The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-04-23


house. A crowd of men had already
gathered about the yard. doing all
they con!d to put ont the flames.
The only water easily accessible
porch. Well. here came old My. NJ: witha
rush. his eyes distended and his hair stand
ing straight up. Before ybody noticed
him particularly he had bolted through a
dangerous door. and up back staircase.
1t was some time before he was again seen.
Presently he emerged as brown as a smoked
herring, his eyebrows singed as well as his
hair, almost suffocated with smoke and
stified with heat. carrying In his hands
four fatlrons. The insanity which first
took possession of him had increased. and
he was seen everywhere wildly gestioulat-
ing. giving oil sorts of incoherent orders.
and at last determined that the pump
should be pulled mp. Several fellows took
him in hand. carried him by force away
from the building and held him until the
the flames were extingUshed."
1.-The other night" continued Mr.. Web
ster, lat q tire out in the South End a lady
managed. through superhuman strength
and dexterity. to get her trunks ont of the
way of the fames She bad in the mean
time picked M her purse but after the
fire could not find it. She instituted "A Wig
orous search. and at last intimated suspi-
cIon that some fireman had found and con-
fiscated it, As the search proceeded In vain
this suspicion became very aggressive on
her part until she happened to find IL in her
pocket. Then she remembered having put
is In there, and was ready TO do penanee for
her suspicion. Yet, do you know If she
had never found that purse. her suspicious
would always have rested on the tiremen.D
do the men often encounter such sus-
picionsw
pie, who generally have more faith IN the
men than that. 1T Is only semi-occasional-
ly that such endorsements confront ne.
l remember case. speaking of fright.
where lady on East Ohio street II don't
care to mention her nRme) who had always
boasted about her cool head in cases of
emergency, became thoroughly frantic
when her own home was on fire. When we
got there about five shingles were bnrnt,
and no other injury wac done. She insisted
that the house had been burning for at
least twenty minutes. but by my watch we
had been just one and one-half minute in
getting to her place"
when w. A. Scott's stables burned up
on Central avenue, there was an instance
of insanity from fright" said Dan Neal.
Mr.. Websters secretary, 1.-THE like of which
never before came under my observation.
You see Mr.. Scott had beautiful horse In
the barn that he thought great deal of.
The animal had died In the flames before
we got there and Mr.. Scott ran out of the
house frantically toward the barn. He
was making some EXPLANATIONS concerning
the horse and il was evident that he in
tended jumping into the flames. / caught
him, but he brushed me aside easlly. while
a colored man standing by caught aud
wrestled with him so near the flames
it was very uncomfortable. | went to the
rescue. and II was all both of us could do
TO keep him out. The most peculiar part
OF the affair was that Mr.. Scott did not re-
member afterwards any thing he had DONE"
The problem of putting out fires" said
Mr.. Webster. grows more easy every day.
We have at present better waterworBs aud
stronger pressure, with longer mains,
and cisterns connected with these mains
which saves hose and facilitates the work.
Where few years ago it required four
half that length. which IL handled In
half the time. Then the en-
gines are better aud more capable.
One OF the things which are
vantage is the negligence often exercised
in turning in the alarm. People seem TO
forget to do so. and some the fire
Is seen by the tower watchers before any
alarm reaches Us.
Occasionally a fireman is found who is
superstitious and Imaginative. One of
such a temperament said: when the
alarm was turned when the surgical insti-
tute was OH fire i was, of course, dead
asleep. 1t seemed TO me | stood in a low
dark place of some kind surrounded by
every side. dark and gloomy.
All at once one of them fell with ter
rific crash and among the debris flashed
the nude figure OF womsn-an expression
of horror on ner face-her arms extended
frant cslly. while her hair streamed ont.
partially enveloping her. rising like smoke
and flames until it disappeared in the dark
heavens above her. She was. &c seemed. o
mother ana of a sudden parted her lips
with unesrthiy scream OF anguish. i
awoke in sitting position. while the after
resonance of the gong still rang IN my ears
Hurry mp Jack-Surgical lnstitute's goingp
were the words / heard from my bunk
mate"
Looking back over the years." contin-
ned Chief Wcbeter. lone can count the