The Mena weekly star., 1908-01-23
THE DDY[RTONN HORROR
Four Morgues Which Contain 162 Bodies Thrown Open for Identi-
 fication of Dead.
MANY OUT OF TOWN PERSONS MESSING
Fully 40 Teams Remain UncalIed for In Boyertown Stables Since the Ca tastrophe--Another Death Added to LIst--coroner Making a Preliminary investigation of the Case.


 Boyertown, Pa, Jan. 16.--With the opening of the four improvised morgues Wednesday in which lay the victims of Monday nights theater hor- TOT. the inhabitants of this borough began to realize the awful extent of the tragedy The hand of sorrow has touched probably every family in the town and in neighboring villages. Where families were not directly af- fected by the terrible panic and fire through the loss of relatives they were mourning for lost friends or ac- quaintances. The gruesome scenes following the disaster bring shudder to the stoutest heart and many of the thousands who have come as curiosity seekers have gone away declaring they never want to witness another sight like 1t. The four buildings used as morgues contain 162 bodies. The three undertaking establishments of the borough were too small to accommo- date the victims so the borough of ficials decided to use the high school Undertakers from surrounding towns were pressed into service to care for the bodies as they arrived from the scene. To each body was attached a tag containing a number and with the corpse was laid articles of jewelry or clothing that might have been in pos session of the victim.
 The coroner, who has been on the scene since midnight, had been ex- pected to open the morgues for the Identification of the bodies, but the number of dead grew so large that the undertakers with augmented force from other towns were unable to properly arrange the bodies. Most of the bodies were in such condition that few of them will be recognized by their features alone. In nearly every case the upper portions of the bodies were burned, some of them to a crisp. Because of the difficulty of Identification and the attendant confusion the coroner decided to keep the morgues closed until Wednesday and during the morning the doors of the building were thrown open. Hun dreds of the people were waiting at each place to get look at the bodies in the hope of finding the remains of loved ones. Perfect order was main tained at each of the morgues. squad of police being on duty to keep the crowds moving. Jacob Johnson. who was badly hurt in the mad rush for an exit from the burning build ing, died Wednesday morning. Coro- ner Strasser is making an investiga- ton preliminary to the official in- inquiry
 Tt was the saddest picture ever looked upon" he said. No living soul can depict the scene. It was simply indescribable. shall make a thorough investigation leading up to what I consider the most horrible af- fair that ever occurred in Eastern Pennsylvania"
 Henry w. Fischer of Carlisle, Pa. the operator of the calcium light, which was the original cause of the terrible disaster, made his escape from the burning buildign, though not without first receiving severe burns. MT Fischer said
 "The accident was caused by a cap on one of the tanks blowing out. This caused sharp report and startled the people. I stuck to my apparatus and finally got the leak repaired. Just as had the people calmed the foolish action of some thoroughly frightened person on the stage caused the over. setting of an oil lamp and the conse' quent spread of the flames, which nothing could avert. Not until then did desert my post and seek my own safety in flight"
 That the victims were not confined to Boyertown was shown by the mum Der of unclaimed teams at the hotels. Fully 40 teams remained uncalled in the stables Tuesday and the hostlers said they belonged to people residing within a radius of five or six miles of Boyertown, who drove to. this place Monday with their families to witness the production of the Scottish Refor- nation" There Is no clue to the identity of the owners of number of the teams.