The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-11-23
herself as if to make the leap of a for

herself as if to make the leap of a for
lorn hope.
Don't jump; climb down to me-"
shouted Captain HermanSon from his
perch on the upper part of the ladder;
but the girl, frantic from terror, did not
hear his voice She was seen to drop,
and fortunately her body came within
reaching distance of the Captain. He
seized one of her ankles as her body
| turned in the air, and the heroic act al
most threw him from the swaying lad
| der. Before he was forced to loosen his
hold or be carried down himself, two
| firemen below him seized the girl and
| carried her down the ladder amid the
plauditS of thousands who were watch
ing every move in the tragic scene.
0 Neill, who was still at the window,
and engaged in the brave task of help
ing all the imprisoned girls to escape,
was the last one to be rescued. When
he tried to crawl from the window to
the ladder he slipped and fell, but his
fall was broken by the grasping hands
of fremen on the ladder, and he fell
into a net which had just been placed
IN position. A broken arm and leg was
the extent of his injuries.
The janitor of the building thinks
the fire was incendiary, and accused a
man named Duell, while other occu-
| pants say the fire originated in a little
making of papier mache forms. No ar
rests have been made in connection
with the fire.
Shortly after / o'clock came the
second tragedy Of the fire. The flames
had been practically eXtinguished and
! the firemen Of engine company NO.
We're ordered to the fourth floor in the
rear to put out any incipient blaze that
might be found, much of the contents
III that part of the building only being
water soaked. None of the veteran
firemen imagined that there was any
danger from falling floors. The unfOr-
tunate men had taken their hose from
the fourth to the second floor, and fire
| being found Captain Fiene went to the
window on the north, and was in the
act of shouting to Peter Hart the
driver of the company, to shut off the
water, when the fatal crash came.
! From the top floor came like an ava
lanche tons of timber, fireproof tilinS,
merchandise, safes, radiators, fixtures
from the different offices and mass of
other stuff on the heads and on all
sides of the firemen. An immense hole
was made in the rear end of the second
floor from the roof down, great masses
of debris hanging on the edges of the
opening. A cry of horror arose from
civilians and firemen, mingled with the
artillery-Iike roar of the collapse.
Captain Fiene clung for dear life to
the window-sill until rescued, and then
bravely joined the small band of rescu-
ers whom Chief SWenie sent to the de-
bris Only one faint voice was heard,
that of fireman McNally. All the
others had probably been killed in
stantly.
After half an hours work the men,
who were in danger every minute of
more flooring falling on them, extri-
Gated McNally. and the others, being
given up for dead, streams of water
were poured on all sides.
All the dead firemen were married
and leave large families.
Early this evening the firemen dug
from beneath a pile of chared timbers
the body of Lieutenant O'Donnell OF
engine company No. . 1t was hOrri-
bic mutilated, with the exception of the
face, which was recognizable. Bones
had been broken by the falling debris
and the fire had completed the work
of destruction, the flesh being badly
burned.
Three bodies remain imbedded in the
ruins. and the firemen are hard at work
trying TO recover them. While the
search is somewhat impeded by dark
ness, the men will not stop at their
gruesome task until what remains OF
their comrades have been recovered.