The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-03-11
DIE IN fire.
One Hundred and seventy.five
Little School Children
MEET awful DEATH.

The Terrible Holocaust In Schoo
House at Collinwood, Ohio.-The
Furnace Was OVerheated and the
Fearful Disaster Followed.-Chil.
dren in Rooms on Second Floo,
and in Attic Perished in Flames.
An awful tragedy occurred Wed
nesday morning in the public school
of Collinwood, Ohio, which has some
eight thousand population. One hun
dred and sixty-fve corpses were TAX
en- out of the ruins up to ten O'Clock
Wednesday night. Six children are
still unacc. lnted for and all the hos
pitals and houses for two miles
around contained numbers of chill
dren, some fatally and many less
seriously injured.
All of the victime were between
six and fifteen years Of age. The
school contained between 80 and
325 pupils, and of this entire number
only eighty are known to have left
| the building unhurt. 1t will be sew
eral 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 chill
dren who are lying in the hospitals
lowering between life and death.
The school house was Of brick,
two stories and an attic in height,
normally large and the smaller chill
part Of the building. There was but
dren had been placed in the upper
part Of th building. There was but
one fire escape and that was in the
rear Of the building. There were
two stairways, one leading to door
in front and the other to door IN
the rear. Both of these doors open
ed inward and it is claimed the rear
door was locked as well.
When the flames were discovered
the teachers, who throughout seem
to have acted with courage and self
possession and to have struggled
heroically for the safety Of their pu-
pills marshalled the little ones into
column for the fire drill" which
they had often practiced. Unfortrn-
ately the line Of march in this exeT-
else had always led to the front door
and the children had not been train
ed to seek any other exit.
The fire came from furnace sit
uated directly under this part of the
building. When the children reach
ed 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 tight ly packed
mass of children was piled up
against it. From the second floor
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
stair started to fight their way back
to the floor above, while those VINO
were coming down showed them mer-
cilessly back into the flames below.
In an instant there was frightful
panic, with 200 Of the pupils fighting
for their lives. Most Of those who
were killed died here. The greater
mart Of those who escaped managed
to turn back and reached the fire es-
cane and the windows in the rear.
The school was two-story ana
attic brick building, constructed SIX
wears ago. 1t was overcroWded with
pupils and it was found necessary 10
nt;'ize the attics for those OF the
ages between six and eight gears:
Nearly all the children were Kill
cd in the mass at the first floor door,
which finally was opened by men
from the Lake Shore Railway shops,
who hurried to the scene. A wall
Of fame had formed across it, how
ever, and most of the hcildren were
deac by the time the doors were
swung.
Miss Catherine Weller, one Of the
nine teachers in the school, loss her
life in a vain effort to marsnal 1ne
nnni]s Of her class and lead them
to safety. She died in the crush at
the rear door. Her room was on
the second floor and when the nre
alarm sounded she marched her pu-
nils into the hall, thinking 1t was
only a fire drill. There the truth
dawned upon both the teacher and
nupils and control was lost. Inc
children in their frenzy plunged into
the struggling mass ahead OF them.
Miss Weller attempted to stem the
rnsh but went down under 1T, ana
her bodv was found an hour later
niIed high with those Of her pupils.
Miss Fisk, another teacher, was taken
ont alive, but she cannot live. After
the fire had practically burned IL
self out the work of rescuing the
hodies was begun by fremen ana
railroad employees from the Lake
Shore shops.
The railroad company turned over
one of it's buildings nearby to be useo
as temporary morgue and nltner tne
cbarred and broken little bodies
we're removed as fast as they could
no dug from the ruins. They were
ever, and most of the children were
Tdentifcations were made only by
means Of clohting or trinkets. Inc
fire had swept away nearly all re-
semblance to human features.
Distracted parents soon began 70
gather and the work Of identifying
the blackened and mangled corpses
began. Thegrewsome task OF taking
cut the blackened torsos and bits Of
human remains was one OF horror