Show NEARlY TWO TO HUNDRED I PERISH Ti ver Heated Furnace Sets School House in Sub Suburb Suburb urb u b of Cleveland on Fire and Heart Heartrending Heartrending rending Scenes Ensue Esue One Hundred and Bodies Recovered and More M MOrein jn the Ruins Scores Injured in the Mad Rush to Escape Death Cleveland 0 O March 4 Penned in narrow hallways jammed up against doors that opened only inward chil children dren drezi in the suburb of North Collinwood today were killed by fire by smoke and beneath the grinding heels of their playmates The Phe awful tragedy occurred this morning In the public school of North 1 Collinwood ten miles east of this city At t 10 tonight corpses were in the morgue at Collinwood six chil children children dren were still unaccounted for and andall andall andall all the hospitals and houses for lor two miles around contained numbers of children some pome fatally and many less seriously injured S Victims of Tender Age All MI of the victims were between the ages of 6 and 15 years The school con contained contained tamed between no and pupils and of this entire number only onI about eighty are known to have left teft the building un unhurt unhurt unhurt hurt It will be several days before the exact number of killed is known as the ruins may still contain other bodies and the list of fatalities may be increased by a number of deaths among the children who are now lying In the th hospitals hovering between life lIfo and death Little Ones in the Attic The school house was of brick two stories and an attic in height The Lt 1 number of pupils was more than nor normally normallY mally large and the smaller children had been placed in an attic of the tho building There was but one cape and that was in the rear of the building There were two stairways one leading to a door in front and the theother theother theother other to a door in the rear reaf Both of these th se doors opened inward and it is J lm ed the rear door was waa locked as ast a al l Marched to Their Death When the flames were discovered the teachers throughout seem to have hare act acted acted acted ed with courage and and to haTe have struggled heroically for the safety of their pupils and marshaled the little ones Into column for the fire drill which they had often otten practiced Unfortunately the line of march in inthis tills this exercise had always led to the front door and the children had not been trained to seek any other exit The he fire today came from a furnace situated directly under this part of the building When hen the children reached I the Ute foot of the stairs they found the Barnes Mames close upon them and so 80 swift I II I a rush was made for the door that in inan Int inI t I an instant a tightly packed mass of children was waa piled plied up Against Jg it Hope of Escape Gone From that second l none of those who were upon any portion of the first flight of stairs had a chance for their lives The children at the foot of the stairs attempted to fight their way back to the floor above while those who were coming down shoved them mercilessly back into the flames below In an in instant Instant instant stant there was w s a frightful panic with of the pupils fighting for their th ir lives Most of those who were killed died here The greater part of those who escaped managed to turn back and reached the and the win windows windows windows dows In the rear What happened at atthe atthe k the foot of that first flight of stairs will never n vel be known for all fit af f those who o ere caught In the full flurry of the I anle were killed Words Fail Fall to Describe Horror the flames had bad died away how however however however ever uge heaps of little bodies burned by the fire and trampled into things of horror told old the tale as a well ag as anybody need to know it Various and unconfirmed statements are made as to the cause of the fire and also that the doors of the building had been locked nt at the front entrance while but one door of the rear entrance was unfastened The Janitor Fritz Herter himself bereaved of three children says that the doors were open according to custom At any rate the congestion of fleeing children ren in the hallway below effectually barred the way and the lit little little littie tle tie one ones went to their death totally un unable unable unable able to evade the flames 4 t I Fire Engines Ineffective three hours after the start of the fire It had burned Itself out and and the work of recovering the bodies pro proceeded proceeded proceeded The village fire department nt had only two engines and neither upon arrival after the alarm was given given given en was at all effective in stemming the flames The school was a and attic brick building constructed about six years ago It was overcrowded with pupils and it was found necessary to utilize the attic for those of the ages between 6 and 8 S Nearly all aU the tho chil chilI chilen I ren en were killed in the mass at the first or r door which finally finall was opened men from the Lake Shore shops who hurried to the scene t A wall of ot flame fiame had formed across and most of the children were dead by tile time the doors were swung open Approximately OO children attended the school which tad Had nine rooms Fire Discovered by Janitor Janitor Herter could remember little