Putnam patriot., 1913-12-19
PATIENTS FLEE
HOSPITAL FIRE
Panic Follows When Lights all
in the Halls
EVERY INMATE ESCAPES
Nurses coolness Is Only Saving Fea-
tufe-eroping in Dark, They Man
age to Get Everyone Out Before
Firemen Arrive.
Especial Hartford Correspondence)


Hartford -Forty-two patients in
the Hartford Hospital were hurriedly
carried out Of the building while a
FIRE ragged below them in the cellar.
The electricity failed soon after the
FIRE started and nurses and attendants
groped through the darkness and
nurses and attendants CROPPED through
the darkness and smoke, carrying
their patients on cots out Of the
building, where the cots we're placed
on the lawn.
There vas a panic in the hospital
for a time but the GOODNESS Of the
nurses soon Gained the inmates.
Physicians say the patients who were
carried out Of the building we're none
the worse for their thrilling expert
ence.
The fire started in the engine room,
directly over what Is known as ward
5" That section Of the building WAS
soon filed with smoke. After the
first furry, nurses and attendants set
tied down and removed the patients
in a methodicaL orderly manner.
The lights, failing, however, caused
considerable confusion IN all parts Of
the building The employees tried 20
extinguish the fire. bat without sue
cess, and a double alarm was rung
in calling out three-fourtbs OF the ap-
paratus in the CITY.
As the last patient was being taken
from the building the firemen ap-
peared Five lines of hose were run
through the ward and the fire soon
put out. The loss viii not exceed
81 900.
An opinion was given by Attorney
t General John H. Light to Saperin-
tendent of State Police Thomas F.
| Egan, concerning the authority for an
appointemnt Of town and city sealers
of weights and measures when the
law OF 1911 provides for state su-
perintendent, a deputy sealer and
| sealers in cities of 1000 and over.
After quoting the statutes bearing
on the subject the attorney general
says:
There Is no reason for any con-
fiict among officials in the matter of
Jurisdiction All public statutes re-
lating lating to weights and measures
are in pari materia and must be con-
strued together, as If they were one
statute The state superintendent
and his deputy, under the direction
Of the commissioners OF state police.
stand at the head of the system, ane
In regular graduation come the
county, city and town sealers. Each
city of not less than $4,000 must have
such an official. and except in cities
of that size town sealers have juris-
diction subject to such oversight. di-
rection and control as the law pro
vides shall be exercised by the state
superintendent and county sealers OF
weights and measures"
Faster than the clerks In the exec
utiye offices at the capitol can open
them come petitions to Gov. Simeon
Z. Baldwin asking for clemency for
Mrs. Bessie L. Wakefield, sentenced
to be hanged for the murder of her
husband. The correspondence goes
into the waste basket as fast as
opened, but overfiowing waste bas-
kets sent to the boiler room barely
| keep pace with the incoming mail
sacks. Here and there is a request
that the law be permitted to take its
/ course. The clerks estimate that up
wards of $4,000 persons have sent in
a letter or petition.
Charles II. Butler, OF Trum0ull, was
- baf {
| in the listed States district court on
a bench warrant. accused of stealing
a letter box from a post. He said he
found the box but pleaded guilty and
was sentenced to three months in the
Fairfield county Jail.
Dairy Comm ssioner Robert F. Pot
ter said that he had decided not 10
| prosecute in the soda water eases
He had intended to arrest those who
6oped their soda The matter was
held in allegiance pending the action
of Governor Baldwin. with whom Off.
eials OF the New Haven Bottlers Asso-
citation had held conference. Com.
missioner Potter said that while the
governor told him TO use his own
judgment in the matter. the governor
suggested that it might be better to
| drop any idea of prosecutions.
For Coast Artillery Guard Major.
The ballots for a major of the
coast artillery 10 succeed Major John
A. Hagberg, of Norwich, have been
received at the adjutant generals Of
fce and viii be held for 10 days under
the law when orders will be issued
to the effect that Capt John j. Haff
had been nominated Captain Han
is with the 18th company, in Green
witch. He has been in the service 10
years. He became captain in Febru-
airy. 1903 He claims the record of
having missed no drill or encamp-
ment since joining the National
Guard.
Doing business under the name Of
the Connecticut Hat Co.. Leroy s.
Willard and David w Hart. of Dan.
bury. filed a petition in bankruptcy in
the United States district court The
liabilities are placed at sls,724, and