The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1885-01-22
AN ASYLUM HORROR.
Burning Of the Eastern Illinois In
sane Asylum at Kankakee,
rhe ChaFred Remains OF Seventeen Uufor.
tunate Victims Taken from the Ruins
"A Faulty Furnace Causes
the Holocaust.
A SAD STORY.

KANKAKEE, ILL.,, Jap, l0,-At $3.50
o'clock yesterday morning the sOuth In
Urinary, q detached ward of the Eastern II.
llAoiS Hospital for the Insane, was dIscoy.
cred TO be on fire, The flames lgnItg In
the furnace-room had got good start be-
fore they were noticed. The woodwork OF
the building being Of Southern pine burned
very rapidly, The building was occupied
by foriy-hye patients six attendants
and one nlght-watchmNn Seven.
teen patients are mlssng; thlr-
teen bodies have been recovered, They
are burned beyond recognition. All Of tho
patients were infrm and ncurable, The
bed-rdden ones were rescued FIRST and
those who were able to help themselves did
not realize the danger aud were the ones
who perlshed The attendants lost oil their
personal effects, and many narrowly es-
,aped, There were no facilities for putting
out the fire, the State not having made any
Appropriation for that purpose, The fol.
lowing perlshod,
Henry Brown, Rock lslandi II W, ntlden,
ialosburgj George lionnotk Morris; Joseph
Colbert, ChloagQi OrlAndo Ellis, Pontlac j,
", galloway Macoupfi Thomm lllokoy,
Springfield; Matthew llngue, Cheblnoo ~
Hachnor, Stephenson County, Thomas Here
lcy Chongoi John Johnaon, VermlN oni
Michael Jordan, ChIcngo j Nathan, Chlcugoi
a, RunYrd Wlnnebngo County, O. strotz,
lhloagoi j, W, Tyler, ChIc0goi n Weymouth,
Putnam County,
The building was two,story stone and
brick, with no wood ahOa II except tho
floors and stalrways, II was completed
last August At cost OF $4,000, II was
heated by hOtaIr furnaces, When tho
lames broke out Attendants Brown aud
Rose and wife were sleeping on tho
second door, and Attendants Reid and
Williams and Fireman La Barge on tho
FIRST floor II was ~ degrees below zero
when the watcpman discovered smoke spl-
ing from the floor Immediately above the
furnace. lie ayoke tho attendants, The
smoke at once was drawn through the hot
air lluCs aud along the halls aud stalrw0ys
10 all parts OF the building, The fire spread
so rapidly that all efforts TO save the build
Ing In the absence Of q fire alarm 10 sum.
mon help, and for want Of facilities 10
qucnch the flames, were n'yaln.
7 After Int w, A. Reid began dragging
and carrying ont patients as soon as tho
alarm was given Many OF the patients,
NlNl w lllNll UlNlN NlhlllllA ulHNt lNHllNN
from the bitter cold ar back Into tho build
Ing, Reid, at the risk OF bis own lito,
struggled on until twenty-ono Of the twenty
clrce patients In his department WGTerls.
cuod, when he became exhausted and was
carried to bcd
On The second floor Attendants Rose and
wife heard the alarm and escaped down the
stairway Just b'pIo II fell, AtiendOnt
Brown, sleeping Oh the same floor, VIA
awakened by tho smoke and attempted 10
sOye patIelt In an adjoining room aud
failed, and sliding down sheet from his
window, Jumped 10 the ground,
Supcrn)Cnd, Mt II. S. Dewey reached tho
scene, aid with ladders climbed 70 the soc-
ond story windows, smashed the windows,
and was able 10 rescue several patients
thereby, Almost all the patients refused 10
cooperate IN tho efforts being made 10 sayc
thom, aud were only rescued by being
dragged from the flames AMI held from
returning. A marvellous escape was
that Of 0u Inmate Who fell with tie second
1oor, struck tho burning debris above tho
furnace, aud bounded through q window 10
the ground uninlurcd.
The remains OF the bodies Of thirteen pa
itehts have been taken from the mlps
burned 10 fragments, They can ~ dent.
Cdonly by tW location IN which they were
found The bodies Of the dood thus dsntI-
fed wer9 at tho eoronors Inquest yesterday
afternoon.
Superintendent Dewey testified before tho
Coroner that he had asked The Legislature
two years ago f0l $4,000 10 protect these
dea h Il wards from Gre; that $1,000
Twas allowed, nl OF which was used
IN mains and hydrOnts; that the amount
was insufficient 10 answer the purpose llo
had suggested that the floors above the hoe.
air furnaces be chauged 0s they were but
-four Inches from the outside and ten Inches
from the inside Of the furnace He gave
two reasons for the great number Of deaths
first the patients were almost oil suiIb'
Gated by smoke before they could bO
reached, and second, the inability dr unwll-
llngnoss ~ Insane patients 10 try and holp
themselves.
Night Watchman Cobbs, who discovered
the names, testified that he registered n ro-
port Of his calls every half hour. The reg
lister showed he visited the furnace room VI
$40 o'clock and found II oil right Az d;i0
o'clock he discovered the fire, The floor
Immediately above the furnace had been
frequently noticed by tho attendants sleep.
ing there 10 be uncomfOrtably hot Tho
furnace wasTo0fed by sheet iron, two myers
OF brick laid In mortar, with space of but
six inches between thom and The pine joeta.
T. Skully, foreman for The architect j,
r. Willott Of Chicago, who has charge Of
oil the hospital buildings, testified that ho
Inspected the furnaces whom completed.
He was satisfied with Them then. llo had
not inspected them since Air circulated
between the fumpce roof and the Pine tlm'
bor Tho h6taIr conductors were brick
flues and had no wood about thom Tho
hotar aues had fourlnoh walls; tho smoke
1ues eightlnch wallis
The Coroncr's Jury ls composed Of tho
following well-knowm citizens; s. NJ
Davis, Albert Schneider, A, Kuuasch,
Fred Fieboch, $, 7. Mclean, j. s. Whit
ham. Iva.
The remains OF The bodies, with one cx-
ceptpn, did not aggregate each sum.
client quantity Of cluTed fragments 10 iil
n man's hnt Tht entlre romNlna Of ten
were spread on small table twoteetsqliOto,
: The Coroner's Jury, which adjourned uns
Gil this afternoon, ls' ende0yorlng 10
ascertain whether the furnaces were do.
footIvc. The fact that there was no.general
FIRE alarm between tho var tous buildings OF
The hospital, nor any system OF .wator.
works, accounts for tho very large loss of
life
The builders OF The furnoc6s in tho
| bulned buildings are Tho HAITIAN Furnnbo
Company, Of DECATUR and eriloago. The
| furnaces IN the other rcsently completed
ihospval detached wards are bulltln pre-
.cisoly the same style and pt yie sane dis
tancc from Tie Pine tlmbeis as was Che one
IN the building burned, g ~
/ at A LATER pisrArou.
: KANkARuf H., Jan. iN,LFourl more
bottles have buen taken from tlie ruins ol
the asylum iire.9 ThleronpIelcs Tie llst oi
all wlio wufc Lost Frheir identification
could only De determined by thcir location,
The bodies OF all, except W. II, ,DoMen,
OF Galesbutg are reduced 10, d
| handful of charrcd bones ant