The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-05


narrow Railways, damned up against
doors that opened only inward, 10 chill
dren in the suburb of North Collinwood
today were killed by fire, by smoke and
beneath the grinding heels of their
panic-stricken playmates.
The awful tragedy occurred this
morning in the public school of North
Collinwood, ten miles east of this city.
At 10 O'Clock tonight 165 corpses. were
in the morgue at CollinWood, six chill
dren 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. 4
Victims of Tender Age.
All of the victims were between the
ages of and Is years. The school con-
tanned between $40 and 1925 pupils, and
of this entire number only about eighty
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 lying
in the hospitals lowering between life
and death.
Little Ones in the Attic.
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
building. There was but one frees
cape, and that was in the rear of the
building. There were two stairways,
one leading to a door in front and the
other to a door in the rear. Both of
these doors opened inward, and it is
s q the rear door was locked as
Marched to Their Death.
When the flames were discovered the
teachers throughout seem to have act
ed with courage and self-possession and
to have struggled heroically for the
safety of their pupils and marshaled
the little ones into column for the fire
drill" which they had often practiced.
Unfortunately the line of march in
this exercise had always led to the
front door, and the children had not
been trained to seek any other exit.
The fire today came from furnace
situated 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
a rush was made for the door that in
an instant a tightly packed mass of
children was piled up against it.
Hope of Escape Gone.
From that second none of those who
were upon any portion of the first flight
of stairs had a chance for their lives
The children at the foot of the stairs
attempted to fight their way back to
the floor above, while those who were
coming down showed them mercilessly
back into the flames below. In an in
slant there was a fIightful panic, with
200 of the pupils fighting for their lives.
Most of those who were killed died
here. The greater part of those who
escaped managed TO turn back and
reached the fire-escape and the VIM
dows in the rear. What happened at
the foot of that first flight of stairs will
never be known, for all of those who
were caught in the full furry of the
! panic were killed.
eMords Fail to Describe Horror.
After the flames had died away, how
ever, huge heaps of little bodies, burned
by the\fire and trampied into things of
horror, told the tale as well as anybody
need to know it.
Various and unconfrmed 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 ore door of the rear entrance was
unfastened. The janitOr, Fritz Herter,
himself bereaved of three children, says
that the doors were open according to
custom. At any rate, the congestion OF
fleeing children in the hallway below
effectually barred the way, andathe lit
tie ones went TO their death totally I'M
able to evade the flames.
Fire Engines Ineffective.
-tUithin 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 Civ
en-. was at all effective in stemming the
flames.
The school was a two-story and attic
brick building, constructed about six
wears ago. 1t was overcrowded with
pupils, and il was found necessary TO
utilize the attic for those of the ages
between 8 and S. Nearly all the chill
dren were killed in the mass at the first
f7oor door, which finally was opened
tbx men from the Lake Shore shops,
<who hurried to the scene.
A wall of flame had formed across
and most of the children were dead by
the time the doors were swung open.
Approximately 800 children ATTENDED
the school, which Had nine rooms.
Fire Discovered by Janitor.
Jnnitor Herter could remember little
of what happened after the fire start
ed. Il was sweeping in the basement, :"
he said, when / looked up and saw a
wisp of smoke curling out from be-
meath the front stairway. 1 ran to the
laI no "a
sounded throughout the building. Then
81, Arcf Ia the fronf and then To the