The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-03-02
CRUSHED TO DEATH.

chial School Causes . Panic Among the
Little Scholars-The Frightened Chill
dren Leap or Fall Down the Stairway,
and sixteen Of Them are Killed and Sew
eral Others Seriously Injured-Pitlable
Scenes.
NEW YORK, February 20.
An outbreak Of fire under the stairs on the
second floor of the school-house attached to
the German Roman Catholic Church of the
Most Holy Redeemer, on Fourth street, be
tween Avenue A and First avenue, at 3:15
O'Clock this afternoon, caused a psnic which
resulted in the death of fifteen little girls and
the manning of many others. Over seven
hundred scholars, mostly children Of the poor.
er classes, ranging from six to eleven years
in age, attended the school and were in
their classrooms when an alarm of fire
was given. The sisters quickly marshalcd
the children, and before half min
ute had elapsed half of them had reached
the street by one stair'say. the other
being useless by reason of the fire and smoke.
The other half would have quickly marched
out unframed, but that the sister in charge Of
No. class, overcome by the peril of her
charges, swooned away. This class immedi-
ately became panfc-stricken, broke away from
all restraint. threw the other rapidly marching
classes into confusion, and all rushed for the
deadly crush took place. The railing of the
stairs broke, and a mass of struggling children
was precipitated to the floor below. The little
ones fell in 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- CHI the exit.
The fire f.om which the smoke spread
through the building, bringing such terrible
results to the innocent pupils, was of most
trivial character. 1t started among a mass of
sweepings in the closet beneath the stairs
leading from the second to the third floor, on
the east side of the building. 1t had been
smolderlng Tor some me. and had eaten its
wall dividing the hall from the classroom in
front, and had crept up toward the third floor
ere it was discovered. At this mo
see one Of the 'G pupils ' IN s she fifth 10
class, which is on the second floor, the
door of which opens almost opposite
the of 1he in
knocked ut 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 its hinges when the flames
ourst 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
ire All efforts to quiet them were i'm vain,
and they rushed madiy from the class room.
Smoke now rolled out of the closet in great vol
umes, and IN few seconds spread to all parts
Of the bui ding, and scene of the widest con-
fus on ensued.
The school building is five stories high 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
stairways, one in the east and the other in the
about three and hall feet WIDE and opened
almost at the doors of the clsss-rooms. From
the pay-room, in the center of the building
tns was IA. apprW9sehed by narrow. dark
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 floor were upon them. All franticaly
Fought to get down the narrow stairway, and
the first were thrown headlonR to the bottom
Then. as the crush came from the hundreds 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 were thrown to the
moor beneath. N these others fell until they
were piled five Get high on top of each other
Officer Lambert, of the Society for the Pre-
yention of Cruelty to Children, happened to be
on East 4th street, nearly op posite the school,
when the alarm was given. He saws: /" /
rushed into the build ng, and a terrible sight
met my eyes. Packed into narrow hallway
five little girls. The poor things were scream.
ing and struggling with all their might BY
this time other police and citizens had arrived.
and we began pulling the poor children out of
the hallway. The cries of 9 ONE of the children
at the bottom of the pile grew fainter aud
fainter, and then ceased altogether
detective Robin son said: THE fire broke
out und r the staircase on the second floor and
was easily extinguished. l examined the
place, and 1t seems to me some matches must
have been swept with the papers under the
ieyrpif tod hxyt fvn
the floor"
Policeman Reid said: "On the floor behind
the staircase lay mass of struggling. scream
ing children. They were piled on top of each
other As quickly as poss. bic we pulled them
out, and Iass d them one by one through the
window: Those on top were still alive. When
we reached the lotion we came upon ten
dead. Ii was an awful sight to see them lying
there with their blanched 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
station-house 1t was the most awful scene
ever passed through" The dead were removed
avenue. where they were laid i'm a row on the
floor in back room. They were all quickly
identified by rrow-stricken mothers and litt!a
brothers and sisters; and the removal of each
t the afflicted home of the family was prompt.
ly permitte by the authorities.
From the heap Of children in the west hall
were taken and carried into the church wher,
they were Ia d in front of tt sanctuary, and
attempts were made to resuscitate them
Mothers forcing the r way in. d aspite the large
force of police, filled the sacred building with
p tiful cries One recognized her dead child
and fell upon IL with agonizing shrieks The )
policemen and monks turned away da7 ell ut
the spectacle. Conveyances arriving, this
bodies were taken up in the arms of the officers
and carried out A clamoring shrieking |
moaning throng of women, with uplifted |
hands and streaming eyes followed. Mothers, |
finding their miss ng children still living fell !
upon Their knees in the mud AMI snow giving |
Il anks. In the station house the frantic
shrieks proclaimed the identification of each |
little dead one. The ages of the children who |
are dead and injured range between seven and
twelve years.
The SCENE in the classroom and in the halls
after the panic was almost indescribabe |
Torn books and broken school apparatus. and |
fragments of torn clothes were scattered upon |
the floors. terrible evidence of the wild |
struggle Of the children to escape from the |
building. A survey shows that every rule nd |
precaution for safety in the school had been |
disregarded. On four floors there are nine |
class-rooms, opening into two Railways, with |
stairs running east and west, reaching either |
access can be had to either stairway, but the |
halls and stairs are separated. In nearly every |
room the doors open inward. and there is only |
one door in each room for the egress of from
thirty TO eighty children, mo- ty young girls |
The doors were only two and half feet WIDE |
The stairways, likewise. were narrow and nj /
the top Of the highest fight there is stout |
measurement showed the door when open |
came whiting eleven inches of the end of the |
nearest enthusiastically room to squeeze
through. The backs of the benches were with |
in twenty-four inches of the rear wall and the |
stove blocked all progress at the junction of