The times., 1899-03-12
FIGHTING FIRE IN CHINA.
More Noise Than Wafer Used in Put
ting II Out.
Fr9m the North China IIerald.l

(FTOm the North China I!Crald)
The third watch of the night had Just
been announced from headquarters By the
firing of three large squibs. and the watch
men, who are not so sleepy in these times
as they used to be, had started once more
on their rounds with the cry: Take care
of fires and candles. 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 expanding over a
hundred houses. Shouts of FIRE." Screams
of waking mothers; seizing and rousing of
sleeping children. Everyone slipping into
their clothes. Everyone at the door. with
Hal ya!" or Hal yOi" or Hal ye!" ac-
cording to the distance from the volume OF
fiame-the first sound uttered in tone of
philosophical surprise; the second as Il
longdrawn sigh of sympathetic wonder
the third a staccato OF agonized alarm.
Close at hand, and soon to be upon u.s.
is the next cry-variousiy Worded, from
the latter speakers. interlarded with swear
words by most of the men. and with 90
mi-t'u-fo." or Ancestors protect" or
"Pusah protect"'e IN the case Of the NO.
men. Then a general / gathering up Of
belongings, children knocked over, sworn
at. picked up. dragged 70 the street; then
boxes. bundles, everything portable drag
ged there. too.
Triple gong beats sounding in all direc-
tions, from the various depots OF the lit
tie water dragons babel OF voices
everywhere Fire more distant that was
imagined. or Hal ye," as near as can be.
Lantern bearers rushing along the streets.
asking or answering hurried questions as
TO the precise spot. Bearers OF burdens
hurrying about. colliding, a spill here, a
broken rope there, a lantern bearer upset.
a. mi
ing from dOorways. Thieves By the score
on the alert-small fortunes to be made to-
night.
Clear the way! Here comes the water
dragon" with its uncOuth band of fire
men in gray Clear the way, \ mandarin
in his chair. Crowds jammed against shop
shutters, into houses. anywhere. Room
for the wateT-carriers! Soldiers with hal
herds enforce that cry as the scene OF the
fire is neared.
The river is too far off. The long closed
perfect peace tank" is officially opened
torch Is lit within 1t is barely half
full! No other water at hand, Who has
a well? The foreigner 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
between or the big sparks fall there. \
touch of nature such as this common dan
ger, and there is no foreigner. Water is
carried out; babies, bundles, boxes are
carried in. The man with compound is
everybody's brother now.
Happy thought, Carry the engines on
to the city hall! They cannot get near
otherwise. And so they are carried up
from inside the gate. The men behind are
drenched. but never mind. Only swear a
little that so much water has been split.
The wall is a mass of lanterns. And now
the little jets squirt forth. To what pur-
pose, upon flames 80 feet high? Only brick
walls can stop the flames in this crowded
mass of wooden structures, 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 nave
forced their way below as well as above
the fire. a bit nearer, and the hose will
play into the house itself. But, horrors
The water cracks the tile WALL 1t comes
down with a crash, and four men under it
bruised, burned, one of them never to
recover.
The bodies are dragged out, the hose
turned onto them. They are carried away:
three regain consciousness. And through
the gap the engines have an opportunity
now
Half an hour passes, and the flames be-
gin to abate.
Whose house." is the question next
day. and the answer it. An empty house
where no one has lived Tor months. And
the whole turns out to be a piece of
thieves business, one (unknown setting
the empty house on fire while the watch
man had turned the corner. and scores of
others ready with their carrying poles TO
run away with anything they could lay
their hands on. All this in quiet place.
and only one house burned.
Accounts have been published of the
series Of fires in HankOw, beginning with
f,ht I ,NstfI tee
destruction of 10000 houses and the loss
of hundreds of lives. At least We call
them accounts. They are graphic and de-
tailed, We say. But | question whether
human mind can grasp more than an iota
of the unwritten account read. as even
the heather" Chinese would say. by all
seeing heaven.