Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-23
CRIPP[ES IN A TRAP.
Narrow StaircaSes, finder
Walls, Dark Passages, ALL
a Mass of Flame
DO THEIR DEADLY WORK.
A Score of Inmates of the Indianap-
oils Institute Are Dead.
SCENES OF PANIC AND HER0ISM.
Deeds of Strength Which Would Be Impos-
Sible in Everyday Life
PERFORMED BY THE CITY FIREMEN
DO THEIR DEADLY WORK.
SCENES OF PANIC AND HEROISM.
Deeds of Strength Which Would Be Impos-
Sible in Everyday Life
PERFORMED BY THE CITY FIREMEN

QlanapollS
At Has that night an alarm was turne'
in, quickly followed by asecond and third
Every piece of fre-fghting apparatus il
the city was quickly on the run, and upol
the arrival of the fremen flames were leap
ing from the roof and fourth floor window
of the National Surgical Institute, on tht
corner of Illinois and Georgia streets, witt
an extension on the latter street.
About $50 crippled people were in th'
institute at the time. The building was al
most totally enveloped in fire, and wher
Chief Webster arrived his first order was,
let the building burn, but run up the lad
ders and save the people" This was obeyed
and the work of rescuing the imprisoned
patients commenced.
Nhcre the work of Destruction Began.
The fire. when first discovered, was 10.
Gated in the Georgia street building at the
rear of the Office in the advertising room.
Whether it started there or not cannot be
said, as the kitchen aud dinning room Of
the institution were in the same section,
and further back an alley separates the
Georgia street building from the one facing
Illinois street. A covered bridge connects
them.
The fire leaped up through the floors of
the building in which it started, reaching
a stairway about two feet wide, thus Sc
curing draught, and sped through the sec
ond floor from room to room and hallway to
hallway. Then the third and fourth floors
were quickly reached, and across the alley
the fiery tongues dashed, igniting the ad-
Joining building.
On the third and fourth floors the horri-
bic work was doEe. The buildings were a
network of narrow halls, entrances and
star~ays The FIRE could not have chosen
better place for its work.
Th- Awful Peril of Helpless cripples.
In the small rooms throughout the build
ing were from one to four beds. all occupied
BY patients, many OF whom were perfectly
helpless. When they became aware of their
peril their fright was awful. They became
frantic in their efforts TO reach places of
safety.
Every effort was made bv the fire. police
and ambulance forces to rescue the Gagged
unfortunates, and acts Of heroism and daring
were performed. Where the dining room
and kitchen were the building was gutted.
Above these two departments, on the third
and fourth floors, were the sleeping apart
ments of the patients. When the fire was
discovered every means of escape was cut
of, and many perished there.
The Surgical Institute was veritable fir -
trap. The stairwavs were narrow, the halls
dark, and the whole structure labyrinth
Entering the main building from the
alley, dark storeronm filled with barrels
boxes, tables, milk cans and various other
articles on concreted fo0r is reached. A
door ct the inner end leads 10 an open court,
perhaps 80 feet long and Is wide. which
serves as an sirshait. A winding stairway,
not much over two feet wide, leads up to a
window Of the third floor
4 Difficult, Dangerous StairwsT.
This stairway is built of pine boards and
boarded to about the height of mans
head. Ii would be next to impossible for
two persons TO pass in it. The room TO
which this leads was dormitorv. 1t con-
Tained about dozen iron beds, most of
which had been occupied. From the open
court there is a door leading to the hall
ways inside the building. This passage vas
dark and a person was obliged to group his
way 10 better lighted spot.
The first floor suffered little from fire, the
principal damage having resulted from
water. The second floor was thoroughly
soaked, and the ceilings in manv rooms had
holes burned through Near the Illinois
street front of the main building was a stair
way the firemen were surprised to see. 1t
made a turn midway between two floors, |
and at that point there was q landing. From |
that landing to the top step of the lower |
section was distance of at least 215 feet. |
In speaking of that place, Fireman James |
Madden remarked:
''How could they expect cripples to get |
Ep or down those stairs?"
Rotten Woodwork Patched Up.
In some parts of the building the stairs !
we're so old and worn that extra boards had |
been nailed in the steps. Large holes had !
been burned in the floors The rooms on
the Georgia street side were thoroughly +
water-soaked, and the furniture had been /
thrown about in great confusion bv the
patients who had been so suddenly auak-
ened to their great danger. The halls and
stairs in some places were so mrch of a
puzzle that it was hard for person to tell
which was which. At one point four flights
Of stairs were in bunch. Rooms on the
third and fourth floors of the main building
ard nearest the alley were the scenes of the
greatest fatalities
In one room were two women, both of
whom persisted. In another there was a
man whose legs were paralvzed. Although
unable 70 walk he dragged himself to a
window at the rear of the building and
threw himself out. He dropped about eight
feet to ROOF, then to another, and finally
rolled of to the ground, saving himselff from
death.
Recovering tine Dead Bodies.
The entire rear half of the inside of the
Georgia street building fell in. The debris
filed completely the first story, and when
the fremen began their search for dead
bodies they were obliged to commence work
on level with the second floor 1t will he
several days before they can hope to reach
the bottom. The names Of the killed are:
Kate L. Strong died at No. lS4 AIassacbu-
setts avenue, home, Salem, Ore; Mrs Laz- |
aTrIs of Chicago. jumped from the second |
story of the rear building: William Ram
stack. Milwaukee,; Miss Kate Burns, New
Minnie Arnold, Lancaster, Mo-: Il1na Pavne
Dexter, Mimi: stella Specs, Maeoml, a..
Minnie Mcdonald, NeIaunee, O.: George |
Ellis California, KY; Mrs. Earb and
nbis died of her injuries at IL O'clock Fri |
dav; Mortie Decko died at 2sO5 North Missis-
sippi street: Fred Dockendorf, saltwater |
Mimi: Hannah Brook, Taylorsville, Ill: a | =,
II. German, Mcdonald, Mich; Arthur Bay
less
The List of the Injured
Fannie Stern, Des Moines Ia. soles of the
-eet badly burned in running on the floor of
he third stcrv; Clara Morris, home not
lnown, back hurt; Mrs. Thomas, lS5 Madison
venue, horribly burned about lace and ]
body; Ms j. z. Gid, Medaryville, Ind, hurt
By falling from ladder; recovery ,
Irant Van Hoesen, Athens, n. Y, hand and !
ar burned: Clarence Mead. Athens, n. Y,
eg slightly hurt; NJ. d. Wagner, Troy, o., 4