Chicago, IL Sanitarium Fire Disaster, June 1902

CHICAGO SANITARIUM BURNS AND MANY LIVES ARE LOST

TEN PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM HELPLESS, ARE KILLED IN THE FLAMES AND SMOKE.

SOME OF THE INMATES STRAPPED IN BED.

Fire, Starting Late in the Afternoon, Spreads With Lightning-Like Rapidity and a Scene of Carnage Follows -- Many are Rescued But Others Die Almost Within the Reach of Safety.

By The Associated Press.
Chicago, June 9 -- Nine men and one woman were killed and about thirty persons were injured in a fire which this afternoon destroyed the sanitarium conducted by the St. Luke's Society at the corner of Wabash avenue and Twenty-first street.
The society occupied the building which was long known as the Hotel Woodruff, and for a brief period as the Hotel Lancaster. By far the greater portion of the patients received in the institution were those seeking cure from the drink habit and those who were addicted to the use of drugs.
When the fire broke out there was on the fifth floor a number of patients suffering from delirium tremens and some who were deranged by drugs. Several of those were strapped to their beds and it was found impossible to save them, so rapidly did the fire spread through the building.
The Dead.
The dead, as far as known at present, although it is possible that the list of dead will be increased later, is as follows:
S. J. NEWALL.
CARL A. CARLSON.
JOSEPH HARRINGTON.
SAMUEL DALZELL.
DR. J. T. STANTON.
GEORGE A. RIBHECK, Hillside, Mich.
WILLIAM KENT, Alderman of the Fourth Ward, Chicago.
JOHN B. KANPMAN.
MRS. M. BAUMANN.
B. H. BOYD, 70 years of age and a member of the educational staff of the institution.
The Injured.
The injured are:
A. W. WATTLES, will die.
MRS. AMELIA WILSON, will probably die.
MARY McMANNIS, badly burned about the body.
MATTIE JAMIESON.
MINNIE ELLIS.
JOHN DOWNEY, Omaha, Neb.
MICHAEL LUBY.
J. B. BISHOP, St. Louis, Mo.
O. S. GETT, Lavergne, Ill., will die.
A. C. DAVIS, business manager of the sanitarium.
HENRY NORMAN, colored.
FRANK JOHNSON.
FRED KAPRA.
DR. H. L. LONG.
MRS. B. H. BOWMAN, burned while rescuing her 4-year-old daughter from the third floor, severely burned about the body.
MARY BOWMAN.
Fireman MICHAEL HADLEY, burned while rescuing CARL CARLSON from the fourth floor, burned about face and hands, not serious.
MRS. LEAH, Omaha.
J. F. SOLT, jumped from third floor into net, injured interdally, will probably die.
WILLIAM E. DAVIS, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
B. W. MARTIES.
T. T. MEANS.
L. W. WODRICK.
DR. CHARLES E. ANDERSON.
C. T. WEARS.
C. C. ANDREWS.
LEE SEYMOUR, fireman.
WILLIAM HANAHAN, engineer.
J. P. NAGEL.
ANNIE MYERS.
G. E. MILLER.
MRS. G. E. MILLER.
GEORGE NOYES.
CLINTON OSBORNE, New York.
ESTHER STROMBERG.
FREDERICK SWEET.
DR. JAMES T. SLATER.
W. SCUBNER.
Unknown Woman.
EDWARD O'CONNELL.
GRACE HILL.
The fire originated in the basement of the building and spread rapidly to the upper stories through the elevator shaft. The blaze was discovered by JAMES NEWELL, a grocer, who was driving through the alley in the rear of the building. He noticed smoke coming from one of the basement windows and ran into the engine room to discover its course.
Behind the boilers in the center of the cellar, and within a few feet of the elevator shaft he saw a small blaze. The next instant the flames were caught by the draught in the elevator shaft and carried up with a roar.
NEWELL shouted to several men in the alley to give the alarm and to notify the inmates of the building. Several hurried to do this, but by the time they reached the first floor the flames had been carried to the roof, had eaten through it and were leaping high in the air.
Firemen Save Many Lives.
As the cry of fire rang through the building patients sprang from their beds and before they could be prevented several had jumped from the windows to the pavement.
The Fire Department was on the scene within a few minutes, and as the windows were filled with people shrieking for help, the firemen's first efforts were to save lives, and allowed the fire to burn.
While this was the means of saving a large number of people, who were carried down the ladders, it gave the flames such a headway that there was almost no chance of life for those on the upper floors of the building, and each of them as were not suffocated were killed or badly injured by leaping from the windows.
Alderman KENT was in a room on the fifth floor with his attendant, A. W. WATTLES. The Alderman, who has been totally blind for many years, was in a straight-jacket, and his hands were manacled to a belt that passed around his waist.
When the alarm of fire was sounded, WATTLES ran to investigate. He found the elevator shaft a mass of flames, and ran back to help the Alderman, who, blind and unable to do anything with his hands, was almost mad with fear and was shouting like an insane persons.
He had groped his way to the door, and by the time his attendant had reached him, had fallen to the floor overcome with smoke.
