The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-07-11

~ " nc was SAOPtllS LIS way Up
&02% the stairs of Rowe & Co. IS
warehouse steel maui in one
hand and in the other suffering
lantern, which seemed a dim spark in
the binding smoke, sudden deafen-
ing roar sounded through the cavern
Gus halls, accompanied by the crash of
timber and the tinkle of broken glass.
And then bis first thought was to get
70 the street as quickly as possible.
indeed. so great was his anxiety to
leave the building that in his mad
hight down the stairs he crashed into
dLleutenant MeGiIl, of 3d. who was as
cending just behind him.
Il Cogcoran weighed 100 pounds, and
McGill was a why little man. The
pair crashed into FIVE of 33's hosemen,
who were dragging up a line Of hose in
The lleutenant's wake, and all seven
went down the fight in heap.
When they had untangled them
selves, and the lieutenant was angrily
lnquiring what had happened. some of
Ladder 6S's men, who had seen the
whole affair, came down and grabbed
the fabby hose which 33's men were
picking up.
And as they tugged and grunted they
scornfuIly explained the matter
All might have been forgiven him
had the explosion been near enough to
blow him off his feet, but it had been
on the seventh floor, while Corcoran
was ascending to the third. It had
been, moreover, Of no real consequence
merely a couple Of doors blown off
the elevator shaft and a few windows
broken.
From that moment the persecution
Of Ladderman Corcoran began. He did
not realize that he was not the first
man to finch from hot air explosion;
he did not know that countless green
men before him, who had been guilty
Of q similar mistake. had become in
time exemplary members of the de-
partment, In the jokes at his expense,
and in the coarse laughter they inva-
riably provoked, Corcoran saw only the
richly merited scorn of objectionable
cowardice.
II Corcoran came up stairs in the af-
5ternqsHe w1ile the men We're loafng or
playing cards, the witticisms at his
Txpense were particularly biting.
z flake care there Larryr' Mccarthy
would call to Began Keep away
'gfrom the stairs, lad. He'll be coastin
Down on ye, same's he did on McGillp
Or Began would call out to old Fin
neran. with unnecessary emphasis:
"Cut out them sneezes, TIM Yell
be stampedin' Corcoranr'
And Corcoran would turn red to the
roots Of his hair and bite his lips as le
turned angrily on his heel
Foremost of his tormentors was his
own cousin. Dan Kennedy, an older
man. Dan had a quick wit and bit
ing tongue, and the fact that one Of
his kin should prove unequal to an
emergency lent a more scathing scorn
to his words. There had been nothing
too harsh for him to say to Corcoran
since the warehouse fire.
Day by day Corcoran grew silent,
moody and morose. He ceased to flush
at the taunts of the men, and when he
looked at them his eyes took ON a
strange, sullens glitter of hatred.
The Taper over the desk in G8's
house sounded the alarm from SO.
Now SO is box that generally means
business, and when it is sounded every
man in the department knows that
trouble is imminent, for SO is in the
heart of the lumber yard district. and
lumber yard fire is generally blaz-
y3ng furnace before the first piece of APP
5sDaratus on the scene has time to I'M
Timber
Began, whose trick at the desk it
was, shouted to the men up stairs,
1873, boysl" as he mechanically re-
corded the number on the sheet.
Il Corcoran, sitting by the window, list
dned to the grumbling from the men
that dangerous box always brought
forth. He heard Lieutenant Reilly
and Began, arguing good naturedly as
TO the probability of a second alarm.
Kennedy came to the window with a
blank in one hand and a pen in the
other.
"S3's in" be said, leering at Cor
coran. "We thought, perhaps, ye'd be
wislin to resign"
Corcoran felt the hot blood rush to
his face but he bit his lip and looked
steadily out of the window.
Kennedy turned deprecatingly to the
Others in the room.
HE says he'd be glad to. boys, but
he needs the money, and maybe there
won't be another alarm. He's goin'
to risk it.
This bit of buffoonry was greeted
with a chuckle. At that moment the
second alarm came in.
fThere was d sound of bustling below
as the horses were hitched up to await
1 the possibility of third alarm IT'S
US for So, all rights growled Finneran,
and hardly were the words out when
4he third alarm came in and the men
rushed to the room below. And as 0s
wheeled out into the streets in the gray
February twilight there chung to the
side step silent, sullen Joung man
named Corcoran
The fire, even at a first glance
showed itself to be a very serious one
The yard seemed one great mass Of
fame. which rose many feet in the all
and lighted up the wintry sky with an
angry. wicked red.
AS 6S drew up and numbered the
lIoarse hum OF many pumping engines
4i1,r .t~;t3o,,f ~bot1fQ If Nos,4,,,or1 =. :