The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-12-06

.Alf Williams, managing editor; George
Caven, night editor; John II. Leonard, tel
egraph editor; w. H. Millman, CONNER
cial editor; H. B. Hudson, city editor; w.
w. Jermane, assistant city editor; A. NJ.
| Welles, reporter; J. F, Igoe, telegraph ope-
rator. Mr.. Welles tellsthe following story
of his escape: when I heard the cry OF
fire l rushed out into the hall
and looked over the stairs. Smoke was
coming up in small quantities from below
AID the smell of burning paper was dis
| tinctly noticeable. At the same time that l
rushed into the hall, Mr.. Hudson came out
of his room and ran down the stairs. Some
twenty-five printers came out of the COM
posing room at the same time that l ran
| into the hall. Most of them had their coats
on their arms and their faces were
BLANCHED WITH FEAR.
Just about the time Hudson ran down the
stairs some one called out from below that
the fire was out. then went back Into the
room and sat down to write Mr.. Jermane
was sitting at his desk. Just then
Mr.. Millman and Mr.. Leonard
began putting on their things to
leave l thought I might as we'll
join them and deliberately put ON my coat.
Overcoat, hat and overshoes. Starting out
into the hall l met Mr.. Leonard coming
from the room on the other side. The
elevator was still running, but we took the
stairs The smoke was then pouring up the
stairs in dense volumes. The further down
we went the hotter it got. When we
reached the third floor the flames were
shooting out into the hall. We had barely
room to rush past them and down to the
street. 1t must have been impossible for
anyone else to have escaped by the stairs
after we did. When we left the editorial
rooms Messrs. Williams, Caven, Millman,
Jermane and Igoe were still there"
AN HEROIC MANAGING EDITOR.
Charles ALT Williams. managing editor
of the Tribune, was probably the last man
to 60 down the fire escape. His window in
the seventh floor was directly on
the escape. Over thirty printers
rushed into his room when they
found escape cut off from the stairway.
One by one they went down the ladder
while Williams held the door shut to keep
out the draft. The last one of the crowd
was out of the window and Williams left
the door to go down himself, when two
other men, crazy with fear and
blinded with smoke, burst through
the door and made for the fire
escape. Both jumped wildly to the win
dow, and in their haste or frenzy missed
the rounds and fell the whole seven
floors to the hard ground below. The
flames rushed to the room through the
door, and Williams had barely time to
commence his descent when sheet of flames
burst through the window. Williams is
plucky fellow and an athlete, else he would
never have reached the ground He held
on like bulldog, however, and finally
dropped safely to the pavement with no
other injuries than blistered hands
and a badly scorched face. A minute
later and whole length of the escape was
obscured with the flames and smoke. But
for Mr.. Williams presence Of mind in
keeping the door shut it is probable that a
dozen or more lives would have been lost at
this spot.
AFoRLoRN HOPE.
The sckening sight that met my gaze
shortly after II o'clock, that memorable
Saturday evening, aftel a fruitless half an
hours search for my dear co-laborer, Mil
ton Pickett shall never forget to my dying
days. In company with Mr.. Chaplin, Mr..
Jones and Mr.. Mannix, I had asked the
sad, simple question of all we met: Had
they seen Pickett anywhere? Once some
one gave us ray of hope, saying that he
had seen one who rescmbled him on the
street. This intelligence was comforting
only for brief period. Traced down to
clear, hard facts, the hope that he was alive
proved to be well-nigh illusory. Mannix
was running around bare-headed, in an
agony Of grief, his big Irish heart o'erswell-
ing with sympathy. In order to protect
him from exposure to the raw air sue
crowd long enough to obtain hat from the
A. D. T. office. 1t was then some minutes
after IL o'clock. We separated, and he
went back into the crowd that was watch
ing the blaze. My attention was attracted
to the drug store on the opposite side of
Nicollet avenue. where some one said the
dead bodies had been carried. A small
crowd surrounded the entrance, and it was
with difficulty that those inside would let
me in. From the outside of the door I
could see two bodies lying on the floor.
Once inside 1 felt that l had stepped as
never before in the presence of grim death
himself. There, full length on the floor,
lay stretched the dead bodies of two men.
One was told was that Of DR.. Olson. If
this eminent educator was large and we'll
proportional in life, his figure was truly
majestic in death. His jet black overcoat
lay folded about him like verltable mantle
of the grave. There seemed to be no signs
of blood upon his face or head, but did
not care to take more careful look My at
tention, in truth, was riveted upon the corpse
of the man in front. Who he was seemed
to be mystery to those in the store. The
dead strangers head was elevated and his
mouth was wide open. showing set of
prominent front teeth. His beard and mus
tache had been curled and singed by the
fire, so that they almost disg used the iden-
tity of the man. The vest was wide open,
showing a plaid four-in-hand necktie of