“It's Just Too Much,” Laments Archbishop |
By Mervin Bloc. |
CHICAGO - Dec. 2, 1958 - Three bodies, grotesquely contorted, lay sid by side in the X-ray room. |
A nurse pulled back a blanket, revealing the blood encrusted head of a boy. |
Msgr. James Hardiman, the archbishop's secretary, gasped. |
In a moment he recovered his composure and said: |
“They're just kids … poor little kids.” |
The archbishop himself, Albert Gregory Meyer, looked as though he wanted to cry. |
|
He make the sign of the cross, uttered a silent prayer and quietly left the room. |
“It's just too much,” he remarked as he completed a 40-minute tour of St. Anne's Hospital. |
The archbishop had been informed of the disaster while praying is his residence, 1555 State pkwy. Msgr. Hardiman, who brought the news, summoned the archbishop's chauffeur and the three went to the hospital. |
When they set out shortly after 4 p.m., the radio in their car told of 20 dead. By the time they pulled up at St. Anne's 35 minutes later, the radio said 40 were dead. |
|
Sister Almunda, administrator of the hospital, recognized the archbishop as he entered the lobby. He asked. |
“Where are the children?”. |
She led him into the auditorium, which had been converted into a makeshift ward. |
The archbishop want from bed to bed, cart to cart, making the sign of the cross and intoning a prayer over each survivor. |
“May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost descend upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.” |
|
The nurses scurrying back and forth with supplies were too busy to notice him. Those who did gave no sign. |
Obviously disturbed by the moaning, the crying and the injuries, the archbishop became particularly upset as he viewed one badly burned child. With a catch in his throat, he exclaimed. |
“That's awful.” |
After the archbishop had blessed the 14 children in the huge room, Sister Almunda led him to an elevator. |
As soon as the elevator door slid open on the sixth floor, the passengers were unnerved by the most piteous screams. |
Besides outbursts due to pain, many victims were screaming for their mothers. |
The archbishop strode from room to room, blessing the greviously hurt, encouraging the staff. |
In the corridor, doctors and nurses hurried past, too preoccupied even to nod to him. |
When a photographer asked the archbishop to linger a few seconds over one motionless form, the archbishop replied:\” No, we're just in the way.” |
|
A hideously burned boy, clutching a crucifix, was wheeled into an empty room. The archbishop followed him, administering his blessing as attendants adjusted intravenous feedings. |
Then the archbishop walked into the sugery section. |
While doctors cleaned wounds, set fractures and sewed incisions, the tall priest tiptoed into six of the operating rooms. |
After blessing the patients there, he walked down to the third floor to visit two nuns injured in the fire. |
One, her face blackened, arms wrapped in bandages, opened her eyes and whispered. |
“I'm fine.” |
|
As he emerged from the room, two nurses and a nun were running down the hall pushing a large green tank of oxygen on a dolly. |
From there he went down to several suites adjoining the emergency room. |
Father Richard Bermingham, hospital chaplain, who preceded the archbishop down the passageway, opened a door and announced”. |
“They're all dead in here.” |
|
The archbishop waled in. a fireman shifting the bodies dropped to his knees as he entered. |
The archbishop spent several minutes there, then went to the site of the fire. |
The archbishop's driver, Vince McAleer, a policeman on leave, was overwhelmed by the suffering. However, McAleer spoke not of his own feelings but of the archbishop's when he said: |
“He's very, very upset.” |