The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-23
FOUGHT FOR LIFE.
Thrilling Scenes at the Indian
apOliS Fire.
4 Score or More Patients P0riShad In the
Burning Institute.
Daring Deeds Of Rescue Performed By Fire.
men and Those in Charge Of
the Inmates.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 22.-The latest re-
ports show that the fire which occurred at
an early hour this morning in the National
Surgical Institute was one Of the most
appalling in the history of the city.
Two hundred and forty-six patients and
thirty nurses, sleeping in two OF the four
story buildings in which the institute is
located, were in imminent danger of their
lives. Their rescue and fight with the
flames and final discovery Of the dead chill
dren made a story rarely paralleled. At
$3.50 this morning nineteen dead bodies
were recovered. Some were killed by jump
ing, but others were suffocated or burned to
death.
What started the fire is not certainly
known, but it began in the office Of the Sec
retary about midnight The flames spread
with amazing rapidity and soon involved
both buildings.
CRIPPLES IN PERIL.
When the Fire Department arrived Grip
pies were seen in every window. Their
heartrending cries were terrible. Heroic
deeds of rescue were performed, and for
two hours the delusIOn was entertained that
all the inmates were saved. Soon after
o'clock, when tie fire was nearly subdued,
the police and fremen went into the build
ing and found in one room amass of roasted
humanity. There were seven persons III
that mass alone. Nearly all the bodies were
found in the GeOrgia-street annex. The list
of dead is further swollen by four who died
from their injuries received in leaping from
the windows.
Identification was almost impossible,
many or the dead being Charred beyond rec
OgnitOn.
THE DEAD.
At4 o'clock in the morning ten bodies had
been recovered from the ruins, six OF them
identified as follows: Stella Spies, aged
! thirteen, Of MCCOmb Ohio; VIII Ramstack,
aged eighteen, Of Milwaukee; Irma Payne,
| aged seventeen, of Missouri; Minnie Arnold,
aged seventeen, and Fred DrockendOTf,
aged twenty-five, Saltwater, Mimi. George
Ellis, aged thirty-fve, of Kentucky
] HughenR McLaln, aged tWenty-one, OF
Caldwell.
The missing are: Mrs. E. NJ. Lump, Ar
thur BayIess and Minnie Macdonald.
THE INJURED.
Grant Vanhursen and Clarence Mead of
Athens, y. Y; William II. Albach OF Dun
| kirk, y. Y; Leonard Knowles Of Independ-
ence Iud: W. w. Wydner Of Troy, Ohio;
J. ). Stokes of DdnyilIe, ILL.,; Nellie Mason OF
WalWorth County, Wis. The fatally injured
are: Mrs. Lazarus Of Chicago; Mrs. q. j.
| Simpson aud little girl, carried out by the
| firemen, seriously burned; X. C0nnor,
! father Of little boy who was a patient, IN
| an effort to save the child, fell from the sec
ond to the first floor on the east wing
through a hole in the floor; Kate l..
Stroughan Of Indianapolis, terribly burned
about the taCe and back; Mrs. Thomas Of
4
| ana body; Fannie BTodeu OF Memphis,
Tenn, burned in a dozen places; Mrs Gales
of Madison, Ind Mary Stearns of Warren,
Iowa. and Clara Morris, badly hurt.
sORROwFUI. SCENES.
The scenes In Grifith's restaurant, at the
Grant Hotel and the Weddell House, where
the injured were taken, were very sad.
Soon after daylight this morning people be-
gan to gather at the scene or the ire. 10
picture all that transplred around the
burned building from that time on would be
difficult. A strong guard Of police kept
back the crowd. By o'clock the news Of
the fire had spread all over the city, and
hundreds of persons who had relatives or
acquaintanceS in the institution began to
join the vast crowd. They searched for the
dear ones among the dead and the living,
and the grief of those unable to find relatives
was heartrendng.
While this was transpring the fremen.
q
search in the ruins for more bodies. In the
upper rooms Of the east wing of the build
ing four bodies burned to crisp were dis
covered. Then the dangerous task of re-
moving the debris began. Many pairs of
braces we're unearthed in the ruins, show
ing that some of the unfortunates in their
effort to escape had loOSened aud thrown
them away.
SOME NARROW ESCAPES.
One of the most painful cases was that of
little three-year-Old Ethel Piatt daughter
of James NJ. Piatt of Pinkneyyille, Ill
Little Ethel was found in bed on the third
floor half Strangled with smoke and help
less from spinal trouble. Wrapped up in a
blanket she was taken up in the arms of a
fireman, carried down to the next floor
through the dense smoke and past the roar
ing flames to the window, and as the crowd
gathered below and extended their arms she
was thrown out With broken leg she was
taken across Illinois street and placed on q
table and covered with blankets. She Suf-
fered fearfully, and frequently screamed
out in desperate agony
Among the many thrilling experiences
was that of Mrs E. d. Purdy, who with
her little daughter slept on the UPPER floor
She had only time 10 throw quilt over the
| crippled child and escape into the hall in
ner night robe. and she dropped her little
| girl about seventy-five 1eet to the head Of the
! staircase and made her way half way down
she lost her balance and fell. The mother
and child were found on the landing
shortly after by John Gavin, who picked up
the child, while a travelling man, whose
| name is not known, took Mrs. Purdy.
These men fought their way out with their
burdens through the smoke. Mrs. Purdy
and child will recover.
A MOTHERS sELF-sACRIFICE.
The thrilling incidents at the fire were of
course innumerable When the firemen
first arrived a woman was seen at a window
on the upper floor clutching her babe in one
hand and struggling with the other hand TO
raise the sash. She finally succeeded and
her screams fell upon the ears of the thou
sands of spectators. No ladders were at
hand and nothing could be done. The
flames were closing in about her and she
looked back into the furnace of death, then
down to the pavement below. Suddenly she
claSped her babe TO her breast, then tossed
1t out OF the window and gave her life to the
flames within. AS the child left the arms
of its mother Pipeman o BrieD planted him.
self firmly beneath the window and caught
the child, which in few minutes was smil-
ing and happy, seemingly unconscious OIL It's
surroundings.
A FIREMAN'S HEROISM
The herOism of Fireman John LOucks will
| long be remembered. He aScended the eX-
! tension ladder to the upper floor and, as he
! reached the window sill, he was met by
| Fireman Robertson, who had pushed his
way through the smoke with a child in his
| arms. Loucks grasped the child and started
| down, but had descended only few feet
when he missed his footing and fell head
! foremost His leg caught in the rounds of
! the ladder and was broken, but he held the
| child and grasped the ladder with his hand.
| As he hung there the spectators below turned
away, thinking lie would soon be obliged to
| loosen his grasp and fall. In moment,
! however two other firemGn reached him and
! carried tho injured man and the child
safely to the ground.
Fireman DonneIly went to a second-story
room where he found a number of female
patients. He took one under each arm, and
ordering the third 10 cling about his neck,