The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-05
Many Are Crushed In Stampede.
 - TEACHERS WERE P0WERLESS TO CONTROL THEIR CHARGES
 ----s----- Fathers and Mothers Raved, Cursed
 or Prayed.
 ---s-- Listis Bodies Gould Re seen wrathiss la Their Last peatA struxsie, waile strong Arms ousside Were PowerIess to Aid
 Them.

it's most terrible forms.g claimed be- tween 1e0 and I70 school children of the North coIianwood School. in the village of coiiinwood. an eastern SUI burb. today. when the school build ing. catching fire from defective furnace in the basements was, gutted in the space Of haie an hour.
 The building being inadequately pro- tected by fire escapes. the chffdren were unable to make their way to the lover floors in time to escape the flames as they shot up from the bsse- ment from the overteated furnace. The dre gained tremendous sheadway before tis presence was noted The fire driii was iTauguratsd at once and those in the rooms on the lower floors quickly moved out of the building. But when the panic stricken little ones in the upper rooms attempted to make their way to the stairway. the jam of un- controlled. and fear-stricken children grew untfl but few were able to sx- trae6te themssIyes and they perishsd almost within reach of safety.
 Various and unconfirnned statsments are made as to the cause of the fire and also that the doors of the build ing had heen locked at the front en- trance while but one door of the rear entry was unfaktened-
 The sanitor, Fritz Herter. himself be- reaved of three children, says the doors were open, according to custom. At any rate the congestion of fleeing children in the hallway below effect unliy barred the way and the little ones went to their death totally unable to evade the flames
 Fire AppaRature Ineffective.
 Within three hours after the start of the ire it had burned itself out and the work of recovering the bodies com menced. The village fire department had two engines, and neither, upon ar- rival after the alarm was gwen, was Ut all effective in etemming the flames. The school was two-story and attie brick building, constructed about six years ago. It was overcrowded with pupils. and it was found necessary to utiiIxe the attic for those of the ages between and 8, Nearly all the chil- dren were killed ;n the mass at the first floor door, which finally ewas opened by men from the Lake Shore AahWay shops, who hurried to the scene. 4 wall of flame had formed across ii and most of the chlldren already were dead by the time the doors were swung v xpproximatsIy 500 chaldren attended the scAeel which had nine rooms.
 Janitor Herter could remember little of what happeped after the nre ststtea. ,,
 T was sweeping in the basement. he said. when I looked up and saw q wisp of smoke curling out from sbe- meath the front stairway. ran to the Ire alarm and pulled the gong that sounded throughout the building. Then, [ ran frst to the front and then to the rear doors. cannot remember what happened next, except that I saw the flames shooting ali about and the chtl- dren running through them screaming. Some fell at the rear entrance ana others stumbled over them. saw lit- tie Helen among them. I tried to pull her out, but the flames drove me back had to leave my little child to die"
 Herter was badly burned about the
 Miss Catherine Weller. one of the nine teachers in the school, lost her life in a vain effort to marshal the pu- pills of her class end lead them to safe ty. She died in the crush at the rear door. Her room was on the second -fioor, and when the fire alarm sounded she marched her pupils out into the hall, thinking 1t was only fire drill. Tliere the truth dawned upon both teachers and pupils, and control was lest.
 ChiIAren in FrsnHv.
 The children in their frenzy plunged into the struggling mass ahead of them. Miss Weller attempted to stem the rush but went down under 1t and her body was found an hour later piled high with those of her pupils. Miss Weller formerly lived in Detroit. and was edu- eated tn Toledo. Miss Fisk. another teacher, was taken out alive. but she cannot live.
 Burning through the cross-supports of the first floor, the flames passed upward until all three floors creashed into a smoIdering pile in the basement. After the fire bad practically burned itself out the, e,<work of rescuing the bodies was begun by dremen and rail- road employees from the Lake Shore shops. The railroad company turned over one of it's 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 i've hours practically all had been re- covered. They were placed in rows in the Lake Shore shop. Identihcations were made only by means of clothing \ or trinkets. The Are had swept away nearly all resemblance to human fea-' tureg in the majority of instances. Dis tFacted parents soon began to gather and the work of Identification of the blaekened and mangled bodies began,
 The grewsome task of taking out the eieckoned torsos and bits of human MNanafnm vas one of horror. A line Of [