Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-25
e KILLED, III HURT. .
AS HOME IS BURNED
Death List Expected to Mount
at Pittsburgh Institu-
ton for Aged.
CONTINUED From First Page.)

mitted that had not volunteers swarmed
to the scene the situation could not have
been controlled as quickly as it was.
The experience of Mrs. Margaret Con-
nell, IS, was typical.
I'VE were almost suffocated," she
said. THE women had to run from
window to window for air. Sister Pasca-
line, in charge Of the floor, made them
stick their heads out and breathe be-
fore going on. There were no lights
and the heat on the floor was intensc.
l felt too weak to go on. 1 sank back
on bed and fireman carried me out"
Crowd Of 10000 There.
Eight alarms were turned in within
few minutes after the first warning
cry was raised. So many firemen and
their apparatus were called out that
barely skeleton crew kept watch over
the rest of the city. Soon streets near
by were damned with a crowd estimated
at 10000 persons. Cabs and automo-
biles bringing more sightseers to the
spot were Communicated to bear the in
Jured and overcome to hospitals.
All three nearby hospitals were
crowded to their capacity within an
hour, and homes. schools, and parish
houses in the neighborhood then were
thrown open to receive the hurt and
doubly homeless. An emergency hospi-
tai was set up in school across the
street.
Nuns, priests, volunteers from the
streets flremen, policemen and inmates
heroes all-were found on every side
today as accounts of the disastrous fire
were recounted
Many RiSked Lives.
The Catholic sisters, in charge Of the
institution, remained at their posts in
the fire swamped structure, aiding their
charges to escape. Priests braved fire
and smoke to administer last rites to
the dying, and men and boys-from
poolrooms, residences and corner gath.
erlngS-rlsked their lives along with
hremen and police.
William Gaefke. who lives two houses
away, saw an old man frantically waving
his arms from a third-story window and
shouting fire" Gaefke turned in the
first alarm and then turned to work of
rescue. He aided Is inmates to the
lawn
John Hoffman, a city employee. one of
the first on the scene, told Of battling
with several old men who resisted his
efforts to lead them TO safety. The men
declared the home was under divine
guidance and could not burn, Hoffman
related, and one ageu inmate showed
him to the ground from ladder. Hoff-
was was uninjured.
Thomas Martin. 10 and another
youth whose name was not learned. res
cued Il persons. Martin also broke into
the chapel and carried the chalice to
the outside, where ne handed it to a
priest
Bert Huber, 81. collapsed while
climbing a ladder to continue rescue
work and was taken TO a hospital suf-
fermg from smoke and exhaustion. He
helped rescue 10
Ed Crock. another volunteer, retrieved
a body and brought out four persons
alive, and an unidentified boy OF II
or so ran 10 and from thu building
seven times to save seven inmates and
then collapsed
Sister Agatha, the mother superior
in charge and one of the foremost in
rescue efforts, led the firemen and VOL
unteers. unlocking the main doors and
the doors to the rooms on the inside.
the institution having been locked up
at the usual time, 8 O'Clock
Eight aged women. occupants Of a
room on an upper floor of the home.
made efforts to save each other as the
ire spread terror. Mrs. Margaret Nc
Council. rs, one of them, said she was
just getting to sleep.
Help CrippIes Escape.
Sarah Carlson, an old woman who
lived on the same floor" Mrs. McCon-
nell related, rushed in, crying that the
building was on fire. I arose, cropping
my way through the dark and the
smoke; and aroused the seven others
and then went to an adjoining room.
where she and I awakened three elderly
women. all crippleS. The cripples were
helped into wheel chairs. and by that
time the flremen had arrived.
Mrs. Carlson, thinking that her
husband, Daniel, also an inmate, was
still in the building. broke away from
the flremen and ran back into the fire,
crying out his name" Mrs. Mcconnell
continued. and added Il haven't seen
her since"
The Little Sisters of the Poor wept
today as they looked upon the stark
blackened walls and the twisted. charred
tlmbers that was their home until the
fire.
Little was left by the furious flames
OF the famous old institution, which
repres; nted years OF work and sacrifice
on the part of the nuns and those who
assisted them through charity.
The Little Sisters came to Pittsburgh
from France in 1851 and from a modest
beginning here built up the home.
The building was a large four-story.
red brick structure of Georgian archi-
lecture. Latest additions had been built
in the past decade.
Principal of the VOWS of the Littla
Sisters of the Poor is to support the
work of their order with door-to-door
solicitation. The building and all its
furnishings and equipment were OBJ
tanned in this manner.
The Little Sisters have retained the
quaint black-and-whit French cos
tunes They wear black bonnets. All
the nuns serve their noviate in France
Many American women are members of
the order.