The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-03-11
DIE IN FIRE.
One Hundred and Seyenty-flve
Little School Children
MEET AWFUL DEATH.

The Terrible Holocaust in School
House at Collinwood, Ohio.-The
Furnace Was Overheated and the
Fearful Disaster Followed.-Chil-
dren in Rooms on Second Floor
and In Attic Perished in Flames.
An awful tragedy occurred We'd
nesday morning In the public school
Of Collinwood, Ohio, which has some
eight thousand population. One hun
dred and sixty-five corpses were TAX
en- out of the ruins up to ten o'clock
Wednesday night. Six children arr
still unaccounted for and all the hos
pitfalls 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 $40 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
q 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 tn building. There was but
one fire escape and that was in the
zeal 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 open
ed inward and 1t 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. Unfortun-
ately the line Of march in this exer-
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 a 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 a 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 who
were coming down showed them mer-
cilessly back into the flames below.
In an instant there was a frlgnttul
manic, 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
70 turn back and reached the fire es-
cane and the windows in the rear.
The school was a two-story and
attic brick building, constructed SIX
years ago.. 1t was overcroWded WIN
pupils and it was found necessary to
utilize the attics for those OF the
ages between six and eight years.
Nearly all the children were KILL
ed 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 flame had formed across 1t, how
ever. and most Of the hcildren were
dead by the time the doors were
swung. ,.
Miss Catherine Weller, n OF the
nine teachers in the school, loss her
life in a vain effort to marshal the
nnnils 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 hre
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 ano
nunils and control was lost. Inc
children in their frenzy plunged lnto
the struggling mass ahead OF tnem'
Miss Weller attempted to stem tne
rush, but went down under II, ano
her body was found al hour later
niled high with those of her pupils
Miss Fisk, another teacher, was taken
ont alive, but she cannot live. After
the fire had practically burned IT.
self out the work Of rescuing the
bodies was begun by f1remen and
railroad employees from the Lake
Shore shops.
The railroad company turned over
one of its buildings nearby to be used
as temporary morgue and hither the
charred and broken little bodies
we're removed as. fast as they could
be dug from the ruins. They were
ever, and most of the children We're
Identihcations were made only by
means of clothing or trinkets. The
fire had swept away nearly all re-
semblance to human features.
Distracted parents soon began tc