Morning journal and courier., 1883-02-21
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. Tramp|ed To Death. FrightfuI Panic in a School
 Room. THE CHILDREN LOSE THEIR HEADS. A Number of Them Fatally
 Crushed. THE SENATE DONE WITH TARIFF. 1 Passage Of The Bill As
 Amended.
 NEW YORK.
NEW YORK.

I NG AO1GN.
 Fatal Panfc-schooI Children Scared
 By a Rush of Smoke-Scholars Piled
 Up Five Feet high in the Stampede
 Eleven of Them Killed and Many In- | jured.
 NEW YORK, Feb. 2O.-Shortly before three o'clock this afternoon the children in the parochial school Nos. 198 and 200 East Fourth street, attached to the German Church
 of the Holy Redeemer, were thrown into a panic by the sudden appearance of smoke in
 the class rooms. A general stampede took place and ended only when eleven of the un- fortunate children were killed and many others more or less injured. There were at the time about seven hundred children in the building, five hundred girls and about two
 hundred boys, their ages ranging from six to l fourteen years. The. fire from which the
 smoke spread through the building, bringing such terrible results to the innocent pupils, was of the most trivial character. It started | among mass of sweepings in closet be- 1 meath the stairs leading from the second to l the third floor on the outside of the build ing. It had been smouldering for some time
 and had eaten it's way through to the centre
 
 class room in the front and crept up toward | the third floor ere it was discovered. At this moment visitor called at the school to see l one of the pupils in the fifth class, which is on the second floor and the door of which opens almost opposite and within five feet of the closet in which the sweepings were burn ing The visitor knocked at the door which was opened by one of the Sisters of Notre Dame, by whom the school is conducted. Scarcely had the door swung back on it's hinges when the flames burst out from under the stairway. The sister hastily shut the door, but not until some of the children in her care had caught sight of the fire. All efforts to quiet them were in vain and they rushed madly from the class room. The smoke now rolled out of the closet in great volumes and in few seconds spread to all parts of the building and scene of the wild est confusion followed. The school building is five stories in height and has nine class rooms, seven for girls and two for boys The rear of the school abuts at the rear of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, which fronts on Third street. There are two 1tairwaySi thd tbar one on t,a the sst east
 
 end of the building. These stairways were about three and half feet wide, guarded by broad balustrade and opened almost at the doors of the class rooms, but from a play room in the center of the building were ap- preached by 8 narrow dark passageway. When the girls on the second floor of the school rushed from their class rooms, they had hardly reached the head of the stairs when the boys and girls from the upper floors were upon them. All frantically fought to get down the narrow stairway and the first were thrown headlong to the bottom. Then as the crush came from the hundreds of chil- dren trying to get down from the upper floors on the east side of the building the balustrade gave way and fully fifty Of the children were thrown to the floor beneath. On those others fell until they were piled five feet high on top of each other. Then it was that Special Officer Lambert of theSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ar- rived with the police and proceeded to res- cue the dead and injured The street was packed with people and the widest excite ment prevailed in the neighborhood. The fire department was promptly on the scene and soon extinguished the flames. The scene in the class rooms and in the halls after the panic was almost indescribable. Torn books and broken school apparatus and fragments of torn clothing were scattered upon the hoor-a terrible evidence of the | wild struggle of the children to escape from the building.
 The remains of the dead were removed to the police station at the corner of Fifth street | and First avenue. where they were laid in ! row on the floor in the back room. Deputy | Coroner Donlin took his place in front of \ the door and as each poor mother and \ father other relative pointed out their | dead took down the names. The names of those indentiied | are as follows: Minnie Uste, aged nine, 279 | East Fourth street; Mary Haberlecht, aged TTJ1-s- 111o
 aged ten, 146 East Seventh street; Josephine | Narr, aged seven, .234 East Third street, Mary Ann Ratt, aged eight, 615 East Ninth 1 street; Mary Brecht, aged SIX, 229 East Third street; Barbara Bruckmeyer, aged ten, 175 East Third street; Lizzie Alatrisky, aged l six, 54S East Fifth street. In the residence l of the sisters laid Adolphe Mandel, aged
 eight years of 29O East First street, suffer ing from contusions about the body and shock. He was attended by doctor who pronounced his injuries as not necessarily fatal.
 Sister Apromie, who had charge of the fifth class of girls, said: tI was in charge of my
 class when the fire first broke out in the hallway adjoining my room. heard com motion outside and great confusion and hub
 bub of voices. At once I turned toward
 the room door and then for the first time discovered smoke coming in :hrough the
 wainscoting. I immediately went to the
 door and as I opened it to learn the cause of | all the excitement the flames rushed in at me. | then at once closed the door and was about
 to warn the children to keep calm, when
 some men came bursting into the room. In
 8 moment the children ran out at the bidding
 of the men and I followed, seeing all were l escaping. Many of them, however, went to ! the stairs at the west side of the building and were injured by falling oyer the stairs where l the boys had broken down the banisters be- fore them. There were about a hundred ! girls in my class"
 The sister in charge of the first division oi
 the girls department on the fourth hool 1 said: ''I was not aware of what was going or I until looked out and saw the boys on my
 floor running over to the west side stairs and
 going wildly down. I heard the banistel give way and then was about to turn to look at my charges, when they all arose and as Il ) seized with one fright dashed past me and l recklessly ran down stairs. I saw none of
 my girls injured and they disappeared SC quickly from my sight hoped they had all escaped in safety" The sister appeared calm and composed and seemed to have retained her possession during the trying mo- ments of her narrowing experience.
 Commissioner Brennan, of the charities
 and correction, hastened to the scene soor
 after the accident occurred. He sald :-
 s'This is the worst experience have passed
 through in twenty-five years. It is some
 thing terrible, Just think of eleven little ones lying on the floor of the station house dead. It is something awful to see the hali
 crazed parents Identifying their dead;
 feel for them, for I have four children
 myself. will send ell the dead
 children that are identified nome tonight. have already summoned
 the wagons from the foot of East
 Twenty-s sixth street. One little girl named
 Mary Ann Halt have already had taken
 home" Policeman Reid of the Fifth street
 police station said: Policeman ReyWood' NieIs and myself were the first to reach the l scene of the accident. We were sent there by Captain Mccullough I entered the hall way where 8 horrible sight met my view. On the floor behind the staircase, the banis ter of which had given way, lay mass ei
 struggling, screaming children, piled on tor
 of each other As quickly as possible we pulled them out and passed them one by one 1 fhro,1oh tha window. Those on top were