The Colorado statesman., 1908-03-07
AWFUL SCHOOL DISASTER IN COL
LlNWOOD, A SUBURB OF
CLEVELAND.
DOORS OPENED INWARD
LITTLE ONES PENNED IN AND
TRAMPLED TO DEATH IN
WILD PANIC.

Cleveland, OnlO.-Penned IN narrow
Railways, jammed against doors that
opened only inward, ITO children in the
suburb of North Collinwood were killed
by fire, by smoke and beneath the
grinding heels of their panic-stricken
playmates. The awful tragedy occurred
Wednesday morning in the public
school of North Collinwood ten miles
east of this city.
At ten o'clock at night 165 corpses
were in the morgue at Collinwood, SIX
children were still unaccounted for and
all the hospitals and houses for two
miles around contained numbers OF
children, some fatally and many less
seriously injured. All of the victims
were between the ages of six and fif-
teen years. The school contained be-
tween 30 and 1926 pupils. and of this
entire number only about eighty are
known to have left the building un-
hurt
1t will be several days before the
exact number of killed is known, as
the ruins may still contain other bodies
creased by a number 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 nor
mally large, and the smaller children
had been placed in an attic of the build
ing. There was but one fire escape
and that was in the rear of the build
ing. 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 well.
From the time the flames were dis
covered the teachers throughout
seemed to have acted with courage and
self possession and to have struggled
heroically for the safety of their pupils
and marshaled the little ones into col
umn for the fire drill" which they
had often practiced.
Unfortunately the line of march in
this account had always led to the front
door, and the children had not been
trained to seek any other exit.
The fire came from furnace stu
ated directly under this part of the
building.
When the children reached the foot
of the stairs they found the flames
close upon them and so swift rush
was made for the door that in an in
stant tightly packed mass of children
was piled up against it.
From that second none of those who
were upon any portion of the first floor
had a chance for their lives. The chill
/ nt he n tai q O
to fight their way back to the floor
above while those who were coming
down showed them cercilessly back
into the flames below.
| In an instant there was a frightful
panic with 200 of the pupils fighting
| for their lives. Most of those who were
killed died here.
The greater part of those who es-
capped managed to turn back and
reached the fire escapes and the win.
dows in the rear.
What happened at the foot of that
first fight of stairs will never be
known, for all of those who were
caught in the full furry of the panic
were killed.
After the flames had died away, how.
ever, huge heaps of little bodies
burned by the fire, and trampled into
things of horror, told the tale as well
as anybody need to know it.
Varied and uncontirmed 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 one door of the rear entry
was unfastened.
The janitor, Fritz Herter, himself be.
reaved of three children, says that the
doors were open, according to custom.
At any rate, the congestion of fleeing
children in the hallway below effectu-
ally barred the way, and the little ones
went to their death totally unable to
evade the flames.
Within three hours after the start OF
the fire it had burned itself out, and
the work of recovering the bodies pro-
ceeded.
The village fire department had only
two engines, and neither, upon arrival
after the alarm was given, was at all
effective in stemming the flames.
Miss Catherine Weller, one of the
nine teachers in the school, lost her
life in a vain effort to marshal the pu-
prrs of her class and lead them to
safety. She died in the crush at the
rear door.