Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1908 — ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN DEAD [ARTICLE]

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN DEAD

That Is the Story of the Boyertown, Pa., ; V, Tragedy. r ■ • • ■ . NONE OF THE DEAD INCINERATED Many So Badly Disfigured That Identification Will be Very Difficult. BODIES FOUND IN GREAT PILES Cause of the Frightful Tragedy Cry of Fire!” Brings the Panto That Cost So Much

Boyertown, Ta.. Jan. 15. When nightfall put a stop to the work of recovering the dead from the ruins of the Rhoades Opera House where the holocaust occurred the official roll of victims numbered 167. Whether any more bodies are burled beneath the ruins cannot be positively stated, but tt Is the belief of those who had charge of the gruesome work that all of the dead have been removed, and that the total list of victims will not go above 170. The ratio of women and girls to men and boys Is about nine to one. Whole Town Is In Mourning. The Inhabitants of the Little borough In the Berks county hills are steeped in grief. The calamity Is terrible when tt la realised that the population of the place Is about 2J500. and lias paralyzed the town, and the people are going •bout dazed. They do not realize what has happened, and cannot believe that tbeir loved ones, friends or acquaintances were lost In the awful panic and fire. It is safe*to say that everybody In the place either, lost one or more relatives, or was Intimately ac-

qtininted with those who died In the fire. In several cases whole famine's were wiped out. If ever a community was truly In mourning it Is the substantial town of Boyertown. Gruesome Work Begins. It was almost daylight before the flames were extinguished and rescuers were able to enter the ruins to remove the dead The morning was bitter co!d and hy the time the benumbed aud exhausted firemen began the task of disentangling tliemassof burned beams and twisted iron the entire ruins were coated with ice, and there was danger of the walls falling. The work went slow at first, and it was 7 o’clock before the first body was removed. The bodies are so badly burned that there Is little to describe them by, and it Is safe to say that not half of the victims will ever be identified. The second victim was taken out nbout an hour after tile first. , K.UJi VAY company sends aid :.Ci;;)vcrv ol' Corpses Proceeds Rapidly j —Cause o» the Tragedy. At this time the Philadelphia and j Heading company sent two carloads of laborers to help, and the work of recovering the corpses proceeded rapidly. The cause of the tragedy is being investigated. The Üboades Opera House was located on the second floor of a three-story brick building. The first floor was occupied by a national bunk aud several stores and the third floor was used for lodge rooms. The entertalnmeut ball was a large room about fifty feet wide and seventy-five feet long. It had no gallery. There was a stairway at the front of the building and a narrow exit in the rear of the stage. Fireescapes were built on both aides and on the front of the building. So far as can be learned there were atMMit 425 persons packed In the room, most of whom were adults. A number of children was present -There were about sixty-five persons, all local talent, on the stage, who were giving a performanceof the Scottish Reformation. The entertainment was nearly over, the audience waiting for the cur tain to go up on the last part, when something went wrong with the calcium light apparatus that was perched on a small platform near the front entrance of the building, and at the back of the andlence. Tlie light was In charge of H. W> Fischer, of Carlisle, Pa., and he says a rubber tube slipped from one of the tanks. At any rate there was a loud hissing sound, which caused many* in the audience to turn their heads in curiosity to see what It was. There was absolutely no panic up to this time, aud nothing probably would have happened if one or more of the performers behind the curtain had mot been curlons to learn what was causing the noise. Who be Or they were probably will never be known. Hearing .the biasing sound and the

slight commotion in the audience one of the performers raised the curtain from the floor. In front of the eurtain, and serving as footlights was u tin tank perhaps eight feet long, three inches wide and three inches high. It contained coal oil and ten lights. In raising the curtain the performer acclientally turned this tank over, and it fell to the floor within a few Inches of those persons in the front row. Rev. Adam A. Weber, pastor of St John’s Lutheran church, for the benefit of whose Sunday school t’’.e entertainr ent was being given, tried to pick up the tank with the assistance of others, but before they could do so the oil flowed out and caught fire. DREAD CRK OF "FIRE!” Then the Mad Rush En Masse for the the Theater Door. Then came the inevitable cry of “Fire!” and what/followed has been impossible to accurately tell. Eyewitnesses say that the audience rose en masse and the one impulse was to reach the front door. All attempted it, but few got out. The seats in the center of the hall were of the usual folding variety, while those along the side of the hall were loose chairs. In the scramble to get out many persons fell over the chairs and were never again able to regain their feet. Those who did reach the front entrance found It jammed. One of the double doors had been bolted shut so as to better enable the ticket taker to take up tickets. Not more than two persons could pass this door at one time and after the first half dozen got through the narrow passage it became clogged with the struggling mass of humanity. Men, women, boys, girls, and chairs were tangled up In a solid mass that no one on the outside w as able to dlsentagle. All this time the flames from the oil tank were creeping toward the terrible mass of people who were frantically shrieking and fighting to get out The noise was terrible and few heard the cries of those who found the fireescapes. Some of the bravest who had gained the fire-escapes pulled dozens from the struggling mass and directed them to the sides of the building. While the frenzied people were fighting to get down the front stairs the calcium light tank exploded and fire was spread over the entire mass of people. DEAD ARE FOUND IN PILES Awful Sight That Met the Eyes of the Rescuers. When the flames were extinguished aud the rescuers altered the building : a horrible sight met their gaze. Bodies ! were piled in one solid mass six feet j high on the second floor. So solidly j were they wedged that pick axes and

drowbarsbad to “be used gently to separate the victims. As each body was taken from the pile a tag was attached and the body placed on boards. The body was then covered with a quilt, hundreds of which were furnished by stores and citizens, and lowered to the street by means of ladders. They were placed in wagons and taken to the four morgues. Dr. J. H. Evans, burgess of Malvern, who supervised the removal of the bodies In behalf of the coroner, said that there were nine female victims to one male. He did not believe that 10 per cent of the victims would ever be identified. In nearly every case the upper portions of the bodies were burned away. Following are some of the dead: Mrs. John Becker and two children. Dr. Charles Mayer and daughter, Robert Lapish, child of Rev. A. M. Weber. Lulu Fegley, Miss Elma Engle, Mrs. Ira Sliober, Mrs. Richard Turner. Mrs. Daniel Krause. Mrs. George Romino, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Gottschal.. Herbert Gottsehal, Ellen Gottschal, Henry Brlnder. Blauee and Mabel Ivochel. Mabel Graff. Mrs. J. J. Becker and three children. Lottie Graves and sister, John Graves, Charles Meyer and daughter, Daniel Krause, Morris Anderson and two children, James Anderson, wife aud two children, Charles Maurer, Stella Kulp, Carrie Weand. Edna Poyer. Keeley Boyer, Mamie Pole, Mrs. Maggie I*efevre, Mrs. Mary Lelnbaeh, Laura Grim, Mrs. Adam Meyer, David Gable, Franklin Leldy, Anna Leldy, Esther Cullen, Lottie Bowman. Ella Johnson, Anna Zelgler, John Fritz, Cora Fritz, Mrs. John Glaze, Mrs. Reuben Hoffman and daughter, Mrs. Johnson.