The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1872-12-19

road puddle. Come here" said a gen.
tleman who met the reporter on his way
to the third floor. Isn't this terrible ?'
And the sight that met the reporters eyes
was really heartrending. On the wet
carpet in the hallway, just off the main
| parlor floor, lay poor servant girl halt
clad writing in torture and presenting
the most hideous appearance. She was
covered with burns and bruises from head
to foot, and looked rs though she had
been smeared with blood 1t appears she
had been found by the firemen in the attic
and was carried down and left where the
reporter beheld her in her agony. Some
| kind person, in the absence of doctor
! (none could be found at the time), had
attempted to assuage her sufferings by
| pouring sweet oil over her body. 1t was
| truly
| A SICkENING SIGHT.
Are you suffering?" she was asked
| The lips of the poor creature opened
slowly, the head was half raised from the
carpet. and as it fell back heavily groan
escaped the swollen lips as she uttered
the words
''MY GOD. But THIS Is HORRIBLEr'
And indeed it was horrible. Fancy the
picture! The body writing on the car
pet the busy crowd about. each one intent
only on his own safety. and no one near
but lew young men, attracted BY curios-
ity to the horrible scene, and little boy,
who, pale and atfrighted, held q candle
tho bnHyr that bo ~, ~ ,;frbt
be trampled upon by the passers-by
A pillow was procured for the poor
thing finally by the gentleman who first
called the reporters attention to the I'M
fortunate creatures condition, and there
she was left at midnight.
Once the firemen and police had arrived
the hose was Immediately dragged up the
stairs, and they went to resume work.
And serious work it was. In the neigh
borhood OF the attic the smoke was so
dense that for q time they were unable to
make their way through the halls Mean
while the shlieks Of the servant girls in
the upper stories were heartrending. Cry
after cry of distress rent the air and the
tremen, redoubling their exertions, drag
ged their hose after them, bravely fighting
their way through the dense smoke. one
relieving another as fast as the foremost
man was overcome and had to fall back
to
ESCAPE SUFFOCATION.
1t was a bitter fight, and the nearer the
llremen got to the top floor the louder and
shriller became the shrieks of the servants
IN the attic. 1t was reached finally. but
when 1t was reached no cry issued forth
from the binding smoke. All was still
as death. the splashing Of the water from
the hose alone breaking the death like
silence. And it was the silence OF death.
for, rs the light of the lanterns for Il mo-
ment batfled the smoke, there were
deserted the dead bodies of thirteen men
and women. The fire had done its awful
work before the cry of agony could be
answered
AT TWO O'CLOCK
the excitement in the vicinity Of the hotel
circled the line of police that stretched
from the corner OF Twenty-thiri street 10
that OF Twenty fourth and extended about
a hundred feet from the portico The
hose We're laid through the corridors.
which were literally flooded, and mp the
long flights of stairs and through the halls
which were all covered with new carpets,
hut Were nevertheless soaked with wafer.
In the lower vestibnle the groups of guests
and strangers were all assembled condol-
ING with one another with half grim
humor on the misfortuncs OF the occasion,
some OF which were indeed possessed of a
quite laughable tint. Bul there were
stories OF deaths which occurred in the
smoke of the rooms up stairs
that chilled the blood and quickly extn-
gulshed the brief smiles that were excited
by the merriment of ight-headed tsports"
who talked of the frightS and fates of
others with questionable nonchalence.
Outside the extent and condition of the
fire could he ascertained at this time, in
the street. AT the southwest corner of the
the flames We're still cracking
through the root with an ominous red
glow, but on this spot there were concen-
trated six or eight streams of water, which
did their work of slowly
quenchlng the fire. The lurid light was
VVldly reflected on the empty windows
OF the Nathan mansion opposite, which
had SO long been closed to the CLEAN of
day, since the terrible episode in its his
tory On the stoop was crowded dense
mass Of people, whose faces reflected the
flicker OF the flames. Occasionally u lady,
supported on the arm of a gentleman, and
bearing shaws, bags and other articles
rudely snatched from their rooms, passed
by the policemen, and went off toward
other portions of the city The engines
We're still working away with energy; but
Tor the time there was apparently no pros
pect of further damage