The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-12-23
A JUVENILE HOLOCAUST.
Little Girls Were Preparing For
Christmas Entertainment, i
AND ELEVEN BURNED TO DEATH.
The Children, Ranging I'm Age From
Nine to Eleven Years, Were Dressed
tact with Gas Jet. 4

| In Flimsy Attire-One Came In Con-
tact with Gas Jet. 4
Quincy, Ills. Dec. 23.-While the
| school children of St. Francis Paro-
chial school, Seventeenth and Vine
streets, were rehearsing yesterday af-
ternoon for Christmas entertainment
to be given next TUESDAY evening. one
Of their dresses caught fire from q
gas Jet and ten minutes later four Of
| them were burned to death, two died
an hour later and five others died be-
fore midnight. Half dozen Others
were burned more or less severely.
The dead: Irena Freiburg, May
Wavering. Mary Althof. Bernadina
Freund, Colletta Middendorf. Mary
Hickey, Wilhelmina Guttendorf, Olivia
Timpe, Addie Futterer, Josephine
Bohme and Margaret Warner. All
these were between and II years OK
age.
Helen Soebbing and several other
teachers, Father Nicholas and Profess
sor Frank Mushold were painfully
burned in trying to save the children.
The fire started in a little dressing
room. Three or four little girls were
there dressing for the rehearsal and
laughing gayly among themselves A
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 one of them brushed against
gas Jet but which one 1t will never
be known. A touch of the fame was
sufficient, and in an instant her dress
of cotton and light cloth was In a
blaze. She screamed and ran out of the
room, communicating the biaze to the
others as she ran.
One of the Girls, with her dress In a
blaze. jumped out of small window
into the stairs leading to the stage.
and then down the stairs. A flaming
torch she was, as she almost fell down
the stairs and rushed into the groups
of children standing in the wings
They were all clad like her. in fancy
costumes of cttton lace and silk. and
the fire spread with incredible rapidty
from one to the other. There were
IA children in the cast of the Christ
mas entertainment and only few es-
capped 1t was all over In ten min.
utes. and in That time four perished,
seven were fatally burned and Others
more or less severely injured.
The children were panic stricken and
rushed this way and that, screaming
with pain. But the agony was brief.
Only a few minutes and then four Of
them sank to the floor dead. Others
fell, too, but they still lived. suffering
eXcruciating sgony.
The school hall was filled with chill
dren. and many more would have been
killed in the panic which followed had
i. not been for the prompt efforts Of
the teachers and sisters who were in
charge of the entertainment. The
children were in a panic for few
minutes and rushed for the doors. but
prompt efforts qnieted them and no
one was hurt IN the rush.
The shrleks and screams Of the In
jured were agpnizing. The little ones
lay helpless and impotent on the floor
and writhed aDout In their agony. The
dead were charred In most cases be-
yond recognition. The home Of peace-
full pleasure had in az instant become
a charnel house. The doctors fitted
about on their missions of mercy, seek
ing to supply soothing lotions to those
who were still alive and seeking also
to cover the charred bodies Of the dead
with blankets or other covering.
The excitement inside the building
was soon intensified with the situation
without. The crowds congregated IN
an instant, and parents soon came
searching anAlously for their little
ones. The landing at the third floor =
was combination of hospital and
morgue Besides the many patients
within the smoke stained walls. there
were dozens of faint.ng and heart
broken women without. They scream
ed as some of the scenes came to them,
and II the child or loved one was
among the dead or wounded their grief
gained the mastery and there was a
collapse which required the attention
Of the doctors,