Retro Indy: 1892 fire at Indianapolis' National Surgical Institute killed 19 patients
This story initially published in 2015.
One of Indianapolis' most tragic fires occurred Downtown on a cold, snowy night Jan. 21, 1892.
A newspaper headline told the heartbreaking story: "Helpless cripples perish in the flames or jump to their death on the street."
The fire was discovered shortly before midnight, when a janitor at the National Surgical Institute noticed flames on the third-floor in a secretary's office. The two four-story hospital buildings had more than 300 patients, many of whom were invalids or children.
By the time the fire department arrived, “the scene was one to blanche stout hearts. Poor, helpless cripples were hanging on the fire escapes and in every window. The heart-rending cries of those shut in in the burning building mingled with the shouts of the firemen and police.”
“Take my child," cried one.
“Oh, help! In God’s name, help!” cried another.
Fire blocked attempts to flee down stairways, so many of patients leaped — to their deaths — from upper windows. Others died of smoke inhalation. Some were crushed when a section of the roof collapsed.
Sparing no detail or embellishment, The Indianapolis News reported, “Two girls were found locked in each other’s arms and burned almost beyond recognition; another man was found on his knees, showing he died in the act of prayer.”
“The streets were filled with frantic women and children with no other clothing except their thin night-dresses. The hobbled wildly through the snow and ice in their bare feet.”
Identification became a difficult task. Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. The fire scene was described as a "holocaust."
The final toll: 19 crippled and sick patients dead, 30 injured.
But more than 250 persons were saved, many due to the heroics of the firefighters.
There was much public outcry, not just because the buildings had been condemned as fire traps more than 10 years prior to the deadly blaze, but also because of the helplessness of the victims. The disaster did however spur the implementation of building code and safety reform.
Dr. Horace Allen moved his National Surgical Institute from Charleston, Ill., to Indianapolis in 1869. The institute one of the first in the country to treat congenital deformities such as club foot, spinal and hip issues, diseased joints, cleft palate, crossed-eyes, paralysis and hemorrhoids and attracted patients from all over the country.
Source: Indianapolis Star archives
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