Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-04-24
10000 Men and Women Burned
to Death

Narrative OF A FIRE ON A CHINESE RIVER.
TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION OF LIFE N PROP
ERTY.
The missionary reports from China, as quoted
in the KoIniSche Keiung, describe the terrible
ravages of a fire which took place on the lst Of
January, lS4S, at Honquang, during the preva-
lence Of inundation. The fire, which broke out
among the shipping, was of unparalleled horror.
In order 10 form an idea of it, we must Imagine
the scene of its devastations. Along the shore /.
of the Ki-ang, for the distance of several miles,
so many vessels are usually laying at anchor
that when seen from the opposite bank, they re.
semble a thick forest, but regarded from a near
point, they look like an illimltable, ~populous city
floating upon the water. At a still greater DIS
lance, though not 80 crowded together, many
other vessels lie at the sam an~choring-ground.
The whole forms a long harbor extending many
miles, filled with all immense number of ships,
and presenting a spectacle of which no one
who has not seen it can form a conception.
On the night i'll question, a furious gale struck
this multitudinous feet, and in the confusion
that followed, one of the vessels was found to
be on fire. Increased at once by the wind, and
fed by the tar and other combustible materials
! with which a great number of the vessels were
loaded, the hre spread like lightning to the
neighborlng vessels. The violence of the storm
: and OF the hre, parted the cables which had
thus far confined the burning ships. Scattered
r by the raging hurricane in every direction, these
every where spread devastation, turning into
flame whatever they touched, and kindling the
deVouring fire IN a moment In the other vessels.
4 IN the midst of this terrible sea of fire, we
heard the shrleks and groans of an immense
n1nnhon of mar mho p,,,0, ar-. A. 5000.
tossed by the storm, pursued by the flames, and
encompassed by the raging waves, were at last
burned to a crisp by the fire, or swallowed up
J. in the wild abyss of the stream. The Ki-ang
" for great distance resembled sea of fire, and
= in the space of three hours, all those vessels,
= with the unhappy men on board, mlserably per-
= ished. 1t is agreed on all hands, that the num-
II Der of vessels, according to a moderate estimate,
amounted TO more than three thousand.
The Chinese boats, as Is well known, even
the smallest, are inhabited by the family of the
J captain, together with the crew. Indeed, there
ID are whole households whose members are born
v on boald, where they live and die without
lie knowing to what country they belong. They
j. come into the world wherever the floating abode
of their parents happens to be found. Among
10 the vessels burned, we're several large ships
/. MANY vi ILCAl COlltuillCu nun lOIlJ " my dhu
n sixty persons. The bodies, mutllated and dis
IS figured by the fire, which were drawn out of the
I'd stream, amounted to SIXTY THOUSAND
lie These vessels were loaded with freight, and be-
longed to Chinese from different Provinces
This may show the great loss and general be-
m reavement caused by the fire.
Such a terrible confagration was neve
known, we will not say in China, but in the
whole world. AS a native from Ham yam.fet
was surveying the scene of desolation, he was
so impressed with the number of the victims
l. that he ordered, at his own cost, ten thousand
i %cotins, for the interment of the bodies, which
could be afforded for five or SIX francs. Thu
u sum is paid by the poor for their coAins-usual
" ly they cost them from thirty to forty francs, anc
u the rich pay several thousands, for the poor dol
y alters imagine that the more is done for the body
n the better it will be with the soul.