The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-26
Mrs. Alfred Bell Braves
Death to Rescue Child.
Ten Persons Have Narrow Escape
From Being Cremated Early Yes.
terday Morning.
wAKENED from their sleep. half


South Fifth East street, had a narrow
escape from cremation yesterday morn
ing. All but one of the inmates of the
house sustained more or less severe
burns. and it was only the heroism OF
mother in Drawing death in a wall of
fire that saved her sleeping babe from
being cremated alive. Finding the
babe missing she ran through a hall
seething with flames, clasped the little
one to her breast, and dashing through
the flames again, jumped out of a win
dow TO low roof and saved the child.
The baby, who had the narrowest es-
cape of all, was the only one to escape
without burn While the flames
cracked in the hall and licked at the
bed room doors, the other children
were grabbed from their beds and in
the excitement We're thrown through
window upon the Kitchen roof, from
which they escaped by ladder.
The older ones barely had time to
get the children out and then save
themselves by running through the
flames. Escaping in their night clothes,
they stood barefooted in the cold and
snow until neighbors took them in
Scarcely a piece of furniture was saved
from thu house The latter was about
half destroyed before the fire depart
ment could extinguish the flames.
Their Lives Imperiled.
Those who escaped from the fire are
Mr.. and Mrs. Alfred Bell and four
children, Royal MOrril. Gordon and
Calvert, a 6-months-old baby; Miss
Susie Clark, Miss Daisy Clark, Mr.. and
Mrs. Robert McKendrick. Mr.. and
Mrs. Bell sustained the most severe
injuries The former had his head,
hands and ears badly burned and sus-
tanned an injury to his back by falling
from the kitchen roof in a faint. Mrs.
Bell had her face badly blistered, her
hair singed and her hands burned.
The injuries of neither are considered
serious The others escaped with only
slight scratches.
The fire, it is believed, started ABOUT
4 o'clock in the morning, and was dis
covered about 5:45. Its origin is not
known, but it is believed to have been
the result of mice gnawing matches
stored under the stairway. The fire
evidently started in the closet under
the stairs and followed them to the up
per part Of the house.
At o'clock in the morning, Mr.. Bell
as is his usual custom. went down
stairs and lighted the fires in the
kitchen range and the heater. At the
time he noticed a cracking noise in
the cellar, but thought it was mice and
paid no attention to it. After lighting
the fires he returned to bed and
dropped to sleep. About 5:45 Miss SUI
sic Clark was awakened by a sensu-
ton of suffOcation and found her room
stified with the smoke, but staggered
10 her feet and called Mr.. Bell. The
latter rushed out of his room, and find
ing the hall full of smoke, rushed down
stairs to see If the stoves were smok-
inS.
House Full of Smoke.
1.-THE lower hall was dense with
smoke said Mr.. Bell yesterday, and
I opened the front door to get Some
air. AS 1 did so it seemed to me that
the whole lower part of the house
burst into flames. The heat was in
tense and the fire seemed to be climb
ing up the stairs. 1 tried to get to the
telephone to turn in an alarm. and
burned my face in doing it, but the
heat was so intense 1 could not tele-
phone. 1 awakened Mr.. and Mrs. Nc
kendrick, who were sleeping down.
stairs, and then rushed up the steps
to save the rest of the family.
AT the head of the stairway I met
one of the girls, and she insisted on
rushing down. I had to grab her up
in my arms and force her back, for
the flames were so fierce on the first
floor that she would have been burned
To death had she gone down. 1 had
hardly gotten up the stairs wheE they
caved in. and all means of escape that
way was shut off.
The flames had already begun to
lick at the doorways in the upper hall,
ana elSnL OF the IdHllF were IN ROOMS
there. The girls were already aroused
and my wife and l grabbed the chill
dren from their beds and rushed with
them TO the bathroom over the kitchen.
We had to pass so close to the Games
that every one of US got scorched and
Einged. threw one of the boys
through the window onto the roof and
put the others through as fast as II
could.
Baby Was Missed.
Then the girls and my wife scram-
bled through. We were just thinking
that we were all safe when we missed
the baby. Between the bath room win |
dow and the room where the baby
slept IL looked as If there were nothing |
but flames. ] threw towel around my
head and started towards the room, |
but the towel caught fire and my wife |
rushed by me into the fiames''
With the tongues of flame licking at
her hair and night clothes, Mrs Bell, 1
without a thought OF her own danger, |
rushed through the flames and broke 1
into the room where her baby slept. !
The room was so full of smoke she |
could not see, and in her excite ment |
seized a bundle that she thought was |
the baby. Back through the f1a mes |
she rushed With eager excitement |
she looked into the bundle Of bed |
clothes but was Mortified to find the |
ba by was not there. With her hair and |
night clothes on fire she again turned |
20 the flames and rushed back to the |
room. Wrapping the half-stified baby |
n a blanket. she clasped it to her bos- |
ON and back through the burning hall |
she ran. She jumped through the win /
dow and landed safely on the kitchen \
roof
Mr.. Bell. almost overcome by the
smoke and burning towel about his /
head, staggered through the window, |
and with his hands extinguished his /
wife's burning hair and night clothes. /
he had scarcely done so when, over !
come by the heat. he fell backwards IN /
a swOon and rolled from the top of /
the roof to the ground, some twelve or /
fourteen feet below. He was picked UP /
unconscious and carried to a nearby l
house.
Others Make Their Escape.
In the meantime Mr.. and Mrs. Nc !
Kendrick. who were sleeping on the i
first floor. had escaped through the /
front door by running through the I
flames in the hall. Mr.. McKendrsek |
got a ladder and raised it to the kitchen /
roof and the women and children We're
taken down safely. Barefooted and Ia /