WATTLES seized him a tried to drag him down the hall to a place of safety, but KENT had become so crazed that it was almost impossible to do anything with him. WATTLES was finally compelled to run for his life, as the flames were already scorching his clothing.
He ran to a window on the south side of the building across which were iron bars. WATTLES managed to tear two of these from their fastenings, and two other men who had followed him, climbed out on the sill. They were seen by the firemen who called to them to remain where they were and they would save them.
WATTLES is Crazed and Jumps.
A ladder was run up as high as possible and the two men with WATTLES were taken down. He became crazed with excitement, and, not waiting for the return of the firemen, sprang for a net which some men were holding on the sidewalk beneath.
He fell partly in it and partly on the sidewalk, and sustained injuries which probably will cause his death in a short time.
KENT was left lying on the floor of his room, and evidently died of suffocation. His body was badly burned after death. Three hours after the outbreak of the fire it was found on the floor of his room, one leg burned to a crisp and the head burned off. He was identified by means of his clothing.
In a room on the second floor was DR. WILLIAM BUNKER of Chicago, who some time ago lost one of his legs in an accident. He was in bed when the fire broke out and, on going to the door of his room, found escape in that direction cut off. Hobbling to the window, he climbed out on the window sill.
He was without clothing and, when he saw the great crowd below, crawled back into the smoke and came out again wrapped in a blanket.
He was soon taken down by the firemen and, when being carried away in an ambulance, said that he would rather have been injured that have come out through that window undressed. Later his wooden leg was found and restored to him. He escaped without injury of any sort.
Great Crowd Mad With the Strain.
A scene that wrought to the pitch of madness the great crowd that had gathered around the building was enacted at a fourth story windows on the north side.
Across this window was a heavy wire screen, and on the outside of the screen were iron bars running parallel to the sill. The space between these bars was too small to allow the passage of even a small boy, and behind them were gathered a crowed of men whose numbers were afterward found to be between twenty-five and thirty.
Escape in other directions was impossible, for the fire filled all the halls and was steadily eating its way toward the window at which the men were standing.
The one chance for life for that crowd of men lay through that screened and barred window. The men closest to the screen tugged at in in vain effort to tear it from its fastenings and the men behind them fought madly to get close enought to the scene to fasten their fingers in it.
So fiercely did the prisoners pull at the screen that from the street below were plainly visible tiny streams of blood that trickled from lacerated fingers and hands and flowed over the window sill.
A number of the men at the window were in strait-jackets and manacles, and those not being able to help themselves or others were the wildest of all in their frantic efforts to break through the bars.
Only One Sane Enough To Command.
The crowd in the street watching the desperate situation of the men behind the screen was simply an insane mob. They shouted all sorts of commands and directions at the men and gave orders to the firemen, who were doing all that men could to get through the bars from the outside.
As the flames came steadily toward the men the people in the street jumped up and down and screamed in helpless rage. It seemed as though nothing could be done and that all of the men would die within six inches of freedom.
That any of the men escaped at all is owing to the work of W. E. DAVIS of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a patient in the institution.
He induced the men to cease their disconnected pulling at the screen and to unite their efforts. Four men at first took hold of the screen, but in almost a minute the browd behind them pushed them away and before the four men could get to the screen again they were compelled to fight with their fists.
DAVIS managed to get his men to the window again and, after a few desperate pulls, they managed to tear down a portion of the screen. Nerved to the work by their success, the bodies of the men swayed back and forth as they put all of their strength into one last effort.
The hands of one of the men were covered with blood, but he hung on and pulled as best he could, for he and all with him were to live not ten minutes longer unless that screen came down. And finally down it came, the men in their desperation pulling with it large pieces of the mortar in which its sides had been incased.
Bars Give Way Before Brute Strength.
