Event+between+1865+and+1885

=HARK! IT'S THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE!=

Location: Chicago, IL Date: October 8-10, 1871

Twain used his river disaster in chapter nine to critique people’s attitudes and actions in events such as this. He showed how people killed in order to get things they “needed” or merely wanted (“there was a seedy old chest, and an old hair trunk with the hinges broke…there warn’t nothing left in them…we reckoned the people left in a hurry,” (53).) Twain uses the flood as a generic base for all disasters, alluding that all disasters have the same effects with its people, who plunge into disarray and resort to actions most immoral.

Although the cause is still pending investigation, the Great Chicago Fire occurring on October 8, 1871 represents one of the most devastating disasters in American history. Three hundred people died, and with them, 2000 acres of Chicago land burned to ashes. There was no such precedent for a city-wide fire, so there was no need to make an evacuation plan if a fire were to break out. Like many natural disasters (and especially those without evacuation plans) chaos erupted in the form of wanton violence. Looting naturally occurred, especially in stores, when people believed that the flames would not suffice to the efforts of the fire department, and would eventually burn the food reserves.

The fire eventually left 300,000 homeless and destitute; this led to a large crime wave that was mostly robbery of goods, foodstuffs, and other necessary items.

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