A solitary figure powerfully accentuates the absence of any other human presence. "It was impossible to make visits to the ruins on Monday, on account of the great heat and the still tumbling walls," wrote Elias Colbert and Everett Chamberlin in Chicago and the Great Conflagration, one of the several “instant histories” published in the weeks and months after the fire. "All travel between the east and west sides of the river was done through Twelfth Street, which thus became gorged with vehicles and pedestrians. All railroad trains on the south side stopped at Twenty-second Street, two miles south of their usual terminus. There was no gathering together of the people on this day, for there was nowhere to gather. Even the loafing power of the city was staggered for the time. There was no running of the street-railroad cars, or other of the signs of life which usually are visible, even on Sabbaths and holidays. In short, the day seemed a dies non--a day burnt out of the history of the city."