of stat hat happened after the fire start started started started ed I 1 was sweeping In the basement he lie said when I looked up and saw a wisp of smoke curling out from be beneath beneath neath the front stairway I 1 ran to the fire alarm and pulled the gong that sounded throughout the building Then I r ran first to the front and then to the rear doors I cannot remember what t ti J Jl j l I I happened next except that I saw the flames shooting all aU about and the lit little little littIe tle tIe children running down through them screaming Some Somo fell at the rear entrance and others stumbled over them I i saw my little Helen among them I tried to pull her out but the flames drove me back I had to leave my m little child to die Two Teachers Among Victims Herter himself was w s badly burned about the head hrad Miss Catherine Weller Weiler one of the nine teachers In the school lost her life In Ina ina a vain effort to marshal the pupils of her class and lead them to safety She died in the crush at the rear door Her room was on the second floor and when the fire alarm sounded she marched her pupils out Into the hall hail thinking it was oni ya fire Ire grill drill There Then the truth dawned upon both teacher and pupils and control was lost Th Tin children in their frenzy frenz plunged Into the struggling mass ahead of them Miss Weiler Weller attempted to stem the rush but went down under It and her body was found an hour later piled plied high with those of or her pupils Miss Fisk lt isk another teacher was taken out alive but she can not live Rescuing the Bodies Burning through the cross supports of the first floor the flames passed upward until all three floors crashed into a smoldering pile in the basement After the fire had practically burned itself out the work of GI rescuing th bodies was WaH begun by firemen and rail railroad railroad railroad road from the Lake Shore shops The railroad company compan turned over one ine ne of its buildings nearby to be used as a temporary morgue and thith thither er the charred harred and broken little bodies bod lei were removed as fast as they could be dug from the ruins Within five hours practically all alt had been removed They were placed in rows in the Lake Shore shop hop were made only by means of lothing or trinkets The fire had swept away nearly all re ra resemblance resemblance semblance to human features in the majority of instances Distracted pa parents parents parents rents goon toon soon began to gather and th the work of identification of the blackened and mangled corpses began Agony of Fond Parents The Tiie gruesome task jf f taking out the blackened and bits of human remains was one of horror A line of rescuers was as formed backed by half halfa a dozen ambulances As the bodies were untangled from the debris they were passed along to the stretchers and thence loaded in the ambulances Mercifully covered with blankets the pitiful sights were veiled from the crowd of curious that stretched about the entrance to the structure As I fast as a load was obtained it was driven away awa to the morgue At the temporary morgue in the tAke Lake LakeShore L ke Shore shop the scenes became fourfold in the Intensity of human suffering as fathers mothers brothers and sis sisters sisters sisters passed up and down own the lines form formed formed formed ed of I 60 corpses Bodies Numbered To facilitate identification the bodies were numbered as they were received at the morgue The first identification tion was made by b the mother of Nels and Tommy Thompson hompson aged 6 and 9 years respectively The heads and arms had been burned from both bodies oodles but the mother recognized the shoes on their feet And so the disheartening work went on accentuated now and then by a piercing shriek or plaintive moan as a loved one was recognized by clothing or token such as ring or necklace Mother Falls Fails to Save Her Child About the burning schoolhouse use there are but few residences In one of these Mrs Irs Clark Sprung lived Her little boy Alvon aged 7 was a pupil in the second grade When the fire started the mother ran over to the school and arrived when the first floor was a mass of flames At a window on that floor she saw the face of her herboy herboy herboy boy He recognized her er and pleaded for help Rushing R across the street Mrs Irs Sprung secured a stepladder and placed it against the window Climb Climbing ClimbIng Climbing ing up she reached for her hel boy She caught him by the hair It burned off in her hands and the lad fell back in the flames Desolation unspeakable hangs over the vicinity of the school and the whole village of Collinwood Collin wood The school board met in special session at the temporary morgue late this afternoon to discuss the calamity while the coroner prepared to hold holt an Inquest to determine the cause and place the responsibility for the fire Back Door Was Locked The statement that the back buck door of the building was locked is made by Walter Valter C Kelley editor of the sporting department of the Cleveland Leader two of whose children were killed As soon as the alarm was given Mrs Kelley ran from her home which is l I not far from the schoolhouse to the burning building The front por portion portion portion tion of this structure was a mass of flames and