The Washington times., 1894-08-18
QUEER WORK OF THE FLAMES
Curious Things Seen Where the Great
Knox Fire Ragged.
LIKE REMINDERS or POMPEM
Heavy Bronzes Melted and Disfgured While
the Color and Substance of Delicate Floss
Silk Are Preserved-A Lady's Anxiety
About the Family Bible-Other Incidents

About as interesting place as there is in
the city just now is the scene of the receni
| great Knox fire. The ground on which the
| immense pile OF brick and mortar stood is
now covered with the wreck, but good deal
OF order has been evolved out of the chaos. II
looks like the ruins OF small city and the CON-
| parison is all the more exact, as the company
has constructed lanes, alleys, streets. and ave
| nues through the debris for the convenience
Of visitors and OF those who want to identify
their property.
Thousands upon thousands of people have
already been to the scene. There were big
crowds there yesterday, especially OF two
classes-one with the interest OF melancholy.
the other with the stimulus of curiosity. For
both classes there is sufficient attraction.
The company has succeeded In so arranging,
classifying, and exhibiting the things not
utterly destroyed by the flames that there is
much chance for the Identification OF prop
erty. i: was in this quest that the crowds
yesterday wandered up and down through
the streets of the burned city TO see
what luck the Phoenix had brought them.
great number of articles have been stored
in Il shed on the west side OF the square, on
the south and east sides there are piles OF
clothing. on the Dorth and south are huge
heaps of iron materials all burned and
twisted out OF recognition. and elsewhere. in
the center under the shed and in other safe
places are the myriads OF things that consti-
tute the household furnishings from the most
delicate and dimiGutiye piece OF bric-a-brac
to the cooking range which appears to have
MIRACLES OF PRESERVATION.
People who go there will find that there
have been some miracles of preservation
One can see, just as they were excayated, Il
painting with colors almost intact beside a
bronze which is no longer bronze from the
intense heat. lady held in her hand yes
terday two old-fashioned photograph cases
fastened together The leather covers were
scorched. and it was impossible to see Il
single lineament Of the scorched daguerreo-
type faces inside. but there were three slips
of white satin ribbon between the cases and
they had not the slightest trace of fire. liz a
great many instances you will see little
enamelled things with never-touched-m
look on them. while the chalk dog or the
wooden cat, their companions on the what
not have been burned into lime or cinders.
A most remarkable instance OF this one
tion of things was noted In lady's work
basket. They say that the arrangement, the
order of things i'll the basket. has not been
touched. and yet the scissors has been
scorched and scaled. the bone has been
burned from the crotchet needle. but the silk
floss and zephyrs are just as they were left by
the young lady when she went away for the
summer. These results remind one of the
fact that in pompeii after the big Vesuvian
fire, the colors remain just as bright on the
frescoes as if the volcano had not discounted
the provincial fire department. There is no
accounting for the freaks OF fire.
SOMETHING LIKE PoMPEIIAS RELICS.
By the way, people who visited the Italian
exhibit at the Worlds Fair will recall the con-
dition of the bronzes in the Pompeiian collec-
ton. There are many things at the Knox fire
curiosity shop that will remind them OF what
they saw from abroad, for there are many
local broDzes i'll the veteran Pompeiian con-
dition. Two of them especially on the west
side suggest the humors and the gravity OF
the scene. One of these is a design, two
bronze figures in loving embrace. trouba-
dour and his companion with tam BOURNE.
They have been done to death by the fire, and
they are looking quite sadly over u chaotic
collection of chinas and porcelain through
which the metaphorical bull ran riot on the
night OF the fire. The other. quite near this
melancholy group. is Mercury. He is stand
ing on his head. with his winged heels in the
air, a type of topsy-turvey, and the everlast-
ing bouleversement that takes place when
fire anu water contend for the mastery.
On one side OF china cup you read very
plainly Think of Me- while the other side
is almost reduced to lime. A lady looked at
an immense pile of burned books with shriv-
eled leaves and charred covers and said Il
wonder if I'll ever find our Bible" There is
no telling. II may be safe aud sound in some
place where the Decamerou and Don Juan
have had premature eternity of the kind TO
be expected. There is no telling what may
or may not be recovered in this place where
a crucifix is burned out of all senblance to
itself and a lady's brocade looks as fresh and
iair as il she had Just laid it aside.