anding grew stronger instead of weaker, came
the storm. It burst unexpectedly and out of a clear sky, and bore no
relation to the intention or volition of any individual. It was nothing
more than a fire, a distant one--the great Chicago fire, October 7th,
1871, which burned that city--its vast commercial section--to the
ground, and instantly and incidentally produced a financial panic,
vicious though of short duration in various other cities in America.
The fire began on Saturday and continued apparently unabated until the
following Wednesday. It destroyed the banks, the commercial houses, the
shipping conveniences, and vast stretches of property. The heaviest loss
fell naturally upon the insurance companies, which instantly, in many
cases--the majority--closed their doors. This threw the loss back on the
manufacturers and wholesalers in other cities who had had dealings with
Chicago as well as the merchants of that city. Again, very grievous
losses were borne by the host of eastern capitalists which had for years
past partly owned, or held heavy mortgages on, the magnificent buildings
for business purposes and residences in which Chicago was already
rivaling every city on the continent. Transportation was disturbed, and
the keen scent of Wall Street, and Third Street in Philadelphia, and
State Street in Boston, instantly perceived in the early reports the
gravity of the situation. Nothing could be done on Saturday or Sunday
after the exchange closed, for the opening reports came too late. On
Monday, however, the facts were pouring in thick and fast; and the
owners of railroad securities, government securities, street-car
securities, and, indeed, all other forms of stocks and bonds, began to
throw them on the market in order to raise cash. The banks naturally
were calling their loans, and the result was a stock stampede which
equaled the Black Friday of Wall Street of two years before.

Cowperwood and his father were out of town at the time the fire began.
They had gone with several friends--bankers--to look at a proposed route
of extension of a local steam-railroad, on which a loan was desired.
In buggies they had driven over a good portion of the route, and were
returning to Philadelphia late Sunday evening when the cries of newsboys
hawking an "extra" reached their ears.

"Ho! Extra! Extra! All about the big Chicago fire!"

"Ho! Extra! Extra! Chicago burning down! Extra! Extra!"

The cries were long-drawn-out, omi