The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-06
BODIES BEYOND
IDENTIFICATION
Additional Grief for Parents of
Victims of CoIIinWood
Horror.
C0R0NER'S INQUEST BEGUN
LITTLE GIRL WHO PLAYED TRU-
ANT GLADDENS HOME.

Cleveland. o., March 5.-Twenty- four
hours after the disaster which caused
the death of approximately one-third of
the school children of North CollinwoOd,
the death roll numbered 1874. OF these,
1877 had been identified at the Lake
Shore morgue, while twenty-seven
bodies remain there in a condition of
mutilation probably forever beyond rec
OgnitiOn. The work of digging in the
ruins of the Lakeview schoolhOuse in
further search for remnants of children
still missing began with the break of
day. Dawn found mothers and fathers
waiting about the ruined building after
having spent the night in an effort TO
find their children's remains in the ex-
temporized morgue. Little was brought
forth during the day that would satisfy
their longings. and it is believed tonight
that all the bodies that can be removed
from the ruins have been taken out.
Funeral Arrangements.
Burial of the dead is now the task
confronting those in authority in the lit
tie village. Arrangements for the flu
nerals of the victims were discussed to-
night at a meeting attended by the
mayor of Collinwood, members of the
board of education, the clergy and I'M
dertakers. The idea of having pub
lie funeral of all the dead has been
abandoned, though it is probable that
where it can be done bodies will be
grouped in one church.
Tonight the work of removing the
identified bodies to their former homes
was completed and the undertakers set
to work to prepare for the interments
on the morrow.
Should any parent desire to undertake
the interment of one of the unrecog-
nizable bundles of human flesh and
bones, believing it may be his child, he
will be permitted so TO do. The re-
mainder of the bodies will be laid side
by side in the cemetery
Coroner's inquest.
The coroner's inquest was begun this
morning. when a number of witnesses
were examined without. however, devel-
oping any testimony that was beyond
mere opinion.
An investigation conducted by the
Collinwood school board, which lasted
FAR into the night and at which a num-
Der of survivors of the horror told their
stories, brought forth these facts:
That one of the inner doors at the
west entrance of the school was closed
and fastened while children were piling
up against it in the passage; wing par
titiOns in the vestibule narrowed the
exit by at least three feet; the flames
came first from closet below the stair
way at the east entrance; the closet
contained lime and saWdust: three lit
tie girls had been found hiding in play
in the closet earlier in the morning;
there was but one fire escape, and its
use was never taught as part of the
fire drill
Cut Off Almost Instantly.
Survivors among the teachers esti-
mate that only two or three minutes
passed between the time of the alarm
until all escape was cut off. The build
ing was a fair sample Of the kind of
school construction in use in small
| towns. The halls and stairWays We're
closed between interior brick walls,
| forming a huge 1ue through which the
/ flames shot up with great rapidity.
On the question, much discussed,
whether the doors opened inward or
outward. Fire Marshals Brockett and
| Fiegenbaum examined the dOorways to-
day and stated later that they were con-
WINGED that they opened outward.
Whether they were locked they have not
been able to determine. They have tes-
! timony on both sides. JanitOr Hirter
still insists that the doors were open.
Like returning from death, Helen
Marks surprised her parents today by
/ slipping UP behind her father and
/ throwing her arms about his neck while
/ he was prodding among the ruins of
| the burned building for her body. In
stead of going to school yesterday, she
played truant and visited an aunt in the
| country.