The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-29
A FIERCE CONVENT FIRE
Wake-Nine Out of Ten Buildings
diary.

| Wake--Nine Out of Ten Buildings
diary.
Sparkill, N. Y, Aug, 2S.--A fierce fire
swept through the group of buildings
of st. Agnes convent this morning and
left in its wake the bodies Of four vic
| TINS. 1t destroyed nine out of the ten
buildings in the group and that it did
not claim more victims is due to the
| bravery of the Sisters of Charity who
conducted the convent and orphanage
and some of the older inmates. The fire
| occurred about l o'clock in the morn
| ing and found the four hundred tenants
| OF the institution asleep. There was a
hasty but timely warning that started
the work of rescue. Hundreds were
gotten out In almost perfect order, but
score who risked their lives to save
others were finally forced to either
jump from the upper stories or make
desperate dashes through stairways and
corridors filed with flame and smoke.
1t is charged that the buildings were
fired by an incendiary, but that seems
hardly credible, for there is apparently
an entire absence of motives.
The known dead are: Helen Brown,
six years old; Emma Mackn, aged sew
en-; Jane -, aged seventy years; Mary
Kate Mccarthy, aged twenty eight
years
The missing and unaccounted for are:
Therese Murphy aged sixteen years;
Mary Brown, aged four years.
The seriously injured are: Sister Sien-
ma, shock and collapse, serious; Sister
Marie, burns and confusion, moderate;
Sister, Bertrand, conclusion of spine
and shock, serious; Sister Katharine
broken arm; Sister Ignatius, slightly
injured by fall; Sister Liguri, shock and
hurt by fall, slight, Hannah Shea, leg
broken.
Twenty-Five inmates We're injured by
falls, jumps and burns, none very seri-
ously.
The fire was discovered in the lava
tory, a separate building which stood
in corner of the square formed by the
ten buildings. 1t was seen first at 1850
o'clock by Waterman Lynch, who gave
the alarm, The lavatory adjoined the
No. 1 dormitory in which over two hun
dred boys slept, and was connected with
it and with the other buildings by an
enclosed archway or corridor that ran
clear across the grounds and tapped the
rear of every structure.
AS far as known but one person ac-
tually persisted in the fire itself. That
was Jane, an old pensioner aged seven
" years. She was a asleep in the SER
wants quarters. Helen Brown and En-
ma Mackin We're safely carried from the
buildings, but they soon died from con-
that resulted from fright. Kate
Mary Mccarthy was a servant in the
and had organic heart trouble.
She was badly frightened, collapsed in
the grounds and died later at Plauvelt
The Murphy girl was 16 years
old and was the school monitor. Mary |
Brown was her pet child.
There was a rumor that both perish |
ed in the flames, but the convent au-
thorities assert that Therese was seen |
near Sparkill at o'clock. Mother Su-
perior Dominic, who ruled the house
from the headquarters of the Sisters Of
the Third Order of st. Dominic in New
York city, and Mother Peter who had
ment. Through DR. George Leitner, the
physician at the institution, they ex-
pressed the opinion that the fire was in
There were 1926 children in the orphan
age, sixty of whom were girls and their
ages ranged from two to sixteen years.
Most of them were from New York city
md were in most instances committed
by the Gerry society and city courts.
The value of the property destroyed is
placed at $150,000, and the insurance is
'oughly stated that $4,000. The heav-
est individual loser is Rev. Father Ed
ward Cronin, chaplain who lost his IL
oary, valued at $780, and his personal
fleets. The children are to be distrib-
tied among different houses of the or
Ter until new fireproof buildings are
rected. Coroner Kirk viewed the bod
es of the dead to-day, issued a burial
permit and will hold an inquest on
Monday.