The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-04

chat at least seventy-ive have
-. This list may grow as The
revealed.
e little girls met instant death
tempting to jump to safety from
ehird floor Of the burning building.
were Mary Ridgeway. Anna Roth
Gertrude Davis.
man named Dorm who arrived upon
re scene early. and at the time the
hildren Were crowded in the front
door, discovered his little girl among
the mass of injured and crushed. He
caught the girl by the hands, and in
his frantic efforts to save her pulled
her arms from her body.
Principal Frank F. Whitney, OF the
school, estimates the number OF dead
from 75 to $50.
The bodies of twelve boys and eleven
girls are at the morgue of the Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
Company's shops, and are burned be-
yond recognition.
OF the nine teachers of the schoo
seven are accounted for. The two miss
Ing are Katherine Weller. of Cleve-
land. and Grace Fiske, of East Cleve-
land.
A mar VINO reached the school build-
li6 III LItBA bthC II 49, -
clared that the back door was locked.
He attempted to break down the door,
but failed to do so. He thea smashed
In the windows with the sid of some
! other men, and rescued Il number Of
children by dragging them OK.
The flames shot MP through che cen
trail halls with terrible rapidity. Il is
said the children were terrified beyond
all control, and the teachers, although
they struggled bravely to marshal their
charges out of the building in some-
thing like rider. were utterly helpless.
Human wedges Driven to Doom.
E Those who were familiar with the
believe tina most of the loss of life was
due to the fact thet all of the rooms
were dismissed at once.
Pupils pouring down the stairs
made for the doorways already full of
children 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.
N%eighbors living across the street,
who were the first to reach the burn
ing building said the lower halls were
already filled with flames when they
arrived. They helped out such children
as they could reach. but were forced TO
see many die beyond their aid.
with Rakes. Try 10 Get Bodies.
The panic that had worked sue fear
full results inside the building spread
TO The helpless crowd outside, but only
FOR a brief time, Organized efforts at
rescue were soon under way. Ffremen
played streams upon the piles of bodies
in the doorways and tried to drag out
bodies with rakes and other imple-
ments.
Ambulances and automobiles were
soon available to take the injured to
hospitals.
The doors and windows were packed
with terrified little nes whose panic
left them helpless to escape. Many
children descended the fire escapes,
but feared to jump or reaching the
bottom. These were pulled down to
nuke room for others
Parents Curse and pray.
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
o~veralls and jumper was restrained by
force. Explaining in o English
that his kinder were in the building,
he struggled desperately with the three
men who held him. Finally they threw
him to the ground and sat on him,
forcing his great form down in the
a~nkle-deep mud.
The building was destroyed, only the
outside brick walls remaining standing.
The floors and roof fell into the inte-
rior early i'll the fire, making the res
cue of intact bodies absolutely hope
less.
Smoke Drove Them Back.
AS soon as firemen and volunteers
could get close enough, attempts were
made to pluck bodies from the death
heaps at the doors. It was found hat
the flames had practically moderated
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.
Miss Anna Moran, principal of the
school. who escaped, says that the chill
dren made a mad rush for the door as
soon as the alarm of fire was sounded,
: hut were driven back by the choking
smoke. Later the flames prevented the
escape of many of them from the burn
ing building.
LIST OF DEAD.
The list of known lead follows:
EACIINER. EDNA. 10 years old.