The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-03-28

CHICAGO, March 21.-Fire in the
South Evanston public school today
caused a panic among the pupils. Sew
eral of the children jumped from the
fourth floor and were injured. Those
whose injuries may prove fatal are:
Newell Simonds, head and shoulders
injured.
Ella Sagert. legs broken.
Percy Bradley, internally injured.
Esther Burden, injured about head.
Lucy Hustable badly burned.
Carrie Johnson, burned.
Frank Johnson, fireman badly cut by
glass.
Samuel Mack. expressman. crushed by
debris.
The pupils on the second floor of the
building were driven by the flames and
smoke to the upper story whence they
were rescued by the firemen. Teachers
and pupils We're panic stricken and
many We're knocked down and trampled
upon in the rush for the exists.
After the building was thought to be
deserted, ten-year-old Lucy Hustable
was found unconscious on the third
floor She was badly burned and her
recovery is doubtful. The building,
which cost $4,000, was total loss.
During the fire the burning building
was surrounded by a crowd of agonized
men and women whose children were in
danger, and who added TO the intense
excitement by striving to break through
the police lines ard rescue the impris-
oned little ones. Miss Foster, teacher
in lower grade, discovered the fire just
as the 'childl en- were preparing to so out
/ for recess. She had gone TO a closet for
her hat and had 10 sooner opened the
door than the flames burst into the room
with a roar The children were para
lyzed with fear for an instant, and made
no effort to escape. Then they fell 10
screaming and all rushed To the doors.
Miss Foster ran hastily upstairs to the
office of +. W. Nichols, the principal,
and the panic-stricken pupils followed
/ her. blind with fright. Principal Nichols
warned the teachers in the other rooms
as soon as he could and telephOned TO
the fire department Before the engines
arrived, however, the flames had made
such headway that the building was past
saving. In the meantime the greatest
excitement and confusion reigned in the
school house. Five hundred children
and a dozen teachers We're trying to
break through the front door. The
flames soon cut off the hall leading to
the other entrance and a 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 of the third
floor and raised them. People in the
yard shouted to them to remain quiet,
but several clambered out on the lodges
prepared to jump.
The scene about the burning building
was appalling. The firemen were en-
deavoring to lift ladders 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
ground forty feet below. 1t was Newell
Simmons. He fell on his shoulder and
was picked up senseless. Almost i'm
mediately afterward Esther Burden
! leaped from an adjacent window on the
same floor Another girl named Sar-
| gent, jumped, striking squareiy 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 injur-
| les The firemen rescued several chill
dren who were perched on the window
| lodges ready to drop.