A LIFE FOR AN OVERCOAT.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1062, 18 April 1882, Page 4

A LIFE FOR AN OVERCOAT.

The Daily Telegraph says:—Among the charred debris of humanity that lias been removed from the Ring Theatre, were the remains of Henry Samek, the chief of the claque, who after displaying extraordinary gallantry in rescuing several persons from the burning house, lost his life in vain effort to save —his overcoat! His thorough knowledge of the ins and outs of the theatre enabled him to enter it again andagain, each time with impunity and success, in his heoric purpose, while the conflagration was raging. He had just conveyed an insensible woman from one of the lobbies into the balcony overlooking the HessGasse, when he suddenly remembered that he had left his surtout hanging from a peg close to the exit from the bird gallery, in which part of the aouse had been seated when the fire broke out, and forwith resolved to recover it. tine of his subordinates entreated him to forego so perilous au enterprise, and endeavored to keep him back by main force. But Samek, an extremely powerful man, shook him off, exclaiming, “ Nothing can happen to me, for I know the house as well as my own pocket,” and vanished into the smoke never more to emerge thence alive. Thus perished the head purveyor of applause to the ill-fated Ring Theatre on the scene of his nightly labors. He died for a coat it is true ; but not until he had proved himself a hero in a better cause than that for which he threw away his life.