This is the original version of this exciting scene, based on a sketch made by artist John R. Chapin. It became one of the most appropriated and reworked images of the fire. It is not hard to understand why. Chapin effectively captures the frenzied crush of the crowd and wagons at this narrow point of passage to safety. The Randolph Street and Lake Street bridges were two major means of escape from the South Division to the West Division.
The five-story Lind Block, which was built in 1852, is the large building in the center of the illustration, which became noted as the only occupied South Division building in the path of the fire to survive--though here it appears to be in flames. The Nixon Block, on the northeast corner of Monroe and LaSalle streets, also made it through the fire, but at that time it was still under construction
In his personal account of the fire, Chicago Evening Post reporter Joseph Edgar Chamberlin recalled of his experience at this bridge: "Meanwhile a strange scene was being enacted in the street before us. A torrent of humanity was pouring over the bridge. The Madison Street bridge had long before become impassable, and Randolph was the only outlet for the entire region south of it. Drays, express wagons, trucks, and conveyances of every conceivable species and size crowded across in indiscriminate haste. Collisions happened almost every moment, and when one overloaded wagon broke down, there were enough men on hand to drag it and its contents over the bridge by main force."
