The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 12, 1896, Page 15

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 1896. VIHAT - ThEY = o -_——— WIGNL %J po®_ - ASE OF RE tive, gallantly. '“But I have great faith in arope or, that failing, a knotted sheet as a fire escape if the modern appliances are missing. Try them.” Miss Marie W: nwright talked of the subject of fires with that rare vivacity | characteristic of her. She wore a hand- t that there have been more deaths from panic than fire in such cases. The annals of all great fires show this.” “I wouldn’t get frightened till after- ward,” said George T. Bohen, president of the Board of Fire Commissioners. Mr. Bohen is an old-time fire-fighter and a bonanza of reminiscences, pathetic and humorous, to the fire laddies, who never tire of his stories of service in his native city of Baltimore and in the days of the volunteer firemen of San Francisco. “No, indeed; I wouldn’t permit myself o get frightened,” Mr. Bohen repeated. You haven’t the time nor strength for it when your house is on fire. I would close the doors and windows if I were trying to extinguish a fire, for in this case, too, draughts are deadly. If I failed to put out the fire I would see that my family es- caped by the best means of exit, if there were any choice. A person could jump from a window in the second story of my house without any damage to life or limb, but if 1 lived in one of the flats downtown I would be ready to ‘throw out the life- line’ at a moment’s notice. The ‘life-line’ is simply a rope knotted at a distance of every two feet. A man could lower his wife and children to the ground by this Ponder over the question 1 moment. It suggests a hear ave to say t us urned from | tion, when 1 you do in case your own home 2 thou 1 the ‘I hope I v as any man 7 HAT would you do in case of | have never seen a fire start and never | turned in a fire alarm ?” | ““What people do in case fire breaks out | is to lose their presence of mind. Wh the Id do is to exclude the air,”’ s; tro with an oracular air. ler is better than No the time- et or a generous strip of ciude the air’ That is the to smother the flames if one has presence of mind enough to enfold them with a, woolen garment or wrs ‘Exclude | the air’ applies also and especially to the hot air, which, entering the delicate cells of the lungs, causes instant death. “If 1 awake some night to find a fire well advanced my first thought would be how to get away. A rope fastened to some stationary article in the room would furnish the best means of exit for myself | and such valua ness papers nc s I could gather together in my haste. And if the convenient rope was absent 1 would tearthe sheets into strips, knot them together and away I'd go. I have never ed in that line further than in for- ires at White Sulphur Springs and & My chief recoilection of the prings fire was of the pleasure of ng Mrs. Henry Miller a mile ona| .’ continued tke City execu | T3 wheel per: s0 “I would try first to save my children,” said John J. O’Brien. — = sumptuous apartments at the Baldwin as | she does in the classic settings of her | favorite dramas. “I'm nears the first thing I would do if I heard a fire alarm would be to put on my glasses, 1| would not go out into the elements unclad. ! I would avoid the Scylla of pneumonia as | | well as the Charybdis of fire. Well, after the clothing process I would throw my sealskin over one arm, my best gown over | the other, take my jewel-box in my hand and start for the stairs. Yes, the stairs. Do youknow I am very nervous about elevators? Flames shoot up the shaft in a twinkling. I will choose the stairs always. Oh, yes, I forgot to say that I would saturate a towel and place it over my mouth and nose before taking my leave. “Time thus spent is spent wisely, no matter how near the flames. “I have been the loser to a considerable extent through fire; $30,000 worth of my ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Amy Robsart’| e destroyed at the Davidson | iilwaukee, where I had left | summer. Perhaps that experience has | precautions against fire in theaters. | “Iam careful to note the stage exits |in all theaters. Smoking is prohibited, and I urge extreme caution as regards the handling of diaphanous materials neari gas. These precautions are with regard | to property, however, for I am convinced | that there is little or no danger to | firein modern theaters. Statistics show | what would , to be n't 1 think of that before? led, as other victims of it the wrong moment. in the alarm, and, :d by my absence, turn imperil rect the men. People make a g ake in leaving the box before the me e, if th n possibly f a‘blind fire’ a great deal ¢ to be lost unless the men irected. bard to say what one would do in case of a fire. What he should do can be indicated in a general way, although cir- cumstances differ so m that no one can be master of the situation in dealing with a fire, no one can be the master no matter what his experience. “In the incipiency of a fire presence of mind is invaluable, just as it1s in the lat- est and most dangerous s If cur- tains or bed-clothing caught fire I would try to smother the flames at once by crush- ing the folds together or trampling upon them. Ifa person’s clothing were ablaze my first thought would pe to extinguish | the flames by wrapping the person, cloth- ing and all, in a blanket or myv coat. “If ma tters had come to the worst, and 1 were fighting for my life, I would put a wet sponge in my mouth; or, if there were no sponge, a silk handkerchief; if the silk handkerchief be lacking, a wet cloth of | any sort. This would be to prevent suffo- cation. Smoke is dangerous. Hot air is | deadly. Why, hot air knocks you out like that,” gaid the Chief, with an expressive gesture, suggestive of finality. Well, that preparation made, I wouid cover head and shoulder with a wet blanket and make | a rush for the outer air. This, of course, | if there were a possibility of escape. | Otherwise, I would get as close to the floor | as possible. Yon know, the smoke