The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-02-17
DIGGING FOR THE DEAD
Among the Ruins Of the Hotel Royal
at New York City.
Seventeen Charred Bodies Taken From the
Debris, Only Six OF Which Gould be
Identihed-The Search Aban-
doned Without Finding I,
ANY More vlc-
Tins. at

New YORK, Feb. 9.--The sixth body
to be taken out of the ruins Of the Hotel
Royal was found at o'clock Monday
morning 1t was found in a room on
the top floor. 1t was apparently that
of woman, but was so badly burned
as to make Identification impossible.
The seventh body was found soon after
ward. 1t was that of man. It was
lying in mass of ruins, and had evi.
dentally fallen with mass of timber
from an upper floor. At 10 o'clock the
eighth body was found. 1t was that Of
a man. 1t was lying among the debris
in the cellar of the hotel. How many
charred and mangled bodies are still
buried beneath the ruins of the hotel is
aquestion of horrible uncertainty.
The number of persons in the build
ing when the fire broke out was 152 OF
these twelve are known to be dead
Eighty-two were rescued by the fire.
men before the walls collapsed and
fifty-eight are still missing. Among
those who were rescued from the fam
ing building are twenty-four who are
more or less seriously burned and
bruised
The work Of Identification is very
slow. This is due partly to the horri-
BILE condition of the bodies recovered
A stronger reason, it is believed, is that
many persons do not wish to make pub
lie through Identification the names of
relatives and friends possibly among
the dead in order to avoid scandal All
afternoon the Italians continued their
work on the ruins. The heaps of de-
bris grew higher and higher until For
tieth strest was completely blocked.
The work was continued all night Mr..
Galligan, the contractor, said that he
thought it would be three days before
the ruins could be entirely removed and
examined.
At $3.50 the body Of the tenth victim
was found. 1t was that Of a man ap-
parently 40 years old. The front of the
body was badly burned, but the back
was in fairly good condition. Soon af-
terward the trunk of woman was
found. There were no marks on the
body by which it could be indetified.
At s o'clock body No. 10 was, found.
1t was the trunk OF woman and was
found near the Fortieth street entrance
tothe hotel The legs and arms were
gone and nothing was found near the
body by which it might be recognized
Twenty minutes later the laborers
found the foot of human being wedged
in under a piano. At this point work
was stopped temporarily. The victims
of the fire were removed to the morgue
at the foot Of Twenty-sixth street as
fast as possible
New YORK, Feb 1O.-The digging
and delving into the Hotel Royal ruins
for the unfortunate victims Of Sunday
mornings FIRE were continued yesterday
in vigorous and efficient manner
That portion of the ruins underneath
where the Office and dining room Of the
hotel had been was cleaned Of debris by
3 o'clock. Up TO that hour seventeen
bodies had been recovered. There is
still great mass of ruins rem aiming in
the further end of the excavation over
against the wall of the Fortieth street
portion Of the building, which is still
standing. 1t is behind this wall that
the elevator shaft was located and in
mediately over which the upper hall
ways converged There, II is expected,
the greatest number Of bodies will be
found.
All day long and into the night crowds
of curiosity seekers surrounded the
ruins. A large force OF police kept the
people we'll out of bounds and they
could see but little of the black, gaping
hole in which so many horrors lie con
cealed About an hour and half ef-
ter the seventeenth body had been re-
moved the workmen discovered a foot
near where the last body had been
found. The coroner decided that II was
one of the missing portions of that body
and ordered It TO be placed in the coffin
it A few feet from where
the foot was found quantity Of cloth
ing was unearthed. On it was the name
&c. A. Forbes" A few minutes later
the diamonds Of Mrs Hattie Van Nor
den were found in silver caslet
Three other bodies were positively
identified. That in coffin No 1 was
recognized as Mira J. Cohen, aged 80
years, OF Toronto, Ont The body in
coffin No. was recognized as that OF
Lewis Levy, 4S years old, also Of To
ronto. Archibald Jacobs, brother Of
Mrs Cohen, made the Identification In
both cases The third body identified
was that contained in box No. O. II
was identified by Charles Blake, OF
Conn, as that Of his sister,
Sarah Blake, who was 30 year old So
FAR but six OF the bodies recovered have
been identified.
Fire Marshal Mitchell has instituted
\ searching investigation into the origin
of the fire which caused the disaster. A
number Of employees were examined
yesterday, but all had different theories
rs 10 the cause OF the fire pnd nothing
H. A. Lz.-kN