The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-17
Unidentified Body Found in
BOyertOWn Ruins Fur
niSheS Mystery.
BURIALS BY MOONLIGHT
Graves Dug at Night for Victims
Of Horror. Total Dead Now
Number 73..Heartbreaking
Scenes Continue Unclaim-
ed Remains in Trench.


BOYERTOWN, Pa, Jan. ia mys-
terry, weird, uneanny and Dickens-like,
was disclosed among the inufied dead
Yesterday in the High School morsue
containing the victims of Monday
nights opera house fire and panic. 1t
WAS the body of It woman attired in II
UliNe1 bet of garments-of masculine and
feminine design. and with the jowelry
of both u woman and a man. Every
Effort to identify the horribly burned
body has So far proven futile.
None of the players in the opera
house was dressed as was the mystic
rious victim.
When found in the ruins the body
Vas dressed in a mans coat, vest,
trousers and shoes. 1t was accordingly
tagged as a man and taken to the
nlcigue. AS ii was lifted from the
heavy silver watch dropped from on
ecalrnent in somo place about tho coat
~ vest and was promptly tagged AS
property of the supposed man.
When it came to the work of un-
dressing the bodies and swathiag them
il cotton batting and muslin, the men
engaged were %astounded. Woman's
stockings and a woman's corset were
among the garments worn. The under
clothing was then removed, and they
found themselves confronted by the
corpse of Il woman About the neck was
a necklace, and on the arms were
Bracelets.
Howard Bause. who undresscd the
body, said:
THE body was tagged as a man, aud
there was outwardly nothing TO show
otherwise. When we discovered the
stockings, the first evidence of a
woinan's clothing, we thought 1t
strange. Then we came across the cor
set. and our wonder was INCREASED.
Probably our lo~ng-continued work
among the awful scenes had worked
ON NY nerves, for when we became
convinced that we were handling the
body of a woman, and realized that Il
strange mystery was involved, l nearly
tainted | know of no eccentric char
actor in this vicinity who would be
likely to affect such a style of dress,
tlu an eltlIelS 1T Il lOSS " dSCOuhN
for it,"
Members Of the State -constabulary
declared that last night two men had
called at the morgue, and had claimed
The bracelet of the woman as belonging
10 q relative, and wanted to take it
away with them, but refused to claim
the body. According to the c~oustables,
there was quite a little alteration with
the men, which ended In their being
elected.
Principal S. I. Henry, of the public
school. was among those taken into the
confidence of the authorities in the
matter. lie said:
at is one of the s~trangest mysteries
l have ever heard of. | think the mat
ter should certainly be ferreted GU and
sifted to the bottom. for there is some
thing very odd and weird about it to
my mind. I am convinced it was no
resident of Boyertown or this imme-
date vicinity"
II nave not the slightest idea as TO
who or what the body may be- said
Coroner Strasser today. "All l know of
It has been reported to me by my dep
uties, which is to the effect that the
body was dressed partly as a man but
was Undoubtedly that of a woman and
that the watch in question certainly
fell from tho clothing of the strange
corpse. They are ready TO swear to
that.
Il viii probably inquire later about