Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1908-01-17
SCORES OF OTHERS HURT
Disaster Occurs at Church Bene,
fit at Boyertown, Pa.
PANIC FOLLOWED AN EXPLOSION

the Weaker Ones Were TrampIe5
Under Foot-Floor Collapsed and
Those Who Were Carried Down in
the Wreckage Were cremated.
Eoyertown, Pa, Jan. Alt is esti-
mated that about $50 persons were
burned to death and about seventy.
five others were injured in fire that
completely destroyed Rhodes opera
house in this city. The opera house
was crowded with the members of
ST. Johns Lutheran Sunday school,
who were attending benefit given for
the church While the show was in
progress a tank exploded. The actors
endeavored to quiet the audience, but
in their anxiety to make themselves
heard and to avoid the awful STAN
pede of the women end children, the
coal oil lamps which were used at the
footlights were overturned, setting the
place on fire. The flames, fed by the
oil, shot almost ITO the. ceiling, and
there was wild rush of the 700 per-
sons in the structure to escape from
the burning building. Scores of wo-
| mon and children were trampled upon
and several who escaped being burned
to death died after being dragged
from the opera house.
In many cases whole families, it is
said, have been wiped out.
The scene of the explosion was in
! descritable.
Scores of persons who were in the
balcony at the rear jumped from the
windows and sustained fractured
limbs and skulls.
Fire Apparatus Disabled.
! To add to the terrible disaster the
fire apparatus became disabled and
the structure was left entirely to the
mercy of the flames. It is almost
certain not a vestige of the bodies of
the unfortunates who were overcome
by the smoke and persisted will ever
be found.
| Assistance was asked from Potts
town, but before the fire apparatus
from that city reached this place the
entire center of the structure was q
roaring furnace.
! Fad the women and children heed
ed the warning of the cooler heads
in the audience the horrible loss OF
life might have been avoided, but
there was the usual panic and STAN
pede that invariably follows such an
accident The flames spread rapidly
and communicated to other parts OF
the theater. Men, women and chill
dren rushed for the many exits and
the weaker sex and the children were
trampled and manned in the mad rush
| to gain the street.
! The, blood-curling cries for help OF
those who were penned within the
walls of the blazing structure could
be heard above the roaring, seething
flames. It seemed as though nearly
the entire audience made mad rush
for the exits the moment the eXplO-
sion occurred. In the mad rush a
section of the floor gave way, pre-
cipitating scores of persons to the
basement AS the floor collapsed the
shrieks Of the helpless persons who
were carried down were heard for
blocks. It was scarcely five minutes
from the time of the explosion of the
tanks of the moving picture machine
until the entire heart of the structure
RaQmed q roaring furnace
| Appealed for Assistance.
Assistance was asked of both Read
ing and PottstoWn, and special trains
carrying nurses and doctors were
rushed to the scene of the disaster.
Every home within radius of half
q dozen blocks Of the opera house was
made a temporary; hospital, where the
injured were rushed in carriages and
other means Of Conveyance Klss
A special train from Reading bear.
ing physicians and nurses came here,
but there WAS little for them to- do. AS
/ the injured had been .car4d for BY the
physicians, assisted by the 'Pottstown
relief corps. f}>'o35 81 au.
A few minutes after ,midnieM the
rear wall Of the .theataEs collapsed.
The flames broke ont anew and those
who lhad9 vainly hopedhto be able to
ind the, remains OF some Of their
loved ones turned In despair from the
scene of the awful catastrophe. It is
estimated that at least seventy five
persons were injured by being tram
pied on either on the stairway or by
| jumping from the windows of the