 Emergency Measures
General Sheridan in Command
The Relief and Aid Society Takes Over
Official Actions
Military Rule in Chicago
Organizing the Relief
|
|
Mayor Roswell B. Mason reached his office in the Courthouse about midnight, and
for the next two hours he followed the fire's progress, issued commands, and
sent telegrams to other cities beseeching them for additional men and equipment.
Forced to flee the burning building, he was now only one more frightened
fugitive in the crowded streets, with no alternative other than to try to make
it back to his nearby South Division home--if it was still standing. As it
turned out, his house was spared, though the advancing flames forced him to take
a long detour into the North Division before heading back. Almost three hours
later he completed his nightmare journey.
On Monday morning, with the city still ablaze, Common Council President Charles
C.P. Holden called a combination of elected officials and prominent citizens to
a meeting later in the day at the First Congregational Church, out of harm's way
in the West Division. They turned the church into a temporary city hall--the
first of several makeshift provisions for government services--and arranged to
enlist citizens as special deputies, as well as to provide food and water to the
burnt-out. Mayor Mason joined the meeting by mid-afternoon, in time to sign a
proclamation pledging "the faith and credit of the city of Chicago" to "the
preservation of order,...the relief of suffering," and "the protection of
property." Other executive orders established the price of bread, banned
smoking, limited the hours of saloons, and forbade wagon drivers from charging
more than their normal rates.
|
