Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Decatur Herald VOL. IV., NO. 83. Wednesday, January 9, 1884 OUT OF THE EMBERS The Search for the Bodies of the Victims Still Continued. Five More Charred and Smoking Remains Taken From the Debris. The Number of the Dead Now Placed at Thirty-Seven - Preparations for the Funeral - Other Details. BELLEVILLE, Ill., Jan. 8. - The search for the remains of the victims by the convent conflagration still continues. Parts of three bodies were found this morning. They were hot, the backbone of one still burning. The twenty or more workmen were greatly impeded by the smoke and heat which appeared to have increased since yesterday. Some men were carrying water to pour on the fire which was burning under the bricks. These the firemen are now removing. The smell of burning flesh is plainly distinguishable. The search for the missing bodies still buried in the ruins of the Institution of the Immaculate Con- ception was prosecuted much more vigorously to-day than at any time since the terrible catastrophe, the freely-expressed indignation of the relatives and friends of the missing ones at the slow pro- gress made yesterday having the effect of urging those in charge of the excavation to greater exer- tions. Street Commissioner SAMUEL STROMBERG, accom- panied by a force of thirty men, arrived at the ruins a few minutes after 7 o'clock, and with picks and shovels commenced turning over the debris under the large dormitory. The ruins were smoking terribly all morning, greatly adding to the disadvantages under which the men are working, and necessarily impeding their progress. About 10 o'clock the skull of a grown person was found by one of the workmen and immediately afterwards a heap of charred bones, burned flesh and partly consumed clothing were un- earthed. A rosary, from which depended an unusually large cross, a portion of a sleeve and half a pair of spectacles, were found under the bones. The ghastly remains were piled in two small boxes and carried to the temporary morgue on Race street. Fathers GOFF and GIER closely examined the contents of the boxes and pronounced them the remains of the Mother Superior, who, until then was supposed to have been found Sunday and who had been identi- fied by the gold filling in her teeth. SISTER ELEUTHERIA was called in and after a careful exami- nation of the rosary pronounced it that of the Mother Superior. Identifying it by the steel beads and a peculiar link which fastened the beads to- gether. The eye-glass was also identified by SISTER ELEUTHERIA as belonging to the Mother Superior, she having the only concave lens to her spectacles in the ill-fated convent. A portion of the girdles found burned into the bones and flesh, was identi- fied by Father GIER, being of a peculiar make and material. SISTER MARY MAGDALEN identified all the articles as belonging to the Mother Superior but was doubtful weather (sic) or not the remains were here (sic), thinking it possible the articles were dropped during the excitement attending the conflagration. SISTER MARY MAGDALEN inclines to the opinion that the remains recovered Sunday was Mother Superior. The identification, however, is considered complete, and the body recovered Sun- day no doubt was that of one of the other missing sisters. The backbone and upper portion of the limbs of another victim were recovered under the west wing at 10:30, but nothing was found near the remnants of the body by which it could be identified. The gang of men working under the large dormitory found a pile of bones and burned flesh at 11 o'clock which is supposed to repre- sent two bodies, one a very small child, the other a well developed person. Each corpse or portion of a corpse is placed in a small box as soon as found and taken to the temporary morgue to await identification or remain till the un- claimed bones will be buried by the Sisters. THE FIFTH BODY found to-day was taken from the ruins at noon, but was nothing except a few bones, pieces of charred flesh, a small quantity of clothing and a rosary and is supposed to be the remains of one of the sisters. MR. STROMBERG states to-day that it would require several days yet to recover all the bodies, as the work is very tedious. The smoke from the smouldering ruins is suffocating, and it will be necessary to take out every shovelful of debris in the ruins before it can be said that the work is finished. At noon to-day twenty-six victims had been recovered and one of the sisters stated that only two more were missing, but, ac- cording to the testimony of SISTER ELEUTHERIA, who seems to be the best posted inmate of the con- vent about the number of persons in the building when the fire