1918 — April 13, Fire, Oklahoma State Hospital for the Insane, Norman, OK –39-40

–39-40 Blanchard.*
— 40 Cannon. “State mental patients killed in 1918 fire…” Tulsa World, OK. 5-12-2014.
–39-40 Cosgrove. “Almost 100 years later…” The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City. 4-14-2015.
— 40 KFOR.com. “Victims killed in 1918 Norman hospital found buried in mass grave…” 3-26-2014.
— 40 Sutherlin. “April 13, 1918 Blaze Claims 40 at Norman Asylum ‘Firetraps’….” 4-18-1999.
— 39 Safety Engineering, Vol. 35, No’s. 1-6, January-June, 1918, p. 316.
— 39 Standard-Sentinel, Stilwell, OK. “38 Are Buried in One Grave.” 4-18-1918, p. 6.
— 38 AsylumProjects.org. “Norman State Hospital.” 6-1-2010.
— 38 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. EM DAT Database.
— 38 NFPA. “Central Oklahoma State Hospital Holocaust.” Quarterly, 12/1, July 1918, 98.
— 38 Nat. Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
— 37 Zizzo, David. “Hidden Oklahoma: Norman hospital once a ‘mythical city’.” 3-13-2011.
— 36 Associated Press. “Thirty-Six Afflicted Boys Die in Flames at Norman,” Apr 13, 1918.
— 36 Chicago Daily News Almanac & Yearbook. 1919, p. 787.

* While sources we note herein, provide a range of 36-40 deaths, we point to Cosgrove and her reference to thirty-nine named fatalities (citing a memorial marker), while noting there were 40 victims. The Standard-Sentinel, Stilwell, OK (“38 Are Buried in One Grave.” 4-18-1918, p. 6) notes there was one unidentified fatality. Thus it is possible the sources which note 39 fatalities are correct as to named fatalities, and that there was one unnamed death. It is not absolutely clear to us if there were 39 or 40 deaths, thus we use the range 39-40.

Narrative Information

Asylum Projects: “The worst fire in Norman history, measured by the lives lost, killed 38 men and boys in the Oklahoma State Hospital for mental patients on April 13, 1918. That may have been the largest fire death toll in Oklahoma history. The State Hospital on East Main Street was a forerunner of the Griffin Memorial Hospital. The fire broke out at 4 a.m. on a Saturday, destroying two large buildings, described by The Norman Transcript as “old frame” structures, and a new building used as the dining hall. All 38 victims were in a first-floor ward housing 48 boys 10 to 15 years old, the newspaper reported. Apparently some victims were attendants. All 36 patients in a second-floor ward were rescued, led down an outside stairway “by most strenuous efforts.”

“Eighty patients in the other destroyed ward building were evacuated safely. Firefighters were able to put out the flames in a third ward building, and patients who had been moved out were able to return. Others were covered with blankets on the grounds until they could be placed in other buildings. The Transcript reporter had high praise for both members of the Norman Fire Department and the hospital’s fire department. “There were numerous instances of bravery in going into burning buildings,” the story said, “but none of them take any special credit to themselves”. There was speculation that either an electrical defect or spontaneous combustion started the fire. A coroner’s jury said the cause was unknown.

“All but one of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and were buried Monday in one big grave in the northeastern part of the…Cemetery. “Everybody was laid in a neat coffin and given every kindly consideration possible,” The Transcript said. Although the story: put the deaths at 37, The World Almanac calls it 38. Probably an injured patient died later.” (AsylumProjects.org. “Norman State Hospital.” 6-1-2010.)

Country Beautiful: “On April 13, 1918, thirty-eight people died at the Oklahoma State Hospital for the Insane at Norman, just south of Oklahoma City. The fire began at 3:00 a.m. from defective wiring in a linen closet, and flames quickly spread throughout the first floor of the two-story structure. Only a few patients, those near exits, escaped unharmed. Fire fighters were unable to control the fast-spreading fire.” (Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. 1973, p145.)

KFOR News 4: “Norman, Okla. — It’s a burial mystery that went unsolved for decades. 40 hospital patients burned to death in 1918 and now archaeologists believe they have found the mass grave site.

