The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-06
NEARLY 200 YOUNG CHILDREN PERISH
IN FLAMES Of BURNING SCHOOL
Miss Fisk, another teacher. wa

Miss Fisk. another teacher, was
taken out alive but she cannot live.
Burning through the cross supports
of the first floor, the flames passed up
ward until all three floors crashed
into a smoldering pile into the base
ment.
After the fire had practically burned
| itself out, the work of rescuing the
bodies was begun by fremen and rail-
; road employees from the Lake Shore
shops. The railroad company turned
over one OF its buildings nearby to
be used as a temporary morgue and
thither the charred and broken little
bodies were removed as fast as they
could be dug from the ruins. Within
five hours practically all had been re-
covered They were placed IN row in
the Lake Shore shop. Identifications
were made only by means of clothing
or trinkets. The fire mad swept away
nearly all resemblance of human fea-
lures. Distracted parents soon began
to gather and the work of identifying
the blackened and mangled corpses
began.
The grewsome task of taking out
the blackened torsos of bits of human
remains was one of horror. A line of
rescuers was formed, backed by half
a dozen ambulances. AS the bodies
were untangled from the debris they
were passed along to the stretchers
and thence loaded in the ambulance.
Mercifully covered with blankets the
pitiful sights were yelled from the
crowd Of curious. AS fast as a load
was obtained it was driven away to
the unprovised morgue, to be sue
ceeded by another within a short
time.
The sights of the human charnel
house caused the men delving into
the mass of burned flesh to hesitate,
but they had to smother their feelings
for the time being as they tenderly
handled all that was mortal of the
little tots.
AS the temporary morgue in the
Lake Shore shop, the scenes became
four-fold in the intensity of human
suffering as fathers, mothers, brothers
and sisters passed up and down the
lines formed of one hundred and six
ty corpses. To facilitate indentif1cation
the bodies were numbered as they
were received at the mOrgue. The
first identification was made by the
mother of Nelson and Ommy Thomp-
son, aged and years, respectively.
The head and arms mad been burned
from both bodies, but the mother
recognized the shoes on her children's
feet And SO the disheartening work
went on, accentuateJ now and then
~ piercing shrek and plaintive
moan as loved one was recognized
IT, clothing or token, such as ling
or necklace.
About the burned school house there
are but few residences. In one of these
Mrs. Clark Sprung lived. Her little
boy, Alyon, aged 7, was pupil in
the second grade When the fire start
ed the mother ran over to the school
and arrived when the first floor was
a mass of flames At window On that
floor she saw the face of her boy. He
recognized her and pleaded for help.
Rushing across the street, Mrs. Sprung
secured a step-ladder and placed it
against the window Climbing up she
reached for her boy. She caught him
by the hair. 1t burned off in her hands
and the lad fell back into the flames.
Desolation unspeakable hangs over
the vicinity of the school and the
whole village of Collinwood. The
school board met in special session at
the temporary morgue late this after
noon to discuss the calamity while the
coroner prepared to hold an inquest to
determine the cause and place the re-
sponsibility for the fire.
The awful tragedy occurred this
morning in the public school of North
Collinwood, ten miles east of this city
At 10 o'clock tonight one hundred and
civ
at CollinwOod, six children were still
unaccounted for and all the hospitals
and houses for two miles around con-
tanned numbers of children, some ia
tally and many less seriously injur-
ed.
All Of the victims were between the
ages of 6 and IS years. The school
contained between 80 and 325 pupils,
and of this entire number only about
so are known to have left the build
ing unhurt. 1t will be several days
before the exact number of killed is
known as the ruins may still con-
tain other bodies and the list of fa-
talities may be increased by a num-
Der Of deaths among the children
who are now lying in the hospitals
lowering between life and death. The
school house was of brick, two stories
and an attic in height The number
of pupils was more than normally
large and the smaller children had
been placed in the upper part of the
building. There was but one fire es-
cape and that was in the rear Of the
building. There were two stairways,
one leading to a door in front and the
other to door in the rear Both of
these. doors opened inward and it Is
claimed the rear door was locked as
we'll.
When the flames were discovered the
teachers. who throughout seem to have
acted with courage and self possession
and to have struggled heroically for
the safety Of their pupils marshalled
the little ones into column for the fire
drill which they had often practic-
ed.
Unfortunately the 1iue of march IN