Connecticut western news., 1885-01-28
LATEST NEWS NOTES.
Happenings of Interest 60 All,
 At Homo and Abroad.
BURNED AND sUFFOCATED.
A Sad Loss of Lifc in a Blazing Lunatic
 Asylum iD Illinois.

A terrible catastrophe occurred at Kankakee, Ill. The South Infrmary of the Illinois East ern Hospital for the Insane was burned down and seventeen patients lost their lives The fire gained great headway at once, and as the building was largely constructed of iniamma- ble Southern pine the devouring flames made short work of it. There was absolutely no provision made for extinguishing fire.
 The building destroyed had two stories. It was completed last August. It was used as an infrmary, with forty-five insane inmates, tWenty-three on the first floor and twenty-tYo on the second. The fire broke out near the furnace. The furnace f1ues carried volumes of smoke into the second story, in which twenty one patients and three attendants were domiciled. The smoke densely filled the upper portion of the building before those on the lower story had been removed, and of the twenty-four persons on the floor fifteen met their death before they could be reached. Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Rose, attendants on the fatal floor, escaped by the stairway in their night clothes. They were the first persons who used this avenue Of egress and the last, for moment later the stairway fell with a | crash into tho scorching mass of flames which enveloped that portion Of the building. SeY- eral patients were rescued from the upper floor by means of ladders raised to the windows. Superintendent Dewy was the first to ascend, breaking out several windows with his naked hands and assisting two patients to escape.
 
 with the ladders such dense volumes of smoke poured out as soon as tue glass was broken in that 1t was an lmpOssibility to enter. Thirteen bodies were taken from the ruins, leaving four still unaccounted for. It is pos sible these may have escaped and are at large, but it is also possible that their remains will be discovered as the work of excavation pro- gresses.
 Of the thirteen bodies discovered only one bears resemblance to the human form. The remainder consists, in many instances, of heaps of calcined bones and charTed flesh, which could be easily contained in a hat. These heaps of bones and flesh were carefully kept separate and placed in barrels labelled with their supposed names, Identification be- ing determined by the location of the remains as they were found. The supposed corpse of ". H. Belden was the only one which retained enough of shape to be laid out. The head hands and feet were entirely gone, leaving 8 blackened and charred trunk. The legs and arms were drawn up as though the victim had died ill agony.
 Many of the patients on the first floor were removed by main force and as soon aS they were liberated they ran back into the burning building. In some instances this was repeated three or four times.
 The entire remains of ten of the victims were spread on table two feet square. Friends are arriving in search of lost ones. The scenes on their arrival and view of the ehaTred remains was very heartrending.
 INCIDENTS.
 Among the incidents told of the disaster are the following While the flames were at their height, Jack Coyne, an old sailor from Chicago, who was an inmate of the institution, mounted 8 ladder, which had been raised to tue north dormitory, in order to arouse the sleepers. The undertaking seemed hopeless Dense clouds of smoke rolled out of the windows. The west wing, where the fire was first seen, was mass of fire, with the wind blowing the I flames to the interior of the building. The stairway and the floor of the hall had fallen. Coyne intrepidly went through the window at the top of his ladder. He crawled along the floor and groped his way to the beds and pressed thelr occupants down to the floor and to the window, where a breath of air suffi- ciently revived them 80 that they could go down the ladder unassisted. Coyne again re- turned to the dormitory, where he picked his way to other beds and rescued others in the same manner. Thus four times did he return, each time carrying patient. With the foulth the smoke proved too great for even the brave Coyne. Standing in the window he vainly called. as Dr. Dewey had done in another part come to the window, but his calls went without response.
 A patient named Holleham on being awak- ened, made & rope out Of his sheets and blankets which he let out of the window to the steps by the side of the burning wing; he then crawled down the rope after telling an- other inmate to follow him. He reached the steps safely, but the second one let go his hold when part way down, fell, and received se- rious injuries. A third one looked at the flames, and then at the distance beneath and retreated from the window. He was not seen again, and is among the lost. The patients, as fast as they were taken from the building, were conducted to the neighboring detached wards, where the feeble and injured ones were cared for and their wounds dressed and stimu-
  saved their clothing, which the night before had been laid together by the side of their beds. In the excitement they had not forgot ten it, but taken it in their hands as they were told by the attendants to run for life. One or two of the sick ones were considerably shocked, aud it is probable they will die from the effects. The remainder of the rescued are said to be doing well.