Stake burning

“ Upon this heterogeneous mass of humanity the fire rained down almost as we imagine it to have fallen upon the doomed cities of the plain, and the hot breath of the flames scorched the exposed cheek and crisped even eyebrows and hair. Sparks, flakes, cinders, pieces of roof, and fiery pebbles seemed to fill the air, and often cries and shrieks announced that furniture and bedding which had been dragged thither, and even the clothing of women and children, were burning. ”

“ At one time three portions of the city were burning at once, and all hope of checking the conflagration died in the hearts of men as the terrific volume of flame thundered and crackled, and hissed in sheets over their heads. The blinding smoke rolled heavenwards in a thick heavy mass; the flying embers were carried along for miles, and the brisk north-western wind brought the destroying flame to a thousand households. Men and women stood paralyzed in the streets, fearing the worst and hoping against hope. ”

“ The blinding effect of the dense smoke that filled the atmosphere, the suffocating smell of the burning mass of vegetable matter, and the lurid glare of the red flames that came on so rapidly, overpowered alike the horses and their riders: while the roaring of the fire—which sounded like a mighty rushing cataract—and the oppressive heat, seemed to confuse the senses, and destroy the vital powers of the more feeble and ill-mounted of the fugitives. ”

“ Those houses that had been plundered were set on fire, and, as darkness fell over the ill-fated town, the glare of fifty burning buildings illuminated the country for miles around, and served to lash the surviving inhabitants into a host of desperate and revengeful defenders of their country's shores. ”

“ From the banks many charred remains of victims of flames and flood are plainly visible to the naked eye, as the retreating waters reluctantly give up their dead. Beneath almost every log or blackened beam a glistening skull or the blanched remnants of ribs or limbs mark all that remains of life's hopes and dreams.
Since ten o'clock last night the fire engines have been busy. Water has been constantly playing on the burning ruins. At times the fire seems almost extinguished, but fitful flames suddenly break out afresh in some new quarter, and again the water and flames wage fierce combat. ”

“ They are more or less fire-proof, slow-burning, or briskly combustible, like the dwellings they have devastated. But the modern tendency is to a type where flames do not destroy, nor moth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. ”

“ And now horror came. The flames were spreading with curious facility, shooting their blue tongues over the woodwork before the yellow fangs took hold, but all so quickly that the burning area seemed to have doubled itself in these few seconds, while from the heart of it there came the crisp crackle of quicker fuel, culminating in a blaze as though a rick had caught; and, sure enough, as these flames leapt high, their source was revealed in a pile of the rector's new straw hassocks.
The puzzle was one no more: plainer work of incendiary was never seen. ”

“ It is quite probable that the very magnitude and rapidity of the disaster served in a measure to mitigate its evil results. The burning of seven hundred buildings, comprising the entire business portion of Richmond warehouses, manufactories, mills, depots, and stores, all within the brief space of a day, was a visitation so sudden, so unexpected, so stupefying, as to overawe and terrorize even wrong-doers, and made the harvest of plunder so abundant as to serve to scatter the mob and satisfy its rapacity to quick repletion. ”

“ The sky became the color of copper and we knew that the Parliament House was in flames. "Fire, fire", was now the cry. "The Parliament Building is in flames", was joyously shouted by the infuriated people. A dark column of smoke gloomily ascended from the burning building, to which all faces were now turned. Duty now becomes the word. We should at least save the Hotel Dieu Nunnery opposite the buildings on one side of the street, and its hospital. The fire bells pealed the alarm, and the people were in the temper beget a panic, if the flames were not arrested. ”

“ The burning still rages, and it was now gotten as far as the Inner Temple, all Fleete-streete, the Old Bailey, Ludgate-hill, Warwick-lane, Newgate, Paul’s Chain, Watling-streete, now flaming, and most of it reduc’d to ashes; the stones of Paules flew like granados, the melting lead running downe the streetes in a streame, and the very pavements glowing with fiery rednesse, so as no horse nor man was able to tread on them, and the demolition had stopp’d all the passages, so that no help could be applied. The eastern wind still more impetuously drove the flames forward. ”

“ Probably, gentlemen in London, who "sit at home at ease," imagine rick-burning a thing of the past, impossible since insurance robbed the incendiary of his sting, unheard of and extinct. Nothing of the kind. That it is not general is true, still to this day it breaks out in places, and rages with vehemence, placing the countryside under a reign of terror. The thing seems inexplicable, but it is a fact; the burning of ricks and farm-sheds every now and then, in certain localities, reaches the dimensions of a public disaster. ”

“ Three miles away the people heard the roar of the flames as they shot a hundred feet above the tree-tops, while every moment a huge trunk, burned through, fell with a crash. The smoke came through the woods, filling the air with thick clouds. Everybody seized what valuables he could lay hands upon, and started to escape. Some, blinded by the smoke, ran directly into the burning area, and never returned. Most of the people left by the wagon-roads, only to find they were going into a furnace. More than a hundred were burned to death or suffocated while trying to get away by the roads. ”

“ Because it is easier to burn a slashing than to pile and burn; or when a ground burn is desirable, because it is easier to take chances than to clear a fire line around the area and have a force of men present; because burning at a dry, dangerous time will be cleaner and thus save work after the fire; inexperience, coupled with unwillingness to take advice from the experienced—these and like reasons are responsible for the destruction of lives and property worth over and over again the sum that was saved by the attempted economy. ”

“ I may here say, that most of the store-goods had been removed, and a few prominent citizens had left, but that no families, women, or children had departed. The burning was executed in a most ruthless and unrelenting manner. [5]
“A squad of men would approach a house, break open the door, and kindle a fire, with no other notice to the inmates, except to get out of it as soon as they could. In many cases, five, ten, fifteen minutes were asked to secure some clothing, which were refused. Many families escaped with only the clothing they had on, and such as they could gather up in their haste. ”

