"The question is now, not who is injured, but who has escaped? Almost all I know are involved in the common catastrophe. At No. 12, Mr. Hichcock burnt out; Mr. Birch, not even his books and papers saved. Mr. Brown burnt out, and his goods consumed in the street or in the stores to which they were removed. Mr. Starkweather not yet injured, but in imminent danger. Mr. Williams' employees, everything destroyed; and also Mr. Conckling's, I believe. At 14, Mr. Stewart's employees. At 20, Mr. Bronson among the lost; Mr. Soullard, same; Mr. Davis and ____ escaped. Halsted and Baines, $40,000 lost; 20 to 30,000 saved. Hunt and Andrews, Conckling & ____, &c., &c. "So vast is the destruction that insurance affords but a very insufficient security. The whole insurance capital of the city will scarce exceed one-half the amount of property consumed in one night! Estimates are very vague and uncertain--the loss, however, can hardly be less than twenty millions of dollars. "There is not time to write a word more to-day. "Affectionately yours, "S. J. TILDEN." "I have business acquaintance with a great many of the sufferers." Silas Wright took the oath of office as Senator of the United States from the State of New York on the 14th of January, 1833, and in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He is still regarded in his native State as one of the half-dozen wisest statesmen that ever occupied a seat in the Upper House of our national legislature. He was a warm supporter of the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren, and the most eminent victim of New York's successful opposition to the conversion of the Territory of Texas into five more sovereign slave-holding States of the Union. He was also a close friend and constant correspondent of Elam Tilden and of his two elder sons. The letter which follows reached Mr. S. J. Tilden only a few weeks before he was deprived of the Presidency by the 7-to-6 vote of the Electoral Tribunal of 1876. It connotes Senator Wright's first appearance in the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Waddell, to whom Mr. Tilden was indebted for Wright's letter, had been United States marshal during the administration of Mr. Van Buren. WM. COVENTRY H. WADDELL TO S. J. TILDEN "BENNETT BUILDING, NEW YORK, _February 26, 1877_. "MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I _know_ that you have the highest appreciation of the writer of the enclosed; but I do not know that you have a special taste to preserve interesting mementos relating to such persons. If you have, and will observe the expressions in this letter, you will perceive that W. notes his '_first_ appearance' as counsel before the Supreme Court of the United States. I beg your acceptance of it for your collection of interesting memorials, and beg you to believe me to be, with sincere regard, "Yours very truly, "WM. COVENTRY H. WADDELL." SENATOR WRIGHT, OF NEW YORK, TO THE NEW YORK UNITED STATES MARSHAL