“The fire happened almost 100 years ago at the Oklahoma State Hospital, now known as the Griffin Memorial Hospital.

“Communication was different back then and it took a very long time to receive and send any letters so families wanting to bury their loved ones didn’t get a chance.

“On a rainy day at the Norman International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery is where you will find red flags. “We’re as comfortable as we can be with what we have to be able to say ‘we have nailed it’,” said Dr. Scott Hammerstedt, Oklahoma Archaeological Survey. The red flags mark the spot where archaeologists say they have found the last resting place for 39 people who were killed and buried together after the 1918 Oklahoma State Hospital fire. Dr Hammerstedt said, “We spent two days in January running our radar and electrical resistance equipment in a couple of areas of the cemetery trying to locate the grave.”

“Griffin Memorial Hospital officials reached out to Dr. Scott Hammerstedt and his team for help to find the unmarked grave. They didn’t have much luck at first, but someone working at the cemetery knew exactly where to look. “The site manager came out and told us a story about his predecessor knew someone who kept saying it was in this particular area,” said Dr. Hammerstedt. “So why not, let’s go put another grid over there.”….

“Griffin Memorial Executive Director Larry Gross says the hospital is hoping to identify the victims and to get in contact with their families, but it is going to be a challenging task. “We’re going through all the medical records of the time,” said Gross. “Medical records in those days were certainly not at the thoroughness that they are today.”

“The hospital says 40 people died in that fire, 39 people were buried together, and family identified one person, therefore that person was buried separately….” (KFOR.com, Oklahoma City. “Victims killed in 1918 Norman hospital found buried in mass grave site.” 3-26-2014.)

NFPA: “Fire was discovered by night watch in Ward 14 and by a negro inmate in Ward 15 (second floor) about 3:45 a.m., in or near the linen closet in Ward 14, which is near the middle of the building, first floor. General alarm was sounded by whistle at power plant. The city fire department claims not to have been called by telephone until about 4:15. The buildings involved were not within city limits….

“Extent of Damage. Wards Nos. 10, 14 and 15 and general dining hall were totally destroyed with their contents; 37 of the inmates of Ward 14 and 1 of Ward 15 (37 white and 1 negro) were cremated….
Cause of Fire and How Fought.

“The cause of the fire is unknown, some thinking it might have been caused from electric wiring, but there is nothing to substantiate the supposition except the absence of any other apparent cause to which it could be attributed. No electric lights were installed in the linen closet in which fire is supposed to have originated. A slight lightning storm was brewing at the time of fire, but so serious electrical disturbances were noted at or previous to the discovery of the fire. Upon discovery of the fire, a general alarm was sounded by a steam whistle at the hospital power plant, and all ward watchmen, nurses and other employees proceeded to fight the flames with hand chemical extinguishers and one hose stream of probably 250 feet of 2½ inch cotton rubber-lined hose with 1-inch play pipe….
Conclusion.

“From information obtainable, it would appear that the fire was fought as satisfactorily as could be expected in view of the fact that removal of the inmates in the wards destroyed was a very slow and tedious procedure, due to their very inferior mental and physical condition. The fire occurring at a time when all were asleep, quite a large proportion of the help which otherwise would have been effective in fighting the flames was needed for the removal of the inmates; and, due to the very flimsy and rapidly combustible construction of buildings involved, the flames spread very rapidly, being fanned by a moderate southeast wind. It would appear that quite unnecessary delay was experienced in turning in the alarm to the public fire department, but no information was available as to the cause of this delay. It is also pointed out that more effective hydrant streams could have been employed had the standpipe been shut off and direct pump pressures applied, as pumps at pumping plant are of ample size to afford at least five good streams, whereas only two fair streams were available with use of the booster pump.

“In Wards 14 and 15, in which the fire originated and in which all the lives were lost, there was a total of 86 inmates – 37 on first floor and 49 on second floor. All of the inmates of the lower floor were cremated and one from the second floor. The inmates of the lower floor being of the very lowest mentality, quite a large number of them were gotten out only to rush back immediately into the burning building. It is claimed that one night watch is stationed in each ward, but no approved clock service was employed and no record was obtainable on effectiveness of this service.” (National Fire Protection Assoc. “Central Oklahoma State Hospital Holocaust, April 13, 1918.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 12, No. 1, July 1918, pp. 98-100.)

