The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-06-11

Soure Oh AnQuiry-Iho wounded
Generally Doing Well.
WASHINGTON, d. c., June 1O.-Until
late last night workmen wore employed
in removing tons Of loose bricks aud
broken timbers from Ford's theatre
building. and this morning the old hulk
looked less hideous than whom scores
of dead and broken bodies were yester.
day being carried FRONT it. A hundred
or more broken desks and tables were
piled in the rear on each floor, and
litters OF papers and books have been
gathered up and such as were of any
value taken to place for safe keeping.
Broken and twisted gas pipes protruded
at every part Of the wrecked section of
the building.
Inc coroner's inquiry will commence
Monday. The jury empaneled this
morning consists of practical business
men of high character. An investiga.
tion by the War Department will also
be had
The death roll received another acces.
sicn at 6:45 this morning, when A. M. Ger.
ault, clerk from New Jersey, gave up
the struggle which he had main tanned
against odds for nearly twenty-four
hours. he went down in the midst of
the wreck and sustained injuries from
which he never rallied. One arm was
broken, his head cut, and the shock
produced conclusion of the brain. Mr..
Gerault left a wife and a married
daughter. The former was at his side
throughout the night and was with him
when he died. The body will be taken
to his old home in Now Jersey for
burial.
The report gained circulation that
Albert G. Yount, of Pennsylvania, chief
of the division in Ford's Theatre, died
from lis injuries last night, but it is in
correct. Mr.. Yount is still alive, but
In very critical condition.
The President is much perturbed over
the calamity, and will give his personal
attention to the matter of securing a
tull investigation. This morning
colonel Aklnsworth. chief of the record
and pension division of the War De.
partment, asked for court of INQUIRY
to determine the cause Of the calamity.
The Identification after midnight of
body supposed to be that of Dietrich, is
that of j. C.. Chaplin, of South Carolina.
IS verified. He leaves widow and
three young children.
The last body taken from the ruins
was DR.. Burrow Nelson, once a promi
nent dentist. and who still practice d his
profession out OF office hours A widow
and fivo little children survive him and
his wife is on the verge Of her sixth ma
ternity and also of insanity He vas
one OF the original faculty OF the Column
ola Dental College, and was for long
time employed in the office of the sur
geon general. His father was consul to
the West Indies and he was born in thu
country, but upon the rolls is accredited
to West Virginia.
and j. b. Gage, of Michigan, were also
recognized after midnight among the
dead and their Identification verified
to day.
Col. Geo. M Arnold, of Virginia. was
colored man who had been a hospital
steward in colored regiment during
the war, and after tho war was con-
nected with the freedmans bureau in
North Carolina, where he was once n
Justice Of peace. He was appointed bv
President Hayes to the position he held
at the time of his death.
WASHINGTON, June 1O-Another trao
national in clRas;,cter but inyoly
ing the loss of many more lives and much
more human sutfcring-has stained the
walls OF the old Fori's theatre, Washing
ton, where a braham Lincoln was assassin
ated by j. Wilkes Booth in April, 1865. 1t
Is coincidence, also, which will 90 into
history that this second tragedy occurred
on the very day when the remains of the
great tragedian whose life was so darkencd
by his brothers crime that he never visited
Washington afterwards, were being laid to
rest i'll Mount Auburn cemetery, Mass
The house. in which Lincoln died. on the
other side of the street from the theater
where lie was Shot and which is still sen:j-
mentally kept intact, rs 1t was That ratal
night looked down upon scene of agony,
excitement and grief which even the great
crime of 1865 could not parallel
And the horrors of the scene were by no
means lessened by the knowledge that a
blunder surely in this case almost worse
than n crime" had caused the death of
from ~ to 30 persons at the least and in.
nlcted maimings and injuries upon 80 or go
more.
Declared by Congress Unsafe.
The evidence as found in official records
appear conclusive that as long ago as 1885
this building which the government mr.
chased after the assassination and used nc
an army museum, was officially proclaimed
by congress an unsafe depository for even
the inanimate skeletons, mummies and
books of the army medical museum. for
which safer place of storage was provided
by act of congress
But notwithstanding the fact that in the
public press and in congress also continued
attention was called to the bullying walls
OF the building, and its darkness and gen
eral unsuitability and unsafety, it con
tinued to be used for the daily employment
of nearly 500 government clerks of the
pension record division of the war office.
With refinement of discrimination.
however, between what could be replaced
and what pnrlI moi ba On ooc;lx- a,,,,,I;o.I