| Show T adventurers CLUB J HEADLINES 7 FROM THE LIVES all W OF PEOPLE LIKE the roar of death HELLO H ELLO EVERYBODY heres a story I 1 dont believe has ever been told before in english it happ happened ened during the world war and a country at war let news of its internal troubles leak out if it can help it strict censorship is clamped on the news and the mail no disaster of any importance is allowed to be mentioned why I 1 dont think this yarn has ever been told over here for it happened in germany on july 19 1918 and it is my guess that the event were going to hear about was a serious blow to the german cause worked in german munitions factory margaret loescher who lives in the bronx N V Y is distinguished adventurer margaret pas was born and brought up in germany during the war she worked in in the munitions factory at plauen blauen in saxony and her mother worked with her both of them were ambitious they worked at piece work were paid according to the number of finished articles they turned in at the end of the day now its no sin to be ambitious ambition is a quality A clothes aflame girls were jumping to the grounds that has always been highly regarded in the civilized world but this is one of those queer cases where justice was caught asleep at the switch ambition might bring riches and happiness and contentment to everybody else but to margaret and her mother it brought only adventure and tragedy their work consisted of sewing together the powder blades that were used for gun charges they worked at it steadily industriously except at such times when the alarm rang for a fire drill fire drills annoyed margaret and her mother it meant just so much valuable time taken away from their sewing and one or two fewer powder blades to turn in at the end of the day fire was sweeping through the plant on july 18 there was fire drill and the munitions workers all filed out of the factory and the very next day the alarm rang again it was too much for margarets patience to stand and her mother felt the same way about it for the first minute or two they remained at their work trying to get in a few extra stitches but this time it just a drill it was the real thing somewhere in the big factory fire had started and was sweeping through the plant and the precious minute mother and daughter had wasted made all the difference between life and death for a moment they sat at their benches then a dull roar sounded somewhere at the end of the plant and the building began to quiver they leaped to their feet then started running toward the exit but they run as fast as the destruction that was sweeping the factory with the air filled with powder dust with powder dust strewn over the floors and coating the benches and machinery that fire shot through the whole area with a speed like that of a bullet the two women were no sooner on their feet than a huge name flame shot through their department explosion blew her through window margaret remembers a scream a sharp piercing shriek from the throats of the sixty or more girls who still remained in the room it was a scream that margaret joined in the next thing she remembers is coming back to consciousness lying outside on the fire escape platform the terrific power of the explosion had thrown her right through an open window margaret is glad now that they had so many fire drills in that plant when she rose to her feet she was dazed but habit instilled in her in previous drills guided her instead of falling into a panic she let her feet carry her down the fire escape stairs tf if she had started when the alarm sounded she might have escaped from the building unharmed but now it was too late As she neared the lower floors she was stopped by burning girls their clothing in flames running madly to the stairways jumping to the ground great sheets of flame were shooting from the lower windows it was impossible to get past them and reach the ground margaret looked back up the fire escape flame was coming out of the windows above her too she was trapped on the metal stairway and already the railings failings rai lings and the iron treads were red hot hatji just a few feet above and below her flames were closing in on her v inch by inch the cherry red glow of hot metal was closing in on hr her sooner or later it would reach the spot where she was standing but she would never know about that the overpowering heat would get her first already her head was spinning she reeled and scorched b her er hands bands when she grasped the hot railing to hold herself up the soles ot of her shoes were smoking another blast of hot air smote her body an and d she could feel herself going then things went black before her eyes margaret know what happened after that and she was never able to find out when she next awoke she was in the hospital and the horrors she witnessed in her ward were worse than those of the fire the big room was jammed with dying girls fearfully mutilated and suffering the most terrible pain known knoian to man twice during that stay in the hospital margaret went to sleep at night and awoke in the morning to find that she was the only one of 36 girls still alive it was in the hospital too that she first learned of the death of her mother she was one of the or more victims who died in the fire and the explosion and margaret still carries scars on her body that serve as a terrible memento of the tragic adventure and a grim reminder that all of the wars injured do not get their wounds on the battle front copyright service |
