New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-08
SOME NARROW ESCAPES.
THRILLING STORIES TOLD By GUESTS.
IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT, But MEN
ACCOMPLISHED WONDERS.

| ACCOMPLISHED WONDEES'
| The guest who probably had the most narrow y"
1T the same time the most marvellous escape va
NJ L. Harman a travelling salesman for 81 LOU,
wholesale grocery house He registered at ''e "o''i
on saturday evening with his wife.
Il had a room on the sixth floor, sa'd MI iif'na''
"and was aroused from sleep By loud roaring nose
and by the sound of whistle which think was from
one OF the engines on the elevated road. opehei
nv door and discovered that the stairway leaoins "
the lower floors in blaze Inc haii""S ""'
filled with smoke and as it poured into my room rs
long as the door open. quickly CLOSED ''' Hi'
inc ,bot there was no escape that way. then went
IN the Window and opened it and there seemed u De
| as much smoke the outside rs 'lere WAS III Wv
hallway for the room soon filed with smoke rom
| that direction Hoth my wife and would have been
suGocated In the room had not taken TWO ""cS
which soaked with water. These We uNed 10 h'cP
the smoke out OF lungs by hoiums thehl 0'v' Va"
| months and nostrils Ny wife was sleeping wheu
learned that the house was fire, and when waKcicu
Ia, told her NOT TO get excited. l tried to ma
8rcescape near our window, but there was none, ma
thought at one time that we should never get ON Oh
the room alive. 1t certain death TO Jump SA
stories aud as it either that or burn to death
said 10 my wife: . 80,
9.NIot,e. am going to shoot you and then kill
myself
lie PREFERRFD TO KILL HIMSELF
al concluded that II would be better to die that
,roy tbon burn TO DEATH and as | always sleep with
revolver under my pillow hurried to the bed 10 get
f. By this time the flames were coming mp thrVueh
the cracks in the floor and through the cracks Oh inc
door, Just as l was about to shoot my vile the
floor fell with crash and we went down propapN
two STORIES The flooring stopped opposite Wlnoo"
and nv wife jumped out and landed on the p"rtoo
beneath. 4 rope was hanging out of this window
and with this assistance l managed TO set down an
other story but here slipped and fell TO the poruco
beside nv wife / picked her up but was unable ~
carry her, l almost suhooated ana inc Id"
had injured me. ] endeavoring to reach II adoer
to try to carry her down to the street when two h
men took her from me. How l reached the street
do not know
Mr.. Hartman IS confined to his bed at the Gcdncy
House but he IS not badly injured a. Il person
would think after the falls he had. His hands ana
chest. however, are severely burned and ms mar anu
eyebrows are singed lie WAS dressed Only III
night gown when he reached the street and even TINS
was partly burned. lie was told yesterday TINT his
wife WAS boing cared for at one OF the hospitaS and
that She WIS not fatally injured. 1t Is believed now"
ever that She is one Of the dead. Mr. liarlhah mas
passed through some rough experiences III 'he We"
having been cowboy in Texas for two years p'-'r'
he went into the mercantile business he s"NS anu
when he saw all means escape cut OF. he says he
thought bullet in mis- brain would be all easier death
than to perish In the flames and for that reason he
made up his mind to make OF his revolver.
C.. w KLINES ESCAPE.
A remarkable escape was that OF Clarence W. Kline
n lawyer, Of Halelton, Penn. who was udi'Slc"
cue,t at the hotel owing 10 his GOODNESS aud pres
ence Of mind he was saved from the flames nearly hall
an hour after the fire started. with the exception
OF "A slight injury TO the lungs resulting from lnhalins
the dense smoke, he Is sound and well. Mr.. Kline
was taken 10 Bellevue Hospital, and shortly after
ward was transferred To the home OF friends Vlhs al
No. IA East Fifty first 81.
Il am glad,' said he last evening. TO have The
opportunity Of telling how got out Of the hotel
without being cfemated. / not aroused until the
fire had made good deal Of progress l got into NY
clothes and put heavy Overcoat and went to The
window. The minute | raised the sash and looked
room wa ' on the top oor facing Inc inner court
yard. and completely cut of from the hrc,cscapc.
climbed out upon the sih and swung out unul my feet
touched a shutter below. Some one erie, 10 me TO
jump. That meant certain death. and l thought
on the ground below. Every moment or 50 could
hear the sickening sound as some poor wretch Ieaped
pavement Below me ! heard women screaming
but seemed 10 be separated from all Inc rest There
no shutters below 80 lar a, cOuld see ana IL
looked if escape were Impossible.
SAVED BY IIEEMEN.
"Just then fireman appeared on the roof above
and called to me % hold to the shutter and he would
Try to save lie caIIed for help, ana for FIVE min
utes that to seemed many hours, chung 10 the
shutter Finally / crawlcd the window sill, got
upper sash and stood on it. | then extended one
hand toward the corncc. and Of the hremen
erasped II. got up my other hand which wa,
fraSped by second fireman. \ third man caught ti'r
the three men. Half sufOcated and blinded b. IL
smoLe walked over uEon the roof Of buildns eat
until l found myself in Bellevue Hospital | am sui
feng little from the effects Of inr,lne th" smoke
home in IA day or 80 Although thoroughly realized
my pcrilons situation decided that II would BE-
than to meet certain death on the pavement"
A WOMAN'S PRESENCE or MIND.
Miss W. Il. Lewis showed great selfpos'es-ion and
courage She occupied room in The top story, but
fortunately the reescape directly In OF her
window. When the alarm was given she was some
what unnerved at first. but quickly recovering her
presence OF mind she threw blanket about herself
stepped on The fire escape and descended aicy 10 the
Slightly burned about the face. She walked un-
attended to the house Of friends, living At No. al
East Fifty third-st., where She was cared for.
AN UMBRELLA FOR 4 PARACHUTE.
There was not even rope fire-oscapc In the room
on the second floor which Felix Krsemer, a salesman
for Stenway & sonS, Of NcwYOrk occupied. and had
not been for Mr.. kraemers experience at hotel fires
and an umbrella he probably would he numbered
among the victims. "Uad ! not had strong
umbrella should either have been burned or killed
by jumping TO the pavement said Mr.. KTaemer yes
terday when at the Gedney House. Z" ! have beor
burned out at hotels three times now, and after two
narrow escapes man is likely 10 be the lookout for
the best means TO his life whenever the occasion
demands it. ! was burned ont at "A hotel at War
renstnIrg Mo-, and al-o at EhwOrh Kan, and J
learned something about how to act when at a fire Oh
those two occasions
registered at the Hotel Royal five weeks ago and
remained there until early this morning. had an in
side room on the floor above the Office, near the main
stairway. 7 was awakened by hearing a roaring
noise or rather a noise like the rumblng Of train
jumped out OF bed and bright. Td glare through
the transom over my door. | Immediately seized a
strong umbrella and a shawl strap, which always
carry, aYd started fo? the door As on the second
floor, / thought ! should have difficulty In reaching
The floor below and the street from there. but When
/ got out into The hallway saw that escape was cut
of in that direction is tie stairway was one mass
Of flame 1t was no to jump our OF bny window,