Milford chronicle., 1908-01-24
FUNERALS OF
! FIRE VICTIMS
BOYertOWn to have Memorial For
Unidentified Dead
PEOPLE BOWED WITH GRIEF

BOyertown, Pa. Jan. 2O.-Boyertown
mas at last come to a realization Of
the horror of the holocaust that wiped
out l73 lives. Every person living here
turned out TO pay their last respects
10 the victims of the Rhoads Opera
House disaster. It was one long pro-
cessiOn Of carriages. In every street
funeral corteges, moving toward Fair
view and Union cemeteries, were to
be seen.
At the burial grounds the stream Of
carriages and mourners waited for
hours to get in. The grave diggers
did not get their work done, and it
was necessary in many cases to halt
the funeral until the graves could be
made ready There were not hearses
enough to go around nor undertakers
enough to care for the dead
It was a common sight at the ceme-
teries to see corteges standing in the
various avenues waiting for the men
TO finish graves or waiting for the
minister twenty-five funerals were
held Friday and sixty Saturday
The bodies of twenty-four unidenti-
fed dead were buried in the FairYiew
cemetery in this place.
Upwards of 10000 persons attended
the services that marked the intermeut
OF the fire victims, who were buried
in one long trench, dug in a circular
shape. No eulOgy was delivered At
the grave. the ceremonies being of
the simplest sort. Four ministers rep
Tesenting as many denominations, read |
the plain burial service of their respec- ]
tive churches. Each body was encased |
IN plain coffin and they lie separated |
IN the ditch by brick walls. In time a |
monument, marked with the names Of
those reported missing since the fire, /
and who are supposed to have been
burned to death, will be erected in the |
centre of the circular mound which .
marks the one big grave.
The mystery surrounding the finding
OF the body of a woman dressed in
mans clothing in the fire has been
solved
Mrs. Rebecca Diamond. coming here
from Philadelphia in answer to a tele-
gram from Coroner Strasser. posi- |
lively identified the body of the sup
posed stranger as that of her daughter /
Rose. and announced that the cOro-
ner's dispatch had reached her just in .
time to prevent the burial of another .
as her daughter.
Frank England a cousin of Rose
Diamond came here from Philadel-
I,oH efrr ut
ring. bearing the initial letter "R." the
diamond earrings. necklace and the
bracelet found on the body were those
of his cousin Even in the case of this
the authorities would have been in
clined to believe that the jewels had
been stolen from Miss Diamond in the
course of the evening by the stranger,
but for the fact that the earrings were
fastened in the ears.
Then the question arose. why. if the
body were really that of Miss Diamond
she should have been attired in trou-
sers A number of men who had gath
cred about the door of the hall the
night Of the entertainment were inter
viewed. and each declared that he
we'll remembered the arrival of the
pretty girl. and that there certainly
was nothing about her to suggest a
disguise.
Coroner Strasser then wired to Mrs
Diamond. in Philadelphia. where she
was about to inter the supposed body
Of her daughter. The funeral was i'm
halted and Mrs. Diamond
boarded the first train for Boyertown.
Immediately on examining the jewelry
she announced that it was undoubt-
edly that Of her daughter. and ar
ranged for the exchange Of the bodies.
It then developed upon the authori-
hes to arrive at some explanation Of
he clothing found upon the body. An
inquiry was instituted to find out its
exact condition when found. and the
manner in whoch the clothing was
10 it, AS a result Of this the
opinion was expressed by the coroner
md the borough officials that the girls
,ody had lsin under that Of a man.
whose clothing dropped from his body
nd onto that of the girl and became
ast there, while soaked with water,
nd then subject to the great heat It
5 freely admitted that there are
oints Of this explanation which do