The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-07-07
STATE ARMORY
MADE MORGUE
No Confusion as Endless
Procession Moves
Along Cots
BY WILLIAM d. CLARK

98N@A@a81N@ Sa4A14S8e
UNITED Press Stan Correspondent
Hartford, Conn, July 7-(UP)-
The huge state armory was house
Of death today, turned into o
morgue where lay the remaining un-
identified bodies Of the las men,
women and children who died In
the circus fire.
Row upon row Of cots dotted the
spacious drill shed floor, most OF
them containing charred remains OF
children.
And among the rows, in small es-
corted groups, walked relatives and
friends, bending low to examine the
green descriptive tags attached to
each Of the bodies and with the
dreaded expectancy of finding those
they sought among the dead.
Here and there an arm, or q leg
protruded from under the olive drah
Observation-Disclosures or charred from
the flames. There was little to tell
who they were except for the brief
notations on the tags which merely
related the sex, approximate age
and whatever other information
could be obtained from fragments
Of clothing, trinkets or personal
items.
There was no confusion, no hys-
terics. hardly a display Of emotion
as the endless procession moved
among the cots, grouped in orderly
lines at the south end Of the shed
There was an unearthly stiffness
about the place, broken only by an
occasional sob as an Identification
was made, and the medical exam
liner routinely filled in the legal GER
tificates Of death.
Hundreds stormed the armory as
the bodies were received from the
circus ground or the hospitals, but
a system Of control quickly was in
stalled under the direction Of State
Police Commissioner Edward j.
Hickey who only few hours before
had tossed his nine nephews and
nieces to safety from the grandstand
before escaping the inferno himself.
Those who came to the arInory
did so as q last resort after visit
ing police headquarters and the
Brown school, where more than a
hundred children, separated from
their parents in the mad confusion
Of the fire, were made comfortable
until they could be claimed.
There was @ business-like EN-
cheney at the armory building.
Those inqulring for lost kin were
interviewed at a reception center,
and their information taken down
and typed on card which was for
warded to another center where II
was matched with the meager tag
descriptions.
At the second center were nurses,
nurses aides, doctors and state po-
lice officers. II there was q re-
semblance In the descriptive mate
rial, groups OF a dozen or so were
formed and escorted by nurses and
police through the death rows.
There was q public address sys-
tenn set up within the hall, over
which came almost constant calls
for physicians and nurses, or the
reports Of persons who had been
identified as dead, or who had been
located among the living and wan
dered on IN daZe as the are swept
the massive main tent.
Outside, there was another Loud
speaker system, bToadcastipg the
information TO the hundreds who
sought admission TO the aEmery, or
who tGled IN curiosity,
salvation Army women passed out
coffee and sandwiches to volunteer
workers, and q Red Gross rolling
kitchen offered the same acc0nlHlo',
dations 10 those waiting In the
seemingly endless line for their OPP
poFtunity 10 get Into the building,
Eor the sake OF the almost ey-
hausted inquiFeFs, the aFmoty was
closed for several hours during the
early morning hours, but the line
reformed again ~ daybFeak,
Police and soldiers remained on
guard throughout the night,
NJ II weren't Tor the children
one soldier said, ~ would be easier
30 take. Ets the children that get
you, Some Of those Kids are 10
badly burned they'll never be sure
who they are"