American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-11-21

AWFUL CALAMITY IN New YoRK-From the
papers received this morning, we quote the fol-
lowing heartrending narrative, We have read
it with tear-dimmed eyes and deep emotion.
Henceforth let every sohool-house in our land
be constructed Alright, with due adaptedness to
its uses
New YORK, Nov. 20.-A terrible accident oc-
CURED this afternoon at 2 o'clock, at the new
public school ON Greenwich avenue. Miss Har-
rison, teacher in primary school No. 26, was
observed, probably from the closeness Of the
room, to faint On seeing this, number Of
children ran to her side. Others became alarmed,
and in their fright raised the cry of fire. This
soon caused the greatest alarm and consterna-
ton among the little, unsuspecting innocents.
Almost in moment they, as with one impulse,
made general rush for the doors and windows,
and the stairway, which, it seems, was Of spiral
form, and running from the first to the fourth
story of the building.
Soon the press against the balustrade became
so great that it gave way, precipitating to the
floor below, which was Of fag-stones, used for
n playground nearly or quite one hundred of
the little ones. The scene at this moment was
awful and heartrending beyond description.
Child after child rushed down the horrible pit,
crushing beneath their weight those who had
gone before, while others leaped voluntarily out
of the windows and others threw themselves
down the chasm, mingling their life-b blood with
those already dead and dying. More than
seventy children thus rushed into the jaws Of
death and, although few escaped being Sc
riously injured, some fifty were instantly killed.
The calamity would have been still greater
but for the presence of mind of Mr.. McNully,
the principal, who was in the fourth story, and
who, on hearing the cry of fire, Immediately
placed himself against the door, declaring that
none of the children should 60 out in this man
ner. His GLASS; by this means, escaped inevita-
BILE destruction.
The following is list of the dead thus far
ascertained Emma Gidersleeve, Anna Slate,
Jacob Spinstead Matthew Wood, Edwin Glen
roy, Sarah Bogart, John L. and Anne Wooley,
Catharine Doway, Julia Delano, A. Won Tassel,
Miss Brown, Lucy Carlow, John Knapp, Anna
M. Hill, John McMann, Mary G. Baxter, Sarah
Bogardus, Chas. E. Moore, George Mills, Anna
Van Dusen, George Walden, Jane M. De Voc,
Jane Elursa, Della Alderman, Abby A. Jacobs,
Amanda Hoff, Anne Pike, George Quackenbuss,
Margery Stephens, Harry Abbott, Morris Wal
dron, Sarah Leny, Catharine Reynolds, Eliza
0. Neill, Mary Harper, Mary Teackard. Be-
sides these, many others were dreadfully in
jured.
A large number were Immediately carried to
their homes by their bewildered parents, so
that the full extent Of the calamity cannot yet
be fully ascertained
The excitement at the school, and at the
Ninth Ward station house, has been such as is
seldom or ever seen in our city.
The spectacle Of parents clasping their dead
and dying children beggars all attempt at de-
scription. The scene was most lamentable to
behold.
The police and staff, the recorder and mayor,
and many medical gentlemen, were promptly
on the spot, rendering the sufferers all the aid
in their power.
An inquest will be held at nine o'clock, to-
morrow morning, when the true cause of this
direful calamity will be more fully known.
7. S.-1O3, p. m.-Since the above was sent
it has been ascertained that besides those killed.
some 20 or so are maimed-some of them for
life. Many of the little ones are so dreadfully
maugled as to be scarcely recognizable by their
parents. A number of the wounded, it is sup
posed, cannot survive.
No language can half depict the distress
which exists in consequence Of this most melan-
choly disaster.