The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-02-06
CHAPTER VII.

Il
IL cboked Bowen street
with a mass Of up
turned white faces touched with the
glow of fire it seemed as II the COM
pany was unusually slow. Before the
ladders had reached a perpendicular,
before they had trembled. swaying
over toward the building, dozen faces
appeared at the upper windows beside
the child with her charge. beckoning
frantically for help.
"See! See therer' Barton cried again
with the same nervous tension which
he had shown since leaving his rooms
A figure leaped out of the upper win
dow. whirled over twice, striking the
upper extension of the ladders, and fell
into the street. The crowd groaned.
A second figure stood out on window
sill and, throwing up its arms. with a
shrfll cry more beastly than human.
flung itself out toward the ladders now
leaning over toward the building. Ii
| was a woman She actually touched
| one of the ladder rounds with her I'm
gers and for a second the crowd
thought she had grasped 1t. but for
only a second. The body shot down.
ward, and Barton and Gordon closed
| their eyes and involuntarily put their
hands up over their ears to shut out the
horrible sound. Again the crowd
groaned. and a wild beast yell arose.
THE life blanketr' some one Shrek
ed. and it was only after the whole
thing was history that Bowen street
learned that owing to the narrow
| courts and the broken pavements the
department was fatally hindered in all
| its movements and the wagon carrying
the life blanket mad overturned at a
corner, killing the driver and manning
one of the horses so that il had to be
shot. Make out another indictment for
murder against a municipality which
deliberately robs the people Of its
rights in order to keep the wheels of
the political machine moving What
are human lives compared with the
spoils of Office and the plunder that is a
part of political service to the powers
THAT be?
The ladder fell over and touched the
window sill where the child Of the
ltenements was standing with her bur
lden, and then scene occurred that
will never leave John Gordon as lonl
as he tolls on bearing human woes or
his brave and bleeding heart
The child suddenly disappeared, an6
In her place could be seen two men ant
a woman fighting like wild beasts fol
the first chance at the ladder which
lrested on the SILL A fireman was climb
ling up and had almost reached tb'
lmaddened fighters. At the other win
Idows wild. imploring faces begged II
Iagony for life. Two more forms wer
seen to jump from the windows at tn
Icorner farthest from the ladder. Tn
fire was now bursting through the root
and one group from the window mex
the fighters above the ladder fell bacl
as if floor had given way-all this il
/ the few seconds il took to be burne,
into Gordon with awful detail-when b
saw the ladder rise to Il perpendicular
las il some giant hand had pushed
back. 1t rose until it stood straight, tn
solitary figure of the fireman silhouet
ted against the blazing wall. and the
the entire front of the house, with
) roar that gathered volume in a sickeI
ing rush Of death, fell over into th
street, burying In one mingled mass n
fireman who had been standing on th
ladder, his companion at the foot an
the crowd in the street that. caught
n trap, could not escape even il ther
had been time to give warning Of ii
danger.
For one awful second Gordon al
Barton, who had been standing ju
outside the reach of the falling wa
looked into the blazing interior Of Il
tenement Figures within that roariI
furnace leaped down into it from fioo
and window lodges. Others jumped
to the street. They looked like gre
insects leaping into jets Of flame. Tn,
with a deafenins crash the remainiI
side walls fell inward. The rear WI
remained standing for a minute. thu
swayed and crashed backward up'
the lower buildings behind, where
once fire broke out in a dozen place
To the friends II seemed as IL the q
suddenly filed with grOans. with a
peals, with cries that were like ours,
like walls of spirits that had been 4
MED all earthly happiness and by Z
greed of selfish man had now been CO
signed to endless torments in I
other world. there to be subject to I
furies' rage. to the ceaseless sufferi
that earth had begun and hell exist
to perpetuate.
And oh, for you little child Of
tenements, Nameless heroine. crush
into shapeless form of horror. 81
faithful to your charge. both goi
down together into that grave OF n
who shall deliver your eulogy, W
shall rear your monumentf For
among those who leaped into the STR
lived long enough to tell your ste
and to say that you ran back into
burning building to warn sleeping
mates and then was snatched aw
from the window. from the only pli
Of possible rescue. by the very men a
women wakened out OF sunocati
dsath- Ii there Ii reward or comp'