Los Angeles herald., 1890-05-07
A GROWING HORROR
The Burning of an Insane
Asylum.
Many of the Inmates Perish in
the Flames.
Indescribable Scenes of Terror, Ag-
Ony and Confusion.
The Building a Veritable Fire Trap and
Quebec's Shame-At Least Fifty Lives
Lost by the Disaster.
Associated Press Dispatches. |


TONGUE PoINTE, Quebec, May GA
long line of gaunt towers is all one now
sees OF the Tongue Pointe lunatic
asylum, located ten miles from Montreal,
and which, with many human beings,
was today consumed by flames.
The sights witnessed before this tragic
scene are such as can never be forgotten.
Nothing could exceed the horror attend
ing the terrible calamity, considering
the number of victims, the terrible ma
ture of their death and the manner in
which the helpless victims received
their fate. What to the spectators was
scene of horror, was to the lunatics a
moment 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, and not until the walls
tumbled over their heads were their
maniacal screams silenced.
Ashes Among Ashes.
III ere were incarcerated in Tongue
Pointe 300 lunatics, for that asylum was
a prison more than hospital, and now
not more than 100 are accounted for;
but many escaped into the fields and
woods, and the dead are ashes amongst
ashes. What the number of dead is is
purely matter of conjecture and can
never be ascertained, since no other
record was kept than that in the asylum
books, and they were destroyed.
Taking into consideration the whole
of the evidence from the fremen, half
sane inmates and sisters in charge, it is
conservative estimate to say that 100
victims met their death. Though some
assert that the number is above that,
others place it below this figure. How
ever, the fact remains that no such
calamity has fallen upon the province of
Quebec since the earliest times.
Quebec's Shame.
Ever since Quebec was a province its
management of these most helpless of
all creatures has been its shame. They
have been farmed out to nuns at 500 a
head per year, and the sisters aim was
to keep them as frugally as possible.
From the. construction OF the building
there is doubt in some minds as to
whether it was intended for an asylum
or blast furnace; in any case, it served
the latter purpose admirably. 1t was
constructed of brick, and was 900 feet
long, running back from the river half
that distance. The main building occu-
pied the center, and on each side ex-
tended wings six stories in height.
Firemen Helpless.
The fire today was started in cup
l.,
women's side in the upper story, by
careless patient, and as ventilation was
carried on by a longitudinal shaft con-
nected with towers, the flames soon ap-
peared blazing up through the roof in
the center of each tower. A telegram
was sent to Montreal for aid, and the
engine and reels started at once. They
might as well 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 a mile distant. When an
Associated Press reporter arrived with
the firemen, the dome of one tower had
just fallen, and the flames were bursting
out everywhere.
The Saints Desert Them.
AS the heat increased the statues fell
from their inches to the ground, and
then the inhabitants prostrated them
selves, crying aloud that the saints had
deserted them indeed. Beds, furniture
and utensils of every description were
being showered from the windows, and
stream of ill-clad men poured out of
the eastern wing. Not 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 pa
tients were secured, there came the
widest screams as they resisted the
nuns, who were beseeching them to
make their escape.
Indescribable Horrors.
At the windows maniac would be
seen peering through the bars of the
grating, and jabbering 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 envelOped her.
The inhabitants had come from all
parts round about, attracted by the
blaze, and in an hour the little village
was one surging mass of shouting, vo-
ciferating people. When the firemen
found they were unable to save the
building, they turned their attention to
the inmates, and burst in the doors
with axes.
Inside, Chief Benoit says, there was
such sight as no fireman ever before
witnessed. In one ward he entered
there were twenty-five patients, and at
his approach they huddled together like
pack OF beasts, entwining their arms
into one mass of humanity. He seized
the nearest, "but," said the chief, 81
could no more separate the crowd than
could the parts of your horse" He
tugged at them until the fire started into
their garments and embodied them like a
shroud of flame, and then he escaped
with his life.
Firemen Trapped.
In another ward three firemen were
nearly trapped to.death. They entered
at the door, which had spring lock, and
closed behind them. AS is customary,
there was no handle on the inside. The
door resisted their axes and fhav rushed