FLEEING FROM FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8585, 29 March 1906, Page 2

FLEEING FROM FIRE.

BARE-FOOTED GUESTS DESCEND ICE-COVERED LADDER A correspondent sends an English paper a dramatic account received from an English friend who was staying at the West Hotel, Minneapolis, U.S.A., at the time of the terrible fire, on. January 10, which resulted in the death of eight guests. The writer of the letter had a room on the fifth floor of the building. In the early morning of January 30 he woke up €o find smoke entering his room by the opening above the door. "At this moment the glass in the transom went crashing down, and red flames came pouring through. 1 tore open the door, only to find fire raging in the passage. I dashed through a door on the opposite side of the room into another chamber, where my neighbour was sleeping silently. I dragged him from his bed, and, in inky darkness and smoke, we groped our way along the corridor, working past the lift entrance to a long, straight passage, which runs the whole length of one side of the hotel. " Out of a babel of voices I heard a shout from the far end : ' There is a fire escape here.' After a few terrible minutes we reached a large window, from which the fire escape led. One man was trying to summon up courage to make the descent, but, turning giddy, drew back. "The escape, was a steel ladder, about fifteen inches wicTe, each of the rungs being covered with ice. We were in our pyjamas, bare-footed and bare-headed, and a cold wind cut us throughxsand through. "As we scrambled down the slippery ladder glass fell from the upper rooms, cutting my companion's cheeks and ears, and covering his face with blood. By this time there were eight or ten other guests in their night attire on the fire escape above us. "I caught an overcoat which someone had thrown out of one of the windows, and held it over my head r with on© hand to keep off the falling glass. But our troubles were not over, for the iron ladder ended abruptly at twenty feet from the ground. Below was a dark alley, in which were some broken boxes and barrels, and rubbish covered with ice.' It was too far to jump without accident, and my bruised feet were raw and numbed with cold. "After a few* 1 minutes a passing fireman espied us, and shouted to us to wait until he fetched a ladder. When we reached the ground, with his assistance, we could hardly speak for exhaustion and cold. "As the fireman was placing the ladder below the escape- a man jumped from the seventh floor in a frenzy of terror. His headlong fall was broken to a certain extent by a wire which he struck, but nevertheless he fell with tremendous fore© quit© close to me, hk head being almost severed from hi 6 body. "My friend and I were given hot whisky in a saloon near by, where we were surrounded by a crowd of spectators, who congratulated us on our marvellous escape."