The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1899-05-06
AT A CHINESE FIRE.
EVERYONE GETS EXCITED AND
4r MAKES MUCH NOISE.
-Four Men Buried Under Wall-Three
Regain Consciousness but One Never
Recovered Foreigners Well II
Used and His Things Carried Out.

JaoI UCCA dAAOuASCu 1lOA AOoO&uoA
tiers by the firing of three large squibs,
and the watchmen. 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 fire
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 expanded over
a hundred houses. Shouts of 'Ffre!"
Screams of waking mothers; seizing
and rousing of sleeping children, says
the North China Herald. Every one
slipping into his clothes. Every one
at the door, with "Hai ya!" or ''Hai
yo!' or Hal ye!" according to the dis
tance from the volume of flame-the
first sound uttered In tone Of phil
osophical surprise; the second as a
long-drawn sigh of sympathetic Won
der; the third staccato Of agonized
alarm. ''Close at hand and soon to be
upon u.s." 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 protect" or "P'u-sah pro-
tect!" 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,
Hro GOOD fhcro Tri~1o hA0fC
sounding in all directions from the va
rious depots of the little "water-dra&-
ons." A babel of voices everywhere.
Fire more distant than was imagined,
or "hai-ye!' as near az can be. Ian
tern-bearers rushing along the streets,
asking or answering hurried questions
as to the precise spot Bearers OF bur
dens hurrying about, colliding, a spill
here, broken rope there, lantern
bearer upset, child trampled on yon-
der. Boxes missing from doorways.
1a!eyes by the score onz:the alert
small fortunes to be made tonight!
Clear the way! Here comes the IVA
ter-dragon,' with its uncouth band of
firemen in gray. Clear the way! A
mandarin in his chair Crowds jammed
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 off. The
long-closed perfect-peace tank" is Of
fcially opened. A torch is lit within.
It is barely half full! No other water
at hand! Who has well? The for
eigner, perhaps. And so 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 foreigner. 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 so they are carried
up from inside the gate. The men be-
hind are drenched, but never mind.
Only swear 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 brick wall to the west
and engines have forced their way be-
low as we'll 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 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 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 is,
'tAn 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 watchman
turned the corner, and a score of others
ready with their carrying poles to turn
away with anything they could lay