Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-22
FIRE IN A CHICAGO SCHOOL.
Hundreds of Pupils Panic-Stricken
and Several Jump From Windows.

Atho SSNSEoh SuhAp
Fire in the South Evanston, Chicago. pub
lie school yesterday caused a panic among
the pupils. Several of the children jumped
from the fourth floor and were injured. but
only three Of them were BADLY hurt. Those
whose injuries may prove fatal are:
Newell Simonds. head and shoulders In
jured.
Ella Saggart, legs broken.
Percy Bradley, internally injured
Esther Burden. fatally injured about head.
Carrie Johnson, burned. probably fatally.
Frank Johnson. fireman. cut by broken
glass.
Samuel Mack. expressman. crushed by
falling debris.
Miss Foster. teacher In a lower grade.
discovered the fire just as the children were
IN oosS 9o f and
sooner opened the door than flames burst
into the room with roar.
The children were, paralyzed with fear for
an instant and made no effort to escape:
Then they fell to screaming and all rushed
to the DOORS
Miss Foster ran hastily upstairs to he Of
flee of F. w. Nichols. the principal. and the
panic-stricken pupils followed her. blind
with fright.
Principal Nichols warned the teachers in
other rooms as soon. as he could and tele-
phoned to the fire department..
flames had made such Roadway that the
building was past saving.
In the meantime the greatest excitement
and confusion reigned In the school hCuse.
Five hundred children and a dozen teachers
were trying to escape through the front
door.
The flames soon cut off the hall leading to
the rear entrance and rush was made for
the other exit.
There were 200 pupils on the first floor;
most of them ran out to the yard. Some Of
the last to reach the door became terrorized
at the sight of the flames raging at their
backs and rushed upstairs. Those on the
second and third floors were coming down
IN charge of the teachers, who tried TO pre-
serve order.
Some of the pupils ran to the windows in
the hallway on the third floor and raised
them. People below shouted to them to re-
main quiet but several clambered out on
the lodges prepared to jump
The hremen were endeavoring to lift lad
ders to the windows, while the parents In
the yard and streets about the school house
were shouting to the children clinging to
the windows to hang on or go back and
DESCEND the stairs.
Finally a boy stood up In a third-story
window and jumped too the ground. forty
feet below. It was Newell Simmons. He
fell on his shoulder and was picked up
senseless.
Almost Immediately afterward, Esther
Burden leaped from an adjacent window on
the same floor. Another girl. named Sagert,
jumped, striking sQuarely on her feet and
sank to the ground with a shrek OF pain.
Physicians say that her right leg is broken
and that she may have sustained serious
internal injuries.
The fremen rescued several children who
were perched on the window lodges ready to
drop.
During the fire the burning building was
surrounded by a crowd Of men and women
whose children were in danger, and who
added to the intense excitement by striving
to break through the police lines and rescue
the imprisoned little ones.
After the building was thought to be de-
serted fireman found ten-year-old Lucy
Hostible unconscious on the third floor. She
was badly burned and her recovery Is
doubtful.
The building was valued at $4,000 and
was total loss.