1948 — March 10/11, Fire, Highland Hospital for Nervous Disorders, Asheville, NC — 9
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard Sep 29, 2023 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 9 City of Asheville. “Departments, Fire, History.” Accessed 5-20-2013.
— 9 Cohn, Scotti. Disasters and Heroic Rescues of North Carolina. 2005, pp. 121-130.
— 9 Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Nine Die in Asheville Hospital Blaze.” 3-11-1948, p. 1.
— 9 Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Probe March 23.” 3-12-1948, p. 1.
— 9 Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Had 40 Minutes Start.” 3-26-1948, p. 6.
— 9 Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Nurse Discovered Asheville Fire.” 3-27-1948, p. 3.
— 9 McKown, Harry. “March 1948 – The Death of Zelda Fitzgerald.” UNC Libraries, 2007.
— 9 NFPA. “Large Loss Fires of 1948.” Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3, Jan 1949 p. 197.
— 9 National Park Service Nat. Register of Historic Places…Asheville, NC, Highland Hospital.
— 9 Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Hospital Blaze Kills 9 Women.” 3-12-1948, p. 1.
— 9 Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Hospital Authorities Exonerated in Inquest.” 4-1-1948, p. 8.
— 9 Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Psychiatric Test for Nurse Called in Asheville Fire.” 4-14-48
— 9 The Landmark, Statesville, NC. “Search Burned Wreckage for 9 Women Victims.” 3-15-48
— 9 The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Doctor Declines to Believe Nurse…Firebug.” 4-15-1948
Narrative Information
City of Asheville: “One fire that was particularly hard on Chief Fitzgerald happened in the early morning on March 10, 1948. Highland Hospital located on Zillicoa Street was originally named ‘Dr. Carroll’s Sanatorium’ and was used to treat patients with mental and nervous disorders. All of the windows had bars on them and all the doors had steel slabs. When the crews arrived shortly after 1 a.m. they found that the four story building was already heavily involved. Crews went to work immediately pulling lines and attempting to forcibly enter the structure to rescue patients and staff. Due to the bars on the windows, firefighters at the scene reported later that they had to watch patients die in front of them while they tried in vain to remove the bars to gain access. Nine patients died in this fire. Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of classic author F. Scott Fitzgerald, was one of those casualties.” (City of Asheville. “Departments, Fire, History.” Accessed 5-20-2013.)
Cohn: “The tragedy at Highland Hospital was followed by an inquest and numerous lawsuits on behalf of the dead women….The issue of barred windows also came up. An attorney for the plaintiffs declared that state law prohibited barriers on doors and windows in any but a grade ‘A’ hospital building, and that the Central building was grade ‘C’…..
“A judge ordered that Miss Hall undergo a psychiatric examination, and she was subsequently hospitalized at a facility in another section of the state. The exact cause of the fire was never determined.” [pp. 129-130.] (Cohn, Scotti. “Princess in a Tower – The Highland Hospital Fire, 1948. Chapter 13, Disasters and Heroic Rescues of North Carolina. 2005, pp. 121-130.)
McKown: “Late on the night of March 10, 1948, a fire started in a kitchen of the main building of Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Spreading rapidly through a dumbwaiter shaft,[1] flames reached every floor, and, in spite of efforts by hospital staff and local fire fighters to evacuate everyone from the building, nine patients died. Among the victims of the fire, identified only by her slipper, was Zelda Fitzgerald, who with her husband, the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, represented for many the talent, sophistication, glamour and excess of American life of the 1920s….
“In 1930 Zelda suffered a breakdown and was diagnosed (perhaps incorrectly) with schizophrenia. From then until 1940 her life was spent mainly in mental institutions in Europe and America, except for short periods living with her family. At the same time Scott’s popularity waned and his income fell. Looking for a less expensive place to relax and recover, he began visiting the area around Asheville, North Carolina. In 1936 he moved Zelda from an institution in Maryland to Highland Hospital in Asheville.
“Zelda remained for four years at Highland under the care of Dr. Robert S. Carroll, who has been described as ‘something of an original in American psychiatry.’ Carroll believed in treating mental illness in part with a regime of diet and exercise although he also used other standard therapies of the day. Zelda, who saw her husband, daughter, and other family infrequently, was often lonely at Highland, but she made progress there. She participated in activities such as hiking and playing tennis, and she continued to write and paint, pursuits she had begun in the 1920s….
