The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-01-18
St. Hyacinthe Sacred
 Heart College Burns
Continued from Page D

A workman returning home was the first to see the fire. He turned in an alarm, but the flames hac made so much progress by the time firemen arrived that they could not prevent the building from being de- Stroyed.
 The building, a stone structure, was erected in 1900.
 Priests Try To Help
 Long before the fire was brought under control priests went among the more seriously injured admins tering the last rites of the church.
 Fire department officials said the flames, when first discovered, had surrounded one of the dormitory sections where the children were sleeping.
 Church bells all over town were rung to summon aid. Townsfolk as- sisted school authorities and en- ployeS in the rescue work.
 The bells awakened students who rushed in panic to fire escapes. Many were trampled and left un- conscious in the burning building. Those in the van were pushed from the fire escape landings by those crowding from behidn.
 Hospital attendants said the more seriously injured were pupils who jumped from windows or were pushed from the fire escape to the frozen ground.
 The school was founded in 1900 by the Teaching Brothers of the Sacred Heart. In the building when the fire broke out were 16O pupils and 30 priests and brothers.
 Church Bells Rang
 Church bells reused the toWnfolk to the worst horror hl St. Hyachin- theS history shortly after a work man discovered the fire at a a. m. Hundreds hurried to the scene to stand helpless, unable to approach near enough the blazing east wing to aid the trapped pupils who ran hystreically in all dierctions along the fire-blocked corridors.
 After the fire was brought under control the hysteria continued - among grief-crazed parents whose sons were among the missing.
 The children who escaped did SC by leaping from windows or scrambling down the fire escape many of them falling the four stories to the frozen and ice-coated ground.
 Priests went among the more ser iously injured boys administering the last rites of the church while nuns from the nearby convent at- tempted to console bereaved parents Exposed to Bitter Cold Those who escaped without injury were exposed in their night clothes to bitter cold. It was eight degrees below zero.
 Officials believed the fire started in one of the dormitories, but the cause was not learned. Boys sleep ing in the east wing awoke to finG themselves surrounded by flames. IT the panic which followed many were crushed and left unconscious in the burning building. Many were pushed from the fire escape landing by the pressure of strainins bodies from behind.
 Volunteers aided police, firemer and church officials in the searct for bodies in the smouldering debris Survivors not in need of hospita care were taken to a building at tht convent where a check of the deao and missing was started. An improvised morgue was set III in 8 barn. At St. Charles Hospita doctors and nurSeSe administered first aid and perfromed emergenc. operations. The continuously ring. ing telephone went unanswered. Some of the survivors were ex. pected to die. Among the mos seriously injured was Brother Alexis 27, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island His name before taking Holy Order: