The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-16

roof, screamed imploringly. The
 roaring and screaming of the caged beasts. mingled with their cries. Thousands on the streets below shouted. Cracking flames and
 the hiss of water added to the bedlam.
 During the first hour of horror and hysteria an occasional body plunged from q window and tum- bled grotesquelx to the street. Bremen made their way later up
 ladders and pompiers hung from windows.
 Police and soldiers in the streets,
 had difficulty holding back anxious thousands, including relatives of clerks and customers. Green-clad troops of the Im- perial Japanese army, bayonets
 fixed on rifles, aided police. Emperor Hirohito's bodyguards
 rushed to the scene. Telephone operators on upper floors pleaded with others in the central office to send more help. Although Tokio is Buddhist city, native and white Christians observe the Christmas spirit well. The store was gaily decorated. The Shirokiya-translated it means white wood store-was one of the largest in the Orient, with
 branches in all the principle cities of Japan.
 Few New York stores could ri- val it's splendor.
 A great golden rotunda: wide, gentle stairways; magnificent gal- leries, dazzling cut-class chande- i la H.s,n vru, ,sk nf tte O ysat tftnArnn A golden image of Kwannon was found 270 years ago while well was being dug in the basement. |. Pure water was found in unfail-
 ing volume.
 The image was enshrined in the basement. The spring water still gushes from two bronze dragon heads, into round wellhead. The overflow splashes into an outer cir- cle of stone. Supporting pillars reach the ceiling.
 Copyright, 1882, by United Press) Tokio, December 16 - (UP) =. A pretty, black-haired salesgiri told today how a peculiar device known as a lifesack saved many screaming and panic-stricken per- sons trapped in fire which devas- tated part of the great Shirokiya department store.
 The sales girl, Shomoko Kame- yama, who was working in the toy department, and NinZo Yamada, one of the store directors. said the 1900 well-trained employees of the store-who have fire drill weekly worked heroically to save many lives.
 When the fire started, the em- ployes ran to their stations and pulled from under counters the | lifesacks with which to lower cus- toners to the street below. The so-called lifesacks are long canvass chutes which are thrown across the street from upstairs windows of the store, making a l45-degree angle down which sur vivors may slide to safety. We lowered many in the life-
 sacks" said Miss Kameyanin,
 although many women customers
 baked and ran to the roof instead. We have weekly fire drills and
 knew that 1t was perfectly safe in
 the chutes." | Yamada said many of the clerks
 and assistants would be honored
 for their cool headed. systematic
 work in aiding frantic women
 shoppers { osafety.
 "The fire started while someone
 was attaching electric lights to 2
 large Christmas tree on the third
 floor" Miss Kameyama said.
 "The wire broke. Sparks set fire to celluloid decorations on the
 tree. Almost instantly flames shot
 up and the big tree was @ ball of fire.
 Nearby was a huge table. loaded
 down with thousands of celluloid
 toys. The exploded.
 "We had to run at top speed to
 escape, so quickly did the flames
 leap from counter to counter. The
 smoke and fumes from the burn
 ing toys was suffocating and made
 1t impossible for persons on the
 floors above us to descend the
 stairways. We could hear womer
 screaming and children crying
 everywhere"