The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-05-21
TRAGEDY AND HEROlSM INSEP.ARABIE

Every great catastrophe develops heroisnls that arc as
deserving as was Gettysburg. OF eulogy as !mmorta! as
that OF Lincoln or OF rhymed fame comparable 10 the
deathless lines OF Tennvson over the charge o. the Light
Brigade. Human nature never fails TO respond with sen
sacrifice in the presence Of appalling disaster. Catas-
trophies arc a blend Of horror and the epic. The ptlao!e
victim is Offset by the valiant hero. The glcam Of nob!l-
ity flashes out OF the pail OF tragedy.
The Cleveland disaster was a notable instance OF the
play OF this reaction. Not all OF the 10 - loo Who 1851
their lives III the disaster were direct victims. Some ct
them were sacrifices to the caiyalric instinct when
braves death to save another from pain OF suffering or
death. These latter laid down their lives TO save those
OF strangers, il that type Of heroism that has become
trite on the background Of ali great catastropnes.
The extreme Ecroisna shown in the Cleveland disaster
b. the men and women who did what they could to res
cue the helpless patients OF the clinic from a pltiful fate
shines like a beacon out Of the darkness OF the tragedy.
Fircmen dashed into the building to get those who
were trapped in 1t to safety.
1t wasn't a nice assignment. Flames were fighting for
possession OF the walls. Down in the basement, where
huge quantities of chemicals were stored, it was suspected
that another explosion was being generated. Halls and
rooms we're filled with a hazy yellow gas-impalpable. al
most invisible, but very deadly. Those who breathcd 1t
either collapsed where they stood, or lived for a brief
while and then, without warning, turned a horrible green
color and died.
Into this sort of thing went the firemcn and the po-
lice. One policeman carried out 20 people before the gas
he had inhaled made him drop unconscious. They took
him to a hospital where he died.
A dozen firemen followed him to the hospital shortly
after. Some OF them lived and some of them died.
Girlish nurses, anonymously dainty in their white uni
forms, were caught in the building when fire and gas
rIogged tn, stairways. They calmly went to work helping
drag the victims to the roof, where they practiced first
aid methods and saved many lives.
A taxi-driver left his cab and struggled into the build
ing, working beside the fircmen until overcome by the
gas.
A world famous physician persisted in going into the
building to minister to the sufferers until he, too, col
lapsed. He died a fe7 hours later, victim of his own un-
selfish bravery.
One of the nurses Of the institution, off duty, was
downtown. She heard Of the tragedy, TAXED to the scene
and went into the building to help revive those who were
lying unconscious in the gas-fiLed chambers and cor
ridors.
Al incredibly long list of cases like that could be made
out. Yet this story of the disaster at Cleveland is not,
in that respect, in any way unusual. Every great catas-
and gallant self-sacrifice.
The plain fact is that the human race is pretty admi-
rable. No matter what the emergency, there will always
be some to respond nobly. Sometimes it is a fireman or
a policeman, paid for risking his life; sometimes it is a
cab driver, a nurse, a doctor, a street cleaner, a mechanic.
a housewife. Heroism can be found everywhere. It never
fails.