The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-12
THE FIRE FIEND AFTER tn E
Incidents OF . Threatening Blaze IN .
chicago Dime Museum.
From the Chicago Daily Times.

"" tO NfChJ fhttb
Seven hundred persons were hustled out of
Kohl & Middleton's Clark street museum yes
terday afternoon before they were aware the
t tea1ui Was W Serious Sn hut but the fef fire. .'% Which chs started s. r
at 4:so O'Clock. was confined to the property
Fo When in T Thlss IT ss!i a III tbs maseum wa. in.
formed OF the fire he quietly sent word around
the the. house. mm:a; and the soS curtains il In. the s.s shss strs
knew where they were going, Men with
up in the ticket booths and loudly proclaimed
that This show is oyer. bu! there is better
one % deTn ,b ssn pa,r0 wn'o OF t has b 51as e1 Saa fought
their way down to the floor below to get the
rest Of their ten cents, worth they were again
show down stairs, and II was not until they
stepped out on the pavement and the police
street car track. they realized that the only big
show was on the fourth floor, where a we'll
known old freak, the Fire Fie9d;" was max;
hose were playing q limited engagement.
But while the ringing down Of the curtains
On the actors and freaks. For while the
dropped curtains shut the audience out. the
tumult arose. The actors grabbed up wigs
and boxes Of grease paints and rushed for the
stage ;, entrances' The freaks dea s., on the third floor
not allow them to make a rush fof the street
until the audience was all out.
fortune teller. for not foretellinS the event.
around his neck and drops six feet every few
minutes Just for the fun of the thing. made a
why don't You Jump" asked the bearded
The boy marvel. whose specially is the an
gan to cry. but he maintained his reputation.
How shall l get out ~safely?' demanded the
Throw your whiskers outdoors and Jump
on EN- said the boy marvel, and he began to
Finally the freaks were told they could go.
and with the snake charmer in front clattercd
down stairs. The first one to get outside was
But he escaped from the burning building so
quick the iron,necked mar was jealous aud ac-
faint got no sleeves" said the iegless and arm N
less wonder, and the iron-nccked man grew
The snake charmer also had a ft Of Mysteries
over the probable loss of her pets. And one
Of them was twenty four feet long, and he had
The snakes, however. were all right. Two or
three of the stage hands on the fourth floor
given and put them into their trunk. One Of
the men handling tho big snake squeezed him
a little too hard. and the snake wrapped him.
self around the mans arm and did a little
squeezing himself. Finally the scaly pets
were secured and carried for refuge to tho
The snake charmer was. told where her pets
were. and. rushing, into the saloon. she hastily
tore open the trunk and ierked ont her pets so
corner thought they were Seeing things"
Take 'em away" they yelled.
Out of regard for the feelings Of his CUSTOM
ers. the proprietor Of the saloon insisted on
the snake charmer and the snakes alternating
In n rear room.
The most astonished freak was the untamed
Australian Zulu. who sits In the show window
the audience was so unceremoniOusly put out
he retained his composure. but when the arm
less and legless wonder rolled out of the door.
closely pursued by the bearded lady aud the
snake charmer. the sanctuary Iulu was
alarmed. He pulled on n Clark street overCoat,
aud. with a war club in one hand and "A pair OF
tan shoes In the other, started for his dressing
room, saying:
II don know nuthin' bout what de trouble
Ia. But I'm Jess agoin' to move anyhow"
The museum WINS opened lat night ms usual
and all OF the freaks were IN their accustomed
places. and besides a GOODNESS between the
bearded woman and the boy marvel and the
broken window panes there were no signs of
the afternoon blaze.