Safety Engineering: “April 13, 1918. Norman, Oklahoma. State hospital for insane. One mile outside city limits. Sanitarium. Three 2-story buildings partly destroyed. Walls, wood. Floors, wood. Roofs, shingle. Cause, defective wiring. Fire started in line room. Discovered by night watchman about 3:45 a.m. Alarm, telephone. Duration, 2 hours. Stopped at kitchen. Fire was favored by wooden construction. Firemen handicapped by plug being too close to building. Private fire apparatus, chemical extinguishers and hose. Persons in building, 80. Killed, 39. Means of escape, doors and windows….” (Safety Engineering, Vol. 35, No’s. 1-6, Jan-June, 1918, p. 316.)

Sutherlin: “Every building at Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman has a fire marshal’s capacity sign in the front entrance. The patients and staff have routine fire drills and know too well what the alarm sounds like. The brick buildings on the campus are eight decades old, but they are considered safe. That was far from true April 13, 1918, when a blaze destroyed three wooden buildings at the hospital and killed 40 patients, according to the hospital’s records. Safety regulations were installed statewide because of the deadly fire.

“It started in a ward’s linen closet about 3:45 a.m. at what then was known as the State Hospital for the Insane. Ward 14 was reserved, according to a story in The Oklahoman, for ‘white boys who were idiots and defectives…ranging in ages from 10 to 15 years.’

“Heroic efforts by the staff saved some of those boys, but others, half of them under age 20, ‘burned as they lay in their beds, smothered by the smoke and flames before they awoke,’ an April 14, 1918, story in The Oklahoman said.

“L.T. Hawes, a night watchman, discovered the fire when flames burst through a door. Hawes ran through the dormitory, unlocking doors. ‘Telling the patients to get out did no good,’ Hawes told The Oklahoman. ‘It was necessary to carry them out, some of them fighting at every step.’

“All three buildings burned to the ground within 30 minutes. Although 40 died, more than 300 patients were saved.

“Three days later, the state Board of Public Affairs revealed these grim findings: ‘These particular buildings were old and well saturated with paraffine (sic) in order to keep them in better sanitary condition, which burned like matches.’ A.N. Leecraft, a member of the board of affairs that oversaw the hospital, called the wooden buildings “firetraps.”

“It was also learned that the Legislature had delayed construction of fireproof buildings, which had been approved in March 1917….

“Two days after the fire, 37 charred and unrecognizable bodies were buried, without ceremony, in a single grave overlooking the Norman Cemetery….” (Sutherlin, Michelle. “April 13, 1918 Blaze Claims 40 at Norman Asylum ‘Firetraps’ Spurred Safety Steps.” The Oklahoman, Ok, 4-18-1999.)

Zizzo: “Norman — Follow Main Street east out of town, and it would end at the gates. Beyond the gates were a bakery, a cannery and a dairy farm. And chicken houses, a hog farm, a laundry, an ice plant, a power plant and, according to a 1937 state Planning Board property map, even orchards and a vineyard. Pretty much everything the thousands of people who lived here needed. “It was a mini-city,” said Durand Crosby, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Today, much of the sprawling complex a reporter once described as a “mythical city” has disappeared or been absorbed or blended into the city that grew up around it. Still, the remaining cluster of buildings now known as Griffin Memorial Hospital remains a hub of services provided by the Mental Health Department….

“At the northeast corner of the property is Central State Hospital Rock Creek Road Cemetery, with rows of small concrete pads marking graves of many patients. In another nearby cemetery is a communal grave containing remains of 36 of the 37 people who died in a fire at the hospital in 1918, according to news reports of the time, but the grave has yet to be located….” (Zizzo, David. “Hidden Oklahoma: Norman hospital once a ‘mythical city’.” 3-13-2011.)

