Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-01-18
4 TERRIBLE HOLOCAUST
Opera House Crowded With Mem
bers Of Sunday School.
DEATH LIST MAY REACH 100
Actors Try to Quiet Crowd, and Oh
Footiights Are upset-Women
i End Children Tranpled.

Footiights Are Upset-Women
II End Children Trampled.
Boyertown, Pa, Jan. 14.-From Is
to 100 persons, it Is believed. chiefly
women and children, were burned and
trampled 10 death here last night in q
fire which destroyed Rhoades' Opera
house. nd as many moie are injured.
The borough is in mourning, as 200
families mad either ore or more mem
bers killed or injured.
A moving-picture machine was re-
Gently Installed in the opera house. a
two-story building. and an entertain
ment was given under the asupices Of
a Mrs. Monroe. The hall was packed.
The mapority Of the audience was
composed of women and children be-
longing to ST. Johns Lutheran sun
day school, for whose benefit the show
was given
While the show was in progress a
tank exploded. Those on the stage
endeavored to quit the audience. but
in their anxiety to be heard and to
avoid the awful stampede of the
women and children the coal oil
lamps which were used at the foot
lights We're overturned, setting the
place on fire. The flames fed by the
OIL shot almost to the ceiling, and
there was a wild rush of the TOO per
sons to escape from the burning
building
Many Crushed TO Death.
All made for the doors and there
was jam at the narrow exit. Many
were crushed to death in the narrow
stairway This was soon filed with
corpses, and scores were driven back
by the fierce blaze, which overpow-
cred the helpless people, and they
succumbed in quick succession. The
fire ragged with the greatest fury and
in 10 minutes the entire building was
a mass of flames.
In many cases. it is said, entire
families have been wiped out. The
scene which followed the explosion
is indescribable. Scores who were in
the balcony jumped from the windows
and fractured limbs and skulls.
To add to the disaster the fire ap-
paratus became disabled, and the
structure was left entirely to the mer-
cy of the flames. 1t is almost certain
not vestige of the bodies of those
who were overcome by the smoke and
persisted will ever be found.
Would Not Heed Warning.
Had the women and children heed
ed the warning of the cooler heads in
the audience the loss of life might
have been avoided, but there was the
usual panic and stampede. The flames
spread rapidly and communicated to
other parts of the theatre. Men,
women and children rushed for the
exits. and the weaker sex were tram
pied and manned in the mad rush.
Word was sent to Reading and to
Pottstown The latter sent a fire en-
CINE and doctors and nurses on q
special train, but the services of the
machine were mainly directed to saw
ing neighboring property
At II O'Clock two electric cars fill
ed with doctors and nurses from the
hospitals of Reading eft for Boyer
town. The distance is 19 miles, and
it takes an hour and half to reach
there.
Every home within radius of half ,
dozen blocks of the opera house.
was made temporary hospital,
where the wounded were rushed in
carriages or other conveyance.
A few minutes after midnight the
rear walls of the theatre collapsed.
The flames broke out anew. and those
who had vainly hoped to be able to
find the remains of some of their low
ed ones turned in despair from the
scene of the awful catastrophe.
1t is estimated that at least rs per
sons were injured by being trampled
upon either on the stairway or by
jumping from the windows of the
burning structure. OF this number at
least score We're fatally injured and
at least half dozen succumbed TO
their injuries after being hurried to
one of the temporary hospitals.
Three children ranging in ages from
s to II years, and one woman who
We're dragged from the building by
persons who had rushed to the res
cue, had been trampled almost to a
pulp, The skull of one of the children
had been crushed as though an egg