The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-08-27
Sixty-0ne in All Taken from the Ruins
of he Wrecked Building atNew York.
Work of Delving Among the Charred Debris
Completed Yesterday Afternoon and the La
bOrers Relieved of Their Chastity Duty.
Many of the Bodies Recovered During
the Day in a Horribly Bad State.
Authorities Criticised for Delay - Pitiful
Scenes at the Norgue as the Remains We're
BroughtIn-Twenty.0ne Yet Unidentified.

NEW YORK. Aug. a.-"Any one here look
ing for q sister, a mother. o friend, it so
step to the coffin and identity this body"
This was the command that Jared the
strained nerves OF the watchers beside the
body pit at the wrecked Park-place build
ing last night as each body was brought
out. 1t was o mere quip of the law. q
hooking formula to shield the fearful
criminality of incompetent authorities. If
readers of tho horrible tale of the last
nights vigil beside the open grave of these
unfortunate human beings could have
answered this summons of the police
captain. and, mingling with the small
crowd of mourners. gathered around q plain
pine coffin, caught a glimpse of the man
gled remains, headless, limbless and some
times q mere chunk of rotten bones held
together by shreds of ragged garments and
torn flesh. such readers would realize
the awful crime resulting from
the Incom Detent management and
heartless indifference of those who should
have taken the fearful condition of affairs
in hand on the first night of the calamity.
Every body recovered last night was q
reeking mass of maggots. That human be-
ings should so far forget their duty to the
dead as to leave them rotting and putrefy-
ing in a mouldy pit for three days, if pre-
scented as an incident in q romance, would
be condemned as a violation of decency
and IN insult even to mans Imagination.
Yet such were the revelations which last
nights labor caused, and further proved
that these horrors could have been avoided
If proper decency and common humanity
rules at all among men. There should be
no mercy for such crimIna negligence of
fellOw-men to rot In a very chaos of pes
tilent ruins for the sake of political red tape
and personal interest. There are three
men whose names should earn the praise
and gratitude of all se~lf-respecting men
and women.
They are DR.. King B. Page. who volun-
teered his services in assisting to identify
the bodies and has worked fifteen hours
out of the t~wenty-fOur ever siIce the calam-
ity; T.. E.. Crimmins, who. being shrewdly
matter, stated last night that he would pay
for the labor of his men (125l as work o n
the ruins If necessary, anc 10 has prac:
tically shown that, with ,Avmpt action, all
fore pu~trefaction destroyed al chance of
identification, and Chief-of-battflion Cash
man, who has worked with cnfiagging en-
ergy to expedite the recover of the bodies.
Il no uctQS VI tuo NtIlOuo Clty NcpdItluCuio
seem to have been more anxious that the
expense attending the work should not be
charged to their particular account h
that bodies of the dead should be recovered
before all chance of Identification was
gone. Ever since Saturday night the
work of clearing out the ruins has been
greatly delayed by the presence of a huge
mound of debris blocking up the street in
front and leaving no place to deposit the
wreckaRe. and 1T was not until last night
tho cfapc mara q Ean fnUar6 op,ouir ~ the
debris. and then only because q city con-
tractor stepped in and offered to pay for
the work himself if the city officials could
not decide which department should pay
the bills.
RECOVERING THE LAST BODIES.
The first body taken out after midnight
was discovered at 1:15 A. NJ. 1t was
that of q man about five feet seven
inches In hight. withthe arms and
the lower part of the left leg
burned off. The clothing was also burned
off, and the body was burned and decom-
posed beyond recognition. At lbs there
was taken out the body Of a man
about thirty years old. The head
was separated from the body, which
the clothing had been burned off. The
body of O woman was found at 1:35 A. NJ.
The body was burned beyond recognition.
At 1:5o there was found the body of q man
was burned of. The body of another
woman. about twenty-three years old. was
found at 3 A. NJ. At 4:55 the body of Morris
A. Haring, of Jersey City, was taken out.
1t was identified by his brother. At $50
there was recovered the body of q man
about forty years old. In the pockets were
q silver watch with q brass chain, eleven
keys on a ring. q pOcket-bOok containing
S4 As, and q white-handled knife with two
- IL
nineteen years old was found at 6:3C. This
made eight bodies recovered between mid
night and $50. bringing the total number
OF bodies recovered up to that time to fifty
eight.
At 7:3O the body of another man was
taken from the ruins. The body was badly
burned M ~decOmposed. Fifteen minutes
later in the same spot was found the body
of another man. The body was burned and
horribly decomposed. At s o'clock was
found the body of . man about forty. At
10:30 there was taken out the body of q
young woman apparently twenty-five years
old. Unlike the greater number of other
bodies recovered it was not burned. and
composed recognition would seem possible.
The hands were appraised as if she had died
while praying. Shortly before IL o'clock
the search for bodies in the cellars of Nos.
6S and 20 was abandoned. All the debris
had not by any means been removed, but it
was stated that what remained there had
been thoroughly examined aud that no
more bOGles remained in it. Work was then
concentrated on the cellars of Nos. ~ and "A.
BODIES IN ALL
At 100 o'clock this afternoon Acting Fire
Chief Reilly announced that the search for
the dead in the ruins vas completed, and
that no more bodies remained there. Work
was at once stopped. and the 'longshoremen
and other laborers employed in clearing
out the debris were discharged. The De-
partmeut of Public Works will continue
its work Of clearing the debris from the
street. but the task of cleaning out the
debris which remains of theTayior Building
must be done by the owners OF the prop
erty.
In police record gives the number of
dead bodies taken from the Park-place
ruins up TO i o'clock this afternoon as sixty
One. OF these seven bodies were identified
Immediately after being discovered, and
were taken direct to undertakers or TO their
homes. There werc fifty-four bodies taken
to the morgue. and of these thirty-tbree
were Identified. There remain twenty-one
bodies unidentified.
The announcement that the search was
concluded and the last body had been
taken from the ruins had Its effect upon
the crowd. which. with morbid curiosity,
had chung to the rope that formed the fire
line. Most of the people went away, aud
the ~overworked police breathed signs of
relief. The bureau of membranes kept
up its work of removing the debris from
the Attract until < II NJ vhau oil ~orL