Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-31
DEATH TOLL PASSES 100
WHEN SNOW-LADEN ROOF
COLLAPSES AT THEATER
(COntinued from Page II

at 9:15 Saturday night trapping and
MASKING the audience witnessing
"Get-Rich- Quick Wallingford.
Tractor Pulls Out Wreckage
Tor hours one tiny Ford tractor
did valiant work pulling the wreck
age out of the shell of the theater.
The rescue squads appeared not
to notice that there was the chance
that the walls would cave in and
bury them, too. Scarcely a man,
however, but had noted what seem
ed flimsy construction-hollow terra
Gotta.
At 5 a. m, the whole theater had
been explored with the exception OF
small corner in the rear, covered
over by huge radiator. Captain
Warren, artillery, commanded that
this be hauled and the wreckage I'M
derneath removed, even thought the
position was such as to preclude pos
sibility Of any bodies being hidden
there. This consumed a long time,
but when the squad was called off
shortly after o'clock, it was stated
there could be no more corpses in
the ruins. Another relay was put
on, however, to clear out the remain
ing debris, with the prospect that
this would take the whole day or
longer.
Half the balcony still lay twisted
and crumpled sloping down from the
rear wall, the cantileVer beams
Ewrenched out of, shape by the weight
from above. But the area beneath
had been dug out until it was GER
tain t could conceal no more dead.
The Sabbath and the night had
been narrowing.
Whole Families Wiped, Out y
Tragedies of man and wife killed
of whole families wiped out but for
one member; stories of heroism and
unselfshness equalling the finest in
history, were enacted in the theater
and at the Science Church morgue
! The story of Montgomery was
duplicated by Albert Buehler, who,
dying but conscious until Sunday
morning, told rescuers: I'm all
right; save the others" Later he
died on the first aid table while doc
tors struggled to save him.
There was Second Assistant Post
master General Shaughnessy, criti-
cally injured, who told the workers
to look, after his wife and two chill
dren, all badly hurt, before they
Should release the girder Afrom his
feet and the mammoth block of. con-
crete tearing at his abdomen.
DIR. Clyde M. Gearhart was pin
ned in the ruins for four hours with
the head of his dead wife pillowed
on his shoulder. All during the ter
rible vigil, in excruciating pain from
the weight of a huge girder crush
ing his legs, DR.. Gearhart tried to re-
Vive his wife.
Husband Lives; Wife Dies
He used every art known to med
ical science to revive spark OF
life. At the same time he called out
directions to his rescuers Liquid
food was given him through a tube.
When husband and wife were
finally released Gearhart's leg had
to be amputated. He is in a critical
condition. His wife was dead.
There was Lieutenant Williams,
naval aviator, who dashed into the
theater when he heard the collapse,
brought out five bodies. and then
refused to give his name.
There was the case Of Mr. and
Mrs. Oscar c.. Kanston and their
daughters, Helen and Dorothy, who
persisted, leaving behind only To-
year-old son. And the case of Mr..
and Mrs. J. L. Walker, who are sur
vived by three children. Joseph
Wade Beall, musician, bridegroom
only three days before, was mashed
to death in the music pit. Archie
Bell, of Vineland, N. j., and Miss
c., planned to be married in a few
days. TheiE bodies were found side
by, side and Miss Lambert was
identified by her enga gement ring.
PitifuI Scenes
Jordan Hill, 10, unscathed, drag
ged out a girl much larger than he
and begged the authorities to let
him take out more.
Miss Bike. 20, severely injured,
came through the hospital morgue
about nine last night. She peeped
beneath one blanket and recognized
the crushed corpse of her father.
Steeling herself she gazed at an
other human heap and learned her
sister Frances was there.
She was a lone orphan, the last
of the Bike family.
Lillian Masse, occupying a seat in
the balcony, was hurled to spot
near an entrance where she could
crawl out. Twenty-four hours later
she found in. the church the crum-
pied body of her roommate, Mar
garet Dutch, of Ludington, Mich,
a pretty little government worker.
Most OF the people in the theater
had no chance for escape. Most OF
the corpses had an arm outstretch-
ed in cramped position, as though
in the second before death the per-
son had sought to ward off the
crushing weight. Only few per-
sons could crawl out to the streets
through crevices where the masonry
had only formed an arch instead OF
pinioning them down. Some came
out wild-eyed, screaming.
Owner Bewildered
Harry NJ Crandall, the owner Of
the theater and OF several other
movie houses throughout the city,
is bewiIdered as to the cause of the
catastrophe.
Reports, that will be investigated,
state that the manager Of the Knick-
erbocker theater called Crandall Sat
urday and suggested that the snow
be removed from the roof, but that
the architect and builder Of the thea
ter said it was unnecessary. The
theater is located at Eighteenth
street and Columbia road, about a
mile to the north of the White
House and in the heart of a fashion
able residential district.
Experts today are making a close
study of the debris to determine if
the roof were properly enforced.
Large chunks of concrete without
steel wire or rod reinforcements
were found. Much of the theater
was constructed Of hollow terra cot
ia.