The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-04
MOTHERS MAKE SCHOOL PANIC
THTLE 1900 TOTS MARCH DOWN
FIRE ESCAPES SAFELY.

AIIFHl IuDiS 'tlo obs ~ ENAiltu oifeGt
7orwenn Avenues G and d, had just re-
mrQei for the afternoon session yesterday
and we're getting ready to go through
me CEREMONY of closing the classroom
doors when there was an explosion in
room Sc. IN the third floor. The accident
VA, Inc to- defective valve ON the radiator.
II WAS of such force that il ratified the win
dovs and was heard on every floor OF the
building.
After the valve blew up a cloud Of steam
filed the room and threw the fifty pupils
there into a panic. They mistook the
sloan, for smoke, and many thought the
8 hool was burning. One of the girls rushed
toward the door screaming "Fire!"
Miss Ella T. O'Brien. the principal. heard
the explosion and was on her way up the
stair when the cry of fire came. She in
creased her speed and when she reached
room 50 she found il full of steam and
frightened children. As she passed up the
STAIRS she noticed that there was great
connection in other classrooms. and she
decided 10 sound the call for the fire drill.
Three times the gong was sounded on each
floor, and considering that all the pupils
we're girls. some OF them not more than
4 years old, they responded in splendid
fashion.
Meantime the teachers in the building
had recognized the seriousness Of the situ-
alton, and they met it with great GOODNESS.
As soon az the alarm was sounded Miss
Volkel, a teacher on the third floor. ordered
the children to form in line, and she played
a march on the piano as they filed toward
the fire escapes on the front of the building.
On the second floor the music was played
by one of the pupils, a girl OF eight, who
not only showed no signs Of fear but helped
10 quell the impending panic by starting
to sing a little marching song which is popu-
lar in the school.
One by one the frightened children joined
in and soon they we're all singing as they
marched along toward the escapes. TIL
children on the first floor, who were the
youngest of the lot, were led out through
the main entrances without accident of
any kind.
BY this time order was pretty we'll re-
stored on the upper floors. Many of the
children called for their mothers, but they
were held in line by the music and the as
surfing words of the teachers, who kept
telling them that there was not the slightest
danger. They marched TO the escapes
two by two, each class headed by its own
teacher. Soon the fire escapes on the front
Of the building were crowded the teachers
leading the battalions and deeping the
pupils from pushing down on those in front.
When they looked down from the dizzy
height to the street some Of the little girls
skrieked in fear. but every one Of them got
down in safety.
But the real excitement had only Just
begun. The school is in a thickly popu-
lated neighborhood and the news that the
pupils were being burned alive spread like
a prairie fire. This vas one of the schools
at which there were riots last summer when
the report was circulated that the Christians
were cutting the threats of the children
because the Health Department physicians
were working over the children's threats.
The mothers heard that their children were
teing butchered and rushed in swarms
upon the schools and the police had the
time of their lives to keep them from break
ing in and seizing their children.
When the pupils got out on the fire escapes
yesterday preparatory to descending there
was already a great crowd Of shrieking,
hysterical men and women in front of the
building %wringing their hands and calling
upon their children to jump. Then the
father of one of them, an Italian, lost his
head and, running to the corner, turned in
an alarm of fire. When hte engines and
trucks came laundering up with whistles
blowing and bells ringing the uproar in
The n~eighborhood became frig htful. The
street was jammed with women tearing
their hair and lamenting over the loss of
their little ones.
At the time there we're only four police
men on the scene, three OF them having
been summoned from the neighborhood by
Policeman Barnes, who had that post. They
lined up at the main entrance and did what
they could to keep back the mothers, who
fought to get into the building and rescue
H. A-a -.ak l. laA@-.
we're swept asiee and the mothers, running
INTO the school called loudly for their chill
dren. They swept against the teachers,
calling down maledictions upon their heads
and demanding that their little ones be
delivered to them.
The lines Of the pupils were then march
ing steadily to the music Of the pianos.
The cries of the women caused the lines to
way and for a time il looked as though
there would be a break. The teachers.
however, stood firm. Several of them
we're punched and pounded by the frantic
mothers, who cried out that their children
were being burned TO death. Miss O'Brien,
the principal, was pushed and hauled about
and she received several heavy blows upon
the body. Even the %janitor, John J. Moran
did not escape the wrath of the women.
He had shut of the steam in the building
and was doing all he could to help the
teachers keep order when the first batch
burst in upon him. One blow that he re-
cAived knocked him down.
Hasless and ooatless men and women with
disordered hair continued to come from
far and near and every one in the CROWD
seemed TO nave gone crazy. Mothers stood
With upifted arms to the children on the
escapes who were coming down two by
two. and called to them TO jump for their
lives.
.Yump, Rachel. yump, ind | catch you!"
cried one of them with tears streaming
down her cheeks.
Mine Sadie! Mine Sadie! Oh, we're can
she be?" was the wall OF another.
Then another rush was made on the
doors Of the school and Policeman Barnes
sent 70 Police Headquarters for the reserves.
luckily the I O'Clock tour was just starting
and a big squad from Fifth street and the
Union Market was sent to the school on a
rIn.
When they arrived the confusion was
wilder than ever. Women and men were
stll begging the children to jump. AZ
each pupil arrived at the street she was
grabbed up and kissed and Rugged as though
she had Just escaped from a deadly peril.
When a semblance of order had b cen
restored by the reserves and most Of the
children had landed safe in the street the
excitement broke out afresh and again