The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 57, December 9, 1897

This project raised a most fearful outcry from the opposition, and was the signal for such a scene of violence that the very visitors in the galleries leaned over the railings and called shame on the deputies.

The President suspended the sitting, and then had to fly for his life, for the deputies, angry that he should attempt to control them, made a rush for his desk, calling him all the unpleasant names they could think of.

The Bohemian deputy, Dr. Wolff, at once assumed the lead. He was the first to reach the tribune or raised platform on which the President sits, and seizing the bell which was placed on the table, he swung it to and fro, shouting and screaming to make himself heard.

Then another deputy, deciding that he would like to have the bell, fell upon Dr. Wolff, and a free fight began.

The deputies struck one another, tore one another's clothes, and at last got out their pocket-knives and began to use them as daggers.

Some of the spectators rushed out for the police, and a few of the members went in pursuit of the President, insisting that he should return and quell the disturbance.

After much trouble he succeeded in restoring order, just as the police appeared on the scene.

Dr. Wolff defied everybody and everything, and announced his intention of coming to the next session with revolvers in his pockets.

A Cabinet council was called in the evening, and the idea of dissolving the Parliament was openly discussed.

Even this did not frighten the crazy ruffians who form the Austrian Parliament.

At the next session, doors had been erected and passages blocked, so that the President could not be attacked on the tribune, and an attempt made to get on with business.

The Government had been busy in the interval, and had prepared a motion that all persons guilty of disorderly conduct in the Reichsrath should be suspended for a certain number of days, and deprived of their pay for that time.

The President read the motion, amid the howls of Wolff and his party. It is said that the whole affair must have been arranged beforehand, for not a word of the motion could be heard in the house. But all the same, as the President ceased to speak, the supporters of the Government rose as one man, and accepted the resolution.

You hardly need to be told what followed.

The ridiculous Dr. Wolff had been standing in front of the tribune with a cab-whistle at his lips, on which he blew incessantly during the reading of the resolution. When it was read and passed despite him, his rage knew no bounds; he started to clamber over the obstructions, and made for the President, followed by several other equally infuriated members.

The President did not wait for them to reach him, but, seizing his bell, fled in hot haste.

Count Badeni, who had been present, was also forced to flee, as the mob of angry men sought to do him injury.

After an interval the President returned and adjourned the meeting, and immediately on his withdrawal carpenters entered the hall and began to build a high and strong fence around the unfortunate man's tribune.

Despite the rioting, the Government feels that it has at last got the best of the unruly members. From now on they can be fined and suspended and excluded from the Reichsrath until the sentence has expired.

It is to be hoped that the idiotic Dr. Wolff will be given a recess of several weeks. He seems to need rest from his Parliamentary duties.

The unruly party, which is opposed to the Government, is infuriated at the passing of the resolution.

They declare that it was a violation of their constitutional rights, and a meeting was held to decide what they should do about it. Nothing was, however, decided upon.

A terrible fire has occurred in London during the past week.

It is the worst fire that has visited the city since the Great Fire in 1666, when the whole heart of the city was burned.

This fire, though it consumed 13,000 houses and laid waste 400 streets, compelling 200,000 persons to camp out in the country, has always been regarded as one of the greatest blessings London ever knew.

London had been visited by a terrible plague, and the city was built with such cramped and narrow streets, the upper stories of the houses projecting and nearly touching one another, that the infection was borne from house to house, and it did not seem possible to stamp out the disease, because there was no means of properly airing and purifying the city.

The horrible disease would seem to have passed away, when suddenly there would be a fresh outbreak, carrying off hundreds of victims, and bringing terror into every heart again.

Then the great fire broke out. For four days it raged and consumed everything in its path, but at the same time it so thoroughly purified the city that the plague was stamped out for good and all.

The present fire occurred in the most crowded part of the city, in the heart of the business quarter.

London is not laid out like an American city, in blocks and squares, with broad straight avenues running for miles, crossed at regular intervals with wide and open streets.

It is, in the older part, a network of narrow roadways, with courts and alleys lying back of them. The streets turn and bend and twist and go in every direction, and leading out of them are other little winding streets. These side turnings are delightful for those who know London well, because you can turn down here and up there, and cut off corners this way and save miles that way, by threading through these strange byways that lead in and out of the highways.

In case of fire, these time-saving lanes and alleys are most dangerous to the welfare of the city, for they are very narrow, with houses on either side, and flames can easily reach from one side of the street to the other.

This is precisely what happened at the recent fire. It sprang from side to side of these narrow ways, until much of the business portion of London was in flames.

There has been a good deal of talk about this fire, because the first engine did not reach the scene of the disaster until fifteen minutes after the call had been sent, and it has been said that the English firemen are not nearly so expert as the American.

It seems hardly fair to criticise the English firemen without knowing the difficulties they had to contend with. Some of the streets through which they had to drive are hardly wide enough for two vehicles to pass, and the fire occurring at midday, all these ways were blocked with carts.

The English firemen cannot drive as rapidly and recklessly as our firemen do on our wide avenues, for any attempt at such driving would mean certain destruction to engine and apparatus.

The English alarm system does not appear to be so perfect as ours, but otherwise the same engines are used, and the department is finely organized. The arrangement of the city is all that prevents them from doing the quick and effective work that we can accomplish.