The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-07-31

8}N@ In some way the
report spread
among the children of the lower east
side of this city that the new public
school at Bayard and Mulberry streets
is buAt on ground that was once 2 GEM
etery, and that a ghost-a bugaboo-
haunts that school. AS this report
spread from child to child, youthful
fear evolved a devil, with horns and
tail, from the bugaboo.
Indeed, an agent of this devil, the
children sole1nnly aver, went to gram
mar school No. 80, and on a big black
board there wrote this awful warning:
Il will come to all the schools and
scare all the children
Seven hundred girls attend that
school-children who live in the
densely poulated neighborhood, chill
dren OF parents foreign-born, children
some so young that they have not yet
rid themselves of imported supersti-
tions.
The girls of the primary school were
playing in the Fairgrounds allotted to
them during recess, the other day, the
larger girls were already drawn up in
lines in their %playroom on the ground
floor on the Ridge street side, each
class awaiting the bell hat would re-
call them to the room upstairs.
A little girl shouted:
There is the devil!' And other very
small girls took up the cry.
Il see him! He's pinching me!!'
yelled some.
They ceased their games, dropped the
jackstones they were deftly tossing on
the tagged ground, and wildly STAN
peded toward the Ridge street door,
struggling and pushing with all their
might, screaming at the top of their
lungs, "The devil! The devil!'
In their wild flight the very little
girls had to pass the larger ones, drawn
up in the playroom. They were fright
ened, too, and, breaking their lines,
joined in the rush for the door. In the
entryway some children fell and others
piled on them, until there was q con-
fused mass of children there kicking,
screaming, and struggling to free
themselves. At least fifty children
were piled up. So says j. Bockar, a
very intelligent druggist, whose shop is
two doors from the school, and who ran
to help the children.
Girls who were not caught il this
mass of children ran into the street
and to their homes near by. Instantly
the report spread that the school was
on fire. Mothers, fearing for their Off
spring, ran out of the tenements and
towards the schoolhouse, some of them
with appraised arms, imploring mercy
from high heaven as they ran.
Rivington street and Ridge street
were soon filled with intensely-excited
persons, who, in various tongues,
shouted the names of their children,
and who could not be made to under
stand in plain English what was really
the matter, and that further than being
bruised more or less severely, no n
was injured.
The extreme of these folks absurd
fear, or folly, was shown by 1sidcr
Goetz, a man 81 years old. Goetz ex-
citedly pointed to the roof of the school
and shouted, There's the devil, I see
him. See his horns!"
With Bockar, the druggist, Police
man John Boothney, on duty at the
school, and Janitor Shaubach ran to
the Ridge street entrance when the
girls came pouring out. They olsen
tangled the engaged mass, urged those
on their feet to return, and helped to
calm the fears of all.
Miss Sarah j. Burke, principal of
the female department; Misses Nicolai,
Berghold, Drack, De Mile, and Alb
rahams, the girls teachers, hurried
downstairs and quietly and quickly re-
assuring their pupils, soon formed
them into lines and led them up to the
school rooms. In fifteen minutes the
childen were studying or reciting their
lessons.
The 700 boys, shut off on Rivington
street, knew nothing of what was going
on, were ignorant of the devils visit.
But a more substantial devil was
still among the crowds in the street,
who would not be treasured. They
really tried to storm the school to re-
assure themselves Of the children's
safety. Policeman Boothney sent a
messenger for aid to the Delaney
street police station, two blocks away.
Sergt. Ryan was sending out the
afternoon section. Putting them in
command of Roundsman Robert r.
Powers, the sergeant sent them to the
school on the double quick. Very sud-
denly the crowds were forced from the
middle of the streets to the sidewalks,