Smyrna times., 1885-02-18
FIRE ESCAPES FOR THE SCHOOL
BUILDING.

A week or two since, in the Smyrna
Record, an article appeared upon the
subject indicated by this heading. 1t
illustrated, by the shocking details of a
disaster exactly such as we think,
sometimes, we are safe from here (but
which, as the circumstances attending
the destruction of the Illinois Asylum
must convince all who read the article,
we are in no way secured from), how
horrible a calamity we are left subject
TO at any time.
As if to emphasize the warning al
ready given us the fire at the BlOckley
Asylum rOuses again the horror and
pity of humanity. There, as with the
Illinois case, the smoke in the building
was the greatest barrier to the rescue of
the Victims while the astonishing
rdpidity Of the flames, and the helpless
character Of those IN danger contributed
largely to the result. What shall lCc
do? Shall we wait until fire con-
sumes or suffocates a score of the 400
chiidren huddled together in one
! building, with only eight on duty to
control and direct them in sudden
alarm or emergency? Or shall we
provide, beforehand. mode of escape
by safe iron stairway outside the
building? Which is the course indi-
Gated by prudence and proper sense
of responsibility? Fires are-these
two recent fatal events inform us by
teaching only too fearfully practical
often too sudden and too rapid to per-
nit rescue by ladders, even in the
hands of parents ready to sacrifice
their own lives to save their children.
The remedy cannot be applied quickly
enough. Neither can the children be
induced to grOpe their way down stair
WAYS filled with smoke, but will
shrink back into destruction. Down
outside stdirWdys--w they should
be trained to descend with ease and
contidence-theyw would find ready es-
cape. Who of us, having a child at
school, and hears the frightful alarm of
fire there, would he not give-Oh
what would he not give?-tO know
that such a safeguard was at hand.
The Philadelphia Record makes the
following comments:
Hardly an element of horror is
lacking in the calamity at BlOckley last
night. The freezing air, the sudden
3 alarm, the inadequite water supply,
; the lack of facilities for suppressing a
sudden blaze, the panic of helpless and
terror-stricked inmates, the CHASTITY
;; array of burned and blackened victims
all find place in the dreadful story
Not month since eighteen insane pa
tients of an asylum in an Illinois town
persisted miserably as did those unfor'
tunates at the AlmshOuse, and Brook
y lyn has hardly recovered yet from the
J shock caused by the burning of The
St. Johns ProtectOry Hospital, where
L nearly twO-score lives were sacrificed
The disaster seems all the more pitifu
|, since these poor wards of the public
u are dependent for protection upon thu
vigilance of others. Even the HindOt
who abandOns his intirm parent to th'
q Ganges crocidiles would shudder a
Z these monthly sacrifices of helples
q human beings. A repetition of the sa'
II II scenes of the confagratiOn last even
u u ing ought to be made impossible"
"OUGHT TO BE MADE IMPOSSIBLE"
If echoes the feeling of every parent, an
$ prudent men will listen to the call o
N humanity for protection at once agains
is this daily, aye, hourly danger.
~ n