Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-06-10
THE HOLYOKE HORROR.
Some Particulars and Touching Incl
dents of the Terrible Disaster.


Lynch, brave fireman, who was the
first to respond to the alarm. He de-
scribed the scene, when he reached the
burning church, as appalling. Wedged
tight and immovable in the doorways
was dense mass of humanity from six
to eight feet in height, none of them
being able to stand upright from the ter
rible pressure of the crowd behind,
while upon and over them sheet of
flame rolled like wave, streaming far
out into the open air. Without mo-
ment's pause to consider their danger,
Lynch and Chief-Engineer Mullen
rushed into the flames, spurred on by the
piteOus cries: For Gods sake, come and
help us!' and began pulling out the
bodies. A moment later and well-di-
rected hydrant stream from the Mount
HOlyOke hose struck the brave rescuers,
and undoubtedly saved them from being
burnt alive. The first persons drawn out
were burning, but they were passed di-
rectly through the stream of water and
the flames were extinguished. Some of
the poor creatures fell fainting on the
long flight of wooden stairs leading
down to the street, and few were able
to walk
By this time the entire fire department
had arrived, and worked with such
energy and will that when the fire was
eXtinguished the charred wooden walls
of the structure were standing and were
pulled down by the hook and ladder
men, in order that search for the bodies
might be made. Only a very few mo-
ments, comparatively, elapsed after the
water struck the building before the fire
was out, but the destruction to life dur
ing that brief period was terrible.
Wild efforts were made by the people
to rush pell-mell into the burning build
ing to rescue their friends, and it was
with difficulty that they were kept back.
This was particularly the case with
parents who had on the first impulse
rushed from the church to save their own
lives, but who, remembering that they
had left their children behind to perish,
returned impetuously. Actual personal
violence had to be used in several cases
to keep the women back. All about the
streets men, women and children were
watching and piteously inquiring if their
friends had been saved. One woman was
positive that her husband had persisted,
and could only be quoted by the assur,
ance from a friend that he had just been
walking with him.
One of the most touching cases was
-
of age, who rushed for the entrance of
the building while the fire was at it's
height, thinking to find their father and
mother, who were within. They could
only be restrained by an officer, who
took them in his arms.
The church was erected in 1870, entire
ly of pine, was about 100 feet long by
sixty wide, two stories high, with CALLER
les on the sides and the north end about
twenty feet wide. There were two
doors in the north end and the vesti-
bule, from which two doors opened into
the body of the church. The galleries
opened into the vestibule. At the rear
end was another door, by which d few
persons escaped
Immediately upon the breaking out
of the flames all the occupants Of the
galleries rushed to the east door, and,
falling upon one another, choked up the
doorway with their bodies, piled in all
ways, seven or eight deep. Here most
of the lives were lost. From this mass
Chief Mullen rescued one young woman,
after having taken off two dead bodies
from above her. The Chief and others
had their clothes almost burned from
them, and were badly burned about the
hands.
One woman jumped from the highest
window down upon the front steps,
breaking her arm.
A man with two children in his arms
jumped from window and escaped.
One poor woman, enveloped in flames,
shrieked out: "For Gods sake, save
me-" and was dragged out.
Some sprang from the gallery windows
aud were seriously injured, and one per-
son appeared at a window completely
wrapped in flames, and after tottering
there an instant fell to the ground dead
and unacceptable. Hundreds of men
went to the wreck as soon as an Opportu-
nifty was offered to search for bodies, and
a force of police was organized to keep
back the large crowd which had gath
cred. The greater number of bodies
were found in the fatal stairway, burned,
some of them, to a crisp. The body of
one woman was found in the seat which
she had occupied, her clothing entirely
burned off. A deshy woman, weighing
about $50 pounds, was dragged scream
ing from the mass. She was carried
short distance from the church and
placed on the grass, while her flesh actu-
ally peeled off her back, and in mo-
ment she fell over dead.
The scenes last night and to-day in the
school-house basement, where the bodies
of the dead were carried, were heart
rending in the extreme. In some in
stances the features were distorted, as
though extreme agony had been suffered
before death, but many looked as calm as
though smothered. All were blackened
with smoke; some were burned beyond
possibility of Identification, nothing re-
naming but the trunk.
Louis Desjerdin, fifty-four years old,
whose wife and daughter were both
burned to death, became insane today
from grief, and cried continually in ag-
onizing tones: "Oh, my Julie my julie"
Some were taken out alive who were un-
der others who We're dead, and owed to
this fact their own salvation.
One of the most protracted cases OF
suffering was that of Mary DesJardln,
who was burned past all recognition and
blinded. She somehow found her way
to the hill north of the church and wan
dered around there about twenty minutes
before she was found and taken to her
home, where she died about eleven
o'clock this morning, having fingered if-
teen hours in fearful agony
The fate of Amminie Menaer and her
lover was touching event of the fire.
She was the organist for the evening in
the absence of the regular one, and was