The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-02-20

The exposure did me goodr' Barton
interrupted almost roughly. Send for
. carriage, John. l can go easily enough
tainted out there. I'm not used to
night work. They saved Hope House,
Miss Andrews?'
Yes, thank Cod" she said softly.
Even with all the horrors of that night,
and the awful sight out in the hall and
library, she felt thrill at the thought
that the people had loved her little.
Get me out of here, John" Barton
said again as Miss Andrews stepped
back into the hall and resumed her
work. ITS the beginning of the end,
and l don't want it to come to me
here
Gordon did not demonstrate. Under
other circumstances he might have
done so. When he had first entered the
room, he had partly closed the door, but
the grOans, the shrieks for mercy, the
walls of friends discovering relatives
In the piles of crushed humanity out
on the floor, had swept into the room
and Barton had shrunk down in the
bed and shuddered. Gordon went out,
closed the door and ordered carriage
for Barton. When it came, he went to
help Barton get ready. To his amaze
ment, he was up and waiting. When he
got up off the bed on which he was sit
ting, he reeled on his feet and would
have fallen if Gordon had not put an
arm about him.
lyon are not able TO leaYew
81 am, l tell you! l will never die
here. III live long enough to get to my
rooms. And III live long enough to
write up this horror too. The day Of
Judgment ought to begin today for
some of the people in this God forsaken
metropolis, John. There's your friend
hr. Marsh! / suppose the building was
insured He never lost anything, Ell?
Not that sortr'
Gordon supported him through the
hall, and Barton in spite Of his ire
mendous will power, nearly tainted at
the sights and sounds there. Miss An
drews was helping one of the surgeons.
A great crowd thronged the entrance
to Hope House, and Gordon had great
A4mSuILy III SelIIuS DdIlo Jul " Iho
carriage.
He put him into it and was stepping
IN himself when Barton pulled this
door and told the driver to go on.
Gordon hestated.
You're needed here. Go on, driver.
I'll promise to live till tomorrow, John.
Go in and help her. She needs some
one
The carriage started slowly on &C
count of the crowd. Gordon waved a
silent goodby. When the carriage was
out of Bowen street, Barton tainted
He lay like dead man in a corner of
the carriage. and when the driver
reached his rooms and got down tc
open the door he was frightened at the
sight of what looked like a corpse in
the carriage. He and Williams carried
Barton in. and before noon Barton lay
in a tremendous fever, which the doc
tor said was a clear case of pneumonia.
Cant save him." the doctor said to
Williams CURLY. '1'll send up the best
nurse we've got. But Barton might as
we'll shoot himself as do what he did
last night
Down at Hope House all day John
Gordon, Grace Andrews, the assistants
and a score of surgeons worked to save
life, with heart breaking doubt in their
souls as they labored as to the future
fate Of the mangled, crushed, burned,
manned humanity that did not merci-
fully die. In the feverish horror of 1T
all, as the work of searching the ruins
went on and dense throngs of curiosity
seekers choked all the district, John
Gordon was aware of one prominent
figure that was apparently omnipres-
ent-Tommy Randall. He was ON hand,
eheerfully encouraging those who had
lost everything. securing temporary