Omaha daily bee., 1883-01-11

nerce element ncktng lts Wpy Rreeulll
and with lightning rspldity toward
the northern wing. Some blundorin,
individual seeing q reflection of thu
holocaust on the sky turned in al
alarm from Box 8, corner of Ess'
Water and Division streets at $40 q
m causing q loss Of work of one
steamer for ten minutes OF precious
time Just when the fire was all it,
worst and every window In the huge
building
LINED WITH sHRIEKING HUMANITY,
The multitude, which by this time had
swelled to thousands, stood In perfect
awe, but few having self. possession
and resolution enough TO lend a help
ing hand On the stretched
out to receive those of the despairing
inmates of the burning pyre who
risked to leap down to the stone side.
walk, 100 feet below. At first there
were only Lieut.. lockwood, Detect
ives Rclm and McManuS, Ofioera
O'Brien and Campbell End o few Sen.
tinel men stretching the heavy can
vas, which required fully thirty
strong men to handle suocesSf ally. A
poor fellow stood ON the oornice of
the fifth story corner window for
twenty long minutes, not daring tho
fearful leap, but finally he became be.
wildered, to Judge from his actions,
or dumbfounded by smoke, aud
slid off his perch to tho canvas
below. The few who held 1t could
not give it the necessary resistance
and the body fell unhindered by the
canvas, with a crash that sent a shud-
der through every witness. The
shattered body was carried into the
American express Office. All the
while hundreds of people had been
looking on, nobody responding to the
demands of the officers for aid.
Everybody, seemed to be SPELL
TERRIBLE SPECTACLE
seemed to have paralyzed every bit Of
will power. In the Exth story win.
dow, right over this Unfortunate, sat
the figure of a mai, crouohed upon
the windowsill, gazing like one alb
ssnt-minded into the fiery abyss be-
low, motienless, but from time to
time sending up q h~eartrending cry.
As the the flames encroached upon
him he did not seem to mind it.
Then the flames singed mis- hair
and licked his night clothes, and with
sne despairing look at the crowd be-
low he tumbled back into the sea of
fire. A man and woman appeared at a
window of tho third story. They we're
recognized as Allen johnson and his
wife, A canvas was stretched below
the windows of their apartment, for.
merly occupied by Prof. Haskins and
lady, and q thousand voices called,
heseeching them to jump. Mr.
Johnson kissed his wife, then leaped
into the cir and shot downward onto
the canvas, but HIS weight was such
that 1t pllled out of the hands CT the
fes who held it, and he alighted on
the ground With deathly force. his
vlfe followed. Her body struck the
vorahdeN And fell TO The ground life
less. Mi. Allen died uhortly after
wards In the express cfice, and his
dead body was lais latiie tiiss ). his
wife unit they. Ut
ADout nozes srvia the
Michigan street 'front.'
EACH LEAP MEANT DEArH &
or shattered limbs, anu not less than
four unfortunates at one time lay up.
on the 10y sidewalk in front of the
chamber of clad only In
night shirts, blood and brains oozing
from wounds through which bones
p~rotruded. Some we're carried to the
ex press office and others to tho ground
floor of the Mitchell building, where
cots had been hastily arranged, and
from there they were carried off to
private houEes of kind hearted poo.
PIC.
The scone in the alley woat OF tho
burning building YVES a%ickening. AS
early az 6 O'Clock the bodies of seven
unfortunate wator girls, ones bloom
ing in youth, were stretched upon the
snow and ice, with broken limbs, and
writhiuR In agony until death ended
their suffsrings. After almost super
human efforts ladders were stretched
from the roof Of the bank building
across the alley to the sixth story Of
the hotol, and the brave fire iaddies
carried ten girls across the frail
bridge, four of them dead.
II MAZE OF TELEGRAPH WIRES
encircling the building on the south
and east sides, played havoc with the
unfortunate in their frightful leap for
life. Several of the bodies we're fairly
cut deep into by the wires, and then
the torn aud bleeding forms would
drop to the ground. Others would
hit tho wires crosswayr, rebound and
be hurled to the ground with q dread
fol crash. To the poor unfortunate
waiter girls, all OF whom lodged In the
sixth story and s%ttics, the saddest lot
had fallen. OF the sixty young gals
only eleven were heard from as alive.
L. is feared that the estimate
Of fifty lives lost as formed thiE morn,
ing ia far too low and that fully
double that number were burned OF
smothered to death In the blazing
pyre. The police patrol soon com
menced their dreadful work of gather
ing the dead and wounded. The for
mer we're taken to the morgue which
was o filled, the latter to the Cen
trail police station, where they were
cared for by physicians. From [
o'clock the interior of the building
was
ONE MASS OF FLAMES.
The upper floors soon giving way
and carrying the lower floors Will
them a laundering crash was heard 70,
blocks and then the fire shot up full
fifty feet, sending a shower O