The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1903-08-13


40 he tolls on bearing human woes On
his brave and bleeding heart.
The child suddenly disappeared. and
In her place could be seen two men and
. woman flehting like Wild beasts for
the nrst chance ut the ladder which
rested on the sill. A fireman was climb
ing up and had almost reached the
4 maddened fghtersL At the other win
dows wild, ,imploring faces begged IN
agony for life. Two more forms were
seen to jump from the windows at the
corner farthest from the ladder. The
Ore was now bursting through the root,
and one group from the window next
/ the lighters above the ladder fell back
rs II floor had given way-all this In
! ths few seconds It took to be burned
into Gordon with awful detail-when he
saw the ladder rise to n perpendicular
Ss II some giant hand had pushed 1t
back. 1t rose until II stood straight, the
solitary figure of the fireman silhouet-
ted against the blazing wall. and then
the eutire front OF the house. with u
roar that gathered volume I'm a sicken-
Ing rush of death. fell over into the
street, burying In one mingled mass the
fireman who had been standing on the
ladder. his companion nj the foot and
the crowd In the street that. caught in
trap, could not escape even II there
had been time TO give warning of the
danger.
For one awful second Gordon and
Barton. who had been standing Just
! outside the reach OF the falling wall.
looked into the blazing interior of the
tenement. Figures within that roaring
furnace lcaped down into II from floors
! and window lodges. Others Jumped In.
to the street. They looked like great
! insects leaping into Jets of flame. Thea
with dcafcnlng crash the remaining
side walls fell inward. The rear wall
/ remained standing for. n minute, then
swayod and crashed backward upon
the lower buildings behind. where at
/ once fire broke out in n dozen places
| To the friends II seemed us If the air
suddenly filed with groans, with ap.
peals, with cries that were like curses
like walls Of spirits that had been de-
MED all earthly happiness and by the
greed Of selfish man had now been con-
signed to endless torments in the
other world, there to be subject to the
furies' rage, to the ceaselcss suffering
that earth had begun and hell existed
to perpetuate.
And oh, for you, little child of tho
tenements Namcless heroine crushed
into shapeless form Of horror. still
faithful to- your charge, both going
down together into that grave Of fire.
who shall deliver your eulogy, who
shall rear your monument! For one
among those who leaped into the street
lived long enough to tell your story
and to say that you ran back into the
burning building to warn sleeping in
mates and then was snatched away
from the window. from the only place
Of possible rescue. by the very men and
women wakened out Of suffocating
death. II there is reward or .compen-
satlon In the world beyond. the gOUG
God has surely folded you into the
vale Of pleasure, into the paradise Of
childhoods playground, that eternity
will provide. For you never knew
what play meant here.
As the rear wall fell, crushing in the
roofs Of the smaller houses near and
spreading the fire into the adjoining
blocks David Barton gripped John Cor
don's arm tight and exclaimed: "The
wind is changing! Hope House will go
nextv'
They were on the corner next to Hope
House. and the horror of the whole sit
uation was suddenly intensified il pos
sible oy the danger which now threat
ened the one building in the whole
ward that represented humanity at its
best. The wind had changed TO the
east. The rain was increasing. It game
down in steady cold that had no e.
feet on the fire except apparently to
increase its fury. The awful confusion
), was increasing every moment. The
alarm had been sent In for the entire
department. In almost seconds time
the mass of low OGDEN tenements that
stood crowded together on both sides
Of Hope House was bursting with fire.
The maddened panic smitten people
were carrying their goods out into the
streets. Under the shapeless mass Of
hot bricks and twisted iron beams In
Bowen street human forms could be
seen-here face staring up, here q
hand, a foot, u trunk Of fOrmless hor-
rW. The whole pile seemed writing.
tangled heap o: human agony. Groans
and cries burst from 1t that were ap-
palling. The mass had fallen 10 near
to the two men that some OF the bricks
lay at their feet Before either realized
what be was doing they were both dig
ong At the ghastly mound, Hope House
forgotten for the time being. Their
hands were burned and torn by the hot
bricks and splintered beams. Barton
especially seemed inspired with unusu-
al strength. He was drenched TO the
skin. His light 0verc0at was soon a
mass Of tsttered rags. He was lifting
O beam that lay across figure that