Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-05-15
ASYLUM HORROR.
Burning Of q Lunatic Asylum Near
Montreal, Canada.
FriGhtful scenes-At Least Fifty Patients
and Several Nuns Perish I'm the Flames
Many Lunatics Escape to tho
Woods.

TONGUE PoINTE, Que, May IA long
line of gaunt towers and mass of blaz-
ing debris is all that is left of the
Tongue Pointe lunatic asylum, wherein
many poor lunatics lost their lives.
The horrible sights that were witnessed
during the destruction of the building
will never be forgotten by the specta-
tors, though to the lunatics it was a
time of supreme glee and in their de-
light they disported themselves among
flames and waved their arms in turbu-
lent satisfaction at the ruin that was
being wrought. Not until the walls
tumbled over their heads were their
maniacal screams ceased.
There were incarcerated in the ASYLUM
1900 lunatics, for the place was more
like prison than hospital, and last
evening not more than 1, 100 had been
accounted for But many had escaped
into fields and woods, and the number
of the dead is now a matter of con-
lecture and is not likely to ever be as
certained, since no other record was
kept than that in the asylum books. and
these were destroyed in the fire.
Ten miles below Montreal a point of
land juts out into the river. Here is the
village of Tongue Pointe and here was
the famous lunatic asylum.
Fifteen minutes before noon the cry
of ''fire'' was given. The fire originated
in cupboard in the second ward of the
upper story and was the work of a
patient.
When the firemen arrived the dome of
one tower had just fallen and the flames
were bursting everywhere. Streams of
water we're brought to bear on the flames
and while they lasted some good work
was done, but that was for a very brief
space and then the horror of the situa-
ton was revealed.
AS the heat increased statues fell
from their inches to the ground and then
the Inhabitants Frustrated themselves,
crying aloud that the saints had de-
serted them indeed. Meantime the
beds, furniture and utensils of every
description were being showered from
the windows and stream of i1l-clad
men poured out of the eastern wing.
Not patient was lost.
Among the women it was different
The less helpless cases were placed in
the lower wards and they were removed
without difficulty. but from the upper
wards, where the violent patients were
secured, their came the widest screams
as they resisted the nuns, who were be-
seeching them to make their escape. At
the windows women could be seen peer
ing thsough the bars, grinning and jab-
bering at the bright flames that went
up to the sky. AS the heat became
more intense they would grasp the bars
and remain there until the flames en-
veloped them.
The inhabitants had come from all
parts around about, attracted by the
blaze, and in an hour the little village
was one surging mass of shouting, vocif-
Grating people. recounting the strange
scenes they had beheld.
When the firemen found they were
powerless to save the building, they
turned their attention to the inmates
and burst in the doors with axes. In
side, Chief Benoit says, it was such a
sight as no fireman ever before wit
messed. In one ward that he entered
there were twenty-five patients, and at
his approach they huddled together like
a pack of beasts, entwining their arms
into one mass of humanity. He seized
the nearest, but, said he: II could no
more separate the crowd than 1 could
parts of your horse" He tugged at
them until the fire darted into their
garments and EMBODIED them like a
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 on the inside. The
door resisted their axes and they rushed
to 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 on ladders.
Doctors Bourque and Baralet were
carried from the building unconscious,
and whatever must be said of the man
agement as a whole, individuals exer-
cised every power to lessen the calamity
they had neglected to avert
One of the tertiary nuns, Sister Marie,
lay sick in the infirmary on the fifth
floor, and to her rescue came three
others. They seized their companion
and bore her in blanket to the stair
case. but they were met by a sheet of
flame and all persisted. Their names
were: Sisters Marie, Demerisis, Gilbert
and Lumiene.
None of the dead sisters was over
twenty years of age, and all came from
parishes below Quebec.
Later-The death roll is now esti-
mated at fifty, although many more are
missing but are expected to turn up. 1t
is feared that seven tertiary nuns have
been burned to death, as three more are
missing. They were not, however, seen
in the flames and the sisters prefer not
giving out their names at present.
Among the patients who persisted was
Sister Lanaie, nun of the Sacred
Heart convent at Sau1t au Recollet.
She had been under treatment in the
asylum for some months.
Heavy Wind Storm.
NATCHEz, Miss, May IA severe
wind storm passed over this section that
unroofed two buildings here-the Foster
House and Democrat office-and dam
aged the Methodist Church in Vidalia,
just across the river. Two buildings in
process of erection at Harriston, twenty
eight miles distant on the Louisville,
New Orleans & Texas railroad, were
completely wrecked. The storm trav-
eled from southwest to northeast. It
felled the LARGEST trees in its track