Miscellaneous, Chenango County Poor House Fire May 1890

Chenango County Horror

Thirteen Lives known to have been lost by the

Burning of the County House
May 1890

 

One of the worst fires that ever happened in Chenango county occurred last Wednesday night when the county asylum and home for the poor at Preston were burned, and thirteen lives lost.  The buildings were situated on the county farm, on the east side of the road leading from Preston to Oxford, six miles west of Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], six miles north of Oxford and about one mile from Preston Corners.

 

The building devoted to paupers was wood, three stories high above the basement, and was pleasantly located on an eminence facing the west.  The main building or central part was forty by eighty feet.  Attached to this was two two-story wings, extending east each 30 or 40 feet.  In the rear of these, at a distance of 29 feet was the milk house.  The building was erected in 1862 and afforded originally accommodation for 125 inmates.

 

The insane asylum was situated south of the poor house building and separated from it by a driveway 26 feet wide.  This building was two stories high and 85 feet long.  Several additions had been made to it from time to time, the latest being a two-story wing.  These buildings were in excellent repair, having been handsomely repainted this spring, and were totally destroyed.

 

The fire started in the north end of the larger building, occupied by Keeper Manwarring and the idiots and paupers over whom he had charge.  the flames broke out on the first floor.  the origin is a mystery, but so rapid was the progress that when discovered it was impossible to enter the apartments occupied by the female idiots, 18 of whom were burned.  the male inmates all escaped.

 

The origin of the fire will never be known.  Among the bodies burned was that of Deborah Dibble, who was lying dead in the house, when the fire occurred.  Her death was a tragic one.  She was an old and inveterate smoker.  On Wednesday afternoon she was discovered by one of the attendants with a lighted pipe in her mouth.  The fire in her pipe communicated to her dress and when first seen a small flame was burning through her skirt.  Fanned by a draught of air through the corridors the flame soon enveloped her and set fire to the furniture.  As soon as possible she was wrapped in blankets and the fire extinguished, but not before she received injuries which [resulted in her death].

 

Mr. Manwarring is positive that every spark of fire was extinguished, and also says:  "I retired at my usual hour, and must have been in a sound sleep when I awoke with a start and a cold sweat stood out all over me.  I cannot say I heard any noise or distinguished any smell of smoke, but an inborn instinct told me something was wrong.  Without waiting to dress myself I bounded down stairs in my bare feet and on entering the pauper's dining room a strong smell of smoke struck my nostrils.  I followed the scent which led me to the idiot department.  On opening the door leading from the hall to that building, I was thunderstruck to see the interior all ablaze, in fact it was one mass of flame and the smoke was overpowering.  I attempted to open the door and rescue the poor inmates who were securely shut in their cells as usual, but was driven back by the heat and smoke.  I saw that the poor idiots were doomed and nothing could save them.  I then ran out and gave the alarm, went to my room and pulled on my trousers and then ran through the corridors and aroused the paupers telling them as plainly as I could what had happened.  In some instances the poor people were dazed and it was necessary to carry them bodily from the house and turn them loose in the yard and fields.

 

There were twelve inmates in the idiot asylum and they must have been overcome by the heat before I awakened for I heard nothing from them, and they roasted like pigs in a hole.  We have done the best we could for the poor unfortunates who were rescued, by quartering them in the churches, hotel and houses in the village, and the good people are ministering to their wants.

 

How the fire originated is a mystery to myself as well as everyone else.   When I took possession as keeper of the house I threw out all the old stovepipe and replaced it with new besides putting heavy sheet iron screens around every stove, and besides this it has been my hobby to do everything to prevent a conflagration.  It must have been a case of spontaneous combustion.

