The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-03-15
Scenes at the Great Con1asration on
Friday.
THE FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
Disregard OF Rights Of Persons and Prop
erty-The Revolt at Chariestown st ate
Prison = " The Brave Deed - Better
Discipline tho Remedy.

they tremble, stand dumb and paralyzed,
or else hurl themselves madly from, or
upon, their foe.
/ saw this in Boston last Friday after
noon.
Saw men and women launching them
selves from the fated Ames building upon
the pavements below; witnessed deeds of
beroism as daring as were ever performed
upon the battlefield, and saw towards
shrink and shiver with as great fear as
ever chilled the heart Of dog. We pity
the poor victims of Boston's latest and
most fearful confagration for years but,
reader, reserve some of that pity for the
thousands Of brave hearts that were COM
PEELED to witness those awful death strug-
giles, poweress to aid or to save.
/ once saw an old woman roasted to
death. Roasted, in fact as you would broil
tender morsel Of food, while 90 men stood
by, anyone of whom would have been able
to have saved her from her awful fate had
they but tried. ! saw her bowed and bent,
trembling under her four score years of
life, try in vain to mount a parapet and
Chamber down ladder that had been
hoisted TO her by those whom she had
helped mature Saw her feeble efforts fail
Then witnessed the flames as they curled
around that doomed form, licked those gray
hairs and then. when the withered hands
were thrown aloft in vain endeavor TO
ward off the fend, saw her sink backward
into her frey tomb.
Imagine, if you can this scene intensified
by the ratio of ten to one and you have an
idea Of what horror greeted the eyes turned
upward toward the towering walls of that
Boston fire trap at 4:35 o'clock on that fatal
Friday afternoon.
Panic had seized all. Men ran hither
and thither In the street below, while far
above them the curling flames and awful
smoke were driving the inmates of the
building TO their destruction. The news
papers have told how the men and women
jumped; how expressmen and bystanders
tried to catch them in improvised fire nets,
and how in many cases they saved the
lives of those who hurled themselves into
space
In the early stage Of the fire, when the
horror was at its worst when the firemen
were wanted the most, they had not ar
rived in sufficient numbers to do but little
toward saving life. 1t is to the volunteers
that is due the credit that the loss of life
was not greater. Young girls, with their
future but rosy dream of promise. saw
abandoned to their fate In the building by
strong limbed men who only thought of
saving themselves. 1t was a fearful game
Of chance, in which sex knew but one law,
and that was self preservation Mean
time, the thousands that had blocked the
street witnessed all this horror powerless to
aid or TO save.
With the spread of the fire came the in |
crease of the panic. The streets in the vi |
cinity, half an hour after the first alarm |
had been sounded, were filled with an in |
describable mass of people, painting fire |
engines, frantic horses, crazy teamsters |
and flying debris, the latter in thousands |
of cases launched from windows perfectly |
regardless of where it fell. Add to this, IL |
you can, darkness, underfoot water and |
snow churned to slush to the depth of six
inches, and in many quarters twelve,
showers of red hot cinders, the roar of |
flames and the crash of falling walls,
shouts and imprecations and you have the
material for forming tolerable idea of
the great fire and its surroundings.
l saw thieves with their arms full of
plunder elbowing their way through the
outskirts of the crowd unmolested: saw
teamsters drive up to doorways and load
their wagons with the choicest they could
lay their hands upon and then go away un-
questioned; saw delicate women and chill
dren, whom curiosity had drawn to the
spot, thrown down and trampled upon
witnessed policemen clubbing unoffending
men and women because they were unable
To get out of the way of the overcoats and
was myself pushed into a gutter by blue
coat who in this way imagined he was
creating respect for his calling. Ny offence
consisted of a desire TO walk upon the
same side of the street that he was occu.y-
ing. / brushed against him and was
hurled into the gutter
In front Of the United States hotel on
Beach street was one Of the spots where
panic reigned with an uninterrupted sway
for two hours. IL was in direct line with
the wind and fire and the shower of live
brands that came down made life i'm it
almost an impossibility. About the hotel
everything was in disorder and the guests
seemed to be trying TO vie with each other
In an endeavor to hurry their baggage into
the open air. Trunks and valises were
thrown from windows, and in some in
stances clothing fioated downward 1t all
fell upon the just and unjust alike. but
] am afraid the latter element reaped the
most benefit.
OF course the connagration has rem ewed
the grumbling about no fire department,
but in this case think the structures are
The buildings and streets
and not the firemen should be condemned.
Great 6-story buildings with acres of un-
divided floor area situated i'm narrow
ltreets cannot he protected by any device
known TO fire fighters The flames swept
through these buildings with no walls TO
prevent and the fire really burned itself
out. The movement already started for
reform in the construction OF stores is a
step in the right direction.
But the great confagration was not Bos-
tons only sensation last week The state
prison over in Charlestown was ~ lively
as AN election in Ireland The warden was