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Show PUPILS PERISH IN FIERYFI1ACE Three Hundred Children Become Panic Stricken in School House Fire and Many Meet Death. Sickening Disaster at North Collin-wood, Collin-wood, Ohio, Caused by Over-heated Furnace, and the Fact That Rear Exit Was Locked. Cleveland, O. Penned in narrow hallways, Jammed up against doors thnt opened only Inward, 170 children chil-dren in tho suburb ot North Collin-wood, Collin-wood, wero killed by fire, by smoko nnd beneath tho grinding heels ot their panic stricken playmates. Tho awful tragedy occurred Wednesday Wed-nesday morning In tho public school of North Colllnwood, ten miles cast of this city. At 10 o'clock Wednesday Wednes-day night ICS corpses woro in tho morguo nt Colllnwood, six children wcro still unaccounted tor, and all tho hospitals and houses tor two miles nround contained numbers ot children, somo fatally and many less seriously injured. All of tho victims wcro between tho ages of G and 15 years. Tho school contained between 310 and 325 pupils pu-pils nnd ot this entire number only about eighty aro known to havo lett tho building unhurt. It wlllJ)o sovornl sov-ornl days beforo tho exact number of killed Is known, ns tho ruins may still contain other bodies and tho list of fatalities may bo Increased by a number of deaths among tho children who nro now lying In tho hospitals hovering between Hfo and death. Tho school houso waB of brick, two stories and an attic in height. Tho number of pupils wns moro than normally nor-mally large, and tho smaller children bnd been placed In an attic of tuo building. Thoro was but ono flro escape, es-cape, and that was In tho rear of tho building. Thoro wero two stairways, ono leading to a door In front nnd tho other to n door In tho rear. Both of theco doora opened Inwnrd, and It Is claimed tho rear door was locked, as well. An attempt was mado to havo tho children march out, but a panic ensued. en-sued. Miss Cnthcrlno Wellor, ono of tiro nlno teachers In tho school, lost her Hfo in a vain effort to martial the pupils of her class and lead them to safety. Sho died in tho crush at tho rear door. Hor room was on tho second floor, nnd when tho llro alarm sounded sho marched Iter pupils out Into ho hall, thinking It was only a flro drill. Thcro tho truth dawned upon both teacher nnd pupils nnd con-ttol con-ttol wns lost. Tho children In tholr frenzy plunged Into tho struggling mass nhead of them. Miss Wellor attempted at-tempted to stem tho rush, but went down under It, and hor body was found nn hour Inter piled high wtlh thoso of her pupils. Miss Flsk, an-othor an-othor teachor, was taken out allvo, but sho can not live. When toh flames woro discovered tho teachers throughout seem tn havo acted with courago and self-possession, and to hnvo struggled heroically for tho safoty or their pupils, and marshalled tho llttlo ones Into column col-umn ror tho "llro drill," which thoy had ofton practiced. |
