The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-05-07
The Tongue ..POinte Lunatic
Asylum Burned.
HORRIBLE ANTICS OF THE LOST.
The Inmates Rejoicing at the Dreadful Sight
Heroic WOrk-Neglect of Precaution-
airy Measures Montrears Fears.

D0Iole tnlS tragic scene are such as can never
De lorgotton Nothing could exceed the hor.
ror attending the terrible caiamnity consider
the number of victims, terrible nature of their
death and the manner in which the HELPLESS
victims received their fate. What to the spee-
tators was scene of horror, was to the lunaties
d moment OF supreme glee, and in their delight
they dlsported themselves in the flames and
waved thelr blazing limbs in turbulent salts
lacuon al the ruin that was about
them, and not until the walls
tumbled over their heads were their manical
screams s1lenced. There were incarcerated in
the Tongue Pointe LOO lunatics for the asvI11r1
was prison more than hospital and now NOT
more than eleven hundred are accounted for
put many escaped into the fields and woods
ana the dead are ashes amongst ashes What
the number of the dead is is purely a matter OF
conjecture and can never be aseertained since
no obner record is kept than that in the ASYLUM
books, and they were DESTROYED TAKING into
consideration the whole OF the eyidence from
Sne hremen, half sane inmates and sisters in
charge, 1t Is conservative estimate TO
say that 100 victims met their death
though some assert the humber iS
double that, and others place it below this
| ngure: However, the fact remains that no such
calamity has fallen upon the province of
| quebec since the earliest times Ever since
quebec was province its management OF these
| luosG heIpleSS OF all creatures has been its
shame They have been farmed out to nuns at
9IUJ q mead per year, and the sisters aim was
70 Keep tnem as frugal as possible. From the
/
some minds as to whether it was intended for
an asylum or blast furnace In anv case il
served the latter purpose admirably II
was constructed of bricks and was 600 feet
| long, running back from the river half
that distance. The main building occupied the
| centre, and on each side extended foTir wines.
six stories in height. The fire to-day started in
| a cupboard in the second ward on the women's
| sue, IN tne upper story, by careless patient
ana as ventilation was carried on by a lonoi-
| tudlnal shaft connected with the towers the
flames soon appeared blazing up through the
rooI IN the centre Of each tower A telegram
| was sent TO Montreal for aid and an engine and
reels started at once. They might as we'll have
| remained at home for in five minutes thew ex-
hausted the water supply. The only thing that
cOuld save the building was the ST. Lawrence
river and 1t was half a mile distant
/ When an Associated Press reporter arrived
with the hremen the dome of one tower had
just Iallen and the flames were bursting out
| everywhere. As the heat increased statueS
| fell from their inches to the ground and then the
naoltants. Frustrated. themselves crying aloud
that the saints had deserted them indeed
BEDS, furniture and utensils OF every descrip-
| ZION were being Showered from the windows
ana a stream OF .ill-clad men poured out of the
eastern wings. 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 dilicuItv bns
from the upper wards. where the violent ma
| uentS were secured, there came the
widest screams they resisted the
to escape. At the windows q maniac
would be seen peeping through the bars grin
ming ana Jabber1ng at the bright flame that
Went up To the sky. As the heat became more
/ intense she would grasp the bars and re main
there until the flames enveloped her The in
haoltantS had come from all parts around about.
attracted by the blaze, and in an hour the little
village was surging mass of shouting vocifer-
| at1ng people. When the fremen found tbev
were powerless to save the building they turned
their attention to the inmates bursting the
doors with axes. Inside, Chief BenOit saws
was such sight no fireman ever before w.t.
messed. In one ward he entered were TWENTY
aoT,
they huddled together like a mack
OF beast, entwining their arms into one mass OF
humanity. He seized the nearest but said
the chief, I could no more separate the crowd
than could parts of your horse" He tugped
at them until the fire darted into their garments
and embodied them like shroud of flame and
then he escaped with his life.
In another ward three firemen were nearly
trapped to death. They entered, and the door.
which had a spring lock, closed behind them
As is customary, there was no handle inside
The door resisted their axes, and they rushed
10 the windows, but were driven
back by the flames The chief. suspecting their
peril sent aid to the other side and the men
were carried down oR ladders. The engineer of
the building did good work, saving nine patients,
and every fireman made O record of which he
may feel proud
On the 1rst alarm, the engineer turned on the
nose, but 1t was utterly useless, as the fire
leaped along the yentllating shaft to the wards
ana burned IN dozen places at once One OF
nuns Sister Maria. lay sick in the infrmary ON
the fifth floor and to her rescue came 16ree
others, Demerese, Gilbert and Lumiene. They
seized their companion and bore here in a blan-
ket to the stair case but they were met by a
None of of f tbem and ana all all. persisted
years of age. The sisters worked
with the persist. nee OF herones, by turns en-
ploy1ng, beseeehing and commanding the
patients.
Premier Mencier has placed the Montreal ex-
h'blton buildings at the disposal of the nuns
a tomorrow the buildings will be stocked
with provisions. The strangest wonder to the
nremen is that such an absence of fire-hghtino
facilities could exist Although the appliances
were there, they were utterly useless, The
Institution had excellent engines ten good
pumps and new boilers but no connection ex
listed between the pumps and boilers
sister ThereSe, the superioress is broken
hearted, and being at present in i'll health her
name may be added to the already long list OF
victims Doctors Bourgne and Baralet were
carried from the building in unconscious conni-
TONS and whatever must be said of the man
agement as whole the individuals exercised
every power to lessen the calamity thew had
neglected to avoid. A loud exniosion
was followed by a crash Of beams
The interior was giving way. The
wild, frantic women sank from the windowa
and the shrieks OF maniacs were lost in the GEM
eral uproar, and one by one the walls toppled
inward, and fierce blaze burst up from the
newly added fuel that rose 20 the dark slv and
shot its glare over the St. Lawrence to the
southern shore, and even tinged the crest of
Mount Royal ten miles distant. Then it died
towers renamed OF the bounding, seeth-
ing mass OF metal and debris
under which are not bOd-
les but ashes of a hundred VIC
tins. BY this time it was 6 o'clock and grow
ing dark and very cold Spring rains had CON
Verted the place into a quagmire, and onIy
horSemen could get from place to place The
poor sisters, most of them young and delicate
stood ankle deep in mud securing and superin-
tending the removal of such furniture as had
been saved. Patients wandered about airnlessly
clad In Scant garments. When released many
OF them leaped for Joy and bounded like deer
across the fields to the woods. Patients of both
sexes escaped, and though Gordon of police
was thrown around, not all were in
Guided, and q horribly suggestive tale
was borne in by an inhabitant who was
coming through the woods to the scene of the
disaster. new dread has come upon the in
hab1tants from the presence of so many escaped
lunatlcS, and they will count themselves for
tunate II they are not visited by series OF
Such crimes as only madmen can devise. All
the time the fire was burning every high house
top in Montreal had curious sight seers The
long road was thronged with carriages. The.
transport service OF Montreal was pressed into
service and every available cab, omnibus and
hack went out filled with people.
The sisters of Providence spent in founding
and organizing this institution 81 1872 232 OF
which 100000 was spent on the building. The
buildings were insured by the government for
10000. With the exception OF the medical de-
partment, consisting of doctors, the sisters re-
tanned complete control of all the departments
of the asylum
Later-At midnight the death roll is estimated
at fifty, although many more are missing but
are expected 10 turn up, IL is feared seven ter
tiary nuns are burned, as three more are mis-
sing besides those named above They were
not, however, seen in the flames and the sisters
prefer not to give out their names at present.