Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-03-20

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lsas:== qu'eted by the dis
tance to mere lullaby. So high was
the top of the great hotel that the
garish blue-white of the electric lights
which so lavishly dotted the city was
toned down to gentle luminous haze.
The man on the bed tossed from side
to side uneasily, rolled on to his back,
lay with his mouth upon the pillow.
In his right hand he held cruuched o
letter written in woman's writing, and
as certain waves of dream crept over
him he rumpled the letter .sayagely
and mumbled through his clinched
teeth words of inarticulate fury. At
last his dream seemed to- culminate,
and he broke into paroxysm of cough
ing, which awoke him. His senses,
dim at first, drew rapidly to the alert.
His eyes so recently glued with sleep,
opened quickly to their fullest stretch.
His ncstrils worked like the nostrils
of dog on trail.
'sSmoke! Tobacco smoke? I don't
think so. It smells to me like the
reek of burning wood"
His eyes were beginning to open
wider, with the unnatural expansion
of terror. George Carr had been in
America before, and knew what these
things portended. Quickly dropping
his feet onto the boards of the floor,
he walked across them, unlocked his
door, and. opening it, looked into the
passage. he had no doubt then as to
what had occurred. Not far below
him was the crisp cracking of flames,
and mingled with it came the cries OF
badly frightened women and men.
"My God, the hotel is on fire." he
exclaimed. "It is built of wood from
; cellar to roof tree: it is crammed with
people; and I am close under the
shingles on the eleventh floor"
He went out onto the landing in his
night-gear as he was, and attempted
to descend. Columns of gray vapor
which stung the eyes and nostrils
rolled up the shaft of the stairway ;
and, locking over the balustoTs, he
saw through the smoke arms of tawny
flame which shot greedlly up towards
him. The heat was terrific; it drove
! him back to his room even before tba
smoke forced retreat. Baked by. the
continued heat Of. s-mmer, the great
j, wooden he..sI was bur ming as though
| LiSlad been anointed with tar.
Carr ran back to his bedroom and
! stood in the midst of the floor, trem;
7 bling like leaf. He still held in his
fingers the crumbled letter in wo.
mans handwriting-his wife's; but re.
membering it, broke out into new
+! fury, and tore it into tiny squares,
which futtered like white butterflies
before the rising draught.
"Grasping, heartless wretch that she
u.s." he cried. eff it had not been for
this letter, goading me to make more
money, and still more money, I should
be catching this mornings home boat
from New York Harbor. As it is, I'm
here to burn slowly to death unless ]
choose to make quicker ending OF il
by jumping oat OH to the road two
hundred feet below" He gave 9
fierce snort of laugh. 'Suioide is
wrong, we are told. I worder if il
would be sinful for me 30 end my
miseries quickly, insteci Of remaining
till life is tediously roasted out of me
here. 1t is nice point, but I shall
not argue it out now. I'm going to
shut my eyes and--jump into eter.
nifty"
He walked steadily across to the
window, put one leg over the sill, and
looked down from a dizzy height
which no fre-escape on earth could
span. Flames were beginning to jet
through many of the windows below.
In the street two steam fre-engines
were already at work; others were
coming up with teams at furious gal.
lop. The black carpet of people in
the vacant spaces had curious white
mottling of upturned faces. Carr
threw the other leg over the sill, and,
stopping over, wondered where be
should drop. BE wanted to fall clear.
and-the ghastly thought would come
he did not want to splash anybody.
The booming roar CT the flames in
the shaft of the stairs drew nearer
and nearer 1t was of no use to wait.
OF earthly help none could come. &c
made up his mind that he would Jump
then without more torturing delay.
But, when it came to the actual leap,
his limbs somehow failed him. He
seemed physically unable to leave his
seat on the ledge.
"Bah! what coward I ami" he
cried, Clearing to leap into necessary
death with my face towards it. I sup.
pose I have woman's nerve just now
1 must humor myself like woman. "
He turned about, breasting the sill
and lowered himself steadily down till
all his body hung against the wooden
wall suspended only by the finger
tips. And then he saw something
which caused such revulsion of feel
ing that he was within an ace of re.
laxing his hold and being dashed to
rags in the street below.
Gradually, however, his muscles stiff
fened again, and he drew himself up
and fell faint and trembling on the
board floor of his bedroom. Screwed
to the jamb of the window was stout
eyebolt; fastened to this was long
coil Of rope. These things are the
ordinary accompaniment OF American
hotel bedrooms anywhere above the
first floor, and Carr had seen them
scores of times before. Nothing but
the excitement and the scare under
which he WAS laboring could have sl-
lowed him to forget them on leaving
his bed at the first alarm. Still feel
ing sick and dizzy, Carr gathered him
self up from the floor, and with tremb-
ling fingers set ebout casting TIC rope
from its coil. The stuff tangled, and
in his hasty clumsiness he tied it into
hard knots. Time was wasted.