The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-03-14
A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
[COnclH d.

[COnclHded.
A quarter of an hour must have
passed without sound meeting my
ears, and L was calculating upon aid
soon coming, when slight rustliDg
noise seemed to have been made close
by me, aud | started and looked to-
ward the end of the narrow passage /
was in.
Nothing to be seen; and the minutes
again passed slowly on; when all at
once came the most horrid, unearthly
yell ever heard, from just above my
head, and then, overcome with terror as
| shrank to the floor, / looked up and
knew. that Wood had crawled up over
the top of the wool; and as the thought
flashed through my mind he bounded
down upon me and had me by the
throat. ..s,sa.H .s...s.rr
struggled for a few momeuts, and
then lights seemed dancing before my
eyes, blood rushed to my head, and
then l have some rccollections of being
dragged along the floor into the gas
light, and thrust about for few min
utes, when there came the regular thud
thud of the pump close by, and l could
feei myself moving upwards. But all
seemed SO calm, and such desire for
sleep was upon me that awoke to the
consciousness that tho wretch had
forced me on the traveller of the hydrau-
lie press, and was now forcing in the
water, so that in y few moments life
would be crushed out.
Thud thud, thud thud, went the
pump, and the pressure was awfnl,
while at the same time, as l vainly
writhed and tried to press down the
heavy plate that was crushing me,
was conscious of a great light that
shone around me, and which i thought
was caused by the flashing sensation of
my eyes; but no, for directly there came
the noise of shouting, louder every mo-
ment, and then | made out, ringing up
from the yard, these horrid words,
Fire! Fire |" and then l knew that
Wood must have set fire to the ware
house. a''
Shouts, cries and the noise of the
hurrying, feet, and Wood stood in the
glare of the light, looking first one way
then the other, as If confused, for he
had quilted the pump at the noise of the
shouting. All at once he darted away,
and half suffocating with the pressure,
l could do notbipgr but groain, after
struggling little tofind every effort in
vain; Eam then, with sharpened senses
gaze at the flames Ticking the roof of
the floor l was on, and creeping up on
the sides Of the wool bales and the
more inflammable goods that were in
the warehouse. The smoke soon be-
came binding, and the heat sitting, but
for me there seemed no hope, since /
was sure no one would be able to pene-
trate to where l was; when again gave
struggle and stretched down my hand
backwards, and tried to reach the tap
which would have let off the water and
set me at liberty, or at least place me in
a position to try and escape the horri-
BILE death that seemed to await me.
| But no; the handle was far out of
reach, and groaned and wept weakly
at my helpless condition. The press
held me by the chest with awful power,
but my hands and arms were at liberty,
swhile my head, hanging down back
wards, enabled me to see the flames
creeping faster and faster, as l saw them
reversed, and began calculating how
long it would be before. tAey would
reach me and end my misery.
All at once, when nearly fainting, my
hand came ip contact with an iron bar
used to lengthen the handle of the pump
to force the water with more ease when
greater power was required, and then
my heart gave n leap as / thought l
might be able to strike the basdle of
the tap and let out the water.
To grasp the bar was the work of a
moment, and then l began swinging it
about slowly to try and strike the tap,
but in vain, for could do nothing with
it. only being able to swing it at ran
dom, for / could not see. Nearer and
nearer came the flames, louder rese the
shouts, and as looked along the ware
house l could see that all hope of es-
cape by the stairs was cut off, even if
had been at liberty; and now, complete
| ly overcome by the pressure and the
horro; of my position, / groaned heavi-
ly, and the bar fell from my grasp.
The last hope gone, l thought; when
at the same moment familiar sound
met my ear, for, in falling, the bar
struck the tap, when there came the
fierce gush of of the compressed water,
and the ram began slowly to descend
till / could crawl out to fall faintiHg
upon the floor.
But was up again directly, for there
! was fierce glow in the place; and now
could see Wood busily at work tear
ing out wool to feed the flames, and
dashing everything be could lay hands
on into the FIRE, which seemed at times
to SINCE him.
looked round, for he took no notice
of me, and as / bad before seen there
was no chance of escape by the door, so
running to the open door by the crane,
/ caught hold of the rope and began
lowering it dowu as fast as possible
with the light shiniAg full upon me, and
the people below either groaning with
horror or cheering me on as tore at the
stout rope, and sent the crane handle
spinning round and round.
Could Il get enough rope out before
Woods attention was taken felt safe,
for / kaew that could slide down east
I ly enough; but, as / dreaded, he caught
sight of me, and leaving his fiery task
he rushed toward me, when with yell
of terror leaped from the floor, cling
ling tightly to the rope, which began to
run swiftly as 1 swung to and fro till it
was all out, when the jerk nearly
dashed me off. But after sliding down
ssme little way recovered myself, and
letting the rope glide slowly through