The Norm Cohen book also has what appears to be an excerpt of "Boston Fire," note the entire song:

BOSTON FIRE (excerpt?)

It was only on the Tenth of last November
That we heard the news we ever shall remember,
That the fire-king had cast its burning embers
O'er another fated city in our land.
As the woeful tidings flashed along the wire,
Of this other sad catastrophe so dire,
That Boston, beauteous city was on fire,
And sinking 'neath the fiend's relentless hand.

Chorus:
Fire! fire! was heard the cry,
In every breeze that passed us by,
All the world did heave a sigh of pity;
Strong men in anguish pray'd.
Fervent prayers to Heaven to aid,
Before the fire in ruins laid,
Fair Boston, beauteous city.

And all through the terrible commotion,
The wind blew a gale from off the ocean,
The brave firemen worked with all devotion,
To laugh at their efforts yet it seem'd;
And soared with fiery prayer still higher
O'er chimney top, steeple and church spire,
Till all was one vast flame of fire,
And the light around the horizon gleamed. Chorus.

Source: Norm Cohen, American Folk Songs: A Regional Encyclopedia (pp 176-178) [Greenwood Press, 2008]


Norm Cohen found these lyrics in Cradle's Empty, Baby's Gone Songster and Wehman's Universal Songster no 2.