The Washington times., 1922-01-30

sailors. and marines were on the
scene with ropes, jacks. picks
shovels, and crowbars. Cries OF
those pinned m The twisted wreck
age aided workers 10 help those still
alive to ambulances and hospitals
Red Cross headquarters were i'm,
mediately established In the con.
fectIonery store. in the northwest
corner Of the theater building, un.
damaged by the crash. and in the
basement Of the Christian Science
Church. on Euclid street.
When the injured had been re.
moved the rescue workers began a
systematic search for bodies, start.
ing at the stage end OF the building,
and working to the rear OF the
theater, aisle by aisle. Bodies were
rushed to the Christian Science
Church where a temporary morgus
was established, to await identified
ton by frantic relatives and friends.
AS word Of the disaster spread
through the city hundreds rushed TO
the scene. until morning hours,
tanning the thoroughfares near the
theater with thousands.
Recovery OF bodies continued at
short intervals until noon, when the
stream OF unfortunates began to
lessen. BY 3 o'clock all bodies re-
covered had been identified with the
exception Of two, whose relatives
claimed them shortly afterwards.
By 9 o'clock, as the seventy
marines, headed by Major Bevan. re-
lieved the sailors of the Navy Yard
and the soldiers Of Fort Myer, the
last Of the bodies to be recovered was
brought to the temporary morgue
and identified. BY that hour all
bodies had been identified and re-
moved to undertaking parlors.
DIR. Clyde NJ. Gearhart. a widely
known Capital dental specialist. suf-
fered legs so badly crushed that 1t
was said at his hospital this morning
they may have to be amputated.
His wife and nine-year-old son were
lost in the tragedy. A great steel
beam fell across the family, killing
the woman and the boy, and pinning
the doctor who sat beside them. For
more than twelve hours he was con-
scious underneath the wreckage,
with the knowledge that his wife and
son lay alongside him dead.
Mrs. Howard Kneessi, wife of the
vice president of the Semmes Motor
Company, had one leg torn off in a
of death. Her husband was killed
beside her.
The scene around the wrecked
theater this morning at sunrise re-
sembled nothing 80 much as a shell.
shattered cathedral in some town of
northern France. The walls re-
NAMED, but inside them wreckage
and splinters Of steel, timber, and
concrete were piled high in an in
tricate mass.
I Tales of heroism and unmitigated
personal sacrifice came in the wake
Of the tragedy today.
Outstanding among the heroes
was Albert @. Buehler, who gave his
life that others might live. He was
discovered by rescuers pinned down
by a steel girder. but called to res
cuers that he was not very badly
hurt and asked that they concen-
trate their efforts in getting at the
more seriously injured, whose cries
echoed around him. The rescuers
needed his plea, Nut when he was
removed from the tangled mass of
debris an hour later Il was too late
to save him. He died in the arms of
those who lifted him from the
wreckage, and his body was con.
veyed to the temporary morgle
across the street. 81 '.
Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, u. s.
A., bleeding from leg wounds, found
that he could stand upon them and
rose from his stretcher as they were
about to carry him away and in.
sisted upon tearing away with his
bare hands the plaster and tangled
wire skeins that covered the bod,'
OF his daughter, who was rescued
alive.
A six.year-old. red-headed boy.
whose name was not learned. on