The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-05-21
PAIR NEARLY LOSE
LIVES IN FIRE
At 8 A. N.
DR.. J. J. PERRY AND WIFE WAkEN
TO FIND HOUSE IN FLAMES;
GRoPE WAY TO WINDOW AND
FIREMEN SAVE THEM.
"My God. we're all afire. "

my God. we're all afire"
This exclamation broke from the
lips OF Mrs. ]. j. Perry, the handsome
young wife OF DR.. j. j. Perry. dentist
on the second floor at No. 2S6 Wood
ward-ave.. when she awoke. about 3
o'clock Thursday morning and saw.
through the open door OF her bed
room, flames sweeping the hallway.
The bed chamber and in fact all the
rooms were already dense with smoke
and Mrs. Perry reused her sleepy hus-
band with difficulty. When he did
awake he gave one bound out OF bed
and rushing into the hall was met b.
a burst of flame that drove him back
into the bedroom and nearly stifed
him.
Mr.. and Mrs. Perry then CROPPED
their way through a passage used "a
a closet, connecting the bedroom with
the parlor. and thence into the doc
tors public reception room In the
front OF the apartments. A window
overlooking the alley was partly open.
To this they made their way slowly
and, throwing II up with a supreme
effort, Mrs. Perry was about TO leap
from 1t to the cobble stones below
At the same instant Mrs. Perry
caught glimpse of passing police
man and shouted fire" at the top OF
her voice. The officer at once turned
in an alarm and within three minutes.
at the outside. engine company No. 3.
Clifford and Griswold-sts.. was on
hand.
Minutes Of Waiting ssem Eternity.
To DR.. and Mrs. Perry. standing IN
the window. those three minutes seem
ed an eternity. Every instant the
heat was growing more intense, until
II became almost uncomfortable, and
they kept from suffocating only by
leaning far out OF the opening. Moro
than once they were tempted to jump
and take their chances, but persons
who had congregated below warned
them to wait the arrival of the fire de-
partment. Presently the firemen APP
peared. A ladder was run up and Mr..
and Mrs. Perry, both attired in their
night clothes descended. For several
minutes, after being rescued, DR.. Per-
ry ran excitedly about In his night
robe. Then he recalled that he had
dropped his trousers out Of the win
dow and lost no time in getting into
them. Mrs. Perry was taken to the
Avenue hotel.
The fire started In the doctors lab
oratory, three doors down the hall
from the bedroom and defective wiring
Is believed to have been responsible.
The fire started sometime after l
o'clock for Dr. Perry was up at that
time and found nothing wrong.
Mrs. Perry Heroine.
Mrs. Perry was the heroine OF the
occasion In more ways than one But
for her forethought there would have
been no escape by the closet passage
way. They moved into their present
location less than two weeks ago and
one OF the first things Mrs. Perry no.
ticed was that there was no door con-
Meeting the closet with the bedroom.
Instead the closet was accessible only
from the parlor, which had formerly
been used as bedroom. Mrs. Perry
would not rest until door was cut,
between the closet and her bed cham
ber To this fact the Perrys probably
owe their lives, for had they been
forced to go through the hall in search
OF the stairway 1t Is doubtful II they
would have survived.
The loss to the building is not great,
the fire being confined chiefly to the
The furnishings are bad
ly damaged by smoke and water, how
ever Mrs. Ada Johnson, her 2.year-
old daughter, and Miss King, a room
er, were driven out of the adjoining
fiat by the smoke, but they we're In
no peril and were able to take their
time.