 

W.F. Hall, keeper of the insane department said:  "I was absent in Norwich after supplies and did not return home until about 9 o'clock in the evening.  I should think it must have been near 11 o'clock when my wife and myself went into the pantry for a lunch before retiring when Mr. Manwarring came running in and breathlessly exclaimed 'For God sake Bill, we are all afire, come and help us.'  I immediately ran out and saw flames bursting from the idiot department, rang the alarm bell furnished by the county to inform the neighbors of the escape of a lunatic or other trouble here, and then returned to the asylum and devoted my efforts to saving the inmates.  I opened all the cells and pulled them out in a hurry.  Some of the lunatics were ugly and refused to be rescued until main force was used, while others seemed to comprehend the situation long enough to make their escape.  I tell you it was a hot time here for a few minutes, but thank God we got them all out.  A number huddled together in a lot across the road and laughed and gibbered at the flames and some made tracks lively.

 

The charred and blackened remains of nine human beings were blazing in the ruins of the idiot department when coroner Fernalld arrived.  He at once ordered their removal and many willing hands were soon busily engaged in bringing water and quenching the flames sufficiently to remove the charred trunks.

 

So badly were all burned that it was almost impossible to recognize them as having once inhaled the breath of life, and in many instances the remains were removed with shovels, nothing being recognizable only by pieces of skull and bones in the vicinity.  In most cases, the bodies laid close together in bunches of two or three.  As each was taken out it was laid on the greensward but a few feet from the ruins of what, until the time of the conflagration, had been the only home known to the poor unfortunates, and where they had been so tenderly cared for.  A number of the relatives of the victims were present, and although the bodies were far past recognition, wept over the charred remains of their loved ones.  The scene was most affecting and many of the bystanders were moved to tears.  The names of the idiots who perished were:

Sarah Mills, Afton

Sarah Gallgher, Norwich

Almeda Austin, County

Sarah Bailey, Columbus

Laura Gray, Greene

Adelia Benedict, County

Lucy Warren, County

Arvilla Atwood, Norwich

Deborah Dibble, Bainbridge

Mary O'Daniels, Preston

Mary Vosburg, Otselic

Roxie Mallory, Norwich

Julia Hunt, Norwich

 

The loss to the county on buildings and contents will probably reach $7,000 exclusive of insurance.  Keepers Hall and Mainwaring's losses on household goods and wearing apparel is estimated at over $1,000.  No insurance.

 

A dispatch from Albany has the following which explains the disposition made of the insane inmates, who were taken to Utica Saturday morning.

 

"State Commissioner in Lunacy Goodwin T. Brown made a statement today of the condition of the Chenango county asylum burned last night.  A dispatch from Superintendent Babcock announced the calamity to the board, but did not state whether any lives were lost.  Mr. Brown says that Dr. MacDonald and he examined the asylum in November last and found that it was a two-story and attic frame building separated from the pauper house by a 12-foot road.  There was absolute no protection against the fire and the means of escape were so meager that if the fire started in that building there would not be a chance of escape for a single inmate.  There were in the asylum at that time 44 patients-14 men and 30 women.  At night they were locked in their cells with slat doors, a padlock being employed.  Twelve women were locked up in the attic in small rooms and all the people there were to take charge of these insane were the keeper, his wife and a hired girl.  There was no night watchman.  The commission recommended immediate changes, and especially in protection against fire. Three months elapsed and in March the keeper wrote to say that the board of supervisors did not deem it wise to expend any money since the state care bill would probably pass.  The only change that was made at the instance of the board was the appointment of another woman to aid in keeping the women patients.  Late this afternoon the lunacy commission telegraphed to the superintendent to transport all of his insane patients at once to the Utica insane asylum where they will be quartered."

 

A dispatch from Utica, Friday, says:  "Last night a telegram was received at the state hospital here, saying that superintendent of the poor, Babcock of Chenango county, had communicated with the lunacy commission and has been directed to transfer all the insane patients to Utica.  It is thought that 88 women and 10 men will be brought here today.  The hospital is already pretty well filled, but Dr. Blumer and his assistants set about last evening to prepare to the reception of this the largest delegation of patients that ever entered the institution in a single day."