The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-10-11

On the evening OF the alarm of fire nj
TIE florists place. three doors from the
Alfalfa European Hotel. doc" Horne
told OF his singular experience at fire in
the town Of Crosbyville.
Lets see-I spent two or three years
in Crosbyville. of and on, he began,
''and this must have happened In the
fall OF 81 or the spring OF '52. I remem.
ber that i left Crosbyville just about the
time OF tho presidential car paign. and
that was--well, Ii must have been about
June 81. No matter; the date doesn Q
make any difference.
lin order that you may understand
this story better I'll have TO go back a
little. The first time / ever visited In
Crosbyville l was invited out TO shoot
ing match. We uidn't shoot at glass balls
or live pigeons in those days We usually
put white square Of paper up against a
tree and plazed away at it with rifles md.
although our firearms were of defective
bore, can assure you that some of the
best shooting ever saw was at these old
time matches out in the woods. How
ever, that has nothing to DO with the
story.
lone of my friends invited me to go 10
the shooting match. and alter got out
there i was asked TO enter the contest
Well, / went in and l happened 70 get a
rifle that sighted just right for me, and /
won. n man who had boom introduced To
me as Captain .Iaynes made the next hish-
est score. lt seemed to me that the other
contestants took their defeat good Ia-
turedly. but on the way home my friend
told mo to look out for thisCaptain .IayBes
de was hot.headed Kentuekian. and it
seems that this was the first time he had
been defeated in u year or so, ana it
worried him good deal. My friend told
me that he had taken dislike TO me ond
wonld probably try Co pick quarroI with
me az the first opportunity.
well, that same afternoon / invitoi
oil the men who had been at the stooti2g
match TO come over to the tavern. IL
was customary for the winner of maTch
TO stand treat TO the Others. Capt III
Jaynes came In rather late while we were
sitting around aud talking / arose and
asked him TO join the party. He bowel
very coldly and said that he was not In
the habit of drinking with strangers.
Well. was pretty bot-blooded In my
younger days. / said Very we'll, Cnp-
tain; ] withdraw tho Invitation. | made
the mistake of supposinR that you would
foel at home in the company of gentle
men. i knew what TO expect when
SAID thar. he started To draw knifa, Tut
before he could lift 1t i had hold Of him.
They pulled us apart and tried To quiet
him, but he went away ravipg mad.
Ih3y all said he would Kill me the first
time we met, but he must have cooled
down when he had time tn think IL over
] saw him often after that-passed him OH
the street. He never made move. but
knew lie hated mo and would be glad
TO get chance to do me an injury.
The Cptain's house was right on the
hank CT the Green river. and stood near
his mill. 1t was an old fashioned two
story house. very broad and well built,
and thickly surrounded .by trees. 1t
was considered the best house in Cros-
lest and one of tho most prominent citi-
yens Of the town. He was widowsr and
had two children--a boy of IA or so and
young lady named Elizabeth. She was a
very beautiful girl-verv charming. ] had
met her sew eral times but OF course. l
had never become well ACQUAINTED with
her on account of my standing feud with
her father
We'll, to make long story short tho
whole town was aroused by an alarm of
FIRE one night. and when we turned out the
Jaynes mil was inass OF flames. 1t was
on old.style structure. with frame work
of heavy logs, and it innde IA fearful blaze.
The wind was blowing the flames toward
the house. Every one saw that it was OF
no uss To try 10 save the mill. so we
turned In TO defend the house-got upon
the roof and passed buckets and put out
wet blankets TO catch tie sparks but 10
was no use. The men vera driven oil the
TDpl bbo NhltT uEiti stN 10 Whn pun Ous
All at once one whole side If the house
seemed 10 spring into flame. There was
u general shout, and every body retIeated
to n safe distance. The members of the
family and the ighnors had been remov-
ing tn" household goods Just as the
house caught fire, and all the men were
getting out OF 10 as fast as they could, /
heard Elizabeth Jaynes cry out: The
canary" Ibep she ran back into the
house. with ovory ono calling 10 her Co
stop. / didn't hesita.e.a moment, but ran
after. She ran through that terri bic heat
and dense smoke right up the stairway,
and followed. j caught ber by She arm
ut the top of the stairs and told her to
come back. SEe was hys.erioal ana eX-
cited. She said she wouldn't leave until
she got the bird. In spite Of oil l couid
do she pulled away from me and ran to
the front ronn-her bedroom, / belieye-
and felt her way To where the bird
cage was hanging. Gentlemen. it was
never hotter in any bake oven than 10
was In that room. As soon as she got tho
bird cago / dragged her back through tbe
ball The smoke was not So thick now.
bacaus" the fire rad got free draug .
through the touso and was making
fearful road and spreading rapidly. Wtel