“In 1940 Carroll agreed to release Zelda to live with her widowed mother in Montgomery. Over the next decade Zelda returned several times to Highland for brief periods of treatment, including the visit which ended in her death in the fire of March 10.
“By the time of the tragic fire, Highland Hospital had become part of the Duke University medical system where it remained until Duke closed the hospital in 1980.” (McKown, Harry. “March 1948 – The Death of Zelda Fitzgerald.” This Month in North Carolina History. March 2007.)
National Fire Protection Association: “Mar. 10 [1948]…Asheville, N.C. … Highly Hospital… Hospital for mental patients…9 killed.” (NFPA. “Large Loss Fires of 1948.” Quarterly, Vol. 42, no. 3, Jan 1949 pp. 133-197.)
National Park Service: “Though predominantly a single family residential neighborhood, land use in Montford [neighborhood] has been mixed since the earliest days of development. A number of establishments from boarding houses to public schools to a city cemetery have appeared throughout the neighborhood. Several small, private clinics and hospitals for tuberculosis and other ailments were also established. Best known of these was Highland Hospital, originally known as ‘Dr. Carroll’s Sanatorium,’ founded by Dr. Robert S. Carroll, a distinguished psychiatrist. His program of treatment for mental and nervous disorders and addictions was based on exercise, diet and occupational therapy, and attracted patients from all over the country. The hospital was relocated from downtown Asheville to the northern end of Montford Avenue in 1909, and was officially named Highland Hospital in 1912…..
In 1939, Dr. Carroll entrusted the hospital to the Neuropsychiatric Department of Duke University. It was during this time that on the night of March 10, 1948, a deadly fire broke out in the main building and took the lives of nine women….” (National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary, Asheville, NC, Highland Hospital. Accessed 5-20-2013.)
Newspapers:
March 11: “Asheville, March 11 – (AP) – Nine patients perished here early today in the blazing inferno of a mental hospital fire. Seven of the victims were trapped helplessly on upper floors of the four-story central building of the Highland hospital for nervous diseases, Dr. B. T. Bennett, medical director, reported. Two others were evacuated by firemen who dashed into the fiery structure but they died soon afterward. The hospital released the following names of the dead:
Mrs. A. T. Hipps of Asheville;
Mrs. W. B. Kennedy of Kinston;
Mrs. Ida Engel of Clayton, Ms.;
Mrs. Julius Doering of Johnson City, Tenn.;
Mrs. J. R. Bornchoff or Rome, Ga.;
Miss M. De Friese of Bristol, Tenn.;
Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald of Montgomery, Ala., widow of the author;
Mrs. B. W. James of Atlanta; and
Mrs. G. C. Womack of Friendsville, Tenn.
“The fire, discovered about midnight, started in the kitchen of the hospital’s central building. It quickly spread to an elevator shaft and was licking the building’s roof when firemen arrived. Screams of trapped women rang out above the roaring conflagration as doctors, nurses, firemen and police ran through the blazing structure, risking their lives in an effort to save the 20 patients in the building. They quickly huddled the rescued patients into another building where some sat silently and others yelled hysterically….
“Police Captain Harold Enloe was the first man to reach the building. ‘I could hear screaming on the third floor,’ he related. ‘Flames by then were lapping through the roof of the building.’ Every available piece of the city’s fire-fighting equipment was called out and off-duty firemen were rushed to the scene.
“The flames, leaping high into the air, lit up a large section of this mountain resort city. About 1,000 spectators, many of them dressed in pajamas, milled helplessly around, unable to assist the trapped women.
“Dr. Bennett said some of the hospital’s most violent patients were in the destroyed building but they were among the first to be released. He reported that most of those dying were on the top floor of the wood and stone structure.
“The hospital, housed in several buildings, about three miles from the heart of Asheville, is a unit of Duke University Hospital in Durham. It was operated for about a quarter of a century by Dr. Robert S. Carroll, a noted mental specialist whose clientele included members of prominent families throughout the nation. Dr. Carroll gave the institution to Duke several years ago….” (Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Nine Die in Asheville Hospital Blaze.” 3-11-1948, p. 1.)
