Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-03-22

CHICAGO, March 21.-Fire in the
South Evanston public school to-day
caused pnnic among the pupils. Sew
eral of the children jumped from
the fourth floor and were in
jured. Those whose injuries may
prove fatal are: Simonds Newell,
head and shoulders injured; Saggert,
Ella, legs broken; Bradley, Percy, in
ternally injured; Burden, Esther, fatal-
ly injured aoout head; Johison, Carrie,
burned probably fatally; Joynson.
Frank, fireman, cut by broken glass;
Mack, Samuel, expressman, crushed by
falling debris.
The pupils on the second floor OF the
building were driven by the flames and
smoke TO the upper stories, whench
they were rescued by the fremen.
Teachers and pupils were panic stricken
and many were Knocked down and
trampled upon in the rush for the exits.
After the building was thought to be
deserted, fireman found ten year old
Lucy HostibIe unconscious on the third
floor. She was badly burned and her
recovery is doubtful.
The building, valued at $4,000, was
q total loss.
DURING THE FIRE
the burning building was surrounded
by mass OF agonized men and women
whose children were in danger. The
children were paralYzsd with fear for
an instant and made no effort to es-
cape. Then they fell to screaming and
all rushed TO the doors. Miss
Foster, teacher in the
lower grade, ran hastily up
stairs to the Office of +. w. Nichols, the
principal, and the panic stricken pupils
followed her, blind with fright. Princi-
pal Nichols warned the teachers in the
other rooms as soon as be could,
and telephoned to the fire department
Before the engines arrived, however,
the flames haj made such headway that
the building was past saving. Five hun
dred children and dozen teachers were
trying to escape through the front
door. The flames soon cut of the hall
leading to the rear entrance and arush
was made for the other exit.
THERE WE'RE 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 up stairs. Those oR tho
second and third floors were
coming down In charge OF the
teachers who tried TO preserve order.
Some OF the pupils ran to the windows
In the hallway on the third floor and
raised them. People In the yard below
shouted to them TO remain quiet, but
several clambered out on the lodges,
prepared to jnmp.
The scene about the burning building
was appalling. The frsmen were en-
deovoring to lift ladders to the windows
while the parents In the yard and
streets about the schoolhouse were
shouting to the children clinging to the
windows TO hang on, or go back and
descend the stairs.
Finally boy stood up In
third story wlndow and
JUMPED TO THE GROUND.
forty feet below. Il was Newell Sim
mons. He fell on his shoulder and was
picked up senseless.
Almost Immediately afterward,
Esther Burke lesped from an
adjacent window on the same
floor. Another girl named San
CERT jumped, striking squarely on
her feet and sank 70 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 tiremen rescued several children,
who were perched on the window
lodges ready to drop.