The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-04-17
Only Paupers.

Only Paupers.
The telegraph has given brief account 81
the burning of poor house in New Yorl
Saturday night. A telegram from Bath n
the Herald gives these particulars:
terribly disastrous fire occurred here q
little before one o'clock this morning. The
insane department of the Steuben county
poor-house, containing between sixty and
seventy inmates, was fired by Il. q. Ford,
one of tho inmates, from Hornersyille.
Fifteen persons, five males and ten females,
persisted in the flames. The building was
of brick, with iron grated doors and win
dows, and the inmates were unable to get
out. The building is wholly destroyed, with
a loss of $4,000. 8. 5
The scenes of fatality beggar description,
and were horrifying in the extreme. One
inmate besides those who persisted was in
jured. More than forty were rescued. T.. G.
Ford, who was man subject to fits, was
never known to do anything violent before,
and, therefore, was trusted and given fuller
liberty than other more insane inmates. He
was allowed to smoke and have light in his
room. 1t is supposed that he fired his bed
ing, for when those in charge discovered the
flames, Ford's head protruded through the
iron grating of his window, and he apparent
" could not withdraw it. He must have put
his head out as soon as he recovered from
the fit and discovered his danger. Superin-
tendent Eli Darlington was absent from
the premises temporarily. His family and
assistants worked hard, but it was too
late to be of any avail except in rescuing
three-fourths of the helpless, imprisoned
inmates. e
The county house is about two miles from
Bath court house bridge. The light was
noticed in Bath just before I O'Clock 4. NJ.
1t did not appear like fire in the distance,
and at first there was nothing done, but the
nature of the glare of light finally became
apparent, and the Bath fire department. was
called out by the alarm. The. distance, and
the first Misunderstanding, made them
late, and their services were all unavailine,
either to succor the burning inmates or to
save the building. The first and second
floors, with their flaming contents, fell
through to the basement, which was also
occupied by some of the doomed inmates.
The building burned four or five hours,
and at daylight there was nothing standing
but the brick walls. All the rest was in q
horrible mass of ashes, human bones, iron,
windows, gratings, bed -steads and debris. It
will be impossible to recover any of the
bodies in recognizable form. The ashes of
the whole fifteen lie buried in the ruins of
the burned buildings. Situated about ff-
teen rods north was the main county house,
which was more valuable, and it is fortu-
nately uninjured, with it's score of pauper
inmates. ~ e1
> ANOTHER ACCOUNT. s,.z-f|s Il
The building of the Steuben county poor
house burned Saturday night was a brick
thirty by forty feet, two stories high.
Nearly all the windows were grated, and
there was but one mode of egress from each
story. No night watchman was employed
about the building, and there was no fire
apparatus. The county-house is two
miles from Bath, and the fire
department. did not go out. An insane
epileptic from Hornellsville, named Ford.
who was locked up in cell on the first floor,
set fire to his bed with match, probably
obtained from a fellow-pauper. All the
partitions were of pitch pine, and burned
like finder. The cries of Ford aroused the
other inmates only after the building was
filled with binding smoke. An inmate
who had Ford in charge opened Ford's door,
and the flames burst out and ran along the
partitions and up the stove-pipe hole, into
the second story. Ford could not be seen
on account of the flames. He had forced
his head betws the bars of window, and,
unable to pull it back, was cry.
ing for help. The flames poured
out of the window around his head and he
persisted. The upper story was occupied by
twenty-five women and children, and the
lower story by eighteen men. A majority
were ldiotic, cripples, or very aged. Five
on the first floor and ten on the second were
burned. At the first alarm Eli Darlington,
the keeper, rushed out of the main building
with an employe, and knocked in door at
The foot of the stairs leading from the second
story. Eight or ten women were piled up at
the foot of the stairs and a cloud Of suffocat-
ing smoke rolled down. The women were
pulled out and Darlington started
upstairs, but was driven back by
The smoke. In five minutes from the
time of the alarm the paupers ceased coming
out, and in half an hour the roof fell in.
The first floor door, leading from the mems
department., was never locked, and no one in
the building was locked in cell except
Ford. On Sunday the blackened remains of
i've bodies were taken from the ruins, and
to-day about two-t thirds of the debris were
dug over, and more remains were found.
Altogether they would fill about an ordinary
sized coffin. Heads, legs, and arms were en-
tirely burned off, and in most cases but
very small portion of any body can be found.
No blame attaches to any one, but the county
is severely censured for providing such
man-trap for the occupation of it's paupers.
Before the tire there were 40 paupers in the
county house. s,..5's...'
Closing Scene OF the European War.
The closine scene of the war is describ-