The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-03-05
WOMEN GO MAD
ON SLAUGHTER
OF CHILDREN

stem the rush, but went down under Il
and her body was found an hour later
piled high with those of her pupils Miss
Weller formerly lived ii Detroit and
was educated III Toledo. Miss Fisk, an
other 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 crashed into smol-
dering pile into the basement After
| the fire had practically burned itself out,
| the work Of resctlipg the bodies was
begun by firemen and railroad employees
from the Lake Shore shops. The rail
road company turned over one OF it's
buildings nearby to be used as tenn
prorary morgie, and thither the charred
and blackened little bodies were removed
as fast as they could he dug from the
ruins. Within five hours practically all
had been recovered
Taking Out the Bodies.
The gewsome task OF taking out the
torsos and bits of human remains was
one Of horror. A line Of reseuers was
formed backed BY half dozen ambu-
lances As the bodies were untangled
from the debris they were passed along
to the sfretchers and thence loaded in
the amulances. Afereifully covered with
blankets the pitiful sights were yelled
from the crowd of curious gathered about
the entrance to the structure. As fast
as a load was obtained it was driven
away to the improvised morgie
The sights Of the human charnel house
caused the men delving into the mass
OF burned flesh to hesitate, but the work
had to be done and done quickly, so they
smothered their feelings for the time he
ing as they tenderly handled all that was
mortal OF the little ones.
AT the temporary morgue in the Lake
Shore shop the scenes became fourfold
IN the intensity Of human suffering as
fathers. mothers, brothers and sisters
passed up and down the lines formed
OF 100 corpses To facilitate identified
tion, the bodies were numbered as they
were received at the morgue The first
identification was made by the mother
Of Nels and Tommy Thompson. aged six
and nine years respectively. The heads
and arms had been burned from both
bodies. but the mother recognized the
shoes on her children's feet, And SO the
disheartening work went on, aecentuated
now and then BY piercing shrek or
plaintiye moan as a loved one was recog-
nized BY clothing or token, such as ring
or necklace
A Teachers Statement
Miss Gollmar a teacher. said:
1T was awful / can see the wee
things Ia my room holding out their
tiny arms and crying to me to help
them. Their voices are ringing Ia my
ears yet, and | shall never forget them.
When the alarm gong rang ! started |
the pupils to marching from the building 4
When we started down THE front stairs
we were met hv 4 solid wall of flame. /
and clouds OF dense smoke We retreat
ed, and when We turned the children be- /
came panic stricken and I could not do I
anything with them Thev became lam
med in the narrow stairway. and knew I
that the only thing for me to do was /
TO get around to che rear door If possible i
and help those who were near the Ell
trance. When ! got there after climbing 7
out Of a window / found the children 80
crowded in the narrow passageway that /
| could not pull even one OF them out. Z
Those behind pushed forward and as 7
stood there the little ones piled up Oh I
one another. Those who could stretched 4
out their arms % me and cried for me (
TO help them. ] tried with All my might /
to pull them ont and stayed there until T
the flames drove me away"
Another teacher, Miss Pearl Lynn, but I
narrowly escaped death. She was car
ried toward the rear entrance by the (
rush Of the panic stricken pupils and |
fell at the bottom OF the stairs with (
numbers Of the children on top af her.
She lay there unable to rise because
Of the weight Of the bodies upon her
She was dragged from the mass Of the I
dead children Just in time to save her
own life.