GIRL'S HEROISM IN FIRE

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14328, 19 October 1910, Page 7

GIRL'S HEROISM IN FIRE

RESCUES ASSISTANTS. £40,000 DAMAGE, The escapo_ at midnight of 50 girl £>hop assistants was an exciting incident of a liro which broke out m the drapery stores oi Messrs Morley and Lancoly, Ltd., in Brixton Road, S.W., and did damage estimated at from £40,000 to £50,000. The premises consisted of nine shops, each tliree and four storeys high, and all have been destroyed. The fire broke out in a corner shop, the muslin department of the establishment. About a quarter to twelve a policeman standing near by heard the shutters of a. shop crackle, and in a few* minutes the window hurst open and a flame shot j out. He banged on the shutters, but failed to awake the shop assistants a*"eep up- , stairs. Then, running down a side street and through a. yard, he climbed • through a window, burst open a door, ' and aroused the girls. There were j about 50 of them, of ages ranging be- j tween 17 and 26 years, sleeping in the j top storeys at the back of the shops. Scores ol them trooped down the stairs, not waiting to dress. Some wrapped the blankets from the bcrfs around them. Two young men threw mattresses out of the window U> Jump upon should escape be cut off, but, fortunately, everyone got out safely. Help from the general public was forthcoming, and some plucky work was done by Miss Hedger. who resides in Tunstalf Road. Hearing the police whistles, she rushed out in her nightdress, made Iter way to one of the bedrooms in Messrs Morley and Lanceley's premises, and carried from there to Carlton Road, just across the road, a girl assistant who had fainted. Then she entered the burning building a second time, and persuaded the remaining assistants to make their escape as quickly as possible. A voll-cafl taken at half-past twelve showed that everybody had escaped. After the assistants had assembled in Carlton Hall many of the girls, who had been roused from their slumbers, warmly thanked Miss Kcdger, and with tears in their eyes kissed her. Half hysterical, and none the worse otherwise for their startling adventure, many of the quaintly attired girls jumped into taxi-cabs which carried thorn off to the house of the secretary of the company, where they were sheltered for the nisiht. A number of them were sheltered by Messrs "Wallace Hughes, a neighbouring firm, who also had a serious fire a lew days ago. The main body of the women assistants, however, were taken to the police station close at hand, where clothes wero brought to them.

Nearly half the usual staff of girl assistants were away for their holidays. Those who escaped from the fire lost practically all their clothing and possessions. "We rushed out just as we were," said one of them who stood shivering in the street, "and thankful to get out at all. The staircaso was thick with smoke, and I thought some of us were certain to be cutoif Flow we all got out 1 really don t know." In the meantime an alarm had been given at the Brixton Fire Station, near by and within an hour oO engines from all over London, were pouring water on the flames. '1 here was no hope for the burmng budding. Packed with flimsy matenai, ,t Mazed Eu fnriouslv that all efforts had to be turned to saving the adjoining shops. Flames shot up through the dense smoke™ hvmi'r? ,? "' : ' K i', lK • musli " ;md la <=e loons y ° U bl ' eeze like firc bal " GIR.LS HEROISM IN FIRE The ui-o was watched bv crowds of people of them uuwilli,, B spectato«. It was just the lwur whe, the-atre-goers ate uu their nay home. Cabs tow.mi T- : OOUVe - were pouring »° hfil hllxl< , ,u - and every tramcar the ,i ? U S«">. UP sliarply before the\ ,eaehed the railway bridges which the'hul* Vw DOn , Koa<l at foot of the hill. Before long there was a line <n tramcars extending |,,. le k towards b n.'-ufo 011 i' Uhk ' h n '° ootid with e Tho SKk '" tma " !IKer - "•• Lo escnpKl nitl the assistants, stated *],.,; the ; uf u '"i" ccl wus 7 al ««' a t£is.oJo. •wirh ,™ " ::1 ° e to tl,e Promises. .1 rl \ t i V ? ry extell s've, he cstimat: «o*ooo WS3 at rougkiy ' £4U <°° o to vast L erowd% of f the brlgiKle moTed «" »asi ciowd to frequent cheers. When » appeared that the flames mu-t spread to the ad.ioinmg bloc-fe, an ""s- ---_•]<> was run up in the middle of the nl'vef]' y ;„ :U ;V -V 1 ' - Lho to l> ' l fireman pl.ixcd on the olazing budding. The of v-InAT;'- Wl ! il ° flrc '»an's Point ol vantage was changed everv now and tljen, and lus „- urk Wils , ollidlj . 1 l.erWJf'H" 1 P "i rl °'i thp bl °<* 1,10 ">- tnsf d, " : ' d f Uh ° U, " k "P '»sii'hm c 1 I i I"' d " 1 -' aiK thrt * fi,e " le " t,,. r'" 1 -' T ,lc,led <•'* 'edge t. tl ■, I,! ,' Um tll!,t Perilous pest uiiace, um ,d ~,-,,,. f j f *= thousands of spectators '" firemen U seco^i""' e • m -,, - n I )osltl «,» "» the roof, ml liom behind ~ ch pouieii a constant stream of «-h.„. ;„ to the l,| ilßilla buildh.J l ' "'' U ' '»-