New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-30
MISERY IN STEAMBOAT
SEVEN THOUSAND PERSONS MADE HOME
LESS IN A DAY.

ryRou TIVE REGULAR coRREsPoSDENT OF THE TRInUsE'
lhAo CONsTANTINOPLE. December .;
Tho Turk knows by experience that trouOies
never come singly. his SANITATION 10 'ho man
no has passed through some misfortune Is
"M,y il be really past by" as 10
suggest the probability of something worse AFTER
the earthquake that destroyed the Greek villages
about Cheslim6, FIRE az Constanunoplc swept
away couple of hundred Of houses In Caukeny'
one of the prettest suburbs All the oIder ilh"pl-
tapts have been on pins ever since with e&pecta-
t;on os-tbe new calamity that wOuld satisfy their
forebodinps When at length the red glow OF sun
ss+ IN the evening of December remained Tor an
bour after darkness had set in, filling the western
skv with n magnificent aurora, and when IN the
midst of this splendid mass of color the thin creS-
cent Of the new moon appeared III advance OF tne
fine set by the Turkish almanacs, the Old WISE
heads burst forth into audible groans IN antlclpa-
tior Of the disasters so clearly impending. The
confirmation Of the signs and of the wisdom which
tbey foster came five days later IN great IRE III
Hasskeuy, on the Golden Horn. Hasskeuy Is the
name of the mass of houses nearest the head Oh Vhe
etuarv on its northern Shore and is little city OF
itself 1t is somewhat isolated from the other IN
babited regions on that side of the Horn, by the
Government Navy-yard with its docks, while be-
tween il and the close-built hills of Stamboul lies
the Golden Horn about thousand yards VIDE at
fins noint It's houses are built of wood and clus-
Ter along the waters edge and upOn the slopes Oh
two OF three hills. At the crest OF the NILS streets
and houses abruptly cometo an end with OalTeh'
treeless waste of country stretching away TOT miles
hovopd Retyeen two of the hills and Hasskeuy
lies the Jewish quarter mass OF ancient WOODEN
houses fronting streets from ten to twenty teet
wide and occupied mainly blythe very poorest OF the
Jewsofthe city, Themarket-piace OF thisds mas
Al. - ntttNt nf ia
marvellous quality of the wares with whichit was
stocked All the stale bread of the city; all refuse
parts of meat all wilted vegetables all ancient and
odoriferons fish and decayed fruit, and even rotten
eggs found eager purchasers in that crowded street
which served at shutdown market for the wretch
edrag-pickers and thinkers who inhabited that jew
ish quarter of Hasskeuy.
The fire broke out in one of the crowded tene-
ments of this district about o'clock In the
morning of Wednesday. Some one overturned a
brazier of live Goals, the men were away at their
york: the women could think of nothing better
to do than to scream, and run away for help; and
in few moments the whole house was blazing.
furious gale of wind helped the flames, aud before
the cannon at the signal station on the Bosphorus
had completed the fre-alarm. several adjoining
houses were on fire. In very few moments the
nearest fire companies began to arrive, half naked
yelling as though the victory was already won.
But the little fire-pumps which they brought on
their shoulders could do nothing against the terOc-
ity of the tempest Of fire that greeted them. and
fhe first corners had 10 flee for their lives from the
narrow streets where they were nearly hemmedNn
nv the rapid spread Of the fire. The only water 20
he had was to be drawn bucket by bucket from
wells. and long before the fremen could draw
enough to fill their engines the fire would charge
Them and drive them from the place. Fire com
panies crossed from STEAMBOAT IN boats or were
brought up from Galata in steamers. The military
fire brigade came up from Pera as fast as horses
eould bring Them and soon all the region was
crowded with fremen standing by their engines and
hawking for water in impotent desperation. Now
and then little water would be brought in buckets
OF in eathern sacks on horseback, and one or an
other of the engines would spring into spasm of
Intellectual activity quickly TO subside again, how
ever to the normal condition of waiting for water.
The members of the Ministry began to arrive with
other high Pachas to assume command OF the opera
TONS The military fire companies were thrown out
in front of the advancing cOnHagration to tear down
a wide belt of houses They worked long and well
To isolate thus the burning district. But by the
time the fire had reached the edge of the space where
the stana was to be made, the wind had carried
masses of burning thnbers over the heads of the
soldiers to kindle the houses beyond After one or
two vain efforts of this sort effort to stay the fire in
front was stopped, and if the fremen succeeded in
holding the fire back on the TANKS of ITS course they
were fam to be content with so much of victory.
Viewed from distance the spectacle was awful.
All Hasskeuy seemed burning pit, so wide was the
line OF flame, and the mass of smoke driven by the
wind in a perfectly horizontal line for miles to
northward told more clearly than mere words the
utter useesness of all attempts to check the rush of
she hungry destroyer.
In the streets the scene was beyond description.
From the burning houses, and from streets far on
every side of the actual conhagration people were
throwing their household goods from the windows,
and fleeing to the open country with what they
could clutch Among the soldiers and iremeu,
choking the narrow streets, driving to the wall the
horses of the Pachas the great surgng mob of men,
women and children pressed up the hill to the crest
of the ridge Officers were bawling their ORDERS
bugles were ringing out the calls 10 the fremen,
men wa horseloads of water were shouting to
clear tNFway The roar of the flames and the crash
of falling tmbers filled the air. But in all this vast
hubbub the cries of that seething mass of fugitves
rang out in such surprising volume of sound as
the Spanish Jews of Constantinople alone could
command. Husbands screaming the names of
their wives or children whom in their panic they
could not see YociferOusy answering by their sides
Children were crying out TO be carried by their
parents women were praying aloud TO God formercy.
Householders were shouting to loaded porters whom
they had tied together with ropes, but whom they
imagined to be bent on escaping in the confusion.
And so with deep-mOuthed uproar the whole popu-
laton empted itself upOn the open territory beyond
the houses Here the terrified creatures stopped.
and dropped their stuff on the ground and sat down
to weep the loss of their propertya loss none the
less real because in great numbers of cases 1t
sisted merely of rags and old junk painfully col
leeted from a thousand ash-heaps.
The fire made clean sweep of everything that
lay in its path until it reached the last of the houses
on the crest of the ridge. Thence the flames sprang