Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-05-16
IN A FIERY FURNACE.
TRAGEDY ENACTED AT
TONGUE POINTE. QUEBEC.

TONGUE POINTE. QUEBEC.
An Insane Asylum Containing over 1900
Patients Burned to the loo
People Believed to Have Been Consumed
Particulars of the Sad Affair.
The insane asylum ut Tongue Point,
nine miles from Montreal, caught fire and
soon it was a mass of flames with no hope
of saving the building from utter destruc-
ton. As near as can be calculated at this
hour there are from 100 to $50 insane in
mates in the burning building with no
chance of their escape. The fire
apparatus in the asylum is utteraly made
quate to control the flames and several
steamers have been sent from Montreal on
q special train. The sights in the grounds
surrounding the institution a1e horrible
beyond description. Hundreds otlunatics,
male and female, are, grouped together
gibbering and in afrenzied condition. The
nuns are making every effort to control
them and allay their fears, and as rapidly
as possible the poor creatures are being re-
moved to places of shelter in the neighbor-
hood.
The excitement among the lunatics on
the grounds became SO great that a detach-
nsnt of the Montreal police force was hur-
oasl out to assist the guards. There were
e.S9C persons in the asylum when the fire
broke out.
Particulars in Detail.
A long line of gaunt overs is all one
now sees of the Tongue Pointe lunatic
asylum, located ten miles from Montreal,
and which, with many lives, was consumed
by the flames. The sights witnessed be-
fore this tragic scene are such as can never
be forgotten. Nothing could exceed the
horror attending the terrible calamity,
considering the number of victims, the
terrible nature of their death and the man
ner in which the helpless victims re-
ceived their fate. What TO spectators
was a scene of horror was to the lunatics a
moment of supreme glee, and in their de-
light they disported themselves in the
flames and waved their blazing limbs in
turbulent satisfaction at the ruin that was
about them, and not until the walls
eAiAoASA ONO4 viz eau MC1C SAS44 dI4
cal screams silenced.
There were incarcerated in Tongue
Pointe 1900 lunatics, for that asylum was
a prison more than a hospital, and now not
more than LOO are accounted for, but
many escaped into the fields and woods,
and the dead are among the ashes. What
toe number OF dead is is purely q matter of
conjecture and can never be ascertained,
since there was no other record kept than
that IN the asylum books. and they are de-
stroyed. Taking into consideration the
whole of the evidence from fremen, half
insane inmates and the sisters in charge,
it is a conservative estimate to
say that 100 victims met their death,
though Some assert the number is double
hat and others place it below this figure.
However, the fact remains that no such
calamity has fallen upon the province Of
Quebec since the earliest times. Ever
since Quebec was a province it's manage
ment of these most helpless of creatures
has been its shame. They have been
farmed out to nun at Sl0e a head a year
and the sisters aim in a way to keep them
as frugally IS possible.
From the construction of the building
there is doubt in some minds as to whether
it was intended for an asylum or a blast
furnace-in any case it served the latter
purpose admirably. 1t was constructed of
brick and was 600 feet long, running back
from the river half the distance. The
main building occupied the center and on
each side extended four wings, six stories
in height.
The Fire Started in a Cupboard
in the second ward on the woman's side in
the upper story by a careless patient, and
as ventilation was carried on by a longi-
tudinal Shaft connected with the towers,
the flames soon appearing through the ROOF
in the center of each tower. A telegram
was sent to Montreal for aid, and an en-
CINE and reels started at once. They
might as we'll have remained at home, for
in five minutes they exhausted the water
supply. The only thing that could save
the building was the st. Lawrence river,
and it was half a mile distant. When the
Associated Press reporter arrived with the
hremen, the dome Of one tower had lust
fallen n the flames were bursting ont
everywhere.
] AS the heat increased the statues fell
from their inches to the ground and then
the habitants Frustrated themselves, CRYING
aloud that the saints had deserted them. in.
deed. Beds, furniture and utensils of
every description were being showered from
the windows, and a stream of ILL clad men
poured out of the eastern wing. Not a
male patient was lost. Among the women
it was 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 one window a maniac could be Seen
peering through the bars, grinning and
jabbering at the bright fame that went un
to the sky. AS the heat became more in.
tense she would grasp the bars and remain
there until the flames enve!oped her.
The inhabitants had come from all narts
roundabout, attracted by the blaze, and an
hourlater the little village was one surgine
mass OF shouting, vociferating people.
When the fremen found thew vera