Morning journal and courier., 1885-01-19
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. LUNATICS IN 4 BLAZE. An Insane Hospital
 Burned Down. THE AWFUL AVALANCHE FALLS: Indians Found Frozen to
 Death. THE LABORS OF CONGRESS-. DefauIting Bank OGicers i'm
 Norwich.
A HOLOCAUST OF LUNATICs.


 Fire Nm An Insanc Hespftal-The Ter-
 ror-Stricken Patients Making fran.
 tic Efforts To EAcape-IAeartrenS n ding
 Scenes Tn The Ritter Cold. Might.
 KANKAKEE, 11l. Jan. 19.&At 4 o'clock this morning detached ward of the eastern Illinois ospltaI for the insane was discovered to be on fire by the night watchman. The build- ing was two-story one with no wood about It except the floors and stairways. It was com p1eted last August and cost $25,000. It was used as an infrmafy and had forty-fve in- sare inihatss, twenty-three on the first floor and twenty-two on the second: Attendants Brown; Rose and wife were slesping on the second floor. Attendants Reed, Williams and Freedman slept on the first floor. The building was heated by hot air. It was twelve degrees below zero when the watchman discovered smoke issuing from the floor above the furnace. The smoke at once became drawn through the hot air and along the hall to all parts of of the building. The fire spread rapidly and all efforts te save the building were useless. w. A: Read began dr5gging and clarifying out patients Many were clad in night clothing and rushed from the bitter cold air back into the burning building. Read at the risk of his life struggled on till twenty one of his twenty-three patients were rescued when he became ex- b,usted. On the second floor Att tendafat Rose and wife heard the alarm and escaped down the stairs just before It fell Attendant Brown, sleeping on the third floor, was awakened by the smoke. lie at- tempted to save patient in an ad]oln1ng room. but failed, and sliding down a sheet from his room jumped to the ground ou- perintendent R. $. Dewey reached the scene and with ladders climbed to the second story windows, smashed the windows and se- cured several patients. Almost all the pa tents refused to cooperate 1n the eHofts and we're only rescued by being dragged from the flames and held from returning. A marvellous escape was that or an lilnia'e a1 who fell from the second story, struck the hnrnino debris above the furnace and bound ed through a window to the ground unln- inred The remains of twelve patients nave been taken from the ruins all burned to fraements, only being identified by the location where found inc m dead thus far identified are: II. M W. Belden; ageu H1tSj = s3 T.,,,oc Hereby, aged twenty y-seven, Chicago; James Colbert, aged thirty-two, Chicago; , M. '. Jordan, aged thirty, Chicago: Thomas 1al Hickey, aged thirty-fve, Springfield; r. W. Weymouth, aged thirty two, Pery; aenry Brown, ageY thirty, Rock Island; Island; Gaoreo 5. W. Galloway, 9aypIook, @ Bennett, ae 7, MoliIs, Johnson, Ve, I,e.%o nom lilo' Maathew Hs -hVe, Chloause' 9u Theodore H. -xty-three' ris port The i -o aIe missing ana ouuot- ne.,L less perisheJG Alfred Runyard, aged fifty Winnebago, M. Tyler, aged forty-hSe, 3hel- don; Schotz, aged sixty-fve, Chicago; Io1n Nathan, aged forty-two, Chicago, oflanelo Ellis, aged forty-two, Pontiac.
 At the coroner's inquest this afternoon Superintendent Dewey testified that ne nao lao asked the legislature two years ago for SS,ooo to protect these detached wards from fire; that s1 ,O0O was allowed, all of which was used in the water mains and hydrants ana the amount was insufficient to answer the purpose. After hearing Superintendent Dewey's testimony the coroner's Jury ad- journed until tomorrow.
 The fire was caused by defects in the heat ing apparatus and the loss of life may be ac- counted for principally from the fact ot the inability and helplessness of insane persons in such emergencies. There are fifteen htill- dred patients in the other wards Of the asy- lum, of which the burned structure was the sick hospital The telegraph office tonight is flooded with telegrams from all parts of the State inauiring for the safety of inmates. The loss will probably reach $50, GOO.