Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-12-16
For the Freeman.
The Bow at the House Ton.

Aht DoS dt luc lOp.
There was Il cry Of fire. and in an in
slant the rooms of the Reform School were
filled with sufl"c;ting gas and smoke, the
explosion of the gas in the basement caus-
ing the fire. SO it was Il run for life.
Some We're fortunate enough to get hold
of Il few articles of clothing, but none
had time to dress themselves. OF course
there We're no lights. The gas having bro
ken away from its keepers, was let loose
into every part Of the building. And the
officers, cropping in the darkness, barely
escaped in their night clothes. Watches,
jcwclry. money and clothing We're left be-
hind. In fact. most of the officers had
laid aside their rings, hair, and some had
taken out their teeth, all of which had to
be left behind. They could take neither
scrip nor purse, not even one coat apiece
but had to rush into the wintry air almost
All this while Young Daniels, the boy ut
the house top, is screaming for help. He
Is in the fourth story from the basement,
and in the tumult no one hears him. All
the doors Shut with Il spring lock, and only
officers have KEYS. There is no window
opening on the outside, the awful suffocat-
inc gas is worse than a nightmare. and
his case seems desperate. The superintcn-
dent and his wife are in Boston; the assist
ant matron, Mrs IIealev, hearing the alarm.
attempts to find her keys. She cannot
locked like the others, ard she a prisoner.
almost suf1ocated with the gas. Her hus-
band WAS near the boys sleeping hall at
the time of the alarm, and on him WAS the
responsibility of getting one hundred and
fifty boys ont of that burning building.
lis wife finds her keys at last, and. more
dead than alive. PUSHES from her room
along the corridor towards the main stair
way and falls helpless with 4 scream that
was heard by the man from Burlington.
who WIS fixing the gas works at the time
it exploded, and he carried her in his arms
to I place of safety. But no one thinks of
the boy at the top Of the house. All are
supposed to be saved. His cries cannot be
heard above the tumult. Before him is
the heavy door of plank and the choking
gas will soon make escape impossible. In
the agony of despair he breaks his bcdstead
in pieces. and with one Of the rails he
sma>hcs through. the door into the main
hall But it is now too late to 90 down the
stairway. so he breaks through the window
where he gets fresh air, and looks down
upon the frozen ground about fifty feet be
low. There are no ladders that will span
that height. He is directly over the place
where the fire commenced. There is no
time to be lost TO leap would be almost
certain death, But he is equal to the sit
uation The window is finished with
bricks that protrule about two inches, ana
the corner of the building is also finished
with similar work, and clinyinT TO those
he comes down like Il squirrel, with Nc
clothing except shirt, and the skin Of his
knees worn through and bleeding.
Here are these officers, mostly ladies
who have lost I'D their earthly goods, ant
have not even wearing apparel One lady
went to the hospital and carried ont 4 >ch
boy. instead of taking her money. all she
had in the world and in fact this was thu
case with st of them. Their first car,
was to get out the boys, and they lav,
lost everything, We're is Il grand oppor
tuntv for those who would make Christ
mas presents e. w krN>EnT-
Waterbury, Dec II, 1874.
The rejecting rooms five in number
were seven feet 10y twelve and MI openc,
into IN outer room in which were two IN
diator> for warming the rooms. The doc
from each rejecting room WAS of pine
with tivc-righths inch iron bars running
up and down instead Of panclS-not f.
the purpose of making cells Of the room.
but to allow light and warmth to pass i
from the outer room. This outer room
had five windows. three facing the pla
ground and the other two looking west.
Daniels slept in one Of the retlectin
:. rooms, because of hi, tendency to use til
windows of the bunk rooms rs :, near
of cgrcss-running away being an occ,
patton he cxceled in. He was simply dc
t prived Of the privilege of sleeping in I'll
e bunk room-hc always arose and retire
: when the other boys did. On bein;
e awakened bv the gaseous smoke whic
9 came up through the vcntilators, he toe
: u slat from his bed, pricd out the bars
o the door, went into the outer room. brok
n the window in the northwestern corner
c the building and went down the projsc
Y inc bricks forming Il buttre.s on the co
Il ncr, reaching the ground before the oth'
n bows were fairly in the back yard, and thu
/ being almost the first person out OF Il
building. The reflection rooms were
the same floor us the officers rooms, ~
but Il few feet from Mr.. IIealcy's. II:
, Daniels not broken out he could have be,
= easily reached from the roof Of the scho
- room. Oh which was Il ladder within tw
feet of the winCow at which he escape
y His expeditions departure was creditab
=, to his wit, for the building was not n DIES
rablc habitation in which to wait for he
that he, ut least, could not be certa
would come, although the fact is it won
&c have done So Ed.
v TURKEY SURGERY.-Almon Morse
Randolph performed an interesting surg
sc cal operation the other day. lie h
lie noticed that one Of his turkeys appeared
lg be unwcll, and though having full or
I, it had no appetite. 1t was soon made
I'd subject of investigation. The crop "
lg opened and it was found to contain ers
" mat ed down SO hard a. to render its