Bisbee daily review., 1922-01-29
THEATRE FALLS
Continued from Page One)

unconscious, broken leg and other in- ,juries; Mrs. Hassen P. Buchlers slightly injured; Mrs. Juliette Webb, slightly injured; Representative Smithwick of Florida; Mrs. Douglas Hillyer; slightly; Elizabeth Jeffries, internal injuries.
 Lewis M. Straher, Washington cor respondent of the Pittsburg Dispatch was among those injured. He was removed from the debris unconscious together with his daughter, Martha, who suffered a fractured collar bone.
 Statement Is Issued
 The board of directors of the Gran dall company, owners of the Knicker- booker Theatre, tonight issued the following statement:
 We are stunned by this catastro- phe.
 The Knickerbocker was the pride of our circuit, constructed at no linn it of cost before the war when the best materials and engineering brains were secured to make this house a model of theatre architecture and con structiou. The theatre was subjected to and passed every municipal and government inspection test.
 
 the depths of sympathy we feel for those bereaved by this appalling cat astrophe.
 we would infinitely rather have abandoned all our enterprises than that a single life should have been lost or any individual maimed or in- jured."
 Every theatre in this city, including both motion picture houses and play houses, was ordered closed tonight, not to reopen until building inspec- tors have certified that there is no danger of their now-laden roofs col lapsing
 < Army engineers and wrecking crews were summoned early today as the work of rescue proceeded at the Knickerbocker Theatre to shore up the walls, which threatened to col lapse on the workers inside.
 At the same time, Captain J. H. Hills, U. $. A., was still pinned be- heath the wreckage but was said to be conscious. His wife had been res cued earlier, and sent to a hospital.
 Rescuers Work FeverIsniy
 Attaches of the British embassy re- ported at midnight that a check had been made of the staff of that em- bassy and none found to have been in the theater. Belief was expressed in some quarters that the final list of injured possibly that or the dead, would contain names of well-known persons, inasmuch as the theater was situated in a section of the city in which government officials live
 The management of the uneater. which was owned and operated by tho Harry M. Crandall company, declared that the building only recently had been inspected and approved ana that the collapse of the roor only could have been caused by the tremendous weight imposed by the heaviest snow fall that has visited Washington since 1899.
 The roof fell with such force as to drive three concrete pinaSs rnorugn the orchestra floor. Up near tho stake, however, it's force was arrest ed so that the platform acted as a buffer. For this reason, it was said, several of the musicians escaped.
 Every expedient was resorteu ro in the work of rescue, vo:unteers as- sisting the firemen, police and ma rines, without regard to the possible collapse of the walls. One case was observed of a small boy crawling through a small aperture in the tan Gled mass of concrete, steel and wood, to a man, woman and child, who were pinned down, ano givlng them water.
 As the night wore on, the worr Q. rescue continued feyerishly. but some officials expressed doubt if the debris could be completely removed for sev 'eral days, leading to the possibilit that the last body may no, b. rccov- cred for some time.
 The cordon of police, firemen and marines was reinforced also by troops or Boy Scouts, who stood guard through the night.