The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-05-05

Hccovorod-The Foreigners Well u
Used and bis 7hings Carried out.
The third watch Of the night had
just been announced from h~eadquar-
ters by the firing Of three large sQuibs,
and the watchmen. who are not so
sleepy In these times as they used 70
be, had started once more on their
rounds with the cry, Take are Of FIRE
and %candlesl Use no foreign oil!'
When, hard by the city wall, a sudden
roar and a glare; the pale moonlight
warmed into orange everywhere and a
great pillar Of smoke expanded over
a hundred houses. Shouts Of "Firei"
Screams Of waking mothers; selling
and rousing of sleeping children, says
the North China Herald. Every n
slipping into his clothes. Every n
at the door. with "Hai yal" or Hal
yoi" or Hal vel" according to the dis
lance from the volume Of hame-the
first sound uttered in a tone of phil
osophical surprise; the second as a
long-drawn sigh Of sympathetic won
der; the third a staccato Of agonized
alarm. "Close at hand and soon to be
upon us!" is the next cry-various-
ly worded, from the latter speakers, in
terlarded with swear words by most Of
the men, and with "O-mi-t'u-fo!" or
Ancestors protectp or "P'u-sah pro
tectl" in the case of the women. Then
a general gathering up of belongings,
children knocked over, sworn at,
picked up, dragged to the street; then
boxes, bundles, everything portable,
dragged there, too. Triple gong beats
sounding in all directions from the va
rious depots Of the little "water-drag-
ons." A babel of voices everywhere.
Fire more distanS than was imagined,
or "hai-ye!' as zeal as can be. Ian
tern-bearers rushing along the streets,
asking or answering hurried questions
as to the precise spot. Bearers Of bur
lens hurrying about, colliding, a spill
here, a broken rope there, a lantern
bearer upset, a child trampled IN yon-
der. Boxes missing from doorways.
Thieves by the score on the alert
small fortunes to be made tonight!
Clear the wayl Here comes the wa
ter-dragon," with its uncouth band Of
fremen in gray. Clear the wayl A
mandarin in his chair. Crowds iammed
against shop shutters, into houses
anywhere. Room for the water-car-
riers! Soldiers with halberds enforce
that cry, as the scene Of the fire is
neared. The river is too far of. The
long-closed "perfect-peace tank" is Of
hcially opened. A torch is lit within.
It IS barely half full! No other water
at hand! Who has a well? The for
eigner, perhaps. And so a rush is made
to his gate. His men have already been
carrying buckets to the front in case
the fire leaps over the few houses be-
tween, or the big sparks fall there. A
touch Of nature such as this common
danger and there. is no f~oreigner. Wa
ter is carried OUT. babies, bundles,
boxes, are carried in. The man with a
compound is ~everybody's brother now.
Happy thought! Garry the engine to
the city wall! They cannot get near
otherwise. And 10 they are carried
up from inside the gate. The men be-
hind are drenched, but never mind.
Only swear a little that so much wa
ter has been split, The wall is a mass
OF lanterns. And now the little jets
squirt forth. To what purpose, upon
flames fifty feet high? Only brick walls
can stop the flames in this crowded
mass Of wooden structure, dried by
drouth. The wind is fairly high, but
the house has side walls Of thin tile.
and there is a brick wall to the west.
And engines have forced their way be-
low as well as above the fire. A bit
nearer and the hose will play into the
house itself. But, horrors! The wa
ter cracks the tile wall! It comes
down with a crash and four men un-
der it-bruised, burnt, one of them
never to recover. The bodies are
dragged out, the hose turned on them
They are carried away; three regain
consciousness. And through the gar
the engines have an opportunity now.
Half an hour passes and the flames be-
gin to abate. Whose house?" is the
] QutbLAOu hCAN AagB anu NhC ahoWNA 10
can empty house where no one has
lived for months" And the whole
turns out to be a piece of thieves bust
ness, one (unknOwn) setting the empty
house on fire, while the Waterman
turned the corner, and a score Of Others
ready with their carrying poles to turn
away with anything they could lay
hands on. All this in a quiet place
and only one house burned, Accounts
have been published of the series Of
fires in Hankow, beginning with that
Of the night Of the LIST OF October, with
its destruction Of 10000 houses and the
loss OF hundreds Of lives. At least We
can them accounts. They are graphic
and detailed, but I question whether
human mind can grasp more than an
iota Of the unwritten account read
even as the heather" Chinese would
aav nv all-geeing heaven.