The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-12
A LEAP FOR LIFE.

One Saved His Life at the Newhall Hotel
FIRE, the Other Lost II.
Presence Of mind and bravery in the face
Of peril was being discussed m the Office of
w. Il. Busenbark, General Manager of the
Maple Leaf route, on a recent morning.
The capszing of yacht off the lake front
the day before suggested the theme
Alter listening 10 the thrilling experiences
which each of the group present related
and somehow on the occasion of an excep-
tional accident people are prone to talk
thrillingly of what they have passed through
themselyes-Mr. Busenbark told story.
He did not need TO call our fancy to his
aid 10 give interest TO his tale. lie had been
a central figure in the well-remembered
burning of the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee,
being the only person above the second
floor who did not perish in the terrible fire.
Referring TO the manner in which he es-
capped. he said he owed his life to the fact
that man who was burned to ashes in the
flames the same night told him how he would
try to save his life in case Of fire.
This it how It was, boys" said Mr..
Busenbark. 81 got orders from my road to
meet one of our agents named Ware, who
was TO be transferred from Detroit TO Mil
waukee and Introduce him to our patrons
in the Cream City. | joined him here in
Chicago and we went TO Milwaukee to-
EtlllcI- II WAS Tie uH1 VI tllt NOW nan I1UlSl
fire. On the "trip, by strange coincidence.
we began talking about fires. Ware, l
think, brought up the topic. Yes, it was
Ware. anu what started him on the subject
was the fact that he had witnessed q big fire
in the Western Union Building at Detroit,
ut which five lives were lost. Isn't it Curl
Gus, BuSenbark,' said Ware to me, how
common sense Will desert man in the hour
of danger? / saw the Big fire i'll Detroit
yesterday.
"A number of operators could be seen
standing helplessly and in wild despair at
he windows Of the Western Union Build
ing There was a perfect network of tele-
graph wires within about twenty feet of
them, by jumping on which they might have
saved their lives. But they didn't jump,
ana they persisted. What is pulling is that
the telegraph wires as means of escape for
the poor follows did not occur to me until
after all was over
No accounting for these things, Ware
said / TO the Detroit man, and then we
talked about other matters.
THAT evening, after arriving at Mil
waukee we went TO hear Minnie Palmer in
My sweetheart remember it as If it
was but yesterday. About II O'clock we
reached the Newhall andwe regiyen double
bedded room. When | was awakened by
the heat aud Sitting smoke, | pulled Ware
out Of bed, and the poor fellow dashed from
the room and toward the staircase. / never
saw him again, alive or dead, for he was
burned to ashes. | rushed to one of the
windows of my room and stood for fully
half an hour, daZed and bewdered. Right
under the window was a network of tee-
graph wires, Poor Wares story of the De-
trot incident flashed across my mind.
Il jumped toward the wires, and all that
| remember is that / grabbed them. They
told me afterward that | hung on for about
n minute and then fell to the pavement be-
dead n
bank across from the hotel, but revived,
and two months later / was able to walk
Ware inspired me with the idea that
saved my life and while he had the same
opportunity as l had he did not avail him
self Of it.
at is idle, boys, to talk Of what one would
be sure to do under given circumstances.
There Is no accounting for what man will
do when he is looking into The jaws Of
DEATH"
All the boys looked thoughtful and agreed
that it was S0.-Chicag0 Herald.