THE MILWAUKIE FIRE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1069, 13 February 1883, Page 3

THE MILWAUKIE FIRE.

At 3 a.m. on the 9th January an alarm of fire w*s given at Trevella New Hall Hotel, Milwaukio, in which there were 200 guests. In a moment ever window of the large six-storey structure was filled with struggling guests, frantically and piteously beseeching those below for assistance, which it was impossible to render. But few of the unfortunate inmates gained the front entrance, although many might have been saved if some immediate attempt at systematic rescue had been made. The halls of the hotel were scenes of the wildest confusion. Men, women and children rushed up and down the halls in dense suffocating smoke, avoiding the blinding flames and roaring blaze, and in their frantic efforts rushing by stairways and windows leading to the fire escape, and stumbling over bodieß lying unsconcious on the Garpeted walks, only to join them. The fire started apparently on the third floor of the building, over the side entrance of Michigan street, and btfore the department got the steamers in position the flames had enveloped the whole south-east corner of the building, the fierce element licking its way with rapidity towards the northern wing. The multitude, which by this time had swelled to thousands, stood in perfect awe, but few having self-possession and resolution enough to lend a helping hand on the canvases stretched out to receive those of the despairing inmites of the burning pyre who risked the leap down to the stone sido walk, 100 fee*-, below, at first only Lieutenant Rock wood, Detectives Keim andM'Manus, Officers O'Brien and Campbell, and a few sentinel mes stretching the heavy canvas which required fully 30 strong men to handle successfully. A poor fellow stood mi the cornice of the fifth storey window for twenty long minutes, not daring to take the fearful leap ; finally he became bewildered, and, to judge by his actions, dumbfounded by the smoke, and slid off his perch to the canvas below. The few who held it coulo not give the necessary assistance, and the body fell unhindered by the oanvao with a pull thud which

s-ent ;i shudder 11 rough every witness. The shattered body was curried into an office close by. While hundreds of people had been looking on nobody responded to the demands of the officers for aid Everybody seemed spellbound. In a hfth storey window, right over this unfortunate mim, sat the figure of a man crouched upon the window sill, gazing like one demented into the fiery abyss below. He wits motionless, but from time to time lie sent up a heartrending shriek. The fhimes encroached upon him, but he did not seem to mind them. They then singed his hair and licked his nightclothcs. One despairing lock he gave to the crowd below, and then tumbled back into the sea of fire. A man and woman appeared at the window of the third storey, and were recognised as Allen Johnson and his wife The canvas was stretched below the windows of their apartment and a thousand voices called beseeching them to jump. Mr Johnson kissed his wife, leaped into the air, and shot downwards into the cmvas but his weight was such that the canvus was pulled out of the hands of the few who held it, and he alighted on the ground with deadly force. His wife followed, and the body struck the verandah and fell to the ground lifeless. Johnson died shortly after in the express office, and the dead body was laid beside that of his wife until ihcy were borno away. About a dozen people jumped from the Michigan-street front. Each leap meant death or shattered limbs, and not fewer than four unfortunates at one time lay upon the icy sidewalks in front of the Chamber of Commerce clad only in their iiightcloth.es with blood and brains oozing from wounds through which bones protruded. The scene iu the alleywest of the burning building was sickening As early as 7 o'clock bodies of the seven unfortunate waiter-girls were stretched upon the snow and ice with broken limbs, writhing in agony, u.itil death ended theii sufferings. The maze of telegraph wires, encircling the south and ei>st bides played sad havoc with the unfortunates in their frightful leaps for life. Several of the bodies were cut deep into by the wires, and then torn and bleeding, would drop to the ground. Others would hit the wires crosswise rebound, and be hurled to the ground with a dreadful crash. The waiter girls all lodged in the sixth storey and attics, and to whom the saddest lot has fallen. Of 60 girls only eleven had been discovered in the evening. It is estimated that fully 100 lives were lost. The police soon commenced the work of gathering the dead and wounded. The former were taken to the morgue, which was soon filled, and the latter to the police station. From 5 o'clock the interior was a mass of flames, the upper floors soon giving way, and carrying the lower floors with them. A thundering crash was heard, aud the fire shot up fully 50 yards, sending showers of sparks and cinders over the whole oorthern portion of the city. Not long after the flumes had broken out in the interior, Miss Chilli?, dressmaker, was seen at the window on the fourth floor, and was recognised by those below, and implored to make a leap upon the canvas, but she remained standing at the window of the burning room until the flames enveloped her. Threequarters of an hour after the discovery of the fire, the bnildi' g was a total loss. At 5.30 o'clock the Broadway front of the building, being unsupported by rafters from within, gave out, and came thunderto the pavement. Shortly after the tottering walls of the south-east corner ol the building fell, bearing a heavy telegraph pole to the ground, which felled Benjamin Vduhoag, of t'e Hxok and Ladder Company, beneath its weight. A deed of heroism is recorded worthy of unqualified praise. Edward Rymer and Herman Strauss appeared on the roof of the Bank building at the critical juncture directly opposite servants' quarter with a ladder in their bands. For a moment the nnwieldly thing hung poised in mid-air, and then descended with a crash through the window of the hotel. It formed a bridge across the alley, and before it became steady in its position the men had crossed into the hotel, and then, amid the cheers of the multitude below, they dragged the helpless creatures across the slender bridge until fully a dozen had been rescued, All were in their nightclothes, and many were badly frozen before being taken to shelter. A woman in a faint, unable to help herself, was dragged across safely, but at oae time the whole of her body was hanging over the ladder, while one of the brave men held her by one of her ankles. The crowd below held its breath in suspense, expocting every moment to see the ladder turn over or break beneath the terrible strain. The man, however, was equal to the emergency, and by a herculean dibit pulled her upon the bridge, and placed her out of danger. The painful suspouse lasted for fully ten minutes, when the crowd burst forth in a round of applause. Twelve poor waitresses were rescued by chose brave men. Two brothers, named Clayton, rescued four women, carrying them bodily out. The police rescued a dozen persons. The fire is believed to be the result of iuceud iarisin

the boards of Cineimrli theatre, she having b j ou shot dead in a scene wherein

the chief actor shoots an apple from her head while pointing the rifle backward over his shoulder. An American paper gives the following account of how the accident happened :—' The weapon is a Stevens rifl ■>, 38 calibre, breech-loading, and was made six years ago especially for Mr Fr.iyne. He always loads and cares for it hiiMsilf, and jnai before going on the scene he had carefully examined it, and found it apparently ail right-. Previously in the act, he had sat down in a chair while a saucer was hung above his head, shot through an apple on the head of a member of the company, hit a target behind tha apple, discharging another gun, the bullet of which broke trio saucer hanging over him. In order to make the backward shot, a small mirror, facing the trigger, is fastened to the stock, anil he sights by means of this. Just nt the critical mom ant when the weapon was discharged, the pin or spring-latch holding the barrel in place snapped,- allowing the long steel tube to drop, throwing the breech up and the muzzle down. Of course this deflected the bullet from its proper course, and instead of hitting the apple, it went lower, and buried itself in the brain of the actress While it appears to be an exceedingly difficult feat, it is in reality one that almost any ordinary marksman could perform, the apple is placed on the lady's hat, which is raised four inches above hei head, thus allowing the bail to go quits a little out of its way, without doing any serious harm. Beneath the "oat is coiled the lady's hai'', while above this, for additional protection, is a small iron plate, placed at an angle so as to throw the ball upward, were it by any mischance to go astray. Tho spring which had caused all the mischief was afterwards picked up on the floor of the theatre, fully 20ft from the stage. The day after the mishap the actor Fiayne was charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted.'