Page 4 Advertisements Column 5

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 2, Issue 119, 20 March 1895, Page 4

A TRAGEDY. The young man sat in tho window of the eighteenth storey of the Colossus Building balanced himself neatly on the window ledge and surveyed the eddying noonday throng beneath him. There was an air of elegance and self-poise about him 'hat bespoke the man of leisure and refinement. Suddenly ho heard the mad clang of a bell down the slrcot, and, with a sudd* •' motion, turned to see a fireengine ru-hing up tho crowded thoroughfare. A second later a cry of horror arose from the street. In his eagb- ness the young man had lost his balanco and was falling with, lightning speed to the street below. Tho faces of the thousands who saw the frightful leap were pale with terror as the young man's body, striking a projecting sign in his flight, bounded far out towards the street. Strongmen wept and women turned their blanched faces aside. "With a horribie thud the falling figure reached the granite pavement midway in the street. But the thousands who lushed forward to see if a spark of life remained in the prostrate figure were suddenly held back. The fire engine, with maddened steens and heavy, rumbling wheels, was close at hand. In vain tho frightened driver irieu to chec-k tho precipitous motion of his machine. As well might he have tried to stop the ball at the cannon's mouth. Almost befoie the crowd cculd know what had occurred, the flying engine had reached the prostrate form and passed directly over it. Save for the low sobs of soi:?e anguished women and the muffled exclamations of horror from tho men, the crowd was completely hushed. Two of the bravest men in the .awed assemblage sprang forward, togpther with a stout policeman, and stood above the form of the young man. The policeman turned away with a sad face, and started for the patrol box. But ere he bad talccn two the figure on the pavement straightened out, and the young man rose, dusted his clothes off lightly with his handkerchief, and started to walk away. 'Hold on,' said the officer ; 'you're injured.'