Evening star., 1908-01-15

within radius Of five or six miles of
Royertown. who drove to this place on
Monday with their families To witness
the production OF The Scottish Reforma-
ton" There is no clue to the identity OF
tho owners of a number of the teams.
The merry parties of four and six that
drove into Boycrtown in these teams are
believed to he among the unidentified
dead i'm the various morgues.
Royertown is bearing up braVely under
the heavy burden of sorrow which has
stricken many homes. Seventeen OF the
victims resided in one row of houses near
the scene of the disaster.
by order of the town burgess all the
saloons in the town which were closed
At > am yesterday because OF disor-
der among drunken men will remain
closed until further notice. The ma
jority of the residents are staying in
their homes. The few that are walking
the streets are doing so out of despair.
Mrs. Munroe Frustrated by Grief.
Mrs. II. f. Iunroe of Washington,
II. c. author of the Scottish Reforma-
tion. who was in Wilkesbarre. Pa,
when the disaster happened. has ar
rived here. IN her room at the Union
Hotel today She was found plunged
in grief over the loss of her sister.
Mrs. Della Mayors, the lecturer; the
ruin of her property. and the calamity
II am nearly seventy years Old she
said. Il have been in the entertain
ment business for quarter OF a CEN
1ury.
.~rhis terrible affair has blasted my
life. My poor sister was a lovely wom-
an and an accomplished lecturer. In
Monday nights fire / lost $1,000 worth
-of stereopticon pictures, accumulated
during years Of travel abroad. and
S3.00o worth of costumes We always
furnish costumes for the local talent
in the towns in which We appear.
Nothing Left of Poor Victim.
Mrs. Mayors, / am told was killed
while trying to avoid the disaster. She
had stopped on the stage and was lifting
fwosof the oil lamps to carry them out,
when some one pushed her from behind.
She pitched forward and was lost. We
have found no trace of her body. She has
n husband. j. j. Mayors. at her home In
Quarry. Col. l have telegraphed him. but
he Will not come on. There is no need of
IL There is nothing left of his poor wife
10 take back home.
Burgess kohler has issued a call 10 the
townspeople to attend mass meeting to-
pight for the purpose of adopting plan
{or public burial of unidentified victims. 4
bate for public religious services in MEM
NY of the dead will also be decided upon.
The burgess has also announced today
the appointment Of an emergency commit
tce and permanent relief committee. The
latter Will take immediate steps to aid all
families either with money or in preparing
their dead for burial.
Double Doors Bolted Shut.
The relief committee will take charge of
all contributions received from other
cities
In the scramble to get out of the hall
many persons fell over the chairs and
were never able to regain their feet
Those who did reach the front entrance
found it jammed with people who were
fighting and sllreking to get out
One of the double doors had been bolted
shut So as to better enable the ticket
taker To take UP the tickets. Not more
than two persons could pass this door
AT one time. and after the first half dozen
got through the narrow passage il be-
came clogged with the struggling mass of
humanity. Men. women. boys girls and
chairs were tangled up in a solid mass
that no one from the outside was able to
disentanSlc
Digging Out the Bodies
1t was at 10 o'clock yesterday when the
first body was picked from the debris.
wrapped in a rug and laid on stretcher
The wooden stairways which had burned
away had been replaced by a thirty foot
fireman's ladder With ropes two men
lowered the body on the stretcher to the
entry. \ dozen hands received it, Four
men started to carry it across the street
10 the morgue. As the men slowly made
their way an edge of the blanket was lift
Cd by the wind and tattered shred of
checked skirt was revealed At sight OF I,
two women. one Mrs Walter Stauffer the
other Mrs. Hartman. dashed under the
ropes. e1uded the troopers and ran to the
stretcher.
oh Cod. it is my Lulu walled one, a
W hpr Fan ,ItL
tears.
NO. it's Ethel" cried the other The
two mothers were led behind the ropes
and told that not until tomorrow coulu
they view the body that each thought was
that of her daughter
Ten minutes later the second body that
Of man with every possible identification
mark trampled out by hundreds of feet
and bv the flame and smoke lowered
Its trip to the morgue excited similar
scenes. Several persons. thinking they
could identify the BODY started toward il
as the two women had done
Bodies Mined Fro mthe Debris.
1t took more time TO dig the third body
from the mass of charred wood and from
supports OF the stairs.
Thus amid scenes that racked the soul
the bodies were mined from the debris
At o O'Clock last night the one hundred
and sixty-third corpse was taken out.
Fully forty bodies were still visible
Many others. il is feared. are among the
ashes. so nearly consumed that their
number will never be known. Not more
than Twenty-Five of all the bodies recov
cred are recognizable
In places the ashes and debris Were
more than two feet deep. Scores OF bodies
we're entirely buried and had To be dug
nut with pick and shovel. First all of
The bodies around the stairway were re-
moved. II was there that sixty or sew
cnty met death.
Some Of the arms OF the victims were
LOCKED around each others waists as
though they had made a last futile stand