Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-09
FIND BODIES In BITS
Searohers for Remains of Victims of the
Paris Holocaust
SECRETS OF THE CHARITY CHARNEl HOUSE
Gruesome Relics of the Awful Disaster
Brought to Light,
SAD SCENES AROUND THE AWFUL PIT
Relatives Of Victims Visit the Place and
suCcumb to Horror
No SCENES AROUND THE AWFUL PIT
RELATE SOME REMARKABLE INCIDENTS
Survivors of the Awful Rush Tell of
How the Fire Overwhelmed the
Crowds and How the
Few Escaped.

Copyright, 1897. by Press Publishing Company
| PARIS, May S.-(New York World Cable
| gram-Specal Telegram.)-The Parisians,
naturally the gayest and most volatile peo-
| pie OF Europe, are still plunged in hopeless
| depression over the calamity at the Charlie
| Bazaar. We are a city of mourning in the
true sense. There is no talk, only shud-
| dering illusions TO the holocaust in the
Rue Jean-Coujon AS passed there this
morning few grimy searchers were still
| pursuing their ghastly quest among the
ashes A miscellaneous collection Of limbs,
! carbonized shreds and patches OF human
| bodies, charred bones, incnerated Jumps of
| clothing, with fragments Of blackened flesh
! adhering to them. were laid out on a piece
| of sacking. At first the men CROPPED among
| the grisly ashes with a shiver and drew
back their hands convulsively when they
touched the palpable remnant of a body. Now
they have become accustomed to the grue-
some work and pursue it coolly and sys-
tematically, as though it were their ordi-
nary vocation. At the outset when the first
vain feverish. exciting desire to rescue some
of the victims had passed away, the searchers
lost heart and sickened and had to be primed
with brandy to keep them going.
Curiously enough, there has been no
| charge or even suspicion of theft, though
countless valuables are known to be lying
amid the debris Of the charnel house. Ser
geants de vile are stationed around, patrol
ling impassvely Small knots of people
gather and talk in whispers as they gaze on
the scene of so much unutterable agony and
desoation.
SCENES OF SORROW.
While I was there an old woman and an
aristocratc young man drove up in a car
riage and the young man reverently assisted
the woman to alight. They were both in
deepest mourning. The old woman gazed
wildly at the ruins OF the bazaar. She
trembled violently and almost fell to the
ground. l assisted in placing her in her
carriage. Another man whose face was wan
with misery said to me: Her daughter,
my wife, was there''-pointing with horror
in voice and gesture-then he sobbed like
child Such scenes are of constant occur
renee and some are even more poignantly
tragic.
Yesterday the widowed mother of one OF
the attendants at the ill-starred bazaar a
robust looking woman of So came with her
other child, a boy of IL, to see the place
WnGFe the unluenllHeu remains Ol ueT
daughter still lay. She was advancing to
the opening, when she fell, rigid mass, to
the ground, dragging her boy with her On
lockers rushed to her aid. She was livid,
apoplexy had seized her and she was hur-
red off, inseusible and dying. to a hospital.
Today she still lives, but that is all. Ac-
cording to well authenticated reports at
least six deaths have resulted from shock
ng
suicides.
WHAT THE POLICE OFFER.
Eight unclaimed bodies, or parts of bodies,
were removed from the morgue today for
burial. Another has been surrendered to
the authorities, which had been claimed in
error. A police notice announces the fol
lowing CHASTITY reminders of the fire as still
in their possession unidentified: Six rem
nants Of hair or wigs, two large bones, COM
pete hand, without rings; three human
bodies, without heads, arms or legs and
otherwise mutilated; one foot intact, cut off
above the ankle, in neat boot, bearing no
mark; two ribs, one lower jaw, eleven arti-
fetal teeth, two heads, apparently women
but defaced and blackened beyond recogni-
tion; $1,000 miscellaneous articles found in
the ruins, including a few rings and
fragments of clothing, but the bulk of
them consisting OF knlcknacks and articles
such as are commonly offered for sale at
bazaars In one case the searchers unearthed
the bodies of two women clasped in each
others arms An attempt to separate them
caused both to break in pieces, even the
bones being charred These we're found un-
der a sheet OF zinc or iron, where they were
baked by the frightfully intense heat, as
though in crematory, Horrible incidents
like this are multiplied by rumor almost |
indefinitely but no doubt vivid Imagination |
has been at work exaggerating the horrors |
which would seem to outdo, in their naked |
simplicity, the morbid fancies of a Poe.
INCIDENTS OF THE ESCAPES.
friend OF mine, who was on the spot, re-
lates some curious facts Thus, for exam
pie, when bodies were discovered, he re-
marked that in many cases that arms were
held up in the air, as II praying for divine
protection Others had their legs carbon
ized while the rest of the body remained in
tact. Others, again had their heads and
arms burned OF In some cases the feet
were missing. My friend happened to see
General Munier when he emerged from the
flames. His face, body and legs were fear
fully burned, He shrieked and rolled him
self on the ground, mad with pain. One
fireman pumped on him to lessen his suffer
ng Then, jumping up, he rushed about like
a lunatic into trough OF water close by
Eventually he was seized by a policeman
and taken into neighboring house, where
his wounds were dressed. He was then put
in carriage and taken home, but he did
not, as you are aware, long survive. In
another case woman appeared at the door
With child stop there, my little dear,
while go back and fetch your sister, who
6 in the crowd" were her words. But she
never returned. Strangely enough the sis
er escaped. Just how she did not know.
WOES FOR THE LIVING.
But the dead are, after all, less TO be
1itled than many Of the survivors. Every
lour is adding to those who. having escaped
With their lives. are bereft of reason; OF
'thers who must live life OF indeseribable