Quebec - Longue Pointe Asylum Fire
I find this story so sad! All those people, and you know asylums aren't exactly known to be good places - this happened in 1890. Some of the descriptions might be a little graphic.
May 6, 1890
AN ASYLUM IN ASHES
One Hundred and Fifty Lunatics Burned to Death at Longue Pointe, Quebec
Insane Asylum Burning
Longue Pointe, Quebec May 6 -
The insane asylum at here is burning. There are between one hundred and one hundred and fifty inmates who cannot be rescued.
Montreal, May 6 -
The insane asylum at Longue Point, nine miles from here, caught fire at half-past eleven this morning and at 2 o'clock was a mas of flames, with no hope of saving the building from utter destruction. As near s can be calculated at this hour there are from a hundred to a hundred and fifty inmates in the building, with no chance of escape. The fire apparatus at the asylum is utterly inadequate and several steamers have been forwarded from here on a special train.
The sights in the grounds surrounding the institution are horrible beyond description. A hundred lunatics, male and female, are grouped together gibbering and in a frenzied condition. The nuns are making every effort to control them and allay their fears, and as rapidly as possible the poor creatures are being removed to places of shelter in the neighborhood. A few minutes past 2 o'clock a detachment of the Montreal fire brigade arrived on the scene and is now doing good work. Excitement among the lunatics in the grounds became so great that a detachment of the Montreal police was hurried out to assist the guards. There were 1300 persons in the asylum when the fire broke out.
At 3 p.m. the firemen are still working and have succeeded in rescuing several in many instances at the risk of their lives. Thousands of persons are flocking to the scene from this city and surrounding country. Nuns, doctors, and other attendants are besieged with anxious inquiries after friends or relatives. One of the doctors connected with the institution said this afternoon there was very little commotion among the inmates when the alarm was given. For the most part they walked out quickly. Some, however, refused to leave their cells and had to be taken out by force.
Those who perished were in wards on the top floors. Efforts to learn the names so far have proved futile, as those rescued are so scattered that no roll can be called. All the book records have been saved.
Two firemen fell from a high ladder and were badly cut.
Chicago, May 6 -
A Montreal special says: It is certainly known that at least 125 patients have perished in the flames. The scenes during the fire were heart-rending. The agonized patients fought and screamed as the flamed wall approached and, in some instances, jumped from the windows and others from the roof.
The building which cost a million dollars is a complete wreck. Insured.
--Aspen Daily Chronicle
May 7, 1890
Details of the Asylum Disaster
Longue Pointe, Quebec, May 6
A long line of gaunt towers is all that one now sees of the Longue Pointe lunatic asylum located 10 miles from Montreal, and which, with many lives was today consumed by flames. The sights witnessed before the tragic scene are such as can never be forgotten. Nothing could exceed the horror attending the terrible calamity, considering the number of victims, the terrible nature of their death and the manner in which the helpless victims received their fate. What to the spectators was a scene of horror was to the lunatics a moment of glee, and in their delight they disported themselves in the flames and waved their blazing limbs in turbulent satisfaction at the ruin that was about them, and, not until the walls tumbled over their heads, were their maniacal screams silenced.
There were incarcerated in Longue Pointe 1300 lunatics, for that asylum was a prison more than a hospital, and now not more than 1100 are accounted for, but many escaped into the fields and woods and the dead are ashes amongst ashes. What the number of the dead is, is purely a matter of conjecture and can never be ascertained, since no other record is kept but that in the asylum books and they were destroyed.
Taking into consideration the whole of the evidence from firemen, half sane inmates and the sisters in charge, it is a conservative estimate to say 100 victims met their death, though some assert the number is double that, and others place it below this figure. However, the fact remains that no such calamity has fallen upon the province of Quebec since the earliest times.
A Shame To Quebec
Ever since Quebec was a province, it's management of these most helpless of all creatures has been it's shame. They have been farmed out to nuns at $100 a head per year, and the sisters' aim was to keep them as frugally as possible. From the construction of the building there is doubt in some minds as to whether it was intended for an asylum or a blast furnace. In any case, it served the latter purpose admirably. It was constructed of brick and was 600 feet long, running back from the river half the distance. The main building occupied the center and on each side extended four wings, six stories in height.
