GIRLS LEAP TO DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 305, 21 December 1912, Page 17

GIRLS LEAP TO DEATH.

TERRIBLE SCENES AT A LONXJON j FIRE. FIVE KILLED: EIGHT INJURED. Trapped on the narrow parapet of a roof 70 feet from the ground, five young girls were killed and eight others injured in a fire which, breaking out shortly before two o'clock on Sunday morning, November 3, destroyed the domestic servants' quarters of the extensive retail store premises of John Baxter and Co. (Limited"), of Kensington, London. Seven other women and two men were saved by the prompt and brave efforts of the London firemen, one of whom was badly injured in his work of rescue. The flames had cut off the proper means of escape wben the servants, sixteen in number, were awakened from their sleep. The only way from the fire was through a window on a narrow ledge overlooking the street. In their panic three of the girls either fell or jumped into the street. The origin of the Ore remains a mystery. All that is known is that the outbreak occorred in the eiistorn portion of the rusiin block of buildings, containing the departments for fruit and flowers, bakery and meat. Over these shops and storerooms were the dining rooms and servants' quarters, and it is believed that the fire started in the kitchen. There were eighteen women servants and two male employees sleeping in this portion of the building when the fire was discovered. Strangely enough, none of the servants seem to have been awakened by the fire until it had made tremendous headway. THE ALARM. The first alarm was given by the keeper of a coffee stall in High Street, Kensington. The Kensington Fire Station is within a hundred yards of Messrs Barker's main premises. It was exactly 1.49 a-m. when the firemen received the call, and immediately the horsed escape was rushed over to the scene of action. Jt was then obvious that a gigantic task lay before the fire brigade. The upper part of the eastern end of the huge building was blazing furiously. Great sheets of flame leapt into the sky. and dense blinding volumes of smoke filled the air. At first there was no sign of life in the building, and the firemen pitched their seeing anything of the inmates. Then the cry arose that a number of women were at the windows in Ball Street, and on getting round the building the firemen saw a number of panic-stricken women at the upper windows, frantically shouting for help, and wildly waving their arms. As the flames drew nearer and nearer, their plight was, indeed, a pitiable one. Yet ail of them would probably have been saved had they waited for the escape to be erected to the LEAPS TO DEATH. In their excitement, however, several of the girls decided to jump to the ground. Jumping sheets were hastily requisitioned, but apparently before they could be held in position three of the girls sprang from the windows. Great efforts were made to catch them, but they proved futile, and the poor creainres were dashed with terrible force to the pavement, having fallen a distance of seventy feet. They were picked up maimed and bleeding, and conveyed with all possible dispatch to St. George's Hospital and the West London Hospital. One died on the way to St. George's; and the other two expired in the casualty room of the West London institution before they could be admitted to the ward. Meanwhile the fire had become so extensive that a "brigade call" was issued, and soon from every quarter engines, escapes, and other appliances dashed up to the burning building. One of the first brigades to arrive was that of Knightsbridge with their SO-feet ladder, and by means ot this and the Kensington escape the remainder of the inmates were rescued. - FOOLS IN THE CROWD." "If it had not been for fools in the crowd shouting 'Jump,' " said one of the firemen, "we should have saved every one of the girls. We had the escapes and we had the sheets, but the girls were frightened out of their wits. One poor girl who tried to jump into the sheet missed it, and fell with a terrible crash that turned some of the men faint. Another, who did not strike the sheet fairly, was badly hurt. "The other girls were perched like crows on a ledge. They were screaming and trembling with fright. We could scarcely see for the blinding smoke, and it was difficult work to carry the girls down the ladder. One girl tried to escape by the main staircase and she was burnt to death. FIREMAN INJCEED. Fireman A. G. Ayres, of the Kensington was severely injured during the rescue work. lie was near the top of the escape when one of the girls, her clothing alight, jumped from the window. In a most remarkable manner the fireman caught the girl. His helmet was crushed, and his face and hands badly burned by the woman's clothing, but he succeeded in keeping his foothold and in passing her to a colleague below. Afterwards he himself had to be assisted down the escape and taken to St. George's Hospital, where he was detained. In less than an hour the fire was under control. The charred remains of a young woman were found Inside the building.