The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-05-16
i,4oo PEOPLE BURNED.
The Awfsi Holocaust at Tient.in. Chi

The Awful Holocaust mt Tientsin, China
Terrible Scenes of Agony and Death.
The particulars of the great fire at
Tientsin, China, are horrible. The
number of refugees who had been col
lecting at this point had been augment
ing by daily additions until the aggre-
gate was variously estimated at any
where from City thousand to one hun
dred and fifty thousand. An additional
soup dispensary was opened on piece
of vacant ground known as the Flower
Garden of the K'ang family. When this
relief depot was established, the whole
premises was surrounded with q strong
fence Of reeds and millet stalks, plaster
ed with mud. As the place was to be
occupied only by women and children,
the greatest care was taken that all COM
munication between the inside and out
side be prevented. The alley on the
west side was fenced up at its north end,
and the only gate of the soup-yard was
at the south end of the same alley-a
gate about six feet wide. About ten
o'clock on bitter cold morning an
alarm was given that fire had broken
out in this relief yard, rooted with in
fammable mats, and crowded with hui
man beings. Crowds of people began
to gather on all sides of the yard, and
tear down the strong fence. The mo-
ment that communication was establish
ed between the inside and the outside, a
considerable number of outsiders leaped
into that part of the inclosure forming
the alley, to attempt to rescue those who
were still struggling to escape. The
scene within was awful. The long sheds
had already melted into smoke and
ashes, and only the poles were still
burning-yet not the poles alone, for
beneath stretched long lines of some
thing only distinctly seen, and which,
between the gusts of fame and smoke,
could be recognized as the heads, arms
and bodies of human beings, all huddled
within the limits of the former compart-
ments. and just as they were caught by
the fiery sirocco. Not one in twenty
had time to move yard before they
were met by flames and suffocated where
they chanced to be. In front of the
locked gate large number of poor
wretches were caught and imprisoned
by the flames. Their wadded or
skin garments caught fire, and could
neither be taken off nor extinguished-
scores of poor women were reduced to a
condition too horrible to be described
absolutely roasted on one side, and
utterly helpless to escape.
The greater part of those who were
burned must have perished instantly.
Within five minutes of the time the fire
broke out, it is probable that those who
failed to escape were suffocated by the
flames. Long after every scrap of mat
and wood had been consumed, the bod
les of the victims continued to burn and
shoulder. The corpses were most OF
them reduced literally to cinders, utter
ly beyond recognition. Many of the
survivors on the day off, the fire, and the
three following days, while the bodies
were being taken out, wandered about,
uttering the most piteous lamentations,
striving to discover their children; hus.
bands came to institute hopeless quest
for their wives. Nothing was left upon
the ground but hundreds of horribly
mutilated corpses, fragments of half.
burned clothes, and broken pottery. II
is definitely ascel tanned that the mum.
Der who perished is somewhat more than
fourteen hundred.