Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-02-10

| mont or n" Canadian INST ulNlSlon
through III" BATH. of ST. Julien n which
he was overcome with asphyAiating gas
! Colonel turrio at once organized into n
fire brigade members OF the House. tclc-
graph operators and police attendants.
vino laid several lines Of hose from a
supply kept coilod IN tn, corridors for
emergency p"rposcs They kept streams
or water playing Oh the flames, but
withou. apparent effect and soon were
driven back by the terrific heat.
Standing at the entrance of the read
Ing room when tho fire started were
Colonel George Bradbury, a member
for Manitoba, and Mcdric Martin. mayor
of Montreal, and member from that
city Near them was Constable Hell
mcr who was on guard at the en-
trance to the reading room. All three
assert the fire started from an en-
pl"sion which filled the reading room
with flames and burst open the swing
Ing doors, The force of the explosion
was so great that all Of them were
thrown flat ON the floor. In their opin-
! ion an explosive bomb or an Internal
machine was responsible for the fire.
SPEAKERS WIFE RESCUED
! Nine. SeviEny. wife of the speaker.
! her two children and three women
guests were in the speakers private
quarters on the same floor as the
chamber and reading room. They were
cut off from safety by a wall of flame
When fircmen reached Parliament Hill
they saw Nine. SevEny standing at a
window with her children in her arms
\ life mt was spread and into il the
speakers wife dropped her children. Then
she leapcd safely into tho net,
TWO WOMEN SUFFOCATED.
Nine. ScvignY's guests were Nine.
Bray Of Montreal. Nine. NORM Of Beauce
and Mime. Dussault of Quebec. The only
one of the three to escape was Nine Dus.
sault, who leaped in the tiremen's net
When fircmen reached the speakers
rooms they found Nine. Bray and Nine
NORM inscnsible. They were taken from
the building and physicians were sum.
moned who applied pulmotors in vain.
After a half hour the women were pro-
uounced dead.
The flames from tho Burning parliament
| building were seen two miles away at
Rideau Han, the residence Of the Duke
| of 'onnaught. governor-gen of
Canada, The duke summoned his house
|
officers invaded from the front. and
they motored swiftly into the city but
were unable 70 give any assistance The
| governor general sat in his closed car
and watched the destruction of the his
| toric building, the corncr- stone OF which
was laid in 1861 by his brother, King
Edward VII then Prime of Wales
| Sir Robert Borden made the following
| amour cement at midnight
| The House OF Commons will meet Fri
| day afternoon at three O'Clock. The
| place will be announced later"
| The premier said that the place would
be either III" Russell theatre or the gov.
eminent offices of the board of railway
| commissioners.
| Asked as to whether the session
would be adjourned the premier re-
piled that he and his colleagues had
not Yet considered the question.
MAYOR MARTINS STORY.
| 81 was on my way from the chamber
TO my room, which is.near the library"
said Mayor Martin of Montreal. in de-
scribinE his experiences IN the fire, land
had gone through the door Oh the east
side Of the House of Commons cnam-
Der. when heard an explosion Whetn-
ltI II Was caused DN spontaneous COM
huston or "a sudden fire among the
newspapers, l cannot say. but instantly
flames shot out from the reading room
and | realized that there was a blaze
My first thought was Of the fire eNtin-
guisher. which was nearby, but police
men were then endeavoring to press II
into service and turned, running into
the chamber.
II in ha
chair and every thing there was tranquil
| until de shed through the door and
| shouted I'ire-and big one ! turned
toward my room again, but by that time
the corridor was filed with smoke and
flames were beginning TO shoot toward
the chamber. | then cried for the mem
hers 10 get out and run around by room
10, giving the alarm there and escapnc
! into the open air. | saw them helping
one OF the ministers. 7 think it was Mr.
! Burrell, out of his room and later I saw
| Dr. Clarke who had been burned about
the face and hands. / escaped without a
| scratch.
MONT REAL BRIGADE RESPONDS.
II reached the hotel about al5 o'clock
ana Immediately put in an order for the
Montreal fire brigade. notified Chief
ifembiay 10 send as many men as pos
slple, taking this step AS a matter of
prudence | realized then that little of
the building could he saved, but feared
| that other fires would lIeak out. These
are serious times and tn" unexpected has
happened so often that I wished to have
| every protection possible
/ believe that all the members es-
capped There were only about fifty in
the chamber when I ran in and shouted
hre' Flames shot along the corridors
at an awful rate and it seemed Just a
rev seconds until the whole place was
black with smoke. making it Impossible
to see. There was not much confusion
on the floor Of the House and to this
many OF the members probably owe
their escape"
| HEARD EXPLOSION.
! w. Il. Bradbury was standing In the
main corridor OF the House of Com
mons near the postoffice when he heard
a crash and rushed along the CORRIDOR
toward the main entrance to the cham
Der