BABY SAVED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 51, 30 January 1937, Page 10

BABY SAVED

, THRILLING RESCUE. CHILD OVERCOME BY SMOKE. Two men climbed on to the balcony of a smoke-filled residential building in City Road, Darlington, Sydney, and rescued "a baby. The baby had been overcome by smoke, and to keep her alive, a woman had held it as far as possible over the edge of the balcony into the fresh air. Downstairs, another woman who had been awakened bv her Pomeranian dog, collapsed when the smoke rushed upon her. She had to be carried to safety. The fire occurred i» a residential occupied by Robert Matheson, liis wife, Mrs Alma Matheson, and several other people. The fire broke out in a cupboard beneath the stairway. Matheson, a night bus driver, was asleep, and his wife and others were having breakfast. Suddenly a dense wall of smoke swirled up the stairway and into the breakfast room. They staggered from the room and called out to Mr Matheson, who sprang out of bed and pulled on trousers over hjs pyjamas. “Take the baby!” exclaimed Mrs Matheson, handing her 15-month-old daughter Jean to Miss Molly Ambrose, one of the boarders. She dashed downstairs, closely followed by her husband, who ran through the flames, his hair being singed. He tried to keep the flames in check while his wife connected the hose. With this he prevented the serious spread of the flames. AWAKENED BY DOG.

Miss Ambrose hurried on to the balcony with tho child. Smoke was pouring into the street. Two men saw the plight of the woman and child and ran into the house to return with a mattress, on which it was suggested Miss Ambrose should drop the baby. She would not do this, however, so the strangers climbed up to the balcony. Miss Ambrose handed over the girl, who was very ill from the effects of the smoke. They gently lowered themselves with the baby and took her into a neighbouring house. Meanwhile, Mrs Alice Lewis had been sleeping soundly in bed in her groundfloor apartment. Terrified by the smoke, her Pomeranian, Biddy, leaped ,on to the bed and tried to drag the bedclothes from the sleeping woman. The dog awakened her, and, seizing a dressing-gown, she staggered about the room. At first she could not find the door, but when eventually she succeeded she opened it and collapsed in the hallway. HUSBAND SAVED HOUSE.

“I don’t remember any more,” she said y “until I became conscious on a bed in another room.”

George Street West firemen and Central Ambulance officers were called. Mr Matheson had completely controlled the flames when the firemen arrived. The ambulance officers administered treatment to Mrs Lewis.

“My main thought was for the baby,” said Mrs Matheson. “I gave her to my friend, and ran downstairs to see what J could do to prevent the flames reaching them. My husband worked like a Trojan fighting the Are. He saved the house.”

Miss Ambrose said she had tried to run down the stairs past the flames, and through the smoke, with the baby, but fearing that the effects would prove" too much for the child, she returned up the stairs and took shelter on the balcony. The baby quickly ■recovered.