The Winslow mail., 1899-06-22
CURIOSITY SEEK kEKS.
Are Largely in Evidence at the
Ruins of Big Fires.
Women Are Mere Interested Than
Men-Some Incidents of the
windsor Hotel Fire In
New York.

"Such a fire as that which destroyed
the Windsor hotel" said veteran Pc
liceman, has a side other than the
serious one. We who are detailed to
keep the fire lines have some odd eX-
periences, you may be sure. Take this
last fire, for instance. One would think
that our chief trouble would be with
men whose curiosity leads them to try
10 get access TO the immediate neigh
b0rhoOd of a recently burned building.
This is not SO. Any policeman Of eX-
perience will tell you that women give
us more trouble, twice over. This week
nearly one-half of those who tried to
pass through our lines to see what was
left of the Windsor hotel were women,
and some of them did much to make
our lives miserable. You can tell a
man that admission is denied him, and
unless he has some real business to
transact within the prescribed limits,
be will almost always accept the deci-
sion. But a woman is pertinacious.
And that" the officer continued,
makes me wonder what there is in
iiiG tilIl SCGtllS ~ lC JIG Il
woman. 1t is not the pile Of bricks
and adjourned wood they wish to see;
that's plain. They seem possessed by
4 desire to get near enough to be within
sight when a body is taken from the
ruins. It's bad enough sight for those
who are accustomed to it, but how wOm-
en-most OF them plainly Of refinement
Il ~,
is more than can understand
That this statement is not exagger
ated anyone who was present the last
few days can testify. During the
search of the Windsor ruins well-ap-
,}earing women have stood for hours
at stretch, one, perhaps two, blocks
away, where nothing could be seen
save huge piles of debris and, on rare
occasions, a wooden box, surrounded by
iaborers and policemen. Yet even that
much appeared to afford good deal
Of satisfaction. One-an elderly Ger
man woman-managed to pass the lines
me day and got midway in the Fifth
avenue block just as a body was
brought to the police booth. She
pushed her way through those stand
ing about-nearly al present On busi-
ncss-and did her best TO see what was
in the coffin, desisting only when an
officer took her by the arm and forced
her away. Even On Wednesday, in the
height OF the storm, and when police
vigilance had been relaxed on that &C
count, numbers Of women made their
way through mud and water to the
bank at the southwest corner, plead
ing with the officer stationed there for
lust one look This was usually per-
nitted, but ''one look" appeared rarely
to satisfy.
Some Of the male sightseers showed
considerable ingenuity in devising ex-
cuses for getting within the lines.
Around the Workmen were seen at vari-
GUS times men wearing the badges of
practically all the departments Of the
city government; each messenger boy
Invariably had a message to deliver at
some house on the block, and even mo-
tormen were admitted at times, pre-
sumably On the strength of their blue
informs. OF out-of-town police and
fremen there was any number. One
man got through the lines by show
ing an immense plated badge, maltese
cross shaped; he explained to reporter
that he was q member OF the police de-
partment" of a small New Jersey bor-
ough. On another occasion IA MEM
bers Of a Staten Island fire company
visited the ruins. All were passed on
showing their badges courtesy" the
policeman said-but came near disas-
ter by forming in line and Parading
around the block. They subsided, how
ever, at the entreaty of patrolman
who told them that the inspector was
about and would fire the whole push"
if they did not make themselves less
conspicuous.-N. Y. Post.