Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-28
SCORE OF CHILDREN
DIE in SCHOOL FIRE


lContinued From First Page.
masses but to no purpose. The
smaller children fell under the feet of
those behind them and soon the vesti
bule was so jammed with living and
dead that the firemen could not force
an entrance. The sixteen sisters es-
capped.
The flames, it is supposed. started
in the basement and according to some
were caused by the explosion of a
steam boiler from which the building
was heated. There is doubt, however,
as to the exact origin of the fire
a large percentage of the pupils
were children of foreign parentage In
the number were many of Irish and
Italian descent The firemen fought
the fire from ladders raised to the
windows while the police cleared the
vestibule. The bodies of the dead
generally were burned beyond recogni-
ton.
Two Go To Hospital
Mary Leeds and Marion Hayes were
found in the crush badly burned but
alive, and were removed to a hospital.
st. Johns Parochial School stands in
Chestnut street, near st. Johns Cath
olic Church and the home of the Rev.
Nicholas Murphy, the pastor. Opposite
is st. Johns Convent.
he IlTSI dISTIl Drought II
distracted mothers to the schoolyard
where soon they were joined by other
relatives of the pupils, until the build
ing was surrounded by a great crowd
of hysterical men and women who
rushed the police lines in a wild ef-
fort to reach their children. The
police were powerless to stop the rush
but what they failed to do was ac-
conrplished presently by the flames
.faI, 81. H.
the building held back the unhappy
throng.
Jump to Death
The children were driven from their
rooms and many sought to escape by
the windows and were killed or in
jured in jumping.
Neighbors rushed to, the scene and
held coats and blankets while the
children leaped into them.
The heaviest loss of life was at the
front door. where the hall and STAIR
way leading to the upper floors be-
came choked with frantic children.
Many were trampled under foot and
overcome with smoke. Ffremen were
unable to push their way through the
crush and were forced to fight the
fire from ladders.
The dead, it was said, might reach
!ffty.
Sisters of the school declared that
many OF the children on the upper
floors had been unable to escape and
had undoubtedly perished.
There were no fire escapes on the
outside OF the building.
10-Ycar-Old Hero
Deeds of heroiSm were not wanting.
Among such incidents was the act of
Maurice Harris, aged ten years, who
carried his one-legged chum, Thomas
O'Shea, years old, on his back down
the Smoke-choked stairways to safety.
According to the version of the sis
ters, the pupils were marching out in
orderly manner until the leaders who
had reached the ground floor made the
mistake of rushing into the vestibule
at the front exit instead OF going out
at the rear door as they had been
trained to do.
This caused confusion among those
who followed, and congestion in the
vestibule.
Meantime the flames had reached
the stairways and caught the strug-
Cling children. Within five minutes
flames were shooting from all the win
dows and exits. The local firemen un-
able to control the blaze, summoned
aid from Salem, Danvers and Marble
head, but this came too late.
Drops 25 From Window
Police and firemen bent their ener-
BIeS Chiefly 10
doors and windows. The Mother Su-
perior dropped 25 of her charges from
a window on the second floor and they
were caught in overcoats and blankets
improvised as fire nets.
Two hours after the fire started
twenty bodies had been taken from
the ruins and others were being
sought.
At noon only two of the bodies those
of Lizzie Nolan, aged II years and
Mary Sullivan. 16, had been identified.
Both girls were to have been gradu-
ated this year
The origin of the fire remained in
doubt. Michael Dunn, who lives near
the school said he heard a muffied ex-
| plosion in the school building just be-
fore it was enveloped in flames
Boiler Reported Intact
| When the ruins had cooled suffici-
emily to permit it, Building Inspector
\. II. Mcdonald and w. S. Murrell,
| of the State Police, made their way
for a few feet into the basement, and
later reported that the steam boiler
which was reported to have exploded,
was intact
Joseph Donahue, the engineer of
] the building, also declared that the
blaze could not have originated from
the boiler. He said that he had
banked his fire before he left it at
eight o'clock this morning.
LETTERS ON DENNY ESTarEs