Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-10-30
BIG FIRES IN HISTORY.
The New York Fire OF 1895 Cost
$3O,OOO.OOO.


Among the great fires of history, un-
doubtedly the burning of the Serapeum
Library at Alexandria, in the year $40
by the Caliph Omar I, Is most widely
mourned, as the destruction of 500 900
volumes cut off much of the record of
human knowledge at that time. The
general impression of the Importance and
significance of this fire is, no doubt, aug
mented in great measure by the alleged
answer of this Saracen conqueror, who
replied to the protest against the burning
with: If these books are against the
Koran they are pernicious and must be
destroyed. If they agree with the Koran
they are redundant and need not be pre-
served ;" and it is not generally remem-
bered that Julius Caesar burned a larger
library of 700, 900 volumes at Alexandria,
known as the Brucian Library, B. G. 48,
nearly 700 years before the burning of the
Serap8um Library by Omar I.
At times of sack and pillage Jerusalem
has been burned time and again, the
most noted instance being at the siege
year 70, when q faction called the Sicariti
set the city on fire in many places, and
eventually 100000 of the inhabitants
perished by fire and the sword.
Constantinople has, like all Oriental
cities, suffered severely from fires, large
part of such losses being undoubtedly due
to the fatalism of the Mohammedans,
who bow to their kismet. Said a sultan:
If it be the will of the Allah that my IA
vorite city burn, it is the will Of Allah.
In Dillaway's quaint account of travels
in the Levant in 1897 it is stated that the
sultan is summoned three times to fire
in Constantinople, and if the fire lasts
one hour he is obliged to attend i'll person
and bring mules laden with piasters for
the firemen.
A great fire at Rome, 12 B. c., caused
the Emperor Augustus to take measures
for increasing the defense against fire,
which had been hitherto in the hands of
bodies of police, numbering 90 or 80, sta
toned in various portions of the city. and
volunteers. He appointed new officers
with the rank of ma 'istrates, who were
entitled to wearfnagistrates' robes. Each
was attended by two lictors and provided
with a fire organization of 600 slaves.
1t is probable that this was not entirely
satisfactory in its operation, because six
years later another fire caused him to un-
dertake further reforms on a scale fully
characteristic of him who found the
city built of brick and left it with palaces
of marble" He increased the fire de-
partment to a scale commensurate with
the needs of the city. Seven thousand
freemen were organized into seven bat
talions. and one battalion was quartered
in every alternate ward of the city.
These men made careful inspections of
the kitchens, of the heating apparatus,
and of the water supply in the houses,
and every fire was the subject of judicial
examination. The cost of the oESaniza-
ton was maintained by tax ae . per
cent on the sale of slaves.
Two notable examples of coAsagions
stopped by confagrations are the burn
ing of Moscow by the besieging of Tar
tars in July. 1870, when the plague was
stopped, and second the fire in London,
2, 1856, which also stopped
the plague, and it has been unknown
there since.
This London fire is probably called the
great fire of modern history, because the
reforms which were started in conse-
quence of it are living issues in munich
pal affairs of to-day. The fire was
caused by an overheated bakers oven,
and in the course of four days it swept
over 1876 acres, burning IL, 200 houses, 50
and st. Pauls Cathedral, csus-
ing damage estimated to be 910, Tie, 900,
say $53, 500, 900.
Under the direction of Pepys the fire