Yankton, SD Insane Asylum Fire, Feb 1899

SEVENTEEN BURNED TO DEATH.

INMATES OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA INSANE ASYLUM AT YANKTON PERISH IN A BLAZING BUILDING.

Yankton, S. D., Feb. 12. -- One of the cottages of the State Insane Asylum here was destroyed by fire early this morning and seventeen inmates -- all women -- were burned to death.
The dead are:
AUGUSTA BOERSE, Lake County.
JULIA ERICKSON, Meade County.
MARGARET LYNCH, Union County.
ELIZABETH STOLPE, Davidson County.
MRS. KAMPANI, Brown County.
JOHANNA OLSEN, MAGGIE FLYNN, and LUCINA GOSSAGE, Hamlin County.
ADELINA HURLEY, Potter County.
ELLA LOKAN, LUCIA KEENE and CHRISTINA JOHNSTON, Codington County.
MARTHA TENNYSON and JENNIE KRONIG, Pennington County.
CAROLINE LINDBERG, Brown County.
KATIE PLAVITZ, Bonhomme County.
GAINI SWANSON, Kingsbury County.
The cottage was intended for laundry purposes, but, owing to the crowded condition of the main building, forty of the female patients were placed there, and the laundry was operated in the basement.
The exact cause of the fire is not known, except that it originated in the dry room of the laundry. There was a coil of steam pipes, and the theory is that either fine particles similar to lint settled on the pipes and ignited, or that some of the clothes dropped on the pipes and caught fire.
The lack of water greatly hindered the work of the firemen. The cottage stood about 300 feet in the rear of the main building and the water tank for fire protection was 100 feet in the rear of the cottage. The steam pipes used for pumping ran from the boiler room of the main building through the cottage for heating and then to the artesian well or tank.
The intense heat in the burning building caused the pipes to burst shortly after the fire started, leaving the fire hose without power, except direct pressure from the tank, which was in no way sufficient to quench the flames. Two streams of water were thrown on the building, but did little good.
With the thermometer standing at 23 below zero, the inmates who could escape came down the narrow flight of stairs in their night clothing and bare feet into the bitter cold, and had it not been for the nearness of the shelter the suffering and probable loss of life from freezing would have been terrible.
The building was three stories high, with an attic and two entrances, one east and one west. There was one stairway from the second and third floors which led into the main halls to these entrances, thus giving but one egress for those on the second and third floors and attic.
Fifty-two persons were in the burning building, forty patients and twelve female attendants. All the attendants escaped.
In 1882 the asylum, then a frame building, was destroyed by fire, and several lives were lost.
The loss caused by today's fire is estimated at $18,000. There is no insurance.

The New York Times New York 1899-02-13
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!