Show fawd v I 1 adventurers CLUB fr HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF leap for life by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter HELLO H ELLO well EVERYBODY sir we all all know that firemen run rin into lots of adventures all part of a fi remans job when the gong starts tapping out a signal well th theres eres darned well likely to be an adventure atthe aft he end of the trip for somebody and ten chances to one that adventure falls to the lot of some smoke eater who godsin goes in with a hose and stays there long after everyone else is out but today im telling you a firemans foremans fi remans story of an adventure that happen at a fire william mcqueen of valley stream long island is the lad this ad venture happened to up to a certain point this story is just like any other firemans foremans fi remans adventure yarn it started in with the usual alarm and the truck rolling out to respond to it but as a rule the truck gets to the fire before the adventure starts in bill Queens mcqueens Mc case old lady adventure swung her haymaker a few minutes earlier than is her custom V and bill had his adventure on the way to the blaze bill is a member of the volunteer fire department out in valley stream his dad is also a member of the same outfit and the way things turned out that is a lucky break for bill they are both attached to the engine company number 2 and the date of bills adventure is one he think hell ever forget it was december 29 1931 the alarm came from somewhere out on the north side of the town the men of company 2 began a scramble for the fire house in no time at all twenty men had gathered and the truc truck k rolled out of the engine house with all of them aboard it happened on a busy highway the truck ran down the street and made a turn it was necessary for them to go through a side street in order to reach the neighborhood of the fire and half way down the side street they had to cross merrick road a main traffic artery that ran through the town and one of the busiest highways on long island the truck plunged on down that street with its siren screaming the driver was trying to beat the whole doggone world to that fire but k I 1 p A headfirst over the top of the car he went no matter how hard a fellow tries there always comes a time when he has to fail and this was one of those times truck number 2 beat anybody to that fire on that december day As a matter of fact it get there at all the truck was approaching merrick road and the driver began slowing down he had to make a left hand turn on merrick and he be began gan throttling down his motor so he could make it on all four wheels the engine came to the intersection and it was at this point says bill mcqueen that I 1 got my first glimpse of the thing that was likely to be the cause of my death down merrick road about a hundred feet to the left was a railroad crossing and beyond that was a speeding car hurtling along toward the fire truck at a speed of forty or fiat fifty miles an hour bill got a quick glance at that car and it take him any time at all to figure out that that car possibly stop in time to avoid hitting the truck it was just a question of where it hit the truck and bill had his qualms about that too how bill figured fi ared his jump bill was standing on the brunni runni running ng board on the left side of the truck next to him was a large battery box and behind him between the battery box and the large rubber suction hose that is carried on all fire engines stood bills dad bill gauged the speed with which the two vehicles were going with another lightning glance and as he did he came to another terrifying conclusion As near as he could figure out that oncoming car was going to hit the truck just about at the spot where he was standing the human mind works with the speed of lightning and it take bill more than a couple of seconds at most to come to that conclusion cl but that speeding car was moving almost as fast as a mans mind can think and a hundred feet or so is no great distance the car was almost on top of him now and there was neither the time nor the opportunity to get off that running board and out of the way and it was then that bills mind did some more fast and furious thinking there I 1 was he says directly in the path of certain death I 1 could jump off the truck and take my chances on being able to dodge doag e that car or stay where I 1 was and trust to luck that I 1 might come out alive either way I 1 see myself having much of a chance but there was a third course of action I 1 could take it was more daring than the other two but I 1 decided to try it dads shove helped a lot As the car roared onward I 1 braced myself on the running board and began bean timings timing the speed of its approach when it was about three f feet beet away I 1 leaped for my life straight ahead bill jumped right over the top of the car As he took oft off into the air he felt a violent shove his dad had reached out with his hand to give him a little extra impetus head first over the top of that car he went and bill had reason then to thank his lucky star that cars in this day are built low and close to the ground for he just did clear it behind him he heard the crash he as tumbled over the car and landed in the road on the other side he picked himself dazed and up with a bruised knee but otherwise unhurt and looked back at the ruins of the fire truck truck the part where he had been standing was smashed to bits when I 1 looked at that mass of twisted d and bent metal bill 1 sais s I help thinking what there would have happened to me if id remained fremaint d 0 service |