Death by Fire

The original poorhouse was opened in 1823, one year before the state mandated that each county create a home to house those citizens that could not help themselves. Although the state required the homes be established, funding for the maintenance, was almost non-existent. The county homes were meant to be self-sufficient; they grew their own food and those able to were expected to work outside the facility in order to offset the bills to run it. At different times, the condition of the Allegany County Poorhouse was deplorable, even at one time “deemed unfit for occupancy.” Another official stated that - “The risk of fire throughout the buildings is imminent and such an event would, it is thought, inevitably entail great loss of life among the helpless, infirm and aged inmates.” This statement was made in 1882, and one year later repairs would be made to make it safe…for the time being. Later, the ominous remark would prove to be prophetic.
On May 15, 1923, the county poorhouse erupted in flames in what was referred to as the most horrific event in Allegany County history. Many newspapers carried the heartbreaking story as front page news in their morning editions, including the Olean Times Herald. The fire supposedly started around midnight after an explosion in the basement rocked the building. At the time of the fire, the women’s dormitory had twenty-three inmates living there; seven of which were bed-ridden, two babies under the age of one and fourteen others. As the flames quickly spread, the superintendent, William Hall, and his wife rushed into the burning building and were able to drag some of the women out of the inferno. Charles Sanborn, who oversaw the facility’s stables, carried three women out of the building. When he went inside to rescue a fourth, Sanborn was overcome by the smoke and flames, he died in the fire a hero. All but the women who were bound to their beds were able to escape. After all was said and done, the death toll was nine. The women who were rescued received severe burns that they would recover from, but the nightmare of being surrounded by the flames never went away.
For the people who rushed to the scene, their hands were tied. The could offer no help as they listened to the screams for help that came from inside. The administration building, women’s dormitory and the small building connecting the two were destroyed within thirty minutes. The firemen themselves could only stand by and watch the devastation. The pump and tanks for the well that supplied the water to the poorhouse were destroyed when to boiler exploded in the basement, rending the water supply useless.
The remains of everyone who perished in the fire were recovered and laid to rest. Initially the fate of Fred Scheu, the fireman at the poorhouse, was unknown. Many thought that he had fled the fire to save himself, leaving the women in the building to be condemned to a horrible death. That theory was debunked on March 18th when his remains were recovered, the last of the remains to be found. He had been killed by the boiler explosion, which was determined to be the cause of the fire. The Olean Times Herald reported on the discovery of the remains and said that “his skull was found intact. This was recognized from its peculiar shaped jaw and the number of gold teeth in it. Other bones were found in the same spot where the skull was.”
One year after the fire, the buildings were rebuilt and the Allegany County Poorhouse remained open well into the 1960s.