frenzied by the screams of the fighting and dying children which reached her from the tle death trap at the toot loot of the first flight of stairs and behind b hind that closed door loor Mrs rs Kel Kelley Kelley Kelley ley ran to the rear hoping to effect an entrance there and save her chil children children children dren She was joined by a man whose name is not known and ami the two of them tugged and aid pulled frantically at the doer They were unable to move it in the slightest and andI I Continued on page 2 I NEARLY TWO TW HUNDRED HU ED LITTLE ONES PERISH Continued from Pane Page 1 there ws nothing n at nt hand by b which they euld c uld nope to break br k In utter Despair of saving savins any of the th children thy turned their attention to the th windows and b smashing or of these the m t a to t s save have e a few ot of the pupils Many Might Have Havo Been Saved The Tha i could hab ha saved sin d marty many more thore said Bald Mr 11 Kelley if If the door dom had h not been b en Nobody knows know how of or the children might have hav made thir th lr way a 1 out before lay tny tn wife had r dhe there th fe if it f the door had not been locked If half a dozen men had been ben there when wh n my wife and her com corn companion panion arrived at the schoolhouse per perhaps perhaps haps they might have broken down the thc thedoor thedoor door but the two could do nothing and the flames spread so rapidly that it was ivas all over in a few minutes Frantic With Horror The Th suburb of Collinwood contains about people and within half halt an hour after the outbreak o of ot fire nearly everyone of ot them was gathered around the blazing ruins of ot the schoolhouse hundreds hundred of ot parents fighting frantically frantl franti al ally ly Iy with the policemen and firemen who were busily engaged in savIng savins the lives Jives of ot the children caught in the burning building and doing their best to extin extinguish the tire fIre The police were utterly unable through lack of numbers to keep away the crowd that pressed upon them and the situation soon became so serious that a number of ot the mord mor coolheaded men in the throng took it upon them themselves selves s to t aid in iii fighting back the crowd while others worked to help the fire firemen firemen firemen men and the police I Fathers Despairing Attempt Among these latter tatter was W s Wallace Up ton reached the building shortly after the front door had caved in and disclosed to the th crowd the awful scenes that had been enact enacted enacted ed there Just in front of eyes was his daughter helpless I In the crush badly burned burn d and tram trampled trampled trampled pled upon but still alive The fire was close Iose upon her and if It she could not be saved at once she could not be saved at all Upton sprang to help her herand herand herand and with all his strength sought so ht to tear her from the weight that was pressing her down and from from the flames which were creeping close Saw His Child Perish Although he worked with a despera desperation tion of despair his strength was un nfl unequal unequal equal to the task He fought on until his clothing was sias partly burned from him and the skin of his face and hands were scorched black Other men at attempted attempted attempted tempted to induce him to move but he refused until he saw that his girl was dead and that he could not save her life Ufe by b sacrificing his own He then withdrew from the school schoolhouse schoolhouse house and although so seriously in injured injured injured that he may die lingered about the place for several hours refusing to togo too togo go o to a hospital or to seek medical at attendance attendance attendance Fire Spread Rapidly The flames spread with such terrific that within thirty minutes from the time the tire was discovered the schoolhouse was nothing but a few f w blackened walls surrounding a cellar filled tilled with corpses and debris The firemen dashed into the tha blazing wreckage and with rakes forks hov shovels hovels els cIs and their bare hands worked in 1 the most frantic manner with the hope of ot saving a few more lives They were unsuccessful for none was taken out alive from the ruins after the floors col collapsed collapsed collapsed lapsed Fragments of ot incinerated limbs skulls and bones were found almost at every turn and these things were piled plied together in a little heap at one side of ot the building Will Never Ne er Be Identified The great majority of ot the little bodies that were taken from the ruins were burned beyond all possible recognition And it Is no small part of the sorrow which is bearing down the people of ot North Collinwood that positive identification cation of ot many of ot the children will never be made Beside the children who were killed Inside the building three little girls Mary Ridgeway Anna Roth and Ger Gertrude Gertrude trude trade Davis were instantly killed by leaping from the attic to the ground At midnight there were IBS bodies in inthe inthe inthe the morgue of ot which iOS had been identified and still unidentified i tIed fied It Is id possible that other bodies may maybe maybe maybe be found In the t e ruins as at tot least thir thirteen thirteen thirteen teen children are still missing and have not been heard from since Ince |