Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-03-12
Fearful Loss Of Life in Burning
School at Collinwood, O., a
Suburb of Cleveland.
GREAT JAM in DOORWAYS
Tots Rush PelImelI for Exits,
Which Are Soon Clicked
With Humanity.
LESS THAN HALF ESCAPE

OF the Three Hundred and Twenty
five in the Building at the Time Of
the Catastrophe About Ono Hun
dred and Fifty Get Out Alive and
of This Number Only Eighty Were
Uninjured.
Cleveland, March 5.-Penned In mar
row Railways, damned up against
doors that opened only inward, be-
tween ITO and $50 children in the
suburb of North Collinwood we're
killed by fire, by smoke and beneath
the grinding heels of their panic
stricken playmates.
The awful tragedy occurred in the
public school of North Collinwood, a
suburb of this city. One hundred and
eixty-seven bodies have been taken
ont of the ruins, one of the injured IS
dead and six pupils still are missing
possibly part of the ashes that lie IN
the cellar of the burned school.
All of the victims were between the
ages of six and fifteen years. The
school contained between 80 and 325
pupils, and of this entire number only
about eighty are known to have LETT
The building unhurt.
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 chill
aren had been placed in the upper
part of the building. There was but
pne fire escape, and that was in the
rear of the building. There were two
stairways, one leading to a door in
front and the other to a door in the
rear. Both of these doors opened in
Ward and it is claimed the e door
was locked as we'll.
Teachers Acted C~ourageously.
When the flames were discovered,
the teachers, who throughout seen to
have acted with courage and self-pos-
session and to have struggled heroic
ally for the safety of their pupils, mar
shalled the little one into columns
for the fire drill" which they had
often %practiced.
Unfortunately the line of march in
this exercise had always led to the
front door and the children had not
been trained to seek any other exit.
The fire came from a furnace situat-
ed directly under this part of the
building. When the children reached
the foot of the stairs they found the
danes close upon them and so swift
a rush was made for the door that in
an instant a tightly packed mass OF
children was piling up against it.
From that second none of those who
were upon any portion of the first
fight of stairs had a chance for their
lives. The children at the foot of the
stairs attempted to fight their way
back to the floor above, while those
who were coming down showed them
mercilessly back into the flames be
low. In an instant there was a fright
full panic, with 200 of the pupils fight
ing for their lives. Most of those who
were killed died here. The greater
part of those who escaped managed to
turn back and reach the fire escape
and the windows in the rear.
Various Rumors AfIoat.
Various and unconfrmed statements
are made as to the cause of the fire
and also that the doors of the building
had been locked at the front entrance
while but m door of the rear entry
was unfastened. The j%anitor, Frit.
Herter, himself bereaved of three chill
dren, says the doors were open, &C
cording to custom. At any rate tn,
congestion of fleeing children in tn,
hallway below effectually barred tn,
way, and the little ones went to thei
death totally unable to evade tn,
tames.
Within three hours of the start O
the fire 1t had burned itself out ant
the work of recovering bodies pre-
ceeded. The village fire department
had only two engines, and neither ul
on arrival after the fire alarm wa
given was at all effective in checkin,
the flames.
Miss Catherine Weller, one of tn
nine teachers in the school, lost he
life in a vain effort to marshal he
pupils and lead them to safety. Sh
died In the crush at the rear dool
Her was on the second floor an
when the fire alarm sounded sh
marched her pupils out into the hal
thinking it was only a fire drill. Their
the truth dawned upon both teache
and pupils, and control was lost. TIL
children in their frenzy plunged int
the struggling a ahead of then
Miss Weller attempted to stem til
rush, but went down under it and he
body was found an hour later pile
high with those of her pupils. Mis-
Fisk. another teacher, was taken o,
alive, but she died later.