The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-04

feet above the highest point reached by
the ladder hotel guest stood on the
window sill. Flames were licking at hi:
the view of the spectators.
| OTooie saw him. He needed no order
from the Chief to go to the rescue. Ur
the ladder he climbed with the agility OF
squirrel No pers.n in the great crowd
! saw how O'Toole from the top of the
| ladder was going to aid that man so far
| above him. But O'Toole had figured /,
| out.
Reaching the Top of the ladder. OToole
| fastened his legs around the topnost
rounds; Then leaning as far back as pos
s;ble through the rear of the flames he
| shouted, Jump pointing at the same
time TO the space between himself and
| the ladder.
The command was obeyed The man
leaped and as O'Toole had intended
| O'Toole grabbed him quickly, balanced
himself. untwisted his legs from the lad
| der runrs and carried him down to safety.
Al! this time Hester was busy carrying
| unconscious servants from the burning
| building. O'Toole had given up this part
OF the work to rescue the man In such a
thrilling manner.
At the inquest later on the victims of
the fire. one of the servants said in her
testimony, relative to the heroic acts of
the fireman:
up the lad lers. but they were angels when
| they reached u.s.
Along in 1857 or 1883 oToole lost his life
I In "ten-dollar' blaze in cellar. With
hand extinguisher ne entered the base
ment to extinguish the blaze, telling his
companions that 1t was useless to unroil
the hose for such little fire. He barely
tinguisher exploded and killed him.
Hester retired from the company after
taking part in various other rescues.
FAMOUS ST NICHOLAS FIRE.
The st. Nicholas Hotel fire in 1882 Is an
| other of the memorable experiences of the
older members Of .he Fire Department
H. Clay Sexton was the Chief. No braver
leader was ever followed by firemen. He
took hazardous risks but, like the pres
ent Chief, would never ask his men to
himself. The fire occurred in January. 1t
Is said that few colder days have been
known IN st. Louis: 1t was about 4
o'clock In the morning when the blaze
ALI OF the guests got out safely. but
many of them were badly frostbitten be-
fore they reached other hostelries. The
The fire proved hard to handle and Kept
the boys" at work several hours.
The building was on Fourth street be-
tween Morgan and Franklin avenue.
Firemen actually froZe to the ladders
and their companions had to climb up to
them and chop them away The bands
and feet of the gallant fire-fghters stiff
ieIleo by tne cola gave them the most
excruciatine pain whenever they got near
the flames. but they worked bravely on
The waller froze almost as soon as 1t
came from the nozzles. Spray fell back
to the pavement and the street was a
river of ice.
At the edge of the sidewalk near the
hotel stood street lamp Water fell over
II and froze. until the lamp was soon COW
cred. The heat from the gas jet. however
kept hollow place around the lamp and
small hole remained in the ice. which
surrounded the lamp. through which the
fame could be seen burning for several
days. Ffremef say 1t is one of the most
peculiar incidents they have even known
In connection with fire
FIRES OF RECENT DATE.
In striking CONTRACT to the ST. Nicholas
fire was that on July 4. 1857. when Knapp
Stout & Co.'s lumber yards were Ge-
stroyed in North st. Louis. Here the fire.
men worked several days Many were
overcome by the heat, like their comrades
of 81 had succumbed to the cold. This
fire covered twelve acres OF ground and
destroyed hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth Of lumber, as well as many
buildings IN the vicinity.
One Of the hottest and most difficult
fires the st Louis boys" have had to
deal with was that which destroyed the
Cdell & Crunden Woodenware Company s
plant at Twelfth and Locust streets. Chief
Swingley says 1t was one of the most pic
tureeque blazes he has ever encountered.
As might be expected from such an es-
tHbilShment tho dre burned 6eecely. The