The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-14 00:00:00

THE GREAT FIRE AT MONASTIR.

We take the following letter from the Levan,
Ilerald

MONASTM, Aug. 19.
" The telegraph will already have informed you of the dis-
astrous fire which broke out on Friday afternoon last, the 14th
inst, and which has laid waste a great portion of this town,
including the whole of its bazaar. I now give you the par-
ticulars of this calamity. The town of Monastir is in•
tersected in its length by the wide bed of a stream called
the Drahor, This stream was before the fire spanned by
nine wooden bridges, five of these being enclosed by shops;
the bazaar extended along each bank from the fourth to
the eighth bridge. At about half an hour before sunset on
the above day, alarm-guns from the town battery gave
warning of a fire which had broken out in a small tavern
near the fourth bridge, through the accidental ignition of
some spirits. The flames spread rapidly, and before sunset
the shops on the bridge and the adjoining houses were all
in a blaze, The civil governor and the chief military au-
thorities were soon on the spot, attended respectively by
bodies of zaptiehs and soldiers, who were provided with fire
engines, grapling irons, and axes. Efforts were made to
prevent the fire from reaching the other side of the Drahor,
but in vain. The troops were not as active as they might
have been in pulling down houses next the source of the
tiro. Water, moreover, was extremely scarce, owing to
the unusual drought, which has dried up both the bed of
the stream and most of the wells. In less than an hour
two bridges, with all their shops, were entirely de-
stroyed, the flames spreading with frightful rapidity along
both sides of the Drahor, sweeping the whole area of the
bazaar and the Jewish quarter on the left bank, and ex-
tending towards the Christian quarter on the right;
while the bridges, crowded with wooden shops, acted like
the running matches of fireworks between the opposite sides.
The principal Government cffices, Situate on the left bank,
were for some time in imminent danger, namely, the army
offices and town barracks, the residences of the military and
civil governors, and the Telegraph office, the buildings im-
mediately contiguous to which were reduced to ashes. A
little before 2 o'clock, Turkish time, while the fire was yet
unchecked, flames were observed to issue from several blocks
of buildings distant from it, like jets of gas, from the wooden
gallery and apex of the city clock tower, a handsome atone
structure about 150 feet high, and the fire meanwhile forcing
its way through it from below the tower blazed like a
gagantio torch for an hour afterwards. Up to this time the
air had been calm; but now a breeze sprung up, and while
increasing the jury of the flames caused them to spread late-
rally. On the right bank they approached to within a few
yards of the Greek archbishop's residence, which was saved
with the utmost difficulty, the leaves having caught fire
three times, while some of its outhouses were burnt down.
Had this building been consumed it would hardly have
been possible to save another large quarter of the town where
the English, Russian, and Greek Consulates are situated.
For the meanwhile, however, the fire was rushing along
with redoubled fury in a direction at right angles with the
Drahor, and parallel to what may be called the main street,
where the establishment of the French Lazarists and the
Austrian Consulate are situated. Its progress in this quarter
was assisted by the wind, which veered round several times
in the course of the night and caused the fire to strike out
in new directions, sometimes travelling back in a line parallel
to its previous course. It was owing to one of these changes
that the mansions of MM. Pappa Dimitri, Economo, and
Nitziota (some of the principal Christian merchants here),
which bad been spared almost by a miracle during
the earlier part of this disastrous night, were reduced
to ashes towards the morning, many hours after their
apparent rescue. After it had skirted the Lazarists'
establishment and the Menzil-hone, the insatiable ele-
ment, passing beyond, devoured all on its way until it
reached the mansions of M. Meimonka, another of the
chief Christians and of M. Mesrahi, one of the chief Jewish
merchants. These fell before it at about 10 o'clock, Turkish
time, and were among its last victims. It was only when
the sun rose upon the scene of devastation, and after the fire
had raged without intermission for upwards of 11 hours, that
the fury of the flames became spent.

" In the meanwhile, on the left bank and along the valley
of the Dreher, the destruction had been yet more exten-
sive ; in the latter direction it found its limits only at the
last bridge, where the town may be said to terminate. The
fire had swept round the two principal mosques, which had
only escaped owing to their spacious courts; further down
it had consumed three other large mosques. A great
amount of property, which had been deposited in the
last by persons who trusted they would prove equally
fireproof, was thus sacrificed. More sad than all, I have
to record the loss of several lives. Four Turkish soldiers
fell victims to their daring attempts to rescue property
from burning houses in the Jewish quarter. The charred
remains of a Jewish child, five years old, have been dug out
of the ruins; a young Jewess is also missing. The following
statement, which has been gathered from the most authentic
sources, may serve to give an idea of the property destroyed :
—2,300 shops, 240 houses (of which 198 Jewish, 37 Chris-
tian, and seven Turkish), 46 khans, three mosques, six
synagogues, two baths, two military guard-houses, five
bridges, and the clock-tower. No estimate has yet been made
of the value of the property destroyed ; but it certainly ex-
ceeds half a million sterling. As proprietors of shops and
khans, Turks, Christians, and Jews have all sustained heavy
losses. The occurrence at this period of the neighbouring
fair of Perlep4 has been a lucky circumstance, most of the
merchants having carried away their goods thither for sale
previous to tho calamity. Among the chief sufferers are
Vedjihi Effendi, a rich Turkish proprietor, to the extent
it is said, of a million of piastres. With respect to houses
it will be seen that the Jews have suffered most exten-
sively ; and as a number of families (sometimes as many as
15) were crowded into each house, no less than 600 Jewish
families have been rendered homeless by this calamity. Of
this number 200 were so poor as to have been at all times
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Government authorities and private contributions have kept
these poor people from starvation, although all that can be
done in this respect is to issue a 200 drain loaf (costing 20
pares) a day to each of them. In this way 2,000 loaves are
distributed daily. The mudir of Perlepe, Tahsin Effendi,
also very considerately sent a liberal donation of bread
immediately upon learning the calamity. Many of the
poorest fatniles have been accommodated with tents pro-
vided by the military departments ; others have been taken
into private houses; and many Turkish houses are being
rented for the better class of sufferers.
"The authorities have been engaged in restoring property,
much of which was saved from the flames through their
exertions ; the police also have succeeded in recovering nu-
merous atticles of value which hack Deo). pillaged 1)), the