Heroic Teacher Critically Burned at Rainier School

Miss Amanda J. Hildebrandt, a teacher in the Rainier school, was horribly burned last evening at about 9:15 o'clock in the school building while trying to extinguish flames from an overturned piano lamp. She now lies at her home, 413 Taylor street, in a critical condition. Miss Hildebrandt had just completed closing exercises for her fifth-grade class, which had been well-received by parents and students. Fearing a tall lamp near the piano was in a dangerous position as the crowd departed, she moved to stabilize it just as someone brushed against the top-heavy fixture. The oil cup fell out and flames flared up. With rare presence of mind, she grabbed her light evening dress to smother the fire, but it immediately ignited. Enveloped in flames, she ran for the door, fell down a flight of stairs, and was eventually rescued by Professor Walter D. Gerard and David Young, who smothered the fire with their coats, before George Hildebrandt and W. Linehan used a school hose to extinguish the remaining embers. Physicians report she is burned from head to foot, though she remains conscious and is under heavy care.