St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-13
CREMATING THE INSANE.
Eighteen Lunatics Burned to Death In
the Asylum at West Phil
adelphia.
The Story as Told by One Of the Attendants.
and the Names of Those Who
Perished.
Five Men Asphyxiated by Gas in q Chi
cago S. sr-Other Cas-
ua1ties.
An Insane Asylum Burned.


PHILADELPHIA Feb. IA fire broke out
in the the insane department of the county
almshouse of West Philadelphia tonight.
The flames spread rapidly, aud before the
three hundred inmates could be released
eighteen of them were burned to death. The
others were left to roam about the gruun DIS
at will, and many Of them were picked up by
the police throughout the city.
AN ATTENDANTS ACCOUNT.
The following story is told by Attendant
Shredder:
81 do not know who sounded the alarm.
As soon as heard Natine cry rushed to
the foot of the stairway, and after an attempt
TO stop the fire, at once set to work to get out
patients. First unlocked the door of the
room in which Natine and his companions
were. They ran out at once. By this time
the flames were gathering in fury, and
dense volumes of smoke were ascending
into the upper stories. l succeeded in uu-
locking the doors of all the cells on the first
floor, and although with difficulty in some
cases, Succeeded in getting the inmates out.
l had no time to look after them further than
run them into the yard, for tie flames were
getting so fierce it was almost impossible to
breathe in the now hercely burning
building. The smoke in the upper stories
was so thick breathing was i'm possible.
While was getting the men out below, At
teudant William Strain was doing the same
for the inmates on the second floor. ! met
Hanna, the night Waterman, who was also
helping, and We went up to the third story,
but were
DRIVEN BACK By THE FLAMES,
which had forced their way through the stair
way and were creeping along to the cells of
the doomed inmates. We ran around
to the other stairway near the new
buildings on the west, and by that time some
firemen had arrived. All the in mates had been
gotten out Of the second story, so there re-
manned about twenty-eight on the third floor,
twenty in the cells and eight in the large
common room of the west end. The unfor-
tunate occupants Of the cells were being
sMoTHERED TOGETHER By SMOKE,
aud perhaps blistered and burned by the
flames. Some Of them cursed aud swore,
others laughed hideously. and others yelled
with pain, with such awful cries as would
have appalled, the hardest heart. The
firemen, myself and a patient named
Rafferty, crawled on our hands
and knees to such of the men
as we could reach and dragged out fourteen,
eight of them alive, four sutfocated to death
and two so horribly burned they died before
we could get them out of the building. We
could not see any of the men in the cells Of
course, but could hear their
HORRIBLE CRIES
above the roaring Of thu flames, rs they came
to realize the horrible fate which was in store
for them.
While Shredder was going through this ter
rible experience, the flames were extending
to the main building of the department. The
wing In which the Victims we're being burned
alive, was wrapped In flames, which were
shooting many feet into the air and illum-
mating the city for many squares.
Truck F arrived on the scene soon after
the first alarm and its ladder was quickly
run up to the third floors To the windows of
the cells in which the maniacs were fastened.
With axe and hook the firemen attacked the
iron gratings OF the cells and succeeded In
taking out seven men, four Of them suffo-
Gated to death, and three still alive. The last
man thus rescued was the notorious
Jim" Burke, who has been in the institu-
ton over thirty years. He was brought from
Easton pcniteutiary, where he was undergo
ing q life sentence for murder. He has
killed, since he has been In the insane de-
parimeut the cOok and two attendants. The
firemen who rescued him state that he died
while being taken 10 the ground.
THE VICTIMS.
The following are the names and ages of
the occupants Of tie nineteen cells in ward
", near where the 1re first started. all of
whom are supposed to have been suGocated
or burned 20 death, with the exception Of
three who were rescued by the iremen ::
Frank D. Deebacou, thirty-fve; James
Mccoy, forty: John Lynden, FIFTY: Isaac
O'Neill, thirty-fve; Charles Scott, (cOlored),
thiTty-two; John Dwyer, forty; James
Burk, hfty-seven, this man killed three
OF the inmates Of the institution during the
twenty-five years he was confined To ere. For
twenty years bis hands were chained 10 his
body; Thomas Rusk. fifty; Michael Wroth,
thirty-six: Robert Cunningham, forty-hve;
Charles No!enberger, six; Thomas Jones,
thirty-four; John Herriges, forty-eight;
(tierriges Is the man who was discovered in
a shauty at Fourth and Lombard streets,
where be bad been confined In
chains by bis parents for twenty
year; John kocbler. sixty: Thomas Smith,
ihirt, EIGHT; Edward Murphy, forty-eight;
Charles OiBrien, thirty-six; Philip New
berger, sixty; Jacob Glassnsn was rescued
by the Waterman.
The bodies OF Dechacon, Wroth, Jones,
Buak, Kochler, Hsrfiges. Scott, Lyden, New
berger aud Nolenberger bad been taken
from the ruins aud removed 10 the dead
49,