Tobacco, Whisky, and Fires
TOBACCO and whisky are reckoned as enemies of the human race, judged by their physiological effects on the human system, but they are capable of contributing much to the loss of life and property in other ways, as events occasionally show. The great Baltimore fire is said to have originated from the dropping of a lighted cigar stub through a broken pane in a sidewalk skylight, into inflammable material which was lying beneath. The great Hoboken pier fire of 1900, in which several Atlantic liners were burned with many people on board, derived its intensity from a large number of barrels and casks of whisky which were piled up on the pier when the fire started. And it has been stated that the latest horror — the “Slocum” disaster on the East River — began with the igniting of some hay on board, through the carelessness of a smoker. And the hay would not have been on board but for a shipment of glasses which had just been received for use in the barroom. Men who are accustomed to blowing tobacco smoke into people’s faces, naturally grow careless of other people’s rights, and their carelessness has been the cause of innumerable fires.