People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1893 — THE FORD THEATER HORROR. [ARTICLE]

THE FORD THEATER HORROR.

The Total Ndmber of Deaths Now Placed at Twenty-Three Funerals of the Victims—Belief for Thier Dependents. Washington, June 12.—The list of dead by the Ford theater collapse now numbers twenty-three, the latest victim being A. ?(. Gerault, of New Jersey, whose death was reported Saturday morning. The remains of the dead victims of the horrible wreck have nearly all been disposed of. Washington was on Sunday a city of funerals, and all day long mourners went about the streets. Inquiry confirms the statement that none of the victims were men of property. Most of them lived on their salaries, which furnished means of livelihood, but left little for a day like this. Most of them were married and some had large families, who are now left, if not entirely dependent upon friends and relatives, at least lacking in funds for immediate use.

The body of George Q. Allen, of Pennsylvania, was taken on Saturday to Philadelphia, where his relatives reside, for interment, after a funeral service conducted by Rev. Father Kervick. After the last sad rites had been performed over the remains of Emanuel Gates Shull, also of Pennsylvania, the casket was taken to Gettysburg for interment. The remains of J. Boyd Jones were sent to his home in Evansville, Wis., where a widow and three children await their arrival. The body of Caph Michael T. Mulledy is now on its way to New Orleans, La.; that of Samuel P. Banes was taken to Bristol, Pa.; that of Jeremiah Daly to Romola, Pa.; that of 11. S. Miller to Cumberland, O.; that of Capt Ben Miller to Utica, N. Y. The remains of J. B. Gage, George M. Arnold, Frederick B. Loftus, Otto Maeder, Dr. Burrows Nelson, Frank M. Williams, Richard Fagan, J. E. Chapin and John Bussius were buried in this city.

The injured in Friday’s catastrophe now in the hospitals are, with the exception of two, in a fair way to recover. The serious cases are those of J. P. McCormack, of Wisconsin, and Frank Metcalf, of Massachusetts. The former received a depressed fracture of the ribs and has been in a critical condition. Death is likely to occur soon. Mr. Metcalf sustained a dislocated hip and was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances until pneumonia developed and the physicians are not now able to predict the result in his case. Deputy Coroner Shaffer is engaged in making preparations for the inquest, which will be resumed to-day. -He has subpoenaed several witnesses, and it is his intention to secure all the eye-wit-nesses to the affair that he can.

Much of the talk upon the disaster is row of relief measures, and the circulation of subscription papers in the departments and the Washington newspapers in their efforts to gather funds for the relief of the victims and their families are meeting with success to a degree that does credit to the benevolence of the citizens. The government clerks, as a class, are not well to do, and the expenses of living absorb most of their salaries, but few, indeed, were too poor to contribute a sum that appeared to be generous in view of their means for the relief of the widows and orphans. One notable fact is the growth of the feeling of resentment on the part of the public against the persons responsible for the wreck. In advance of the verdict of the coroner’s jury and of the findings of the court of inquiry ordered by the war department there is no general agreement upon this point, and the public are rather indiscriminately condemning everybody who had anything to do with the control .of the wrecked building, from congress down to the very laborers who were digging in the cellar when the crash came.