Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-05-28
TELEGRAMS TO THE STAR,
THE H0lY0ke HOLOCAUST.
Burned to Death in Church.
A Terrible Calamity.
Seventy Dead Forty injured.
EfARTS' DEFFNCE OF BEECHER.
FRlGHTFuI EARTHQUAKES.
B0YT0N CROSSING THE CHANNEL,
A Terrible Calamity.
Seventy Dead Forty injured.
EvARTS' DEFFyCE OF BEECHER.
FRIeHTFuL EARTHQUAKES.
BoYToN CROSSING THE CHANNEL
THE HOLYOKE DISASTER.
a N ful &DeIcS nj The Rurninu l,hurch

THE HOLIOE r. DISASTER.
Awful scenes az the Burning Church
SPRINGFIELD. MASS, May cor course
the intensest excl telnent prevailed last night
IN the streets OF holNokc ceutcring oVpoSit e.
the church at which the FIRE occurred and
al various points l. which the burned were
carried Wild efforts were made by people
10 rush Tcil nell tuto the burning building
To rescue their friends. aud it was with dif,i-
Guilty they were kept back. rll~ was par
tlcU.arly the ease with parents who had on
the nrSt impulse rushei from the church TO
save their own lives, but suddenly nsmem-
b'red they had LEFT their children behind 10
perish. Actual personal violence hal - be
used I'm several cases 10 keep women back.
p All about the streets men. women and rbfl-
dren were wandering piteouSly iuquirinC N
their friends had hoen saved. one woman
was positive that her husband had persisted.
and could only be Quieted bv an Assurance
nom friend That he had last been walking
with him.
oNE or THE MOST TOUCHING CASES
was that OF two litt e girls about - wears of
age, who rushed fpr the entrance of the
building while the fire was AZ it's height
thinking To find their father and mother, Wlro
were within. They could only be restrained
by an officer. who took them I'm his arms
Those engaged Ina pulling out bodies noticed
that almost every woman had bracelets on
Der wrists. and had evidently worn their best
for special occasion. 10 iS a disputed QueS-
ton whether both tie frunt doors We're avail
able FOR escape. There are those who state
positively that one OF them was closed, and
OF the crush. One man. II is asserted, went
10 the closed door, and fiOuri>hing a club,
threatened violence 70 any one who came
near, IN order 10 get the crowd away. but
Without success. . hers state as positively
mat both doors were open. The church
society was eSfanli ,hed about seven years
ago. and Father Dus nesSi hat been the only
pastor. The parish included all the French
catholics. whose number IL estimated from
2,oOo 10 900 persons.
THE CHURCH
was erected I'm 1~.a. ana Us a menSinns were
about loo 10y 20 feet. Two storie~ were butt
entirely OF pine, with galleries on the sides
and north end about - feet wide There
were two doors opened IN the body OF the
church. the galleries opened INTO the veSti-
bule- Al the rear end was another door by
which q few persons escaped. Immediately
upon The breaking out of the DANES all The
occupants OF the galleries rushed To the east
door and crowded so that
THEY FILL UPON ONE ANOTHER
and choked up the dOorwayS with their
bodies piled in all ways seven or eight feet
deep. and here most Of the lives were lost.
From this mass Chief Mullin rescued one
young woman after taking OF two dead
bodies from above her. IL was almost inn
possible 10 face the danes. and Chief Mullin
and Others had their clothes almost burned
from them, and were badly burned them
selves about the hands. In the rear of the
church was the priests residence, which was
also destroyed. The walls We're pulled down
after the FIRE was nearly put out.
JUMPING FOR LIFE.
one woman jumped from the highest win
dow down upon the front steps. breaking an
arm. but she is not known TO have been
otherwise injured. A man with two children
in his arms jumped from the window and
escaped. One poor woman, envelOped In
flames, shrieked out, - For Gods sake save
me- and she was dragged out by John
Lynch. The latestdispatch TO the Republican
from Holyoke says 10 is not quite certain
that all the bodies have been taken from the
ruins. In the haste 10 get as many as pos
sible from the building before il fell, many
were taken out a short distance, and ~ is
possible that a few more may be taken from
the debris.
20 Dead and 20 Injured.
SPRING FIELD. MASS, May y, noon
Bodies OF fifty persons burned 10 death al
HOlyOke last night have been Identified, in
addition to the fifteen or twenty who were at
once removed to their homes by their friends.
Nearly seventy have died, and some forty
more are more or less burned or otherwise
injured. The hero OF the disaster was Mr..
Lynch. brave fireman. who was the nrst I'D
respond TO the alarm. He describes the scene
when he reached the burning church as APP
pallng. Wedged tight and immOvable in
dOOrwayS was a dense mass Of humanity
from six to eight feet in height, none OF them
able TO stand upright from the terrible pres
sure OF the crowd behind, while upon and
over them a sheet az fire rolled like wave,
streaming far ont into the open air. With
out a moment pauSe TO consider their dan
ger, Lynch and Chief Engineer Mullen
rushed into The flames, spurred on 10y piteoas
cries of
aFoR GODS SAKE COME AND HELP U.s."
and began pulling out bodies. moment
later and well-lirected hydrant STREAM
from the Mt. Holyoke hose struck thu brave
rescuers and undoubtedly saved mem from
being burned alive. The fir Y,ersons drawn
ont were burning, cut ley passed directly
throusA me siIeah- or water. and the flames
when were JeTouring them We're extln-
gulSht-.. Some OF the poor fellows Tel talnt-
ing on the long d light of wooden steps ls&l-
ing down 10 the street, and few were able
TO walk, though with considerable effort.
BY this time the entire fire department had
arrived and worked with such energy and
will that when the fire was eNtinguiShed
the chaTred wooden walls OF the stFuc-
ture were standing and were pulled
down by the Look and ladder men
in order that search for bodies might be
made only very few moments compare
lively elapsed after the water struck the
buildi,-" before the fire was out, but the de-
struciien IN H., during That brief perlot OF
time was terrible. Son,a sprthg from ule
gallery windows and were 'OusIN ~! "a 80
and one person appeared at the W.. . S,.ih
pletely wrapped IN flames, and after IA,
ing there an instant fell 10 the ground deaaa
and unacceptable. Hundreds of men went
10 work as soon as the opportunity offered
10 search for the bodies, and a force OF police
was organized TO keep back the large crowd
which had gathered.
THE WORK or ENrRICATING THE BoDTES
was sad indeed, and the greater number O..
Them were found in the fatal entry way
burned, some Of them, 10 a crisp. The bodv
OF one woman was found in the seat she Ia
occupied, her clothing entirely burned Of
A fieshy woman, weighing some 1SO pounds
was dragged screaming from the mass. She
was carried shOr5 distance from the church
and placed on the grass. while the flesh ac-
tually peeled on her back. In moment she
fell over dead. Tue scenes last night and
to-day i'm the SchO Dl-houSe basement, where
the bodies OF the dead were carried. were
HEART RENDING IN THE EXTREME.
Stumps OF limbs burned TO a crisp protruded
rom under sheets, and as the face cloth was
lifted from heads the Scared and blackened
remains were disclosed. In some instances
features were distorted. as though extreme
agony had been suffered before death ensued.
But many looked calm, as though smoth-
cred. vet they all were blackened i'm smoke.
Some were burned beyond the possibility OF
Identification, nothing remaining but the
trunk of the body. A coroners jury was
summoned to-day, but the excitement con-
finues SO intense that il was judged best not
TO attempt the Ia king OF evidence, and the
inquest was al journed till Monday.