The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-02-05

NEW YORK, Feb. "a FIRE in public
school No. SO yesterday demonstrated two
facts-the usefulness Of the FIRE drill for
pupils and the bravery. amounting in the
/ case of at least one woman 10 baCoism. of
the teachers. When the flames we're dis
covered about twenty-five hundred boys
were in the school It stands in 10th
Street. between Second and Third Ave
nues, and is surrounded by tenement
houses. in which many Of the pupils live.
When it became known IN the neighbOr
hood that the school was on fire. the panic
the screaming and the groaning upon the
outside far exceeded that which was going
on within In the street fear-crazed moth
ers by the score were calling for their
sens and trying to force their way into
/ the snoke-flled halls In the chooI cool
headed teachers. seemingly though less Of
/ self were marching their charges i: or
/ derby procession to the sound & piano
playing out of the rooms and down the
/ stairs 10 safety
Not child was lost One might have
! been put for the fortitude Of teacher,
/ Miss TART Her class was composed of
/ little boys By the time she gOT them all
/ out in the hall her classroom was full of
/ smoke. Just as she was about to follow
,
stairs she heard sob behind her. Back
into the binding cloud she CROPPED her way
and guided by the sound Ct sobs, soon
struck her foot against a tiny lad who was
lying on the floor. half-Choked and alto
/ gether too frightened to walk. Miss TART
picked him up in her arms and bore him
after the others
/ The fire started IL a storage room on
! the ground floor. Miss TaTrt's string Of
/ boys had to pass-the door of this room
When they came 10 it flames were darting
. out of the crevices between the door and
the door jambs The little fellows dared
not proceed Miss TART at once ordered
them to get down on their hands and
/ knees and crawl past This they did and
/ reached the street safely Miss TART
could not crawl. because she had the tiny
lad still in her arms So she ran and
jumped past the door The greedy flame
licked at her but only scOrched her dress
Another woman who displayed great
( GOODNESS in the face OF imminent danger
was Miss Bessie Higgins. the music teach
eT- AS soon as J. ]. Casey. the principal.
learned that the school was on fire. he
I quietly told Miss Higgins and asked her
. to 90 TO the piano and strike Up quick
step. Not knowing whether she would
. ever get out OF the building alive or not,
the young woman calmly sat down 10 the
piano and without a false note played the
lively music increasingly until all the boys
were out of the building Not until then
did she think of her own safety, but she
got out all right
As soon as Mr. Casey had told Miss Hig-
/ gins to begin playing he rang the fire
/ gong. This was a familiar sound 10 the
( boys. for they had frequently been eXer-
/ cised in the fire drill. and knew just what
+ TO do. Instantly they sprang TO their feet
/ in all the classrOOms and stood Al aJcen-
ton. They did not know whether this
was only another fire drill or a real fire
] Soon they found IL was the real thing FOR
/ they smelled smoke. and saw it creeping
/ along the ceiling. Signs Of fear were
I shown by some
! STEADY, boys. steadyr' ordered the
J teachers. and the march began in perfect
! order. This order was maintained until
/ the children got to the bottom OF the
| stairs. and there the yelling IN the street.
| the noise of the fire engines, and the lad
| der companies and the general confusion
| caused them TO break ranks and make a
| rush for the exits The combined energy
| Of teachers, fremen. and policemen was
| sufficient however, TO prevent the boys
/ from becoming damned in the dooTw1y5,
| and all were got out with nothing worse
| than bruises and a bad scare
There was a lot of paper and rubbish N
| the stOreroOm where the fire started,
| about 1I-4J a n and this room is just
| over the boiler The school janitOr is
| Thomas WiberIy. The Board OF Education
! pays it's jantors handsome salaries More
| than 4 score of them get $4,000 a year
! All Of them get more than is paid to
| many teachers. An Investigation is prom
! ised by the fire marshal The fire burned
| out the storage room. shot up a dumb
! waiter shaft and Vas reaching OUT TO the
/ adjacent rooms when the fremen threw
| deluge of ~ater into the shaft End
| drowned IL ou-. The less IS about s. COO