Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-09-22
THE ST. VINCENT FIRE.,
Further Particulars Of the Ca
|anity TO Norfolk
FOUR BODIES RECOVERED,
Three Grown Persons and q Little
Girl.
FIREMEN WHO WERE HURT.
Their Condition-HerOic Efforts to
Save Life-A Richmond Lady Pain
fully Burned-Outside Help-The
Loss ana the Insurance.
FIREMEN WHO WERE HURT.
Loss ana the Insurance.

NOiSh OI<k, Va, september Z.-(Spe-
cial)-The ruins Of the Hospital OF St.
Vincent de Paul. in which fire broke out
this morning. have yielded up four bodies
to the firemens search. The dead are
Mrs. Margaret McEwen, an aged lady,
who was suffering from mental derangc-
ment; Mrs. Elizabeth White, a boarder;
Miss Pippin, of North Carolina, and
Cherry Bozemore, aged years. The
bodies were removed to the hospital
m0rgue
The two firemen who were injured are
doing as well as could be expected. The
condition Of Fireman Barrett is not re-
| assuring He has chance for his life.
His left leg is broken, his right arm is
fractured in three places, and he is cut
on the forehead
Fireman Foster, who went through four
fights of smoke and flame to save human
life, was overcome by inhaling smoke,
and is i'll therefrom.
The property loss is very large and the
insurance is comparatively small. The
former will reach the neighborhood Of
s2OO,O and the latter is only some $4,000
or $4,000. There were many very narrow
escapes from death, and many heroic res
cues by the nremen, who, despite the fact
that they were exhausted by the large
fire just preceding the hospital holocaust
worked TO save the lives Of others as
though their own lives were at stake
Added to this, they were still
further handicapped by the absence OF
the eighty-fcot extension ladder.
OUTSIDE HELP.
The fremen from Portsmout and the
navy-yard apparatus, manned BY ma
rines, rendered valuable assistance. The
responded as quickly as called upon by
Chief Ryan, Of Norfolk. The night
against the devouring element was d
long one, but the north wing ard por-
ton Of the west wing were saved. The
rest Of the large institution of mercy
lies in ruins. This morning as soon as
the ruins had ceased blazing the search
for the bodies of the victims began.
Ambulances had been sent to every
house that offered asylum TO the in
mates of the hospital for information,
and still the list of missing was large.
The authorities Of the hospital declined
to make names public until they were
accounted for in some manner. Early
in the morning the fremen discovered
Mrs McEwen's body a the window of
what mad been her room on the fourth
floor. All the bodies discovered were on
the upper floors, and the positions in
which they were found indicated that the
victims had made every effort to escape.
They were all charred to crisps.
RICHMOND LADY SUFFERS.
Miss Mary Dolan. of Washington, one
Of the nurses who inhaled smoke, is Sc
ri0usly i'll at a private residence. Miss
Teresa Glass, Of Richmond, another
nurse. was badly burned about the hands
and feet
Mrs. White had been at the hospital for
a long time. She was on the fourth
floor and the body had fallen through to
the third. She was Identified by the
structure of her body.
Miss Pippin had just entered the hos
pital, and was to have been operated
upon to-day. The body was found in the
ruins of the bed in which she slept.
Miss Dolan jumped through the stair
well from the third story TO the first,
landing in a sitting posture 1T the feet
of Sister Bernard, the Sister Superior,
who happened at that point just at that
moment.
CAUSE OF THE FIRE.
AS 10 the cause of the fire, mosquito
netting caught in room occupied
by Miss Egarton a patient from New
York. Within two hours atterward the
great structure had been almost totally
DESTROYED. Such a terrible fire has never
before been known in this city. II was
Gala nifty TO the community, in that one OF
the noblest works of benevOlence In
America was destroyed, and on account
of the loss OF human life It will be
horror to the whole country. Thirty
seven is the private box at ST. Vincents.
II was the first time 1t had ever struck
and those firemen who responded knew
there was desperate work ahead. Cap
tain Kegebein and his chemical crew
were first on the scene. The chemical
engine was useless. Presently the Hayes
Truck and an engine company arrived.
The men saw great sheets of flame com
ing from the building. Women were
screaming. and invalids, helpless, were
already being helped out of the burning
structure. A crowd Of over three thou
sand persons quickly gathered. The en-
tire notice reserve force was necessary
ia keen the fre-lines clear. The widest
excitement prevailed. Human voices
shrieking in the agony of despair could
be heard issuing from the burning build
ing after the brave could 60 no more.
Every one who could be reached had
neon rescued. and the 1remcn and spec
totore had 10 stand by while those
heart-rending cries went up and then
died out forever.