Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-11-29
FRiGHTFUL CATASTROPHE AT NEW YORK

the theatre of Of those appalling casualties which
from clear sky. to set at nsught al hu
p iorscaa and prudence, and illustrate with ghful i'm
ppsvsness the uncertainty of human fe
eous naifPast two in the afternoon the principal female
tner " Ward School No. 26, in Greenwich avenue, Mis-
would be useless to withhold the name which
70 be innocenty yet closely associated in th.
mind with the terrible even4we about describe
ddenly seized with paralysis Of the tongue while en-
With class in the recitation room in the rear Of ,h.
tAddy. -
esphrions Of her face which folIowsd hsr Efforts d
sti} ermsd ba{ pupils IA, sureodns ahs 49, fains
ins. e 4 eRRl Il IA a. ssen ~
as ouAst dsw y Ensss iyii16 4 ~ ll
snssU Thar GtsspA ssAsssa6d d. ahpntoa a Nj ~
ny. who had charge Of the pnay department. ,ha Aoo
nezt below who opened her door, and, shs Instant
contagious the ro she swept BY the pupils behind
her into the hall edded into the descending from
the story above, and carried down stairs towards the base
meDt She tried in vim to resist the crowd and return
We should here melton that from the basement Aoo
enters the budins there is stairway leading BY
es Of short stairs and landings the top Of the building
making right anged naad of spiral staircase and form
ing sort of well about ten bet square from the roof to the
basement floor, which is usq mainly pay-room and
tagged with stone.
While Miss whitney was thriving to return, the children
came rushing down the sairsn accumulang Masses until
the stairway choked up he outer door communicating
with the street being locked the CUSTOM believe
during school hours The p3ssure from above, however,
still increased and then FOLLOWED Of horror which no
imagination can adequately cceve nor language describe
The bausten which guard II staircase gave way first
the Sottom and then the adcent rails being propoonaby
weakened, gave way from stp to step and stair STAIR and
wee precpitaed with the poor distracted and suocatng
creures who crushed against them headlong into the
pit beneath, already crowded suocation with those who
hadbeen first to reach h bottom Of the stairs, in their
TEMPT to escapeo the street Unappaed by the spectacle be-
forehem, the children from above-te thousand
eist hundred and fyone the bYiding precisely the
number of years since the birth Of Him who first proclaimed
to- these little ones that Of such is the Kingdom Of Hea-
vocame pouring down from abeve crowdng those before
tm of the staircase into the pit below, which rapidly
fling with the bodies Of the wounded the suocang tie
ding, and the dead
sight Of all these horrors seemed only to aggravate the
tos and the desperation Of those who witnessed them
md before any check could be given the Of death
be pit have described filled With human
bodies from the basement to the third step Of the stair sng
rom the second floor There lay full fourteen square feet Of
human bodies which fifteen minutes before animated
bcheerul and happy hearts, perishng with bruises
a suffcation. But this not the only gate Of death
ned to these poor terorstricken Many, find
through tas front door off tried sscapsby
(As we Whss sasp ssoenAioa, ous or two pesnhsd
OtMk H31om thss sstjndows end wsss daunesouGa,
wcg y km soon 1pvssa throaGl'ths strssl ~ e.
- ll =. NJ - !
g s6d large body of polics Ths front door W
oene( and there was presented their eyes the awful
tacle have attempted describe. AZ impossible Il
get up stairway until the bodies were removed many
tod ssst at this sad Office proceeded transport th
wounded nd the dead to the station house, only few door
dn Under the impression that FIRE had occurred,
might be rng in part Of the building others Of th
6emen xe their sdders the walls and
admission to the windows Even here they met By
tie inmates skivng make desperate escape to the street
One Of these scenes thus described in the Times of th
morning
"Whe those saracted by the cries the schoolhouse
engaged in elHcatng those who had fallen down. their
attention was arrested by small boy, who holding younger
brother BY the han stood in open window urging him
to Jump TO the pavement and calling person to
catch brother Tommy. Jump, Tommy, said be, Jump,
and III jump, too gentleman looking up, had just time
to raise his hands make effort to catch the boy he
eaped from the window Fortunately be succeeded in catch
ing him. and then his brother followed whom he also caught
The example once had ready followers, and these little
ows to the number Of twenty were thus caught as they
jumped They probably would unghtened, have hesitated
Jump onequater of the distance but almost frightened
DEATH they thought not Of the danger before 10 their strong
desire 10 escape The awful abyss behind them, into which
many Of their classmates had been driven. But Of the
nineteen or twenty thus liberated uttered word he wai
placed in safety 0ne be caught, exclaimed. Good
bye, and started for home. When, last, order
stored and the children up stairs liberated there
upon every face hst passed out from the building almost an
unearhy ook-s Wild bewdered stare, though they had
passed from the very jaws Of death"
II was soon discovered that FIRE, but the ho
rors Of the scene we're destined experience any dim
nution for BY this lime the news Of the calamity, exag
gerated but greatly distorted had spread through the neigh
borhood and moth rs and sisters Of the pupils half distracted
came rushing the crowd with ghasy faces and frantic
gestures to the fate Of their kindred and friends
BY this time most Of the bodies had been removed to the
police station wence fast they recognised they
were borne away 70 the homes Of their stricken parents
The numbsr of the killed and the injured is not ye
known. Ttis known that about fifty killed, and thirty
eight moro or les seriously wounded.l
number Of rsyscans were promptly in attendance .
the Station Ho to render such professional assistance al
could be made AVAILABLE; but, unhappy, that not much
We believe ,hst al the dead sufocaed Before th'
balusteis gave sy the lower densely packed
that those wo unbled from the stairs did not strike the
pavement bpt fell upon the heads Of those below, and
their turn wer rapidly covered with the bodies Of Others
which succeeJsd them
We viste tb, awful scene Of this disaster about hou
after it occurred The building empty. The first OBJ
iec which struck eyes the scathed and naked stair
way and the fragments Of the shattered baustrade srewec
over the basement oor The bauers not strong,