The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-03-01

and Sixteen of Them are Killed and Sew
eral Others Seriously Injured-Pitiable
Scenes.
NEW YORK, February 20.
An outbreak of fire under the stairs on the
second floor of the school-house attached to
the German R2man Catholic Church of the
Most Holy Redeemer, on Fourth street, be-
tween Avrnue A and First avenue, at 3:l5
o'clock this afternoon, caused q panic wh ch
resulted in the death of fifteen little girls and
he manning of many others. Over seven
hundred scholars, mostly children of the poor
sr classes, ranging from six to eleven years
In age, attended the school and were in
heir class rooms whea an alarm of firo
was given. The sisters quickly marshaled
the ch ldren, aud before half min
ate hal elapsed half of them had reached
the street by one stairway. the other
being useless by reason of the fire and smoke.
The other half would have quickly marched
out unharmed, but that the sister in charge Of
No. class, overcome by the peril of her,
charges, swooned away. This class immedi-
ately became panicStrcken, broke away from
all restraint, threw the other rapidly ly-marching
classes into confusion, aud all rushed for the
hallway. On the stairs, already crowded, q
deadly crush took place. The railing Of the
stairs broke, and mass of struggling children
was precipitated to the floor below The little
ones fell in a packed mass, one upon another,
from four to five deep. The police and fire.
men, who had already been summoned, ar
rived; but their work of rescue was much
hampered by the frightened children, who
continued to fall or leap from the stairway,
those in front being crowded over the broken
balustrade by those behind, still struggling to
re oh the exit.
The fire from which the smoke spread
through the building, bring ng such terrible
results to the innocent pupils, was of a most
trivial character. 1t started among mass Of
sweepings in the closet beneat1 the stairs
leading from the second to the third floor, on
smoldering for some me, and had eaten its
way through to the center of the partition
val alt dividng the hall from the class room in
visitor TsS escd at tse school to
hcH is the RSSPs RgSsP Second in hs Sor s se
door of which opens almost opposite
70 and within five feet of the closet in which
knocked at ths door, which was opened by one
OF the sisters of Notre Dame, by whom tho
swung back on its hinges when the flames
burst out from under the stairway. The sister
hastily shut the door, but not until some of the
fire; All efforts to quiet them were in vain,
and they rushed madly from the classroom.
smoke now rolled out OF the closet in great vol
umes, and in few seconds spread to all parts
Ct the building, and scene of the widest con-
The school building is five stories Ugh and
has nine class-rooms. seven for girls and two
| for boys. The rear of the school abuts at the
which fronts on Third street. There are two
stairways, one in the east g I'd the other in the
west west end Of tie building. These stairways were
almo st at the o-s of the Aass-rooms. FIR m
| the play-room, in the center of the building,
Iassage way. When the girl. in the second
| for of the school rushed from their
w "a fhQ hnv orir frr,.r fto
upper floor were upon them. All frantcally
| fought to get down the narrow stairway, and
Then, as the crush came from the hundreds m i Of
children trying to get down from the upper
floors on the east side of the building the bal
| ustrade gave way, the -balusters going with IL,
| and fully fifty children We're thrown to the
| floor beneath. On these others fell until they
oficer Lambert of the Sc Society Gle y for ro the Pre- Pre
| vention of Cruelty to Children, happened to he
on East 4th street, nearly op ros:te the school,
| rushed into the build NJ, AMI terrible s'git
| met my eye' Packed into narrow hallway
Th ns .H
ing and struggling with all their might. By
| this time other police and cirizens had arrived,
the hallway. The CT es of me of the children
at the bottom OF the pile grew fainter and
fainter, I'M, ,: and then then, ceased d, altogether"
out und the staircase on the second floor and
was easi,y. ext'ngui he'd. L examined the
have been swept with the pap ers under the
stairs ~, and been ignited by the friction with
| Policeman Reid said: "On the floor behind
| the staircase lay mass of struggl ng, scream.
ing children. They were piled on top of each
out, and Iass them one by one through the
window. Those on top were still alive. When
we reached the o.tom we came upon Ten
| dead. 1t was an awful sight to see them lying
there with their blanchel faces, mouth and
eyes wide open, and their dresses all in disor,
der One little girl, Minnie Truke, was still
alive. She died. however on the way to the
stat:on-house. 1t was the most awful 8 ,ene ]
ever passed through" The dead were eremoved
to the Police staten on Fifth street and First
avenue, where they were laid in a row on the
floor in a back room. They were all quickly
brothers and sisters; and the removal of each
t. the afflicted no ne of the family was prompt
ly permitte by the authorities:
| From the heap of children in the west hall
six dead girls, from seven to te1 years of age,
were taken and carried in o the church. where
they they were la, Ia In front Of Of ~ sanctuary and
Mothers forcing the way in, ;spite the large
force Of police, filed the sacred building with
tiful cries. One r2cocni ed her dead chiId
and f:n upon it with sgonizing shrieks. The
policemen AMI monks turned away dazei al
bodies were aken up in the @ arms Ct the oii:cer. M
and carried out. "A clamoring. .shreking
moaning tbrong of women, with upliftet
hands and st! erm ng eyes followed Mothers
finding their mi IS ng ch'ldI en- still living, fel
upon the rknces in tine m i'd IN snow giving
| II anKS. IN the stati. II house the frantic
shrieks proclaimed the ide Itification of eact
little dead one. Tho ages of the children wht
are dead and in ured rJnge between seven ant
Twelve years.
The scene in tn classroom and in the half
after the panie WIS almost indescribable
Torn books and broken school apparatus, ant
| fragments of torn clio: hes were scattered upor
the floors, terrible evidence of the wilt
struggle of the children to escape from tht
building survey shows that every rule ant
precaut:on for safety in the school had beer
disregarded. On four floors there are min,
class-rooms, opening into two Railways, witt
stairs running east and west, reaching eithe
end of the building. Through the clas ss-rcom
access can be had to either stairway, but tn
halls and stairs are separated. In nearly ever.
room the doors open inward. and there is onl
one door in each room for the egress of from
thirty to eighty children, mostly young girls
The doors were only two and q half feet wide
The stairways, likewise. were narrow, and a
, the top of the highest flight there is stou
wo den gate not easily novel Actua
measurement showed the door when ope
came withing eleven nches of the end of th
nearest benches-hardly room to squeeZ
through The backs of the benches were with
in twenty-four inches of the rear wall, and tn
, | stove bl )cked all progress at the junction g
the passage-way and the center aisle betwee
| the row of benches
| - I'll