The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-03-11


Ames building. The people inside were
throwing books ont of the windows and men
and boys from the stores were picking
them up. Very soon. upon the parapet.
way up above the street. saw four men
and one woman clinging to the stone work.
There was no such thing as getting lad
der 20 them owing to the network OF wires.
That is the worst corner fof wires In the
Is in peril from them. We watched
the quartet a. they chung for few
minutes only while the crowd In the street
stood in breathless silence. Then the four,
came. q height of fully six stories, and
struck s0lidly on tho frozen ground. lt
was horrible. You should have heard the
groan that went up from the throng In the
scious when reached. and all must be ter
ribly injured. There could hardly be
whole bone in their bodies. l saw two OF
them rushed by on q shutter"
JUMPED AND CAUGHT A WIRE.
Francis Galloupe Gays: "I was going
down Summers street past the corner of
Lincoln street. between 4:25 and 430 o'clock,
Just as the fire started. l looked down Lin.
coin street and saw a sheet of flame shoot
ing out half way across the street from the
second story of the building in which the
Woonsocket Rubber Company is located.
One steamer had just arrived in front of the
building and the hose was being stretched.
! saw men. women and girls trying
to get out OF the upper stories
They were excited. l shouted to them:
Don't jump: the ladders will De here in q
minute But they were too frightened
One man jumped from the second story and
caught wire. He hung there till ex-
hausted, and then dropped. l could not
see whether the fall killed HIM or not l
saw another man jump to the telegraph
pole near. He slid down without
injury. Several persons took horse
blankets and called TO the frenzied crowds
at the windows to drop and they would
catch them: A good many did this. and.
though bruised. the blankets. held by stout
hands. broke the otherwise fatal force of
their fall One little girl, too timid TO
jump, was saved by man reaching out for
her on his way down the telegraph pole. A
long ladder was brought over and stand
ing on the top of 1t, the firemen reached up
as far as they could and caught others on
their arms. In o minute another apparatus
up to save the rest But they were
not in time to save one man in
the third story. l saw him throwing out
books. and he must have either jumped
after them himself. or have been overtaken
by the flames. Before the new apparatus
could get to work the entire block all of
sudden burst into flames from every
window. 1t was SO sudden that the steam
or which had been playing in front of the
have been destroyed. and with it the en.
| gineer, Lincoln street at that place was in
an instant q roaring furnace"
Hoseman O'Connor, of engine z. stated
| to q reporter that his engine was the irst
at the scene OF the confiagratiOn. and he
| was sent to the second story of the Ames
building to help save the employees OF the
Horace Partridge concern. said he: II
have been In many tight places but what
| / have been through tonight l shall re-
momber as long as live. When [ reached
the second story, and had entered the room
on the Lincoln street side. the sight was
zled with fear, were struggling
to reach the windows to throw themselves
into the street. Taking one at q time
| lowered them by the hands as far rs | could
and then dropped them In so the nets spread
| for them below, at the same time fighting
| the mad crowd back from the windows.
| The cries of the frightened creatures were
heart-rendIng. while the men seemed to
lose all presence of mind and fought like
| demons. l think L succeeded in lowering
some twenty-five or thirty. l should say
| that there must have been at least thirty
who never came out OF the burning build
ing alive. although 1T is impossible fer any
| one to estimate the loss of life in this build
| ing tonight"
Mr. j. G. Young, manager of the Lariat
| Manufacturing Company. said: 1--WE saw
one lnan jump from the fourth floor to the
| street, landing on his head. OF our en-
| ployes. Miss Lillian Scott. Miss Alexis,
| Miss Perrlns Miss Richard. Edward Lamb
ley and boy are missing. The first smoke
came with a distinct puff. like a flashed
| fire cracker, with hardly any report; was
dense. binding and suffocating. and very
| hot. The rapid progress of the flames was
the most marked feature. The smell might
| have been OF burning rubber. There was
! no smell of gunpowder."
Mr.. Young and his party escaped with
| out injury beyond few scratches from
falling glass. Mr.. H. g. Young: the coolest
| of the party. excepting Mr. Toby. SAID:
We were not seriously alarmed
| ing the girls should lose their
nerve and jump. Toby came back to
our window after finding q way down,
saying the trip down the telegraph pole
| was safe. It looked easy. and the girls
calmed down. Getting them and the boy
across the space between the wall and the
| pole was q lofty feat. but there was no
slip. 1 was starting GOWN last when Toby
| yelled there was another woman inside.
| but on going back l could see nobody. 1t
was getting too hot for safety. and down l
| went"
| STORY OF DAVID GEDDIs.
David Geddis assisted in removing some
OF the people who jumped from the brun-
ing Partridge building. THE first thing l
| knew of the fire." said Mr.. Geddis, was
when an engine came down East street
looked and saw smoke pouring from the
second and third story windows
of the Partridge building. There were
no flames at that time. 1 saw women
| rushing to the windows in the third and
| fourth stories. They were In state of
high excitement and pulled the windows
| up. Mr.. Regan, the foreman, for whom
| was working. who had, with the rest Of
US, rushed into the street. yelled at the
| top of his voice to keep the girls from
| jumping. Almost immediately the flames
| burst out and spread from Lincoln street
| to Essex place. totally enveloping the
| floors where the girls were. The girls then
rushed to the third and fourth windows
on the floor opening on Essex street.
| and black smoke poured out in fearful
| volumes. A man suddenly appeared ct one
of the windows, got on the ledge, which, I
should say. was about six inches wide. and
began to crawl along toward the corner Of
the building at Lincoln street. He man.
aged to cling to the side of
one window until he could reach
the next. When he got to Lincoln
and E,sex street he jumped to O
telegral b pole. With splendid nerve he
assisted a number of girls and men who
followt d his example, and kept their heads
enough to walk along the sllls. He
reached bls lands to them and pulled them
to the Telegraph pole, where the whole
party cluDR.
In the meantime one man jumped from
| the third-stOry window into Lincoln
street. and was quickly followed by an
other. They both struck the telegraph
wires, turned somersaults and fell to the