Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-01-05

NJ Dl9Z6 Ill one Ol Tue
magnificent booths, caused y spa K
from the electric lamp, had raised the
first cry.
It's repetition was the work of the
throng Of visitors, which, notwithstand-
ing the circumstance that the evening
was far advanced, still fingered IN the
entcing place.
The incipient blaze, fed by laces from
far-famed Valenciennes and rich Gobelln
tapestries, became almost instantly q
mass of seething flame.
With fearful rapidity the fre-6end ex-
tended his domain, his voracious appe-
tite increasing as his huge red mouth
licked up costly fabr cs and destroyed
elegant fittings, until, 10 the practlced
eyes of cool headed men who had wit
messed the great conf lpratlon which had
ore time destroyed the Garden CITY, the
enormous structure in which the last OF
long series of annual exhibits was be-
ing held. appeared doomed to speedy and
compl te destruction.
Confusion reiened supreme; children
screamed. women f0inted, and men ran
wildly about, seeking an egress, and
breaking windows to facilit tie their es-
cape from seeming frigh;ful doom.
Ut ul2u up dOONO tLO HdhlNB ANlA1O oAN
smoke. above the arched roof, above all
save the clear vaulted heavens, stood
three persons who seemed in imminent
danger Of meeting an awful death.
By means of the elevator that pierces
the roof of the monster bui ding they had
gained o high position, from which want
age ground the be autiful lake, cleaning
beneath the beams of the full efulgent
I, of O1nlfpn l.
yer stretched out before their eyes.
I'VE are lost, father" and young lady,
in whose form and face nature seemed to
have blended in rich profusion her rarest
charms, as she clung convulsively to the
arm Of gray haired, rather feeble-look-
ing old man.
dLostl MOI mo- Berenicel" shouted he.
"The elevator
is deserted The flames surround
the shat. We are left to die here
alone
The old man looked downward and
gave uiterance TO cry Of despair as the
glance verife the word OF his da lehter.
This w0yl" shouted he a moment later,
and dashed over the railing towards a
fight of stairs which descended from the
tower to the roof proper.
There the old man paused that his
daughter might precede him
When we'll igh down, her dress caught
upon projecting corner, and, with a
cry of terror she fell forward.
With splsm of horror which rendered
him incapable alike of speech or motion.
the old man saw his daughter sliding
down the arched metal loof Of the build
ing.
Her infancy, rrattling childhood,
youth, and budding womanhood passed
Ike lightning painted panorama before
his eyes, and he co ed them to shut out
the seemingly inevitable fate of her he
loved next to idolatry.
At that instant form rushed past him.
1t was that of a young man who, like
his daughter and himself, had been ga2-
ing upon the beauties of the moonlit lake.
Save ber!" pleaded the fond old faith.
er, hope restoring his power of speech.
Without word, look, the young man
projected himself forward aud downward
toward the place where Bert nice was
clnging to a small ornamental cupola
She saw him, an with renewed courage
tightened her grasp.
But her fingers twitched conyulsively,
: and her face, white as the moonli4 ht in
which it was bathed. told palmer than
words that her strength was almost gone.
The Old man uttered a groan of agony,
for to his excite mind her heroic would
be rescuer coul hut join her in fright
full death upon the pavement. far beneath.
With r'pidly accelerating speed the
youth SPED downward.
With o dexterity which bespoke both
agility Of muscle and GOODNESS of brain,
he caught the small cupola and came to q
stop.
At the same instant the slender Jew
eled hard relaxed, and the form of the
now unconscious girl began moving on
varl toward certain death.
But far Berenice ST. Cyr had in store
a fate other than destruction; clouds,
darkness, and tears were soon to gather
like the mockery of nn aureolo around
her sunshiny head, yet death was not to
be her portion.
The youpg man noted ber deadly peril,
snd seized her wrist. Then. with an al
most superhuman effort, in which every
nerve and muscle pllyed its part, he drew
her upward TO point of temporary
safety.
In the meantime, the fire engine and
hook and ladder company, which are
housed at the north end of the long
building, had arrived and made short
work of the fire, but Lot until the de-
vouring element had wrought damage to
the exit mt of scores Of thousands OF dol"
lais.
Shouts from the thronG, which in the
briefest possible time had grown to
thou ands, now attracted the attention OF
the gallant firemen TO the imreriled twain
above. Ladders, to whose length there
seemed no limit, rose as if throu gh the