The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-08-30

LOOK ana ladder Men Who Show No
Judgment in Their Work.
Suddenly our practiced ears caught the
distant boom Of the fire bell Everybody
else heard it and the effect was electrical
Whlle one OF the men ran up the ladder
ana began to hammer away at our station
bell. the officers hurried OH their uniforms
and sprang on to their horses, kept ready
caparisoned. the captain armiug himself
with huge wisp Of horsehair, the lieu
tenant Selling his standard--a spear, from
tho end Of which hung u horse tail. Mean
while, with much shouting and no doubt
bad language, the brigade" had hlrnessed
itself to the three squirts, and the process
sion was formed-officers leading. engines
next. hook and ladder men with us three
visitors bringing up the rear. Out we
went into the snowbound street, up which
q fierce northeastern was sweeping. All
Shinagawa seemed to have sprung into
active life during the few minutes which
had elapsed since the first notes OF the fire
bell.
Men, women and children swarmed out
OF every doorway, clustered about the first
floor balconies, and even crowded the roofs,
all chattering, gesticulatiny and tutoring
EXPLANATIONS of terror and wonder az they
gazed at the broad lurid glare in the sky.
confagration, there was 10 retiring after
their first curiosity had been satisfied A
man in Victoria street, Westminster, who
sees the reflection Of a fire. say in the city,
may go to bed with n certain sense of Sc
curity, but because two or three miles
separate the Japanese spectator from the
burning houses he can BIO by no means sure
that in the course of m hour or SO he may
not have to rush out OF his house with as
many OF his Lares and Penates as he can
gather together.
When we reached the locality of the fire
striking scene was presented to our ewes.
From half n dozen houses the flames were
bursting forth with almost denloniacsl
noise and fury. Half "A dozen moro had
already been Quilted and were nero shape
less shells of smoldering timber Hun
dreds OF men and women were STAGGERING
out of the houses in the line of fire beneath
tho weight of their humble household
goods, while piles of bedding, domestic
utensils, stocks In trade and all sorts of
lumber lay about I'm the snow More than
once quartet Of men swiftly passed us.
bearing on their shoulders a shapeless
something wrapped in dark cloth, and we
knew that the fire had claimed other vic
tins than mere shanties OF paper and
wood. Our squirts got to work with COM
mendable smartness and, as there hap
pened to be an abundance of water. were
soon pouring their feeble dribbles on the
1arncs
Thudi thudl thudi went the squirt han
dies, but the flames seemed to roar with
laughter and dance as IL in mockery of the
poor little thin streams of water which
were turned OH them, and drove the lieu
tenant from house to house with such ro-
pidity that more than once it seemed AZ il
~ 11,.A
Meanwhile the hook and ladder corps was
hard at work. and If we smiled with con-
tempt ut the puny efforts of the engines"
we could not withhold our hearty applause
at the indomitable pluck, the energy aud
the activity of the poor little fellows who
manipulated the hooks and ladders. Sal
amander-likc, they seemed to revel In work
where the flames were flercest and the dam
ger greatest.
But cui bono all this heroic dash and
self sacrifice unbacked by common sense,
We three representatives OF the west
watched it all with almost feeling of
anger that, for the sake of little pride
pocketing, such a wanton destruction of
hearths and homes, such a risking OF valu-
able lives should be tolerated by people
In so many other respects advanced think
ers and practical reformers. One engine
from Waiting street or single American
fire company could have nipped the fire in
the bud an hour BEFORE but we were in
vited guests, and besides, being quite
aware OF the delicate grounds upon which
the relationship between US and our Japa-
Dese hosts stood, were difIident in proffer-
ing advice.
But at last we could stand it no longer
for tho fire, ably seconded in its ravages
by brisk northeast wind, threatened to
consume tho entire quarter as far as the
city boundaries. So we pushed our way
forward to where the captain WAS thunder
Ing anathemas and exhertations in a man
ner which plainly betrayed that he had
lost self control, and with due humility
suggested that II tho hook and ladder COM
pany was to turn its attention to group
of yet nnburned houses standing in the
direct line Of the fire instead of wasting
energy worthy Of a better cause upon houses
which nothing could save "A. gap would be
created over which the flames, furious as
they We're, would hardly leap
The old gentleman did not welcome our
suggestion with enthusiasm nor did we
expect that he would. Indeed he affected
TO treat 1t cavalierly, and under the plea
that,we were standing in dangerous posi-
ton motioned us back into the crowd. But
we had the satisfaction of observing that
the extreme urgency of the situation had
prompted him to act on our advica, and we
presently saw the hook and ladder COM
pany timber up and dash off at the double
toward the group of houses indicated by
rs. The inhabitants of these shanties,
squatting outside with their heaps of
goods and chattels, evidently clinging with
true Old World tenacity 10 the hope that
the gods or the fremen or something
would stave calamity off their homes, re-
monstrated warmly when the hook and
ladder men told them they were about