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Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 3 June 1924, Page 5

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TWENTY-THREE GIRLS PERISH

A PITIFUL STORY

« 0AB&»-P"*S8 A.SSOCJAVTOI?— COPYRIGHT SAN FRANCISCO, June 1. Trapped in a building designed to prevent their escape, 23 girls, ranging from 10 to 16 years of age, were killed when fire destroyed the Hope School for subnormal girls outside Venice, California.

All the bodies were recovered. Many were not seriously burned, but were smothered. The retarded mental condition of the inmates contributed to the pandemonium. A dozen terrorised children m nightgowns fought with the firemen, who tried desperately to save them.