Contemporary Newspapers:

April 18: “Norman, Okla., April 13. — Between thirty and thirty-seven boys, aged from ten to fifteen years, were burned to death in the state hospital for the insane here this morning. All of the boys were inmates of the institution and were helpless as the flames wrapped around them. Being confined in the houses, the young boys were unable to get out of the fire before their bodies had been charred by the onrushing flames. The fire was of unknown origin. It completely destroyed wards 10, 14 and 15 and the institution dining room….

“The institution is located several blocks east of the city proper, and the fire department could not reach there in time to save the inmates. The flames were discovered in a few minutes after they broke out, but the panic among the children in Ward 10 prevented effective work by the rescuers. Practically all of the buildings at the asylum are wooden structures.

“Advises put the death list at thirty-six, and said forty-eight…men and boys were in ward fourteen where all the deaths occurred. A night watchman discovered the fire in a linen closet in this ward and when he opened the door the flames quickly spread throughout the building. The structure housing wards fifteen and fourteen were frame buildings and burned quickly. About half the missing boys are from ten to fifteen years old while the remainder were from sixteen to thirty-six. No effort was made this morning to take the charred bodies from the ruins which were still smoldering at a late hour. It was said to be impossible to identify any of the bodies. Dr. D. R. Griffin [Superintendent] expressed the opinion that the fire started from defective wiring as none of the inmates were allowed to carry matches….” (Ada Weekly News, OK, April 18, 1918.)

April 18: “Norman, Okla. – Charred and burned beyond any possibility of identification thirty-eight bodies were buried in a single grave in the Norman cemetery as a result of the fire which destroyed two ward buildings and the dining room of the Oklahoma state hospital for the Insane on the eastern outskirts of Norman. The property loss is estimated at $40,000.

“One body, that of a negro boy, is still somewhere in the ruins of the fire, making a total of thirty-nine dead.

“Half of the thirty-eight white victims were boys from 12 to 20 years old. The remainder were men, 20 to 40 years old, all of them classed as imbecile patients, the lowest class of insanity, according to medical authorities. All of them were burned as they lay in their beds, smothered by the smoke and flames before they awoke.

Coroner’s Jury Blames No One.

“A coroner’s jury found that the patients lost their lives from fire of unknown origin which is declared was not due to carelessness or criminal negligence, on the part of hospital authorities. It is believed the fire was due to detective wiring in the building. An electric drop was in the linen closet where the fire started. 307 inmates were rescued by the attendants.

“None of the ten white men and boys who escaped from the ward in which the heaviest life loss occurred, or of the thirty-five negroes taken out of the ward above it, had any recollection after the event that there had even been a fire.”

The Victims [We have added numbers]

1. Billy Altbeld, Oklahoma.
2. Thomas Anno, Lincoln.
3. Cheser Austin, Blaine.
4. Elmo Babbington, Carter.
5. Henry Breedlove, Pittsburg.
6. William Brown, Jackson.
7. Jack Creston, Lincoln.
8. Walter Ewing, Bryan.
9. R. L. Fanning, Tulsa.
10. R. T. Frank, Okfuskee.
11. Pete Gvasdanogitch, Kay.
12. Robert Grose, Oklahoma.
13. Claud Greenwalt, Bryan.
14. Ona Havil, Cleveland.
15. John Hering, Okfuskee.
16. Gilbert Holmes, Okfuskee.
17. William Johnson, Okmulgee.
18. Steve Littrell, Le Flore.
19. John V. Mattoon, Comanche.
20. Dick Maxwell, Noble.
21. Ben Miller, Nowata.
22. George Matheny, Logan.
23. H. M. Pinix, Logan.
24. George Regnier, Noble.
25. C. I. Roop, Murray.
26. Thomas Russell, Pottawatomie.
27. Ernest Smith, Kiowa.
28. Claude Smithers, Cleveland.
29. Charles Tatum, Pottawatomie.
30. Boone Vawter, Murray.
31. Stephen Wheat, Pushmataha.
32. Joe Waterman, Lincoln.
33. Edgar Watson, Greer.
34. Joe West, Pontotoc.
35. Charles White, Cleveland.
36. Unidentified African-American boy.

(Standard-Sentinel, Stilwell, OK. “38 Are Buried in One Grave.” 4-18-1918, p. 6.) [The names of the victims are given in this article.]

