The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-12-26
BURNED TO DEATH.
Many Children's Lives Lost i'm the
Brooklyn Orphan Asylum.
Their Charred Remains Discovered
in the Ruins.

fire of st. Johns Catholic Orphan asylum in
Brooklyn. In the hurry, and fright
and excitement of getting the able
bodied children out of the burning asylum
the bedridden little ones in Sister Mary Jose
phines quarantine ward, on the top floor of
the inflrmary were forgotten. The woman
whose special duty it was to care for them had
been nearly killed by fall from the roof in
attempting to escape, and was on her way to
the hospital She died soon afterward with
out letting any one know definitely whether
any children were in the ward when she
left it, In the ashes underneath their room.
lones representing nine little bodies We're
found on the following day, with other re
mains representing certainly and posi-
bly, two women. Of the children in the
Home, estimated at 7Sj, though those in
charge can give no certain number, ali
but forty eight were accounted for on the
following night. Only preliminary super
fetal examination of the ruins was made. and
it was thought more than probable that other
bodies would be found in thorough search.
The list of victims numbered eleven, and 1t
was believed that it would reach twenty when
the investigation was ended.
Sister Anthony, who had another ward on
the floor below that in charge of Sister Jo-
sophine, managed, with assistance, to get all
her children out in safety. They had been
trained in the school room to march out with
out confusion i'll case of fire at a signal from
the teacher. When she learned of the fire
she said:
Now, children, remember what YOU have
been taught, and you will get out safely
Those who were able to do trampcl
down the stairs as deliberately as though tn y
were going out to recess. Others, who were
too ill to rise were soon carried out by strong
arms, and put in places of safety before the
tiremen arrived. When the high wind had
swept the flames across a narrow pa,sageway
to the roof of the main building the efforts
of the fremen were turned princt-
pally in that direction. No one
dreamed of anybody being left in the infrIn-
airy. The roof had fallen in and the fire roar
ing inside the walls like a great furnace.
About midnight after everything was under
control and people began to talk matters
over, somebody inquired for the half-blnd
children on the upper floor, who were in no
condition to get out by themselves, and whom
everybody else seemed to have forgotten.
\ few tremen pOked around in the red
hot ruins, but they soon found it impossible
to do anything in that direction until daylight.
Tie most definite information attainIule was
that eleven children suffering from ophthal-
mic inflammation, common in institutions of
that kind, were confined in the isolated ward
and had not been accounted for But nobody
knew for a Ger ainty. No one had been al
lowed to go near them but the sister whose
voice was stilled in DEATH
As soon daylight made an examination
possible Foreman McGroalty, Of Eagne
Company No. "a, jumped INTO the stealIing
mass of ruins with shovel and began to look
around. Early as it was people stood around
and watched him anxiously. Amid mass
of iron beams bent and twisted by the heat
he saw child's body, burned and charrcd
beyond all possibility OF recogniton-the
limbs separated from the trunk and the
skull noting but a backe:.ed bone.
Il was ling about where the staircase ended
which ran from the engi e room 10 The
attic. Evidently the lttle fellow had ran
down stairs and had been unable 90 find his
way out Of the nit OF fire and smoke. The
iron beams hed fallen in such away as 70 pre-
vent the roof from falling on him. lie had
doubtless been snOthcrcd to death Calli:.4
a few men 20 nelp him. Mr. Mctiroarty began
20 turn over the debris for bodies which he
felt only too sure of finding buried in 1t.
The tiremen did not have to look long, or to
go far beneath the surface. The remains
Of four more little ores were found in a
heap close 20 the blackened wall, as though
they had huddlcd together in a corner,
and staid there until the floor gave way
and dropped them into the pit of fire
beneath, In less than al hour the fragments
of Ce"tc'nly nine bOdies-eight children and
one Gdult-had been picked out from the
smodering lelp They We're tied up in soaked
blankets aid carried IN the sewing room.
about the only room ia the asylum fit for use.
Soon after . O'Clock the fiIelEen went home
for needed rest, leaV.A e three men TO drown
the ruins and squat OF policemen ID keep
the crowd within reasonable bududs.
During the early morning hours there were
many affecting scenes in and about the Epis-
copal hospital, whence large number of the
children had been remove during the night
Mothers fathers and relatives of the little in
mates of the burned institution, who had
spent the whole of the night going from house
to house in the immediate vicinity
of the burning building searching
for their children, gave full express
sion to their agony as they passed from place
to place without finding them. These express
sions of grief, however, every now aud then
gave place to shouts and tears of joy, as one
after another the little ones were recognized
Some of the incidents and expressions were
touching IN Lle extreme, as some of the poor
women, who had well-nigh succumbed to the
mental strain and anguish attending their
search would clasp their children to their
breasts amid sobs and wild and endearing eX-
pressiOnS
oh me darling boy exclaimed an old
Irish woman, whose uncovered hair was dis
hcvelled and her eyes red with weeping. 81
thought You was burned to death an I'd
never see yer dear little face any more,
Jimmy" and she hugg;i and KEYED her little
haXen-hairei child whose eyss Were filled
with tears
" I've seen many affecting scenes in my
life said the superintendent, "but never
anything compared to this-never so much
real joy and as he spoke a shrek startled
all in the adjoining ward. There poor woman
named Haltigan, of East New York, had
fallen in a swoon. She had arrived at the in,
stitution but half an hour before in search of
her child. She seemed beside herself with ex.
element and as she scanned the little faces 1t
seemed as il the poor wOman's heart would
break. Her eyes were dry, but they betrayed
Suppressed emotion. As sh entered a ward
on the west side her eyes re- ted for a moment
on seven-year-old little curly headed and
dilnpled- checked fellow who was the center
of group of a dozen boys at play
"Oh. Willie. Ny God, he's safel' she
shrieked, and rushed to his side with the
tieetness of a deer. The next moment the
poor mother had fallen insensible at her darl-
inS's feet, her left hand touching his little
shoe.
The child was momentarily frightened by
the sudden appearance and fall of his mother,
and the other little fellows ran out Of the
room, crying "Lady dead! lady deadln
When couple of the nurses arrived hur-
riedly on the scene little Willie was on his
knees beside his mother caressing her and