Show ff adventurers club X red death and blade blach panic by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter MILTON AUERBACH of atlantic city N J brings us 5 thrill and it happened to him on his first day back at work after being mustered out of service after the war the war give mill much of anything to write home about but the minute he got home things began to happen to him the way it alwayn is adventures happen most often right in backyard back yard this one started with a cry and a roar on january 7 shortly before five in the afternoon atter noon a woman thrust her head out of a win low dow on the fourth floor of the sauer building on penn avenue pittsburgh and screamed one word fire there was a moment of quiet alfar man standing on the sidewalk turned end started to run toward hla engine house ile he had taken two steps when hell burst its it boundaries and began roaring in the streets sheets of pittsburgh celluloid films exploded there was a loud shattering DOOM A gush of smote from ft a first floor window and a bright red flash streaked out from somewhere between the first and second stories A mans body shot out of a window although as though it had come from a cannon head first A man stan standing dint in front of the building lyts was thrown halfway across the street flame ran through the whole edifice blazed fifty feet from the top of the roof highly inflammable celluloid films stored in the building had exploded and turned the whole place into a funeral pyro pyre in which nine people eventually lost their lives milt auerbach was in nn an office on the sixth floor there were eight 0 of them there altogether salesmen and stenographers busy at their respective desks making out reports i arts and finishing up tor for the day they heard beard the tha terrific report and made a dash for the door when we opened the door says milt etere were were enveloped in A SHEET OF FLAME we turned then and ran to the windows facing the street by the time we reached them the flames were at our heels the they y were jum jumping P ing benth to milt alit saw one odthe of the girl stenographers escape through the window another one followed her it was milts first day in the office ile he thought there aust be a fire are escape down which the girls were wera fleeing the porter holding tho lie girt girl lie ife stood on a narrow ledge was climbing out of the window now and milt told him film to hurry so he could follow then the porter was gone and milt started out the window after him ile ho pushed out his headband hea head dand and recoiled in horror there was NO FIRE ESCAPE herd down below on the sidewalk ho he saw the bodies of the two girls and the porter another girl behim by him milt caugh ther and she fainted still holdine the unconscious girl in his arms ho he climbed out of the window ond and stood ori on a narrow ledge with his tree free hand he ha clung to the window sll sill inside the domce alie th e remaining suleimen sal eimen were huddled in a corner the hames flames had not yet reached shaking hands and saying good goodbye bye to one one another and ther fire engines began to arrive in the street below they sp spread renda a not net but from the sixth floor it appeared to beabout bo about the size siye of a dime no one dared jump milt says because it would have been impossible to gauge the distance to that net correctly other trucks were uni unreeling celing hose lines hlll others were raising ladders but the hose lines t hold out much hopi hope water would bo be of 0 little holp help to the people trapped l ln the building tho thi ladders merethe were their ir only hope iio ac Could ni get to tho ladder they were hoisting a ladder right under the ledge to which mill was clinging but to milts dismay they had it on the wrong side of tho the trolley wired and could not lean it against tho ilia building the unconscious girl was getting heavy in his arms ills his other still clinging to the ho sill was tired and just about ready to I 1 lose ose its hold milt ut looked Insi inside and noticed that the flames llames seem to be coming any farther into the office there was a little space pace in there that they did not hot cover ile ho bundled the tha unconscious girl back in through the window find and followed himself in other parts of the building denso dense fumes were a driving riving people to the upper floors doors fire began to spread to the building next door E everywhere very in tho the burning structure people were clinging to the windows as milt auerbach had and the streets ets were filled with people shouting over and over again tho monotonous warning refrain DONT JUMP on the sidewalk dozens of limp motionless bodies te testified stifled to the he soundness of that advice few of those who jumped had landed in the nets now firemen were lighting their way inside the build in ing two men m en their clothes ablaze but still alive were carried out A little farther in they found the body of a woman her halt bait gone and her clothing la in ashes just a few feet from a stairway that hat would have led her to 0 o safety milt was almost electrocuted meanwhile up p on the sixth floor milt auerbach waited impatiently for the firemen to raise their ladder agala again at last lie he says a ladder did reach our floor A fireman come came up and relieved mo of the girl in my arros arms ile he carried her down to safety and then the men followed that trip down the ladder was almost as bad as the suspense of waiting tor for it it it swayed alarmingly as milt started down it the rungs were far apart every step milt took made him feel cs as it if lie he were missing his foothold down he went the bottom ct bf the ladder was set met in the top of tho the fire truck and in order to get down from it milt had to rest his hand on the back of one of the horses that drew draw it where milt got one final thrill for as he put his hand on the h horses back on an overhead electric wire broke it fell hit the horse and sparks flew just as milt landed on the ground the horse fell beside him STONE DEAD electrocuted ELECTROCUTE DI 1 nine people died inayat in that lire and ma many nymore more were injured the girl milt had held on the window ledge was in a coda com 0 for months as a result dofher of her ordeal but milt was lucky ile he came out without a scratch Q service |