The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-28
A Miraculously Narrow Escape from Du-
plication of the Recent Terrible Dis
aster at the Kankakee Asylum.
1t is Hope that the Building May BE
Supplied with Heat To-Day.
Superintendent Fletcher's Suggestions for
Providing the Hospital with Adequate
Protection Against Damage by Fire.

The fire at the State Institution for the insane,
yesterday morning, was even more disastrous,
considered from mercenary standpoint, than
was anticipated at the time, and the damage in
fiicted will not fall far short of $4,000 The
handsome chapel, laundry, bakery, drying rooms
and engine rooms are mass of chaotic ruins,
and can only be replaced by the expenditure of
large amount of money and months of labor.
But, while the monetary loss is to be greatly de.
plored. and cannot fail to occasion general re-
greet feelings of such nature should give place
to those of thanksgiving and congratulation for
the miraculous averting of a catastrophe
not to be reckoned by dollars and
cents. That the flames confined to
sections of the building unoccupied by the un-
fortunate beings confined in the wards seems to
have been providential, for had the fire passed
the intervening wall between the chapel and the
main building, no human power could have pre-
vented duplication of the horrors Of the Belle
vile convent, the Kankakee asylum, or the New
hall House, if indeed those far famed calamities
had not been surpassed many fold in their
appalling extent.
The new building, or the department for WON
en-, is massive structure, l. I40 feet in length.
in the form of double echelon. an ell at each
end, and the burned portion Immediately in the
rear of the general Offices and superintendent
residence extending to the rear (westward)
about one hundred feet, and having double
ell or extension at the end extending
respectively to the north and south,
used as laundries, bakery and engne-room.
The main section is three stories high; the top
ctn hai cd han ba Sppnnd
sleeping apartments for the laundresses and 9TH
ers, and the one below as the officers dining
hall. In the basement is the kitchen. The roof
was of slate. supported by girders and under
covering of light pine, which formed perfect
fire trap. The fire originated over the engine
room, and was discovered by one of the watchmen
He immediately notified Superintendent Fletch-
err who was just on the point of retiring The
attendants were quickly notified and ordered to
| be in readiness to remove patients in case OF
necessity, while DR.. Fletcher and force of
male attendants hurriedly gathered to-
gether all the available hand grenades
connected the hose and brought iato requisltlon
every facility for fighting the fire. Grenadss
without number were shattered and thheeiir co con.
tents emptied on the encroarssiinns flames. while
| thepumps were est~. work at the highest
BE. They proved wholly made
however, and, tothehorror of the willing
zen who held the nozzles the water barely
/ dripped from them in seeming mockery of their
| frantic efforts. The fire department was sum
moned from the city, and engines were for
warded with the utmost dispatch. but it was
| four miles to the scene of the confagration and
| with eighteen inches of snow on the ground, the
| horses were unable to drag the heavy
machines over the frozen roads very rapidly, and
with each ieeting moment of precious time the
fire gained perceptible Roadway. spark lodged
in the cornice of the chapel, frightened and
spread as it was famed by the gentle breeze,
kindled into fame and slowly crept along the
woodwork beneath the cutters. The only lad
| ders at hand were far too short to reach the
blaze, and, praying and imprecatng by turns,
and holding the limp and timber hose, from
which the water oozed impotently, Superintend-
ent Fletcher and his corps of assistants were
forced to stand and watch the Pickering little
blaze, which could We been quenched with a
bucket of water, creep along the timbers slowly
but steadily. 1t did not appear to have gained
access beneath the slate. until--puff, aud
fash, and the whole structure seemed
| to ignite in an instant By this
time the fire department had ar
| arrived and water was for the first time put
! upon the fire in such quantities as to make an
! impression With commemorate discretion
! Chief Webster abandoned all effort to save the
burning wing and rallied his force in an effort to
save the main building. A thick wall separating
the chapel from the asylum proper. afforded a
| good lighting ground and beyond it the flames
| did not encroach. The failure of two cisterns
| seriously impeded the work of the firemen while
| new connections were being made. and that the
| fire did not get beyond the dividing wall is al
most miraculous With the inadequate supply
| OF water it was utterly impossible for the de-
partment to have saved the Inflated
buildings and they were almost totally wrecked
before the hames were efect,ially subdued
Meanwhile the inmates were all quietly awak-
ened aud dressed. and tn oSe in the two wards in
closest proximity to the fire removed In
these wards quite panic ensued, but il did not
become general The inmates focked in great
numbers to the windows commanding view of
| the conIlagratlon and while some laughed and
gesticulated wildly in insane gee. others walled
and cried frantically for help. This state of
affairs was. as has been stated confined prin-
cipally TO the wards adjacent to the fire and
those most excited were removed to the other
wards and pacihed 1t was necessary to leave
the doors of several wards open as the asylum
hose passed through them preventing their be-
ing closed and by this means several patients
escaped. but all were ultimately recaptured,
without serious trouble.
The most serious inconvenience oecasioned by
the fire was the destruction of the heating APP
pliances The entire building is heated by steam
supplied by the boilers in one of the destroyed
ellis, and conveyed through pipes to the twelve
hundred rooms in the women's department.
There is not stove or a CRATE in any of the
wards as their use among people bereft of rea-
son would be exceedingly hazardous, and in con
sequence of this the wards were absolutely with
ont artificial heat from the time the fire reached
the boiler room. Serious Inconvenience and
considerable suffering seemed inevitable. but
singularly enough tho thermometer did not fall
below sixty at any time during yesterday. This
was evidently due to the unusual thickness of
the outer walls Plenty of blankets and warm
bedding were supplied, and the patients were
enabled TO keep comfortably warm despite the
absedce of FIRE. Ear.y in the day experts from
ALL W..