Connecticut western news., 1908-01-16
RECOVER lG7 BODIES,
Firemen Riot While Women and
 Children Are Being Killed.
BLAME LOCALsHOSE COMPANY

Stereopticon Operator Accuses Him
 self Bitterly of Having Been the
 Cause of the Fire and Panie-Who!e
 Families Are Wiped Out.
 Boyertown, Pa, Jan. 15-Of the 1T5 persons believed to have ,perished in the fire and panic at Rhoades' Opera House 1G1 bodies have been recovered. Of these forty-five have been identified.
 The proportion of victims was about nine females to one male. In almost every case the upper portions of the bodies were burned AWAY, the lower portions below the waist being intact, showing that the members of the 'aa- dience were wedged in, the flames sweeping over them aad killing them as they were caught.
 H. W. Fisher, the man who had charge of the stereopticon machine, the tank of which exploded and start ed the fire, accuses himself bitterly of having been the cause of the fire and panic The coroner will arrest Fisher and hold him pending the result of the inquest.
 Says He Turned Wrong Valve.
 Fisher said:
 q must have turned the wrong valve There was a long drawn out hissing sound that frightened the wo- men and children. Several of them jumped up and screamed and ran to- ward the stage. The curtain was down. don't know what happened next.
 q was caught in a meb of crazy people. I was knocked down and tram pied on. struggled along. was bad ly burned. I feel that am responsible for this terrible affair"
 It was told that when the hissing sound was heard by the actors on the stage some of them lifted the curtain to see what caused it. The heavy pole at the bottom of the curtain knocked over the tank of kerosene which sup piled the footlights. These lamps at once exploded, and a sheet of flame ran up the f1imsy curtain and the 'filny scenery. .E
 Men jumped from their seats and, seizing chairs, batted down women and children in their run for safety. It was the battle of the strong.
 Riotins Among Firemen.
 / Piled in a mass seven feet deep are the charred remains of at least eighty bodies, which, it is believed, will have to be buried in a common grave. While whole families in some instances have been wiped out, yet the members o1 the community were so closely related that those who are not mourning the l loss of parents and children are sad dened by the death of kinsmen and blood relations.
 Amid the tales of heroism one of an other kind is only whispered in the city, but all of the dozen stalwart l members of the state constabulary who held the wild crowds in check fo1 hours after the fire subscribe to its truth. While the firemen from Potts town risked their lives and gave their strength to stop the spread of the flames, the local hose company, dis mayed by the wrecking of their own machine and the killing of one of their number in that wreck, fiocked to the scene of the fire. Liquor was passed freely, and old animosities remember ed from county fair fire engine con tests sprang to hot life. Members Of the Boyertown company picked quar- rels with their old rivals of PottstOwn, and several fights followed Numbers swelled in the battle on both sides, and while only seven men were left to man hose and engines the rest had to defend themselves. Rioters CIubbed.
 Lawlessness and riot gleamed for moment brighter than the burning tomb of so many victims, but in q moment it was crushed out Half of the twelve of the state constabulary, men who had rushed here from Read ing, dashed into the fray, long clubs l in hand and pistols ready at their belts.
 Clouting right and left, they beat into subjection the worst of the riot CTS and shamed the others back to working or sent them far behind the fire lines. .3
 Secretarv CorteIvou Attacked.