and | hot air rise, and that there is more chance ‘ for prolonged breath near the floor than | anywhere else. The firemen might or| might not reach me in time. Nothing | would be left to be done but to lie on thé | floor—and wait. | ‘It is strange, is it not?” he continued, | “‘that, though I have done battle with fire | wore times than 1 could calculate, I| es. | | | ““If the convenient rope was absent I would tear the sheets into strips, knot them together and away I'd go,” said Mayor Sutro. z | some Japanese gown of black and gold, | means in a short time and soon follow | and looked as much in keeping with her | them himself. | means keep close to the floor, where there hted, you know, so about | is fresh air if any uninsured, unfortunately, for the | dash through the smoke if I coald avoid made me more than usually mindful of | avenue of e; | ago. | inventor nor the appliance itself, but it is | the best invention of the kind I ever saw. | punity and save others in the bargain, for | of the instrument is not more than three | or four pounds, and it is so compact that . and all these things are, as the housewife | says, ‘handy.’”’ | ingly at his study-table with its manu- | ngly Keep cool, even if the | “Keep cool! ing your hair, and by all | blaze is here. That is my pre- cept and would be my practice.” ‘‘Send for the Fire Department in case fire breaks out,” said Dr. W. F. McNutt. “I would do that with the greatest dis- | patch, I assure you. But I'll tell you what | I wouldn’tdo. I wouldn’t go back into a burning house to rescue a joint of pipe, as a woman did in Chicago at the time of t big fire. Neither would I carry a child | out by the leg, as one of our San Fran- cisco women did. And I would certainly not walk through fire and smoke when it is not necessary. The great point is to | keep your head, to use a popular expres- sion. “Too many people lose their heads at acry of fire. That is really more danger- ous than the fear-inspiring flames them- selves. “Well, suppose the Fire Department has been summoned, or that one is enveloped by fire, as it were, and the one considera- tion is to escape. I would not make a it, but if the window did not furnish an cape I would take care to pro- | tect my lungs before making the dash for liberty. No one should attempt to go | through a room filled with smoke without such precaution. Cloth should be placed | across the face—if "the cloth be wet all the better—to prevent the smoke entering the lungs. A few inhalations would prove fatal. The air in a burning building is not oxygenated and breathing it never so little will produce congestion. ““I am greatly interested in a life-saving appliance that was tested and proved most satisfactory av the Palace Hotel a few years 1 don’t remember the name of the There was a small metal box, within which was coiled a strong wire cord. One end of the cord could be attached to the bedpost and the box fastened to the waist by a belt. The cord uncoiled gradnally, so that there would be no jar and positively no danger. “A man so equipped could throw him- self from a ten-story window with im- the box could be sent back by the manipu- lation of a convenient button. ‘The weight it would take but a small space in a trunk or valise. Then a rope knotted at inter- vals of a foot is a useful article in case of a fire. There are many people who would not travel without one. Of course, our modern buildings are furnished with fire- escapes, but intense heat melts the metal, Rev. Dr. W. D. Williams leaned back in his chair meditatively and looked mus- scripts galore. “I tell my children to count ten before they do anything after hearing a fire alarm,’” he said, *‘and I am of the opinion that that advice would apply to ‘children of a larger growth.” It doesn’t take long to count ten, but it has rather a soothing effect, you know. My instructions are, | further, to be sure they have a clear idea where they are, to recall distinctly the passageways and be sure to avoid the wardrobe and closets. I knew a child who lost her life during a fire by becoming | confused and mistaking the closet for the | hall. She groped about in the smoke- | filied closet until she was stffocated. **Ministers have a great responsibility in | the matter of proper precautions against | a panic in case of fire. I have always felt | strongly upon this point, and had my line | of action so well defined that when the cry of ‘Fire!’ was heard near my church in an Eastern town, I was able to dismiss my audience in an orderly manner, I indi- cated the afsle down which a certain con- tingent of the audience should pass, and by layed the fears of the congregation. The church, a large one, was cleared by that means within four minutes. “I have a hali-dozen minute-men in Plymouth Church who understand that their duty is to take certain posts at the different exits, some of which exits are direct the crowd, or such portion of itas is known to be under tbeir care, to the par- ticular exit most convenient. These men are to take their posts on a fire alarm with- out a sign from me. On special occasions, like the lectures of Dr. Gunsaulus and Miss Shaw, I increased this force. The factis not known to the audience. There is no necessity of bringing up appalling mental pictures of a holocaust, especially when I am so sure that our measures will prevent its attendant terrors.” “I would try to rescue them even at the risk of singeing my wings.” J. J. O’Brien explained this reference to seraphic appurtenances by the statement that the head of a family was supposed to be its guardian angel. “I would try first to save my children, and that accom- plished, my wife, if she were not able to do so herself,”” said the merchant. ‘Weil, I might tie the sheets together and lower them to the ground. make an arbitrary rule of action, because the variation of circumstances corresponds to the number of fires. I would try to grasp the situation and act according to the emergency.” Mr. O’Brien once assisted in the work of rescuing women and children from a con- flagration in Dublin, and