Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-03-31
As to Fleeing for Your Life.

fires in other public buildings have made
the people more sensitive than ever on the
subject of fire-escapes. Old laws which
were almost obsolete are enforced with
new vigor, and novel measures are dis
cussed for providing. everybody with
means Of escape. Many buildings which
had not previously been supplied with
these appliances are now decorated with
various step ladders, narrow balconies and
other inelegant apparatus evidentlyerect-
ed for the use of gymnasts, trapeze per-
formers OIL athletes from the circus.
There is a pleasant theory that these con-
trivances may be made available as meant
of %prolonging the existence of persons
who would otherwise be made into burnt
offerings. Acting on this theory, the
things are run up as far as the top win
dows of eight story hotels. It may be
that on a cold and frosty night during
the prevalence of a snow storm q few Of
the most agile of the guests of a hotel
might descend these ladders in safety,
especially if urged to do so by a fire
raging in their bedrooms AS to the es-
cape of the nervous, the crippled, the
invalid, or the very fat and clumsy. it
would be simply impossible. The best
thing that such people could do, under
the circumstances, would be to wrap the
drapery of their couch around them and
lie down to be made into cinders.
The so-called fire-escape may answer
for the deliverance of a few out Of tbs
hundreds in a hotel or factory, but as to
its utter inadequacy for the many, proof
is easily made. Let the proprietor of q
hotel, for instance, select a fair and sun
shiny day, and marshal his guests for
parade out of the windows and down to
the street by the way of the alleged fire.
escape. Let him allow them ample time
to dress, and to descend without crowd
ing on one another. The result will be
that many of the inhabitants of the
upper floors will be so dizzy on touching
the ladders that they will shrink back
with fright and beg to be allowed to go
down by way of the elevator. Pres
emily the escape" will be blocked by
reason of some scared-to-death person
who clings in desperation to a ladder, re-
fusing to go up or down, or sideways or in
any other direction. The others, who
would descend, can neither go around the
person nor climb over him. Their only
way to clear the passage is to push him off
in the street, or, if more mercifully dis
posed, to carry him down to the next
landing and leave him there.
Now, instead of the trial of the "es-
cape" taking place in the daytime and
under the most favorable auspices, i'm
agine it at night, with rooms and CORR
doris full of smoke, with the roof ablaze
and the flames every moment rolling
nearer to those who would flee. The
dodgers are in their night clothes and
without their boots. Not one in ten Of
them has thought Of placing garments
where they can be grasped and put on in
a moment. The decision must be made
in a moment between instant fight and
terrible destruction. Rheumatic old
ladies, corpulent gentlemen, frightened
mothers with babies in their arms, young
ladies who never climbed ladder in theii
lives, and all manner of other ~inexperi
enced persons must rush for the escape
or die. When on it they may find it,
round rungs or narrow steps slippery with
ice. The possibilities of such a descent
as they must make are nothing short Of
awful. Some hotels have recently sup
piled each room with a long knotted rope
down which the guest is expected K
climb, in case of need. The spectacle Of
two or three hundred half-clad lodger
descending at night from upper window.
by means Of these knotted ropes will b.
second in interest only to that which il
afforded by a troop Of monkeys in a trop
ical jungle, swinging from trees by
loosely-hanging vines.
Inventors and lawmakers may tinke,
as they please with devices which the,
call fre-escapes. The only really SAT,
way to get out of a burning building i
to 60 down an enclosed stairway mad,
of brick and iron. Hotels and factorie
which have this may talk about safety il
case of fire. Those who venture thei
lives in others, do SO at the risk of bein,
offered up az sacriices.-Phi1adezphi
Press.