The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-01-15
BOyERTOWN DEATH
LIST GROWING
EVERY HOUR
Nearly ITO Bodies Found in
Opera House Ruins
MANY MORE UNDER DEBRIS
Work of ldsntlfic alton Slow as Bodies
are, Horribly Disfisured by
Burns.

BOYERTOWN, Pa, Jan. lo.-Ins
working party at the ruins of the
Rhoades Opera House have taken sc
far 1877 bodies of victims Of the fire
disaster here. Coroner Strasser said
that he believed nearly all of the dead
have been taken out.
While the official roll numbers 1877,
there may be more bodies buried be
meath the wreck, but this cannot be
positively determined. 1t is the belief,
however, of those who had charge OF
the grewsome work that nearly all OF
the dead have been removed and that
the total list of victims will not go
above 10 The ratio of women and
girls to men and boys is about nine
to one. The work of identification has
been slow, as most of the bodies are
still lying in a confused state ut the
four improvsed morgues.
The inhabitants of the little borough
IN the Berks county hills are STEPPED
in grief. The calamity, terrible when
1t is realized that the place has a pop
ulation of but $500, has paralyzed the
town, and the people are going about
dazed. They scarcely realize what has
happened and cannot believe that loved
ones, friends or acquaintance were
lost in the awful panic and fire. 1t Is
safe to say that everybody. in the place
either lost one or more relatives or
;,tt al MT cd with fhnSQ
who died in the fire. In several cases
whole families are wiped out. II ever
q community was truly In mourning
It is the substantial town of Boyer
town.
1t was almost daylight before the
flames We're extinguished and rescuers
were able to enter the ruins to remove
the dead. The morning was bitter
cold, and by the time the benumbed
and exhausted firemen began the task
of disentangling the mass OF burned
beams and twisted iron the entire
ruins were coated with ice. and there
was danger of the walls falling. The
work went slow at first, and 1t was
Z o'clock before the first body was re-
moved. Coroner Strasser of Reading.
who reached the scene shortly after
midnight, had detail of men ready to
tag the bodies and keep record of
the description of every corpse remov-
ed. The bodies were so badly burned,
however, that there was little to de-
all l.t- nd 10 n
that not half the victims will ever be
identified
The second victim was taken from
the ruins about half hour after the
first, and then the work of recovery
moved more rapidly. Soon the rescuers
became exhausted from the cold and
hard work, and for time the work
came almost TO standstill. Fortu-
nately the Philadelphia and Reading
Railway company sent W. II. Refer,
superintendent of the Reading division
to the scene to see what the company
could do, and Mr.. Keffer offered the
company's assistance to Coroner Strass
err Chief Burgess Kphler was unable
to furnish men to help, and Coroner
Strasser Immediately avaled himself
of the railroads prefer.
Within an hour the company had
two carloads of laborers and car
penters on the ground, and the work
Of recovering the bodies moved so rap
idly that the victims were being tax
rt,in at ha IN of txy(
every five minutes.
There were many different stories al
to the exact cause of the panic anC
fire, and there were several rumOi'
and Coroner Strasser denied that an.
action whatever had been taken. TIT
coroner said that his one thought wa
to get out all the bodies before a slice
or snowstorm should set in and ham
per the work.
The Rhoades Opera House was Ia
Gated on the second floor of a tire
story brick building The first foo
was occupied by national bank ant
several stores, and the third floor wa
used for lodgerooms. The entertain
ment hall was a large room about III
ty feet wide and seventy feet Ions
1t had no gallery. There was stall
way at the front of the building an
q narrow exit in the rear of the stage
Fire escapes were built on both side
and on the front of the building.
SO far as can be learned there wer
about 425 persons packed in the room
most of whom were adults. The nun
Der of children present was compari
lively small. There were about sixt,
five persons, all local talent, on th
stage who were giving perfOrmanc
of the Scottish Reformation. The Ell
tertainment was nearly over, the aud
ence waiting for the curtain to go Il
on the last part, when something WEI
wrong with the calcium apparatus thi
was perched on a small platform net
the front entrance of the building an
at the back of the audience.
The light was in charge of II. v
Fisher of Carlisle, Pa, and he says
rubber tube slipped from one OF Il
tanks. At any rate, there was lou
kissing sound which caused many
the audience TO turn their heads
curiosity to see what it was. The