broke out, thirty-seven perished and eleven are still among the missing. PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUNERAL The Catholics of St. Peter's Church held an informal meeting last night in the Orphan Asylum. Present were: Father EBELLAN, of Milwaukee; Father GOUGH and Father STEPHAN, of this city; Father MECKEL, of Highland; MICHAEL REISS, H. REISS, Dr. JULIUS KOHL, PETER SANDER, ADAM RUSS, ADAM STANDER, NIC REEB, PETER CHUSE, NIC BECKMANN, ADAM BISCH, JOS. CAREY, JOS. SCHWARTZ and others. The meeting was held to arrange for the funeral of the victims. Father LUCAS had gone to Alton to consult Bishop BALTES about the matter, and no definate steps will be taken until his return. The meeting adjourned until this evening at 7. The Catholics of this city and surrounding country are expected to be present. The Council decided to expend an amount not exceeding $1,000 in the equipment of a hook- and-ladder corps. The two turning societies first offered to furnish 40 volunteers from their members, provided this was done. Mr. HEINFELDEN, of the Zeit*ing and Stern, laid the proposition before the Council, which, after a few moment's consideration, it accepted. Belleville will soon have an excellently equipped Hook-and-Ladder Company. The Coroner says he will hear the evidence of half a dozen more witnesses. The jury do not intimate what the verdict will be, though they have probably decided already. The remains or partial remains of twenty- one bodies have thus far been recovered. A pastoral has been issued by Bishop BOLTES, asking for masses from priests throughout the diocese and prayers from the people. At 10:30 yesterday morning a sad cortege drew up to the Third Baptist church on Eighteenth and Clark avenue, bearing the mortal remains of MARY F. CAMPBELL, one of the victims of the Belleville horror. Miss CAMPBELL had for some time been a member of the church, and a large concourse of people gathered to do honor to her obsequies. The appalling manner in which the young lady had met her death, had its visi- ble effect in the motion with which the coffin was watched even by strangers. The last impressive rites of the church were solemnized by Rev. J. P. GREEN, pastor, who in a long, elegant discourse touched every chord of sympathy for the cold and peaceful dead, and for the bereaved and heart-broken family. Again and again, as the minister pointed out the moral of the young life, so rudely and un- expectedly ended, was the emotion of those who knew MARY CAMPBELL too much for them. It brought the horror of that awful night in the Belleville home to the families of others and pointed out so strongly the weakness and uncertainty of our hold on life, that everyone in the audience was deeply moved. And when the minster described the young lady as he and her friends had known her, ever light-hearted and happy, but earnest in duty and earnest in doing good, the tension became almost painful, even among those who had come merely for curiosity. The last sad offices of friendship had found expressions in a wealth of floral offerings, which covered the casket and the bier, and testified how many people had loved the dead. Conspicuous among these was a pillow with the word "MARY" worked in immortelles, and a wreath and anchor symbolical of the hope and the re- ward, which took the agony out of the awful death the lady died. The services ended, the pall-bearers - W. M. SENTER, ALEXANDER MACKEY, R. E. ROACH, HARRY PARKS, ROCHESTER FORD and A. D. CADWALLADER - took up their sad burden, and shortly the funeral cortege was passing on to quiet Belle- fontaine, where, amid the sighing evergreens and the desolate landscape, all that was mortal of MARY CAMPBELL will be left to solitude. MISS WEIRMER'S FUNERAL The funeral of Miss SUSAN WEIMER, another victim of the Belleville horror, took place from the home of her parents, No. 705 Chestnut street, this afternoon. The remains were en- closed in a neat metalic casket, literally covered with flowers. A handsome crown, com- posed of white roses and tube roses, with the initials "S. W.," formed of violets, was the most noticeable of the many tributes of the affection of her friends. From the house the body was brought to the College church, Ninth street and Christy avenue, and after the sol- emn burial service of the Catholic church was read, the remains were interred in Calvary cemetery. The pall bearers were Misses BLANCHE BURGESS, MOLLIE MAHER, MOLLIE HOGAN and MAGGIE MAHER. Among the friends were Mrs. JOHN HOGAN, Mrs. BURGESS, Mrs. FISHER, Mrs. DUNNELL and Miss LAURA LEMON. The arrangements were in charge of Mrs. HAUGHEY. ==========================================================================