Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1901 — HOLOCAUST AT ROCHESTER, N.Y. [ARTICLE]

HOLOCAUST AT ROCHESTER, N.Y.

Children Cremated During a Night Fire in an Orphan Asylum. Nineteen children and two nurses were burned to death in a fire which swept through the Rochester Orphan Asylum, Rochester, N. Y., at 1 o’clock Tuesday morning. There were 109 children and thirty nurses asleep in the building when the fire started. Almost all the inmates of the asylum were hemmed in by flames and scores of them lost consciousness. They were carried from the burning structure by firemen. The fire was discovered in the hospital section by two men passing on the street. They gave the alarm, but by the time the firemen reached the scene the whole asylum was ablaze. Before the engines got to work a terrific explosion occurred and in a moment the-entire building and outbuildings were Aflame. \The confusion was extraordinary and £>w details of the exact loss of life could be gotten from the excited nurses or children who escaped. When the firemen who responded to a general alarm arrived the inmates were jumping from the windows, and the attendants were threyving infants out regardless of where they might fall. The largest number of dead is among children ranging in age from one to three and four years. The origin of the fire is not known. The property losr will probably exceed $20,000. The asjlum is located in Hubbell Park.