The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-02-18
LUNATICS CREMATED.
Another Horrible Ineineration Of the
Demented Inmates Of
Lunatic Asylum.
BURNING BEDLAM.
Twenty-Eieht Lunatics Perish In the Asy.
lum Fire at PhiIadeiphia-Pitiful
Scenes Enacted,

PHILADELPHIA, Fen. ia large number
Insane Department Of the Aims House.
There was no FIRE alarm at the Aims House.
and the attendants on duty when the fire
broke out were so busy endeavoring TO save
the inmates that an alarm was not sounded
until after the FIRE was discovered.
The FIRE was frst seen in a room used for
drying clothes The flames shot up an open
space surrounding a small stairway and
very quickly broke through the roof. When
the fire patrol reached the aims house they
found the fire burning fercely, but ran into
the house to assist in saving the inmates.
When the fremen arrived their movements
were greatly hampered by the inadequate
supply of water.
Nearly all the lives were lost in the imme-
diste neighborhood of the stair way st tn
foot of which the fire started. No lives were
lost among the 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.
When the IRE broke out William Strange,
JOuu 11dl CO. 1uOuloS hhuo duQ JVSSpu
Schroeder were the keepers on duty. Mrs.
Umstead, the housekeeper, was in the
Woman's Department. making her nightly
round. Joseph Nudane, q well-minded in
mate. was coming down stairs when he saw
smoke. He yelled fire and through the
corridores calling on the inmates to save
themselves.
Strange, Kane, SHREDDER and Nudsne sat
about llberatlng the insane people. Help
came from the half hundred able.bodied
paupers who act as night 6remen in the
engine house. On the third floor near where
the fire started, the rescuers were driven
back by the intense heat and smoke In the
violent ward, where forty five inmates were
confined. it was feared that all were lost, but
most of them we're rescued.
The occupants of the nineteen cells in
Ward NJ, near where the fire first started,
are all supposed to have oeen suffocated or
burned to death, with the exception OF those
who were rescued by the fremen.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12-11 q. m.-The IRE
of last night at the Aims House entirely
destroy ed that portion OF the institution set
apart for the inane. OF the 6S4 lunatics
confined there many are still missing, but
| il is thought most of them wandered away.
At 9. o'clock this morning tive more
charred bodies were found in Ward No. 2.
They had been roasted beyond all recogni-
ton. Several human forms can be seen In
the burning wreck in the cellar. 1t is now
thought twenty.eight of the inmates per-
isbed.
| During the night many insane persons
were found wandering N different parts of
the city, some nearly naked. The poor
| creatures generally seemed unable to under
| stand the situation. and in some cases begged
| their csptors piteotsly not to throw them
into the river. Others seemed to take it as q
| good Joke, and laughed gleefully when the
| subject OF FIRE was mentioned. Another
came flying down South street early this
| morning with 8 maracle attached to his
wrist and few links of chain dangling from
| it. He shrieked and laughed as be struck
right and left among the frightened people
| 1t was found necessary to use violence and
knock him down before be could be secured
Another madman csured a panic in a
street car by rushing in half clad and with
his face scorched aud blackened. he sank
covering in corner. 1t was soon found be
was more frightened than those who ran
away.
The report that the streets were full oil
escaped msniacs caused muca alarm in
West Philadelphia and strangers look upon
each other with much distrust.
The fremen are still working at the ruins
| They are weary and half frozen. Each
mans helmet and coat appears hard as
srmor. The search for bodies continues
steadily. There appears to have been a
great deal Of unne ecsssary trouble caused by
rotten hose and scarcity in the water supply.
To remedy the latter dozen prawny fire.
men chopped hole in the Schuylkill River.
But when the hose was introduced the mud
and grinoiug bits of ice split the leather,
| and the attempt was failure. The confu-
sion about the ruins and the crsftiness oil
the insane people in secreting themselves,
| the promiscuous manner in which they are
being cared for and the utter weariness oil
all who have had them in charge prevents
a correct estimate being made of the loss OF
| life and property.