Saved Three Lives.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 7 August 1914, Page 2

Saved Three Lives.

Not long ago a fire broke out in Dublin in a building containing much old wood. The flames made such rapid progress that the firemen ! had to retreat. Just as. they came out of the burning building- three men were seen standing on the win-dow-ledge. The firemen got ladders up, but they were too short. A little shoeblack in the crowil divined how they could be rescued. The burning house was connected by a tele-graph-wire with a pole on the opposite side of the street. Snatching up a fireman's axe, the boy began to climb the pole. Slowly but surely he mounted to the crossbars, while the crowd watched with breathless interest. With a blow of his axe he broke the wire leading to the top of the burning house. The broken wire dropped right belovv the window where the men were standing, almost suffocated by the force of smoke from the fire in the room. Clutching the improvised rope, the first man lowered himself until he reached the ladder and safety. Quickly the others copied his example, and the shoeblack's heroism had saved three mon's lives.