The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

18 WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1923 CHICAGO FIRE - MADE ALL POOR Letter Written While Flames Raged Calls Conflagration "Terribly Fierce" HAPPY THOUGH BROKE Churches Opened to Desti- tute Poor Editor's Note: Volumes have been written about the Chicago Fire of 1871 but the older residents of this vicinity always welcome the additional bits of information that bob up occasionally when old letters are exhumed from attic treasure chests. Such an one is the ac- companynig penned by C. C. Kohlsaat, well known- to many residents as a former judge of the Federal court, and addressed to his brother E. W. Kohl- saat, formerly a Chicago business man. The letter is published for the first time through the courtesy of P. B. Kohlsaat of Winnetka, nephew of the former jurist. Chicago, October 12, 1871. E. W. Kohlsaat, Esq. ear Bro. Of course you are anxious to know how we are getting along. Our house is safe so far, though we are constant- ly on the look-out for fires. The city is under strict military and police control. Men have to toe the line close or get shot. Our office went with all its contents. The library was insured for $1,000 in a Chicago com- pany, but of this we shall collect lit- tle or nothing. Our safe with our books of accounts is yet in the ruins. We have been working two days to unearth it. Had to dig down 7 or 8 feet. 'It is among fire, hot bricks, ashes and etc. There is reason to hope that our books will be legible, but we cannot tell now. Nothing that you have read can possibly exceed the scene. We saw the fire just as it began and watched it several hours little dreaming the extent of the ruin impending. I went to bed and was very much surprised the next morning when Fred and wife came to wake -me up and tell me our office was in ruins. It's like a dream. Herman and Sam were out all night, having gone fremmeiedown to sce the fire and then, find- ma Ir store {they went down there. - They. were " chased by smoke and cinders nich of the way. . The fire spread with fearful rapid- ity. Probably the paper accounts keep you better posted than I can as to general items. We are all looking out for offices on Canal street near Harris' Safe store. Our office is over- head. But there is nothing to do. Rec- ords are all destroyed, the Court house being literally burnt out. It's so strange to have no deeds, no judg- ment records, no anything. Nobody owns any land by record title now. Our mortgage is wiped out. Every- one must begin anew. There will be a great deal of law business before things are straightened out. There is no water. We have ours, taking it from Union Park lake. Folks drink river water. We can't get any money from anyone. Banks burnt. We had $600 in bank, but are hard up now, I can tell you. So is everybody else. We live on slender rations. The boys do nothing now. No schools for the girls for sometime. Telegraphy has just reopened. It's too terribly fierce to express vienuAll'we can do is to live from day (to day.) The churches all around us are open to the poor and they live better than many others who are not called poor. H. H. says Richards C. & S. will be doing something towards business again pretty soon--Say, in two weeks. Uncle came up but I didn't see him. The boys have been doing guard duty on this block. The west side gas is all- right. I write by that light tonight. I should have written sooner but could not. Fan and the girls are all right. None of my friends were burnt that I know of. Davis was to have been married Thursday last, i. e. today. Don't know what effect the fire had on him. We're cheery, so don't worry. My love to Mary, Bertha, Uncle J. C. and C, Yours, Chris. HENRY VAN DYKE ATSUNDAY CLUB Club Season Terminates This Sunday Evening Dr. Henry van Dyke, noted author and former United States Minister to Holland, will be the speaker next Sunday evening at the Wilmette Sun- day Evening club, the last night of the Sunday Evening club for this season. Dr. van Dyke spoke last Sunday evening before the Sunday Evening club in Orchestra hall and in the morning at Mandel Hall of the Uni- versity of Chicago. Throughout the week there have been comments in Chicago papers regarding Chicago en- tertaining Dr. van Dyke as one of its most distinguished visitors. Dr. van Dyke has written a great deal on out-door life. One of his greatest books is entitled "Out-Doors in the Holy Land' and one of his best known poems is an "Ode To God of the Open Air." Sunday will mark his first appearance before the Wil- mette Sunday Evening club. Next Sunday the nominating com- mittee will make its report of nomina- tions for the Extensive committee for the coming scason and a financial re port of the season will also be made. : Unique Style Shop 1126 Central Ave. Wilmette 2403 Latest Styles NEW STOCK ARRIVED Dresses, Suits, Wraps, Capes and Coatees IN PRICES THAT CANNOT BE BEAT Come and See Our Window HUBBARD WOODS GARAGE 1010 North Ave. a i BR TIRE SALE fe Silvertown Cords and Fisk Cords and Fabrics We have your size and Our price is right Get your requirements Before another advance "Service with a Smile" Phone Winnetka 617 rr Zs Edd "5 POPP PT PPD Williams -- Holly Cut Flowers ) Plant Now! | i Perennials must be planted soon. Plant your pansies now -- They will soon be in bloom. All kinds of Hardy Perennial Plants; Canterbury Bells--Fox-Glove--Sweet Delphimium--Rudbeckia--Pyrethrum Hardy Pinks--Baby Breath--Veron- 4 ica--Hardy Flox--Irises--Gailardia --Coreopsis and all other kinds. FRANK BOROVICKA 746 Center Street } Phone Winnetka 283 Potted Plants | Hocks --Daisies-- HAVE TWO INCOMES One from work, the other from your investment. We offer a particularly attractive in- vestment to local residents in the 7 per cent cumulative preferred shares of our company. It is free from Personal Property Tax, exempt from Federal Income Tax and yields an attractive return. A Safe Investment With a Satisfactory Shares may be purchased either for cash or extended payments of $5.00 per share down and $5.00 per month. Get full information from your near- est office or from any of our employees. Return NORTH SHORE GAS COMPANY ~o -- Le £m i | a 1 4 soo aR TR w LET