Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-03-01

SUFFOaTED SCHOOL CHILDREN.
An ineipiat Blaze Frightens the Inmates OF a
NETWORK School, and Terrible Loss
OF Life Ensues.

New York, Feb. 20.-Shortly before
) o'clocksthis afternoon, the children in
the Parodlial School, 1893 and 200 East
Fourth Street,, attached to the German
Church o the Holy Redeemer, were
thrown in panic by the sudden APP
pearance n the class-rooms of smoke.
a genera. stampede took place, and
ended onli when eleven Of the unfortu-
nate chilpen were killed and many
Others more or less injured. There
were at TIN time about 700 children in
the building, 500 boys and 200 girls, the
ages rangi.g from six to fourteen years.
The fire frum which the smoke spread
through tie building, bringing such ter
rible results to the innocent pupils, was
OF the mos trivial character. Ii started
among mass of sweepings, in a closet.
beneath tie stairs, leading from the sec
ond to the third floor on the east side of
the building II had been smouldering for
some time, and had eaten its way
through to the center of the partition
wall, dividing the hall from the class
room IN the fpnt, and crept up toward
The third floor ere it was discovered.
AT this moment a visitor called at
the school to see one of the pupils in
the nth class which is on the second
moor, and the door of which opens al
most oppositeand within five feet of the
closet in which the sweepings were
burning. 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 its hinges, when
the flames burst out from under the
stairway. The Sister hastily shut the
door, but net until some OF the children
in her care had caught sight of the hre.
All efforts toquiet them were in vain, and
they rushed madly from the classroom.
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 widest confusion ensEed.
The school building is five stories in
height, and has nine class-rooms
for girls and twp for boys. The rear of
the school abtts at the rear of the
Church of the Holy Redeemer, which
fronts on Third Street. There are two
stairways, one on the east and and the
other on the west end of the building.
The stairways we're about three and a
half feet wide, guarded by broad ban
lister, and almost at the doors of the
class-rooms; but from play in
the center of the building were APP
preached by 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
the upper floor were upon them All
frantically fought to get down the mar
row stairway, and the first were thrown
headlong to the bottom. Then, as the
crush came from the hundreds of chill
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 these others fell, until
they We're piled up five feet high on top
of each other. Then it was that Special
Officer Lambert, of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ar
rived with the police and proceeded to
rescue the dead and injured. The street
was packed with people, and the widest
excitement prevailed in the neighbor-
hood. The fire department was
promptly on the scene, and soon eXtin-
guished the flames. The scene in the
class-rooms after the panic was almost
indescribable. Torn books and broken
school apparatus and fragments of torn
clothing were scattered upon the floors,
terrible evidence of the wild struggle
of the children to escape from the build
ing. The remains of the dead, fifteen
in number. were removed TO the police
station at the corner of Sixth street and
First avenue, where they were laid in q
row on the floor in the back room. De-
putty Coroner Donlin took his place in
front of the door, and as each poor
mother and ia ther, or other relative,
polntod ont their dead, took down the
names. Besides thes. t-r. $1,000 fatally
and about twenty seriously injured.