Evening star., 1922-02-05
Heard and Seen

To those living in the neighborhood
OF 18th street and Columbia road it
seems at this time as If the Knicker-
booker Theater corner will always
remain a place Of sorrow.
Many people. who take one of the
car lines at that corner each morning,
have told me that they now feel a
reluctance to pass the ill-fated spot.
and in one instance have heard Of
a person who takes the car a block
up the street, although, it Is that
much farther out of the way.
This feeling will be respected by all
ever in the vicinity that night People
who went through the war on this
side Of the Atlantic, with but a
dim realisation of sudden death. were
brought face to face with disaster.
During the war. we who stayed at
home read Of shells which exploded
In churches, killing scores at one
crash. But. some way, We did not
understand-until we saw the inte-
rior of the Knickerbocker Theater that
fatal night.
Then came the realization. The
writer saw husky man. who had
run into the lobby about 10 o'clock
that night for the purpose of aiding
in the rescue work. fall in dead
faint when he caught a glimpse of
that wrecked auditorium, beneath
which were pinned the dead and
wounded. He knows of another who
the next day suffered violent revo-
luton of the stomach. no doubt
brought about by the reflex action OF
the sympathetic nervous system.
~
There is one thing in connection
with the catastrophe that has not
been mentioned. That is the total
silence that prevailed in the devas-
tated theater auditorium for a space
following the crash.
Outside the snow was falling, while
the lights were burning brightly in
the lobby. in the door of which stood
two policemen. This was about $3.50
o'clock. or shortly thereafter.
Only few people in the neighbor-
hood as yet knew of the catastrophe,
and these stood huddled across the
street. To the chance passerby moth
ing would have looked particularly
amiss.
Aside from a splintered glass door,
the lobby was as usual, except that
there was no one in the ticket box.
But something hideously was wrong
blackness. with snow falling down.
Stepping inside the auditorium one
looked across q scene of confusion
such as never before greeted eye in
this city. Everywhere a jumbled,
hopeless mass Of material, with the
snow falling over all.
And there was not sound. There
was not groan or cry. Recalling
the cries that arose afterward, 1t is
difficult to believe this. and one is
forced to doubt his senses, but others
testify to that same silence. One
scarcely would. have realized that a
single person was beneath there.
whereas nearly 100 persons were there,
crushed to death, and as many more
wounded.
+ *
People Of Washington and sur
rounding territory have been softened
in spirit and made into better men
and women by just that much as
the result of the Knickerbocker
tragedy. And by embodying forth in
our daily lives this better spirit of
neighborliness. born in that hour of
destruction, each one alive can be
a memorial to the dead.
True neighborliness, after all, is
not so much a matter of place as of
heart. The city dweller. rebuffed in
an attempt to be pleasant. is apt to
feel that all the men and women he
meets are snobs. and not worthy of
his notice, SO the vicious circle whirls
on.
One man. who did his bit in the
y. nat
Rockville way Sunday morning. He
plowed his car through drift after
drift. being forced to abandon it at
last some place near the Chevy Chase
Club.
Then he trudsed forth on the. un-
four miles. passing the homes of vari-
Gus people he knew. but none had
opened to him, and he had not
stopped. But at one place the door
few open, the man and his wife
hailed him. and demanded he enter.
housewife prepared a lunch. and soon
he was eating hot biscuits and honey.
and warming his innards with that
true stimulant, coffee. His guests
were solicitous. but he finally broke
away, and went on to his home. There
he turned in. too tired to do anything
else.
And while he was asleep the man
who had warmed and fed him went
out in the snow. worked his way to
the deserted car, and broke the way
to the state road, which by that time
had been somewhat cleared. And
when the tired man woke up and was
wondering how on earth he could
ever get his car. he heard a tremen-
Gous footing in the road. and. looking
out, there was his car, piloted by his
friend, q true friend, indeed.
CHARLES f TRACEWELL.