Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1897 — GIRLS DIE IN A FIRE. [ARTICLE]

GIRLS DIE IN A FIRE.

Burning of a Dormitory at tlic South Dakota Industrial School. At Plankinton, S. D., seven persons are dead as tire result of a fire which destroyed the girls’ dormitory at the State industrial school between 12 and 1 o’clock Wednesday morning. All others, numbering about twenty-five, succeeded in escaping, but they saved nothing, and had no time to dress, getting out in their night robes and with great difficulty. The origin of the fire is unknown, but it is supposed to have caught from the explosion of a lamp. The loss is about $25,000, and includes the printing office of the institution and the chapel. All were asleep and the building was enveloped in flames before any one discovered the danger. The State school now accommodates about 100 inmates, from young children to offenders 18 years old. Besides the burned building is a boys' eottage, in which dwells Col. Ainsworth, the officer in charge, and there nre several barns and sheds. The burned building will probably be replaced at once. It was a three-story frame structure, only recently completed. The night watchman, who went from building to building, discovered the fire. There is no fire protection at the school, as it is a mile and a half from town, and within twcr,ty minutes from the discovery of the fire the building had fallen. Superintendent Ainsworth was in Illinois at the time, but Mrs. Ainsworth had the help of the entire town. Those who perished in the flames got out of the building, but returned for clothing, and it is supposed they became bewildered. There was no insurance whatever on the building, but it is learned that it will be reconstructed at once.