Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-29
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cried, "the steps are on fret Seel See!
We cannot get out that way.
AS the frightened lass spoke the black
cloud of smoke rolled away, and there
beneath was disclosed all the next land
ing enveloped in flames. Further down
they could not go, for the great heat was
already blistering their faces, and the
fierce blaze of the burning flooring
which, at the junction Of the two stair
cases was formed of timber rendered
highly infamable by the continual pas
sage OF innumerable oily feet, lit up the
steep stairs.
For a few moments the. girls stood
there not knowing what to do. They
did not become paralyzed with fear on
finding themselves confronted with this
new danger Thew were greatly fright
ened, IT is true, and yet, somehow, their
hearts did not fail them and their nerves
grew tense and firm.
1t is so, often enough, in every day life.
The women who are generally affrlghted
by the sight of q mouse are frequently
those who bear themselves most hero
ically when terrible perils come.
Once Nellie thought of attempting to
rush through the flames. She even took
step or two downward with that in
tention But the nsufferable heat drove
her backward and warned her that
such an essay would be an act of mad
ness. Before she could reach the stairs
the fire would have burned her to a Gin
der. And they stood there watching
the white and red flames hiss and leap,
curl and crackle, the oil stained wood
burning as quickly and fiercely as if
petroleum had been poured upon it.
Suddenly Annie spoke, and there was
FL no -ot.a
1.-THE fire escape, Nellie! The fire es-
| cape! I'd forgotten it. Come on. We
can get eawt that way
''Wheer Is il, - Nellie asked, as turn
ing their backs to the fire below, they
sped up the few steps TO the landing
above and turned into the fifth story e.
But they did not take many PAGES into
that room, for on entering the doorway
they perceived that wide space of the
flooring was on fire, and that it was
spreading quickly.
Again they turned, and fed up the
remaining flight of stairs, back into the
room in which Annie worked, and in
which she had swooned away.
"The escape is on this sahde, Nellie;
here besahde this window. Dost see it?'
Nellie peered through the panes and
saw the iron ladder running down the
side of the window. 1t was only the
work of a moment to uufasten the catch
and swing tho window open, and then
Nellie, leaning on the window sill,
| glanced below.
And as she looked downward her heart
| seemed to turn TO stone, for the last
chance of escape appeared to have van
ished. There, out Of the windows be-
meath them, the great flames were rush
ing, leaping out beyond the walls for
two or three yards and enveloplng the
ladder by means of which they had
hoped TO save themselves in a very sea of
fire.
To go down that escape now would be
as perilous as to rush down the burning
staircase. Nay, it would be hundred
fold more dangerous, for to venture along
that ladder now meant being roasted in
| mid-air, and then to fall bleeding
crushed and lifeless to the earth.
A loud cry of horror left their lips as
they recognized all this. But their voices
| were drowned by the roaring of the
ocean of fire that ragged below, and the
volumes of smoke and steam that rolled
continually upward hid them from the
eyes of those who stood in the factory
yard far below.
The open window beside which the two
lasses now stood did not face Mitigate,
and the great crowd and three engines
| which played upon the confiagration at
that side; it looked upon the interior of
the quadrangle formed by the three
mills, and through riffs in the pillows of
smoke and steam that surged past their
faces the girls could see the firemen and
the single engine that were stationed I'M
| derneath.
Again and again they shouted with all
their power to attract attention to them
| selves and their perIlous plight, but no
| one noticed them. From window to
window they ran in dire despair. but
everywhere that sheet of ascending
smoke and steam shut them in, and the
incessant roar of the burning structure
| rendered their cries almost inaudible to
themselves.
elf we could only make them hear or
see us, we should be saved!" Nellie
cried. f'What can we do? What must
we do?''
90 Let's try tn escape!'' Annie broke
| out; and in another moment she had
mounted the windowsill aud seized the
iron rungs of the ladder.
"For God s sake come back, Annie! -
| Nellie implored. "Don't you see that
| it's certain death that way? Look at
that fireI For God e sake stop!"
| Annie glanced beneath and hesitated ;,
! and in another instant, Nellie by sheer
! strength of arm had dragged her COM
| panion back into the room.
''We NIT as weel eend it at once!'
| cried Annie sullenlv, despairingly. as
wait here toe be roasted alahve. If not
| deawn theer wheer must we goa?'
| "Isn t there q way on to the roof?''
'fThere is; it's at that eend. -
"Come, then, let's fahnd it. If we
! Get on the roof they may see an save US.
| gone, Annie! Comet
| 1t was almost dark outside now, and
| the room in which the girls were would
| have been dark also but for the great
| glare Of the flames that lit up all the
| lower portion of the mills and the factory
yard.
The ladder that led to the skylight was
found; up it they scrambled IS best they
could, and in a short time they were
standing upon the roof of the burning
building.
The roof of the mill was almost level !,
the ridge being only few feet higher
! than the sides, and the great coping