The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-13

tending to the main building. The
wing in which the victims were burned
alive was wrapped in flames, which were shoot
ing many feet into the air and illuminating the
city for many squares.
At $50 the alarm had been struck, and in
half an hour a general alarm sounded.
When the firemen arrived, the fire was
enveloping about third of the main building
and burning iercely.
Two plugs in the yard gave but an indifferent
supply of water. A truck arrived on the
the scene soon after the first alarm, and its
ladder was quickly run up to the third
floor windows. In the cells on this floor the
maniacs were fastened. With ak and hook the
fremen attacked the iron gratngs Of the cells,
and succeeded in taking out seven men,
four of them dead, and three still
alive. The last man thus rescued was the noto-
rious Tim" Burke who has been in the institu-
ton over thirty years. He was brought
from the Easton Penitentiary, where he
undergoing life sentence for
murder. He has killed, siuce being in the
insane department, cook and two attendants
The fremen who rescued him state that he died
while being taken to the ground. The total loss
of life is eighteen.
DR.. Alice Avery was the only physician in the
building when the fire occurred. DR.. Richard
son, the physician in chief, arrived from his
home in short time after the first alarm was
given.
There is nothing except wild theorizing as to
what caused the fire. At l o'clock this
friday morning, the entire group of build
ings making UP the insane department
was in flames, and there was no prospect of
saving any of them, although the firemen then
had the fire well in hand, and all other depart.
ment buildings were safe. The loss of property
will amount to about $3.50 00O
A TERRICLE STRUGGLE.
Ward M, in which the unfortunates met their
deaths, was in charge of William Strain,
young man who had his face singed bN
fore he could make his escape.
Strain tells a terrible story He says the rules
of the institution require that all inmates re-
tire at o'clock every night II had
just succeeded in getting the eighty seven men
under my care to bed, and had set down
to make out my usual report, when
somebody rushed into my apartment and
shouted, Fire! In an instant the utmost
confusion prevailed; smoke came rolling
up stairs in volumes. and before we could hardly
realize our position the flames burst in
upon us. Sixty-one of the occupants
managed to make their escape down the stairs.
I believe the rooms were not locked,
and there nothing to prevent the
inmates from escaping The flames spread
with terrible rapidity. tried to reach the cells
where were confined nineteen of the most
violent patients; l knew they would be
roasted to death if the doors were not unlocked
to let them out. My only thought was the
liberation of these poor fellows. The
smoke and flames poured into the ward,
and before l had advanced far I was driven
back by the flames. 1t was impossi-
BILE for me to go another step
forward, and SO I had to fly
for my own life. 1 barely got out alive
The right side of my moustache
was singed by the flames could
hear the poor fellows in the cells hallooing
and cursing like demons, for the fire was upon
them The thought of their being slowly
roasted alive, coupled with their piercing
cries for help, was terrible. Oh,
God, I never lived through such
frightful torture of mind as that l expo rienced
during the few moments / was trying TO grope
my way out or the building.
LIST OF THE LOST.
Following are the names and ages of the occu-
pants of the nineteen cells in ward M, near
where the fire first started all of whom are sup
posed to have been suffocated or burned, with
the exception of three who were rescued by the
fremen:
FRANK D. DECHACoN, 35 years
JAS. Mccoy 40.
JOHN LYDER. so.
ISAAC O'NEILL, 35.
CHAs. SCOTT, (colored), 49,
JOHN D. WIRE 40.
JAS BURK 81.
This killed three of the inmates of the nstitu.
ton during the TWENTY-FIVE years he was confined
there; for twenty years his hands chained to his
body
THOMAS RUsK. So
MICHAEL WROTH &C.
ROBERT CUNNINGHAM. 45.
CHARLES NOLENBERGER, 60.
THOMAS JONES, 81.
JOHN HERRIGES, 49,
Herriges is a man who was discovered, in 1870 in
shanty at Fourth and Lombard streets, where he
had been confined in chains by his parents for twenty
years.
JOHN KNoCHTER, CO.
THOMAS SMITH, 80.
EDWARD MURPHY 48.
CHARLES O'BRIEN, So
PHILIP NEWBUGER, 60.
JAc. GLAssMAN, rescued by watchman.
The bodies of Dechacon, Wroth, Jones' Burk,
Knochter, Herriges, Scott, Lyder, Newburger
and Nolenberger had been taken from the ruins
and removed to the dead house by midnight
There were four of the inmates Of the cells in
ward NJ who were rescued by the police, but
one of them was so badly burned about the feet
that he died soon after being brought out The
names of the three taken out by the fremen
could not be learned tonight, owing to the con-
fusion prevailing among the attendants