March 12: “Asheville, N.C. (AP) – Fire roared thru a mental hospital here early yesterday and snuffed out the lives of nine women patients. They died as 20 others, some screaming, some calm, were led to safety. Flames quickly engulfed the four-story central building of the Highland hospital for nervous diseases. Wailing of some of the 29 women echoed over the spacious grounds. Firemen, police nurses, doctors and townspeople rushed to the rescue. Seven women were trapped on the upper floors, two others removed by firemen died in a short while. It was the third fire in the hospital in less than a year.” (Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Hospital Blaze Kills 9 Women.” 3-12-1948, p. 1.)
March 12: “Asheville, March 12 – (AP) – Inquest into the deaths of nine women patients of Highland Hospital, who lost their lives in a fire that demolished Central building early yesterday, will be conducted March 23, it was announced by Dr. P. R. Terry, county coroner….” (Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Probe March 23.” 3-12-1948, p. 1.)
March 12: “Asheville, Mar 12 – The search of the burned wreckage of an Asheville mental hospital continues today for the remaining bodies of nine women victims. Fire yesterday destroyed the four-story central building of Highland Hospital….
…Fire Chief J. C. Fitzgerald said he believed the blaze started in the kitchen. He added that it was the third fire at the hospital in a year….” (The Landmark, Statesville, NC. “Search Burned Wreckage for 9 Women Victims.” 3-15-1948, p. 4.)
March 26: “Asheville, March 26 – (AP) – Fire Chief J. S. Fitzgerald testified at an inquest here yesterday that the Highland Hospital had been burning 40 to 45 minutes by the time fire trucks reached the scene within six minutes of the first alarm. Nine women patients died in the fire March 11. Fitzgerald, first of three witnesses called in an inquest that is expected to continue into next week, testified that ‘if the alarm had come in 30 minutes earlier there would have been no need for anyone losing their lives.’ He added that he believed that the nine victims had died before firemen arrived….” (Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Had 40 Minutes Start.” 3-26-1948, p. 6.)
March 27: “Asheville, March 27 – (AP) – A nurse, testifying at an inquest into the Highland hospital fire that took nine lives March 10, said yesterday she discovered the blaze about 11:35 p.m. At that time, she testified, the blaze was confined to a table in the diet kitchen. The nurse, Miss Doris Jane Anderson of Janesville, Wis., added that she turned in the alarm between 11:35 and 11:45 p.m., using a telephone at her station on the hospital’s fourth floor. Her testimony highlighted the second day of the inquest…The hearing is expected to continue for at least two more days. Fire Chief J. C. Fitzgerald earlier testified that…fire apparatus reached the hospital within six minutes of receiving the alarm at 11:44 p.m.” (Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Nurse Discovered Asheville Fire.” 3-27-1948, p. 3.)
April 1: “Asheville, April 1. – (UP) – Officials of the Highland Hospital for Nervous Diseases were cleared of criminal negligence today in the fire which swept the central building last month and took the lives of nine women patients. A coroner’s jury said in its verdict late yesterday ‘It is our opinion that there was negligence, but not to the extent to be classed as culpable negligence.’ The jury deliberated for two and a half hours after hearing the testimony of more than 50 witnesses. The inquest lasted four days.” (Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Hospital Authorities Exonerated in Inquest.” 4-1-1948, p. 8.)
April 13: “Asheville, April 13 – (AP) – An investigation of Highland hospital fire, which took the lives of nine women patients March 11, and for which a coroner’s jury absolved the hospital and attendants of culpable blame, was renewed here today after Miss Willie Mae Hall, night supervisor of central building, voluntarily entered city jail last night ‘because I am afraid of what I might do.’ Miss Hall came to the city jail alone, in a hysterical condition, police said. Chief of Police Eric Hall and Solicitor W. K. McLean were called, as was Dr. Basil T. Bennett, medical director of the hospital. After six hours of questioning Miss Hall was transferred to the county jail, where she remained today pending further investigation into her behavior and admissions of ‘fear’ of herself and what she ‘might do.’ ‘There are six places in Oak Lodge (one of the Highland Hospital patient buildings) I have picked out that could be set fire. I have thought about it so much, I am afraid of what I might do and I want you to lock me up.’
