Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-01-07
BY ORDER OF THE CORONER.
The Thcater Charmed House Under
Tight Police Guard.

tight fOllCe VuuFU.
Chicago, Jan. by order of Coro-
ner Traeger the theater charnel house
has been placed under a tight police
guard. No person could enter without
a written order from Chief of Police
O'Neill, who was notified that he
would be held responsible for keeping
the theater building in the exact condi-
ton in which it was left by the sweep
Of the flames.
Thirty patrolmen were stationed
across the front of the building and 20
men guarded the rear; within we're 80
more officers, the whole interior, in
GLIDING the stairways and ire-bitted
balconies being jealousy guarded.
Search of the Basement.
AS soon as possible an additional de-
tail of policemen went through the
burned building from top to bottom.
There were fears that in the basement,
beneath ten feet of muddy water,
would be found more victims of the
smoke and flames. Big fire engines
that before had deluged the place,
were being utilized to draw forth doz-
ems of streams of thick, murky water
from the basement, while a dozen fire.
men in hip boots made a thorough
search of the basement for bodies. No
bodies, however, were found in the
basement.
Thousands of the Curious.
Thousands of the curious tried vainly
to reach the scene of the fire. The po-
lice, however, permitted no lettering
on either side of the street near by. If
they did, the onlookers would have
seen nothing out of the ordinary, for
the exterior of the building was the
same as before the fire. The giant
stone head of an %Iroquois Indian over
the grand entrance, fitting symbol of
i the cruelty of the deserted structure,
stood forth from a front unstained by
smoke or water.
Serene without, DesOIatc Within.
Though serene without, the interior
of the theater marked it as a true
whited sepulchre. Upon the marble
staircases at the left and right within
were the mess and confusion of the
grim march of the bearers of the dead.
Among the thousands of bits of bril-
liantly colored glass, shattered in the
fight against the flames, lay many
scorcheG bits of clothing and occa-
sional fragments of charred bodies.
From the upper galleries the view
seemed a reminder of a burned-out vol
cano crater.
Suggestive Relics.
In a saloon near the theater was be-
ing guarded a huge pile of garments
and furs gathered up in the theater
after the fire. Five bushel baskets were
filled with the purses, gloves and
handkerchiefs of the fleeing mob of
terror-stricken women. Two barrels
were needed to hold the overshoes and
shoes found.
At RoIstOn's MOrgue.
The greatest center of excitement of
the day was not the theater, but Rolls
tons morgue, to which dead were TAX
en-. All the morgues were surrounded
but at Rolston's where more bodies of
the dead were taken, than any other,
the scenes were the worst. About the
doors Of the place were massed hun
dreds of men and surrounding them,
like a huge fan, spread the hundreds of
weeping women and children. The
numerous police stationed there could
not begin to handle the crowds, and
extra details were hurried to the be-
sieged morgue. On a lesser scale the
same fearful siege was in progress at
the various other morgues.