The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-15
FIREMAN IS KILLED IN
 RUN TO SCENE OF FIRE
Survivors of Disaster Tell of Their
 Thrilling Experiences. <.
Special Trains from Nearby Towns Arrive with rhy.ieian. and Nurses--Mayor of Town or- ders All saloons to
 Close.


 Boyertown. Pa. Jan. 14.--when nightfall put stop to the work of re- covering the dead bodies from the ruins of the Rhoades Opera House, where last nights holocaust occurred, the official roll number of victims numbered 165.
 Whether any more bodies are buried beneath the ruins cannot be positively stated, but 1t Is believed that the total list of victims will not go above ITO. The ratio of women and girls to men and boys is about nine to one. The work of Identification will not be be- gun until tomorrow as most of the bodies are still lying In a confused State at the four 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 2.500 in- habitants. The people scarcely realize what has happened. Everybody in the place either lost one or more relatives, or was intimately acquainted with those who died in the fire. In several cases whole families have been wiped out.
 It was almost daylight this morning before the flames were extinguished and rescuers were able to enter the ruins to remove the dead. The morning was bitter cold and by the time the be- numbed and exhausted firemen began the task of disentangiing the mass of burned beams and twisted iron. the en- tire ruins were coated with ice. and there was danger of the walls falling. It was o'clock before the first body was removed
 osroner on sesne.
 Coroner StrasaeF sof Reading. who reached the scene last night, had q a..la N4r.tlf f4am and keep record of the description of every corpse removed. The bodies were so badly burned, however, that there was Iittle to describe them by. and 1t Is safe to say that not half the victims will ever be identified The second victim was taken rom the ruins about half an hour after the f1rst and then the work of recovery moved more rapidly. By noon the rescuers became thoroughly exhausted from the cold and hard work and for time the work came almost to standstill. Fortunately the Philadelphia and Read ing Railroad Company sent w. H. ket- fer superintendent of the Reading di- vision. to the scene. and Mir. Kener offhred the conpany's assistance to Coroner Strasser. Chief Burgess Koh- Ter was unable to furnish men to help and Coroner StrasBer immediately avail ed himself of the railroads oner.
  two carloads of laborers and carpen- ters on the ground and the work Of recovering bodies moved so rapidly that victims were being removed from the ruins at the rate of two every nve minutes. to the exact cause of the panic and fire and there were several rumors of arrests. but the borough officials and Coroner Strasser tonight deniedl tna: 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.
 Plan of Theatre.
 The Rhoades Opera House was To- cated on the second floor of three story brick building. The first floor was occupied by 8 national bank and several stores and the third floor was used for lodge rooms. The entertain noant hali was a large room about fifty feet wide and seventy-five feet long. It had no gallery. There was stair way at the front of the building ana q narrow exit in the rear of the stage. T,,ra escaues were built on both sides and on the front of the building. 50 far az can he learned there was about 42s nersons packed In the room, most of whom were adults. The numper CT children present was comparatNsely
  persons. all local talent on the stage who were giving a performance or the Scottish reformation. .,.
 Thn entertainment was nearly over' the audience waiting for the eurtali to go up on the last part when some some, thing went wrong with the calcium light apparatus that was percheo on small platform near the front entrance of the building and at the back Of the audience The light was in charge ol II w Fisher. of Carlisle, Pa. ana ne says a rubber tubing slipped from one of the tanks At any rate there was a loud hlssinE sound which caused many in the audience to turn their heads in curiosity to see what it was. There was absolutely no panic up 10 this time and nothing probably would have. happened if one or more of the performers behind the curtain had not Keen curious to learn what was caus- ing the noise. Hearing the hisslng sound and the slight commotion in the audience one of the performers raised inc curtain from the floor. In front of the curtain and serving as foot lights was q tin tank, perhaps eight feet long. three inches wide and six inches high. It contained coal, oil and ahout ten lights. In raising the cur tain the performer accidentally turned tbis tank over and 1t fell to the floor within a few inches of those persons in the front row. The Rev Adam A. weher. pastor of St. Johns Lutheran C-hnrch for the benefit of whose Sun day School the entertainment was be- ing given. tried to pick up the tank with the assistance of others but be- fore they could do so. the oil flowed out and caught fire.
 The Cry of Fire.
 Then came the inevitably cry of fire. Every eve witness said that the audience rose in a mass 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 folding variety. screwed