Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-28
FIRE IN SCHOOL TRAPS
PUPILS; MANY PERISH
from Page One

locked; the front door was in two halves,
and the pressure Of the first rush for the
open door forced this door shut. so that
for long time II could not be opened.
! Thus, the great majority OF those Who
escaped were thrown or jumped out OF
the first and second-story windows
The water supply was Inadequate.
hydrant near the school broke and one
man said it was p minutes after the
aremen arrived before the first streams
we're playing on the flames. The first
victim identified was Elizabeth Nolan.
Most Of those who were killed were be-
! yond raining.
Mother Superior Carmelita gave the
4 alarm sounding the fire gong. She was
in a room in the school, became uneasy,
thought she smelled smoke and stepped
into the hall boy ran toward her
screaming Fire" The hallway was
smoke-hlled. She ran down the stairs
sounded the gong then directed and as
sisted at the work Of passing the chill
dren out of the three-story windows
ONE SISTER SAVES 25.
Sister Aldegon. OF the order of the
Sacred Heart. was one of the heroines of
the fire. She saved the lives of 20 chill
dren by dropping them from window TO
the outstretched arms of men standing
| below
Some of the youngsters she threw from
the window by main force as they clung
to her skirts. sobbing and terror-stricken.
Twice clouds of smoke rolled from the
| window where she stood and hid her from
view of the watchers below. Murmurs OF
horror swept through the crowds, but
subsidized when the smoke rolled back and
the black .robed sister was seen swinging
another child over the sill.
Exhausted fremen told of acts of rare
courage on the part of the 16 sisters, but
agreed that the bravery of none of the
women eclipsed that of Sister Aldegon.
She was in charge of 80 children, most of
them girls between and years, on the
second floor. The shouts of children in
other rooms, then a puff of smoke that
burst suddenly through the doorway,
warned her that something was wrong.
Her little charges huddled around her
white-faced with fright. She first made
efforts to calm them, patting sobbing lit
tie girls and drying their eyes. Then she
| gathered her flock together and made her
way toward the hallway
Through the haze that filled the corri-
dor, Sister Aldegon made her way, close
ly followed by the little girls. gust
of smoke swept up as she reached the
head OF the stairway and cinders and
bits of burning wood brushed her face.
JUMPS TO SAVE HERSELF.
Coolly she halted the procession Of
children. without betrayng the slight
est alarm she waved them back toward
the room whence they had come. But
the Railways were now filing with smoke,
shrieks of children the first and third
floors were heard throughout the build
| inp onI ha OF rd
windows, crying hysterically
Sister Aldegon raised a window as the
flames roared up the second-hoor stair
way. Her shouts were heard by a group
of volunteer rescuers just outside and
several stalwart men massed under the
window. The remaining children were
passed out swiftly, some of them sob
bing and clutching at the window ledge
as they were dropped to safety.
Red flames were licking the top of the
window, pokirg their way through clouds
of black smoke when Sister Aldegon her
self climbed out upon the window ledge
| and signaled that she was about to jump.
A huge blanket was held for her by eight
men. She dropped into the blanket un-
conscious.
At the convent across the way where
she was given medical attention, it was
found that the fire heroine had been bad
ly burned about the shoulders. Her gown
had been partly eaten away by the lick
ing flames, but each tiny blaze she had
extinguished with her bare hands. paus-
ing only an instant i'm the work of rescue
Only one of Sister Aldegon's charges was
, seriously injured. A little boy slipped
. through the arms of one of the men
waiting to catch him. His leg was broken.
One of the heroic incidents of the fire
r was a noble attempt made by one of the
sisters of Notre Dame Convent to save
| ha Of wi bO
after being taken, terribly burned to the
. | Thomas Hospital.
I'm the height of the excitement" said
E | an eyewitness who refused to give his
name, lone of the sisters was seen fight
ing her way from the burning building
= III a girl in her arms. The sister S
DIRE IS was in flames, but she gave no
thought to this. As she struggled out
with the unconscious girl in her arms she
continually tried to beat out the flames
;, that had caught the girls clothes. The
;. | sisters hands were badly burned in keep
;, ing the fire from the childs face.
h. The mother superior, who was at first
= too overcome to shed any information of
the fire, said later:
Two or three minutes before the fire
. was discovered l was on the upper floor
| making my rounds of inspection. Sud
T. denly a little boy came running toward
me crying FIRE | ran to the first floor
. and sounded the fire gong. Many of the
pupils failed to hurry, evidently thinking
r it was merely q fire drill
MANY Of the sisters apparently did not
realize either that a fire had started.
, I'm n moment we were all panic
stricken to see the flames shooting up
the back stairs"
d Half an hour after the firemen arrived
one of the sixteen sisters was rescued,
badly burned and in a hysterical condi-
i, tion.
She broke free from her rescuers when
. carried into the open air. and shouted
II frantically for some one to go to the
}. aid OF the children trapped on the third
a floor. Firemen made vain efforts to learn
from her raving cries how many chill
dren were still on that floor
II REscUEs HIS CRIPPLED CHUM.
n Thomas O'Shea aged 8, a one-legget
e boy, owes his life to his chum, Morri,
o Harris. aged 10, another of the heroes
Is q the FIRE.
: Morris had reached the lower floor ant
II was making his way TO safety when h,
e stumbled across an unconscious form
1t was little crippled Tommy. n,
n ]