THE PENNSYLVANIA FIRE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIX, Issue 14610, 18 February 1908, Page 9

THE PENNSYLVANIA FIRE.

A DREADFUL HOLOCAUST. A SOLID MASS~OF BODIES. SEPARATED ~BY~CROWBARS. [Per Press Association.] I AUCKLAND, February 17. Papers by the American mail contain ia graphic account of the great fire in. Pennsylvania on January 15. "When nightfall put a stop to the work of. recovering the dead from the ruins of Rhoad's Opera House, where last night's holocaust occurred," says .one report, "the official roll of victims numbered 167, the ratio of women and girls to men and boys being about nine to one. The Opera House was on the second floor of a three-storey brick building. The entertainment hall was a room about £oft wide and 72ft long. There were about 425 persons packed in the room, most of whom were adults. About sixty-five person were on the stage. The entertainment was nearly over when something went wrong with the calcium light apparatus upon the platform near the front entrance. In front of the curtain, serving as footlights, was a tin tank which contained coal and oil, and about ten lights. A performer accidentally turned "the tank over, and the audience rose in a mess and scrambled to get out. Many persons fell over-the chairs and were never again able to regain their feet. The narrow passage became clogged with a struggling mass of humanity. Men, women boys, girls and chairs were so tangled up in a solid mass that no one from outside was able to disentangle them. Someone discovered that there were fir© escapes on each side of the building, and dozens made their exit by these avenues of escape. "The whole town was aroused and went to the rescue. All this time flames from the oil tank were creeping towards the terrified mass of people, who were frantically shrieking and fighting to get out. The noise was dreadful. Few heard the cries of those who found the fire escapes. Some of the bravest who had gained the fire escapes pulled dozens from the struggling mass and dragged them to the sides of the building --. Scores of persons on the second floor, seeing the awful jam on the stairways, risked their lives by jumping from windows. Several were so badly injured that they died before reaching the hospitals. " While the frenzied people were fighting to get down the front steps, the calcium light tank exploded. The fire was spread over the entire mass of people. This added horror was more than the feeble rescuers could stand, and to 6ave their own lives they were forced to flee down the . fire escapes. On the front steps outside the door men pulled frantically to open, the way for the wedged-in people, but not more than half a dozen were rescued in this manner.

" "When the flames were extinguished a horrible sight met the gaze. Bodies were piled in a solid mass six feet high on the second floor. So solidly were they wedged that crowbars had to be used to separate the victims. As each victim was taken from the pile, a number and tag was attached, and the body was placed on boards. The body then was covered with a quilt, hundreds of which were furnished by the stores and citizens. The bodies were then lowered to the street, placed in waggons and taken to four morgues. So rapidly were the bodies removed that the waggons were not always on hand, and the dead were carried through the streets to the morgues."