The Jersey City news., 1902-02-18
| TOO HOT I AND
TOO COLD.
Fierce Blaze in Greenville
Nearly Freezes the
Alexanders to
Death.
PAJAMAs ON A PORCH
Brave Policemen Rouse and
Rescue the Imperilled
Family.
NICE NIGHT FOR FIREMEN
After a Desperate Fight With
the Snow They Had to
Tackle Frozen Hose.
NICE NIGHT FOR FIREMEN

A destructive blaze, which was attend
ed by several sensational reseues. broke
out in the three-story frame house oecu-
pied by w. G. Alexander. at No. 81
Myrtle avenue, at Ave O'Clock this morn
ing. Patroimen Connors and Sehsibe Of
the Ocean avenue station house. distin-
guished themselves in rescuing the In
mates. Mr.. Alexander, his wife and ten
year-old daughter All were forced TO fee
in their night clothes and suffered nlucn
from exposure.
Patrolman Connors while patrolling his
post on Ocean avenue saw smoke issuing
from the basement of the Alexander
home He sent In an alarm and then
raped on the sidewalk with his night
stick to bring his side partner. scheibe,
to. his assistance. Connors hustled to the
burning house and was Immediately fol-
lowde by scheibe. Both knocked hard to
arouse the occupants and then proceeded
to smash in the doors.
The family had already been awakened
by the dense smoke. The policemen found
the smoke too much for them and neither
could make his way upstairs. The patrol
men shouted to the inmates TO escape by
the roof of the front porch. The win
dows Of the second floor open on = level
the porch ard the three members
Es8f III ia r1ffy lost no time In making for
the roof. None of them stopped to put on
any clothing The snow on the roof was
half foot deep and the fleeing persons
were forced to stand there In their bare
feet for several minutes before a Plan
was thought out to rescue them.
The engines were very slow to respond.
owing to the condition of the streets, and
no ladders could be procured. The house
was in flames and smoke poured forth in
great clouds from all the windows.
Scheibe finally stood on the rail of the
porch and instructed the shivering ones
on the roof to slide down the pillar. He
caught the little girl first and passed her
over to Connors, who stood near him.
Mrs. Alexander followed, and she too was
landed safely on the stoop. Mr.. Alexan-
der weighs over two hundred pounds. and
he was timid about getting down. The
cops persuaded him to be quick about 1t.
and in his efforts to save himself a fail.
he landed heavily on Scheibe's shoulders.
Both fell off the rail to the stoop and
Connors succeeded in breaking their fall.
Scheibes shoulder was afterwards dis
covered to be badly injured.
The Alexanders were taken care of by
neighbors.
The engines arrived after the reseues
and the firemen had a hard fight with the
stubborn blaze. It was cold work coup
ling the lines and handling ice-eoated
hose. Many of the men suffered greatly
from the cold. It took an hour to get the
blaze under control, and by that time the
house was completely gutted. Every room
had been reached by the blaze. The loss
is estimated at S, Geo.
An investigation was made. and ii was
found that an overheated furnace IN the
rear of the cellar had ignited the wood
work.
The two policemen were complimented
for their bravery. and Mr.. Alexander call
ed on Chief Murphy this morning to tell
him how much he appreciated the services
rendered by Connors and scheibe.