Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1915-10-28
tBy United Press Leased wire.)

Nby united Presb Leaseu Wlre.l
Peabody. Mass. Oct. 2s.--Fift.
lives were snuffed out today and Il
persons will die 10 the result OF {
firo which swept the tinder.like 81
Johns parochial school today, &C
eording to the estimates OF nremei
and physicians on the scene ut i:3(
this afternoon.
Mothers. temporarily insane with
grief; haif:naked, crying children
rushing wildly In the midst of ths
crowds about the building: q scors
Of broken. charred little bodies
stretched In a row on the ground
while the ruins smouldered and
smoked--such was the scene as Gre
men deiyed among the charred tim.
hers for more bodies.
Twenty-one had been recovered
during the forenoon. Many were
burned to n crispS others we're
trampled by their playmates In the
mad rush to escape.
Panic Follows Alarm
The fire swept the building Just as
school opened. Panic followed,
Somber. black-garbed nuns tried In
vain to send the children out under
the Are dfill. but the flames and
choking smoke prevented. Wild dis
order ensued. Some children jump
ed into improvised life nets; others
jumped TO the ground.
Every ambulance In the city was
rushed to tho school, They were In
tended to care for Injured children,
but scores Of mothers, who had sent
their children. laughing. to school.
brief time before. required the aid
OF physicians and nurses. Women
raved as they found charred flesh,
once their children.
shrieking children called pitifully
for their parents as they dashed from
the burning building, This added
to the pandemonium, Hysterical
mothers clasped their children In
their arms. happy to ilnd them safe.
Others broke down In frenzy OF
grief when they learned the flames or
the pitiless heels OF companions had
killed their little ones.
Firemen and police. accustomed to
pathetic scenes. broke down and
wept, Their work was heroic, BRAY
Ing death, they rushed into the fur
mace and brought forth bodies, but
the fire blocked their ascent to the
upper floors. and then the remnants
OF stairways and floors crashed
through to the basement, carrying
with them--none knows how many
bodies. Shells OF the burned walls
threatened to tumble momentarily,
More Bodies In the Ruins
Meantime u more thorough search
for bodies will be impossible In the
seething ruins until they cool.
The water pressure was so poor
that II was ten minutes after the
hose was coupled before water was
thrown into the blazing building. BY
that time the flames had already
taken their toll.
Help was summoned from Salem
and Lynn because the local authors
ties feared spread to other struc-
lures,
The flrst firemen on the scene had
to fight their way through throngs OF
children who had escaped from the
building, Hysterlcal, their clothing
stripped or in their mad rush, sob
bing and some OF them fainting,
they clutched the iiremen and begged
them to save their playmates.
Sister Aldegon (Sacred Heart |
proved herself n heroine when, with
the flames roaring up behind her.
she rescued 25 children by dropping
them from a window into the out
stretched arms OF men below, Some
OF them she had to throw out Of the
window by main force. for they clung
to her skirts Twice the smoke hid
her But each time It cleared and