The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-30
THEATER CRASH


CONTINUED frOL Page One.D
more intensely shared by the rest Of
the country because of the consider
able number of visitors who suffered
in the catastrophe. President Hard
ing, in a statement last night said the
tragedy had left him with the same
inexpressibIe sorrow which has come
to all of washington and which will
be sympathetically felt thruout the
land"
Many Prominent Persons Victims.
Col. Charles Keller, U. S. A, engi-
neer, commissioner of the District of
Columbia, took charge Of the forces
at the theater site as the military gave
way to the civilian forces All dead
and injured had been removed early
church nearby, a large structure
which for more than thirty-six hours
had served as a clearing house for
victims of the disaster
Edward F. Shaughnessy of Chicago,
second assistant postmaster general,
who with his wife and two children
were injured in the crash, was de-
scribed today as in a serious condition
with only a fighting chance for re-
coYery.
Two house of Representatives pages
were among those killed in the Knick-
erbocker theater accident. They were
Laverne Sproul. a nephew of Repre-
sentative Sproul of Illinois. and Cutler
Latin, Jr., both of Chicago. Latin
worked at night as a Knickerbocker
usher.
Among those prominent on the list
of dead as it stood today was former
Representative A. ]. Barchfield, for
meFly of Pittsburgh. and Mrs. Virginia
Farraud, sister of Minister Bianchi of
Guatemala. Most of the dead still lay
early today in the basement of the
nearby Christian Science church to
which they were removed for identi-
fication. Many of the fatally injured
also were taken there, later to swell
the total of victims.
Victims Horribly MangIed.
Some of those in the hospitals have
legs and arms torn off, others chests
crushed or terrible head injuries, from
the enormous weights of concrete and
steel that came hurting down on
them from the weight-Wqakened roof
without an instants warning.
The scene around the wrecked the
alter this morning at sunrise resem-
bled nothing so much as she'll
shattered cathedral in some town of
northern France. The walls remained
but inside them the wreckage and
splinterS of steel, timber and concrete
were piled high in an intricate mass.
1t may be that this wreckage contains
other bodies, but searchers expressed
the belief that all had been removed.
At any rate, the work was halted. It
viii be gone over again, however, in
all probability.
Were Many Heroes.
Tales of heroism and unmitigated
personal sacrifice came in the wake of
the tragedy today. Outstanding
among the heroes was Albert G.
Buehler, who gave his life that others
might live. He was discovered by res
cuers pinned down by a steel girder
but called out that he was not very
badly hurt and asked that they con-
centrate their efforts in getting at the
more seriously injured. The rescuers
needed his plea and when he was re-
moved from the tangled mass of de-
bris an hour later, it was too late to
save him He died in the arms of
those who lifted him from the wreck
| age and his body was conveyed to the
! temporary morgue across the street.
Ten Georgetown college students,
: living at the S. A. f. fraternity house
nearby, volunteered their bodies for
blood TRANSMISSION to save the life of
/ Miss Caroline Upshaw, niece of Rep
/ resentative Upshaw of Georgia. who
4 had one foot cut off and the other so
badly mangled that it may have to be
amputated.
| Wounded He Saved Daughter.
Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, bleeding
/ from leg wounds, found that he could
stand upon them and rose from the
| stretcher as they were about to carry
! him away and insisted upon tearing
away with hrs bare hands the plaster
and tangled wire skeins that covered
/ the body of his daughter, who was
rescued alive.
| A 6-year-old red headed boy whose
name was not learned, on being re-
moved from the ruins, argued hotly
against being carried away and insist
ed that he be permitted to remain
ct had
also. The rescuers, guided by the boys
1 directions, found the sister, who was
only slightly hurt.
! Three priests penetrated the ruins
needless of warnings and remained on
duty to administer the last rites of the
church to the dying.
All Victims Removed.
The interior of the First Church
of Christ (Scientist), just around the
corner from the ruined theater, pre-
scented a grewsome sight this morning
| after the last mutilated body had been
removed to the city morgue or under
taking establishments.
Turnout a CHASTITY Saturday night
and all of a terrible Sunday, the
church was literally a chamber of
horrors. The dead, row on row, filled
one side of the church. On the other
side, shirt sleeved and perspiring
physicians worked increasingly over
/ the BIOlSSAu6t DlduhSL GONeT6Q
held by bloodstained stretchers.
One look usually sufficed as to
whether the stretcher held dead or
living things. If dead, the stretchers
were gently deposited with the others
in dead row." If alive, they were
even more gently borne out of the
church to where ambuIances, city and
? army, purred in the snow-filled street,
their motors running, ready to dash
for hospitals.
I