his recollection of the peril of that time makes him an earnest advocate of better provisions against fires in dwellings. “Probably the same ridiculous things that other panic-stricken people are guilty of, that is,if we may considerthe tragic ridiculous,” said Judge Seymour D. Thomp- son. “I might, for instance, frantically toss one of my grandchildren out of the window and deliberately lower a feather bed and pillows to the ground by meansof a rope. You needn’t look incredulous. That has happened more than once in the histories of panics and the biographies of the panic-stricken. “I might also return to a burning building, after having made my escape, in order to save a favorite lawbook and perish with my treasure. “You may be sure of one thing. That is, if there were a fire in the neighborhood ‘“How? One can’t giving the directions calmly somewhat al- | seldom used for any other purpose, and | “I might return to the burning building after some favorite lawbook,” said Judge Thompson. protect it from moths and to replace it | hands on the rose b Better be when it shows signs of age. Then |scrarched than burned.’ we have our means of exit carefully | Mrs. Cooper belie uld be in mind. If a fire snould break out in the | trained as to the methods of esc ape in Kitchen we would escape by-the front bal- cony, even at the risk of scratching our | case of fireas systematically | dren in the public schools. *“These plans | should be made with special reference to the chil- A man equipped with this life-saving appliance could throw himself from a ten- story window with impunity,” said Dr. McNutt. | the house, no matter how often the family | moves."” FUTURE WAR SURGERY. What May Be Expected From the Use | of the New Projectiles. It would appear probable that in a | future war many of the wounds produced by the new projectiles will be surgically less severe and prove amenable to effective | surgical treatment. Probably, also, the | number of severe injuries will be very great, when we consider the enormous | range of the new weapon and the pene- | trating power of the projectile, which en- ables it to traverse the bodies of two or three individuals in line, including bones, and to inflict serious or al wounds at a aistance of 3000 or 4000 y It is impossible to say what the propor- tion between these two is likely to be. At near ranges the explosive effects will be much the same as before; butat long the narrow bullet track, the small ext wounds, which often approach the sub taneous in character, and the moderate gree of comminu a nge d fissuring of the bone will be surg advantageous. These will form the bulk of the gunshot injuries of the future, for it wounld seem impossible with ma; e quick-firing rifles to contest a contest at close quarters without speedy mwtual annihilation. | We may take it for granted that the number of wounded in proportion to the numbers engaged and actually under fire will be greater than before. The supply of ammunition will be larger, ths facility for its discharge greater, and smokeless pow- | der will increase accuracy of aim. I think we are justified in believing, al- though there is high authority for a con- trary opinion, that the next great war will be more destructive to human life—**blood- ier,”” in fact—than any of its predecessors | and that the number of injuries, and in many cases the severity of the injury, will be largely increased. But very many cases | will remain less severe in character, more | capable of successful ireatment and less | likely to entail future disablement, while improved sanitation and antiseptic meth- ods will enormously iner ¢ the propor- | tion of recoveries.—8ir William MacCor- | mac in Nature. = e A ‘“horseshoeing parlor” is one of the | delights of Traverse City (Mich.) nomen- clature. I would stay at a reasonable distance from it.” General John McComb believes in the merits of mother earth as an extinguisher of flames. ‘A shovelful of earth is a weighty argument in a contest with fire,” said he. “I have found it useful in more than one instance of the kind.” The general says he discovered a new use for the coat one day when he was struggling with a pile of burning papers in an inconvenient recess of his desk. “I had been trying to beat out the fire with a towel,” he said, “but without effect, when a cool-headed friend of mine en- tered. He grasped the situation in an in- stant, and whisking off his coat threw it over the desk. When he drew the coat away a moment later I was confronted by charred papers, but neither sparks nor flames.” “My first thought would be of the chil- dren,” said Mrs. Mary A. Swift, president of the Century Club. ‘‘The next would be to reach the fire-escape. It is an indis- pe:sable part of a dwelling in my opinion. I would not live in a house without one. I consider it most inconsistent to take pre- cautions against the ravages of fire in business houses and neglect the home. If a fire had gained but little headway on my premises 1 would see that the hose and buckets of water I always keep in the third story of my home were utilized. The presence of those extinguishers affords me a good deal of satisfaction and a sense of immunity. I bave a dread of fire, in- creased, perhaps, by our residence in Japan, where all materials used in the construction of houses are highly inflam- mable. Our plan, while there, of keeping our supply of kerosene for lamps out of doors was, I believe, a preventive of fire. My husband’s fancy for having an outside switch for electric lights so that he could turn all electricity out of the house, as it were, at will, was, I think, another excel- lent preventive.” Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper has a well-ordered plan of campaign in case of fire. “My daughter and I are quite ready for an emergency,” she said. “We keep a rope in one of our bedrooms, knotted and ready for emergencies, We are careful to l “V'd put on my glasses, throw my sealskin over one arm, my best gown over the other, take my jewel-box in my hand and start for the stairs,” said Misg ‘Wainwrighe,