Richmond, VA Fire, Mar 1882

Richmond, Va., had, last Sunday, the greatest fire it has known since the evacuation of the city by the Confederates in 18[illegible]5. A passing engine dropped a spark which fired the bridge of the Petersburg Railroad Company over James river. In a few moments the bridge was on fire. A little later it was wrapped in flames and in less than half an hour the structure fell, a mass of ruins, into the river. From the bridge the fire spread to and destroyed the tobacco factories of T.M. Rutherford & Co., R.A. Patterson & Co. and T.C. Williams & Co., with six stemmeries (sic), the Vulcan Iron Works, 20 tenement houses, occupied by poor people, ten freight cars, a grist mill, the kaoline (sic) works of the Virginia Mining and Manufacturing Company, and a quantity of other property. The total loss is about half a million dollars, about half of which is covered by insurance. During the fire a youth, CHARLEY BETTS, aged 15 years, was caught under a falling wall and crushed to death.

The Landmark, Statesville, NC Mar 31 1882

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Richmond, Va., 26.- About noon today the southern end of the Richmond and Pittsburg Railroad bridge was discovered to be on fire, and when the firemen arrived the whole structure was ablaze and soon tumbled into the river. When the flames reached the Richmond end of the bridge the seized upon the large four-story brick tobacco factory of T.M. Rutherford & Co., which was rapidly destroyed. The fire spread with frightful rapidity, and soon laid in ashes the large brick tobacco factories of R.A. Patterson & Co. and T.C. Williams & Co. Three tobacco stemmeries, (sic) J.A. Hutchison; two stemmeries, (sic) C.R. & F.D. Barksdale; one stemmery, (sic) Abram & Edwards; Vulcan Iron Works opreate3d by Bruce & Archer; 20 tenements occupied by poor people, about 300 feet of trestle connecting the Tredegar iron Works with the Richmond & Pittsburg Railroad, 10 new freight cars of the Tredegar Company, T.P. Smith’s grist mill and a number of minor buildings and a quantity of coal and lumber. At the southern or Manchester end of the bridge the fire destroyed the Virginia Mining and Manufacturing Company’s works. The total loss is estimated at $500,000, about one-half of which is covered by insurance. The rapid spread of the fire was owing to a heavy gale. One life was lost and several minor casualties.

Deseret News , Deseret, UT 5 Apr 1882
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!