Out of the Ruins

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"Miss 318," a salesgirl in the "Mammoth," a department store, is busily waiting on customers as the local fire inspectors survey the big store. The inspectors are not favorably impressed with the conditions and inform the proprietor, Abraham Hirschberg, that unless more means of egress are provided for. the building will be condemned. Mr. Hirschberg immediately consults with his lawyer, who succeeds in having the report of the inspectors "tabled" for a while. "Miss 318" attends a motion picture show, and when a woman in front refuses to remove her large hat, "Miss 318" is obliged to stand in the aisle. "Mr. 37," a fireman doing duty in the theater, informs her that she is not allowed to stand in the aisle. They become friendly and while they do not mention names, their numbers are exchanged. The next morning "Mr. 37" meets "Miss 318" and he tells her that the "Mammoth" is a firetrap. He makes some purchases in the store, not forgetting the most important thing, a diamond ring. Several days later, while "Miss 318" is admiring the solitaire, Mrs. Lancaster Varden, wife of a millionaire, enters the "Mammoth" with her daughter, Priscilla. They are very affable, contrary to "Miss 318's" expectations. In the basement a careless porter has knocked a lighted cigar into a basket of rubbish and soon the blaze has spread beyond control. There is panic upstairs. The elevator is unable to carry down all the persons, and while Mrs. Varden is taken out by firemen, Priscilla is left with the less fortunate. She and "Miss 318" are helpless in the raging furnace. "Mr. 37" enters and offers to take his sweetheart out. She refuses and tells him to take Priscilla first, which he does. He works his way partly across a yawning chasm of hungry flames on a rope, with Priscilla clinging to him, and then the rope burns and the two swing against a building across the street and drop to the pavement. Soon after the entire wall of the store collapses, with "Miss 318" a prisoner. Before she left with her rescuer, Priscilla had placed a diamond bracelet about "Miss 318's" arm. The parents of Priscilla are unable to find her after the fire. "Miss 318," wearing the bracelet, is found beneath the smoldering ruins, and the firemen think it is Priscilla. Priscilla is found in the same ward as "Miss 318" later, and "Mr. 37," bandaged from head to foot, is brought to the little salesgirl. The scenes between these two and Priscilla and her sweetheart and parents are touching.