ible. Hearing cries for help from the
upper part of the house, I placed my Fire Escape, ascended to the
third floor, whence I rescued four persons--viz. Mrs Ferguson, her
two children, and a lodger named Gibson. They were all leaning
against the window-sill, almost overcome. I carried each down the
Escape, (a height of nearly fifty feet), in perfect safety; and
afterwards entered the back part of the premises, and took five young
children from a yard where they were exposed to great danger from the
fire."

There was a man in the London Brigade who deserves special notice--viz.
Conductor Samuel Wood. Wood had been many years in the service, and
had, in the course of his career, saved no fewer than 168 lives.

On one occasion he was called to a fire in Church Lane. He found a Mr
Nathan in the first-floor unable to descend the staircase, as the ground
floor was in flames. He unshipped his first-floor ladder, and, with the
assistance of a policeman, brought Mr Nathan down. Being informed that
there was a servant girl in the kitchen, Wood took his crowbar, wrenched
up the grating, and brought the young woman out in safety. Now this I
give as a somewhat ordinary case. It involved danger; but not so much
as to warrant the bestowal of the silver medal. Nevertheless, Wood and
the policeman were awarded a written testimonial and a sum of money.

I have had some correspondence with Conductor Wood, whose broad breast
was covered with medals and clasps won in the service of the F.E.
Society. At one fire he rushed up the escape before it was properly
pitched, and caught in his arms a man named Middleton as he was in the
act of jumping from a window.

At another time, on arriving at a fire, he found that the family thought
all had escaped, "but," wrote the conductor to me, "they soon missed the
old grandmother.--I immediately broke the shop door open and passed
through to the first-floor landing, where I discovered the old lady
lying insensible. I placed her on my back, and crawled back to the
door, and I am happy to say she is alive now and doing well!"

So risky was a conductor's work that sometimes he had to be rescued by
others--as the following extract will illustrate. It is from one of the
Society's reports:--

"CASE 10,620.

"Awarded to James Griffin, Inspector of the K Division of Police, the
Society's Silver Medal, for the intrepid and valuable assistance
rendered to Fire Escape Co