Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-03-02

Blane starts IN CupoloA
The blaze, starting in the cupoiA. ~
caused by crossed electric wires n
must have been smoulderfng for knlk
an hour or more, when two sisters
who slept among the pupils on The floor
just below were aroused by the dense.
choking smoke. Instantly they realised
the frightful peril to the seventy seven
sleeping girls and boys and to the nfty
sisters sleeping also throughout the
building
The two sisters knew that the build
ing was so crowded with pupils that
every bedroom on each Of the two
dormitory floors was filed They knew
that If a panic came there would not
be one chance IN ffty of half the girls
escaping, and with the blaze already
licking down toward them from the
cupola they proved themselves heroines
then and there.
One of the sisters quietly closed thu
door that led from the upper dormitory
to the roof and stood guard outside
1t while the other sister with Noise
less footballs hurried downstairs TO
arouse Father John Francis Baldwin.
the chaplain of the college, and the
OuAy lldn III the pul1ulnH.
Sisters and Students Awakened.
As they passed quickly upstairs again
they were met by Mother Cecilia. the
superior of the college. whom some in
stinct of danger had aroused. The
chaplain and the mother superior took
instant command. Sisters, awakened
quietly and informed of the peril Of
the fire, went into the dormitoriea.
turned on the lights, aroused the sleep
ing girls gently one by one and told
them to form quickly IN the ire-drill
line and march from the rooms In
single file. First out were the girls
from the third floor, nearest the spot
where the flames were now spreadinG
from the cupola to all parts Of the
roof
Clothed Only In Nightgowns.
When they were safe on the floors
below the pupils on the second floor
followed them, nearly all clothed IL
nightgowns. none completely dressed
But there was not the first sign OF .
panic and ten minutes after the
discovery OF the flames all the girls
and all the sisters were out Of peril on
the ground floor. The sisters then
went back to the roof, where Father
Baldwin and the mother superior were
making a gallant but futile hight
against the increasing flames. An
alarm had beer sent in by telephones
to the Plainfield firemen. but they sent
II along 10 North Plainfield, instead Of
answering at once, and so II was more
than half an hour before the fret a
the compares arrived
Father baldwin Led Fire Flight
But the college authorities themselves
were not entirely helpless. Fathet
Baldwin summoned three men who
work upon the grounds. and they
dragged three lines of hose to the third
floor, hit1hed them to the pipes that
led in from the s5 j0o-gallon reservoir
and turned the torrent of water on the
flames that mad now eaten through the
roof and were already licking up ths
beds and clothing in the topmost dor
mitories, from which twenty girls had
marched out less than five minutes
before.
Sisters Joined them in their gallant
fight training the hose with their own
hands and then rushing into the very
thick of the fire with the chemical ex-
tinguishers. which they turned loose
upon It. For a time il seemed that they
would win the battle and save the
building. AT this point more than a
dozen of the girl pupils. who had beon
herded together on the ground door.
axht. and mounting IT, stairl ~