Living Torches.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7709, 11 January 1905, Page 2

Living Torches.

VICTIMS OF A FIRE PLUNGE INTO A RIVER.. PARIS, Nov. 13. The "full horrors of tho fire winch destroyed the factory of the Ripolin Company at Issy-les-Mouli«il*aux, reportecl in/ Saturday's Daily Mail ar only now known. A spectator who witnessed the ex« plosion and the outbreak of th lire which followed it says that if he lives to be a hundred he will never forget Itie awful sight of frail tic men and wonusj enveloped in flames, fleeing like living torches from tiio burning building, Instinctively, they rushed towards! the Seine, in the hope of extinguishing in flic water the flames which dro\<J them mad with agony. The ruined building, now presents* lamentable spectacle, and the number of those who met their fate in the disaster, is now known to be four.

A strange thing in connection wit the fire is" that when the explosion occurred tho shock was so very violent that it broke tho glass of a fire alarm situated at quite l some distance on the quay, and I ho] firemen camo up at a gallop with- 1 out anyone having suiuuion-.-d them. I Of the women who escaped from the burning building severa, were so allVc-ted by their terrible experiences 1 that they ran hither unci thither likol mad creatines for hours after Hie l catastrophe. The real cause of the I explosion is still uncertain.

On arrival of the bar,,ue Meimven in Hobwn'B Bay, Melbourne, as" apUln I,OUCr ported a .s a.thng experience on the. voyage fiom Liverpool to Melbourne. Three weeks ag,,, while in t ,, c V| . ( .. nj( Qf St. [auls Island, as the vessel was running before a fresh westerly wind a sea of gigantic proportions suddenly rose and swept over the stern, smashing wheel and cabin skylights, flooding the cabin, n „d destroying a quantity of provisions in the lazaret Jhe vessel was submerged almost to the mainmast, and broached to When she shook herself free tackles were rigged to the tiller, a nd it became possible to ascertain how the crew had fared. The ch .i c f oflicer was found to have some teeth missing, and >a cut face. The two men who were in attendance at the wheel were discovered lying near the main , hatch cover. Four other members of tile watch had also abrasions. All the hands had almost iwceyered from their injuries wheriUbuAiMSfeel'.',reach-