The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-06-10

Idlleu 10 discover any record showing
that the hospital had been licensed ac-
cording to law.
Perhaps the most pitiable of all the
deaths was that of Alderman Blind Bill
ly Kent. Not only was he blind, but
ne was 1ncased In straight jacket with
his hands strapped to his waist. Kent
was an astute politician had been q
member of the state legislature and was
a delegate to the Republican national
conventions of 1884, 1883 and 1892. His
blindness was due. to a gun-shot wound,
received at the hands Of a sa1oonkeeper
Samuel K Markham, attorney for the
men under arrest, said today that the
society had applied several times for a
hospital license. but had always been
defused because the people in the neigh
borhood of the hospital objected to the
location Of such institution near them.
He said that Mr.. Miller applied for a
license after the society moved into the
hotel Woodruff. but had not received it.
70. E. Miller for a time lived in To-
pe5a- He had an office at 222 West
Sixth avenue and the firm name was
o. E. Miller & Co His brother George
B. Miller in 1893 had charge of the To-
peka Office. o. e. Miller esta blished
himself as a rupture specialist at EN-
poria about 1890 and afterward moved
to Topeka. He left Topeka in 1895 or
1896 and went to Denver where he be-
came interested in a bank which after
ward failed. He was arrested for mis-
appropriating the funds but was ac-
quitted.l
BUT ONE CHANCE.
A scene that wrought to the pitch of
madness the great crowd that gathered
around the building was enacted at a
fourth story window on the north side.
Across this window was a heavy wire
screen and on the outside of the screen
were iron bars running parallel to the
sill The space between these bars was
too small to allow the passage of even
a small boy and behind them were
gathered q nf ms Tt-hO
bers We're afterward found to be be-
tween % and 30 Escape in other direc-
tions was Impossible for the fire filed
all halls and was steadily eating its way
toward the window at which the men
We're standing. The one chance for life
for that crowd of men lay through that
screened and barred window.
The men closest to the screen tore and
tugged at it in vain effort to tear 1t
from its fastenings and the men behind
them fought madly to get close enough
to the screen to fasten their fingers in
it. So ferceiy did the prisoners pull at
the screen that from the street below
were plainly visible tiny streams of
blood that trickIed from lacerated fng-
erS and hands and flowed over the win
dow sill. A number of the men at the
widow were in straight jackets and
manacles and those not being able 10
widest of all in their frantic efforts
to break through the bars.
The crowd in the street watching the
desperate situation behind the screen
was simply an insane mob They
shouted all sorts Of commands and di-
rectlons at the men and gave orders to
the hremen who were doing all they
could to get through the bars from the
outside. As the flames came steadily
toward the n en- the people in the street
jumped up and down and screamed in
helpless rage. It seemed as though
nothing could be done and all of the
T1a N x1rff els Of
freedom. That any of the men escaped
at all is owing to the work of w E
Davis of Cedar Rapids, Ia, patient
in the institution. He induced the men
to cease their disconnected pulling at
the screen and to unite their efforts
Four men at first took hold OF the
screen and in almost a minute the
crowd behind pushed them away and
before the four men could get to the
screen again they were compelled to
fight with their fists.
MADE A BREACH.
Davis managed to get his men to <he
window again and after a few desperate
pulls they managed to tear down a por-
ton of the screen. NerVed to the work
by their success the bodies of the men
SWayed back and forth as they put all
of their strength into one last effort
Finally the screen came down, but the
bars remained, and they were heavy,
placed there for the purpose of with
standing all the efforts of insane n en-.
AS many men as could place their
/ hands on the lower bar took hold It
bent almost double, and six men went
to the floor with a crash. holding on to
the iron bar which they had torn from
its fastenings. So quickly did the men
behind them spring to grasp the second
bar that those who had torn the first
were badly trampled on before they
could rise. Another bar was soon torn
away and the path to safety was
opened
The men at the windows fought to
keep their places until the fremen could
raise ladders and the men in the rear.
some of whom We're already being reach
ed by the flames. fought to get in the
window.
TWENTY FIVE ESCAPED
The first man through was Dr. c. A.
Anderson of Chicago. No ladders were
in front of the window and Anderson ;
one hope was to reach the platform of
a fire escape in front of the window
just west of where he was. He hesi-
tated for an instant and then sprang
for the fire escape. clutched it and was
safe. The next man through the win
dow was G. S GOtt of Lavergne, Ill.
Anderson was so much exhausted that
he was not able to drag Gott after him
and Gott was so badly burned that he
was not able to make the leap. He
crouched in the window sill while the
men on the inside clamored for him to
jump.
Clinton Osborn. a real estate dealer
of New York city, was the third man.
he cFaWled out beside GOtt and told
the men inside to grasp his feet. This
they did. and telling Gott to take hold
Of his wrists and drop over the window
sill, Osborn, hanging downward swung
Colt to and fro until he had acquired
sufficient momentum and then swung
him up and onto the landing of the fire
escape, where DR. Anderson seized and
held him. Anderson and Gott then
formed a chain, Gott holding to the fire
escape and Anderson. tightly held by
G0tt with one hand, reaching downward
to the window 50 that the men one by
one as they crawled through were able
to take one step on a ledge and make
a short leap to the platform of the fire
escape. down which they made tbier
way to the ground
Twenty-Five men made their escape in
this manner
After the fire was over the police ar
rested William Ianahan. the engineer
Lee Seymour, the fireman of the building
and J.. P. Nagle the inventor of a gaso-
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