Making his way through the acrid smoke that Is believed to have felled many of the merry-makers in the Cocoanut Grove fire, Russell Richwein, 18, U. S. N., Of Norwood, climbed through a window to safety, it was learned last night.
Seaman Richwein is the son of Mrs. Emma P. Rowell of 392 Pleasant street, and left yesterday for Newport, R. I,, after a four-day furlough.
INDUCTION PARTY.
The night of the fatal fire, Seaman Richwein went to the Grove with a group of officers who had sworn him into the Navy. Several other seamen who enlisted at the same time were In the group.
They were seated In the main dining room of the Grove waiting for the floor show to come on when the panic started. Unable to get near any of the jammed entrances, and finding It futile to organize the crowd, Richwein and his party made their way across the burning club.
They managed to locate a window, heavily curtained, and after assisting a number of people through It escaped themselves when the flames were almost upon them.
"Unless you were there you could never realize the terribleness of It," he said. "Words can't describe It."
After his escape from the flame-filled club, Richwein and the other sailors toiled for hours assisting the Injured and aiding the firemen in their work of getting the dead and the injured out of the club.
Seaman Richwein is a brother of First Class Fireman Everett Richwein who Is stationed upon one of the larger ships In the far Pacific.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)
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