Origin of the Fire
The fire today started in a cupboard in the second ward on the women's side in the upper story by a careless patient, and, as ventilation was carried on by a longitudinal shaft connecting, the flames soon appeared blazing up through the roof in the center of each tower. A telegram was sent to Montreal for aid and an engine and reels started at once. They might as well have remained at home for in five minutes they exhausted the water supply. The only thing that could save the building was the St. Lawrence river and it was a half mile distant. As the heat increased the statues fell from their niches to the ground and then the patients prostrated themselves crying aloud that the saints had deserted them.
Rescuing the Patients
The less hopeless cases were placed in the lower wards and they were rescued without difficulty, but from the upper wards where the violent patients were secured there came the wildest screams as they resisted the nuns who were beseeching them to escape. At a window a maniac would be seen peering through the bars, grinning and jabbering at the bright flames that went up to the sky. As the heat became more intense she would grasp the bars and remain there until the flames enveloped her.
When the firemen found they were powerless to save the building they turned their attention to the inmates and burst in the door with axes. Inside, Chief Benoit says, was such a sight as no firemen ever before witnessed. In one ward that he entered were 25 patients and, at his approach, the huddled together like a pack of beasts, entwining their arms into one mass of humanity. He seized the nearest; "but" said the chief, "I could no more separate the crowd than I could the parts of your horse." He tugged at them until fire darted into their garments and enfolded them like a shroud. The he escaped with his life.
In another ward three firemen were nearly trapped to death. They entered, and at the door, which had a spring lock, closed behind them. There was no handle on the inside. The door resisted their axes and they rushed to the windows, but were driven back by the flames. The chief, suspecting their predicament, sent aid to the other side and the men were carried down on ladders.
One of the tertiary nuns, Sister Marie, lay sick in the infirmary on the fifth floor and to her rescue came three others, Demeresse, Gilbert, and Lumien. They seized their companion and bore her in a blanket to the staircase, but they were met by a sheet of flame and all perished. None of them were over 20 years of age.
The sisters worked with the persistence of heroines, by turns imploring, beseeching and commanding the patients, Sister Theresa, the superioress, is broken-hearted and, being at present in ill health, her name may be added to the already long list of victims.
Collapse of the Building
A loud explosion was followed by a crash of beams. The interior wwas giving way. The wild faces sank from the windows and shrieks of the maniacs were lost in the general uproar. One by one the walls toppled inward and a fierce blaze burst up from the newly added fuel that rose to the dark sky and shot its glare over the St. Lawrence to the southern shore and even tinged the crest of Mount Royal, ten miles distant. Then it died down in blackness and nothing but blackened towers remained bounding a seething mass of metal and debris under which are now, not the bodies but the ashes of 100 victims.
The Escaped Inmates
By this time it was 6 o'clock and growing dark and very cold. The spring rains had converted the place into a quagmire and only horsemen could get from place to place. The poor sisters, most of them young and delicate, stood ankle deep in mud securing and superintending the removal of such furniture as had been saved. Patients moved about aimlessly, clad in scant garments. When released, many of them leaped for joy and bounded like deer across the fields into the woods. A new danger has come upon the inhabitants from the lunatics and will count themselves fortunate if they are not visited by a series of such crimes as only madmen can devise.
Premier Mercier has placed the Montreal exhibition building at the disposal of the nuns.
The buildings were insured by the government for $300,000.
Later Estimates of Loss
Later - At midnight the death roll is estimated at 50, although many more are missing but are expected to turn up. It is feared seven tertiary nuns were burned as three more were missing besides those named above.
--Aspen Daily Chronicle
May 8, 1890
A Terrible Fire
The insane asylum at Longue Pointe, which is 10 miles from Montreal, burned last night. It is thought that not a male patient was lost. Among the women it was different. The less hopeless cases were placed in the lower wards and they were removed without difficulty, but from the upper wards, where violent patients were secured, there came the wildest screams as they resisted the nuns, who were beseeching them to make their escape.
The closest estimate that can be made at this time places the number of lives lost at 50.
The Sisters of Providence spent in founding and organizing this institution $1,132,130 of which $170,000 was spent on the buildings. The buildings were insured by the government for $300,000. With the exception of the medical department, consisting of the doctors, the sisters retained complete control of all the departments.
