The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-01-27 00:00:00

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

th,.4 Chicago gentleman who recently travelled
Ohio, says that everybody he met called
hin,"`"ee " taters," except one young lady, who called
a " small pertater."
atillincloo girls are taught to think of marriage as soon
to theY ean talk. American girls are not. They don't
quire teachin
lc g.
to. choosing a wife," says an exchange, "be
eim'erped by her chin." The worst of it is that after
ri ii),42ng a wife one is apt to keep on being governed
earns way,
is your father at home ? " said a bashful
t 111,7 to Lis sweetheart. "I want to propose some-
:g very important to him." "No, Clarence, papa
hs_mot at bottle, but I am. Couldn't you propose to
itult aa well?" And he did, with perfect success.
lia:`,Zou would be truly happy, my dear," said one
ey ork lady to another, "you will have neither
trohl r'r ears when your husband comes home late
we,""l,tille club." "Yes, I know," answered the other,
, " but what am I to do with ray nose?"
to:3a' I've got some famous literary man for a cus-
prhoet,l) said a New York tailor, "but I don't know
Whl,"ae ier for he forgot to leave his name." "But
,kluiv,"n° ,You think he is a great writer?" "Oh, I
&sathei:e le ; he ordered the seat of his pants lined with
A. ph-
exn. dadelphia gentleman who had been at great
adorn his garden with statuary, was much
th;ermed recently to hear an old man from the coun-
-4443' to his wife, as they gazed upon the statues,
eee what a waste, Belinda 1 Here's no less than
earecrows in this ten-foot patch, and any one of
"I"ottl.d keep the crows from a five-acre field.,,
Illinois constable made a return on the back of
713er thus t—" I executed this subpeeny by trying
ti0,;0941 it to John smith, but be was drivin' cattle on
etieltehack, and ronlaster than I could, and kppt up
hot". a 11311eri1' I don't know whether be heated or
*he., This is the best I could do, and don't know
ye t'oeter, the subpeeny is served according to law
ho
The describing how he had a tooth drawn, said:
hat bedoctor collared me, pulled like wild horses, and
°2111137 head came off the tooth dropped out,"

11 THE HOTEL DISASTER IN AMERICA.

The United States papers give further details of the
fire at the Newhall House Hotel, Milwaukee, on the
10th inst.

The fire started, apparently, on the third of
the building, over the side entrance on Michigan-
street, and before the fire department got a steamer
in position the flames had enveloped the whole
south-east corner of the building. The multi-
tude, which by this time had swelled to thousands,
stood in perfect awe, but few had self-possession
and resolution enough to lend a helping hand on the
canvas stretched out to receive those of the inmates of
the burning building who risked the leap down to
the stone sidewalk. One poor fellow stood on a cor-
nice of a fifth storey corner window for twenty
minutes, not daring to take the fearful leap. Finally
he became bewildered, and slid off his perch to the
canvas below. The few who held it coed not give it
the necessary resistance. The body fell with a thud
which sent a shudder through every witness.
In the sixth storey window sat the figure of a man
crouched upon the window-sill, gazing like one
absent-minded at the flames, motionless, but from
time to time sending up a heart-rending shriek.
Steadily the flames encroached upon him; he did not
seem to mind it. Then the flames singed his hair and
licked his night-clothes. He gave one despairing look
at the crowd, and then fell back into the fire.

About a dozen persons jumped from the Michigan-
street front. Each leap meant death or shattered
lintbs, and not less than four unfortunates at one time
lay upon the sidewalk in front of the Chamber of Com-
merce clad only in nightshirts.
A number of persons who leaped stunk telegraph
wires and rebounded, falling into the strett and
being either killed or seriously hurt.

The servant girls were quartered on the sixth floor,
and when the house was discovered to be burning they
found themselves cut off from all escape. Their
screams could plainly be heard in the street. Presently
Edward Ryemer and Herman Strauss, of Truck No.
1, appeared on the roof of the bank building at a
critical juncture,. directly opposite the servants'
quarter, ladder m hand. For a moment the un-
wieldly thing was poised in mid-air and then
descended with a crash through the window of the
hotel. It formed a bridge across the alley, and
before it became steady in position men had crossed
Into the hotel. Then, amid the cheers of the crowds
below, they dragged helpless creatures across the
slender bridge until eleven had been rescued. All
were in their night clothes, and many were badly
frozen before reaching a shelter. A woman in a
dead faint was dragged across in safety, but at
one time the whole of her body was hang-
ing over clear of the ladder, while a man
held her by the ankle. The crowd below held their
breath in suspense, expecting every moment to see the
ladder turn over or break beneath the strain. The
man however, was equal to the emergency. By an
effort he pulled het upon the slender bridge, and
finally placed her out of danger. The two brothers
Clayton rescued four women, carrying them out
bodily. _

Some of the girls thinking that they could cling to
the outer walls and thus escape the tortures of roast-
ing alive, or that they could in some manner clamber
down the side of the building, swung themselves out
of the windows, only to drop to the stone paving of
the alley below, where every one of them was shock-
ingly crushed. At one time nine of these mangled
bodies, some of them blackened and shrivelled by the
flames, lay piled one upon another. Of the sixty
young girls only eleven were heard from as safe at the
time of writing. _ _

One of the most shocking scenes was when Miss
Libbie Challis, a dressmaker, appeared at one of the
windows. She was on the fourth floor, and being
lame could not make her escape. She dragged her-
self to the window, and, kneeling down as if in
prayer, remained there in plain sight of all, writhing
in agony, the flames lapping her clothing and literally
roasting her alive. The fresh air at the window kept
her from suffocating until she was burned to death.
She clung to the,window-sill, and when the wall fell
she fell with it.

The fate of Mr. and Mrs. John Gilbert was a sad
one. Mr. Gilbert is connected with the Mirmie
Palmer "My Sweetheart" company. On Monday,
in Chicago, just before leaving for Milwaukee, Mr.
Gilbert married a young lady to whom he was de-
votedly attached. This morning. (says a New
York paper), the young wife lies in the
Morgue dead, terribly bruised and burned,
and at the Plankington House lies the husband—
dying, it is believed. Allen Johnson and wife
had rooms on the third floor, and like the others
were driven to the windows. The men below who
held the canvas at the south-east corner of the build-
ing shouted for him to jump. Mr. Johnson kissed
his wife, then leaped into the air. He fell into the
canvas, but his weight was such that the canvas was
pulled out of the menl/4 hands and he struck the
ground with fearful force. His wife followed and
struck the verandah. Both were carried into the
American Express Office.
General Tom Thumb and his wife were saved by
an officer who carried them down stairs in his arms.
Mrs. Bleeker, the wife of the manager, jumped from
her window in the second storey, and received very
serious injuries, although it is thought that she will
recover. Charles Kelsey, a coloured lad about 18
years old, a valet of General Tom Thumb, was
burned to death. The rest of the company escaped
uninjured.