Recalls Fire of 1856

Baltimore, February 17, 1922

Mr. R. L. Westover

Dear Sir -

Enclosed find P.O. order for $1.50 for the renewal of my subscription for another year.  I see on the label that it expires the 22nd, and I do not want to miss a copy.  I see my home town has been visited by another fire.  The building which burned was my home at two different periods in my life.  When I was a child my father and Presley Zinn bought the property and carried on a dry goods store under the firm name of Gregg & Zinn.  When the big fire that occurred on the 12th day of April, 1856, swept both sides of the street down as far as upper Mill  St., that building was the only one left standing on the west side of the street.  They saved it by laying my mothers bedclothes on it and keeping them soaked with water through the efforts of a bucket brigade.  Only a few of us are left that remembers that fire.  Mrs. McDuffy is the only one living that was a grown woman at that time.  Frank Tunis and his sister, Mrs. Betty Marks berry, Mrs. Fred Burch and Mrs. Lizzie Porter were children, but like myself I guess they remember it.  Father time with his scythe has thineed out the ranks so there are only a few of us left who were residents of dear old Williamstown at that time.

Very respectfully

Mrs. Carrie C. Lowe
1865 N. Caroline Street
Baltimore, Md.

from, the Grant County News, February 24, 1922