Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-05-05


scrambling through an opening made
by some Of those who were near me.
Two seconds later would have been q
victim, for hardly had struggled
through the hole before heard .
dreadful crash as the blazing roof fell
in.
Il cannot describe the struggle for
life which ensued. No words can depict
the horror Of the scene. 1t seems as I
look back upon 1t like q hideous night
mare. The whole thing was over in
twelve minutes, and nothing remained
but the charred and blackened ruins Of
the bazaar"
CORPSES PILED FIVE FEET DEEP.
Horrible Spectacle Presented by the Re-
mains Of the Victims.
The dead were piled in heaps. and e.
pecially near the exit, where the char
red remains were five feet deep. In
some cases only the trunks remained
with no vestige of clothing. The news
spread like wildfire. All the cabinet
ministers now in Paris went immedi-
ately to the scene. Hundreds Of equip
ages streamed along the Champs
D'Elysees, their occupants with anxious
and tear-stained faces inquiring for
their relatives. There were many heart
rending scenes Of grief and despair. One
lady rushed about frantically calling
her daughter by name. Some one told
her the girl was safe, whereupon she
jumped, danced. and screamed: then
rushed to the coachman to tell him to
drive home. and fell in a dead swoon.
Another lady went insane. A third
imagined in her frenzy that she recog-
nized her daughters dress, and
Historically called upon her husband to
tell the police to prevent the child from
going to the bazaar.
Cabinet ministers. ambassadors, noble
men and members of the highest social
and financial circles were side by side
with the lowliest and the poorest,
anxiously inquiring for their missing
relatives. About thirty were saved by
Pere Ambrose and Pere Bailly. who
helped them over the wall with a ladder
to the printing room Of the newspaper
LaCroix. The staff of the Hotel Du
Palais lent valuable assistance and saved
15O persons through a barred window
overlooking the bazaar, where, while the
hotel employees were carrying away the
bars, they saw three persons burned to
death. Policemen have been deputed by
the project Of police to pick out the Dor
lions OF remains and to wrap them in
pieces OF cloth. to be transferred in
ambulances to do the palais de LIN
dustrie. The remains present horrible
spectacle Of limbs burned and twisted.
On all sides can be seen stretchers piled
with mutilated corpses, skulls split
open and brains exuding.
DEATH STRIKES III HIGH PLACES.
Names OF Few of the Lost-Mapy Chill
dren Have Perished.
The following are among the identi-
fled dead: Comtesse Mirimel, Comtesse
Brcderville. NJ. Victor Cosselin, Sister
Leonie Guillaume, Mesdames Hauss-
mann and Schlumberger. Comtesse
Humolstein. Marquise des Maison.
Nine. Ventimesnille. Nine. Hoskier (wife
OF the well-known Russian banker).
Nine. Poitevin, Nine. Jacques Hauss-
mann. the daughter of NJ. Sheville. and
Mile. Mandat-Grancey. Among the bad
ly injured are: Duchess de la TORI.
Comtesse Roancey, Count Montclair.
Count Devisin, Mesdames Macedo. Re-
camier, de Laume, Hyster, Edouard
Andre, De la Tour Dupin, Malezieux
and NJ. Lefebvre.
The whole Of the highest society in
Paris Is in horrible pell-mell, a prev
to the deepest despair, husbands seek
ing and calling for wives and fathers
seeking and calling for daughters. One
young woman, still wearing on her
breast the badge Of a stall attendant.
was seen rushing about in her petticoat.
her dress having been torn off to be
thrown over a lady who was In flames.
Her one anxiety was to find her parents
and tell them of her safety. Words
would fail to describe the horror of the
scene at the Palais deL'Industrie. where
the bodies are exposed on the side NEXT
to the Avenue Banton, in a portion of
the building now in course of demoli-
ton. Here in large room rudely COW
cred with rough planks, and on sheets
spread over planks. the bodies as they
arrive from the ambulances are being
placed in three long rows.
Here Is exemplified death by fire with
all its horrors. bodies completely nude
limbs twisted in the writings of agony.
some still having shreds of clothing
which assist recognition in spite of hor-
rible Disagreement, bones visible
through fire-eaten flesh, some merely
skeletons or grinning skulls blackened
with smoke. Many Americans and
English were among the stockholders.
but 1t is impossible as vet to give the
names of all the lost. 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 from the building. their
heads singed to the roots of their hair
The clothing not burned off was literal
ly torn of. No painter ever imagined
Last Judgment SO appalling The girl
who ran through the streets skirtless
to tell her mother of her safety had
charge Of the wooden horses in the ba-
zaar. 1t is impossible to say how many
children were on them at the time, or
how many persisted.
VIII Open the Osceola Shaft,
Houghton. Mich, May 5.-Prepara-
tons for unwatering the Osceloa shaft
OF the Centennial mine was begun yes
terday morning. The shaft was opera
ted profitably many years ago and why
IT'D work was stopped by the former
management Of the mine has never been