Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-05-06
NUMBER OF DEAD ESTIMATED AT
UPWARD OF 143.
ONLY ONE AMERICAN PERlSHED
MANY MEMBERS OF THE ARIsTOC-
RACY AMONG THE DEAD.
Sister of the Empress of Austria One
of the Victims-Nincty-fOur of
the ,Corpses Identified-Bn-
Ear Manager Knew II
Was Unsafe.

every class OF society. Inc newspapers
without exception describe the disaster at
the Grand Bazaar de Charlie in the sober
and simple terms beftting SO appalling an
event. The catastrophe will always be re-
membered as one of the most fearful that
ever befell a European city. Nothing conf
parable in loss of life has ever occurred
here, except the fire which destroyed the
Opera Comique in 1857. That disaster hap
pened in the same month of the year and
eighty persons were burned to death, while
forty-five were officially registered as miss
ing.
In aristocratic circles. the numberless
dinner parties and other functions of a
gayly opening season have been suddenly
abandoned.
1t is now estimated that there were about
100 persons in the building when the fire
was discovered, about one-half of whom
escaped unhurt. Some estimates place the
number of dead at 1iS, others at q still
higher figure.
The amount of administrative negligence
surrounding the catastrophe is almost in
conceivable. The structure was so COM
bustible that many of the victims, if not
most of them, must have been burned alive.
without suffocation. No sort of inspection
seems to have been made in advance by the
municipal or police authorities or by the
prefect of police.
NJ Lepine the prefect of police, who is
severely censured for lack OF proper SUPER
vision of the preparatory arrangements,
says, in excuse, that the patrons and pa
tronesses of the bazar were reactionists
and he feared that, IL he meddled with
their programme. they would say he was
trying to suppress Roman Catholic enter
prise.
NJ. Faure has received kilograms Of con-
doence from Queen Victoria, the Emperor
Nicholas the Emperor William. King Hum
bert and other sovereigns, all couched in
terms of the deepest sympathy.
The police announce tonight that Ill
bodies have been recovered. OF these, nine
ty-four have been positively identified. The
number of corpses by no means represents
the number of persons who lost their lives.
as it is certain that many were burned to
ashes.
Among the dead who have been identi-
| fled are the following: Comtesse D'Hora,
press of Austria: the Baronne Elizabeth
| ST. Martin. the vicomtess Marie
Ronneval. Sister Guinoux, the su-
perior of the sisters at the Convent of st.
Vincent de Paul at Rainey: the Comtesse
| St. Pierre, the Barpnne ST. Didier, Nine.
| Fforez, wife Of the Spanish consul the
| Comtesse Miramel, the Comtesse Broder-
| Vile, Sister Leoni Guillame, the Comtesse
| Holstein the Marquise de Maison. Nine.
| Hockier, wife of the well known Russian
| banker; General Meunier, the Duchess de
! St. Didier. the Baron Caruel de St. Martin,
the Baron de LaumOnt, the Baron de
| Mackou the Comtesse de Nun, Comtesse
| de Serrurier, the Comtesse de Gunulhe.
| Comtesse de la Bletterc, Comtesse de Val
| lin. Comtesse de Subersac, Comtesse Cara
yon-L aTour Vicomtesse de MalseiuX, Nine.
| Moreau, her son and four daughters. Sis
ter Gilhous, Sister Virginie Thomazeau. the
mother superior of the Sisters of st.
Andre, Sister Julie Garivet, Father Mar.
beau. Baron DeShonlay, the Comte De-
| BcIwal, Vicomte De St. Pierrer, the vi
comte DeChevigny. Nine. Zurrire. the wife
of one of the most prominent generals in
the French army: Nine Wirned, the wife of
| General Wirned: Nine. Chevals. the wife of
General Chevals.
There are nineteen bodies still uniden-
titled, among which mus. be those of the
Comtesse DeLupe and Nine. Nitot's second
| daughter, both of whom are missing.
NJ. Gosse. the notary. on learning that
| his wife and two daughters were anon:
the victims. was SO prostrated that his life
| Is despaired of.
Mrs. Porges was the only American VIC
tim. She was a Miss Weisweiller. Her
daughter accompanied her to the bazar
and escaped uninjured. The Porges fami:.
reside in Vienna.
Among the last to escape from the burn
ing building was the Baronne de Reuter-,
formerly Miss Beatrice Potter. of Phila-
! delphia.
The unidentified bodies. as we'll as the
| jewels recovered from the debris, have
been photographed by the Bertillon meth
cd. The funeral service of the victims
has been fixed for the Cathedral of Notre
Dame. NJ, Faure will attend and Pere
Richard will probably oficiate.
At to-nights session of the cabinet it
! was decided to ask the chamber of depu-
ties for special credit in aid of the needy
families. The minister 2f- justice COM
| municated to his colleagues the first re-
| suits of the inquiry into the causes of the
| fire. The Investigating magistrate. NJ.
Berlotu. reports that there was great care
lessness and imprudence in the principal
| arrangements for the bazar.
Former United States Consul General S.
f. Morss said to the representative of the
| Associated Press:
| was only one American victim. This was
indeed remarkable because just now there
is an unusually large number of Ameri-
porters of such fetes as the Grand BaZar
de Charlie and. moreover 1t gave them j
favorable opportunity of getting into close
| quarters with the aristocracy and many OF
the celebrities of Paris
London. May "a dispatch to the Times
from Vienna says:
Not until this morning wednesday, had
the emperor and empress of Austria neard
that the Duchess D'Alencon was among
the victims. The empress was devotedy
attached to her sister. and Is completely
overcome by the bereavement. The dinner
which was to be given 10 the queen regent
and the queen of Holland at the Chateau
Lainz, where the emperor and empress are
| staying. has been Cancelled. Nine. Joseph.
| inc Porges, one of the victims. was a neal
| relative of the well known Vienna banker
Ephrussi."
The Times publishes an interview which
Its Paris correspondent had last evening
first gleam of fire came from spot but
| short distance from where 1 was standing
| I was dazed, SO swiftly did the flame:
spread. l can compare 1t only to the burst
in my case as reaching the main entrance
but near me was small door leading to
| waste piece of ground behind the baza
| structure. l rushed through this and wa:
l socn in the open air, though still in an EN-
closure. i had passed, as It We're, under al
archway OF flames, but was only slightly
burned. The hair above my left temple
| was singed.'
A dispatch to the Times from Paris say.
that Michael Heine, the manager OF tn,
| bazar, admitted last evening that the ar
rangement was evidently ill made. adding
I'VE ought to have foreseen that such
| disaster as this was possible. but the stalls
have been increasing every year, and W,
were very anxious not to lose an inch o
! ground"
| yIfni~fer (y.yfon Reuoho. Naxf,o