ENTIRE FAMILIES PERISH AS PARENTS AND CHILDREN BATTLE TO REACH EXITS.

MANY LEAP FROM ROOF WHEN OVERTURNING OF A LAMP ON STAGE AT ENTERTAINMENT PRECIPITATES FIRE AND MAD PANIC.

SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOOL HOUSE FUNERAL PYRE FOR COMMUNITY.

Camden, S. C., May 18 -- Seventy-four persons, many of them school children, lost their lives last night in a ghastly fire which swept through a country school house six miles south of here.
They were burned, suffocated and trampled to death in a mad, terrified scramble for the one exit that led from the top floor of the flimsy wooden structure.
Death List Expected To Grow.
Perhaps a score of others are so badly burned they may die, and many who were successful in their frenzied dash for the stairway are suffering from injuries or varying degrees of seriousness.
The terrible tragedy occurred at what is known as the Cleveland School. Those who escaped today told the horror details of a night of horror.
Between 150 and 200 persons were gathered in the school house for graduation exercises. The school house was of the old fashioned country, wooden type, with a stairway in the rear and lighted only with kerosene lamps, located in a comparatively isolated community with no other houses or building nearby.
The audience was made up of fathers, mothers and children, the latter dressed in their "Sunday best" for the biggest community event of the year.
About 10:00 P. M. after most of the exercises had been completed and the superintendent of schools was presenting the ribbon-bound diplomas to the graduates of the eighth grade, there was a terrific explosion. It came from a smoky kerosene lamp swinging in the rear of the hall from the ceiling.
Burning oil was scattered over the back part of the big square room and flames appeared instantaneously, catching readily at the dry wood. The only staircase was in the rear and almost before those in the room realized what had happened escape was virtually cut off. The flames immediately surrounded the stairway.
Leap From Windows.
Those in the rear of the room dashed through the blinding smoke and jumped from the windows to safety below. Those nearest the platform and in the front seats of the hall were not so fortunate. With no windows from the platform and the smoke and confusion growing worse every second, there resulted a mad, terrified scramble for the one hope -- the stairs.
It was sheer panic and it paid the usual price of panic.
Women and children, gay in their white graduation costumes were knocked down and trampled under foot ant the interior of the hall became in a few minutes a screaming, milling mass of horror-stricken people, intent upon but one thing -- escape.
Some of those who escaped said later the doors of the auditorium "opened the wrong was," and that a score of persons got jammed against a closed door and thus held up escape for many.
Warning Ignored.
The Superintendent of Schols[sic], on the stage with diplomas in his arms, made a futile attempt to stem the tide of panic. He shouted that all could get out safely, if they took their time, but his voice was lost in the screams of the women and the children.
The superintendent and those of the graduating class, being furthest from the stairway, are believed to have perished.
The flames spread through the dry wooden building with almost unbelievable speed. Within a few moments after the explosion the whole rear portion was blazing high, and the flames, fanned by a stiff wind, began to eat into the flooring.
70 In Inferno.
Then, the second floor collapsed and down into that raging inferno of fire and burning embers went all who were left -- established at about 70 persons.
The first of hose who escaped by jumping out of the windows dashed across fields for the nearest farm houses for telephones by which to summon aid. Practically the whole countryside was at the school house, however, and some houses were locked. Telephones are not many any way, in the community.
Camden finally was notified and chemical fire apparatus was sent on the run. When it arrived it was too late -- the school house was a mass of burning embers, smoking and black -- the funeral pyre of half this little community.
When the Camden firemen arrived they looked upon the mass of ruins around which stood weeping mothers, frantic fathers and wailing children, looking for their loved ones.
There were a score of persons lying groaning on the ground, suffering from broken limbs and fractures suffered in leaping from the windows.
Night Of Terror.
The darkness was lighted only by the ruddy glow of the smouldering fire and in the intense heat and amid confusion the work of finding out who had escaped and who had died continued throughout the night.
Dawn this morning found a wearied, blackened crowd on men working feverishly. At 8 o'clock they had succeeded in pulling 74 bodies from the ruins. The work of identification has not been completed because of the confusion and the stunned condition of those who escaped.
Several whole families, however, have been wiped out.
"There was no one to blame," said the chief of police here. "It all happened so quickly and the panic was natural."
All of the victims were either graduates, students of the little school or parents and friends.

