The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-02-18
NIGHT DISPATCHES!
Another Holocaust H0rri6es
the Country.
A Large Number Of Insane
People Burned to Death.
The English Worsted in q
Sharp Skirmish.
INSANE ASYLUM BURNED.

INSANE ASYLUM BURSND.
Many OF the Inmates Psri.h In th
PHILADELPHIA. Feb. l2.-Eigh
teen raving maniacs were burned t.
death in the insane department y
Blockley;s almshouse. on The wes
side of the Schuylkill, which wa,
consumed In confiagratlOD. Moth
ing was needed to make it the moi
horrible affair of the kind ever known
in The history of this city. The fire
originated iu a wing of the building
used as an insane department., which
fronts toward the Schuylkill river,
and is directly east Of the main build
ing of the almshouse. This wing Il
l45 feet front and 20 deep, connected
on the south with the main building,
which runs south 400 feet to a similar
wing to the one in which the dis
ss:er occurred. In this north build
ing, where the fire broke out, there
were 81 cells for violent patients, 20
on each floor. In addition to this
there was large room on each of
the three floors, In which cots for IL
men were place l, all Of which were
occupied when the fire broke out.
On the second floor, opposite the
NS,1 nnvI oE 30
cells On the north side of the corri-
dor was dry room, heated by steam.
This room, which was about ID feet
square, was directly along the mid
die stairway, connecting with the
floors above and bslow. Here the
flames originated, but from what
cause Is not known. At the time
there were insane patients in all the
calls on these three floors, 10 in the
large room on the first floor, and II
iD each of the large rooms on the
second and third floors.
From all the accounts Obtainable,
it appears pretty certain that the first
arm was given by an insane patient
on the first floor of the main build
ing. This man, Joseph Nadine, oc-
cupie d room adjoining the stairway
and the dry room, with about 20
Others, quiet patients. About 10 |
minutes t. o'clock he saw smoke
is suing from above the door which |
opened into the wing in which the |
cells We're placed. He ran to the big |
iron grated door, fronting on the |
main corridor, and cried out "Fire!
This fearful sound reached the ears
of Jos. Shroed r, an attendant on
the ground floor, who was in his
room directly opposite the one from
which Nadine gave the alarm.
Mis-. Hempsted, who has general
charge at night, says it was about 8
o'clock when the alarm reached her.
She was in her office, about 200 feet
from the drying room and at once
hurried to the scene. She says an at
tempt was made to put out the flames
with buckets OF water, and at first it
was supposed the flames We're only
burning from the ground floor near
the stairs but in almost an instant
they found the real point from which
the danger came was on the second
floor, at the top Of and above the dry
room. She then haste ned to get all
the patients from the main building,
extending back from the east wing.
Attendant Shredder takes up the
y tory at this point and thus relates
some of the horrors Of the dreadful
night:
81 don't know" he says, "whO
sounded the alarm, but as soon as
heard Nadine cry, l rushed to the
foot of the stairs, and after a short at
tempt to check the fire, ut once set to
get out the patients. First un-
locked the door of the room in which
Nadine and his companions were con-
fined. TIey ran out at once. BY
this time the flames were IN fury, and
dense volumes of smoke ascending
into the upper sto:ies. succe eeded
in unlocking the doors of all the cells
OH the II rst story; and, although with
difficulty in some eases, succeeded In
getting the. inmates out. I had no
time to look afterthem further tina II
to run them into the yard, for the
flames were getting fierce. aud 1t was
almost impossible to breathe IN the
now ierceIy burning building. The
smoke in the upper stories was 80
thick that breathing was impossible.
"While was getting the men out
below, attendent VIM Strain was
doing the same for the inmates on
the second story. l met Hanna, the
night watchman, who was also help
ing, and we went up to the third
story but were driven back by the
fiames which had forced their way
through the stairway, aud were Creep
ing along to the cells of the doomed
inmates. We ran around to the
other stairs, near the new buildings
on the west, and by that time some
tiremen had arrived. All the in
mates had been got out on the second I
story, so there remained about Z8 on
the third tiOor-2O in the cells and 8
IN the large common room at the
west end. The unfortunates in these
cells were being smolh cred to death
by the smoke, and perhaps blistered
aud burned by the flames. Their
cries were hearlrending. Some of
them cursed and swOre, others
laughed hideously, aud others yelled
with PUN, with such awful cries as
would have appalled, the hardest
heart. A fireman, myself, and pa
tient named Rafferty,, crawled on
our hands and knees te such of the
men as we could reach, and dragged
out IA, s of them alive: 4 suffocated to
death, and 2 so horribly burned that
they died before we could get them
out of the building. We could not
see any of the men in the ce Is, of
course, but we could hear horrible
cries above the 10 ,ring of the flames, !.
as they came to realize the horrible
fate that was in store for them"
While Schroeder was going through
this terrible experience, the flames
were extending to the main building
of the department. The wing in
which the victims were being burned (
alive was wrapped In flames, which
were shooting many feet In the cir, |,