The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1876-12-14


flames were abortive, and the carpen
ter had to retire to save his own life
The scene in the galleries, after the
alarm was raised, is described q:
something horrible even to contem.
plate.
Up to noon to-day 9th, SIS bodie;
had been removed. OF these fifty
nine are identified, some by remnants
of clothing, watches, chains, and such
articles, but few by teeir features
The actors, Claude Burroughs and
Harry S. Murdoch, are among the
identified.
This afternoon q number of men
will be set to work to clear away all
the wreck in the auditory. Hitherto
their labors have been chiefly confined
to the space formerly occupied by the
lobby and stage. It is feared that
when a careful search is made in the
auditory, that the bodies of a good
many men, who leaped, in their frenzy,
from the galleries, win be found. The
Police allow no person to enter with
in the walls of the the tbeater, with
the exception of those engaged in the
search for the dead. The small parts
of the ceilings and floors of the theater
yet remaining, are in an unsafe condi-
ton.
A coroner's jury was impannelcd
this morning, adjoining the burned
| theater. They took no evidence, and
at noon adjourned till Saturday even
ing. A. NJ. Palmer, one of the lessees
of the theater, gives the following
statement of the number OF persons in
| the theater Tuesday evening: 405 per-
sons in the upper gallery; 800 persons
in the dress circle; 250 persons in the
parquette; p actors and speaking
people: 20 supes, 16 stage hands and
II musicians; total 1913: or including
dressers and other subordinates, 1850
persons.
a fault in the construction OF the
burned building, and one to which
there is reason to believe the dreadful
loss of life in the gallery is in a large
| measure attributable, was the use of
painted cloth for the ceiling. The
canvas caught easily and burned rap
idly. OF course the flames followed it
to the ventilator at the top, making
the dome funnel of fire, right over
the heads of the people in the gallery.
1t seems more than probable that the
smoke and fire, lii the midst of which
| they were thus placed, destroyed the
lives of mony persons who might else
have escaped, even by the inadequate
stairway provided for them. There
was even larger crowd around the
morgue this evening than on yester
day. A surging mass of people occu-
,,ia CID To- L i'm of IN al
| house, and stretched into the middle
of the street, and men and boys clam
bered upon the fences and wagons in
the neighborhood. Yesterday, the
people who congregated in the neigh
borhood of this building, were quiet
and orderly, but to-day there was
spirit of levity perceptible, notwith-
standing that the fire was an event
only two days old. No permits for
admission were demanded of those
persons who could satisfy TIE officers
that they had lost friends or relatives
By the fire, but were allowed to enter
from time to time, passing i'll the
front door and through the room on
the right hand, which contained about
thirty bodies lying on the floor. None
have been identified so far. The search
ers then passed through smaller
room at the farther end of the build
ing back to the left hand room, in
which some corpses were lying upon
marble slabs and tables in the center.
Upon such bits of clothing as remain
upon the bodies, numbers written
hastily, with lead pencils, on bits of
paper have been pinned, and when a
body has been recognized the name
and address are added to the number.
Upon receipt of the coroner's per-
mission, the corpse is placed in a
plain coffin and driven to the addres
given by the persons who have claimed
it. There are very few identiiications,
however. 1t is impossible that there
can be, as many features are, for the
most part, unacceptable. Trinkets,
and such things, were many of them
lost in the crowd, and the clothing has
been either all destroyed or burned
into mere rags. AT the Adams street
morgue. formerly known as the old !
Fulton Market, the scene was horrible |
in the extreme. On the floor lay q |
large number of charred bodies, but |
in many instances it was impossible |
to tell whether they had formerly been |
male or female, human or animal. In |
some cases the mass was only about a |
handful of charred bones and flesh, !
without remnant of clothing or 9TH
er property thatscould possibly lead
to Identification. In other cases the |
clothing. was either torn from or
burned off the bodies, leaving but
charred and blackened remains, which |
1Na A
the bodies not so badly burned, was
one of man who had evidently leaped
from the gallery, as one leg was broken
short off above the ankle. The re-
mains of DR.. Frankish, dentist, who
resides at Portland avenue and Fulton
street, were recognized by the initials
on his shirt collar. 1t was the only
article of his wearing apparel which
could be distinguished. A report of
a most distressing case has been made
by Captain Crafts, of the second pre-
cinct. Mrs Smith, widow lady, and
her daughter, Mrs. Simpson, left their
residence, No. Il Sands street, Tues
day evening to attend the theater.
The only other occupants of the house
were a servant girl and an orphan
child, whom Mrs. Simpson had adopt
ed. Neither of the ladies have returned
to their home, and having no friends
in the city, no effort has been made to
identify their remains. The husband
of Mrs. Simpson is expected home
from a long voyage at the close of the
week.
The undertakers were constantly
driving up to the morgue all the morn
ing, with wagons and permits for the
of the identified remains, and
the police had great difficulty in max
ing a passage way for them through
the solidly packed crowd which filled
up the street in front of the building.
Hundreds of people have been to the
station house to-day, inquiring after
absent friends, and the pitiful scenes
Of Yesterday were re-enacted with ten
fold force. Two hundred and ninety
seven bodies have been deposited in
,he morgue and a temporary one OH
adams street. A wagon load of bod I
es was on the way when the reporter
eft, making 500 in all The mortality
will probably reach $50 persons. The
lldermanic commit tee on burials re-
bort that at IL O'Clock to-day 1873 bod
es were at the Adams street market
and SO at the city morgue.
Sheridan Shook was at the police !
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