The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-03-01
HOUSES ON FIRE.
A Few Hints for those who Lose ihsiE
Presence or Blind at n Fire.

Few Hints for those who Lose ihslF
Presence or Blind ut Fire.
Tho burning Of tenement.Louse in
this city, says the New York Times,
furnished striking example Of the man
.ner in which ordinarily courageous peo-
pie lose oil their presence OF mind when
in danger Of death by fire. We have
all heard the story Of the woman who,
finding herself cut OF from hope OF es-
cape from house in flames, threw her
baby ont Of fourth-story window, and
carefully lowered the pet kitten to the
ground with rope made OF blankets.
II is recorded also TINT clergyman in q
country town, awakiHg ia the middle OF
the night to find his church half burned
down, riskcd his life in heroic efforts to
save the lightning.red, quite forgetting
that there was much more valuableprOp-
erty to be extricated from the general
ruin. When tho great fires occurred in
Chicago and Boston, hundreds OF per-
sons seemed so completelyto lose control
Of their senses that they would have
rushed into the flames Ind they not been
kept back. The "night OF fires" in
Paris in 1871, when the torch OF tho in
cendiary was applied in q hundred
streets at once, drove many persons out
OF their senses. The horrors Of the ter
rible lecatastrophe Of Fall River, still fresh
in the minds OF our readers, were largely
due to tho temporary madness which fell
upon the operatives who, in their haste
to escape from what they feared was one
impending death, rushed headlong upon
another. People who would display
great armness and bravery in tho midst
Of peril by water, or amid the terrors OF
railroad accident, are powerless to save
even Themselves, not to speak OF others,
in presence Of flames,
In the recent disaster in this city, two
children lost their lives by suffocation.
Their father and mother, with third
child, occupying IN adjoining room,
awoke to find everything enveloped in
smoke, and at once ran out OF doors. A
moments reflection would have con-
yinced the liapless father that lie should
have aroused the other children, and tliat
all should have left the house together.
But ho seems to liayelost all recollection
Of them until he had been in the street
for some time, when, suddenly aroused
to sense OF their danger, he brayely
rushed into tho flames in search Of them.
His efforts to reach them wero win, and
he would have lost his own life had not
the policemen and tiremen taken cour-
ageous risks in going after him, and
dragging him back TO the fresh air. All
other occupants Of tho house, on the
floors above this unfortunate family,
were saved, although they did not awake
until almost surrounded by the flames,
which burst up through the planks be-
meath them. While the fire was in pro-
gress, hali'dresscd people, who had
escaped, refused 10 take shelter, despite
tho intense cold, aud were with the
greatest difficulty restrained from rush
ing into tho smoke aud fire, md misera-
bly, perislling there. The same lack Of
presence Of mind, the same apparent in
sanity when danger is near, was displayed
at tic burning Of the weaving factory III
Brooklyn. Fire, which broke out among
n quantity Of waste iute in the cellar Of
the factory, spread rapidly to the upper
stsries, cutting OF flight by tho stair
ways for some seventy work girls. A
panic ensucd, aud there was danger OF u
repetition Of the Fall River calamity,
when some one discovered that escape
was possible by jumping to the roof Of
an extension, which wns not more than
six feet from the windows Of the second
story.
Even this easy means Of exit did not
serve, however, to lessen the panic, and
many OF tho girls were severely cut and
bruised in their frantic efforts to get out
at tile windows. Those who remained
calm and obeyed the firemen were res
cucd without the slightest injuries.
An ounce OF prevention is, OF course,
worth a pound OF euro, and It would
naturally be much wiser to avoid reck-
lessness in heating houses, even when
the weather Is unusually cold, than to
drill for action In case Of o sudden ca
lamity. The large number of destruc-
tive fires during the past few days has
doubtless been in some measure due to
the cold weather. 0verheated stoves
placed too near thin and combustible
walls, are the causes Of many so.called
"mysterious contlagrations." It is i'm
possible to secure proper caution among
the numerous inmates OF crowded tcne-
ment houses, or great blocks in which
various shops and factories are situated.
The "trial by fire" is one which may
come to all with hardly moments
warning, and which demands coolness
and instant action. The chances arc in
at least ninety cases in ono hundred in
favor OF the escape of those who arc in
a burning building, il they do not fran
tically rush into, rathcr than away from,
the danger.