Connecticut western news., 1885-02-18
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BURNED IN THEIR CELLS.
Frixhtful Death ot Many Insane Puupers.

BURNED IN THEIR CELLS. FriRhtful Death of Many Insane PnHpers.
 A large number of poor lunatics perished in the insane department Of the Philadelphia Almshouse, which was completely destroyed by fire. The buildings burned contained 676 crazy men, women and children, The fire was under full headway before an alarm was sounded, and after the Fire Depart ty in fighting it, on account of an utterly inad equate supply of water. There was no fire alarm at the almshouse, and the attendants on duty when the fire broke out were 80 busy en- deavoring to save the inmates that an alarm was not sounded until half an hour after the fire was discovered.
 The fire was discovered about o'clock in a room used for drying clothes. The flames shot up in an open space surrounding small stairway and very quickly broke through the roof. When the fremen arrived they found only six fire-plugs and these were so small that the first streams did not reach the fire, They, however, fought their way up the fire choked staircase and along the caves, and at last got where they could do some effective work.
 Nearly all the lives were lost in the imme- diate neighborhood of the stairway at the foot of which the fire started. No lives were lost among occupants of the first floor, and not more than half dozen of those on the second. But few of the inmates of the rooms and cells on the third floor near the junction of the buildings escaped.
 In the ward where the fire originated there were twenty cells, all containing either violent or harmless maniacs There were no fire es- eapes, and even if there had been the result could not have been avoided, as the cells were locked for the night. While the flames spread from one joist to another an effort to burst open the cell doors was made without avail. Amid the yells of the ter. ror-stricken and helpless idiots, the attempt to rescue them from the inside was abandoned, and the firemen of truck and ladder company mounted the walls on the outside. The heat was intense, the flames in some instances breaking the windows, but the heroic rescuers did not falter. Manfully they worked until they had forced an entrance into the cells. The scene that met their gaze was terrible one. In eight of the little apartments the inmates were either burned to death or suffocated. In six others the patients were found almost life less. The injured were carried down the long ladders and the bodies of the dead were re- moved.
 While this work was in progress and while steady streams of water were poured upon the burning building, diigent search was made for the five persons known to be in the locked cells. They were burned.
 One of the first to enter the burning build ing was fireman living in the vicinity. He says the scene was appalling. Men and women
 
 were not locked in their cells, were running mady about appealing to be rescued. In some instances they could not be induced to fly to the only safe means of egress-the doors, and had to be pushed forward by main force. The women, he says, were the worst to manage, while the men were in great majority of cases disposed to resist
 A NIGHT OF HORROR.
 Attendant Shredder thus relates some of the horrors of the dreadful night II do not know ,la14 4l,1 n1o A1 IT La. Nodine's cry rushed to the foot of the stair way, and, after short attempt to check the fire at once set to work to get out the patients. First unlocked the door of the room in which Moline and his companions were. They ran out at once. Ky this time the flames were gathering in fury, and dense volumes ries. succeeded in unlocking the doors of all the cells on the first floor, and, although with difficulty in some cases, in getting all the in mates out. l had no time to look after them further than to run them into the yard, for the flames were getting so fierce that it was almost impossible to breathe in the now fiercely burn ing building. The smoke in the upper stories was so thick that breathing was impossible"
 sMoTHERED TO DEATH. .
 "The unfortunate occupants of the cells were being smothered to death by the smoke and perhaps bIistered and burned by the flames. Their cries were heartrending Some of them
 
 others yelled with pain, with such awful cries as would have apalled the hardest heart. The fremen, myself and patient whose name was 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 suffocated to death and two 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 cells, of course, but could hear their horrible cries above the roar ing of the flames as they came to realize that horrible fate was in store for them"
 SAD INCIDENTS.
 John McNamara was found with his face to the floor, where stratum of pure air remained. He was passed hurriedly out and in the ex- citement escaped, gaining exit to the streets by the gateway as hose wagon was driving into the yard. He will be remembered as the man who threatened to kill James G. Blaine shortly after Guiteau's shooting of Garfield. He is a dangerous person to have at large, and the police have telegraphed his description 10 every district in the city. It is unreasonable to hope that all the patients in this part of the building were released. In the Hodge," back of the main structure, where all the hysterical women were caged, the shrieks were unearthly. Many gentlemen who had gathered in the yard volunteered to go to their rescue. The physicians in charge of them were helpless to save them unaided. To | reach the walled enclosures beyond the south | western line of the main building it was neces- sary to pass through the lower transverse hall | of the burning edifce. This was dore by | twenty or more volunteers, and the shrieking, | frantic women were carried by sheer force | through the smoke and shower of cinders to places of safety. When there they had to be | held by other people to prevent them from | rushing back into the flaming house. Some of these scenes were pitiful and awful enough for page of Dante's inferno" It is confidently asserted by Dr. Richardson and I others that all were saved from that place. A l harmless pauper, who harbored the delusion that he was Jesus Chris', lived by sufference | in small buii ding between the main structure | and the hysterical ward. He cannot be found | and it is feared he is dead.
 Eighteen bodies were found in the ruins They were horribly disfgured, some of them | being burned to crisp. The almshouse au- i thorities are convinced that these eighteen burned and suffocated maniacs, all of whom occupied cells on the third floor of the build ing, are all that perished, and all ot the other | 666 inmates were rescued, and are now in cus- tody in the other department buildings. 1