Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-05-17
running in the direction Of the blaze.

running in the direction of the blaze.
At first we ran languidly, jogging
along with many other people who
We're hurryIng toward the same goal.
Then, as we came into quarter of the
town which we knew well, we almost
involuntarily quickened our pace, until
tearing round familiar corner at rae
ing speed, we pulled up, and gazed ST
lently into each others pale faces.
There, not hundred yards from us,
stood the high house of Eldon Street
the house under whose hospitable roof
we had spent so many happy hours
with the red flames licking around the
whole lower story, and squirting out
of every chink and erevice, while a
dense cloud of smoke obsured the upper
windows and the root.
We dashed through the crowd to-
gether, and found our way to the clear
space on which the firemen were con-
Meeting their hose. As we reached
them, a half-naked man. barefooted
and disheveled, was pleading with the
superintendent, clutching frantically at
his arm, and pointing up to the dark
clouds above him, already rent with
Jagged streaks of ascending flame.
TOO shortr' he screamed, in a voice
which we We're Mortified to recognize as
that of Mr.. Newsome. st can't be-
it mustn't be! There are more escapes
than one. Oh, man, man, she is burn
ing choking -suffocatingl Do some
thing! Save her! My child-my beau
tiful child-the only one l hayer'
In the agony of fear, he fell at the
fireman's feet, and implored his assist
ance. Twas paralyzed by the horror of
the thing. The situation was apparent
at aglance. There, seen dimly through
the smoke, was Cissy Newsome's win
dow, while beneath it, separated by
broad expanse of wall, was the head
of the fire escape. 1t was too short by
a good twelve feet. The whole lower
story was one seething mass of fire, so
that there seemed no possibility of APP
proach from that direction. A horrible
feeling of impotence came over me-
There was no sign of movement at the
young lady's window, though crawling
trails of flame had climbed up to it and
festooned it round with their red gar
lands. / remember hoping in my heart
that she had been suffocated in her
sleep, and had never awoke to the dread
full reality.
| have said that we were paralyzed |
for the moment. The spell was rapid
ly broken. "ThiS way, lads!" cried !
resolute voice, and Charley Welstead |
broke in among us with fireman's |
Ratchet in his hand. We pushed after |
him as he rushed round to the rear of |
the house, where there was door |
usually used by the servants. 1t was |
locked, but couple of blows shattered |
it to pieces. We hurried up the stone |
kitchen stairs, with the plaster falling
in strips all around us, and the flags so |
hot that they burned into the soles of |
our boots. At the head of the stairs |
there was second door, thicker and |
stronger than the first, but nearly |
charred through by the fire.
Give me room!" gasped Welstead,
swinging round his axe.
don't do it, sir,'' cried stalwart |
fireman, Selling him by the wrist;
"there's flames on the other side of that |
door,"
"Let me gor' roared Charley.
Were dead men if you break itr'
Let me go!n
drop it, sir; dropitr'
There was a momentary struggle, and |
the axe clattered down upon the stone |
steps. 1t had hardly time to fall before |
some one caught it up. | could not see
who for the dense blue smoke. A man
dashed past the tiremen, there was the
crash of a parting lock, and great lick |
of flame, like hound unleashed, shot
out and enveloped us. felt its hot scar
as it coiled around my face, and | re-
member nothing more until l found my
self leaning against the doorpost,
breathing in the fresh sweet air of night,
while Welstead, terribly burned, strug-
gled furiously with the firemen who
held him back to prevent him from re-
ascending the staircase, which was now
a solid sheet of fire
.'Hold back, siri' / heard the honest
fellow growl; ''ain't one life thrown
away enough? That little cove-him
with the gaiters-the same that broke |
the door--he's gone. | seed him jump |
right slap into the middle of it. He |
won't never come back no moret'
Together we led Welstead round to |
the front once more. and all three stag
gering like drunken men. The flames |
were higher than before, but the upper
story and the roof still rose above them |
like black island in sea of fire. |
There was Miss Cissy's window dark
and unopened, though the woodwork |
around it was in glow. There was no |
sign of the futter of a female dress. |
How terrible it was to stand and wait |
for the end, powerless to stretch out |
saving hand. Poor Welstead leaned |
against me sobbing like child. A |
CHASTITY longing came into my heart that |
| might see the flames in that room,
that | might know it to be all over, and |
the pain and trouble at an end. Then |
heard crash of glass falling outward,
and [ bent my head to avoid seeing the |
very thing l had wished for; and then
there broke on my ear shout from 10,-
900 voices, so wildly exultant and madly
jubilant that l never hope to hear the
like again.
Welstead and looked up. Balanced
upon the narrow ledge outside the win
dow l had been watching there was
standing man, framed as it were in
fire. His clothes were hanging around
him as few tattered charred rags, and
MS very Hdlr was IN q DlaZe. Inc
draught caused by knocking out the
window encouraged the flames, so that
lurid curtain hung behind him, while
the ground was fully seventy feet below
Yet there, on the thin slip of stone with
eternity on each side of him, stood Joe
Smith, the uncouth and ungrammatical,
tying two sheets together, while women
sobbed below and men shouted, and ev-
cry hand was raised to bless him. He
staggered and disappeared so suddenly
that we feared he had fallen, but he was
back again in an instant, not alone this
time, for the girl he had come to save
was slung over his shoulder. The brave
fellow seemed to have doubts of the
strength of his impromptu rope, for he
rested his own weight upon the nearly
red-hot water-pipe during those twelve
perilous seconds, supporting Miss New
some by the arm which clutched the
sheet Slowly, very slowly, they de-
scended, and at last his feet touched the
topmost rung of the escape. Was it
dream that heard voice high above
me say, ''Hall right, Missy before
burst of cheering rang out drowning ev-
cry other sound.
Miss Cissy, more frightened than hurt
was delivered over into her half-distract-
ed fathers care, while | helped to lift /
Gentleman Joe from the escape. He