Of Mice and Fires

Ebru Aykut, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University

It is well known that 19th-century İstanbul and its densely packed timber houses were perhaps far more vulnerable to fires than any other kind of disaster. Leaving aside the rich documentation in the Ottoman Archives, even a brief glance at the columns of newspapers of the time reveals extraordinarily high occurrences of fires in the city. Most began accidentally due to oil lamps or candles falling over at night or because of a spark from the hearth leaping to mattresses or curtains. Other blazes were due to arson, started maliciously by a person who intentionally and secretly set the house of his/her foe ablaze. When insurance companies started to provide their services to houses in the city after the Great Fire of Pera in 1870, not surprisingly arson as a way of collecting insurance payments entered the realm of possibility as well. Whether accidental or intentional, fires could quickly get out of control, with flames jumping from one house to another and quickly destroying entire neighborhoods. 

In this context, the fire that broke out on August 17, 1869 at the house of a certain takkeci (cap producer) named Hasan Ağa in Istanbul seemed quite ordinary. In the Sarı Musa neighborhood of Taşkasap in Fatih, passersby quickly noticed the smell of smoke, and called zabtiye soldiers who arrived at the scene and extinguished the flames. Disaster averted. Yet behind this rather unremarkable fire was a remarkably unusual perpetrator, and this agent surely made the fire worthy of its place under the heading of “garibe” (bizarre) in the newspaper Vaka-yı Zabtiye.

According to the report, when the zabtiye soldiers went into Hasan Ağa’s house to investigate how the fire had started, they realized that all the doors and windows were closed. The zabtiyes initially suspected an intruder may have entered to steal some items, and set the fire to hide any traces of the theft. But the house had been empty for three days before the fire and there were no signs of forced entry. Moreover, the cupboard where the fire started was in a room which was also locked. Further investigation finally uncovered the cause of fire. In the cupboard lie the culprits of the blaze: a matchbox and a dead mouse. The investigators reasoned that the mouse must have nibbled the matchbox and ignited it, resulting in its own death and the fire.  

One can imagine the extent of Hasan Ağa’s happiness. His house was saved from burning to the ground for a quite trivial, unimaginable reason (hayalhane-i hatıra hutûr etmez bir sebeple) thanks to the quick actions of the zabtiyes. The residents of the neighborhood also must have felt lucky as their houses were also saved from a rodent-made calamity. Finally, I suppose that the zabtiyes were also content since they produced a reasonable explanation for the origin of the fire and brought the alleged criminal to light. Since the guilty party was a deceased mouse, they also avoided any further paperwork or hassle, with no human to blame or sue at hand. 

In today’s newspapers, we still come across reports about fires caused by rodents chewing on electrical wires or other hazardous consequences that these uninvited and rarely loveable guests might bring into our houses. As Istanbul's houses increasingly relied on electricity since the beginning of the 20th century and rodents have perhaps become among the "usual suspects" of common house fires, I wonder if it occurred to any arsonist to leave false evidence - a dead mouse next to a box of matches, for example - at the crime scene to manipulate the police inquiries. 

As it turns out, it is not old news that some mischievous animals, such as cats, may enter power distribution units and in doing so cause blackouts, if not fires. This happened recently in Turkey during the vote counting process of the local elections of March 30. Since we're already used to such bizarre events, God knows which poor animal will be the next alleged culprit of any irregularities during the upcoming elections. Just do not be surprised if a minister fastens the blame on mice if the ballots are destroyed, set on fire, or get lost somehow.

Source: Vaka-yı Zabtiye, no. 27, 18 Ca 1286 / 26 August 1869

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