AWFUL SCHOOL HOLOCAUST.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 90, 14 April 1908, Page 3

AWFUL SCHOOL HOLOCAUST.

.160 OHIO OmT.DKEN CRUSHED OR : BURNED TO DEATH. A shocking holocaust of children occurred on Wednesday, March 4, at 'a school in North Cpllingwood,'a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio (says the 'T?ost" correspondent), and it is feared that the dead number over one hundred and fifty. It appears that a stove in the building became over-heated, and while the children were engaged with their, lessons the, woodwork round the stove caught fire. The head teacher at once gave the order to muster the classes quietly, andmarch out as for drill, but as they passed out in good spirits some of the children caught sight of the fire, and shrieked with such terror that the whole of the scholars became panic-stricken and rushed for the dcorway of the upper floor schoolroom. Two teachers, Miss Wiler and Miss Fisk, ran to the head of the stairs and tried to calm the frightened- scholars and induce them to proceed slowly and care-' fully, so that all might escape, but these heroic women were swept bodily off their, feet, thrown down, and-crushed beneath the feet of the stampeding'children. In the; lower floors, the children •'■ were being more successfully managed, but, when the noise broke out. above, the panic spread to all those who had not gained the open, and, in spite of the most zealous attention of the teachers, whose self-sacrifice was beyond all praisej the doors of all the rooms became jammed with fallen scholars. DOORWAY CHOKED. By this time the fire Lad gained »■ lull hold of the woodwork, and had reached the stairs. The fire brigade was sent for at once, but it had to come some distance, and the disaster to the children occupied only a few moments, for, after the first wild rush from the upper floor, the doorway was blocked by a score of crushed bodies. The situation was made more desperate by the fact that the door swung inwards, so that less room was available, and both before and behind bodies were piled up to such an extent that the door could not be moved either way. Then the staircase gave way, and the room was cut off, in spite of the efforts of the parents and firemen to' effect an entrance, heedless of personal risk.

The: police did their best to keep the crowd away from the building, but the task was difficult, and the firemen were badly hampered by frenzied women, wailing for their children to be saved, instead of the building. Eventually this had to be done, as much as possible, lor the school was doomed from the start, and all that was. possible was to pour water on the parts where the children were in the hope of gaining time for rescues. One school teacher in the boys' department, named Upton, performed deeds that will live in the records of heroism. He stood by the children in the blazing room, and threw eighteen children from the windows, to be caught by the rescuers outside. The fire gained on him as he worked, but every moment he appeared at the window scorched and begrimed, with another child, often unconscious, in his arms. At last he caught hold of an arm protruding from the heap of injured children around him, and the limb came away in hi - grasp. He fainted at the sight, and though the firemen reached him later, he was fatally burned. TERRIBLE INCIDENTS. According to the. Press Association correspondent, there were two exits from the building, and at one of them no accident occurred. The other, however, soon" became choked with children, who madly dashed towards the open air. Those who fell in the doorway were trampled. upon by those behind, and the exit was quickly blocked. When a crowd of children, finding themselves cut off, tried to retrace their steps, they were stopped by the flames, which, by this time, had spread through the class-rooms. The building was of brick, but there was much woodwork in the interior, and this burned fiercely. In a few minutes after the outbreak the lower floor collapsed, and scores of children were precipitated into the basement. A man who was among the first on the scene found his .little daughter in the pile of children choking the entrance. The child was so tightly wedged in that the father, in trying to extricate her, pulled her arms out of the sockets. Three little girls were killed instantly by jumping from a third storey window. The • teachers, though they struggled bravely, were helpless to restrain their charges. The neighbours who first arrived on the scene say that the lower corridors were already filled with smoke and flames. All the windows were crowded with frightened children, and the fire escapes were crammed. All the crowd round the building could do was to rescue the children within reach, and pull down those on the lowest storey of the fire' escape so as to make room for others to descend. The firemen say that they distinctly saw through the columns of flames the bodies of the victims writhing in heaps in the basement. Many of the children must have been still living when, the floors and roof collapsed. The fire raged uncontrolled for two hours, and it was not till then that the firemen, armed with rakes, pitchforks, and long : handled shovels, were able to explore the ruins. The police were obliged to use force to prevent the distracted parents from approaching the building, even after all hope of rescue was past. Men cursed and women prayed.hysterically in the streets and the stench of burning flesh added to the horrors of the situation. THE DEATH ROLL: RELATIVES' SAD STORIES. The Press Association telegraphs: A hundred and sixty-five blackened and twisted little bodies lie at the morgue, and thirteen are missing. It is believed they are buried beneath the wreckage close at hand. There are many others in hospitals hovering between life and death, and some who are not so seriously injured. A hundred and eight bodies have been identified, but the remainder are shockingly mutilated, arms, legs, and heads being missing. . Mrs. Sprung reached the school when the first floor was a mass of flames. At one of the windows she saw the face of her son pleading for help. Rushing across the street the woman returned with a step-ladder, and climbing it reached the boy,.and caught him by the hair, which, however, was burnt off in her hands, and the lad fell backwards and perished in the flames. ~ Mrs. Phillips said: "I found my daughter among the crowd penned round the front door, and caught her by her hands, but could not pull the child out. I reached in and stroked her head, trying to keep the fire away from her. I remained till a heavy piece of glass nearly v cut off my hand. Then I fell back, my child dying before my eyes." . Miss Gollmar, one of the teachers, declares she will never forget the wee things holding out their tiny arms and pleading for help, When, the alarm bell xang she

started her-pupils marching out. When they reached the front stairs they-were confronted by. a solid- wall of fire, and forced to retreat. A most horrible scene occurred when the. back door fell outwards under the. weight of children behind, revealing a pile of,-while-faced struggling little ones. The flames immediately swept over the passagerway and out "at the door, enveloping the children. A man and woman who were watching the scene fell fainting with horror. Miss Weiler, a . teacher,; perished whilst standing amidst her, pupils, evidently urging, theni to keep; order, and not to crowd. Miss Fiske, another teacher, died while trying to esccrt the children to,the fire-escape.