Air pilots -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories; Reporters and reporting -- Juvenile fiction
“Well,” said Lafferty, “I was on duty directing traffic two blocks down
the street when the explosion occurred. I heard it and ran up here. A
woman was struggling to get out of the door right where we are, and I
rushed up to help her. Just then I got a whiff of the gas. I knew right
away what it was, for you see I was in the World War. So I jammed my
handkerchief over my nose, grabbed the woman by the arm, and helped her
out of the building. When I turned to go back I saw clouds of yellow gas
swirling out through the door. I knew it was worse than useless to go
back into the building, so I ran around to the side of the structure to
see if there was some other way to get people out.
“By that time the firemen had begun to arrive, and they were driven back
by the gas just as I had been. Battalion Chief Michael Graham was the
first chief on the grounds. When he saw it was useless to try to enter
the first floor, he ordered a motor extension ladder run up to the roof.
Then he and some of his men went up it. I scrambled after them. Two
firemen hacked away a skylight and three or four of us was lowered into
the building by ropes.”
Just then Handley went hurrying past the front door.
“Frank,” shouted Jimmy. “Come here a moment.”
Handley turned, saw Jimmy, and came up the steps to him.
“How are you making out?” he asked.
“Fine,” said Jimmy. “I want you to meet Policeman Dennis Lafferty. He
was one of the first policemen to arrive after the explosion. Mr.
Lafferty, this is Mr. Handley, my fellow reporter.”
Handley held out his hand to the policeman.
“Mr. Lafferty was just telling me about the way he and some firemen got
into the building by way of the roof. They saved a lot of people that
way. I’ve got some good snaps of Mr. Lafferty and I want to be sure to
get his story correct.” Then he turned to the policeman. “Won’t you tell
the story to Mr. Handley?” he asked. “I’ve got to get some more
pictures. Handley and I are working together on this story.”
“Sure,” said the policeman. “It’s all one to me.”
He began to talk to Handley and Jimmy hurried away to get some exterior
views. He was able to climb up on a building across the street and get a
picture of the crowd that jammed the street and the open lawn by the
side of the clinic building. Extension ladders were still raised to the
roof and to different windows, and by good luck a number of firemen were
coming down two of them. From other points of vantage Jimmy snapped the
building and the crowd several times. When he had taken all the
photographs he wanted, he hurried back to the front of the building.
Handley had just met one of the hospital doctors, who had returned to
the building to try to secure some important papers. The physician
courteously stopped to answer Handley’s questions. Jimmy seized the
opportunity to talk to Policeman Lafferty again.
“Did you see any other people who helped in the rescue?” he asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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