Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-01-29

mucn lme LOST IN Rescue
Many women who escaped ran
screaming to the street and sew
eral tainted while the injured were
removed on stretchers and taken
In ambualnces to hospitals, private
homes and nearby clubs.
As the roof fell 1t imprisoned
many under the mass of weckage,
the balcony coIlapsing also, while
concrete pillars fell over TO add
their weight to the debris under
which the wounded lay groanIng.
The fire department was called
by five alarms and police reserves
we're rushed to the scene, the res
cuers Immediately beginning the
work of hacking at the wreckage
to llberate the imprisoned. "Get
Rich Quick WaIIingford" was be-
ing shown and the first show of
the evening had just begun when
the roof crashed with noise like
thunder. crushing seats and 0ccu-
pants as 1t fell. 1t was more
than an hour before the rescuers
using gas torches to cut through
the accumulated mass of steel and
concrete reached the section where
it was believed most of the dead
and injured were.
Emergency hospitals were set up in
the neighborhood, some in the homes
of high officials of the government.
Resort to Acetylene Torches
Finding the tons of concrete and
steel OF the roof was almost immov-
able and impenetrable, the street rail-
way companies and the Washington
navy yard were called upon to sup
ply acetylene torches. With these
more rapid progress was made and it
was hoped that within few hours 1t
might be possible to reach those buried
beneath the debris.
The theater, situated In the center of
fashionable northwest
section. presented a scene of horror IN
hour after the roof fell 1t seemed
TO-. rest almost ON the floor scarcely
foot and half separating the lower
most debris and. the floor level. All
Of the debris was covered with the
snow which had weighed SO heavily
lpon, the roof. Standing up through
The debris, however. stark and ragged,
we're the pillars which had supported
The balcony and the roof
At Prominent Point
The site of the theater being at the
intersection of two or three principal
streets, was lighted by the glow of
street lights, which few blocks dis
.ant shed soft glow on the mantle
If snow which covered the city.
F'iremen and soldiers. hastily rushed
rom Walter Reid hospital and bar
racks near the city. endeayored to
ind an opening in the debris, but the
heavy steel and concrete defied their
efforts. except when reinforced with
,icks and gas and torches. Means and
sroans could be heard, together with
he commands of the fire chiefs and
he military,
Thousands On Scene
Beyond the lines first established
soldiers thousands gathered. Those
beyond the fire lines included men
md women known throughout the
'ountry = senators, representatives.
ministers and society
ines had friends whom they believed
o have been in the theater when the
rash came and they appealed to those
HaIltatiiHk LIS uHes eltneT 10 let
hem through or give them some idea
is to the number Of dead or injured.
The same snowfall which caused the
ollapse of the theater's roof also
worked to lessen the number of those
n the crash, tor the theater, being
be only one in that section, usually
$ filled even to standing room on
Weekend nights.
May Have Ceuqht Notables
Attaches of the British embassy re-
orted at midnight that \ check had