The screen was gone, but the bars remained, and they were heavy, placed there for the purpose of withstanding all the efforts of insane men, no matter how strong they might be. As many men as could place their hands on the lower bar took hold. It bent, almost doubled, and six men went to the floor with a crash, holding on to the iron bar which they had torn from its fastenings.
So quickly did the men behind them spring to grasp the second bar that those who had torn down the first were badly trampled on before they could rise. Another bar was soon torn away, and the path to safety was opened.
Then a new danger assailed the prisoners. The crowd behind, hearing that at last the way was open, pushed forward with such haste that those near the window were nearly forced through to meet death on the sidewalk, four stories below.
The men at the windows fought to keep their places until the firemen could raise ladders, and the men in the rear, some of whom were already being reached by the flames, fought to gain the window.
The first man through was DR. C. A. ANDERSON of Chicago. No ladders were in front of the window, and ANDERSON'S one hope was to reach the platform of a fire escape in front of a window just west of where he was.
He hesitated for an instant, then sprung for the fire escape, clutched it and was saved. The next man through the window was G. A. GOTT of Lavergne, Ill. ANDERSON was so much exhausted that he was not able to drag GOTT after him and GOTT was so badly burned that he was not able to make the leap himself. He crouched on the window sill while the men on the insdie clamored for him to jump.
CLINTON OSBORN, a real estate dealer of New York city, was the third man. He crawled out beside GOTT and told the men inside to grasp his feet. This they did and, telling GOTT to take hold of his wrists and drop over the window sill, OSBORN, handing head downward, swung GOTT to and fro, until he had acquired escape, where DR. ANDERSON seized and held him.
He and GOTT then formed a chain, GOTT holding to the fire escape and ANDERSON tightly held by GOTT with one hand, reaching out toward the window, so that the men one by one, they crawled through, were able to take one step on a ledge and make a short leap to the platform of the fire escape, down which they made their way to the ground.
Twenty-five men made their escape in this manner and when the last one passed under the iron bar the building was a furnace close behind him. ANDERSON said that there were several men lying on the floor overcome by smoke when he left, and they all perished.
Thrilling Scenes of Rescue.
While ANDERSON, GOTT, OSBORN and their companions were making their escape on the north side of the building, thrilling scenes of rescue were enacted in front of the building on Wabash avenue and in the alley at the rear.
The firemen ran into the building and dragged out a score of men and women, who had been slightly overcome by smoke and were unable to find the doorways. The majority of these were able to walk away within a few minutes.
The progress of the fire was so rapid that by the time the firemen arrived there were many people in the windows preparing to jump. WHile some of the firemen raised ladders in all haste others prepared nets to catch those who might jump before they could be carried down by the firemen.
After the fire was over, the police arrested WILLIAM LANAHAN, the engineer, LEE SEYMOUR, the fireman of the building, and J. P NAGEL, the inventor of a gasoline plant in use in the basement of the institution.
Of those who met death during the fire, nearly all were overcome by smoke and burned. JOHN KNAPMAN was one of the few who leaped to death from a window. He was on the fifth floor, and when he found that all escape by the stairway was cut off, he ran to a window. The fireman were raising ladders as rapidly as possible, but KNAPMAN, fearing that they would be too late, sprang into the air. There was no net beneath him and he fell upon the sidewalk.
DR. B. H. BOYD, 80 years of age, badly burned, leaped into the alley from the fifth story. The firemen caught him in a net, but he sustained internal injuries, from which he died within a short time.
Late to-night the police placed under arrest, in addition to the men taken into custody directly after the fire O. E. MILLER, the president of the institution, and WILLIAM STERNER, the engineer of the building, who went off duty at noon.
Seven Known To Be Missing.
After midnight the officials of the institution gave out the following list of missing. It is not known that they are dead, but neither their friends nor the police have been able to locate them, and it is known that they were in the building when the fire broke out:
M. J. CAHILL, an attache of the sanitarium.
WILLIAM EGGLESTEN, patient.
GEORGE HARRIGAN, patient.
MORRIS B. EBUCKS, patient.
CHARLES McGRALL, keeper of the restaurant in the building.
MALCOLM MORRIS, patient.
THOMAS RYAN, patient.

The Post-Standard New York 1902-06-10
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!