Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-12-30
ELEVEN LITTLE GIRLS
BURNED TO DEATH
Tragic Result Of a Christmas En-
tertainment Rehearsal at
Quincy, III.
FANCY COSTUME CATCHES FIRE
tirst Little Victim Rushes into n
Group Of Companions ard the
Clothes of All Are
soon Abiaze.

school children of st. Francis paro-
chial school, Seventeenth and Vine
streets, were rehearsing yesterday af-
ternoon for an entertainment 10 be
given next Tuesday evening, one of
their dresses caught fire from gas
jet and ten minutes later four OF them
were burned 10 death, two died an
hour later and five others died before
midnight. Half "a dozen others were
burned more or less severely.
The dead.
IRENA FREIBURG.
MAY WAVERING:
MARY ALTHOFF.
BERNARDINA FREUND.
COLLETTA MIDDENDORFo
MARY HICKEY.
WILHELMlNA GUTTENDORF.
OLIVIA TIMPE.
ADDIE FUTTERER
JOSEPHINE BOHME.
MARGARET WARNER.
All these are between 8 and u years
of age, Helen Soebenning and several
other teachers, Father Nicholas and
Professor Frank Musholt were pain
fully burned in trying to save the chill
dren.
room. Three or four girls were there
dressing for the rehearsal and laugh
ing gaily among themselves. \ dozen
others were grouped in the wings of
the stage near the foot Of the stairs
descending from the dressing room.
The girls in the dressing room had
nearly completed their costumes when
ore of them brushed against the gas
jet, but which girl it was will never be
known. A touch of the fame was suf-
ficient and i'm an instant her dress of
cotton and light cloth was I'm blaze.
She screamed and ran out Of the room,
communicating the blaze to the others
>as she ran. One of the girls, with her
dress i'm blaze, jumped out Of a small
window into the stairs. 4 flaming
torch she was, as she almost fell down
stairs and rushed into the groups of
children standing I'm the wings. They
were all clad like her, in fancy COS.
tunes OF cotton, lace and silk, and the
fire spread with incredible rapidity
from one TO the other. There were
fourteen children i'm the east Of the
Christmas entertainment, and only Il
few escaped. 1t was all over i'm ten
minutes and in that time four per-
ished, seven were fatally burned and
others more or less severely injured
The children were panic stricken
and rushed this way and that, scream
ing with pain. But the agony was
brief. Only a few minutes elapsed
and then four Of them sank 10 the
floor dead. Others fell, TOO, but they
still lived. suffering eNcruciating
agony The school hall was filled
with children and many more would
have been killed in the panic had it
not been for the prompt work of the
dcachers and sisters, who were in
charge of the entertainment The
children were in Il panic for n few
minutes and rushed for the doors, but
prompt efforts quietcd them and no
one was hurt in the rush.
Prof. Frank Musholt, n teacher of
The school, was standing at the foot of
the stairs from the dressing room
when he heard the cry of fire" and,
turning to where il came from saw
the fash of flame in the dressing
room. lie was half way up the stairs
nt one bound when he met child
cushing and tumbling down, mass of
Games from head TO foot. Tearing of
his coat. he threw il around the blaz-
ng child and cndeavored TO eNtin.
yuish the flames, but, crazcd by pain
ind fright. she jumped out of his
Erms and rushed on down past him,
ttill wrapped in his coat, into the
group of other children standing
Sbout i'm the wings of the stage.
The shrieks and screams of the in
iured were agonizing. The little ones
ay helpless and impotent on the floor
md writhcd about in their agony. The
lead Mcre charrcd in most eases b..
goad recognition. The home of Peace.
!ul pleasure had in an instant become
charnel house. The doctors fitted
about on their missions of mercy,
seeking to supply soothing lotions to
hose who were still alive and seek
ng also to cover the charred bodies
Of the dead with blankets or other
.overing. The excitement inside the
building was soon intensified by the
,ituation without. The crowds con-
Rregatcd in an instant, and parents
soon came searching anXiouSly for
heir little ones. The landing at the
,hird floor was q combination of hos
oital and morgue.
All the telephone lines in the nct gh-
5orhood were in service summoning
surgeons, and in very few moments
nearly all the doctors in town were
IN hand. Besides the many parents
within the smoke stained walls there
were numbers Of heartbroken with
out. They screamed as the scenes
came to them, and il the child or
loved one was among the dead and
wounded their grief gained mastery
and there was Il collapse which re
uuired the attention Of the doctors.