Executive Mansion miracles of 1926 fire

Christmas was a family affair when Gov. E. Lee Trinkle occupied the Executive Mansion in Richmond.
Trinkle, who served from 1922 to 1926, had three lively children who relished the holiday and the large Christmas tree that traditionally graced the ballroom.
After the Trinkles' final Christmas at the mansion, first lady Helen Trinkle asked the butler to pack the decorations and discard the withering tree. She wanted the ballroom cleared for official receptions during the family's final weeks in the house.
The butler began the task the morning of Jan. 4, 1926. While he worked, the Trinkles' son, Billy, who was to turn 5 in a few weeks, played nearby. The butler lighted a holiday sparkler to keep the child amused.
"Billy whirled a brilliant sparkler near his big Christmas tree," the next morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch said. "It might as well have been a magic wand."
More than 60 years later, William S. "Billy" Trinkle, who died in 2002, recalled for The Times-Dispatch that he threw the sparkler on the dry tree, which erupted in flames. "I ran out back and hid under the smokehouse," he said.
The butler tried to extinguish the fire with his hands, but flames spread quickly to furnishings and woodwork. He alerted the first lady, who phoned the fire department.
The first lady stood outside with others while firefighters pumped water onto the rapidly spreading fire.
She knew Billy was safe, and she knew her daughter, Helen Sue, was in school, but she suddenly realized her oldest child, son Lee, who had been asleep upstairs, was not among the evacuees.
"While men looked on appalled, and one ran to forcibly restrain her, she dashed into a roaring furnace, gained the staircase and staggered through smoke and flames to the room where her 15-year-old son was asleep," The Times-Dispatch reported. "The son awoke as billowing smoke and tongues of flame followed his mother into the room."
The first lady collapsed, overcome by smoke and heat. Her son assumed the hero's role.
Lee Trinkle dragged his unconscious mother to a rear window. He raised the sash and held her until fresh air revived her.
Her screams brought firefighters to the back of the house. But because of the mansion's greater elevation at its rear, the only available ladders stopped 10 feet short of the window.
Fire Capt. G.D. Rust stood as near the top rung as he dared and lifted his arms. "Lee insisted that his mother be the first to go," the report continued. "He helped her through the window and she hung suspended from the window." She let go.
Helen Trinkle fell into Rust's arms. A bone in the firefighter's shoulder cracked. He lost his grip but grabbed the first lady's ankle before she fell head-first to the paved courtyard below.
"How he held on under such circumstances is another one of the near-miracles which were crowded into a breathless 10 minutes," The Times-Dispatch said. A firefighter on another ladder beside Rust snagged the first lady and carried her to the ground.
Meanwhile, the 15-year-old swung from the window, pushed himself away from the building and sailed toward the ground. The butler's outstretched arms broke his fall. Neither was hurt.
The governor arrived from his Capitol office just as the blaze was extinguished and in time to accompany his wife to a hospital. She suffered firstand second-degree burns and recovered without scarring.
The mansion recovered as well but not in time for the new governor's arrival. The family of Gov. Harry F. Byrd Sr. stayed at The Jefferson Hotel until restoration was completed in April.