Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1918 — 75 BABIES KILLED IN ASYLUM FIRE [ARTICLE]

75 BABIES KILLED IN ASYLUM FIRE

Wounded Canadian Soldiers Risk Lives to Save Children at Montreal. BLAZE IN GREY NUN’S HOME Number of Convalescent Troopers Injured by Falling Debris—ThirtyEiflht Bodies Recovered From Ruins. Montreal Feb. 15—Seventy-five babies perished in a fire which partially destroyed a wing of the Grey Nuns’ , Home on Guy street last night. The home occupies a whole block and is in continual use for convalescent sol- , diers. Although many of them were stretcher cast's,' the adults were removed from the building without loss of life, although several of ft he wounded men were seriously, injured by falling debris before they could be reached by the rescuers, who gave no heed to their own safety in uieir efforts to carry the maimed men to safety. A dozen or more had to be carried from the second and third stories on beds. Recover Thirty-Eight Bodies. The firemen recovered the remains of 38 babies and it was believed scores of others were left in the building. It will be some days before the total death roll can be ascertained. Scores of women, many of them recent mothers, were rushed from the building very scantily clad and immediately taken into adjoining homes or to the hospitals. There were about 1,000 inmates in the building, returned soldiers, nursing sisters, nuns, crippled people, aged and children. The fire originated on thq top floor of the St. Matthew street wing, near the tower, supposedly from electric wiring, and immediately caught in the of a nearby window, from which it spread rapidly throughout the wooden interior of the upmost story. All of this floor was occupied by babes in cots, some of them only a few days old —little unwanted tots left by harrassed mothers on the doorstep of the convent to be cared for by the kindly nuns. These were the infants lost, all the other children, who were in another part of the building, being saved.

Soldiers Prove Heroes. In deeds of heroism, rivalry in selfsacrifice, deeds for which some of them would have won decorations on the field of honor, the returned heroes who were not confined to their beds lent their efforts to the rescue work. When the first firemen arrived the soldiers were already at work, at great risk to themselves, in handing children down the fire escapes. Nearly the whole upper floor was then ablaze. The firemen rushed in and seized children right and left, Subtaking four in his arms at a time. A sudden gust of flame and smoke which burst from the tower made it, impossible to reach children still lying in their cots in that part of the building. "The Children First." On the floors immediately below were returned soldiers who were still undergoing hospital treament and some awaiting discharge. Next to the children the thoughts of the rescuers turned to those maimed soldiers who have been back in their native country only a few days and were helpless in their beds. When the probability of death was again facing them, and all the time creeping round them, their thoughts were still of sacrifice. They asked If the children had all been saved, telling their helpers to get them out first.