PROBE OPENS OF TRAGIC FIRE IN LITTLE ROCK.

21 BOYS TRAPPED BEHIND LOCKED DOORS.

Little Rock, Ark. (UPI) -- State police launched a full-scale probe today of the tragic reform school fire that killed 21 Negro boys trapped behind locked doors.
Gov. Orval Faubus, shaken and angered, charged negligence was responsible for the deaths and ordered state police to "let the chips fall where they may." He prepared to go before the Arkansas Legislature and ask for an emergency appropriation.
Faubus arrived on the scene of the fire Thursday at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School, 12 miles south of Little Rock, in time to watch firemen cool debris that covered a pile of 12 bodies. They were heaped below a window they couldn't open.
Sight Sickens Governor.
Nine other boys were sprawled in ashes that once was a U-shaped brick veneer dormitory building. Faubus was visibly sickened at the sight.
Forty-seven other boys escaped by kicking out "escape-proof" wire mesh screens and climbing out windows.
"There's absolutely no reason reason [sic] for this to happen the way it did except because of negligence on the part of someone," Faubus said. He said the building had no fire alarm system and no telephone.
The fire was believed to have started from defective wiring.
"It was absolutely inexcusable that nobody was in charge of the building," the governor said. "There is supposed to be a man in each building to warn the boys of any such disaster as this."
Build Fireproof Building.
Faubus said he would ask the Legislature to provide money for a fireproof building and money to fireproof the other dorms. He said the Legislature has already passed a $198,000 appropriation for the school, but he hasn't signed it yet. He said $8,000 was for improvements.
Superintendent L. R. GAINES said the boys, all ranging in age from 14 to 17, were in for minor violations, such as hubcap stealing, or because they had no homes to go to.

The Morgantown Post West Virginia 1959-03-06

Names Of The Killed:
LINDSEY CROSS, 15.
CHARLES L. THOMAS, 15.
FRANK BARNES, 15.
R. D. BROWN, 16.
JESSIE CARPENTER, JR., 16.
JOE CRITTENDEN, 16.
JOHN DANIEL, 16.
WILLIE G. HORNER, 16.
ROY CHESTER POWELL, 16.
CECIL PRESTON, 17.
CARL E. THORTON, 15.
JOHNNIE TILLISON, 16.
EDWARD TOLSTON, JR., 15.
CHARLES WHITE, 15.
WILLIAM L. PIGGEE, 13.
O. T. MEADOWS, 13.
HENRY DANIELS, 15.
JOHN ALFRED GEORGE, 15.
ROY HEGWOOD, 15.
WILLIE LEE WILLIAMS, 15.
AMOS GUICE, 16.

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!