Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-01-02
LITTLE ONES PERISH.
ELEVEN CHILDREN BURN TO
DEATH AT QUINCY, Ill.
Several More Fatally Injured in the
Flames FrightfuI Tragedy Occurs
While Rehearsing Hundreds of Pu-
pills in st. Francis ParochiaI Building.

Eleven persons We're burned TO death,
eight others fatally burned and half a
dozen injured in the most narrowing dis
aster OF years in Quincy, H., at o'clock
Friday afternoon.
While a score of happy children were
on the stage in the auditorium of St.
Francis Catholic school rehearsing for
Christmas entertainment, the garments
of one OF the children came in contact
with burning gas jet. In an instant
the flames spread over her. The little
ones screamed and as they and the sis
tiers rushed to each others assistance
the terror of the situation appalled, them
and panic followed The fire depart
ment hurried to the scene and the flames
were quickly extinguished. but there re-
manned the task of taking out charred
bodies and of rescuing the little ones
who Were lying in half-suffocated an
guish.
The dead are: 1rena Freiburg, May
Wavering, Mary Althof, Bernadina
Freund, CoIletta AIiddendorf. Mary
Hickey, Wilhelmina Guttendorf, Olivia
Timpe, Addie Futterer, Josephine
Bohme, Margaret Warner
In the hall at the time of the calamity
there were between 500 and 900 pupils
of the school and number of children
from Saint Aloysius' orphan asylum, near
by. They had been invited to attend
the dress rehearsal which had begun
early in the afternoon and eight numbers
on the program had been given before
the tragedy occurred. The ninth num-
Der was tableau, THE Birth of Christ, z
and every one of the little girls, ranging
from 8 to II years of age, who We're to
take part in it is either dead or fatally
burned
The girls were just preparing to take
their places on the stage, when Laurena
Menke, who was adjusting her mask,
came in contact with the gas jet in the
dressing room. In an instant she was
enveloped in flames and as she ran
screaming among the other girls their
clothing was set on fire.
The screams of the sisters and horror
stricken girls behind the curtains start
ed q panic in the front part of the hall
and before any Of the girls whose cloth
ing had been set ON fire had emerged
from the stage the juvenile audience
was rushing pell nell down the stairs to
the street. Oscar kaufman, 9 years old,
leaped from a third-story window, but
suffered nothing more than a broken fin
ger. But for the fight against the flames
made by Father Andrew and the sisters
the list of dead and injured would have
been much longer. Probably the sad
dest sight was that presented by little
Bernardino Freunde who ran down the
H. Of hon. 10Th 40
burned OF and threw herself into the
arms of man, crying, u am BERTHE
Freund," and fell lifeless to the floor.
The excitement inside the building was
soon intensified by the situation without.
Crowds congregated in an instant and
parents soon came searching with anX-
ious eyes for their little ones. The land
ing at the third floor was a combination
of hospital and morgue Bodies charred
to crisp were lying there, side by side
with forms in which life still remained.
Father Andrew was seriously burned
about the hands Prof. Musholt and
Sisters Theotama, Ludwiga, Redultha
and Ephren were also badly burned IN
rescuing the children who ran through
the halls and around the building, shrek
ing and begging to be saved.
St Francis school is where the mem
bers of the congregation of st. Francis,
Catholic Church, one of the largest and
most fiourishing in the city, educate their
children. 1t is a handsome new building
across the street from the imposing
church. In the rear of the church is the
ST. Francis monastery, and in the block
adjoining is ST. Francis Solames Col
iege, one of the largest of its kind in the
West. All of these institutions are To-
Gated in the northeast part of the city.