The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1908-03-13


narrow Railways, TANNED up against
doors that only opened inward, 10
children in the suburb of North Col.
linwood Wednesday were killed By
fire, by smoke. and beneath the grind
ing heels OF their panic-stricken play
mates.
The awful tragedy occurred In the
public school of North Collinwood, ten
miles east OF this city. One hundred
and sixty-fiVe corpses were in the
morgue at Collinwood Thursday, six
children were unaccounted for, and all
the hospitals and houses for two miles
around contained numbers of chill
dren, some fatally, and many less
seriously injured. All OF the victims
were between the ages OF six and IF
teen years. The school contained be
tween $40 and 325 pupils. and of this
entire number only about 80 are
known to have left the building I'M
hurt. 1t will be several days before
the exact number of killed Is known.
as the ruins may still contain other
bodies, and the list of fatalities may
be increased by a number OF deaths
among the children who are now in
hospitals
Thursday there were 165 bodies in
the morgue of which los had been
identified. At least 10 children were
missing.
Word was received in Cleveland
Thursday that Gov. Andrew l.. Harris
had ordered the state officers to make
prompt and searching investigation
Into the cause OF the Collinwood fire.
extend TO public schools generally.
The Collinwood council Wednesday
night began an investigation.
Bodies Visible In Doorways.
After the fire had been reduced
somewhat piles of charred little bodies
were still visible in the doorways In
the rear door bodies burned beyond
recognition lay piled five feet deep.
The flames shot up through the cen
trail halls with terrible rapidity. It
is said the children were terrified be
yond all control, and the teachers, al
though they struggled bravely to mar.
shall their charges out OF the building
In something like order, were utterly
helpless.
Those who were familiar with the
building and were early on the scene
believe that most of the loss OF life
was due to the fact that all of the
rooms were dismissed at once.
Pupils pouring down the stairs made
for the doorways already full OF chill.
dren escaping from the lower floors
The exits were soon choked The des-
perate ones behind pushed and strug
gled for their lives, driving the human
wedges the tighter in place.
Caught like rats in this manner,
they fell with the lower floor, amid the
blazing timbers, to the basement be
low. There the little bodies could be
seen writhing in their last death
struggle.
Bodies were taken to the morgue
at the Lake Shore & Michigan South
ern Railway Company's shops.
Workingmen Aid in Work Of Rescue.
Factories in the immediate neighbor.
hood dismissed their men, who went to
work in an effort to rescue the little
ones. A few minutes after the build
Ing was known to be on fire the school
was surrounded by parents, fathers
and mothers, who were frantic in their
dazed efforts TO rescue their children.
Very few were saved from among the
children who were behind the jam at
the front door. The others escaped
with slight injuries.
The school was OF the common
grade and contained 800 children rang
Ing in age from six years to H. Two
or three of the teachers also are
thought to have persisted.
The fire from the basement, in ad-
dition to filling the school rooms with
smoke, which caused the first alarm,
leaped up the stairway to the first,
second and third floors. When the
children rushed from their rooms to
the Railways they rushed into a fiery
furnace. II was in the Railways and at
the main exit where the greatest num-
Der met death. The Railways were
narrow and could not accommodate
the large number that attempted to
rush through them to reach the main
door.
Terrible Scenes Enacted.
Fearful scenes were enacted around
the burning schoolhouse. Fathers and
mothers raved. cursed or prayed.
Many tried to break through the
crowd and some got so far as to dash
toward the flaming doorways. One
big man in overalls and jumper was
restrained by force. Explaining in
broken English that his kinder" were
In the building he struggled desper-