Jackson Poor House Burned

The Jacison county poor house, sltuatod ! about live miles from" Jackson was destroyed by lire earlv on the of Jan. 34th. Wben help arrlved from Jackson, a short time after the tire started. only the walls ere standing, so rapj idly has the dames doue the work. Five of the iumates perished in the llames. They were ■ Mrs. G. AtUinsou, insane, from Grass Lake, uged 84 years. She has been an ininate of the county house twenty-four yearí. Catharine Avery, Insane, from Loiumbia, aged 77 years, an iïimate for 10 years. Melissa Martin, lnsune. from Spring Arbor. aged 54 yeais, and an inoiate lor fourteen years Ziua Boynton, deaf, from Jackson aged 93 years, 3 years an inmate. Chas. Elliott, blind, aged 75 years, irom Jackson. The latterhad been there only slnee December 12. The work of reeovering the remalns was at once commenced, and iu a short time the charred bodies were all recovered, but were ucrecognizable. The nre was discovered by Mrs. Smltli, wife of the keeper of the house,"about one o'elock, In the men's kitchen. She wakened her husbaud. who slept in an adjoining room, and then went to a neighbor's for help. Mr. Smith woke the hired ina'u, telling him to rescuc the men whüe he lookeu after the women. Great diffieuUy was txperienced in retting the women out, but all were tinallv rescued exceüt I the five unfortunates named. The one thought of ilr. Smitli aud hls helpers had been to save the )ives of the unfortunate people confincd there, and when thls was 1 aeeomplished and thev turned to save the ' contents of the house, but ltttle eould be saved, so swi't had been the work of destructlon. ; There was no flre apparatus i about the place, and as stated help from Jacksou arrived too late to be of any ayaiL The servants were all away ex cept one hlred man, and the neighhors, witb the exceDtloü oL one living aboui twenty rods away, were not awakened until the building wasburned nearly to the grouml. Vcry few of the Inmates had on more than thelr nlght clothes, and all sufferedj inten9ely irom the cold The thermometer reglstered 10 degrees below zero at the time and somo of the unfortunates wlll perlsh from the effect of the exposure. They were placed la the pest house until better quarters conld bo seciurcd and later were brought toVaekson, where a portion were tattcq to the JacKson house, :i portion to the i Clinton housu and te bnlauee, ü?e slek peoj ple, were taken to Mrs. Ferris' bbardlng house j commonly knoWQ as the rnilroad liosfital. It is supposed that the lire cauo;ht from a defective clilmncy and Ihat the jolsts between i the floors bad bepn smoldering tor some time ; before the llames broke out. Mrs, Smith was all tbrouffb the house at 10 o'clock, and everv thlnj; at tnat lime appeared to be all right. llierewere iorly inmates, fourteen female ; and twenty-six male, in tbe house. But very little of the furuiture was saved, ' perhaps one wagon load. Mr. .Smith lost uear: ly all his eflects, inchidingelothing, nliich : fie valued at about Í30Ü. and 'on whlch there waa no tnsuraucc. The remtins oí the vietims were takt;u to Jackson and interred in Mt. Evergreen eemetery. Fortunately f re escapes were placed on the buüdimc a few weeks ajfö, by the m an9 of which niaiiy of the iumates escaped. The poor lumse was built thrce years ago at a cost of S12.5O0. It was two stories Eigh, with basement, and was built of brick mth wooden riertilions. There was an Insurance ou the building of $8,000 and on the conteuts of $1,000. all in Jaekson agencies. tV'm. Mills, one of the inmates, was the man who first Issued Sanders' spelling book. At one time he was worth S250,0JJ.