The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-07
BY VICTOR A. HERMANN.
THE FIRE EDITION.


 All was excitement in the repertoria room. Outside, on either side of the Times iron building, a dozen struc trres were crrmbling in the mighty grasp of the fire warrior. It was tht worst conflagration since the memor- able south-side blaze. At any moment those at the night desk might have to throw down their pencils and rush down to the smoke choked thorough fare.
 Ezra Spease, the City Editor. came out of his little office just as the walls or Whites cracker factory tumbled in with a muffied roar.
 "Whew! Getting pretty close, boys, but I guess we can stand It." "Old Spease" war on friendly terms with everyone. from the "devil' to the associate editor.
 Then tEe old man walked over to the window. The vast columns of
 smoke and the reddened sky made an exaggerated spectacle; one could have
 sworn the whole city was doomed.
 Only blazing mass of ruins marked
 the spot where the ten-story cracker factory had lowered few hours be- fore.
 As the City Editor looked thin
 thread of red flame wound itself up to-
 ward the drying room of the furni-
 ture house. A few moments later the
 nflammable interior was a seething
 furnace. A lone fireman stood on the roof his nozzle pouring q continuous
 stream through the skylight. At times
 he appeared to be enveloped in sea
 of flame. only to emerge like some in-
 vincible fire god.
 Whew! That's grit clear through.
 Where's Scott? Covering insurance? All right ,,Gopd Ero jrharLs Fairbanks threw down his clipping
 shears and came forward.
 Do you see that fireman .on the
 roof? We'll, not one man in a hun-
 drei would stay up there a minute.
 You are pretty fair at this sort of
 work; run off a little incident. We'll
 nsed all the space available for the
 next few days. but it'll come in good
 on Sunday"
 Fairbanks was already making en- tries in his book. but the next instant
 a mixture of charred wood and water
 rattled the glass so menacingiy that the two moved away.
 A pronounced odor of burning vs~- nish penetrated the building and started them all coughing. There's money in that varnish" said the city editor ,thoughtfully. Then the opaque door of his little office was closed behind him
 And the men on the desk continued to wield their heavy pencils. Two
 objects were foremost in their minds
 to get down all possible, or deSert the builcing-the latter only when ordered. The only idle man in the big room was Winters. He stood drying his feet by the radiator, and frowning at the smiling pieces of Italian statu- ary that embellished the spare desk, An unsuccessful journey in a leaky boat will ruffle even d newspaper man. Presently old Spease's head ap- peared in the doorway. "YoI men on the desk: Chop the | foreign news in half; don't let line l of exchange matter in. We must have | two more columns for the fre.'' And the door again banged The heat of the blaze was becoming | oppressive Winters removed his coat. Then some of the others began 10 | tumble with their collars. The rack of blistered pane brought the city | editor out. Hotter and hotter, boys. Well, it's | lucky this building Is iron.'' But he began to feel a little nervous
 in spite of himself Showers of burn | ing wood began to fall around the
 windows, while the roaring increased
 until it drowed even the dull throb
 of the engines. . A fireman stuck his head in the door.
 "The Chief says you'd better come
 down-it's risky" --.-- | Saturdav. "ONE BLOW TOO MAN