Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-11-24
A Great Calamity.

OF. AUL, NOV. lO.-A Uuiicliu W
the Pioneer Press from ST. Peter says:
The number of live, lost by the burn
ing and freezing in the insane asylum
are riousIy estimated from twenty
to fifty. The loss on the building is
100000. A special dated at four a.
IN. says: The scenes at the burning
at the south wing of the hospital were
heartrending in the extreme. So ap-
palling a sight has rarely been wit
messed, and we trust may never be
again. The patients in the annex
wing were males. Many of them re-
fusing to leave the building at all.
They ran up and down the halls
screaming aud crying and acting like
those who could not be coaxed nor
forced out of the building and become
the unhappy victims of the flames and
suffocated in pit of flames. Others
we're saved, some by ladders and some
by leaping from the windows. Some
were n, arly nude, some shoeless and
hatless, all were exposed to the ex-
ceeding cold cf the night. Many OF
the poor demented and crazed inmates
fled as If for their lives and could not
be overtaken or confined. Their suffer
ings in this frightful condition can
better be imagined than described.
The whole catastrophe is fearful to
contemplate and impossible to describe
The poor, dazed inmates of the asylum
who had escaped the flames were at
large half clothed and were to be seen
il all directions flying in wild fright
from those attempting to save them
The air was bitter cold and the poor
wretches with half naked bodies and
bleeding feet, were flying about hiding
in alleys and dark corners. 1t was a
sight once seen never to be forgotten
For some time the capacity of the
building has been tried to its utmost
There were about 600 patients and
every inch of space utilized. What
will be done with these poor creatures
turned out in the cold and their mala-
dy increased by the excitement of the
occasion, is serious question. There
are two other buildings situated in the
town which are used but are already
crowded to their full capacity. The
asylum at Rochester is full and will
doubtless unable to provide accom-.
modations for any of the inmates at
st. Peter.
Another special says while the
flames were slowly progressing the
matron of the female department made
all haste to get the inmates out, and
many of them ran shrieking in their
night clothes in the snow drifts, even
burrying themselves in the snow, and
had to be dragged in barns and sheds,
while those near by wrapped blankets
and shawls around them Hence in.
tense suffering could not avoided as
they had to be taken about fifteen or
twenty rods through the snow to the
nearest shelter, which was on hill
Immediately in the rear of the south
wing. Yet when we turn to the male
apartment our blood runs cold, as we
gaze into those burning walls and real
ize what was the doom of more than
one poor demented man. The actual
number burned can not be gotten at in
any way at the present time, as many
are known to have wandered away in
the intense excitement that prevailed
throughout the whole premises. Sew
eral bodies were taken out of some Of
the rooms and halls. Several persons
were gotten out into the halls, when
they would seem determined to return
to the flames One room, occupied by
two, was broken open and while one
was dragged out the other was deter
mined to remain in her warm bed, and
when dragged out insisted on waiting
In be dressed