“Both Chief Hall and Solicitor McLean quoted Miss Hall as making this statement on her arrival at the city police department about 9 o’clock last night. ‘Did you set fire to Central building?’ Miss Hall was asked. ‘I don’t know . . . I really don’t know . . . I don’t believe I did . . .but I could have,’ Miss Hall is quoted by police as answering.
“Dr. Bennett was asked what he thought of the matter. He answered: ‘My opinion right now – and I may modify it later as more facts are found – is that Miss Hall got all upset due to the fact she felt so much responsibility relative to her job at the hospital. She may feel that she has fallen down on her job and due to worry and concern may have begun to imagine a lot of things’.” (Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Probe Resumed.” 4-13-1948, p. 1.)
April 14: “Asheville, April 14. – (UP) — Authorities ordered a mental examination today for the night supervisor of a hospital that burned here March 11 after she asked police to lock her up because she was afraid of what she might do…. A hearing and psychiatric examination of the night supervisor, who had charge of the hospital the night it burned, will be held in the next few days.” (Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Psychiatric Test for Nurse Called in Asheville Fire.” 4-14-1948, p. 8.)
April 15: “Asheville, April 15 – (AP) – Following an examination of Miss Willie Mae Hall, night supervisor of Highland hospital. Dr. J. Wesley Taylor of Greensboro reported to Buncombe county Superior court today that he did not believe that the nurse had anything to do with a fire that destroyed the central building at the institution March 10 with the loss of nine lives.
“Dr. Taylor was brought into the case by Judge H. Hoyle Sink and spent all day yesterday with Miss Hall. Judge Sink said he may make a ruling in the matter sometime today following a conference with Solicitor W. K. McLean and others who have worked on the case. ‘My opinion in this case,’ Dr. Taylor said, ‘is that we are dealing with a hysterical woman who has been much overworked and worried, and who puts too much emphasis on dreams. The fatigue and worry and continuous lack of sleep and unabated tension have confused her. She has finally come to doubting almost everything of any importance that might apply to her in this case….” (The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Doctor Declines to Believe Nurse Turned Firebug.” 4-15-1948, p. 4.)
Sources
City of Asheville. “Departments, Fire, History.” Accessed 5-20-2013 at: http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Departments/Fire/History.aspx
Cohn, Scotti. Disasters and Heroic Rescues of North Carolina. Globe Pequot Press, 2005.
Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Had 40 Minutes Start.” 3-26-1948, p. 6. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=65496679&sterm
Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Probe March 23.” 3-12-1948, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=111289898&sterm
Gastonia Gazette, NC. “Asheville Fire Probe Resumed.” 4-13-1948, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=111290089&sterm
McKown, Harry. “March 1948 – The Death of Zelda Fitzgerald.” This Month in North Carolina History. UNC University Libraries, March 2007. Accessed 5-20-2013 at: http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/mar2007/index.html
National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Fires of 1948.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 42, No. 3, Jan 1949 pp. 137-197.
National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary, Asheville, NC, Highland Hospital. Accessed 5-20-2013 at: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/hig.htm
Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Hospital Blaze Kills 9 Women.” 3-12-1948, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=18000205&sterm=utica+fire+hoage+paye
Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Hospital Authorities Exonerated in Inquest.” 4-1-1948, p. 8. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=142849124&sterm=highland+hospital
Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Psychiatric Test for Nurse Called in Asheville Fire.” 4-14-1948, 8. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=142849175&sterm
The Landmark, Statesville, NC. “Search Burned Wreckage for 9 Women Victims.” 3-15-1948, p. 4. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=6233564&sterm
The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Doctor Declines to Believe Nurse Turned Firebug.” 4-15-1948, p. 4. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=101034223&sterm
[1] “…an official investigation showed [the fire] was stared in a diet kitchen, and flashed up a dumb waiter shaft.” (Wilmington Morning Star-News, NC. “Asheville Hospital Fire Cases Started; Court to Hear Eight.” 6-9-1950, p.9.)
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