Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-01-29
Where the Blame Res $.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Jan. 23.-A ter.
rible responsibility rests upon the own
ers of the Indiana Surgical Institute,
which was burned yesterday, causing
the death of nineteen persons in the
rims, and the fatal lnjuring of many more
The building was a veritable death trap.
The halls were narrow, and there were
nc proper exits to be used in case of a
fire. The surgical institute, a large four
story brick building, was located at the
corner of South Illinois and Georgia
streets, with a frontage of 100 feet on
Illinois and $50 feet on Georgia. I'M
mediately in the rear was another four
story building which contained the Of
fees and dining rooms, while On the
third and fourth floors were Wards A,
B and c, devoted to the care of women
and children. The fire was discovered
at midnight, and three alarms brought
out the entire department. When
the fire department arrived the win
dows were full of
Screaming. Moaning Cripples,
and the scene was one of horror. The
work of rescue was begun at once with
the ladders, and the inmates were re-
moved with great r~apidity. Without
waiting for ladders to be run up the
desperate inmates jumped from the
windows or huddled together upon the
fire escape, but the flames cut off this
descent at the second story and here
they threw themselves to the ground.
Mrs. Gale, of Madison, this state,
jumped from a third story window
with a child in her arms and was fatally
hurt, but the child escaped injury. Miss
Nellie Mason, of Walworth county,
Wis, also jumped from a third story
window and was So badly crushed that
she will die. All who jumped from the
fire escape and from the windows were
placed in ambulances and taken to the
city hospital.
The Work OF Rescue.
BY this time a large crowd Of citizens
had assembled, and many of them dis
regarding the danger. rushed into the
building and passed through the smoke
and flames from room to room in the
work of rescue. The children were
brought out into the cold air without
anything around them, but adjoining
blocks were thrown open to them and
they were made as comfortable as pos
sible, considering their number and the
hurried manner of their arrival. For
half an hour the police and fremen
went from room to room, ran up lad
ders where it was possible to enter, and
continued the work of rescue. A fire.
man would enter a ward from a ladder
and hand out three or four of the little
ones to another fireman upon the ladder,
and many citizens came out from the
building carrying three or four children
on their backs and in their arms. J. M,
Rice, of Cincinnati, vice president of the
Duckworth club, rescued many of the
inmates, and on one occasion brought
out a woman and four children, the for
mer in his arms and the latter clinging
to his arms and back.
Some Heartrending Scenes.
The scenes about the burning build
ing were heartrending in the extreme,
Many of the children were attended by
their mothers, who were boarding at
the institute, and these were nearly
frantic with fear when they were dis.
covered. One lady refused to leave the
ward till her child had been carried out,
and a policeman had to drag her from
the room. Her child had been taken
out, and when she found it in an ad.
joining block, the transit from grief tc
joy was so sudden that she seemed like
one deranged. The building was owned
by Drs. Allen and Wilson, and it and
the furnishings are estimated by DR.
Wilson to have been worth $3.50, 900
The furnishings, including valuable ap
planes for all kinds of cripples, are {
total loss, but the front building wa.
partially saved. The loss will aggregate
100000, with insurance Of $3.50, COO.
The Organ Of the Fire.
From al the information that can b,