The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-15
FREEZING COLD MAKES
 RESCUE WORK HARDER
Careless Curiosity Is Believed To Have Started the Panic When Someone Raised the Curtain and Turned
 Over an oil Tank.


 nightfall put stop to the work of re- covering the dead from the ruins of the Rhoades opera house, where last nights holocaust occurred, the official roll of victims numbered 165. Whether any more bodies are buried beneath the ruins can not be positively stated, but it is believed that the total list of victims will go above TO. The ratio of women and girls to men and boys is about nine to one. The work Of identification will not be begun until tomorrow, as most of the bodies are still improvised morgues.
 The inhabitants of the little borough in the Berks county hills are tonight steeped in grief. The calamity has paralyzed the little town of 25OO inhabitants. The peo- pie scarcely realize what has happened. Everybody in the place either lost one or more relatives, or was intimately &C., quainted with those who died in the fire. In several cases whole families have been wiped out.
 Bitter Cold Weather.
 It was almost daylight this morning be- fore the flames were extingushed, and rescuers were able to enter the ruins to remove the dead. The morning was bitter cold, and, when the 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. It was o'clock before the first body was removed Coroner Strasser of Reading, RV11 fla detail of men ready to take the bodies and keep q record of the description of every corpse removed. The bodies were so badly burned, however, that there was little to describe them by, and it is safe to say that not half the victims will eyer be identified.
 The second victim was taken from the ruins about half an hour after the first and then the work of recovery moved more rapidly. By noon the rescuers be- came thoroughly exhausted from the cold and hard work, and for time the work came almost to a standstill. Fortunately the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad company sent w. H. Keefer, superinten- dent of the Reading division, to the scene and MT. Keefer offered the company,s assistance to Coroner Strasser. Chief Burgess Kohler was unable to furnish men to help and Coroner Strasser i'm medately availed himself of the railroad company's offer. Within an hour he had two carloads of laborers and carpenters on the ground, and the work of recovery was moved so rapidly that victims were being taken from the ruins at the rate of two every five minutes
 Cause of the Panic.
 There were many different stories as to the exact cause of the panic and fire, and there were several rumors of arrests but the borough officials and Coroner Strasser tonight denied that any action whatever had been taken. The coroner said that his one thought was to get out all the bodies before sleet or snow storm should set in and hamper the work
 The Rhoades opera house was located on the second floor of a three-story brick buildings. The first floor was occupied by a national bank and several stores, and the third floor was used for lodge rooms.s The entertainment hall was a large room about 50 feet wide and 75 feet long. It had no gallery. There was a stairway at the front of the building and a narrow exit in the rear of the stage Fire escapes were built on both sides and on-the front of the building
 Few Were Children.
 So far as can be learned there was about 425 persons packed in the room, most of whom were adults. The number of children present was comparatively small. There were about 65 persons, all local talent, on the stage who were giv- ing a performance of the Scottish Ref prmat ation.' The entertainment was nearly Q tain to go up on the last part, when some thing went wrong with the calcium light apparatus that was perched on a small platform near the front entrance of the building. and at the back of the audience. The light was in charge of H. w. Fisher of Carlisle, Pa, and he says a rubber tubing slipped from one of the tanks At any rate there was loud hissing sound which caused many in the audience to turn their heads in curiosity to see what it was. There was absolutely no panic up to this time, and nothing probably would have happened if one or more of the performers behind the curtain had not been curious to learn what was eaus- ing the noise. Hearing the missing sound and the slight commotion in the audience one of the performers raised the curtain from the floor. In front of the curtain, and serving as foot lights, was tin tank perhaps eight feet long. three inches wide and six inches high. It contained coal oil and about ten lights. In raising the cur tain the performer accidentally turned this tank over, and it fell to the floor within a few inches of those persons in the front row.
 The Rev. Adam Weber, pastor of St. Johns Lutheran church, for the benefit of whose Sunday school the entertainment was being given, tried to pick up the tank with the assistance of others, but before they could do so the oil flowed out and caught fire.
 Wild Cry of Fire.
 Then came the inevitable cry of fire. Every eye witness said that the audience rose en masse. and the one impulse was to reach the front door, All attempted It. but few got out The seats in the center of the hall were of the usual fold ing variety. screwed to the floor, while those along the sides of the wall were
 lCON1INUED ON FACE 1oA