The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-06
HOW TURKS FIGHT FIRES.
OahnOns Boom the Alarm and Fire
men Loot the buildings.

1
| Constantinople l was awakened ahout 2
o'clock in the morning bv an extraord,.
nary uproar in the city. There was a
booming of cannon, rushing of soldiers.
'he ciank and rattle of heavy wheels. the
SHOUTS of many voices and the bowling
OF about million dogs. / concluded that
revolution had started, or a massacre
| at the very least but was assured by the
motel porter when got out in the corridor
mat IL was only a fire, and not a very
big one at that.
! You will get used TO this sort of thing"
ne said before you have been here long.
Inc touloumbajis haven't been paid for
! months SO were having a good many
l did not see the connection and asked
l what he meant
| Why he said, these poor devils. the
nremen, have 10 live somehow. and when
tney don't get their wages, they take il
out IN loot. So, in bad times like this,
nre Is god-send to them. and they do
| say mere he dropped his voice a little,
that when the fires don't come along
often enough of their own accord the tou-
loumbajis help things out with oil and
matches"
What, set fire 10 bulldings?"
Ihe porter nodded. why; that's moth
ing, the government does that itself when
| II wants street widened or some old
quarter rebuilt. If you want to see where
| the fire is, we can go up on The roof"
SO we went up, and sure enough off to
| the southeast was a glow in the sky and
| tongue of flame shooting up. The CITY
| lay wrapped in its strange night beauty
| cypress trees rising above the red-tiled
roofs, the Bosphorus to Ihe left, the Gold
| en- Horn at the right, and slender nina
| T0tG lifting fhafr
way one turned.
Look, there" said the porter, "a sin
| gle light is shining from the Galata tower.
| which means that the fire is in STEAMBOAT
not here in Pera. If 1t were on this side
of the Golden Horn there would be two
lights Now, listen, you can hear the
beckjis calling"
Sure enough, from the street below
came the long, sing-song cry of a night
Waterman: "Yang-hur-var-r-r. SIAM
bol-da-a-a- Yang -hur-var-r-r. Stambol-
da-a-a. -a-fre-in-
Stambou-ou-oul. And then the ringing
of his iron-shod staff striking on the cob
BILE stones. And forthwith, from the street
adjoining, came the same cry with the
same ringing blows of the staff Then
| from another street, and still another
| from dozens of streets. all about us
| sounding fainter and fainter until the
| cries were lost in the outskirts. Yang
| hur-yar-r-r. SIAM bol-da-a-a." All the
| beckjis in Constantinople were walking
the sleepers with sturdy lungs and vigil
liant slaves.
why do they make such racket %
asked, land why do the dogs howl SOP"
The porter shrugged his shoulders.
1.-THE beckjis cry out and pound the
streets because they have nothing else to
do, the dogs howl because it is their ma
ture to-
How do the beckjis know where the
fire is? They can't all see the tower, can
| they?"
mo. they find out by telegrams that are
sent from the central station all over the
city. Besides, each beckji hears his
neighbor call, and so the word is passed
on"
We stood talking and presently along
the street below came a Whitehead COM
pany of runners going al full speed they
ran beautifully with long strides and
chests well out shouting like demons.
Their brown legs were bare to the knees.
"Who are they?" 1 asked
"They are irregular touloumbajis who
carry the hand-pumps. When the alarm
comes they spring up all over the city and
start for the fire on a dead run They
go like deer as you can see and turn
aside for no one, so that bad accidents
often happen. The regular touloumbajis
have a certain small salary paid them, or
at least promised them by the government,
but these fellows have no salary at all.
They are merely allowed to sleep in dis
used mosques and must depend entirely
for wages upon what they can steal. With
them il is a case of first come first serV-
ed, and that is why they hurry. Also
because they like to show off their inn
portance. You can tell them because they
wear white breeches and will knock you
down with the greatest pleasure If they
get an opportunity"
About a minute or two after the pas
sage of this interesting band came com.
pany of regular firemen, dragging smok-
ing fire engine of European pattern, and
making noise like a charge of cavalry.
Surrounding the engine were a crowd of
foot soldiers and mounted guards, tearing
along promiscuously and shouting as if
they were going into battle. 1t appears
that every fire engine in Constantinople
and every fire company, even to the far
thest city limits, makes a rush for the
seat of danger as soon as the warning cam
non sounds. The consequence in the case
OF small fires is that numbers of them ar
rive after the trouble is over.
1 asked the porter where the cannon
were fired and he explained that there
are seven of them set apart for the fire
service at the village of Tchengei-Keni,
in the outskirts of the capital up the
Bosphorus. These seven cannon are dis
charged as soon as word is signaled from
one of the fire towers.
How many fire towers are there?"
Two; the war office tower on the SIAM
boul side, and the big Galata tower that
you see from here"
So much for first impressions; this par
ticular fire was going out and l went TO
bed, leaving the dogs bowling During my
stay in Constantinople, however, saw
several fires as a nearby spectator, and
was able to judge of the Department.
practical efficiency. Suffice it to say that
this Is absurdly small, the only wonder
being that the Turkish capital Is not burn
ed to ashes over and over again. l saw
the touloumajis rush up, knocking people
TO right and left and trampling on
vagrant dogs. / saw them set up their
squirt-gun pumps ana let fly with streams,
and / watched the regulars work with
putting engines. Somehow the blaze would
gradually subside In spite Of fiimsy wood
en- structures for 1t to feed upon And
the crowd would look on In the most inn
passive way, not even the owners Of prop
erty bestirring themselves to save their
In all ala L..