The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-18
HOSPITAL IS
 SCENE DEERE Patients Nskss Frantic by
 Danger. WOMAN JUMPS TO DEATH others Narrowly Prevented from Similar Fate. Many of the Inmates Had Just Undergone Surgical Operations and Physicians Fear Shocks
 May Be Fatal.
WOMAN JUMPS TO DEATH
Many of the Inmates Had Just

Indianapolis. Ind, April H.-while the city ire department. reinforced by su- burban companies. were being taxed to their utmost capacity fighting the fire at the Occidental Hotel. this morning. an alarm was turned in from St. Vim cents Hospital. When the first fire company arrived. one life had been lost and several were seriously injured in the panic that fol- lowed. s
 The dead:
 Harriet Leahy. jumped from the fourth floor and instantly killed.
 Injured:
 Miss Kate Beach. believed to be fa- tally injured by falling from third floor while trying to escape by means of . rope made of bed clothes.
 Sister Superior Stella. injured by shock
 Sister Nordica. seriously inJurel by shock 4t
 William Schneider. patient who at the time of the fire was undergoing an oper- ation
 Henry Nichols of Connorsville. just operated on for appendicitis fell down stairs.
 Others Receive Injuries.
 Several other nurses and attendants were more or less bruised in the enc deavor to escape from what they thought was instant death.
 For time 1t seemed that the flames which started among pile of rugs. un- der the east stairway. would find their way to the upper floors, resulting in a friEhtful holocaust.
 Every window on the third and fourth floors. were crowded by patients. stricken men and women. screaming for help to those on the street below, who were for more than twenty minutes pre- vented from entering the building be- cause of the dense smoke. .
 The panic that ragged on the third and fourth floors continued until long after the fireA had been queuched. Patients who had 3nAt undergone 9pafcat opern- tions rushed from their beds to the winE dows and attempted to throw thena- selves to the ground. sS Harriet Leahy, an old employee of the hospital jumped from a window on the fourth floor and when picked up was dead.
 Fall from Third Floor.
 In the rear men and women were mak- ing ropes of bed clothes by which they escaped to the ground below. Katherine Reach, less fortunate than the rest. lost her hold and fell from the third floor, and Is now in critical condition from Internal injuries. An unusual num- Der of surgical operations were perform ed in the hospital Saturday. Many of the patients, carried from their beds by the rescurers were in critical condition and the physicians in charge fear that many gatalities may ensue.
 James Dawson, an ernaciated patient. worked reroically omong the panic stricken men and women on the third floor. One after another, he pulled away from the windows those who were pre- pairing to jump to the street and piloted theme through the smoke to places of safety on the first floor
 After saving twenty-seven nurses from possible injury in this manner. he lost consciousness and was carried into the male ward, where medical attention was given him. For a time it was thought that he could not undergo the terrible strain to which he had been subjected. Owing to the fire proof construction, the actual loss to the building will not ex- ceed $1,000.