Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-03-18

Jury done is almost ALWAYS aggravated by
fires, common everywhere on such occasions,
but to which the japanese are peculiarly La
Bile from the excessively combustible charac-
terof their buildings, which, with the excep-
ton OF few ancient stone castles, are all
built OF wood, with windows and partitions
of paper, and covered with varnigh. which
makes them still more combustibe.
Jeddo is great city; all the princes and
nobies of the empire ale obliged to maintain
establishments there. 1t is possible that
hundred thousand houses may have been de.
stroyed, but the alleged loss of life 10, we
hope, exaggerated. The Japanese houses are
not OF kind to crush the inhabitants by
their fall, and those who persisted must either
have been swallowed up by tie yawning
earth, or have lost their lives in the flames or
IN the crash and confusion incident to such an
occurrence.
The most recent accounts which we have of
Jeddo, from persons who actually saw it, are
those given by Herr HeudIick Doeff, who re-
sided IN Japan from 1897 to 1915, during
which he twice or three times visited Jeddo,
and that Of ]. T. Van Overmeer Fisher, who
went to Japan soon after Doeff left it; and
that of DR.. Philip Frans Won Siebold, who
was at Jeddo four years after Fischer. In his
=" Recollections of Japan" Doeff describes
terrible fire which occurred in Jeddo in 1906,
while he wasin the city. 1t began at a dis
lance from the inn where the Dutch landed at
about 10 in the morning. At l, the Dutch
took the alarm and began to pack; at they
fed. son running into the street, saws
Doef, eve saw everything in flames. There
was great danger in attempting to escape by
running before tie fire. we therefore took a
slanting direction through a street already
burning, and thus succeeded in reaching an
open field. 1t was studded with the standards
of princes whose dwellings had been DESTROY
ed, and whose wives and children had fled
thither for refuge We followed heir exam.
pie, and marked out spot with our Dutch
flags. We had now full view of the fire
and never did 1 see anything so terrific. The
terrors of this ocean OF flame were enhanced
by the heart-rending ,cries of the fugitive
women and children" This fire ragged till
noon the next day, when it was extnguished
by fall of rain. The hotel Of the Dutch was
on hire within five minutes after they had left
1t. The palaces OF thirty. seven princes were
destroyed. The weight of fugitives broke
down the famous Nipon- bas, or Bridge of ia
pan, (across river which runs through the
city and from which all distances throughout
the Empire are reckoned); so that beside
those burned to death, many were drowned
including daughter of the Prince of Arva.
Twelve hundred lives were said to have been
lost On that occasion the Duth visitors
were greatly aided by wealthy japanese
merchant, who sent forty men to assist him in
removing. lie lost his store, md a ware
house containing a hundred thousand pounds
of spun silk. Yet the day after the fire, with
a spirit not to be outdone even here in New
York, he was engaged in rebuilding his prem
Uses.
Fischer visited Jeddo in 1922. The en-
trance into it, notwithstanding the absence of
carriages, reminded him, from the noise and
the throng of people, OF the commercial port
of London. The shops had signs, as in Eu-
rope, and the goods were exhibited from the
doors and windows under the charge of bows,
who rlvaled each other in calling by loud
cries the attention of purchasers. Long be-
lore entering the suburb Sinegawir, the Dutch
visitors found themselves in the midst of a
vast crowd, moving along broad streets, paved
at the sides, and lined with houses regularly
built, and many of great size From the SUI
burb to their hotel, which was in the imme-
plate vicinity of the imperial Palace, it was
two hours walk; and as the Palace was said
to occupy space of half mile diameter in
the middle of the city, Fischer estimated tho
distance across the whole city at five or six
hours walk at an ordinary step, which, at the
most moderate calculation, would be from
| twelve to fifteen miles,
| It's evident from these accounts which 90
to confirm the other and more particular ones
OF 1hnn'hors aud KrUIupfer-of whom the
hrst visited Jeddo in 1878, and the latter in
1856 and who both, especially the latter, have
furnished many highly curious details of their
Vlslts-that Jeddo is very populous city, and
that such catastrophe as a violent earth
quake, would be likely to be attended with a
great destruction OF property and of life
Indeed, ii we suppose the sea to have rushed
up the bay of Jeddo, as it did into the harbor
OF Slmoda during the previous earthquake. so
as to have partially overfowod the city, the
destruction of even thirty thousand lives
would not be imp obable.-N Y. Tribune.