St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-02

money with you.' Just about then some
one said there was a fire in the build
ing A second later burst of flame
flashed up from the dim stairway and
shot across into the ante-rOOm directly
opposite. Twenty or more printers who
had come from the composing room
were standing at the heat of the stairs,
and when the flames came up thew
rushed into my room. at the north end
of the hull.
"Jermane went in after them. and l
followed him, closing the door behind
e, so as to shut out the fire. L called
out to tine boys then that while there
was no great danger as long as the door
was kept shut. they had better hurry
up and get down on the fire escape;
which was at my center window, which
faced toward NicOllet avenue. As l
was speaking. there came crash at the
door. and on opening it, Millman and
Miles. the day operator of the Assocl-
ated Press, rushed. or rather fell IN.
When the alarm was first sounded,
they bad stopped for something. and
that was what prevented them
from going down by the stairs.
Both were badly burned aEeut
the face when they came in. and
one of them. Millman, l think, fell.
After raising him to his feet again /
slammed the door shut, but not in time
to shut out all of the tongues of flame
which had followed the two men. With
the slamming of the door the glass i'll It
fell out, and Instantly the room was
filled with most intense flame, which
swept everything before it.
IL had put on my overcoat by this
time and implOred the men on the fire
escape to hurry down before we were
all lost. As the last of the printers went
down the escape and disappeared be-
meath the window, Miles went out and
began the descent. Millman followed
him, but when he reached the window
he seemed to be overcome by the fire
and smoke and at once made jump for
the ladder. He caught the rounds all
right. but lost his grip and fell, striking
Miles and forcing him off.
Milton Pickett, of the Pioneer Press,
and Prof. Olson had evidently got on
the ladder at the sixth story window, for
they were below Miles. AS Miles lost
his hold under the weight of Millman he
fell, and in turn struck Pickett, who re-
leased his grasp on the iron rounds and
dropped. Prof. Olson was just beneath
him, and the force of the weight strik-
ing him threw him from the escape.
1umbling and whirling, the four were
crashed downward, bounding outward
near the bottom OF the escape. where
they struck one of the platforms. All
four were picked up dead in the alley
before reached the bottom.
81 was the last man on the ladder, and
the last man who escaped from my side
of the building. When l leaned for.
ward to grasp the rounds of the escape
the fire was burning my hair and the
back of my head. | nearly fell, but the
fresh air revived me, and | began the
descent. On getting down few feet
found the ladder blockaded. and on ask
ing what the matter was. was told that
there was no way to get off at the bot
tom. The men below me were calling
for ladders, but 1 saw that there was no
use in waiting for ladders, as the flames
above me were getting hotter and hot
ter. So j swung around to the outside
of the escape and began the de-
scent that way. 1t was hard
journey and my right hand was cut to
the bone on top, where some one stepped
on it. BY much work l succeeded in
reaching the bottom, and then found
that there we're number of men on the
ladder yet. A short ladder was leaned
up against the fire escape and the men
taken down, none of them badly burned.
1T has been stated that the fire es-
cape was red hot, but such was not the
case, for none of the men who came
down had their hands burned by 1t.
Poor Pickett's hands were badly burned
by the flame which followed him from
the window. no doubt. My hands were
not burned at all on the inside by the
iron rounds, as you could see if these
bandages were off.
"Mr. Igoe, the Associated night oper-
ator, and Jenkinson, the chairman of
the composing room chapel, made a
rush for the water closet when the
alarm was given, thinking, no doubt, TO
work their way down on the rope of
wires running from window there to
a post some distance away. They
might have escaped had they thrown
their legs over the wires instead of SIM
ply taking hold with their hands. They,
began the descent all right, and had
they been stronger men they might
have got down all right, but their mus
cles gave out and they dropped to their
death, falling with a crash on the boiler
room of the Tribune, from where they
were taken dead. ] understand that