful later that I had sent them in time.
The other girl and l got all the tubs, wash-boilers, etc. filled with water & put them at different corners of the verandah, and while the men & our boys & Georges B. & C. (Brigham & Cunningham) who arrived on the scene were working about the stables & yard putting out sparks, I kept tearing around the garden watching the corners and windows of the house, & made frequent trips to the cupola to see if all was right there. Even when the boys made us leave the house, I never felt it was going to burn. On one of my trips upstairs I gathered up my jewellery & put it inside my dress.
We worked like Trojans and the roof of the log stable caught fire time & again & was put out by our boys on the roof. Before the fire reached Main Street, Hull, the flying sparks set fire to the lumber on the Ottawa side directly opposite our house and soon stretched up & down along the river-bank. I took a photo of it from George's window but of course my camera & everything is gone. Soon after, the lumber between us & the river was burning, also the dry-house at the foot of the road and the wood piled in our lower garden, but fortunately there was little wood left there then.
Then George (W) said we must get Papa away & we girls were to go too. The horses were all away by that time for they would have been of no earthly use to us, they were so excited & wild. The men got Papa out & put him in our new carriage & with George, hauled him down to the lime-kilns the back way. I rushed upstairs & got two small handbags & gave one to the girl, . telling her to put her most cherished belongings into it, & I went around & gathered up a few things but think I was rather rattled. The boys came in one after the other calling to us to come at once. I was downstairs at once but had to wait for the girl & thought I should never get her down. At last Jim (Wright) went up & made her come down & they sent us down the back way.
Our big stable was burning on one side of the road and the sheds & icehouse & Eddy's sheds were ablaze on the other. The boys say if we had been 5 minutes later we would have been surrounded as they were big flames. We met George W. coming from the Kilns but he could not get back to the house, as we heard later, so he made his way to his own office & put things away in the vault and safe. The vault was not fireproof and nearly all the things inside were later destroyed. His safe he has not examined yet but thinks it is alright (later it was found to have dropped through into the basement & so was saved).
Georges B. & C., Rug and Jim stayed near the house till it became too hot. They brought out some of George W’s books and put them in the garden but they took fire right off. When it got too hot there (in the garden), they wet each other all over from one of the tubs, then carried one down to the lower garden where they huddled together near the stone wall & kept themselves wet, waiting till the dry-houses would be burned down sufficiently to let them get past. They were joined there by 4 men from Eddy's & had a terrible time for nearly an hour when the pail warehouse on the other side of the fence took fire & the flames came shooting over their heads. They could not stand it any longer & decided to make a dash for life. One of Eddy’s men, a watchman, was an old cripple 83 years of age & twice when they lay huddled against the wall, they thought he was dead for he lay there with his eyes closed & would not exert himself & they kept wetting handkerchiefs 8. laying them over him.
When they ran to the wall along the foot of the garden they carried him & the tub too, but they could not get him over the wall which was red-hot & burned their hands, so they carried him to a hole in one corner of the wall and left him there with the tub of water never imagining he could survive (but he did, as they learned later). They got over the wall into the pond, dived underwater & swam to the other side, having to help another old man who could not swim & was frightened to death. They got out alright & up to Hull between the burning paper mills on one side of the road & the burning match factory on the other, & finally ended up at Scott's where Papa & I had got before them.
When the girl and I got to the Kilns Papa was at the Office, & we stayed there as long as I dared, but when I saw the flames creeping down Main Street I thought we had better move before we were surrounded. She & I took Papa between us & we walked slowly along till we came to the house of a man who used to work for Papa, & we went in there & Papa got a glass of milk, some bread & cold ham. Then I tried to direct my girl up to Mrs. Scott's to see if they could send down some sort of conveyance for Papa; she managed to find the place & they sent a horse & carriage by George Walker, who took us up there by a roundabout road, the only way we could go.
Then the flames were not on their side of the creek but soon after, they got there & their conservatory took fire twice & was put out. They sent first Mrs. Scott, then Papa & me out to Mrs. WaIker’s on the Chelsea road, & we called at the Garrioch’s & took old Mrs. G. & the baby to the Col. Wright's, & someone else moved out Jeff. Mrs. Willie Garrioch had had a mishap 2 days before & was seriously ill in bed & they did not move her — fortunately — for the fire on that side was soon put out & nearly all Eddy-ville survived. None of the Garriochs seemed to be any the worse for the excitement. (Willie G. is creditted with having saved all the records from St. James Church).
Before we left the Scott's, Rug, Jim, Georges B. & C. came along & had heard that the fire was raging in Ottawa & that the Cecil Hotel was burned, & a lot of exaggerated stories. So I was in an awful state about Lizzie (Mrs. Geo. Brigham), Stuart (Mrs. Ruggles Wright) and Lily (Mrs. Geo. Cunningham) & implored their husbands to go right home, which they did as speedily as possible by the ferry, the only way, for all the bridges were burned (this ferry owned by Geo. B.).
I did not hear till 12.30 that night, when Geo. W. came out to the Walker's, that they were alright; in the meantime l put in an awful time, having to sit there & watch Papa & not knowing how they fared. We were all made very comfortable at the Walker's for the night — Mrs. Scott, Papa, Geo. W., my girl & I, but it was pitiful seeing people spending the night by their belongings along the sides of the road, & it was a cold night too. All the householders were kindness itself & when their houses were full, would send out food, etc. to those in the open.