The Syracuse Herald New York 1923-05-18

Identified Dead In Fire Disaster
(By United Press)
The identified dead in the Cleveland, S. C. fire, are:
MR. and MRS. EUGENE BROWN.
Five Members of the KRAUSE Family.
Nine Members of the SCOTT Families.
MR. and MRS. CHARLES HUMPHRIES.
MR. and MRS. M. L. McLEOD and Two Children.
J. L. PEARSE.
MR. and MRS. C. G. BROWN.
F. J. WEST.
MRS. J. R. PHILLIPS and Three Children.
Two Children of MRS. L. M. WEST.
M. B. McLEOD.
CHARLES HENDLING and Four Children.
MRS. BRITTCOFT and Three Children.
MRS. HENDRI and One Daughter.
MR. and MRS. B. C. McLEOD and One Child.
MRS. ANDREW CAMPBELL.
MR. A. J. RHODES.
JACK BUSH and Daughter of MRS. S. CAMPBELL.
GRACE ARRANTZ.
ERNA ARRANTZ.
MRS. WALTER DAVIS and Three Children.
MRS. R. L. McCASKILL and One Child.
JESSE SMITH.
Two Children of C. K. McCASKILL.
Coroner G. L. DIXON and One Child.
MRS. WILLIAM BROWN and One Child.
MR. and MRS. A. R. DAVIS and Four Children.
MRS. R. L. DIXON and One Child.

Taken from
Sheboygan Press-Telegram Wisconsin 1923-05-18

The following is a list taken from the Plaque on the Memorial on the Site of the Cleveland School, Destroyed by Fire on May 17, 1923.
GRACE ARRANTS, age 7.
IRMA ARRANTS, age 17.
MRS. FLORIDE BROWN, age 47.
LOTTIE BROWN, age 9.
EUGENE A. BROWN, age 57.
ELLIE BARNES, age 17.
FANNIE BOWERS, age 16.
MRS. LULA CROFT, age 37.
DOROTHY CROFT, age 10.
HAMILTON CROFT, age 6.
MRS. ESTELLE CAMPBELL, age 20.
EOLINE CAMPBELL, and 14.
ASE R. DAVIS, age 37.
MRS. ASE R. DAVIS, age 42.
LENA MAE DAVIS, age 14.
FRANNIE LEE DAVIS, age 8.
W. C. DAVIS, age 3.
C. LUCUS DIXON, age 42.
CLARA DIXON, age 12.
MRS. MANNIE DIXON, age 50.
LINWOOD DIXON, age 12.
MRS. THERESA DIXON, age 32.
SARA DIXON, age 9.
MRS. ADDIE DIXON, age 22.
MARGARET DIXON, age 7.
WILLENE DIXON, age 1.
MARY LYNE GODWIN
BERTIE HENDRIX, age 16.
CHARLIE W. HENDRIX, age 52.
MAISIE HENDRIX, age 15.
ANNIE LEE HENDRIX, age 13.
WILBER HENDRIX, age 10.
ALVA HENDRIX, age 6.
WESLEY E. HENDRIX, age 60.
BERTIE HENDRIX, age 16.
FRANK HINSON, age 9.
J. C. HINSON, age 9.
ARABELLE HINSON, age 11.
CHARLES N. HUMPHRIES, age 64.
MRS. CHARLES HUMPHRIES, age 56.
TOMMY B. HUMPHRIES, age 30.
WILLIAM GETTER JOHNSON, age 11.
MRS. KATE McCASKILL, age 40.
ROY McCASKILL, age 4.
ADELINE McCASKILL, age 20.
COZEA McCASKILL age 2.
GRACIE McCASKILL age 5.
MILLER L. McLEOD, age 39.
MRS. M. L. McLEOD, age 33.
LINDSEY McLEOD, age 5.
MILTON McLEOD, age 1.
BERNELL G. McLEOD, age 29.
MRS. B. McLEOD, age, 27.
BRUCE McLEOD, age 2.
M. B. McLEOD, age 63.
JESSE E. PEARCE, age 40.
MRS. DORA PHILLIPS, age 45.
OLA PHILLIPS, age 17.
DOREEN PHILLIPS, age 14.
EVA PHILLIPS, age 8.
MRS. GRACE RHODEN, age 32.
JACK RUSH, age 15.
CLARA MAE SOWELL, age 13.
JESSE SMITH, age 13.
DUNNIE TRUESDALE, age 23.
EMILY TRAPP, age 10.
VERA TRAPP, age 9.
SHELL J. WEST, age 37.
THELMA WEST, age 15.
REBEKAH WEST, age 11.
SADIE WADE (Colored), age 17.

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