San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-05-06
THE AWFUL PARIS FIRE !!
Work OF Rescue Is Still
Going On.
CHARRED AND BURNED RE-
MAINS BEING REMOVED
AND IDENTIFIED.
Scenes About The Place While The
Work Of ReScuing The UnfOrtu-
mates Progresses Are Heart
rendering And Pitiful-- Tenn
EOrary MOrgueS.

New York, May GA dispatch to the
Herald from Paris says:
The scene on entering Porte s, of the
Palais de TIndustrie last night, where
the bodies of the victims of the Rue
Jean Goujon were taken, was fearful
beyond description.
There had been placed the charred
corpses of what had been a few hours
before beautiful women of the very
best families of France. The bodies
were laid out on roughly improvised
platforms of boards taken from any
where about the place. The bodies
were charred beyond recognition. AL
most all the bodies were burned about
the head and feet while the middle of
the body remained comparatively in
tact. Ambulances kept coming up in
a continuous stream, bringing more
and more of the unfortunate victims,
the crowd outside giving way in sill
ence. The Rue Jean GoujOn was al
most impossible. OF the bazaar build
ing, in which only a few hours before
everything had been gay and beauti-
full, there remained only few charred
poles. Inside the wrecked building
there was nothing but pieces of rags
and human remains. The tiremen
were digging among the debris in
search of the bodies. There were not
enough ambulances, and the bodies
had to be placed in wraps. Then came
soldiers, police and firemen to carry
away the dead and they all worked in
silence and with a will.
The soldiers carried sheets in which
-H In
conveniently. There were women nurs-
es from Hospital Beaujon, also with
sheets, waiting to cover up the dead
before they were taken away in am
balances.
Near the western wall, which bound
ed what had been the bazaar, bodies
were literally found piled in heaps and
their position seemed to indicate that
a terror stricken rush had taken place
or that it was instructive budding
together in the face of death.
There were pieces of understands all
over the ruins and fragments of wool
en- garments and corset covers. Tiny
little slippers were everywhere to be
seen, crisp, but entire, only charred
by the heat.
On one side was a pile of valuables,
jewels, etc, guarded by policemen.
There were bracelets and rings COM
pletely free from flesh, showing how
terrible had been the flames in the
fury.
l spoke to two women who were
standing near the ruins. The elder
one was. Nine. Rochesautier and the
youngest was a servant. I'VE were
attracted by the cries of the ladies'"
said Nine. Rochesautier. "Oh such
cries. We called to men in the hotel
the Hotel du Palais-which fronts on
No % Cours de la Refine. 1t was the
work of a moment to tear down the
iron bars of the window and to throw
out the chair. We hauled eight poor
women in here. They were so terror
stricken that they did not stay here
long. They were so frightened that
many could not cry, But many were
lost and 1 saw several rush out of the
flames and fall dead. We saved at
least one hundred and fifty"
Mile. LeComte, of % Rue Jean Gou- |
jon, said: THE fire broke out at half |
past four o'clock. 1t was terribly sud- !
den. The heat was worse than the |
smoke. You could not go out into the |
street for fear of the heat. The bazaar |
burned up just as if the wood had been |
soaked with kerosene.
II should think there were $500 peo-
pie there, because, you know, the
Nuncio was there in the afternoon and
that made it an extra attraction. He
had hardly left when the flames burst
out. They seemed to spring up from
all over. They shot up into the air
and the heat was thrown out on all /
sides.
so fierce was it that all the windows
and shop fronts opposite were cracked
or burst open. Birds in the windows
dropped dead from their perches, as If
struck by lightning and many of the
neighbors were so paralyzed with fear
that they did not know what to do.
The fire lasted only about twenty min
utes, but such twenty minutes shall
never forget.
big Frenchman, a marchand de !,