FACED DEATH BRAVELY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4360, 4 March 1893, Page 3

FACED DEATH BRAVELY.

Resoued from a Burning House. A society woman hung between life and death for seven minutes recently while a breathless crowd swayed to and fro and watched to see her fall upon the pavement four storeys below, Then came the clang of gongs, a swift rushing figure, a bit of calisthenics which would do credit to a star performs in a circus, and then a roar of relief and congratulations as tho two coolest-headed persons of all, the imperilled woman and the rescuing man upon tho upraised ladder Uw safety,

fous residence of General

in Grcmatcy Park, f {our storeys and a basement, ma clia- ' covered on fire about cloven o'clock, The flames started in a dumb-witer Bbaft and spread rapidly. As soon as discovered tbo house was in an uproar. The cook and chambermaid ran down to the second floor and then lost their heads. The nurse who was on the second floor preparing to take tbo three-year-old out to walk, picked np the child and ran out of tho house f| screaming. ** General Aspinwall, and his son, I who weroin the basement, ran out of the lower door. Leaving his son on I the Biio walk tbo General returoe

to tlio housH. Hi! tried to mount lo hii upper fl.ior, but tlio soioko drove him back, 110 could not toll whoiher any of tl)u family wern cut off übovo Btaii'B. He hud called, liu said, nml no uno bad Answered, He did not know whether his wile escaped or not. Suddenly the onlookers, who had gathered to the numborofa thousand or more, wero startled by seeing a window overlooking tlio steop and narrow roof of the upper bay window opened, and Mrs Aspinwall, a woman of large stature and inaturo years, deliberately climb out upon the dizzy ledgo and hastily shut the window, for a suffocating muss of smoko was pouring out after her, She was as cool, apparently, as if she wero taking part in some ordinary function, though slio had just had a most exciting exporience, having gathered her jowols, worth £SOOO. Sho had tried to escape by way of the stairs, but the denso smoke choked and bewildered her, and letting the jowels fall, she had crawled back to her room on bunds and knees, Clasping tho usual window ledge and resting her feet on the slight support of tho eavoslrough, Mrs Aspinall lay flat on tho slanting roof and waited for help to come. It was a perilous position. A bitterly cold wind blew upon hor, and her fingers grow numb. Tlie glass overhead was cracked and shivered by tlio heat, and pieces fell dowu on the little tin roof upon which she was crouched, but she only bowed her head to tho storm and clung more tenaciously than ever, uttering nover a word, At times the wind, whirling around tho corner, would sweep curling clouds of smoko against her. A fire-truck arrived opportunely, Beforo the rest of the men wero partly ott' the truck Thomas Gigney had seized his littlo scaling-ladder and was going up the front of the house like a Bailor up the ratlines. He soon stood upon the last run, with his faco just below the lino of the oavestrongh. Planting himself fiimly on the topmost rung of the ladder, he bade Mrs Aspinwall let go all hold upon the window ledge, She needed no urging, for her numb Angers wero almost useless from the cold and the unwonted service to which they were called, As Bhe slid down the roof the tireman caught her, and in a minute thoy wero standing sido by sido against tho wall, three stories übovo t!.e pavement. A moment later the truck bad run a big thirty-five foot ladder up to the window, and Thomas Coleman went up it like a cat. He took the culd hand of the W3inan, who was still perfectly self-possessed, and together they came down the ladder in safety, Upon reaching the si-Ji-wal\ in safety Mrs Aspinwall fainted. The firemen made short work ol tho fire, and the jewels were found where Mrs Aspinwall had dropped them,