THE MONTREAL HORROR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10941, 10 April 1907, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE MONTREAL HORROR.

"CANADA'S MOST AWFUL FIRE."

TEACHER AND CHILDREN PERISH

MISS MAXWELL'S HEROIC DEATH.

Details of what has been described at Canada's most awful fire, in which 17 little cuildren und their teacuer, Miss Maxweil, were burned to death, have come to hand by Vancouver files per R..U.S. Miowera. Ihe following account i& culled from the Daily News Advertiser: —

Penned in by fierce Humes, 17 pupils of the Hoclieluga Protestant School, in Pre-fontame-street, Montreal, and Mius Maxweil, a teacher, were burned to death., on the afternoon of February 26. The -tire started about 2 o'clock, and so quick was the work of the flumes that at 3 o'clock the ninth little body hud been tuKen out. Before the tire alarm was sounded, the men of the local station were on 'their way there, a passei-by having seen the smoke and dropped in to .warn the brigade. Immediately Cuptuin Carson and a nurn'oer of his men started out to the i scene, and before tuc Hist alarm luid finished sounding they were preparing to rescue tno cbildrtn. £o speedily tlie flumes spiead, however, that even in these few minutes those childrenn who hud not escaped ut the first call were pinned in the upper flats of the school with a seething furnace of smoke and flame beneath tlieou At every window were seen tue imprisoned children und teachers, while from the windows on the lower flat nothing could be seep, but evidences of tire. Captain Carsun at once organised his men to. set up the. . extension ladder td die second story window, where Miss Maxwell way signalling for help. The ladder was promptly run up and every man who could crowd upon it got in position to make a living chain to rescuV the little ones. Captain ' Carson headed the ladder. Inside the .window was Miss Maxwell, surrounded by a swarm of children, und exciced almost to the limits of endurance. .' < . A LIVING CHAIN. As soon us the firemen had formed their living chain to safety, Miss Maxwell handed her. little pupils one by one to Captain Carson, and they were swiftly passed down the ladder from hand to hand to the ground". Thus the work went on until probably 40 'of the children had beeii saved, and it seemed that none were left. Then Captain Carson called to Miss Max. well to save herself. ~ ':■•••-■■•■:■".*;•' "No, there are others insjde, .aiid Ve must save them," she replied," and ran ( back to look for the other little ones whom she knew must be on. the upper floor. -'That was the end. - . : , r "Miss Maxwell ran back, and we called to her to come out, as soon as the loom was full as smoke and flames,""said.Captain Carson. "I saw her hurry, to look for any of the other children who might have been overcome. We could not follow her ; it would have beeu simply suicide. A moment later she fell in the thick smoke". It was all we! could do, and an hour later her body was, carried turough the window along with those of t lie cuildren she had tried so hard to save/ .]■' ; Tliat is the tragic story, of the fire. It was contusion at a time when confusion meant death, to those, who* were utterly unable to understand why- ■ they met it. From tlippe older authorities, who couid have supplied the neceusary means oil escape, there was no help. The building was an old fashioned one with crooked stairways, narrow passages, and not a single tire escape. Had there been a fire escape, the firemen are positive that there need not have been one life lost. The tire broke out hi the cellar, where there were two furnaces for the hot air heating system, and large piles of wood. One of the children on tue ground floor went out into the corridor and returned in excitement, and hurried, .to Principal Maxwell, and told her he had seen a lot of smoke coming up. Miss Maxwell, without alarming her pupils, told them to get their clotlis and hurry, home. As a result every pupil on the . ground floor got away safely, i hen Miss Maxwell ran upstairs and warned the othe r teachers, and the eanie order was given. But~llie fire spread more rapidly than the news. By the time the upstairs pupils hud been notified by their- teachers to get their clothes and run home the stairway was full of smoke, and the little ones weie afraid to venture down. The kindergarten was on the upper floor; and most of the classes there, were composed of very young children, and they all became so excited at the Sight of the curling smoke that they were afraid to run to saitty when they reached the stairway. One of the older pupils ran down and called the