Evening journal., 1917-04-11

fifteen carloads. There was a heavy
iron door between the loading room
and the pellet room, and Immediately
with the first glare from under the
door, the door was blown off, and then
came the second burst Of light, just
as | turned TO see what caused il.
at was awful. Men and women
were falling all around me. / tried
when ! got on my feet TO 60 to help
some Of them, but did not get far be-
fore | fell, and lay there until some
one came and carried me out"
Narrowing Scenes at Moreue.
Narrowing scenes were pictured al
the morgue this morning and last
night, when weeping and wailing moth
ers, fathers, sisters and other rela-
tives of missing women or girls sought
to identify mangled or charred re-
mains within the charnel house.
The morgue, with It's burned and
mangled bodies. was first opened to
relatives and friends of the victims at
3 o'clock last night. Up until that
hour large force Of men and women
had worked energetlcally to arrange
these bodies under the direction Of
! Deputy Coroner Il. +. White.
Many of the victims were unrecog-
nizable, scared by flames and torn by
shrapnel. Pocket cards, rings and
other articles were the sole hope for
Identification.
| When the morgue was opened 105
bodies, ninety-seven of them women
and young girls, were lying ready for
inspection OF at least 4 Thousand
weeping and hysterical men. women
and children, whose relatives wer,
among the missing" unable to b,
found in any Of tho hospitals wher,
the injured were taken.
The scenes inside the death cham.
her were almost indescribable. As the
relatives walked slowly past the dead
time and again they broke down COM
| pletely. despite the efforts OF the Dep
uty Coroner and his assistants to con
sole them. Often a mistake was made
in the identification. and after fran
tic outburst the slow march was re-
stunned down past the long list Of the
dead. Up until the time the relatives
and friends were admitted only four
bodies had been identified at the
morgue. Two were women.
Nearly All the Victims Women.
More than 80 per cent. OF the dead
were women. according to Deputy
! Coroner White.
The morgue that had been so quiet
up until o'clock broke into nedlam
OF fren2ied cries and outbursts in
many tongues when the doors were
opened Greeks, Iatlians and Rus
slams mourned their dead, each on,
in the language OF their native land
Their grief was more demonstrativ,
than that Of the American mourners
who seemed TO suppress their feel
ings
Lamps and candles aided the fev
electric lights in the morgue in light
ing up the fearful scenes. For tim'
during the afternoon II was though
the Identification would have TO b.
held over until tomorrow morning
The relatives Of the dead would no
: stand for this. One man said he woull
get inside tho morgue or break in
I Many others protested against delay
ing the identification. and the corone
was finally induced. after holding on
so long as he could, to open the hous
Of death.
|. Many whose courage had carrie
them just past the door tainted an
had TO bo hurried out into the stree
Nurses and doctors were on hand {
care for them. Several were remove
to the hospitals here.
Well-dressed men and wome
lthronged the death vault and rubbe
shoulders with women I'm the coarses
clothing and men without coats. an
loften without their top shirts. The
were bent on the same mission an
forgot the differences I'm race, Ian
guage and station in life.
"Oh, why did I ever let you worl
thereg and other cries of outspokel
regret that their loved ones had heel
employed in a munition plant werl
heard.
Il would rather have had him dt
anything and earn $40 a week thar
make so much money and die s,
young!" one woman cried out.
my girl My grill" were the criet
most frequently heard More than 4,
hundred OF the dead were young wo
| men.
4 Every effort was made not to con
fuse the Identification Of the bodies
g out IN spite of the caution and ear,
r clothing, and personal articles wer,
I frequently mixed up. At midnigh
several hundred persons still remain
n 60 IN the morgue, unable to claim tn,
re pooles they sought. Hospitals wer,
lie oesieged with many who were unab,,
III 70 lorce themselves to the terrifvin,
nj thought that their relatives wer,
le dead. Before applying at the moren,
they invariably sought information a
le the hospitals, and only returned =
le the morgue after all other homes bs,
10 been dashed. ""
y The same scenes continued All n
Il this morning. but the work OF ident
n fcation was very slow Plans nm
under way now for the early inte
/ ment of the unrecognized bodies
{ is likely that they may be buried
r one plot and q shaft containing II