Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 166, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1914 — Corpse and Mourners Fall [ARTICLE]

Corpse and Mourners Fall

Funeral* Party Crashes Through Floor Into Cellar of House—Body Trampled Upon.

Philadelphia.—tragedy by fire was capped with gruesome horror when the body of Mrs. Yetta Siegal, of 1312 South Seventh street, who was burned to death last week, was precipitated with 50 of her mourners into the cellar of her home by the collapse of the floor. While only minor injuries were suffered among the funeral party, the body of the dead woman was thrown from the coffin and trampled upon by the panic-stricken men and women. With the assistance of the police and the undertaker, the corpse was replaced in the coffin and taken to the cemetery. Several houses have collapsed in

the neighborhood recently, amj the funeral party became panic-stricken in the belief that they werfe about to be buried under tons of brick and plaster. Their terror was increased by a flow of gas which was liberated by the falling floor. The policeman and the barber called to the struggling men and women that the danger was over, and helped them to climb out. When nearly all the mourners had been lifted from the cellar, Katie Siegal was found stretched upon the body of her mother in a faint The girl w’as carried to the yard and revived, while the undertaker lifted the body back into the coffin.