rest, many ol whom followed, but in the terrified confusion of tiie moment a great many of the otliers feured to venture downstairs, and stayed wher e they were. By the heroism of the teafchers, aud the courageous work of tue firelnrti, many of these were saved. ■ LACK OF DISCIPLINE. A good deal of the loss of life was caused primarily by^ the lack of discipline for emergencies. There had riot- been a fire drill for months, and when the call. came' th e little ones were alarmed. Some ran for their clothes, in the dressing-room, and most of them died miserably. Others ran for the stairway, but were afraid to go down, and as they .'hesitated the fire gained such headway that* escape was- impossi. ble. The firemen worked hard, and sacrificed themselves absolutely to- the work oj life-saving, and it is certain but for their "splendid exertions the death-roll would have been much greater. . On the top of ladders, where they had to.be sprayed from the hose, they labored to get at the windows and hand out children. With the water freezing on them as it fell, they never stayed their worji as long as it seemed possible that a living soul could be taken out. Several of them became e xliausted by the cold and terrible work, while others were cut and hurt by the rough handling of- hose aria ladders, and had to be attended to by the ambulance doctors/ Not one of the men gave a thou*gljt for liimself, aad it is undoubtedly jdue to their splendid work that the mo£b»lity list -was, not .-much greater. Indeed, «f or «ome time it was. thought that /^jott*le*s than^O children had been sacri- • rrctd v * . The firemen and police kept the cro.vd • back by a cordon so they could work without difficulty. As soon as the first signs of victory became apparent, ladders were placed against the walls and eager volunteers swarmed up to see if there were any left who might yet live. It was a forlorn hope, aud groan went up from the thousands gathered around as a hiuMled-up bundle was first passed through an upper window. No one . needed to be told what it -was. Carefully the firemen carried the tiny corpse down the ladder, and hurried to the nearest ambulance.. His progress was stopped by an almost hysterical woman who ran up, pulled back the blanket with which the body had been swathed and examined it to see. if it were her little boy. It was not, but later on her child's body was taken out. Such scenes were repeated time and time again as the grim procession was continued, the little bodies being hurried through the windows, hastily wrapped in blankets and carried down to the waiting line ot ambulances, which would only take them to the morgue. None of the smokeblacked and charred bodies vould be identified, in the hurry of the moment, and on all sides were agonised mothers, whose children had not returned with the others, waiting to have their worst fears realised. That they were fulfilled was frequently most painfully apparent, as a woman would recognise the clothes on a shapeless bundle, and be led sobbing away. THE TALE OF THE DEAD.

Finally the work of emptying the Kindergarten room was completed, ahd it was hoped that the tale of the dead was all told, when with great difficulty the body of the heroic Miss Maxwell was carried own the fire ladder from the upper window.

A few minutes later, when the firemen had succeeded in getting into the front window of the building, a hush fell on the crowd as another infant's corpse wiip taken out, which was followed by many others, most of which were taken Irani the window of the dressing room, until the total of almost a score was reache \.

By this time tne fire itself had been v almost subdued. It had burned with wonderful ferocity, despite the work of a water tower which had been erected so .as to pour tons of water through the little frontal tower and flood out the blaze. The flames had worked through the roof, and seemed to defy the water, and the lower rooms were completely ruined, while the walls and roof werei amost consumed .before it became safe! to venture into the building. One other body was then found, that ol a little girl of about five, who had run. into a corner and laid down to escape the deadly smoke and there died. She was not burned, but was blackened all over with the fumes, and soaked with water from the hoso, which, freezing, stiffened the tiny body into a hetirtrending aspect as it was carried down the ladder, with arms above the head waving in the wind. A few minutes later Sub-Chief JM. Pierre was able to uet into the building, and went through it from room to room, finally announcing that not a bodv re- 1 tnained in the death-trap.