Mower County transcript., 1908-03-11
Tots Rush PeIImell for Exits,
Which Are Soon Choked
With Humanity.
LESS THAN HALF ESCAPE
OF the Three Hundred and Twenty
five In the Building at the Time Of
the Catastrophe About One Hun
dred and Fifty Got Out Alive and
Of This Number Only Eighty Were
uninjured.

row railways, Jammed up dSdluSI
doors that opened only inward, be-
tween 40 and $50 children in the
! suburb of North Collinwood were
killed by fire, by smoke and beneath
! the grinding heels of their panic
stricken playmates.
The awful tragedy occurred In the
public school of North Collinwood, a
, suburb of this city. One hundred and
sixty-seven bodies have been taken
| ont of the ruins, one of the injured is
dead and six pupils still are missing
possibly part of the ashes that lie in
the cellar of the burned school.
All of the victims were between the
ages of six and fifteen years. The
school contained between 31N and 1926
pupils, and of this entire number only
about eighty are known to have left
the building unhurt.
The school house was of brick, two
stories and an attic in height. The
! number of pupils was more than
normally large, and the smaller chill
dren had been placed in the upper
part of the 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 a door in the
rear. Both of these doors opened in
ward and it is Claimed the rear door
WAS locked as well
Teachers Acted courageousIy.
When the flames were discovered,
the teachers, who throughout seem to
have acted with courage and self-pos-
session and to have struggled heroic
ally for the safety of their pupils, mar
shalled the little ones into columns
for the fire drill," which they had
often practiced.
Unfortunately the line of march in
this exercise had always led to the
front deor and the children had not
been trained to seek any other exit
The fire came from furnace situat-
ed directly under this part of the
building. When the children reached
i 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 tightly packed mass of
children was piling up against it.
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 be-
low. In an instant there was a fright
full panic, with 200 of the pupils fight
ing for their lives. Most of those who
were killed died here. The greater
part of those who escaped managed to
! turn back and reach the fire escape
and the windows in the rear.
Various Rumors Afioat.
Various and uncontrmed 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 one door of the rear entry
was unfastened: The janitor, Fritz
{ Herter, himself bereaved of three chill.
dren, says the doors were' open, ac-
cording TO custom. At any rate the
!, congestion Of fleeing children in the
hallway below effectually barred the
=, way, and the little ones went TO their
death totally unable to evade the
! flames.
! Within three hours of the start of
the fire it had burned itself out and
the work Of recover ing bodies n1.o-
ceeded. The village fire department
had only two engines, and neither up
ton arrival after the fire alarm was
given was at all effective in checking
the flames.
! Mics Catherine Weller, one of the
nine teachers in the school, lost her
life in vain effort to marshal her
pupils and lead them to safety. She
died in the crush at the rear door.
Her room was on the second floor and
when the fire alarm sounded she
! marched her pupils out into the hall.
i thinking it was only fire drill. There
the truth dawned upon both teache,
and pupils, and control was lost. The
children in their frenzy plunged into
the struggling mass ahead Of them.
!; Miss Weller attempted to stem the
rush, but went down under 1t and her
body was found an hour later piled
high with those Of her pupils. Miss
Fisk. another teacher, was taken out
alive, but she died later.