Fire Danger in Asylums and Orphanages
A warning editorial about the dangerously flammable condition of many asylums and orphanages, prompted by a spate of recent fires at such institutions.
NewsPipe summary
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 20, 1885 · Page 4
1 min readThe number of distressing fires in orphan and lunatic asylums and other places of refuge for the helpless, of late, should draw especial attention to the condition of the buildings used for this purpose. In some cases these have proved to be not only in an unprotected condition as regards fire, but also especially exposed to this danger by the carelessness and negligence of those who have them in charge. Too many of these buildings are mere tinder boxes, and such heedlessness on the part of those in charge of them is nothing less than crime.
Was this worth reading?
This is how the site learns what to look for. Ratings move the weights behind the front page; notes go into the editorial brief that guides what gets pulled from the archives next.
Elsewhere in the archive
Basil's Temptation (concluded)
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 20, 1885
A serialized Victorian melodrama reaches its climax as the narrator, Basil, agonizes over whether to conceal evidence that could save an innocent man from execution, at the cost of exposing his wife Philippa's secret — a vivid example of the sensational fiction serials that filled 19th-century newspaper columns.
They Didn't Know It Was Loaded
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 20, 1885 · Montpelier, Vermont
A slapstick office accident at a rival Montpelier newspaper — a falling bookcase nearly flattens the entire editorial staff — is reported with wry amusement.
Waterbury's Maple Sugar Oracle
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 20, 1885 · Waterbury, Vermont
A wonderfully small-scale piece of forgotten Vermont folklore: a local man's yearly forecasts of the maple sugar harvest, taken seriously enough to print.
Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting, at Middlebury
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 20, 1885 · Middlebury, Vermont
Minutes of the Vermont Merino Sheep-Shearing Association's fourth annual meeting reveal debts, delinquent dues, and a heated debate over admitting privately-sheared sheep into official records.