Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-02-27

place to let them pass on. A woman,
most probably his wife. attempted to
follow him. She was leading a little
boy by the hand. But the husband
commanded her sternly to go on, while
others laid hands on her and re.
strained her frcm following him. This
/ saw, and saw the man also. with
his scarlet blaze OF face, step into a
doorway on the opposite side Of the
street. heard the report of his pis.
toll, and saw him sink lifeless to the
ground.
! After being turned aside twice
again by advancing fires, succeeded
in getting through to the university.
On the edge Of the campus / came up
on q party ofiuniversity folk who were
going I'm the direction of the Chemis-
try building. They were all family
men, and their families were with
them, including the nurses and the
servants. Professor Badminton greet.
ed me, and had difficulty in recog
nizing him. Somewhere he had gone
through flames. and his beard was
singed OF About his head was a
bloody bandage. and his clothes were
filthy. He told me he had been cruel
ly beaten by providers, and that his
brother had been killed the previous
night, in the defense Of their dwell
ing.
Midway across the campus, he
pointed suddenly to Mrs. Swinton's
face. The unmistakable scarlet was
there. Immediately all the other wom-
en- set up screaming and began to
run away from her. Her two children
were with a nurse, and these also ran
with the women. But her husband,
Doctor Swinton. remained with her.
"'Go on, Smith, he told me. Keep
an eye on the children. AS for me, l
shall stay with my wife. know she
is as already dead. but can't leave
her. Afterward, il / escape. shall
come to the Chemistry building. and
do you watch for me and let me In
II left him bending over his wife
and soothing her last moments, while
l ran to overtake the party. We were
the last to be admitted to the Chemis.
try building. After that, with our au'
tomato rifles we maintained our iso-
lation. BY our plan we had arranged
for company of sixty to be in this
refuge. Instead, every one of the num-
Der originally planned had added rela.
tives and friends and whole families
until there were over four hundred
souls. But the Chemistry building was
large. and. standing by itself. was in
no danger OF being burned by the
great fires that ragged everywhere In
the city.
"a large quantity Of provisions had
been gathered, and food committee
took charge of it. issuing rations daily
to the various families and groups that
arranged themselves into massss. a
number Of committees were appointed.
and we developed very efficient or
ganization. was on the committee OF
defense. though for the first day no
providers came near. We could see
them in the distance, however, and by
the smoke Of their fires knew that
several camps Of them were occupying
the far edge Of the campus. Drunken
ness was rife. and often we heard
them singing ribald songs or insanely
shouting. While the world crashed to
ruin about them and all the air was
filled with the smoke Of its burning.
these low creatures gave rein to their
bestiality and fought and drank and
died. And after all. what did It mat
ter? Everybody died anyway. the
good and the bad, the eacient ana
the weak. those that loved to live
and those that scorned to live. They
passed Everything passed.
tTo Be cont,rusd.)