Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-04-24
CONGREGATIONS.
THE GREATEST FIRES OF AN
GENT AND MODERN TIMES.
Destruction of Big Libraries in Alex
andria-How Constantinople and
Ancient Rome Suffered-Amer-
ica's Noted Burnings.

the Caliph Omar l., 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,
augmented in great measure by the
alleged answer of this Saracen conqueror,
who applied to the protest against the
burning with: 'If these books are
against the Koran, they arc pernicious
and must be destroyed. If they agree
with the Koran, they are redundant and
need not be preserved" and it is not
generally remembered that julius Caesar
burned a larger library of 700, ,OOO
volumes at Alexandria, known rs the
Brucian library, B. c. AS, nearly 700 be-
fore the burning of the Serap@um
library by Omar |.
At times Of sack and pillage Jerusalem
has been burned time and again; the
most noted instance being at the siege
bv the Romans under Titus, during the
wear 70, when a faction called the
Sicarii set the city on fire in many places,
and eventually 1000 of the in
habltants perished by fire and the
sword.
Corstantinoplc has, like all Oriental
cities, suffered severely from fres,a large
part of such losses being undoubtedly
due to the fatalism of the Mohammedans,
who bow to their kismct. Said Sultan
'If it be the will of Allah that my favor
ite city burn, it is the will of Allah"
A great fire at Rome, IL 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 twenty OF
thirty, stationed in various parts Of the
city, and re-enforced at times Of fires by
companies Of volunteers. He appointed
new officers with the rank of magistrates,
who were entitled to wear magisterial
robes. Each was attended By two lie
tors, and provided with a fire organiza-
tion of 600 slaves. It is probable that
this was not entirely satisfactory in its
operation, because six years later another
fire caused him to undertake further re.
forms on scale fully characteristic 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 freemen were organized
into seven battalions, and one battalion
was quartered in every alternate ward OF
the city. These men made careful in
spections 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
organization was maintained by a tax OF
twenty-five per cent. on the sale Of
slaves.
Two notable examples of contagious
stopped by conHagrations are the burn
ing of Moscow by the besieging Tartars,
in July, 1870, when the plague was
stopped, and secondly the fire in Lon
don, September 2, 1865, which also
stopped the plague, and it has been un-
known there since. This London fire
is properly called there the great fire of
modern history, because the reforms
which were started in consequence of it
are living issues in the municipal 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 5000 houses, SO
churches and St. Pauls Cathedral, caus-
ing damage estimated to be &10, ZIG, =
600, say $53, 500, 900. Under the di
rection Of Pepys the fire was stopped by
blowing up buildings, which was, at the
time, the only method of reducing fire
that had grown beyond the capacity of
the small fire engines. These were on
large tubs, and threw a stream of water
directly on the fire, as hose was not in
vented until ten years later 1672) by
Van der Heidc.
The frs; devastating fire in America
was probably the one occurring at Bos-
tor, March 90, 1850, when 400 dwell
lings and stores were burned, causing a
loss of f1O0, 900.
Philadelphia has been remarkably free
from conaagrations in comparison with
other large cities. 1t does not appear to
have been visited by great fire until
July ., 1850, when fire along the Della
ware River front, at Vine street, extend
ing over eighteen acres, caused loss Of
life estimated as high as thirty-three, in
addition TO 120 wounded, and pecuni.
airy loss of 81, 5000
New York was visited by severe con
fagration in the southern part of the
city on December 16, 1885, which ex-
tended over an area of forty acres, de
stroyed GA houses, aud causing loss
which has been estimated as high as
$50, 900, 900, on which there was only
s.. 900, 900 insurance-an amount which
ruined several insurance companies.
One Of the first of the more recent con
6agrations was the burning Of Portland,
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