Jim W. spent the night at Charlie's (another Wright brother, Sheriff of Hull), then later sometimes there & sometimes at Rug's, & he always calls here once a day. Friday morning the Scotts took us there (Charlie's), & after dinner drove us down to the ferry, & we came across then to here in the cars. lt nearly broke my heart to look at the 4 walls of our dear old home; we'll never have another we will all care for so much, but I am thankful we all escaped without injury. Rug, Jim, Georges B. & C. had very sore eyes but they used boracic acid & they are all pretty well now.
The old man they left behind was not burned after all & must have recovered his presence of mind soon after they left him, for when the fire got very fierce he plunged his head then his back in the tub & kept himself constantly wet. When the fire had died away he dropped himself down to the back of the island, got on a plank & pushed himself across the slide, and finally was helped by someone. His escape is marvellous & the boys are so thankful for they felt dreadful at leaving him.
Dr. Graham's house, Eddy’s & all his mills & buildings, the Frank Scott house, all the Marston property, one old church, the Smith's, Lyster's, Johnston's & Brooke's houses are all gone; also the post—office, courthouse, George W's office (several blocks to the East), & all the Cement Works & Office; the fire going the whole length of Main Street & back of it for a long way, then right to the river. You never saw a cleaner sweep in your life — there are hardly ashes left.
In Ottawa it is just as bad; all along the Richmond Road is burned, & between that & the river, also back of the Richmond Road to the Experimental Farm (the latter place is alright). The Dr. Marston's place, Dr. Hill's, Dr. Malloch's, Pinhey's & a lot of other splendid places are gone —also McKay's big flour mills at the Chaudiere & everything else there, & the iron of the bridges is all twisted. Ottawa has no street lights, many houses were in darkness for a couple of days, & the cars were stopped till Friday morning.
Heaps & heaps of people we know are left without a thing but the clothes they stand in, & some have little or no insurance. The Lysters have lost everything except his instruments & a baby-carriage full of silver & have no insurance Anne Smith has only the clothes she stands in. We have a good deal of insurance l think, but George says it will never cover our loss, & of course, all our little bits of sentiment are gone. l hardly think of it yet. Everything that brought us in rent is gone except the farm, & it will be sometime before George gets settled again. He & Mr. Brooke have taken offices over the Molson's Bank in Ottawa but have got to get new furniture for them. It is awful that both lost all their books.
George looks very anxious & worried but is bearing up well &says it makes him sick to think of the narrow escape Papa & the rest of us had. I don’t know how it will affect Rug for I am sure the Union Bank, who owned the Cement Works, will not rebuild, but he (Rug) has some kilns away back in Hull that will keep him going if only the bridges are fixed up soon & he can get his stuff to town. Charlie's household effects were moved out but his house escaped so he is alright, but his office in the courthouse is gone, of course. All I saved for Jim was a breast-pin & for George, some ties, collars, cuffs, handkerchiefs, hair-brush & a napkin ring.
I saved all my diaries except this year‘s & am so glad — a bit of the old life is still left. For the present I can get along with Lizzie’s things till I have some time to think, but until Papa gets settled I'm hardly able to move. I sincerely thank you for your kind offers & sympathy & will let you help me later. What I want now very much is a pair of bedroom slippers, for Liz has only one pair & I often have to jump at night when I hear Papa move. So if you want to present me with a pair, I shall be very grateful.
Our poor driving horse was the only one cremated, but I‘m afraid Jerry & three puppies have all perished & our canary which they let out of the cage. Just think of my dear old palm tree Q the old oil painting of Grandfather Montgomery. I had been congratulating myself that Edith Hunter was not at our house & when I telephoned Percy he told me she had suffered too. He came here last night & said she had just gone home as she had not enough clothes to stay. I am so sorry for her.
We have hardly formed any plans yet but don‘t think it would be wise to rebuild in the same place for it is bound to be a manufacturing centre. George wrote last night to Mrs. Fred whose husband is away at the Klondike, & who with her two children is boarding in Aylmer, to see if she would rent us their house on the Aylmer Road near our farm; the house is just like ours where Uncle Ned Wright used to live. It is furnished & has been closed up for a year & I hope we can get it till the 1st of October or November at a reasonable rate. Then the Cunninghams could come to us for the summer & perhaps the Brighams too, & we could live in picnic fashion, & economize till we can look about us & decide our future. I could not stand the city with Papa all summer.
In the meantime we shall stay here. Geo. B. has been kindness itself & it is so nice to be with Liz, & I could not take Papa into anyone else’s house. He seems dreadfully weak tonight. Geo. B's foundry was all burned but his ferry-boat is doing a rushing business now that there is no other way of getting to Hull, & has been making $200 every day since the fire. Liz is looking very white & is rather shaky on her feet, but has sent away her nurse & is going about now; she went for a drive today with Papa & Lily while I played nurse. The baby is very good. Bea is still in Stewarton but the other children are at home.
I do wish you could come up for a day or two. I know Stuart would be glad to give you a bed, or I even think some here would be wide enough for the two of us, & we could do such a lot of talking, & I could show you the terrible sights. Do try to come. Everyone has been so kind & good & my opinion of the world is much better than it was. We have had so many kind letters & at least two offers of houses.
I don't think I can write any more but this is a volume & I hope you'll be able to read it & correct the mistakes as you go along for I can never read it over. Please thank all the family for their sympathy which has been very sweet to us, and try to come up.
Your loving old chum
(Sgd) Sarah
Written by Miss Sarah Rosina Wright, daughter of Charles Browne Wright and great granddaughter of Philemon Wright, the founder of Hull. She was born January 11th, 1869 and died June 22nd, 1959. She was buried in St. James Cemetery on Taché Blvd. at the westerly end of Hull. The headstone marking her grave bears the inscription ‘Aunt Rosa’, which she was to many — even non-relatives.