Evening star., 1922-01-30


beheht of the dying around him he
gave general absolution and the final
rites of the church to the dying. Then
ne plunged into the rescue work. -Four
other Catholic priests hurried from one
rescue hole to another to bring COM
Tort to the dying.
Speedy Red Cross Work.
Notable was the speed of the Red
cross organization, whose local chap
ters forced their way to the theater
site across city whose normal trans
portation lines had been paraIyzed in
tne snow, and set up canteens for the
workers, hospital facilities for the
wounded and ambulances for the dead
ana the injured who had to reach OPP
Grating centers. Scores of surgeons
ana nurses answered their summons
WIN instant speed, and their succor
both saved the lives of the victims and
sustained the unfiagging zeal of the
IeScucrS
The cleaning out of the wreckage
was expedited by the use of acetv-
@ ieie nofches. The fire department has
one such torch. but was DELAYED for
ions time from using it because
| ~ is under the personal operation of
the deputy fire chief. When work
Win the torches was started they
mad TO be used with the utmost eau
tion because there was extreme
| DANGER that when they burned
: through the steel cables and the
neavymesh screening beneath the
slabs Of plaster they would also tor
tuTe the imprisoned victims.
; >" "orkers from the navy yard prov
eo OF very great assistance in operat-
ing these torches. Several were
brought from the navy yard and wer.
among the first to cut away the metal
ehtangicments, thus not only open-
ing a way for the rescuers to dig
more antaSeouSly, but in reducing
the tremendous weight pressing down
~'oh the victims pinned beneath
Kescuers Endanser Lives.
soldiers, sailors, marines and vol
uhtecrs who manned scores of
siretchers, and bore the victims, both
dead and still living, never stopped
/ IN their work. For the coupIe or
! DOCKS from the theater to the Chris
tian science Church they toiled with
their hearJ loads, stumbling through
ho"panks. falling occasionally ON
/ the path beaten into Slippery hum,
| mocks by the crowd of MANY thou
SANDS that gathered about the scene
nours or the rescue work that the
Whiie 1T was feared in the earlier
| walls of the theater might fan ln.
/ puryihS The rescucrs and thus piling
| up the havoc, those engaged in a SUI
prenae effort TO save every life posi-
4 bic never for second thought of
thcir personal danger, and whenever
reminded of it woul&, brush the per
son giving warning impatiently
aside Emergency work by the police
and hremcn served to shore up tn
! side walls as much as possible and
guards were stationed and kept at
/ tense watch every moment to give
any warning of the walls cracking.
! Number in Thenter I'm Doubt.
The exact number in the theater
when the steel and concrete Span Of
! the roof buckled and fell under It's
| three-foot load of snow probably Will
never be known. The stories of per-
haps a hundred who got out uninjured
have been reported. These account
| for few more that 300 in the au-
dience that was roaring in laughter at
a filmed comedy when the roof fell on
them like blanket. carrying down
/ the front of the wide balcony in its
| crash.
| Normally, the theater has had every
seat filled at that hour and nearly
1000 persons was its capacity. The
| same unprecedented snowfall which
brought death to the vcnturesome
few, kept the many at home. Street
(. car traffic had been abandoned and
! streets and sidewalks We're all but
| impossible with drifts.
lhere mas been no llfne as yet LOT
F., official inquiry as to the cause of the
diSa ster. The ruins themselves dis
close. however, that the entire mass
! of steelheld concrete that formed the
roof had come down. The crash
swept the supports out from under
the balcony. apparently. and this
hinged down at an angle OF As de
srees. adding to the tangled mass of
Wreckage on the floor below.
Dexcr;nfion NJ Audftorfuvm
| The building stands in an acute
angled corner at 18th street and Co.
lumbia road northwest. the heart of
the most favored residence section of
the city. The narrow niche of the
stage on which the screen was hung
was backed into the corner angle,
while to the left from the stage, the
line OF the auditorium wall runs in Z
straight line for some 200 feet down
18th street. To the right. the wall
follows the slow curve of Columbia
road for about the same distance, and
at the far end paralleling the stage
front. the back wall completes the
auditorium proper, also about 200 feet
in length.
Most of the bodies were recovered
from the floor of the pit beneath the
; wreckage of the balcony or from the
front of the balcony itself. Following
/ with an almost empty house to pick
from. those on the main floor had
grouped themselves in the rows of
seats just below the front of the
balcony. They We're back far enough
to see well. and the front and back
rows were almost empty.
Sat in Danger Point.
q the point they had chosen the
| danger proved to be just double. Few
of those seated there could have Is
capped. Even if the falling concrete
slabs and steel work of the roof
missed them the solid mass of the
| balcony front came down on the first
I Wreckage with crushing weight. The
cleaning brass rail that adorned the
balcony front lay spread over the
| wreckage of the roof fifteen feet be-
low when reScuerS reached the scene.
Those farther back on the main
floor probably all escaped. The beams
that supported the back end of the
balcony did not let go their clutch on
the wall The wide sweep of seats
they supported tilted down until the
wreckage took the weight of the
front end. then stood covering the
back rows of the main floor like a
tent.
The front rows of the balcony were
ground to a twisted mass of ruin in
the fall. There was no wood in the
| structure. 1t was all steel and con-
crete, but the enormous weight OF
the balcony was itself sufficient to
wind the tortured beams into fan
! tastic shapes.
Chance Plays Part Again.