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One of the great attractions of the instant histories was their profusion of illustrations, many
taken from other sources. These two, captioned in both English and German, are from
George L. Barclay's The Great Fire of Chicago! (1871), which was full of lurid prose and
such startling images as these. On the left, one of the anecdotes of heroism: "An Affecting
Scene. A Sick Girl is rescued by her heroic Sister at the Peril of Her Life." On the right, a
tale of vigilante justice: "Fearful Retribution. Thieves and Incendiaries are hanged by the
Heels and brained." Variations on the latter story appeared in all reporting on the fire and in
many of the personal narratives. Phillip C. Morgan, who worked for National Life
Insurance, wrote to his family on October 11, "There has been a good many toughs shot
dead and quite a number hung. Immediately upon their hellish deeds such as setting new
fires and stealing." Virtually no one, however, claimed actually to have seen such a
lynching, and General Sheridan said that he could not verify the rumors. The stories seem
to have been born of free-floating fears spurred by the destruction and chaos, suspicion of
those segments of the population represented by the young man in this and similar
illustrations, and a desire to believe that the citizenry were prepared to take extraordinary
measures, if necessary, to defend their city.
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Instant History 