The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-02-10
WHO'S RESPONSIBLE
Trying to Fix the Blame for
the Hotel Royal Fire.
ONE SENSATIONAL STORY TOLD.
A Hallboy Says that the Night Clerk and
Engineer Were Drunk

If They Had Been sober They Gould
Have Given the Alarm in Time 20
Prevent the Terrible Loss of Life
Working the Buins--Twenty Bodies
Recovered Careless Work of the Ital-
ian Laborers--DIrs. Van Norden's Dia
monds Found--who Two of the vic
Tins Were.
New YoRK Feb. 10-Twenty bodies
have been taken from the ruins of the
Hotel Royal. Only eight have been iden-
tilted The others lie at the Morgue
awaiting Identification.
A gang Of Italians were at work all
yesterday and last night digging for
bodies They work with no more eau
tion than if they were making a cellar in
plain earth.
Now and then they strike an article
that should be preserved, but if not
watched they throw it aside with other
rubbish. 1t has required the utmost
vigilance on the part of the overseers to
keep the Italians from driving their
picks and shoyels through human re
mains.
Que skull at the Morgue looks as
though it had been struck with a pick
axe. The body will probably never be
identified
The other bodies found are probably
beyond recognition, yet there are pieces
of clothing, jewelry, etc, that may lead
to their identifcatiou
Several bits of jewelry were taken
from the ruins, among them an amethyst
brooch and two coral pins, with pend
ants, marked III. II. " All the property
recovered, some of the most trivial char
acter, has been taken to the Thirteenth
street police station, which was visited
all day by a stream of inqurers. Most
of them had had no property in the hotel
nor had they friends there.
Scores of people went to the Morgue
yesterday looking for lost friends One
glance into the rough board caskets,
where lay simply n charred mass of
human flesh, and the identifers started
back with an exclamation of horror and
the words: 81 could not recognize any
body in that form"
The diamonds of Mrs. Hattie Van Nor
den, of which so much has been said,
were found in a silver, gold-lined casket.
These Jewels were identified by Henry
Van Norden who has haunted the ruins
night and day since early Sunday morn
ing, as the property of his missing wife.
There were four diamond rings, one pair
of diamond earrings solitaire screw
stud, one diamond scarf pin and a badge
of the Benevolent Order of Elks
Fire Marshal Mitchell has instituted a
searching investigation into the origin
of the fire which caused the disaster A
number of employees were examined, but
all had different theories as to the cause
Of the fire, and nothing definite was
brought out. The hearing will be con
tinued tomorrow,
remarkable story was told yesterday
by Tom Fox, the head hallboy in the
house, which corroborates the statement
made by Felix Kraemer and other guests
that there was an outrageous delay in
alarming the inmates of the house and
in sending out an alarm of fire.
If Fox's story be true a terrible reck-
oniug will be exacted of Night Clerk
Underwood and Engineer Harding. Fox
will be called upon TO testify before the
fire marshal,
To reporter Fox said: 'If that man
Underwood had been sober, most Of the
lives lost on Saturday night would have
been saved. / left the house at 80 a. m.
and was standing at the corner Of Forty
second street when the fire broke out
Then l ran back and helped to get the
people out. If Underwood had only been
awake he would have discovered the fire
before it got any headway He and
Harding managed TO satisfy Mr.. Meares
tnot they were sober, but / know that
they WEREN'T
Fox also said that Underwood was in
the habit of procuring bottles of whiskey
from the bar, which he and the engineer
drank every night,