his ears. At once his cloth-cap was
exchanged for the black helmet, and, in a few seconds, the escape was
flying along the streets, pushed by the willing hands of policemen and
passers-by. The answer to the summons was very prompt on this occasion,
but the fire was burning fiercely when Conductor Douglas arrived, and
the whole of the lower part of the house was so enveloped in flames and
smoke that the windows could not be seen at all. Douglas therefore
pitched his escape, at a venture, on what he _thought_ would bring him
to the second-floor windows, and up he went amid the cheers of the
on-lookers. Entering a window, he tried to search the room, (and the
cheers were hushed while the excited multitude gazed and listened with
breathless anxiety--for they knew that the man was in a position of
imminent danger). In a few moments he re-appeared on the escape, half
suffocated. He had heard screams in the room above, and at once threw
up the fly-ladder, by which he ascended to the parapet below the attic
rooms. Here he discovered Milne and his family grouped together in
helpless despair. We may conceive the gush of hope that must have
thrilled their breasts when Conductor Douglas leaped through the smoke
into the midst of them; but we can neither describe nor conceive,
(unless we have heard it in similar circumstances), the _tone_ of the
deafening cheers that greeted the brave man when he re-appeared on the
ladders, and, (with the aid of a policeman named John Pead), bore the
whole family, one by one, in safety to the ground! For this deed
Conductor Douglas received the silver medal of the Society, and Pead,
the policeman, received a written testimonial and a sovereign.
Subsequently, in consequence of Conductor Douglas's serious illness,--
resulting from his efforts on this occasion--the Society voted him a
gratuity of 5 pounds beyond his sick allowance to mark their strong
approbation of his conduct. Now in this case it is obvious that but for
the fire-escape, the blockmaker and his family must have perished.

Here is another case. I quote the conductor's own account of it, as
given in the Fire Escape Society's annual report. The conductor's name
was Shaw. He writes:--

"Upon my arrival from Aldersgate Street Station, the fire had gained
strong hold upon the lower portion of the building, and the smoke
issuing therefrom was so dense and suffocating as to render all escape
by the staircase quite imposs