Cosgrave (The Oklahoman, 2015) listing of victims (we add numbers and arrange alphabetically.)

1. William Altgeld.
2. Thomas Anno.
3. Chester Austin.
4. Elmore Babbington.
5. Henry Breedlove.
6. Eugene Brown.
7. John Creston.
8. Herman Davis.
9. Walter Eckles.
10. Willie Ewing.
11. Robert Fanning.
12. Richard Thomas Frank.
13. Claud Greenwalt.
14. Robert Grose.
15. Pete Gvasdanogitch.
16. Ira Herring.
17. Gilbert Holmes.
18. William Chesley Hurst.
19. William Johnson.
20. Stephen Litrell.
21. George Matheny.
22. John Mattoon.
23. Richard Maxwell.
24. Ben Miller.
25. H. M. Pinix.
26. George Regnier.
27. C. I. Roop.
28. Thomas Russell.
29. Ernest Smith.
30. Claud Smithers.
31. William Stewart Sr.
32. Charlie Tatum.
33. Secrist Teague.
34. Boon Vawter.
35. Joseph Waterman.
36. Edgar Waton.
37. Joe S. West.
38. Steve Wheat.
39. Charlie White.

Sources

AsylumProjects.org. “Norman State Hospital.” 6-1-2010. Accessed 3-19-2013 at: http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Norman_State_Hospital

Cannon, Jane Glenn (NewsOK.com). “State mental patients killed in 1918 fire to get markers after long-lost gravesite found in Norman cemetery.” Tulsa World, OK. 5-12-2014. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/state-mental-patients-killed-in-1918-fire-to-get-markers-after-long-lost-gravesite-found/article_ac1653ec-fcd9-5fa4-94e4-9c6495ac20e4.html

Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. EM DAT Database. Louvain, Belgium: Universite Catholique do Louvain. Accessed at: http://www.emdat.be/

Cosgrove, Jaclyn. “Almost 100 years later, a funeral is held for mental health hospital fire victims in Norman, Oklahoma.” The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City. 4-14-2015. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://oklahoman.com/article/5409959/almost-100-years-later-a-funeral-is-held-for-mental-health-hospital-fire-victims-in-norman-oklahoma

Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook 1919. James Langland, (Ed.). Chicago: Chicago Daily News Company. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=vWQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA788&dq=Ohio+River+Steamship+Disasters#PPA13,M1

Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK. “Thirty-Six Inmates of State Insane Home at Norman Perish in Fire.” 4-13-1918, p. 1. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/ardmore-daily-ardmoreite-apr-13-1918-p-1/

KFOR.com, Oklahoma City, OK. “Victims killed in 1918 Norman hospital found buried in mass grave site.” 3-26-2014. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://kfor.com/news/victims-killed-in-1918-norman-hospital-fire-found-buried-in-mass-grave-site/

National Fire Protection Association. “Central Oklahoma State Hospital Holocaust.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 12, No. 1, July 1918, pp. 98-100. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=ajwbAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

Norman Transcript, OK. “Okla. Officials Recall 1918 Hospital Fire that Killed 38.” 3-2-2014. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/11321098/1918-norman-oklahoma-state-hospital-fire-tragedy-remembered

Safety Engineering, Vol. 35, No’s. 1-6, January-June, 1918. New York: The Safety Press, Inc., 1918. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=nB_OAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0

Standard-Sentinel, Stilwell, OK. “38 Are Buried in One Grave.” 4-18-1918, p. 6. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=158426389&sterm=norman+fire

Sutherlin, Michelle. “April 13, 1918 Blaze Claims 40 at Norman Asylum ‘Firetraps’ Spurred Safety Steps.” The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, 4-18-1999. Accessed 6-1-2020 at: https://oklahoman.com/article/2649935/april-13-1918-blaze-claims-40-at-norman-asylum-firetraps-spurred-safety-steps

Zizzo, David. “Hidden Oklahoma: Norman hospital once a ‘mythical city’.” 3-13-2011. Accessed 3-19-2013: http://places.newsok.com/hidden-oklahoma-norman-hospital-once-a-mythical-city/article/3546956