Compton Fire, 1836

     I came across this article on The Island Registry http://www.islandregister.com/1836comptonfire.html

Submitted by Gary Carroll - garycarroll@hotmail.com

Royal Gazette 26 April, 1836

            A fire broke out in the house occupied by Mr. William S. Compton in King Street, between the hours of one and two on Wednesday morning last. The fire had gained such an ascendancy before the alarm was given, that the inmates had barely time to escape with their lives. Nearly every article of furniture, together with a considerable quantity of flour, and other provisions, were consumed. The exertions of the Fire Engine Company, and the inhabitants generally, aided by the Military, who promptly attended with the garrison engine, succeeded in saving the adjoining buildings, but the house in which the fire originated was reduced to ashes before three o'clock. No part of the property was insured, so that Mr. Compton's loss must have been considerable. The fire is supposed to have originated from a stove pipe which passed through a wooden partition between the kitchen and the bedroom where the stove was placed, and in which a fire had been recently kindled.