The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-07
Thirteen Hundred Insane Patients
Shrouded in a Mighty Sheet Of
Roaring Flame.
Mauiacal Shrieks Of Gee Hushed
In Indescribable Horrors Of
Death.
One Hundred Hslplsss Creatures Literally
Burned Alive In = veritablo Blast
Furnace Near Montreal

Tongue POinte lunatlc asylum, located ton
niles from Montreal, and which, with many |
ives, was to-day consumed by flames. The
lights witnessed before this tragic scene are
Iuch as can never be forgotten. Nothing
,ould exceed the horror attending the terri-
,le calamity, considering the number of
7ictims. the terrible nature Of their death
md the manner in which the helpless vic
inns received their fate. What to the spec
;ators was q scene of horror was to the
unatics moment Of supreme glee, and
in their delight they deported themselves
in the flames and waved their blazing
limbs in turbulent satisfaction at the
until the walls tumbled over their heads
were their maniacal screams silenced.
There were incarcerated in Tongue POinte
!, 800 lunatics, for that asylum was prison
more than hospital, and now not more
than 1,1OO are accounted for, but many es-
caped into. the fields and woods and the
dead are ashes amongst ashes. What is the
number of the dead is purely matter OF
conjecture and can never be ascertained,
since no other record is kept than that in
the asylum and they are destroyed.
Taking into consideration the whole OF
the evidence from firemen, half-sane in
mates, and sisters in charge, 1t is con-
hundred victims met their death,
though some assert the number is
double that, and others place it below this
figure. However, the fact remains that no
such other calamity has fallen upon the
province of Quebec since earliest times.
Ever since Quebec was province lts man
lures has been it's shame. They have been
farmed out to nuns at 800 a head per year
and the sister nun was to keep them as
frugally as possible. From the construc-
tion of the building there is doubt in some
minds as to whether it was intended for an
asylum OF blast furnace. In any case It It
was constructed of brick and was six hum
dred feet long, running back from the river
half the distance. The main building oc-
cupied the center, and on each side ex-
tended four wings six stories in
height: The fire to-day started IN a cup
side in an upper story, by careless patient,
and as ventilation was carried on by
longitudinal shaft cqnnscted with the
towers, the flames soon appeared blazing
up through the roof in the center OF each
tower. A telegram was sent to Montreal
once. They might as we'll have remained
at homo, for in five minutes they exhausted
the water supply. The only thing that
could be done to save the building was to
get water from the St. Lawrence river and
it was half a mile distant.
When an Associated Press reporter ar
rived with the fremen the dome of one
tower had just fallen and the flames were
bursting everywhere. As the heat increased
statues fell from their inches to the ground,
and then the inhabitants prostrated them
selves, crying aloud that the saints had de-
serted them indeed. Beds, furniture and
utensils of every description were being
win nd a akron M r1f iii
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 we're removed without difficulty, but
from the upper wards, where the violent
est screams as they resisted the nuns who
were beseeching them to make their escape.
At the windows a maniac would be
seen peering through the bars. grinninR
and jabbering at the bright flames 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
around about, attracted by the blaze, and
in an hour the little village was surgine
mass of shouting, vociferating people.
When the fremen found they were pow
erless to save the building they turned theil
attention to the inmates and burst in the
doors WIN axes. 1uS1ue, CNAoA ooAvoS soy o
was such sight as no fireman ever before
witnessed. In one ward in which he entered
there were twenty-five patients and at hi
approach they huddled together like
pack of beasts, entwining theil
arms into one mass OF humanity
He seized the nearest, "but," said thu
chief, 81 could no more separate the GROVE
than I could the parts Of your horse" HI
tugged at them until the fire darted intt
their garments and embodied them like .
shroud of flame, and then he escaped with
his life. In another ward three hremen
were nearly trapped to death. They On
tered, and the door, which had a spring
lock, closed behind them. As is customary
| there was no handle on the inside. Th'
door resisted their axes, and they rushed t.
the windows, but were driven back by tn
| flames. the chief, suspecting their peril
sent aid to the other side and the men wer
carried down on ladders. The engineer o
patients, and every fireman made RECORD
Of which he may feel proud.
On the irst alarm the engineer turned OF
his hose, but it was utterly useless. as tn
fire leaped along the ventilating shaft to tn
towers and burned in a dozen places a
once. One of the tertiary nuns. Siste
Marie, lay sick in the infrmary on the fiftl
floor, and to her rescue came three others
! Demerez, Gilbert and Lumiene. The,
seized their companion and bore her in
blanket to the staircase. but they were me
by a sheet of flame and all perished. Nom
of them was over 20 years of age.
The Sisters worked with the persistence
of heroines, by turns imploring, beseechin,
and commanding the patients, and finall.
leaving a very large number, in view OF tn
inadequate facilities at hand. A loud ex
plosion was followed by crash Of beams
The interior was giving way. Wild face
sank from windows, and the shrieks o
maniacs were lost in the general uproal
And one by one the walls toppled inwar'
and fierce blaze burst up from the newl
added fuel that rose to the darl
sky and shot its glare over the st. Lawrenc
to the southern shore. and tn
crest of Mt. Royal, ten miles distant. The
it died down into blackness and nothin
but broken towers remain. Th
building was a seething mass OF metal ant
debris, under which now are not the bodie.
but the ashes of hundred victims. b
this time it was o'clock and growing dar
and very cold. Spring rains had converte
the place into a quagmire and only horse
men could get from place to place. Th
moor sisters, the most of them young an
} delicate, stood ankle Geep in mu
occurring and experimenting the removal 9
such furniture a. had been saved. II
patients wandered about aimlessly, clad
scant Qarmenta When released many {
them iesped for joy and bounded like des
across the fields to the woods. Patients {
both sexes escaped and though q Gordon {
. police Vas thrown asound not all we're j,