Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-05-28
HeArtrendlng SceneO-Men, Women
and Children Watching PiteOusly
and Inquiring for their
CI0 Friends. SD
Further Par.lcuIar. of shs Canamn'y

CURED n at various points 10 WHICH
the burned we're carried. Wild efforts
were made by the people to rush pell
nell into the burning building to reseu
friends, and it was with difficulty they
were kept back. This was particularly
the case with parents who had on first
impulse rushed from The church to save
their own lives, but remembering they
had left their children behind to perish
returned impetuously. Actual personal
violeRce had to be used in several
cases to keep women back.
all about the streets men, women and
children were watching and piteously in
curing if their friends had been saved.
One woman was positive that her hus'
band had persisted, and could only be
quieted by assurance from friends that
he had just been walking with them.
One of the most touching cases was
that of two little girls about twelve
years of age, who rushed for the en-
trance OF the building while the fire was
at its hight, thinking to find. their father
and mother, who we're within. They
could only be detained by an officer, who
took them in his arms.
1t is a disputed question as to whether
both front doors were available for
escape. There are those who state posi-
lively that one Of the doors was closed,
and that it was impossible to open it on
account Of the crush. One man went to
the closed door, and, Aourishing a club,
threatened violence to any one who
came near, in order to get the crowd
away, but without success. Others state
positively that both doors were open.
The church society was established
about seven years ago and Father Du-
fresno had been the only pastor. The
parish included all the French Catholics
of the city, whose number is estimated
at from 1000 to 250e persons. The church
was erected in 1870, entirely of pine and
was about one hundred feet by sixty, two
stories high, with galleries on the sides
aud north end about twenty-five feet
wide. There were two doors in the north
end and a vestibule from which two doors
opened into the body Of the church. The
galleries opened into a vestibule. AT
the rear end was another door by which a
few persons escaped. Immediately upon
the breaking out of the flames all the oc-
cupants of the galleries rushed to the
east door and, falling upon one another
choked up the doorways With their bod
les, piled in all ways, seven or eight deep.
Here most Of the lives we're lost. From
this mass Chief Muller 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.
In rear Of the church was the priest
residence, which wal also destroyed.
The walls we're pulled down after the
fire was nearly put out. One woman
Jumped from the highest window down
upon the front steps, breaking her arm
A man with two children in his armi
! Jumped from a window and escaped
One poor woman, e~nveloped in flames
shrieked out, "For Gods sake, save
mel" and she was dragged out.
The latest dispatch to the Republican
from Holyoke says it is not quite certain
that all the bodies have been taken from
the ruins. In the haste to get as manl
as possible from the building before j
fell, several we're taken but a short dis
lance, and it is possible q few more MAJ
be taken from the debris.
Noou-The bodies Of fifty person.
burned to death at Holyoke last nigh
have been identified, in addition to thssG
, Of one hundred and fifty and twenty
+, who were at once removed TO thei
, homes by their friends. Nearly s%event.
have died, and one hundred and fort.
, more are more or less burned and other
, wise injured.
! The hero Of the disaster was Johl
. Lynch, a brave fireman, who was thI
. first to respond to the alarm. He de
scribed the scene when he reached thI
a burning church as appalling, wedge
4 tight aud immovable. In the doorway
q was a dense mass Of humanity from sii
to eight feet in hight; none Of them wer
able to stand upright from the terribl
pressure Of the crowd behind, while upoI
and over them a sheet Of fire rolled lik
|. a wave, streaming far out into the ope.
air.
q Without a moments pause to conside
the danger, Lynch and Chief Enginee
Muller rushed into the flames, squire
) on by the piteous cries, " For God SAX
|. come and help usl' and began pullin
: out the bodies. A moment later and