“ They fought the fire inch by inch until they beat it back to its original centre in the Parliament buildings. The surrounding buildings had been drenched with water, but not one drop had been thrown on the burning House. Nor would it have been safe for any one to attempt it. At twelve o'clock the fire was over and the bugle sounded for the troops to fall in, the mob had dispersed and the firemen had packed and returned to their stations. It was now past one o'clock, and drenched and fatigued I left the scene, accompanied by a few friends. ”

“ The burning of logging and mining camps and farm buildings, the loss to the country in the destruction of timber and young tree growth, is of yearly occurrence. Every fall, not only in Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Wyoming, but up and down the Pacific coast and all over the Rocky Mountain country fires burn great holes in the forests and destroy the national wealth. ”

“ The Bank of New Brunswick was for a long time deemed safe. It is true that the merchants hurried in with their books when the fire was still raging a quarter of a mile away, but the old building which was burned inside, exhibited after the fire, walls and pillars as strong and vigorous as they were half a century ago. The vaults preserved their contents, and millions of money were thus plucked from the burning. The old bank was an edifice in which the people took pride. ”

“ In the provinces the rioters were burning coal, burning coal-pits, smashing machinery and destroying property indiscriminately, blind to the fact that some of the immediate effects were falling on their fellow-workmen, and that most of the ultimate effects would fall upon themselves. ”

“ Once the burners were displaced the gas continued to burn, melting the tubes while the fire gradually kept running up to the ceiling and gradually disappeared burning in the loft. The Queen's picture had escaped injury. It was very large, with heavy, massive frame and of great weight. A stalwart Scotchman, dressed in plaid, and with a Scotch bonnet on his head, entered the main entrance as I was descending the stairs. He rushed passed me and used no choice language at our having abandoned the picture of Her Majesty to the flames. ”

“ The fire, however, spread with terrible rapidity, and all efforts were directed towards isolating the burning area. During this time the light wind blowing was about north-east, but it later in the afternoon went round to the north and north-west, thus lending tremendous assistance to the people in their efforts to extinguish the fire. Many injured persons, buried in the falling debris, were burnt to death. ”

“ No time was given the inhabitants to save anything. The first warning of danger most of them had was the kindling of the fire in their houses, and even the few articles that some caught up in their flight were seized by the soldiers and flung back into the flames. Many such instances have come to the writer’s knowledge, that in their dark malignity almost surpass belief. The aged, the sick, the dying, and the dead were carried out from their burning homes ”

“ The dryness of the season, the superheat for hours of the fiercely driven flames, the tarred-over pavement, were sufficient explanation to account for the street’s burning, while the thousands of falling burning brands added to the other factors before mentioned easily explained how three blocks of buildings, including brick business buildings, could burst into flames at almost the same instant. ”

“ Arson is maliciously burning any dwelling-house, shop, barn, or any other building, the property of another. Arson in the first degree, which is burning an inhabited dwelling in the night time, is in some states punishable with death. ”

“ The town had been laid in ashes, a number of the inhabitants murdered and cast into their burning houses, because they presumed to defend their persons and property, or to be avenged on a cruel, vindictive invading enemy. I saw the inhabitants, after the fire was out, endeavouring to find the burnt bones of their relatives amongst the rubbish of their demolished houses. The streets, in many places, were literally flooded by the fat which ran from the piles of barrels of pork burnt by the enemy.—They fully executed their design. ”

“ A hollow cinder, for example, thrown out of the fire by a jet of gas from burning coals is looked upon as a coffin if it be long, but as a money-box if it be round. Some, too, exclaim on seeing the fire suddenly blaze up that a stranger is near; whereas in the Midland counties if the fire burn brightly after it has been stirred, this is considered a sign that the absent lover, wife, or husband, as the case may be, is in good spirits. ”

“ There are two detachments of men at work, one party endeavouring to extinguish the flames of poor old Davis’s burning cottage, the others far in the distance trying to stop the progress of the fire by burning down the thickets in advance, and thus starving the main fire as it gains ground. ”

“ An elderly woman, of true Spartan grit, gave one of the house-burners such a sound drubbing with a heavy broom, that the invader retreated, to leave the work of destruction to be performed by another party, after the woman had left to escape the approaching flames of the adjoining buildings. ”

“ But the most weird and impressive spectacle at Benares, and one which will never be forgotten, is the burning of the bodies of the dead. At intervals, between the temples along the river bank, are level places belonging to the several castes and leased to associations or individuals who have huge piles of wood in the background and attend to the business in a heartless, mercenary way. The cost of burning a body depends upon the amount and kind of fuel used. The lowest possible rate is three rupees or about one dollar in our money. ”

“ For instance, lodging-houses are very liable to fire, but they are very seldom burnt down or much injured. Out of 81 that suffered in 1853 not one was totally destroyed; only four were extensively affected; the very large majority, 77, were slightly scathed from the burning of window and bed curtains, &c. Among the trades which are too hazardous to be insured at any price are—we quote from the Tariff of the "County Fire-office,"—floor cloth manufacturers, gunpowder dealers, hatters' "stock in the stove," lamp-black makers, lucifer-match makers, varnish-makers, and wadding-manufacturers ”

“ The débris wedged against the big Pennsylvania Railroad stone bridge is still burning, and the efforts of the firemen to quench or stay the progress of the flames are as futile as were those of Gulliver's Lilliputian firemen. The mass, which unquestionably forms a funeral pyre for thousands of victims who lie buried beneath it, is likely to burn for weeks to come. The flames are not active, but burn away in a sullen, determined fashion. ”