The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-03-12

Cleveland, o. - Penned and held in
narrow Railways iammed up against
doors that only opened inward, 167
children in the suburb of North CO.!
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 fif-
teen years. The school contained be
tween 80 and 1926 pupils, and of this
entire number only about so are
known to have left the building un-
hurt
Fire Drill Is Forgotten.
The school building was supposed
TO be practically modern, although
erected three or four years ago. The
school children had been given fire
drills, and were supposed to be in
training for just such an emergency.
When the crucial moment arrived the
drill was forgotten and not the slight
est effort to effect an orderly or
prompt escape availed.
Victims Practically Incinerated.
AS soon as tiremen and volunteers
could get close enough, attempts were
made to pluck bodies from the death
heaps at the doors. 1t was found that
the flames had practically incinerated
| the bodies. Firemen with rakes, forks
and shovels turned up blackened
bones, little blackened skulls and
masses of charred flesh, but bodies
recognizable as such were no longer
to be found. A fearful stencil added
to the horror of the scene.
Miss Anna Moran, the principal of
the school, who escaped, says that the
children made mad rush for the door
as soon as the alarm Of fire was
sounded, but were driven back by the
choking smoke. Later the flames
prevented the escape of many of them
from the burning building.
County Coroner Burke Immediately
after the fire said:
The construction of the school
house was an outrage. The Railways
were narrow and there was practically
but one mode of exit. The children
were caught like rats in trap"
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-
ately with the three men who held
him. Finally they threw him to the
ground and sat on him, forcing his
great form down. the ankle-deep mud.
The building was completely de-
stroyed, only the outside brick walls
remaining standing. The floors and
roof fell into the interior early in the
fire, making the rescue of intact bodies
absolutely hopeless.
Dead Laid to Rest.
Cleveland, O.-Collinwood Friday
came to full realization of her
woe.
Slowly and solemnly the professions
of death began to wend their way
towards the cemeteries. bearing the
battered and charred remains Of some
Of the 1877 children whose lives were
snuffed out in Wednesday mornings
catastrophe in the Lakeview school.
All day there was no cessation in the