The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-01-17
|NEARif 100 PERSONS
PERISH IN 1 FIRE
Al Asful Catastrophe ID Rh0ade's
Opera House, BoyertOWn.
PEOPLE ar FLAMES MERCY.
Most Of the Victims Were Women
and Children.
MANY TRaMPLED 10 DEATH.
TRAMPLED TO DEATH.

Seven Hundred Members Of 81. Johns
Lutheran Sunday School in Rhoades'
Opera House Are Thrown Into
Panic by the Explosion Of . Gas
Tank In the Rush That Followed
Coal OIL Lamps Are Upset and the
Fire Sprang Up.
Boyertown. Pa. Especially -. Be-
tween 80 and 100 persons were
burned to death here in fire which
completely destroyed Rhoads' Opera
House.
The opera house was crowded with
the members Of st. Johns Lutheran
Sunday School. who were attending
benefit given for that church.
While the show was In progress a
tank exploded.
The actors endeayored to quiet the
audience, but III their anxiety to
make themselves heard and to avoid
the awful stempede Of the women
and 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 to the ceiling. and there was
wild rush of the 700 persons to es-
cane from the burning building.
Scores of women and children were
trampled upon, and several who es-
capped being burned to death died af-
ter being dragged from the opera
house.
In many eases. it is said. entire
families have been wiped out.
The Bodies Consumed.
The scene which followed the ex-
plosion is indescribable. Scores OF
persons who were In the balcony at
the time the explosion OCCURRED
Jumped from the windows and sus-
tanned fractured limbs and skulls
To add to the terrible disaster the
fire apparatus became disabled and
the structure was left entirely to the
mercy of the seething flames. 1t is
almost certain not a vestige OF the
bodies of the unfortunates who We're
overcome by the smoke and persisted
will ever be found.
Assistance was asked from Potts.
town, but before tie fire apparatus
from that city reached this place the
entire center of the structure was
roaring furnace.
Had 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 stam-
pede which invariably follow such a
catastrophe.
The flames spread rapidly and
communicated to the 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.
Assistance was at once asked of
both Reading and Pottstown and
special trains carrying nurses and
doctors were rushed to the scene OF
the disaster
Parents Are Frantic.
Every home within radius Of half
a dozen blocks of the Opera House
was made temporary hospital.
where the wounded were rushed by
carriages and other means of convey
ance.
Rovertown is borough with a
population of about 1880 and is To-
Gated about midway between Potts
town and Reading.
The Opera House was two-story
brick building. The first floor was
occupied by hardware store and
on the second was the entertainment
hall.
Boyertown is eight miles from
Pottstown and 81 miles from Read
ing. 1t is located in Eastern Berks,
near the Montgomery County line,
and is situated in the midst OF
thriving agricultural community. Its
people are among the most well to-do
in the county. It has a number of
fiourishing industries, and its homes
are as substantial as in the large
cities.
The entertainment that was being
given was Tho Stcry of the Scot
fish Reformation given by Mrs.
Munroe for the benefit of the Re-
formed Church.
At least 40 participants, local tall
emit, were on the stage, and these
jumped over the footlights into the
audience. The latter fed for the
stairway, and the ensuing disaster
occurred. A few cool-headed men
tried to preserve order, but it was
useless, in view of the raging fire
which broke out simultaneously with
the explosion. Rhoads' Opera House
was owned by DIR. Thomas j. B.
Rhoads. one of the best-known men
in Boyertown.
A Survivors, Story.
One of the survivors, who escaped
with scorched face, said:
ut was as sudden as it was un-
expected. The explosion, the STAN
pede, the panic-stricken people wedg-
ed in the stairway, the cries of those
in the rear. the dreadful smoke. the
women and children overcome, the
roaring flames and then scores en-
quilted in the seething fret seems
to me that it occurred all in a min.