The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-05-24
FIRES IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
Turkish Fircmen and Fire Engines-scenes
During n Fire.

The cry of Yankin war " is the
Turkish for fire." It is heard less
frequently now in Constantinople than
ip former years, when fires were an every
night calamity. For sometime the
building of wooden houses has been
strictly forbidden; kind of fire brigade
has been organized, and the people
manifest their ill.humor in some other
way than that of incendiarism. Never
theless q week scarcely ever passes
without fire. Scarcely is it discovered
from the watch tower on the heights of
Gandilli, than it is announced by the
firing of five, seven or nine shots from
the battery there established; at the same
time signals indicating its precise locali-
ty are made-by flags during the day
and lanterns during the nigbt-to the
watch towers of Galata and of the
Ma kent in Stamboul. Before the heavy
booming of the Krupp guns has died
away, runners dressed in red, and carry.
ing short lance in their hands, start in
all directions to announce to the different
ministers of the porte, whose duty it is
to attend at every fire, and to the police
and military authorities, the situation of
the fire. In former times it was also
similar occas ons, and one of the odalisks,
dressed also in red, had the special duty
of announcing to the sultan, if he was in
the harem, the outbreak of n fire. Of
late years this custom has died out, and
only the ministers of war, marine and
police are bound to be present, the
grand vizer even of our days dispensing
with that fatiguing duty, except in eases
of great emergency. AS soon as the
runners are passed, the watchmen ap-
pear with their heavy clubs, which they
strike against the pavement, shouting ut
the same time at the top of their voices
the cry of Yankin war !" adding the
name of the locality where it is raging.
A few minutes afterwards the " sakas,"
or water carriers, with their heavy
leathern pouches, are seen running to
the scene of the confagration; for there
are no convenient water pipes or plugs
to be opened, and the whole supply of
water consists in what the "sakas can
collect from the neighboring wells or
public fountains
The fire engines soon appear, escorted
by the trlumbadgis, or firemen. The
"engines are mere squirts carried by
four men. To each engine are attached
some thirty or forty "tulumbadgis;"
with their chief, and a runner or crier,
who, armed with short lance, precedes
them and makes way for them. If the
engines are very small they are very
numerous, and it is not uncommon to
sec i'll the space Of an hour some forty
OF fifty, with their escorts of firemen,
pass through the narrow high street of
Pera. As to the tulumbadgis, they are
all volunteers, and taken from the low
est dregs Of the Turkish population
oyergrown shoeblacks, bankrupt lucifer
matches sellers, livery stable boys, and
conductors of donkeys form the great
majority of these active and promising
gentlemen, who receive no pay except
suit of clothes at the Bairam, and are
supposed to live upon the backsich or
gratuities which they receive from the
people whose property they have saved,
and who in reality live on plunder. In
consequence of this system they are
most Jealous in their attendance and
their desire to be the first on the spot;
and it is a strange sight to see these
ruffians, half naked, rushing through the
streets, changing the bearers of the en-
gine from time to time, without slacken-
ing their speed, and yelling all the time
to make the people, the dogs and the
donkeys get OF their way. IF two COM
panies of these barbarians meet by
chance such is their desire to be first on
the scene of the promised plunder that
a sharp race ensues between them, and
if victory is doubtful they come to blows.
The engines are generally followed by
companies of soldiers in fatigue dress,
carrying long hooked poles, which are
used for pulling down the houses, and
this is, in truth, the most effective and
easy way of mastering a fire, for the
houses, being mostly built of thin
planks, are easily pulled down, and thus
waste space is made round the already
burning property.
At the scene of the fire, the sight is
much the same as i'll all countries on
those occasions, except that the noise
and confusion are increased by the fact
that the furniture of the houses of whole
street is being removed at the same time,
the inhabitants never waiting for the
confagration to get near them, as it
runs along among the wooden houses
with fearful rapidity. These people and
their furniture, or at least the part of it
WHICH 10 llOU III tllc D1
the firemen or the carriers, are con-
Quoted to some open space, where, under
the guard OF the police, they sit down
on their property to wait with true Tur-
ish calm and patience to see what fate
will do. At last the fire is mastered, or
dies out of itself, according to the zeal
by the firemen, who if largely
paid by the proprietors of the threatened
houses, will sometimes do wonders with
their diminutive engines, or will refuse
to work altogether, and then a new
body of plunderers appear in the shape
of numerous fellows armed with spades
and long sticks with iron hooks, who,
the efforts of the police,
rush among the still smoldering cinders
in search of coins, of jewels, OF of iron
and brass fittings, etc. Gradually the
cinders cool down, and then the cats ap-
pear in search of their homes, and after
ward the street dogs, who drive them
away, and hasten to secure nice warm
hole in the cinders where to lay down,
and these remain at last masters of the
ruins, as they were before the masters
OF the living streets.
"Ihe Society of the Love of Jesus" is