Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-10-01
THE ACADEMY FIRE

of Mind Did Not Desert Him, Tells OF
His Own and Other Interesting ExPerI-
ences.
| ST.. LOUIS, Sept. 25.-Most of the st.
| Louis boys who were attending the
Missouri Military academy at Mexico,
! which burned Thursday morning,
have returned to this city.
! Young Clopton, the son of United
/ States District Attorney VIM. b. Clop-
/ ton, proved himself hero during the
/ FIRE. He sounded the bugle call when
4 the flames were first discovered, and
afterward helped many of the cadets
to places of safety.
! Cadet Clopton modestly insists that
he did only his duty. He says:
my room was on the second floor,
near the center of the building. About
/ 1880 o'clock / heard Capt. Louen go
doWn the corridor on his tour of in
/ spection. Then l dozed off again.
About midnight heard some one run
down the hall crying fire. 1 thought
at first that some of the boys were
playing a hoax, but when recognized
/ the voice as that of Capt. Glasscock /
knew that the matter was serious. 1
opened the door and looked out in the
hall. The smoke came pouring in and
! almost choked me.
! my first thought was to escape, but
remembered the other boys and
got my bugle. L went to the win
dow and blew that bugle as hard as
knew how. Very few of the
/ boys seemed to hear. 1 waited few
minutes, and then went into the corri-
! dor and sounded the fire call again.
hn
/ Many of those on the third floor came
rushing down stairs in their night
clothes. There were two stairways,
one at the east end and the other at
/ the west end of the corridor. Both
/ flights leading to the first floor were
/ in flames.
1.-The boys ran up and down the hall
/ like mad. There was no use in trying
/ to preserve military order.
There was high wind blowing,
and in very short time the second
Eight of stairs leading to the third
floor was also in flames.
about ten minutes after the alarm
was sounded key of powder stored
under the stairs exploded. This in
/ creased the excitement, and the boys
made a wild rush for the windows.
/ The fire was gaining Roadway every
minute, and there was no time to
think of saving anything.
Il put my bugle and mandolin un-
der one arm and my valise under the
other, and took them out on a low,
sloping roof under my window.
"Then L went back and got some of
my bed clothes. 1 threw the things
from the roof and jumped after them.
"By that time the boys were jump
ing from their windows on all sides of
/ the building. Gordon Cox, of St.
Louis, was one of the first to jump.
He leaped from the second story and
had his arm badly shattered
Dan Boone jumped soon after. He
lit on his feet and broke one ankle
and sprained the other. If Boone had
jumped from his window he would
probably not have been so badly hurt.
He stepped out on a stone ledge under
the window aud made his way along
the wall to the corner of the building.
He thought there was a water pipe
there, but there was not. When he
found there was no chance of sliding
to the ground he jumped, lighting on
a hard cinder path.
Zone of the most unfortunate Incl.
dents of the fire was the accident
which befell Capt. Garner. He had
let down eight boys from the third
floor on a rope made of bed clothes
tied together. When all the boys were
safe he started to slide down the rope.
One of the knots gave way and he fell
40 feet, striking the ground on his
side. Three of his ribs and an arm
were broken.
Leslie Wheeler, st. Louis boy,
met with similar mishap. He made
a rope of sheets and started to the
ground from the third story. He had
not slid 10 feet when his hands struck
one of the knots. This loosened his
hold and he fell, striking on his back.
cadet John McCIelland, of Enid,
Okla, started to slide down water
pipe at the west end of the building.
The pipe broke at one of the joints
with it. He landed at the foot of the
cellar stairs. Several OF his ribs and
his right arm were broken.
Hamilton Sutherland, one of the St.
Louis boys, had thrilling experience.
He had room mate named Eads. Eads
got ont on the window sill of the
anu SIOOu
afraid to jump. He would not get of
the sill and let Sutherland jump. The
smoke was pouring into the room.
Sutherland waited until he was al.
most suffocated. Then he pushed
Eads out of the window. Eads was
not hurt. Sutherland stepped out on
the sill. Before he could jump he was
overcome by the smoke and fell head
long to the ground He turned two
somersaults and struck on his back.
He is seriously hurt.
Most of the boys threw their mat
tresses out of the windows and jumped
on them. We, who had gotten out,
got them to place of safety. Most
of them. after hitting the mattresses,
lay there perfectly helpless.
sit was in trying to jump into one
of the blankets that Walter Wolf, of
East st. Louis, was so badly hurt. He
jumped too near the wall, missing the
blanket and falling into the cellar on
his back. He hit the outside cellar
steps and rolled down them.
1.-The boys were in sorry plight
during the fire. Very few had been
able to save any clothing. 1t was Bit
ter cold. l had managed to get my
uniform on and had some clothes in
my valise- l gave away everything I
saved, including my bed clothes. i
don't deserve much credit for that,
for NJ tho hOrS Ala