Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-05-09
IDIOTS CREMATED.
Another Horror in an Asylum
for the Imbecile.
TWELVE POOR wREToHEs ROASTED

The Fire Makes Such Rapid Roadway
That Rescue Is 1mpossible-Locked in
Their Cells, the Victims Die Like Rats
in Their Notes.-The Holocaust Preceded
by the Burning to Death of an Aged In
mate, who Sets Herself on Fire with
Her Pipe.
NORWICH, n. Y, May deborah Dbl
BILE was one of the old women in the idiot
ward of the county poor house of Chenago
county, at Preston. All her life she had
been an inveterate smoker, and chung with
obstinate tenacity to an old clay pipe
which was given to her about year ago.
She was smoking Wednesday afternoon.
Later a shrill scream was heard and a
dows of the ward in the right wing When
the keepers reached the idiot ward they
found Deborah lying on the bare floor
wrapped in flames, which her pipe had
communicated to her bed. She was dead
when picked up, and the fire was soon ex-
tinguished without further harm.
Followed by a Holocaust.
dants of the asylum were awakened by the
dread cry of fire" accompanied by the
shrill screams of the inmates, and so rap
idly did the flames spread that but little
time was given in which to succor the I'M
fortunates. The keepers were quickly up and
rushing through the building, giving the
alarm few of the idiots, babbling and
jabbering ran with the keepers. All
around were farmhouses, and messengers
were sent for help. The lunatics were re-
leased from the different wards as soon as
possible. Altogether there were about
twenty, and it was feared that if they
mingled with the more tractable patients
there would be a general stampede. The
majority of the violent ones, however,
made directly for the woods, and for hours
afterward they could be heard screaming
and yelling in the adjacent forest.
Rescuing the Wretched Inmates.
Attention was given to the saving of life,
and the nurses and keepers worked with a
will to get the poor wretches out. In
| their wild efforts to escape some of the pa
tients were badly burned. Those in the
poor wards were all saved without trouble,
as that portion of the building was the
furthest removed from the wing where
the fire started. About 2 O'Clock the build
| ing began to crumble and succumb to the
fury of the fire. 1t was an awful night for
the nurses and attendants. They hardly
knew what to do, or which way to turn,
| until finally some half dozen of the farm
ers offered their houses and barns as
place of refuge for the imbeciles. The
doors of the two little churches were
thrown wide open, and temporary hos
| pital quarters arranged. The keeper of
| the solitary hotel of which the town boasts
| offered food and shelter for those who were
still unprovided for.
Maniacs I'm the Woods.
Some of the patients were so badly
| burned that they fell to the ground as soon
as they reached place of safety. A con-
siderable number of the violent patients
took refuge in the woods Most of those
who escaped had been kept in the closest
conefinment on account of the peculiar ma
ture of their maladies, and it is not at all
safe for them to be at large The posse of
| the sheriff secured the surrounding coun-
| try in search of the fugitives Two of
| seven who were captured were found five
miles away. and resisted vigorously be-
| fore they allowed themselves to be re-
| taken.
Tp.e,se-s5 tise Idiots Cremated.
Notwithstanding the efforts to save life,
in which all the attendants engaged, it is
found that twelve of the idiots were
burned to death. Their names are: Sarah
Mills, Alton; Sarah Gallagher, Norwich;
Almeda Austin, this county; Sarah Bailey,
Columbus; Laura Gray, Greene; Adelis
Benedict and Lucy Warren, Oneida; Ar
villa Atwood, Norwich; Deborah Dibble,
cambridge, and Mary O'Daniels, Preston,
and two others, names unknown. The
| cause of the fire is mystery. The officials
believe that 1t was spontaneous combus-
ton, as the fire in Deborah Dihble's room
was believed to have been thoroughly ex-
| tinguished The loss to the county is only
| s., 900; insured
story of Keeper Manwarring-
Keeper +. +. Manwarring was seen by a
| United Press representatives at an early
| hour yesterday Said he: II retired at my
| usual hour, and must have been in a sound
sleep, when l awoke with n start, and a
| cold sweat stood out all over me. / cannot
say that heard any noise, OF distinguished
| any smell of smoke but an Unborn instinct
| told me that something was wrong.
| Without waiting to dress myself,
| bounded down stairs in my bare feet, and
on entering the paupers dining room a
|
| followed the scent which led me to the
| idiot department. On opening the door
leading from the hall to that building !
was thunderstruck TO see that the interior
was all ablaze.
Locked i'm to Dreadful Doom.
'.In fact, il was one mass of flame and the
smoke was overpowering. / attempted to
open the door and rescue the poor inmates,
who were all securely locked in their cells
as usual, but was driven back by the heat
and smoke. j saw that the poor idiots
were doomed and that nothing could save
| them. j then ran out and gave the alarm;
| went to my own room, pulled on my trous-
ers, and then ran through the corridors
and aroused the paupers, telling them as
| plainly as l could what had happened. In
some instances the poor people were dazed
| and it was necessary to carry them bodily
from the house and turn them loose in the
yard and fields. There were twelve in
mates in the idiot asylum, and they must
have been overcome by the heat before |
| awakened, for i heard nothing from them,
and they must have been roasted like rats
| in a hole"
| Bad News from Illinois Crops.
| SPRINGFIELD, Ills, May 9.-Reports re
ceived by the state department of agricul
/ ture from the more important wheat