The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-01-17
THE LATEST HORROR.

The Search for the Victims-Fuu List
of the Lost and Soyed-The Death Roll
Includes Twenty-three Students and
Five Sisters, Among Them the Mother
Superior.
ST. Lou1s, Mo, Jan. I.
Among the many calamities which have
made memorable the first week of 1884 in
the United States. none comes with such
crushing force or appeals more directly to
our sympathies than the terrible disaster
which overlook the Convent of the Sisters
of the Immaculate Conception at BeIIevilIe;
H., ON Saturday night the 9TH inst, by
which twenty three of the young lady stu
dents and five of the Sisters, inc uding the
Mother Superior lost their lives. At a
quarter before eleven on the night in ques-
tion, as nearly as can be ascertained, fire
started IN the basement, and before the in
mates, who had for the most part retired
for the night, were aware of the danger
which menaced them, the building was en-
yelOped in flames and nearly every avenue
of escape cut Off This fire department was
summoned by telephone quickly as pos
sible and responded with three engines,
but when they arrived were unable to do
anything toward saving the building, and
all that could be done was to cndeavor to
rescue the unfortunate inmates, in which
work, horrible to relate, but little sue, ess
was met with.
Mr.. James Stout of the City Foundry,
who early discovered the fire, lost no
time in repairing to the scene,
He says on reaching the building, the
windows of the third story presented
spectacle calculate to send thrill of hOr-
ror through the stOutest heart. In their
night clothes, about the windows stood
large number of the inmates of the con-
vent, with faces white as snow screaming
for help and wringlng their hands in ago.
nizing despair. They had already been
aroused from their slunbers, and in their
fright and desperation ra1 to the first point
which offered the Least possible means of
escape. But the building had already be-
come pretty thoroughly wrapped in flames,
and there was nothing left but to jump, and
some OF them accepte the dreadful altcrna-
tive. Soon afterward there was heavy
explosion and almost instantly the upper
portion Of the building wrapped in
dense volume of smoke. The explosion was
supposed to have been caused by coal gas.
Most of the white faces at the window dis
appeared with the explosion and were not
seen again.
A few OF the girls. however, remained at
the windows, apparently determined to try
the ordeal of leaping for life. The first to
try the experiment was Miss Mary Camp
bell, of East Il. Louis Sic threw herself
out of the window, but caught hold of the
casing she pas ed through. In the mean
time the brave iiTemen had thrown a lad
der up against the building immediately
under her, and for an instant it seemed
that she would be saved. The lad
der unfortunately proved too short, and
she hung by her hands, her feet almost
reaching its top. Suddenly she released
her grasp of the windCw-siIl, and falling
down struck the ladder Il bout our feet from
the top and bounded off to tie hard, frozen
pavema mt below. She was hurriedly
picked up and borne Off to the office of the
Harrison Machine Works, where, after
few gaSps. she expired. Her back and neck
were both broken in the fall
Soon after this Ieur-u >, enc Sister Mo-
Hrat q IpInI n the
south side of the building, silent and still
in death. 1t is not known how she died,
but it is supposed that she leaped from the
porch of the second story. Some of her
limbs were broken and her body present ed
sickeniug evidences Of the fall. This court
was paved with brick. which of course add
ed to the chances Of death in reaching it.
At the same time two of the girls were
saved from he top of the veranda Of the
second floor. They had evidently leaped
out of window above and in striking the
roof were stunned. Being in their night
clothes they were very cold, but having
been rescued were borne off to a place Of
safety and through restOrativeS were soon
resuscitated. To Mr. John Schumacher and
George w. Merker belongs the credit Of
saving them. They saw them in their per-
ilOus position and procuring ladder res
cued them.
At this time the flames were fast envel-
opiug the building. All the engines had
been placed in position and were fighting
the fire with an energy and determination
that reflected the CHEST praise upon tde
firemen. Bat Notwithstanding their super
human efforts, the inside of the building
began to surrender to the flames, and the
fire, having originated in the basement in
the west end, all the floors in that depart
ment seemed to give way at once and com
menCed to fall. The firemen saw that all
efforts to stop the flames and save the
building were futile, and they turned their
attention to saving the walls. The walls on
the west were the first to fall, and as they
went down they carried with them the tim
bers and flooring of the different stories
and also the precious lives of the poor girls
who had sought safety in the rooms of that
part of the building. It is believed, how
ever, that many of the inmates had met
death before the falling of the walls in this
wing of the building. It is thought that
they were suffocated in the first explosion
of coal gas, as the smoke was seen TO shoot
up the stairs leading from below.
When tho walls of the wing of the struc-
tUre gave way all hope of resCuing the chill
dren was abandoned. The fire then spread
out through the halls and doors Of the east
wing and seemed to embrace its work of
destruc.io ion as if it had duty to perform
and desired to show tho wOnder-strlcken
spectators how well it could be done. The
flames reached out through the windows,
insinuated themselves through the crevlces
of the cOrHices and shot their red tongues
up through the shingles OF the robson
gliding the entire structure in a dress of
lurid fire. Soon the fire burned great
holes in the roof, which began to fall in
Z
went down large portions Of the floors be-
! low were carried with them, and when the
| burning mass reached the basement a
/ solid mass of dense, black smoke, mingled
wiJh red flames and millions Of sparks, shot
up high into the heavens, and, floating off
on the frosted air, presented scene at once
awe-inspiring and wonderfully startling:
! After while the entire roof gave way and
went d own with fearful crash.
At this moment all eyes were turned
across the street to st. Peters Church,
/ 4
| to the east. The sparks that had been sent
up by the falling roof and walls came down
/ in a dense shower on the roof of he church
/ The hose of one of the engines was turned
/ upon it, however, and a delugc Of water
saved it. One fortunate circumstance that
/ contributed to the confinement of the flames
! to the convent alone was based in the alb
sence of much wind. Inc night was IN
tensely cold and the firemen worked at a
/ great disadvantage, yet they managed to
/ get complete control of the ConflagratiOn in
| three hours after the alarm was sounded
| After that not much could be done except
/ throw water on the burning mass and cool
| it off. This was continued until daylight.
About eight O'Clock a IN. Sunday several
volunteer corps of workers were organized
under City Marshal Louis Williams and
I Captain Kaysiug, Chief of Police, and an
effort was made to recover the bodies of the
| victims. The work cOutiuu d up to four
O'Clock, at which time the remains of
fourteen of the victims had been re-
| covered. Some Of these were hud-
died close together, indicating that
in their despair they had sought consola-
tion in each others arms. On young lady,
Miss Agnes Schneider, whose -EmaiDI we're
identified by her name on he undeIClOth-
ing, had met death in bed, ha7 ;ng u1doubt-
edly been sufTOcated by the 5mOke. Bed
and all had gone down from the dorm.tory
to the basement, and was quickly COW
/ cred over with falling brick that the bed
stead and portion of the clothing Of the
bed remained in a tolcrably fair state Of
preservation.
All those recovered were found immedi-
ately beneath where the dcrmitorY was 10
Gated. One theory is that they sought