Foiling The Fire Fiend

A rnerchantof Gowanda has invented a most reniarkable apparatns for saving stooks of goods froin fire. Instead of rotting out the fire, the apparatus opens ;he froiit of the store, and the counters, cases and shelving roll out into the street into their owner's arres. The shelving and counters in the store are all portable and rnounted on rollers. Attached to the rear end of the shelving is a cable which runs forward and over a wheel below the floor in the front of tbe store. To this end of the cable are suspended weights sufflciently heavy te overbalance the shelviug, cases and goods in thern. A brake device keeps he weights f rom setting the machine going. Attached to the lever of the Drake is a combustible cord which passes upward into the store and is car:ied along the walls and ceiling, where it wiJl be quickly ignited in case of fire. The sundering of the cord looses the Drake, the weights bear on the cable, and the shelves start helter skelter for ;he front of the building. At the same ;ime the windows and doors open automatically ontward, and the entire con;ents of the store are dumped on the eidewalk in a jiffy. To frústrate the designs of firo thieves the shelves fold up when they reach the street, presenting only blank wood and glass. Those who have seen the apparatns ested saythat it works admirably. One night a mouse found something palatable in the brake cord and gnawed it in :wo, whereupon, much to its consterna - tion the furniture, boxes and shelves, with one accord, began a swift movement forward, and an automatic alarm attached to tbe machiu6 began to ronse all the inhabitants of Gowauda, the jour being 2 o'clock in the morning. The ingenious inventor was one of the ïrst on the scène, and his disgust at being routed out by a false alarm was greatly mitigated by the spectacle of ;he smooth working of his machine. It seems to be a ood thing and pushes