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The School Catastrophe

About This Item

  • Title: The School Catastrophe
  • Date: 22 January 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00969
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 22 January 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Stephanie Blalock Francesca Boston Jason Stacy Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The School Catastrophe." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00969.xml (TEI)
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THE SCHOOL CATASTROPHE.

The investigation in the case before Coroner Snell, was resumed yesterday. After the examination of a number of witnesses, the case was submitted to the Jury, who after a short deliberation brought in the following verdict:

We, the Jury in the above investigation, find that the deceased Henry C. Smith, Henry LeBlanc, and Stephen Bloomfield came to their deaths by being suffocated by being crowded upon and crushed on a platform of the stairs leading from Navy street entrance of Public School No. 14, city of Brooklyn, by the boys crowding upon them in the excitement of the fire on the 20th day of January, inst. The Jury recommend that school buildings be erected of only one story high instead of two or more. and that the entrances be made wider and more convenient, and not have so many scholars confined to one building.

We further find that the fire was caused by a faulty construction of the hot air pipes leading from the furnaces with the reference to their position, relative to the wood work, and we would recommend that in future more care be taken in the construction of these heaters, and that double tin pipes be used instead of single tin pipes.

We also entirely exonerate the Principal of the School and the assistants engaged under him from all blame in reference to the origin or spread of the fire; but that they behaved nobly throughout the whole excitement, and endeavored with all the means at their command to conduct the children out of the building safely.

We earnestly commend the course taken by Coroner Isaac K. Snell in giving this case a thorough investigation such as the circumstances demanded.
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