River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-06-15

perish certainly and miserably, if
slowly, that we three would die TO.
gether that that room would make a
very good coffin and the Atlantic an
ample grave that dying there was 10
worse than creeping into the
grave through the half-open door of
a sore throat or fever and in one
second from the time heard t4at cry.
was delivered, think forever, from
that lifelong dread of.death by ocean.
disaster. Then came the thought.
Something may be done to extinguish
the fire, and a quart of water now may
be worth a hogshead ten minutes
hence" So | took up my water-can
and started, and ON reaching the saloon
saw that the flames were bursting out
OF that bathroom through the par.
tltlon, circling around one half the
| ceiling of the saloon, and bending to
the floor, against the shaft of the rud-
der, which divides it at the stern.
saw that the flame was made by
infammable oil thought of the oil.
can and the tank thought the con-
tents of the former had been spilled
and ignited by the fire from below !;
tor, had they been kindled on the
spot, there would have been no flash
such as we bad seen at the other end
OF the long saloon. -Four men-pas.
| sengers--were fighting the fire with
carpets; but the partitions are double,
made of Stats like a Venetian blind,
only that every Stat is an inch thick,
and stands vertically.
All was saturated and thickly coated
with paint. These Stats, and the lat.
tice-work over the steam-pipe. around
which the fire burned fercelv. sup
Piled so many air-passages that smoth-
erlng the flames seemed hopeless
! poured my can of water behind this
pipe, thinking II would reach the main
body of the fire through the opening
by which IL had burst up, and
was encouraged to hope on seeing that
it extinguished the fire as far as it
went, but the ilool Of the vestibule
leading into that bathroom was a
sheet of flame, and behind the closet
door ii roared and cracked. Inside
was the oil.can and tank, and bedding
heaPed TO the ceiling and, to my mind,
the prospect of grave In the Atlantic
seemed pretty certain. One of the
men babe me stand back lest nv
! clothes should catch. | did, az soon
as ! had emptied my can, then went
TO get more water and send messen-
gers TO the Captain No one made an
cutlery, or spoke a loud word but oh !
did not these four men work, as men
only work for life, and without any
confusion Most of the women
brought water from the state rooms.
and passed it to themen who hurried
up to help and, as the the saloon be-
gan TO fill with with dense, black,
smoke, | thought of the consequence of
a rush of fifty-hve passengers to get
out of two narrow doors, and up one
narrow stairway feet wide; women
in long, white night-dresses, bare feet
and flowing hair children in arms !:
men half-dressed and the ship rolling
as il was
Wen, have concluded that to the
human family courage is the rule.
cowaTdice the exception. Those PEG.
pie all felt that their hour had come ;,
yet only those women who had chill.
dren lost their presence of mind, and
only one man made himself ridiculous.
One woman did not get out of her
berth, and said, next morning. that it
was none of her business, and she did
not propose to interfere with the Off
GERS of the boat in the discharge of
their duty. of course this made the
meddlers, who put out the fire, feel
badly; but the officers forgave them,
if she did not IL was extinguished
after a twenty minutes struggle, and
we learned that that oil-can had been
full of benzine that it had stopped
over from the rolling of the ship that
steward had smelled it, gone in
to see about it, and struck a match to
find himself enveloped in flame; then
ran, noiselessly, down the saloon, with
his clothing all ab!aZe, making the
flash of lurid light which so alarmed
me.
learned afterward that what | had
taken for an oil-tank was an apparatus
for turning water into a bath-tub con.
cealed by heap Of mattresses. So l
had magnified the danger, and congrat-
ulated myself on having kept my panic
to myself, that panic caused by my
momentary expectation of an explo-
sion, and on keeping up such an ap-
pearance of composure that folks
thought | was the only passenger who
was not frightened, when the fact was
that perhaps no one else was so much
alarmed as l.
For the effort il cost me TO walk
slowly down the saloon and say TO the
women in the doorways, Its moth.
ng but can of benzine - have
paid by weeks of prostration. One
young lady, from whose physical con-
dition ! would have expected a final
stoppage of the motion of the heart
nder such trial, was the first to
reach the saloon, where she sat down
quietly TO await the issue. A frantic
mother rushed up. threw her infant
into her arms exolalming, save my
baby, and rushed off and as she sat
and held It, another rushed TO her
side, eXclaiming, "Who viii help
me with my children - Still another
rushed past, with clasped hands. di-
sheveled hair. face purple from
checked circulation, and her eyes wild
with horror but the girl whose heart
has been threatening for years to stop
beating on the slightest strain, sat
and held the baby thinking, "Well
this Is our last hour, hut am not going
20 suffer needless fortunes" Another
invalid young lady got all the water
she could ont of her state-room. hand
ed II TO the men in the saloon, had
one step on her bare feet so that the
bones seemed crushed, sat down with.
ont word, and wondered II her
friends az home would ever know
what became of her while the WON.
an who threw her baby 90 a stranger
was consoling herself with the thought
fftas & So. I...etv.l ..N NI.s -. 49,.