| Citation |
NYM(G.776.066
30 Sep 1776:23 (1301)
[Account of a fire that destroyed "nearly a fourth of
the whole city", Sept.21; includes] The Rebel Army
having carried off all the bells of the city, the alarm
could not be speedily communicated, and very few of the
citizens were in town. . . Long before the main fire
reached Trinity Church, that large, ancient and
venerable edifice was in flames, which baffled every
effort to suppress them. The steeple, which was 140
feet high, the upper part of wood, and placed on an
elevated situation, resembled a vast pyramid of fire,
and exhibited a most grand and awful spectacle. . .
Besides Trinity Church, the rector's house, the Charity
School, the Old Lutheran Church, and many other fine
buildings were consumed. . . the pumps and fire-engines
were very much out of order. This last circumstance,
together with the removal of our bells, the time and
place of the fire's breaking out. . . these, to mention
no other particulars, clearly evince beyond the
possibility of doubt, that this diabolical affair was
the result of a preconcerted, deliberate scheme. . .
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