The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-07-24
.PERILS OF FIREMEN.
IN THE GREAT CITIES THEIR LIVES
ARE ALWAYS IN DANGER.

of fremen in The Century, Cleveland
Moffett says: "In all its history / sup
pose the world has seen no heroes like
with the valor of crusaders. Does that
sound like exaggeration? l should call it
rather understatement."
AS illustrating the things fremen do
every day and do gladly, he gives some
incidents of one particular fire that hap
pened in New York on st. Patrick's day,
1899. 1t was a pleasant afternoon, and
Fifth avenue was crowded with people
to watch the parade. A gayer, pleas
anter scene 1t would have been hard to
find at o'clock or a sadder one at 4.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians, COM
ing along with bands and banners, were
nearing Forty-sixth street when suddenly
there sounded hoarse shouts and the an
CRY clang of fire gongs, and down For
ty-second street came Hook and Ladder
on a dead run and swung into Fifth
avenue straight at the pompous paraders,
who Immediately became badly scared
Irishmen and took to their heels. But
the big ladders went no farther. Here
they were needed-oh, so badly needed
for the Windsor hotel was on fre-the
famous Windsor hotel at Fifth avenue
and Forty-seventh street. 1t was on fire
and far gone with fire (the thing seems
Incredibly before ever the engines were
called, and the reason was that every
body supposed that of course somebody
had sent the alarm.
And so they all watched the fire and
waited for the engines, 10 minutes, 10
minutes, and by that time a great column
of flame was roaring up the elevator
shaft, and people on the roof in their
madness were jumping down to the
street. Then some sane citizen went to
fire box and rang the call, and within
30 seconds Engine 60 was on the ground.
And after it came Engines "a and 81,
and then hook and ladder companies.
But there was no making up that lost Is
minutes. The fire had things in it's teeth
now, and three, four, five alarms went
out in quick succession. Twenty-three
engines had their streams on that fire in
almost as many minutes. And the big
fire tower came from Thirty-sixth street
and Ninth avenue and six hook and lad
der companies arrived.
Let us see how Hook and Ladder 81
came. She was the mate of the fire tow
er, and the rush of her galloping horses
was echoing up the avenue just as Bat
talon Chief John Binns made out a wo-
man In seventh story window on the
Forty-sixth street side, where the fire
was raging fercely. The woman was
holding a little dog in her arms, and it
looked as if she was going to jump. The
chief waved to her to stay where she
was and, running toward the truck, mo-
INT ENrt txth CIV
upon the tilerman at his back wheel did
a pretty piece of steering, and even as
they plunged along the crew began hoist
Ing the big ladder. Such a thing is new
er done, for the truck might upset with
the swaying. But every second counted
here, and they took the chance.
; AS they drew along the curb Fireman
McDermott sprang up the slowly rising
ladder, and two men came behind with
scaling ladders, for they saw that the
main ladder would never reach the wo-
man. Five stories is what it did reach,
and then McDermott, standing on the
top round, smashed one of the scaling
ladders through a sixth story window
and climbed on, smashed the second seal
Ing ladder through n seventh story win
dow, and FIVE seconds later had the wo-
man in his arms.
To carry n woman down the front of a
burning building on scaling ladders Is
matter of regular routine for a fireman,
like jumping from fourth story down to
a net or making a bridge of his body. 1t
Is part of the business But to have one
foot in the air reaching for lower step
on a swaying, himsy thing and to feel the
other step break under you and to fall
two feet and catch safely-that is a
thing not every fireman could do. But
McDermott did it, and he brought the
woman safely to the ground-and the
dog too.
Almost at the same moment the crowd
on Forty-seventh street was gasping in
admiration of rescue feat even more
thrilling. On the roof, screaming in ter
ror, was Kate Flanagan, a servant,
swaying over the cornice, on the point of
throwing herself down. Then out of
top floor window crept a little fireman
and stood on the fire escape gasping for
air. Then he reached in and dragged
out an unconscious woman and lowered
her to others and was just starting down
himself when yells from the street made
him look up, and he saw Kate Flanni-
gan. She was ten feet above him, and
he had no means of reaching her.
Inc crowd watched unXlOuSly ana saw
the little fireman lean back over the fire
escape and motion and shout something
to the woman. And then she crept over
the cornice edge, hung by her hands for
a second and dropped into the fireman 8
arms. 1t isn't every big, strong man who
could catch a stable woman In a fall
like that and hold her, but this STRIPPING
did it because he had the nerve and knew
how. And that made another life saved.
By this time flames were breaking out
of every story from street to roof. II
seemed impossible to go on with the res
cue work, yet the men persisted even on
the Fifth avenue front, bare of fire es
capes. They used the long extension lad
ders as far as they could and then "scal
ed 1t" from window to window. Here Il
was that William Clark of Hook ant
Ladder made the rescues that gave hin
the Bennett medal-took three womer
out of seventh story windows when 4
was like climbing over furnace mouths
to get there.
And one of these women he reached
only by working his way along narrow
stone lodges for three windows and bacl