The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-05-05

social ana financial circles were sYda 10y
side with the lowliest and the poorest.
anXiously inquiring for their missing
relatives.
About 80 were saved by Pere Am-
Jroise and Pere Bailly, who helped
them over the wall with "a ladder to
the printing room Of the newspaper
La Croix. The staff of the Hotel Du
Palais lent valuable assistance. ana
saved t5O persons through a barred
window overlooking the bazaar. where.
while the hotel employees were carry
ing away the bars. they saw three
persons burned TO death beneath their
eyes.
Policemen, their hands covered with
gloves. have been deputed by the pre-
feet Of police to pick out the portions
of the remains and TO wrap them in
pieces of cloth, to be transferred I'm
ambulances to the Palais d'L'Indus-
tries The remains present a horrible
spectacle of limbs burned and twist
ed. on all sides can be seen stretchers
piled with muulated corDses, skulls
split open and brains exuding. Just
behind a heap of corpses lies alone the
body of a woman. The face is down
ward, the head burned. the brain ex-
posed and from the empty socket of
the eye the brains are slowly oozing
The arms and legs We're burned off.
A little further off is the body of an
other woman, nude. the entrails pro-
trudlng and the head missing 1t is a
CHASTITY sight.
The dead We're piled in heaps, es-
pecially near the exit where the char
red remains were four feet deep. Arms,
legs and skulls mingled in lneXtricable
confusion. In some cases only the
trunks remained, with no vestige Of
clothing on any of the bodies.
The flames licked most of those who
escaped. and dresses were burned from
the backs of their wearers, who tore off
their blazing hats as they rushed for
the street, their heads singed to the
roots of their hair The clothing not
burned off was literally torn off No
painter ever imagined a last Judgment
SO appalling
The flames rose to a fearful height
The fire brigade came quickly, but the
blockade i'm front of the burning mass
was simply frightful, and the hose was
compelled to play over the heads Of
the multitude. The scorched people
cried for the firemen to souse them,
which they did. The cries from within
were cries never to be forgotten for in
tensity of anguish.
One Of the survivors tells to the cor
respondent of the Associated Press his
experience:
THE place was crammed full of peo-
pie, and the heat was sitting Being
very uncomfortable, my friends and /
determined to leave. but somehow we
could not make much headway through
the throng toward the door. 1 Jagged
a little behind, as l was offered a nose
gay by a stallholder, when suddenly
the shout of fire was raised. Instantly
ali was commotion.
I'VE tried to keep cool, but the rush
from behind forced us forward, and
we were separated. Then I tried to
work my way back, but 1 was carried
off my feet and carried backward and
forward in the swaying crowd. l lost
my hat: then my coat was torn off,
and then my waistcoat. All this hap
pened in a few seconds.
Immediately the full extent Of the
calamity dawned upon all of us. The
flames spread with startling rapidity
throughout the whole building, which
rumbled like a living furnace, but the
uproar Of the conflagration could not
drown the groans and cries of the
agonized crowd. Gradually I found
myself pushed back against the wall
of the building, and finally succeeded
in scrambling through an opening
made by some Of those who We're near
me. Two seconds later I would have
been a victim, for hardly had I strug-
| gled through the hole before I heard
I a f111
fell in.
81 cannot describe the struggle fol
| life which ensued, No words can de
/ pict the horror Of the scene. The whol,
/ thing was over in y minutes, and moth
ing remained but the charred anC
! blackened ruins of the bazaar"
The correspondent of the Associated
Press has had an interview with Miss
Elsie Bushbeck, Of Philadelphia, who
with the Misses Hawthorn and Ore
her, was one of the few who escaped
althsugh not unscathed, Miss Bush,
beck said:
y was q saleswoman at booth No
49, close to the place where the fire
originated. 1 arrived shortly after
o'clock with my friends We left ou1
wraps and hats in the cloakroom and
| went to my booth, where four nuns
/ presided. In the booth were three
/ blind girls working, one reading the
/ blind alphabet, the other writing and
| the third making brushes. The lady
/ presiding over that section of the ba,
zaar told me I need not hurry, but thaf
1t would be all right if / came a littl,
later I started to look around tn,
bazaar and stopped at a lottery wheel
where / won a bunch of asparagus
/ Just then, happening to turn around
I saw and called my friends attention
| to a flicker in the corner Of the wal
about Is yards away Hardly had
done so when a gentleman behind me
cried out: Ecu, Mesdames sortez'
(hre, ladies' hasten out), and pushed
me toward the door rather roughly, bu
fortunately for me.
'As this was my second experience
under such circumstances advise,
my two friends to raise their skirts n
the front so they would not stumble
over them. We were then just step
ping on the first Of the three step
leading out of the building. Turnin,
my head to look back / saw the who'll
place in flames. At my left I caugh
a glimpse Of an old lady emerginj
from an adjacent door, and saw he
stumble on her skirts The next IN
stant quite 20 persons piled on TOP o
her. I crossed the street and turne,
round to face the fire, but already thl
] haaf Fvaa ipfanua fh.t 10