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Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser
Portland, Cumberland County, Maine
What is this article about?
A devastating fire destroyed four-fifths of Port of Spain, Trinidad, on the night of March 24-25, 1800s (exact year unclear), reducing many inhabitants to indigence. Reported from St. George's, Grenada, on April 1.
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ST. GEORGE'S (GRENADA) April 1.
It is with deep concern that we lay before the public the advice of the dreadful calamity which has befallen the Town of Port of Spain, in Trinidad, four fifths of which was destroyed by fire, in the night between the 24th and 25th ult. The deplorable situation of its inhabitants is thus expressed in a letter from thence:
Every Merchant's store and Lumber Yard, every Baking-house, every Doctor's and Apothecary's Shop, entirely destroyed, the Public Hospitals, old and new Government Houses, Custom House, and Protestant Church, shared the same fate.
"In the general calamity few were able to save their clothes--numbers are deprived of the means of replacing these necessaries, and are from a state of prosperity and affluence, reduced to hopeless indigence!
"This dreadful evil arose from the carelessness of servants in the kitchen of a private family, between the hours of 9 and 10 at night and the town being entirely built of wood the progress of the flames was irresistibly rapid, and laid the whole in ashes in a few minutes."
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Where did it happen?
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Port Of Spain, Trinidad
Event Date
Night Between The 24th And 25th Ult.
Outcome
four fifths of the town destroyed; many inhabitants reduced to hopeless indigence; no specific casualties mentioned.
Event Details
Dreadful fire started from carelessness of servants in a private family's kitchen between 9 and 10 at night; rapidly spread due to wooden buildings, destroying merchant stores, lumber yards, baking-houses, doctors' and apothecaries' shops, public hospitals, government houses, custom house, and Protestant church.