Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1909-01-15

likewise made a sensational escape. Nc
Nall was sleeping in a room on the third
floor in the front part of the building. In
the room with him was suitcase CON
tanning $4,000 of Kansas municipal
bonds. the property of a fraternaI or
ganization and just purchased for it by
a committee of which McNalI was a
member. McNall waited patiently in
the front window of his room while the
fireman and spectators below were MAX
ing frantic efforts to get a ladder up to
the window. The first ladder was too
shart. A fireman had in the meantime
reached a fire escape ten feet from the
window ledge. There he waited until
another ladder was sent up to him.
Holding this across the gap, the fireman
supported McNal while the latter
climbed to the first ladder, and to safety.
McNall first had thrown his treasured
suitcase to the ground. Mr.. McNal
said:
Il guess I was lucky all right. I was
one Of the first ones out of the build
ing and | saved all the bonds | had in
my grip. All l lost was a little cloth
ing"
Hangs from Window Ledge.
Thomas Benton Murdoch. the veteran
editor of the EldoradO Republican, oc-
cupied a room on the south side of the
fourth floor. AS soon as he was awak-
door to the hallway but when cloud of
smoke poured into the room, he closed
the door quickly and climbed out of the
window. Once outside he pulled down
the window to prevent being suffocated
by the smoke and hung suspended from
the ledge. Soon his roommate handed
a blanket out of the window. Down
this improvised ladder Editor Murdoch
slid, finally dropping to the roof of an
adjoining building. He was not hurt.
Is Carried Down Ladder.
Ex-Gov. c. W. Flick was carried
down a ladder from the third floor and
escaped without injury.
Mayor \. NJ. Fuller. assistant post
master of Topeka, escaped injury by
climbing down a fire escape from the
fourth floor. He was clad only in his
night robe and was unable to save any
OF his belongings EXState Senator
Lamb of Hale's Center had miraculous
escape. Senator Lamb was on the third
floor. He tied two sheets together and
let himself down past the second floor.
From there he dropped. The fall broke
his right wrist.
w. Y. Morgan, a member of the Legis-
Islature and editor of the Hutchinson
News. and his wife were among the
guests. Both escaped with their lives,
but Mrs. Morgan sustained a painful in
jury.
Describes Their Escape.
Mr.. Morgan later said:
Mrs. Morgan and myself were in the
southeast corner, on the fourth floor.
When we awoke the rooms and the halls
were filled with smoke and flames. 1t
was impossible to escape through the
hall and there was no fire escape at our
windows. | secured a blanket and as l
held 1t out of the window, Mrs. Morgan
slipped down it to The room of an adj
joining building, one floor below ours. [
followed her. jumping. From the roof
we reached the ground by means of a
ladder. Mrs. Morgan's ankle was brok-
en- by the fall to the roof, but she is
resting easily. l was uninjured. The
hall was crowded with guests and it is
a mtcracle that many did not lose their
lives"
l. e. Lambert, of Emporia, who is be-
heved to have been burned to death,
and whose body probably is in the ruins,
was one of the best known men in the
state. For eight years he was postmas-
ter at EmpOria and for four years he
was United States district attorney for
the eastern district of Kansas.