The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-06
BIG FIaEs IN History.
The New York Fire of 1885 Cost 3d.
100000.
From the Scientific american.

| among the great nres or history, I'M
doubleday the burning Of the Serapaum
library at Alexandria, in the year $40, by
the Caliph Omar /. is most widely mourned,
as the destruction of 0O,O00 volumes cut
of much of the record OF human knowl-
edge at that time. The general impression
OF the importance and significance Of this
| f1re Is, no doubt, augmented in great meas
| ure by the alleged answer OF this
Saracen conqueror, who replied to the pro-
| test against the burning with: "If these
| books are against the Koran they are perni>
cious and must be destroyed. If they agree
| with the Koran they are redundant and
need not be preserved and it is not gener-
| ally remembered that Julius Caesar burned
a larger library Of 100000 volumes at Alex
andria, known as the Brucian library, B. c.
As, nearly 700 years before the burning Of
the Serapseum library by Omar /.
AT times Of sack and pillage Jerusalem
has been burned time and again, the most
noted instance being at the siege by the Ro-
mans under Titus during the year 70, when
a faction called the Sicarii set the city on
fire in many places, and eventually l. 100, 900
OF the inhabitants persisted by fire and the
| sword.
Constantinople has, like all Oriental cities.
suffered severely from fires. q large part Of
such losses being undoubtedly due to the
| fatalism of the Mohamme ians, who bow to
their kismet. Said a sultan: IF it be the
/ will of Allah that my favorite city burn. it
is the will of Allah"
In Dillaway's quaint account of travels in
the Levant in 1877, it is stated that the Sui
tan is summoned three times to fire in
| CUnstantinopie, and if the fire last one hour
he is obliged to attend in person and bring
mules laden with plasters for the f1remen.
A great fire at Rome, IL B. G.. caused the
Emperor Augustus to take measures for in
creasing the defense against fire, which had
been hitherto in the hands of todies of po-
lice, numbering twenty or thirty, stationed
in various portions Of the city, and REIN
forced at times Of fire by companies OF vol
unteers. He appointed new officers with
the rank of magistrates, who were entitled
to wear magisterial robes. Each was at
tended 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 eau ed him to under
take further reform on a scale fully charac-
teristic of him who found the city built OF
brick and left it with palaces of marble"
He increased the fire department. TO a scale
commensurate with the needs of the city.
Seven thousand freemeu were organized
into seven battallons 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 exami-
nation. The cost of the organization was
maintained by tax of IS per cent. on the
sale Of slaves.
Two notable examples of contagious
stopped by CONGREGATIONS are the burning
of Moscow by the besieged Tartars in July,
1870, when the plague was stopped.
aud secondly the fire in London Sept. 2,
1866, which also stopped the plague, and it
has been unknown there since.
This London fire ia DrnhahIy calIad the
great fire of modern history, because the
reforms which were started in consequence
of it were are living issues in the municipal
; affairs of to-day. The fire was caused by
an overheated bakers oven, and in the
course Ut four days it swept over 1856 acres,
burning Is, 200 houses, so churches and ST.
PauPs Cathed al, causing damage esti-
mated to be ETC, 900, say S53, SOC, 900.
Under the direction Of Pepys the fire was
! stopped by blowing up buildings, which
was, at the time, the only method of reduc-
ing fire that had grown beyond the
capacity Of the small fire engines These
! were on large tubs. and threw stream of
water directly on the fire. as hose was not
, invented until ten years later 1879 by Van
, der Heide.
The cities OF America. on account of the
: larger amount of wood in their construction.
and the prevalence Of irresponsible meth
Z DDS Of building. have suffer 81 severely from
, fires.
: The first devastating fire in America was
: probably the one occurring at Boston
2 March 20, 1850. when 400 dwellings, and
stores were burned, causing a loss of
, 100000
J In the colony of Massachusetts, Ba7 regu-
) lations in regard to construction of Chin
, neys and matched roofs were made as early
as March 10, 1880, ard various enactments
were made at later dates. The ordinance at
3 the town meeting of Boston, March IA, 1915,
5 made provision that each householder
r should have ladders long enough to reach to
g the ridge OF his house, and a pole ''about
= IL feet long. with good large swob at
. the end of it," and various graded penalties
Q were provided for these not conforming TO
q | the law.
> Philadelphia has been remarkably free
o from confagratlons in comparison with
9 other large cities 1t does not appear to
/, have been visited by great fire until Jan
( uary y, 1850, when fire along the Delaware
. | river front, at Vine street, extending over
9 eighteen acres, caused a loss of life estimated
0 as high as thirty-three, in addition to 100
8 wounded and a pecuniary loss of 81 SOC, 600.
8 New Y ork was visited by q severe con-
( migration in the southern part of the city
= on Dec IT, 1885, which extended over an
! area OF forty acres, destroying GA houses
d and causing a loss which has been estimated
d as high as 100000 900, on which { ere was
only 5000 900 insurance-an amount which
ruined several insurance companies.
a One of the first of the more recent con.
o fiagrations was the burning of Portland,
Me-, July 4, 1866. The fire was caused by a
boy throwing a fire~cracker into cooper's
p shop for the avowed purpose of soaring the
. workmen. In this respect the act was an
unparalleled success, the damage being
about SlO0.0,000.
The Chicago fire, Oct. 9, 1871, was one OF
e the largest in all history, devasting an area
n of three and oue-half square miles and
. causing lass of about $4,000, 900, on
y which insurance was paid TO the amount OF
$ alb nut 500 ,O00,0 600. Two hundred and fifty
u lives were reported lost in this fire.
u Thirteen months later to a day, Boston
/ was visited by fire which extended over
s an area of sixty-five acres, burning the best
:. mercantile buildings in the city and causing
s a damage of S75,000,000, on which there
r was an insurance 10 over $65, 00O,OOO.