The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-01-30
1HEATER CRASH
KILLS OVER 100
BODIES OF ONE HUNDRED
AND SEVEN THUS FAR RE-
MovED-NUMBER OF 9TH
ERS SERIOUSLY INJURED.
MANY SENT TO HOSPITALS

Io23p oS>3k 6S AS ~S>A
of dead in the Knickerbocker
reached LOT tonight when final
canvass was mode of the city hos
pitals and all of the several emer-
gency medical stations which had
been established to care for the
victims. This was said to include
everybody thus far recovered from
the ruins. The List of injured total
led 1874 tonight and of these IA
were recorded as having sustained
serious hurts. I
OF those in hospitals some sus-
tanned injuries in many cases OF
such character that the victims, if
they recover, will be MANNED for
life. '.t .. =
Ninety-two of the victims had
been identified when the force of
volunteer workers, "a hours after
the disaster, approached the end of
their hong search of the debris.
Nine additional bodies of those
who had succumbed to injuries af-
ter rescue lay IN city hospitals.
The large majority Of the VIC
TINS, both killed and injured, were
residents of the city, although
many came recently from other
places. Exploration of the ruins
went on unchecked after dark but
those in charge believe few addi-
tional bodies would be found.
Without regard to their own risk
soldiers, marines, sailors, police,
fremen and citizen volunteers had
fought their way beneath the
wreckage over practically the
whole floor space of the auditori-
um.
The exact number on the theater
when the steel and concrete span
of the roof buckled and fell under
its three foot load of snow prob
ably will never be known. The
stories of perhaps a hundred who
gotN out 'uninjured have been re-
ported. The more than 300 in the
audience was roaring in laughter
at filmed comedy when the roof
fell on them like a blanket, carry
ing down the front of the wide
balcony in its path.
Normally the theater has every
seat filled at that hour and nearly
1000 persons was its capacity. The
same unprecedented snowfall
which brought death to the ven
turesome few kept the many at
home. Street car. traffic had been
abandoned and streets and side
walks were all but impossible with
drift.
There has been no time as yet
for official inquiry as to the cause
of the disaster. The ruins them
selves disclose, however, that the
entire mass Of steel held concrete
that formed the roof had come
down. The crash swept the sup
ports out from under the balcony
apparently, and this hinged down
at an agile of As degrees, adding
to the tangled mass of wreckage on
the floor below.
The building stands in an acute
angled corner of Eighteenth street
and Columbia 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 au-
ditorium wall runs in straight
line for some 200 feet down Eigh-
teenth street. To the right, the
wall follows the slow curve of Co.
lumbia road for about the same
distance and at the far end, paral-
leling the stage front, the back
wall completes the auditorium
proper, also about 200 feet in
length.