The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-05
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UpOu Current TOpios- --COmpiicd Every
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HUMAN LIFE AND HOLY GROUND.

HUMAN LIFE AND HOLY GROUND.
From the " Y. Sun.
Captain Shaw, Of the London Fire Brigade,
recently visited this oity to study the organi.
zation and management of our Fire Depart
ment, so that whatever superiority 1T pos
sessed might be Incorporated into his own
command at home. recent disaster in one
of the immediate suburbs of London aptly
illustrates the pressing need of reform in
the system which exists there for the pre-
vention and extinction of fire. It also fur
nshes singular example of mistaken reli-
gious zeal.
The old Star and Garter Hotel at Richmond
Hill is almost famous in London annals. IL
stood in the neighborhoad of many structures
of ancient date peculiarly liable to be de-
Btroyed by FIRE. The inn was closed for the
winter, its only denizens being the manager
"a gentleman who had for many years been
an officer of the English army-a clerk, a
cellarman, and o boy. A fire broke out, in
what manner is not known, at 2 o'clock in the
morning, and the building was totally de-
stroyed. All the inmates except the manager
escaped. He was on the third floor, and was
plainly seen long after the fire was under full
headway. But there was no water obtainable
by which to check the flames, nor any ladder
or fire-escape to furnish means Of release to
the unfortunate man. OF course, he was
DuIHeu TO ueAUn; anu uOJ Cuo bIudlleSI GIdCo VI
his body has been discovered. And when
this needless tragedy was complete, the autho-
rites convened a meeting and began to
inquire how it all came about.
They ascertained that eight fre-engines
were present at the scene soon after the out
break of the fire, but that they were utterly
useless because no water was to be had. The
t'turncock" of the district, under whose
charge are the water-pipes, was first
ua hat fhora
insufficient pressure on, and q man was sent
y distance of five miles on horseback to give
the necessary orders at the Office of the COM
pany. Delay after delay ensued; and the
6re-engines might as well have been in New
York as within few rods of the burning
hotel.
But though red tape and a faulty system
prevented the preservation of the building,
why was not the man within it saved? The
evidence shows that the authorities were not
unaware of the existing danger. Last au-
tumn they had applied to the rector of the
parish, whose church was not far from the
old inn, for permission to place fire-escape
on the north side of the churchyard. They
called his attention to the fact that the place
was the best that could be selected, on ac-
count of its publicity; that there was great
need of securing to residents of the suburb a
better means of escape from fire than that
afforded by ordinary ladders and that in the
city of London proper fre-escapes in many
instances are allowed to be kept in the
churchyard of the parish to which they be-
long But the answer of the minister was
refusal. 81 decline, he said, ''t0 allow the
fire-escape to be placed in the churchyard.
should think it wrong and an act of desecra-
tion to keep a fre-escape in the churohyard,
which believe to be holy ground"
Now, if the clergyman had allowed the
machine in question to be placed there, the
life sacrificed at the Star and Garter would
without doubt have been saved. No other
suitable station was found for it, so that no
fre-escape whatever had been provided up to
the time of the fire. Is it not both absurd
and wrong to assert that any ground is too
holy to be used for the purpose of saving
human life? The noblest deeds we know of
are done by men and women who peril their
own lives to save those Of Others And how
can it endanger the sanctity of the holiest
ground to aid in preserving the lives of men: