VIDEO: More than 100 years ago, a night of celebration at the Cleveland School in Kershaw County turned into an unimaginable disaster. Seventy-seven people lost their lives. For the families of those who survived, the memories remain vivid.
It was a warm May afternoon in 1923. The Cleveland School in Camden was filled with the sounds of kids performing in their end-of-year play. In a matter of minutes, that joy changed to fear.
“It was probably utter chaos at that point, because everyone was panicking. Some people, it was reported, kind of froze in fright,” said Chief Chris Jones, president of the Cleveland School Memorial Foundation. “Others probably reacted in panic, and that led to everyone rushing down the stairway. And it was the only way out.”
With only one way up and one way down, the narrow wooden stairwell became jammed with people trying to escape. As the smoke thickened, the playground below the two-story building turned into a landing zone.
Parents who had been waiting outside used their own vehicles to cushion the fall of children jumping from the second floor. Ann Seegars’ mother-in-law was one of those kids.
“There was a combination of horse and buggies that came, and some cars. So the cars, they lined them up, I think, under the windows, and some of the men began to throw out the children, you know, to get them to safety,” said Seegars, a member of the Cleveland School Memorial Foundation. “My mother-in-law was thrown out. She hit a car, and it broke her arm. But it saved her life.”
Chief Eddie Gardner’s grandmother was also one of the survivors. He grew up hearing about “the big fire,” eventually realizing the great horror his family had gone through.
WIS-TV NBC 10 Columbia
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