| Girl Recalls Burning Backs Of Classmates |
| CHICAGO, Dec. 2 - (AP) - Children from hospital beds, many with burns, told of the frenzy and hysteria, of escapes and rescues in the holocaust at Our Lady of the Angels School Monday. |
| The scene they described were ones of horror. |
| Linda Barleto, 12, in a hospital suffering burns and bruises, said as she sipped orange juice. |
| “Our backs were burning. Then someone pushed me out of a window.” |
| In an adjacent bed was Andrea Gagliareo, 12, Linda's cousin and classmate. |
| “Some of the boys jumped out of the window,” Andrea said. |
| “When we looked down we say them lying still on the ground. They didn't move.” |
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| Frances Panno, 10, her face and hands burned and her black hair charred, told from the Franklin Boulevard Hospital of her rescue of the school by firemen. |
| “Other pupils were screaming and pushing behind me,” she said. “Then some firemen came up ladders put against the windows and took me down the ladder.” |
| Mary Brock, 10, a fifth grade pupil on the second floor of the building, said someone in her classroom yelled, “I smell smoke.” |
| “When the classroom door was opened, a lot of smoke blew in,” she said. “Sister Mary Clara Theresa told us to get out of the windows and get on the ledge and stay there. I got out the window and stood on the ledge, but lots of others jumped.” |
| Mary Latianzio, 12, a seventh grader, said she knew nothing about the fire until she heard children screaming in an adjoining eight grade roo. |
| “Smoke begin to pour into our room,” Mary related. “A lot of children began to cry. There was a big jam at the door of the room because so many wanted to get out. One boy collapsed from inhaling smoke. Another was hanging out of a window, calling for help.” |
| Joseph Brocato, 11, a sixth grade pupil, was brought to St. Elizabeth's Hospital by his father. Anthony Joseph said he and a classmate were emptying waste paper baskets from his classroom in the boiler room. That was near 3 o'clock, the time of dismissal of classes for the day. |
| “Suddenly,” Joseph told a reporter, “I saw the janitor running from the boiler room. The janitor yelled 'Call the fire department.' My classmate and I ran upstairs and were told by the nuns to go into the church (around the corner from the school). A lot of children were in the church. We then were told to go home.” |
| Sylvia Tesauro, 13, an eighth grader, told her story from a room in the Walther Memorial Hospital, where she was confined with three other pupils. |
| “Two girls entered our classroom and said the hall was filled with smoke,” Sylvia related. “Sister tried to lead the classroom downstairs. We were forced back by the thick black smoke and had to go to the windows to get air. Many of the girls were crying, sobbing like everything. |
| “Firemen raised ladders up against the ledge and I came down a ladder. Other pupils were jumping and falling from windows. On the ground children were lying all around and there was a lot of blood on the ground.” |
| George Tomilia(sic), 10, said [he climbed onto] the second floor ledge. He dangled briefly from the ledge by his fingertips, then jumped. He suffered a fractured hip. |
