Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1880 — Burning of the Minnesota Insane Asylum. [ARTICLE]

Burning of the Minnesota Insane Asylum.

Minneapolis, Minn., Nov. 16. The number of lives lost by the burning and freezing in the insane asylum is variously estimated at from twelve to fifteen. The loss on building is $300,000. The scenes at the burning of the south wing of the hospital were heartrending in the extreme. So appalling a sight has ; rarely been witnessed. The patients in the annex were males. Many of them refused to leave the building at all. They ran up and down the halls, screaming and crying, and acting like the bedlamites they were. Of course, those who could not be coaxed nor forced out of the building became the unhappy victims of the flames, and suffered a horrible death in the flames. Others were saved, some by ladders, and some by leaping from the windows. Some were nearly nude, some shoeless and bailees, and all were exposed to the exceeding cold of the night. Many of the poor, demented lunatics fled as if for their lives, and could not be overtaken. Their sufferings in this frightful condition can better be imagined than described. The whole catastropne is a fearful one to contemplate and an impossible o.ne to describe. The poor dazed inmates of the asylum who had escaped the flames were nt large, half clothed, and were to be seen in all directions flying 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 flying about, hiding in alleys and dark corners. It was a sight once seen never to be forgotten. For some time the capacity of the building has been taxed to its utmost. There were about 600 patients, and every inch of space was utilized. What will be done with these poor creatures turned out in the cold, and their malady increased by the excitement of the occasion, is a serious question. There are three other buildings situated in the town which are used, but they are already crowded to their full capacity. The asylum at Rochester is full, and will doubtless be unable to provide accommodations for any of the inmates at St. Peter turned out in the coid by the terrible catastrophe. While the flames were slowly progressing the Matron of the Female Department made all haste to get the inmates out, and many of them ran shrieking in their night clothes in the snow drifts, even burying themselves in the snow, and had to be dragged into the barns and sheds, while those near by wrapped blankets and shawls around them. Intense suffering could cot be avoided, as thi y had to be taken about fifteen or twenty rods through the snow to the nearest shelter, which was on the hill immediately in rear of tiie south wing. Yet when one turns to the main apartments his blood runs cold as he realizes what was the doom of more than one poor demented man last night. Those crowded into the long corridors of the south wing stood around moaning and shivering like poor dumb brutes. The actual number burned cannot be gotten at in any way at the present time, as 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 the rooms and halls, and several persons were gotten out into the halls, when they would seem determined to return to the fire, like a horse that is being led from the flames. One room occupied by two was broken open, and while one was dragged out the other was determined to remain in Ids warm bed, and, when dragged out, insisted on waiting to be dressed. An old man brought here from Minneapolis, by the name of Adams, was taken out dead. The engine telegraphed for from St. Paul did not arrive in time to do any good. There were about 600 patients in all at the asylum. The principal cause of delay in getting a stream of water on the fire from the hospital hose was the almost utter uselessness of the hose, from the fact that it had not been in use for so long that it required to be wet from end to end with hot water poured on outside of the hose. Meantime the flames spread very rapidly from the basement, filling the halls with smoke and making it impossible to do anything at saving the inmates of the north wing except by putting up ladders and prying off the fire-screens from windows, the rescuers taking inmates out and actually bringing them down in their arms, without clothing in many cases, while at other windows there were three or four begging to be saved from death while the flames were leaping from the adjoining windows at them. Sr. Peteb, Minn., Nov. 18. A rigid investigation of whatever records of the institution were not destroyed by the tire, and a personal identification of those patients who have been secured, show that at least thirty patients are missing. All these are not believed to have perished, as only eight dead bodies have been recovered thus far. Many of the missing ones may be wandering around the country or hiding in the woods. It is feared that some have been frozen to death.