Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-05-10
LUBATICS TN A FIRE.
Dancing Gleefully While Their Asy.
lum is Burning.
Ono Handred Perish in the Flames-The
Tongue Pointe Asylum, Near Montreal,
Canaan. Partly Dfsfrnred

!
Ono Handred Perish i'm the Flames The
Tongue Pointe Asylum, Near Montreal,
Canada, Partly Destroyed.
The Tongue Pointe Lunatie Asylum. on the
St. Lawrance river, ten miles below Montreal,
was destroyed by fire, and Of the thirteen hun
| bred insane patients in the institution only
| eleven hundred are accounted for. II is be.
leved that one hundred persisted in the flames,
the remainder having escaped to the fields.
What to the spectators was a scene of horror
was TO the lunatics n iuement Of supreme glee
and in their delight they disported themselves
| in the flames and waved their blazing limbs
in turbulent satisfaction at the ruin that was
/ about them, ard not until the walls tumbled
/ over their heads were their maniacal screams
sileneed
The building was constructed Of brick. and
was Goo feet long, running back from the river
half the distance. The main building oeeu-
| pied the centre, and on each side EXTENDED four
wings SIX stories in height. To the east
were the mems wards and to the west the
| women's quarters, making sixty in all In the
rear were the engine-hOuse and the laundry
and store rooms, all of which were saved The
fire started at noon in the second ward. on the
women's side, in the upper story, and was car
neeted with the towers. The flames soon APP
| peared blazing up through the roofin the cen.
/ tire Of each tower. 4 kilograms for assistance
was sent 10 Montreal bur the engines sent in
response soon exhausted the supply of water.
! As the heat increased statues fell from their
inches to the ground and the habitants pros
| trated themselves, appealing TO the saints.
| Meantime the beds, furniture and utensils Of
| every description were being showered from
the windows, and a stream of ill-olad men
poured ont of the eastern wing.
Not a male patient was lost. Among the
women it WIS different The less hopeless
cases were placed in the lower wards and they
were removed without difficulty, but from the
! upper wards, where the violent patients were
secured, there came the widest screams as
they resisted the nuns, who were beseeching
| them to make their escape. AT the windows q
maniac would be seen peering through the bars.
/ grinning and jabberiHg at the bright flame that
went up TO the sky. As the heat became more
intense she would grasp the bars and remain
there until the flames developed her.
| The inhabitants had come from ali parts at
tracted by the blaze, and in an hour the little
! village was one surging mass of vociferating
| people, reeOunting the strange scenes they had
! behold. When the firemen found They. were
! powerless to save the building they turned
/ their attention 10 the inmates and burst in the
| doors with axes.
rs no fireman ever witnessed. In one ward
that he entered were % patients, and at his APP
| proach they huddled together like pack Of
/ beasts, entwining their arms about each other.
/ Heseized the nearest, but they chung together.
He tugged at them until the fire approached
and EMBODIED them. and then he escaped with
| his life.
One of the layy nuns, Socur Marie, lay
/ sick in the infrmarS on the fifth floor, and to
| her rescue came three others. They seized
their companion and bore her in blanket to
! the staircase but they were met by sheet of
fame and all persisted.
/ The sisters worked with the persistency Of
hcroines, by turns imploring, beseeehing and
commanding the patients and finally saving a
/ very large number.
A loud explosion was followed by crash
\ Of beams. The interior was giving way. Wild
/ faces sank from the windows and the shrieks
Of maniaes were lost in the general uproar.
/ One by one the walls toppled inward, and a
| fierce blaze burst up from the newly added
1 fuel that rose to the dark sky and shot its
4 glare over the St. Lawrence to the southern
/ shore, and even tinged the crest of Mount
/ Royal, ten miles distant. Then it died down
/ into blaekness, and nothing but few broken
/ towers remained. bounding the seething mass
I of metal and debris, under which are now the
/ ashes of hundred victims
/ The death roll is now estimatee at so, al
4 though many more are missing but are ex-
4 pected to turn up.
| 1t is feared that seven tertiary nuns have
| been burned to death, as three more are miss
( ing. They were not, however, seen in the
| flames, and the sisters prefer not giving out
their names of present.
/ Ever since Quebec was province its man
I ageinent Of the insane has been its shame.
I They have been farmed out 10 the nuns at 500
O each Per year, and the Sisters aim was to
] beer, them frtt llv &c r.oseibfp and with
the least possible outlay for permanent works
and repairs. While their most urgent bodily
wants were supplied, no attempt was made at
I systematic medical treatment