BURNED TO DEATH.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2423, 22 December 1880, Page 4

BURNED TO DEATH.

HoniuiiLK hksui.ts of a fiuk in an IXSANK ASVI.UM. CincAno, Nov. 1(5. At half-past eight o’clock it was announced that the Insane Asylum was on fire. Everybody was appalled at the prospect of over 500 patients being turned out of doors on such a terrible night, still more at the terrible prospect of going more (him a mile across the black prairie and facing the cutting wind. Our people responded nobly. Man}' people made (he trip on foot,but a large number of waggons and other conveyances were soon on the road. The sky in (he direction of the hospital was lighted up, and a dense volume of smoke rose over the scene, and was carried across the river. When (he Haines were slowly progressing the matron of the female department made all haste to get the inmates out and man} of them ran shrieking in their night clothes in the snowdrifts, and had to be dragged into barns and sheds, while those near by wrapped blankets and shawls around them. Hence intense suffering could not be avoided, as they had to be taken about fifteen or twenty roads through (he snow. The number burned cannot be gotten at in any way at (he present time. Many are known to have wandered away in the intense excitement that prevailed throughout the whole premises. Several bodies were taken out of some of (he rooms and halls, and several persons were gotten out into the halls when they would be determined to return to the Haines. One room occupied by two was broken in, and while one was dragged out, the other was determined to remain in his warm bed, and was dragged out instead of waiting to be dressed. At some windows (here were three or four men begging to be saved from death, while the Haines were bursting from adjoining windows. One was dragged through a halfopen screen, and badly mangled. To get a complete list of the killed and hurt, is not now among the possibilities. Ur Bartlett, of the Asylum, says there are not more than twelve lives lost, and probably as many more hurt and suffering from the bitter cold of last night. Indeed, more people are believed to be hurt and dying from exposure to the weather than from burns. Others say that as many as twenty insane people cither perished in the flames, or died on the cold hills during the night. So many of the patients have disappeared that it cannot be told who are dead and who have run away. The suffering has been terrible, and no pen can describe or human mind realize it. Hundreds of patients are helpless as children. Governor Pillsbury heads a band of noble workers, who are doing everything possible for the comfort of the distressed. .Mr Carson, of Minneapolis, has found the dead body of his father-in-law. The real damage to the hospital building will amount to i? 200,000. The central building and south wing have been preserved.

A bulletin to the “Pioneer Press” from St. Peter says The number of lives lost by burning and freezing in the insane asylum arc variously estimated from twenty to fifty. A special dated at 4 a.m. says The scenes at the burning of the south wing hospital were heartrending in the extreme. So appalling a sight has rarely been witnessed. The patients in the annex wing were males, and many of them refused to leave the building at all. They ran up and down the halls screaming and crying and acting like bedlamites. They were, of course, those who could not be coaxed nor forced out of the building, and became the unhappy victims of the flames. Others were saved, some by ladders and some by leaping from the windows. Some were nearly nude, some shoeless and hatless, and all were exposed to the excessive cold of the night. Many of the poor, demented and crazed inmates lied as if for their lives, and could not be overtaken or confined. Their sufferings in this frightful condition can be better, imagined than described. The whole catastrophe is fearful to contemplate and impossible to describe. The inmates (who had escaped the flames) were at large half clothed, and were to be seen in all directions Hying in wild fright from those who attempted to save them. The air was bitter cold, and the poor wretches, with half-naked bodies and bleeding feet, were Hying about hiding in alleys and dark corners. It was a sight once seen never to bo forgotten.