Premier Mercier has placed the Montreal exhibition building at the disposal of the nuns and tomorrow the building will be stocked with provisions. The strangest wonder to the firemen is that such an absence of fire fighting facilities could exist. Although the appliances were there they were utterly useless. The institution had an excellent engine, ten good pumps and new boilers, but no connection between the pumps and the boilers.
--Buena Vista Democrat
Asylum Fire
Montreal, May 7.
As the full details of the Longue Pointe asylum fire become known the horror is intensified, and the sister is derided who asserts that the number of dead does not exceed sixty. It is known by the last report to the Quebec government that there were 1,780 lunatics instead of 1,300, and this much is certain, that no one will ever know the number of victims. From collateral information it must be that there are 150 dead. If enough material can be found an inquest will be held. The firemen have left the ground and the heat is dying out of the ruins. An Associated Press reporter was on the spot all day, his horse floundering amongst the mud and ashes. A discharged patient today affirmed that to all inquiries sent by friends as to the progress patients were making, one stereotyped answer was given, without any restrictions as to accuracy: "Your friend's physical condition is excellent, but mentally there is no improvement." It is now known that many of the wards were locked, and in cases where the firemen did not break in the doors, whole rooms full perished miserably. The sight from the screaming wretches yesterday was bad enough, but today there was a sadder spectacle in weeping relatives seeking in vain for some tidings of some member of their family. Men coming up town tonight to dinner were startled by seeing a lunatic parading the streets "rejoicing in his freedom", and menacing women till he was secured. The paying patients fared the best, but the great loss was among those confined in the upper stories and those imprisoned in the dark basement cells.
Fire Commissioner Perry characterizes the building as a death trap and a disgrace to a civilized country. A startling report is current tonight; it is that a large number of male patients perished in the flames. All of the women are thought to have escaped. It is absolutely impossible, however, to add any new names to the list of dead. It will be weeks before the nuns will be able to give any information.
Longue Pointe, May 7.
Sister Therese de Jesus, the superior of the burned asylum, places the loss of life at certainly twenty, and possibly fifty. Dr. Duquete, grand medical inspector, places the loss of life at at least sixty. He is strongly opposed to the system of placing lunatics under the care of sisters. He will ask the government to place incurables and furious lunatics in a small institution, where they can have skilled treatment. The harmless insane could, he said, be placed to greater advantage under the care of the sisters. At the ruins of the asylum nothing but heaps of smoking brick and mortar are seen. No vestige of the dead can be traced.
In the rear of the asylum are stables, where about one hundred men patients were quartered last night, under the supervision of the sisters and four Montreal policemen. The scene was not one to be easily described and surely not to be easily forgotten. Lying on heaps of straw, sickly lunatics were to be seen moaning, gibbering, shrieking, twisting and jumping. It made one shudder to pass down between the large hay stalls in which were confined the worst cases, so fierce was the expression of their countenances.
In the laundry are 100 patients, mostly quiet, whose aid has been taken advantage of in putting things in shape. Some of them did most heroic work in rescuing the unfortunates from flames. One of the attendants said seven lay nuns perished. The loss is financially placed as high as $1,000,000; insurance, $300, 1x10. A procession of lunatics was taken up early this morning, and while it was in progress, the whole length of the road was crowded with vehicles.
Longue Pointe, Quebec, May 7.
The laundry of the insane asylum, in which one hundred patients were housed during the night, took lire this morning, but the inmates were all safely removed. It is yet merely a matter of speculation as to the number of dead, but the general consensus is that it cannot be fewer than one hundred people, perhaps nearly double that. The only names of victims known are:
Sister Gravel, Sister Boutellier, Sister Lumine, Sister Victoria, & Sister Lahacro, of the sacred heart convent. The latter was a patient in the violent ward.
Other patients named were: Mrs. Kelly, Montreal; Mrs. Williams, Halifax ; Bridget Malone, Montreal; Miss Letoumay, Maison Euve, Quebec; Miss Cullen and Miss Thericult, of Montreal. Missing: Victoria Beaudry, Augustine Laroux, Camille Marshmont, Delphine Archambault, Marie St. Deny, Eli St. Lavs and Christine Demeis.
-- Associated Press Dispatches
No comments:
Post a Comment