Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-23

Among the great fires Of history, uu-
doubtedly the burning of the Serapeum
Library, at Alexandria, in the year go by
the Caliph Omar l. is most widely mourned
as the destruction Of 100000 volumes cut of
much Of the record Of human knowledge
at that time. The general impression of
the importance aud Significance Of this ire
Is, no doubt. augmented in great measure
by the alleged answer Of this Saraceu con-
queror who replied to the protest against
the burning with IF these books are
against the Koran, they are pernicious and
must be destroyed. If they agree with the
Koran they are redundant aud need not be
preserved;" and it is not generally remem-
bered that Julius Caesar burned large lib
rary of 100000 volumes at Alexandria,
known as the Bruciau Library, r. c., 48,
nearly 100 years before the burning of the
Serapeum Library by Omar I.
AT times Of sack aud pillage Jerusalem
has been burned dme aud again, the most
noted instance being at the siege by the
Romans under Titus during the year 10,
when a faction called the Sicarti set the
city on fire in many places and eventually
I, 100000 Of the inhabitants perished by FIRE
and the sword
Constantinople has, like all Oriental
cities, suffered severely from fires, large
part Of such losses being undoubtedly due
to thu fatalism of the Mohammedans who
bow to their kismet Said Sultan IF it
be the will of the Allah that my favorite
city burn it is the will of Allah"
In DiHaways quaint account of travels in
the Levaut in 1897 It is stated that the Sultan
is summoned three times to ERE in Con-
stantinople, if the fire lasts one hour he is
obliged to attend in person and bring mules
laden with piasters for the fremen
great fire at Rome, u B. c.. caused the
Emperor Augustus to take measures for in
increasing the defense against FIRE, (which
had hitherto been ia the hands Of bodies Of
police, numbering twenty or thirty, and
stationed in various parts of the city and
volunteers. He appointed new officers with
the rank Of magistrates, who were entitled
to wear magistrates s robes Each was at.
tended by two lictors and provided with FIRE
organizations of 600 81 aves.
Il is probable that this was not entirely
satisfactory in its operation, because six
years later another fire caused him to under.
take further reforms on a scale fully char
acteristic of him who found the city built
of brick and left il with palaces Of marble. !"
He increased the FIRE department to scale
commensurate with the needs of the city
Seven thousand freemen were organized in
to seven battalious, and a battalion was
quartered in every alternate ward of the
city. These men made careful inspections
Of the kitchens, Of the heating apparatus
and of the water supply in the houses and
every FIRE was the subject of judicial ex.
animation. The cost of the organization
was maintained bya tax of twenty-five per
cent. on the sale of slaves.
Two notable examples of contagious
stopped by condagrations are the burning
of Moscow by the besieging Tartars in July,
1870, when the plague was stopped and the
second fire in London, September 2, 1906,
which also stopped the plague, and it has
been unknown there since.
This London FIRE is probably called the
great 6re of modern history, because the re-
forms which were started in consequence Of
It are living issues in municipal affairs of
to-day. The FIRE was caused by an over
heated bakers oven, and in the course of
four days II swept over 456 acres, burning
1890 houses, 50 churches and St. Paurs
Cathedral, causing damage estimated to
be bIo7Io,ooo, say $50, 100000.
Under the direction of Pepys the 6re was
stopped by blowing up buildings which was
at the time the only method of reducing a
FIRE that had grown beyond the capacity of
small FIRE engines. These we're on large tubs,
aud threw stream of water directly on the
FIRE, as hose was not invented until ten
years later (i677) by Van der Heide.
The cities Of America, on account of the
larger amount of wood in their construction
and the prevalence ofirrespOnsible methods
of building, have suffered severely from
fires.
The most devastating ERE ia America was
probably the one occurring at Boston, March
80, 1900, when 400 dwellings and stores were
burned, causing a loss of $4,000.
In the Colony of Massachusetts Bay regu-
lations in regard to the construction of
chimneys and thatched roofs we're made as
early as March I6, 1890, and various enact
ments were made at later dates The ordi.
nance at the town meetingof Boston, March
"a, r645, made provision that each house
holder should have ladders long enough to
reach to the ridge of the house, and pole
about twelve feet long, with a good large
swob at the end Of il, and various graded
penalties were provided for those not con-
forming to the law
AHNW ANAE was NAolANA ny "a aENNlE coll
hagrauon in the southern part of the city
on December 10, 1885, which extended over
an area of forty acres, destroying 674 houses
and causing loss which has been estimated
as high as $50. 900, on which there was
only S8,ooo.ooo insurance-ana amount which
ruined several insurance companies.
One of the first of the more recent confa.
grations was the burning of Portland, Me-.
July 4, 1866. The ERE was caused by throw.
ing frecracker into a cooper's shop for the
avowed purpose Of soaring the workmen
In this respect the act was an unparalleled
success, the damage being about sIo,ooo,.
ooo
The Chicago fre, October 9, 1871, was one
Of the largest in all history devastating an
area Of three and one-half square miles aud
causing a loss Of about SIoo,ooo,ooo, on
which insurance was paid to the amount Of
sIoo,ooo, 900. Two hundred and forty lives
were reported lost in this hre
Thirteen months later to a day Boston
was visited by FIRE which extended over
an area Of sixty.fve acres, burning the best
mercantile buildings in the city aud causing
a damage Of SIS, 600, 600 on which there was
r e.