The Detroit times., 1908-03-06
DAY OF FUNERALS
AND HEARTBREAK
IN C0LL|NW00O
JANiToR HERTER's STORY OF
LITTLE GIRLS PROBABLY BEING
: INcENpIARIEs ATTRIBUTED TO
! HIS HYsTERIcAL CONDITION.

BERLIN, March 6.--Chanceilor
Won Buelow sent, for the emperor,
q message to Baron Speck Won
Sternberg, ambassador at Wash
ington, to express sympathy to
! Mayor johnson, Of Cleveland, up
on the ColIlnwood school disaster.
The German consul for ohio has
been asked whether the children
Of any German subjects wero
among the victims.
CLEVELAND, o., March 6.-This Is
the day of funerals in North Collin
wood. Sorrowing parents are follow
Ing one-third of all the school children
in the village to the cemeteries. where
their disfgured bodies are being laid
TO rest.
Twenty more bodies, II is estimated,
yet remain In the ruins, but they are
so blackened and mangled that 1t Is
difficult to distinguish them from the
debris. The search for them conse-
quently is slow. The total number OF
victims is now placed at 1870.
There Is still speculation, with var
ious conclusions, on the cause Of the
accident and the responsibility for the
same, but the authorities have been
unable TO get any nearer solution
than they were on the day of the fire.
Saw Three Girls Running.
Janitor Herter maintains that he
saw three little girls running from
the closet where lime and sawdust
that In, &c mi Inn,
they started the fire. On the other
hand 1t was first reported these little
girls were met by the janitor as they
came out Of the cellar. Moreover, an
other girl has been found who says
she saw Herter working at the fur.
mace which was smoking furiously be-
fore the fire broke out.
The authorities have been unable to
learn much from Herter.
Every time he is questioned he be-
comes frantic and shouts like a man
bereft of reason. While In this state
he bemoans the fate OF his own chill
dren, and no satisfactory conversation
can be carried on with him.
Fire Had Long Start.
The belief Is growing that the fire
must have burned for long time be-
fore 1t was discovered. otherwise iI
could not have gained such great head
way. The parents OF these children
who survived the accident are doing
all possible to assist the authorities
in discovering the circumstances lead
ing to the holocaust. The three little
girls met in the hall by the janitor.
1t Is explained, had been excused from
the room by their teacher and had
met there. When the janitor saw them
they probably were returning to their
rooms. II is not considered likely
that they would linger about the room
beneath the stairway after fire had
been started and the talk of incen-
diarism, even though innocent on their
part, Is considered by many as ridicul-
Gus.
Herter says also that he saw the
girls playing in the hall.
This, the teachers say, would have
been impossible, as children are not
IL the habit or risking reprimand by
playing In Railways while their classes
are in the busiest hours OF the day.
No general service was held today.
The little collins were taken to
churches the children attended and
grouped about. Services we're held
in every church In Collinwood. and a
great crowd joined in the funeral cor
tege to the cemeteries.
Bells were tolled throughout Cleve-
land Signs OF mourning were display
ed and in many other ways was evil
dence OF the grief OF the whole state
over the terrible happening