The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-03-25
III CHILDREN KILLED IN BURNING SCHOOL;
RAMPLE ONE ANOTHER TO DEATH IN PANIC

utes before the IRE reacneu tndI
| point.
This is one of the tragedies OF the
school fire: y
One of the faces in the wall of
those that blocked up the rear door
of the burning school was that of
Jennie Phillis, aged fifteen. Mrs.
John Phillis, who lives a few doors
from the building, vas n OF the
first to get to the fire. h picked
! out her daughters face among the
scores of those she saw. Volunteers
had formed a Gordon about the door,
but the agonized mother broke
through and rushed into the passage
way. ..
@Oh, Jennie, please come out!'
begged the mother
IT can't, ma; oh, help me if you
cant" cried the child.
The mother seized both Of her
daughters hands and pulled with all
her strength, but she could not drag
Jennie out from the crush. She
| turned to men who were in the pas
sage way and begged them to help
her.
One man pulled with the mother at
Jennie's arms, but they could not
move her.
ats no use, ma" said the girl.
ave got to die"
At that Mrs. Phillis became re-
signed to her daughters fate. She
held the girls hands, and the two
talked for some minutes together.
The fire crept up through the mass Of
heads. A tongue of it blew out over
Jennie's head. 1t began to scorch
her hair. Then the mother thrust
her, bare hand into the fame. She
stroked her daughters hair and kept
the fire away as long as she could.
"Oh, thank you, ma" breathed the
dying girl. 1t was the last she said.
They dragged the mother from out
the smoke and fame. 1t was found
that her hand with which she had
stroked the fire from her daughters
head was burned to the bone. Fall
ing glass had cut an artery in her
wrist. She was cared for by the doc
tors at the scene.
Mrs. Clark Sprung was the first
mother to reach the school after the
alarm. Her son, Alvon Sprung, seven
years old, was a pupil in the second
grade, The woman struggled to enter
the building, but was stopped by the
Jam in the doorway. She was Shrek
ing in despair when she saw her sons
face at a window on the second floor.
She shouted to the boy to wait there,
and running a block to her home, she
| returned in a few minutes with a lad
der. She went up to the window and
smashed. through it with her hand.
She caught her son by the hair and
attempted to lift him out. The floor
was giving way under his feet, and
he had just strength to hold himself
erect. Suddenly flames shot up
through the floor and enveloped the
boy. Mrs. Sprung had dragged him
almost halfway across the 1ndoW
ledge when the flames burned his hair
in her hands and he dropped back of
his weight to death. The woman
tainted and fell from the ladder. Two
men broke the force Of her fall, but
she was taken to her home in a SER
ious condition.
The floors fell in rapid succession,
and it was, only half an hour after
the first alarm when the roof crashed
down. The wooden beams in the
floors and roof were consumed quick
ly, and the wreckage let down in
heaps on the bodies of the victims.
The water thrown on the fire was
turned into steam, and this only
served TO carry quick death to any
survivor of the collapse of the whole
interior of the structure. At 1890,
three hours after the fire started, the
first of the bodies were taken out.
At $50 o'clock 140 bodies had been
recovered. These were taken in auto
mobiles, carriages, wagons and bug
gies to one of the buildings of the
Bodies were found piled five deep
in the basement below the front and
real doors. The majority of these
children had been trampled to death,
but so intense was the heat that near
ly all the bodies were burned. One
mother recognized the body of a son
by shoes, which we're bought for the
little fellow before he went to school.
The boys arms and head were burned
off. More than half Of the faces were
disfgured beyond recognition and
Identification was made by clothing.
The body of a girl was identified by
the remnant of a pinafore she re-
ceived that day as a birthday gift.
She was Lillian Bostock, six years
old. In the centre of the basement
many bodies were found burned al
most to cinders. These victims had
gone down in the collapse of the
stairs and they were caught in the
full flare of the flames.
It is feared many Of the bodies new
er will be identified, and the fremen
searching the ruins say that undoubt-
eddy some Of the children were
| burned to ashes.