New-York tribune., 1910-12-20
NOT A BABY REALLY HURT
IN CH|LD'S HOSPITAL
ExnIosjon Smashes Windows and
Showers Sp!intered Glass
on Little Patients.
NURSES RUSH TO THEIR AID
Building Badly Battered. but
Nothing in the Youngsters
Routine That Mattered
Was Dropped.

York Nursery and Child's Hospital; which
fl,s the block from seth to 5ist street on
the east side of Lexington avenue, hao
time to do yesterday was to send Tor
ciockmaker So all the clocks and watches
IN the big hospital were Set at s:22 long
after the things that were to be done for
The hundred and fifty babies had been at
teaded to-
And there were plenty OF them, for by
riehtfaM every one of the babies in the
wards was sleeping peacefully as il the
horror of what lay all around outside had
never been
There was only docter in residence
when the explosion came He was Dr.
D. E Monroe, a soft voiced, slender South
erner. slow of movement when il was all
ever, CAIN and inapassive-
He AMI Miss Julia Hunt, the superintend-
ent of the hospital with Miss Estelle de p.
Dixon, the secretary, were at breakfast,
Just finishing their meal. when the hands
st the clocks reached s-z2- Let Dr. Monroe
tell what he thought happened.
why, we We're just sitting there" he
said --and there was a growl Then the
windows came flying in all over us and
the floor seemed te jump Up and push me
up-fhree or four feet up-with il.
Il jumped out through that door
pointed to the door of the dining room,
which opens into a corridor directly op-
losite the main staircase-'and uD those
stairs to the babies ! didn't know what it
was ] couldn't think. / didn't have time,
and there's nothing to give you chance
10 measure thing like that. / just went
up TO the babies in one jump. and went
around 10 see that they were ali right.
No One in Hospital Really Hurt.
They weren't scared. And neither Were
the nurses We looked after the babies,
and l had to patch up one or two little
cuts That was a1. Not soul was really
hurt in the. whole building
Up on the second floor of the hospital is
the big main ward, fronting right on lex
ineton avenue Along the east wall. and
flrthest. therefore, from the windows. is
the double line of cribs. Every one had a
tiny occupant, ana when the crash came
there wasn't nurse in the ward-for just
that particular moment when the hands OF
the clocks were trying TO push past s:2l.
The nurses went rushing iii. They are
trained 20 he quiet and steady, but some
things go beyond training-and one who
knew what this explosion had been tc
those in its path thought that that eX-
fdosion was one of them. Not so the
in they went, not knowing what had hap
pened not thinking, it seemed. of what il
should mean To them if the thing were 10
come again.
The babies were still in their cots. They
we're laughing. Growing and gurglng with
istee the glass from every window in the
ward descended upon them in a silvery
shower. To them il was the best of jokes
one Of the tricks the hospital is always
lTk ing 10 use 10 tighten the burden OF the
little ones who may be Ill.
Taat was a trife too much for some of
the nurses and even DR.. Monroe was af-
foeted. They got the little ones out Of the
wards that faced the ruin and destruc-
rien outside. back to safety and freedom
from splintered glass. There Were trif1ing
cuts 10 he bound up in a few cases
scratches no more-caused by that shower
of glass which went cracking against the
east walls upstairs like hail against tent
In a summer camp.
And above the second floor where the
IitfIest babies Of all and the new mothers
had been carried back TO safety, the ones
inside the hospital took their first minute
TO see what it was that had come upon
them
Recalls q Bombsrdnsent.
They looked cut over a scene that they
wouldn't try to describe afterward. One
man connected with the hospital had MEM
cries of Strasburg in 1870 after the Ger
man bonbardnent IT looked Ike that, hs
thought, save that in the Alsatian city more
walls had crumbled.
ON the opposite side of 50th street was
the engine house OF a fire company Seeing
that engine start to answer fire alarms has
been for years one OF the things that helped
the nurses TO maintain discipline But tne
engine couldn't start yesterday 1t was
buried under the ruins of the building a
the first blast And the fire iaddies came
Milling out, cut bruised, shaken. needing
attendance themselves before they were n
10 take up the work of succor.
In Lexington avenue the scene for tht
,arst few minutes was SO Kaleidoscope tha
the minds OF those in the hospital couioh
record the sensations. except in a confused
s1nnbled picture like some monstrous con
ception of an impressionist gone mad, seek
ing to paint the unpaintable. There were
mo windows OF sudden, and where thea
had f,een were frantic men and shriekins
women and children.
few feet away trolley car haC
stopped, crunpled up and pushed OUT hai
g. dozen bodies. literally pressing theh
through its windows as its floor was driver
nm An automobile standing at the euro O
Goth street splintered and tumbled over OF
tb. sidewalk il seemed as IL some elan
had given ii a mighty push
There was panic, real and unairaid
a,,gt,- save sts own fear. in that street TO
+. few morrents Panics in the open ar
rare But here was panic and Its cause
neath hal come out of clear sky: dealt
was stalking abroad. None knew whenc
that hlow had come None wanted 10 b
,n the ratn of another
I'm the hospital they saw that panic com
and grow and CO. not being in the pani
zone themselves. except by location tn
myriad. mushroom growth of policeme
and fremen stopped the fright in the street
and in a moment those who had been flee
ing were trying to force their way back
crriosi1x instead of fear now their mo
live.
Ambulance surgeons dropped in at Tn
t-hild's Hospital 10 offer their aid
wasn't needed, but there was plenty 20
them TO do outside, and ere long cuts ant
bruises began 10 be treated in the hos
IitaI, ynile DR.. Monroe made his round
and saw that ali were safe.
Here were Miss Hunt and Miss DiXo
with I5e babies look after and prett
,,--ecked bpSraItzI ON -heir han nds