Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-03-12
SCORES Of CHILDREN
PERISH IN FLAMES
SCHOOL HOUSE AT COLLlNWOOD,
O., is SCENE OF HOLOCAUST.
BUILDING WAS A FIRE TRAP.
More than 16o Children Were Burned
or TrampIed to Death-A Majority
of the Victims Were Less
than IL Years of Age.

Cleveland. o. - The worst disaster
that has ever befallen Cleveland is
the fire which destroyed the Lake
view school in the suburb of Collin
wood causing the death of 163 boys
and girls and two teachers.
Nothing in any way approaching this
disaster has ever happened in Ohio.
This fire, which began at 10 a. m.
Wednesday in the basement of a
school building that proves to have
been fire trap, quickly shut off the
egress of the children by the stair
ways, and they were burned or tram
pied to death in the panic which en-
sued. Even the Cool-headedness of the
teachers failed to stem the panic, al
though they succeeded in directing
many of the children to the fire es-
capes. by means of which they left the
building in safety.
The school building is on Collamer
avenue, north of the Lake Shore rail-
road track.
The flames shot up the stairways
and shut off that means of escape.
A panic ensued among the pupils
and all rushed for the doors. A large
number of them became wedged in
the doorway at the steps leaving the
building.
The pupils were mostly very young
children, ranging in age from to -.
When the egress of the panic-strick-
en- little ones was blocked at the door,
most of them fell in their efforts to
escape. Many of these were trampled
upon and many of them were killed in
that way. The others pressing on be-
hind walked over their dead bodies.
The halls were filled with smoke and
flames were bursting up from the base
ment. The scared children poured
from their rooms into this great fur
mace, where many of them met terrible
deaths.
The exits were soon jammed.
Though the double doors were opened,
the doorways We're stopped by wedges
of struggling children. Men who ran
up outside tried in vain to dislodge the
bodies.
A man named Dorm, recognizing his
daughters body in the jam, tried to
pull it out, only to have the little arm
tear loose in his hands.
Three children, Mary Ridgway, Anna
Roth and Gertrude Davis, were among
those who jumped from third-story
windows and were killed.
The panic that had worked such
fearful results inside the building
spread to the crowd outside, but only
for brief time. Organized efforts at
rescue were soon under way. Fire
men played streams upon the piles of
bodies in the doorways and tried to
drag out the bodies with rakes and
other Implements.
Grace FiSke, a teacher, was burned
to death. She was 26 years of age.
wit in
Katherine Weller, third grade teacher,
turned back into the burning building
to save the lives of others and lost her
own. Her mangled body was pulled
out of the smoking ruins at nightfall.
Around her lay the corpses of many
of the little ones who called her
teacher" and had looked to her not in
vain in the hour of their extremity.
The dead were mostly of two grades,
ranging from 8 to 10 years of age.
These were in rooms on the two lower
floors. Most of the pupils from the
third floor escaped practically unhurt.
Those who were familiar with the
building and were early on the scene
believe that most of the loss of life
was due to the fact that all of the
rooms were dismissed at once. Ru-
mors that the doors were locked in
some cases, or that they opened in
ward only, were denied
The building was of brick, three
stories high and built in 1901 Most
of the pupils were children of work
men employed in the Lake Shore
shops, Kuhlman car works and other
plants in the big industrial suburb.
In all, 365 children were in attendance.
The building was completely de-
stroyed.