Coroner Heffran Announces Date for Official Inquiry in Canonsburg Horror – To Close Stores To-Morrow
PROCLAMATION IS ISSUED.
SPECIAL TO THE PITTSBURGH SUN.
CANONSBURG, Pa., Aug. 28. Coroner James T. Heffran and District Attorney C. L. V. Acheson, after a conference with State Deputy Factory Inspector Patterson, stated that the inquest will be held back in Washington, Pa. At 9 o’clock Thursday morning.
Burgess W. H. Dunlap issued a proclamation that the merchants of Canonsburg close their stores from 10 0’clock to-morrow morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon while the funerals of the victims are being held.
This morning some of the bodies of the out of town victims were sent to their homes.
The funeral of Arthur McPeake, the well-know young athlete, who sacrificed his life, while trying to save others, will take place to-morrow morning at the Spear Spring cemetery. A short funeral service will be conducted at the home before the remains will be taken to its last resting place.
Nothing but profound expressions of sorrow could be heard over the tragic death of McPeake. He was one of the most popular young men in the town. He was standing outside the building when the panic started. He was the first to rush in and assist in carrying out and extricating some of the people from the pile of human forms. He did manage to bring several children to safety, when, after trying to go in a second time, he found his way obstructed by a pile of bodies 10 feet high.
Not to be frustrated in his efforts to save others, he secured a ladder and crawled to a second-story window and was directing the work of rescue when he was caught by the surging mass. He was swept into the heap of humanity at the stair landing and, in the fall, sustained a broken neck.
To-day persons are telling of how they escaped, as if by miracle, from the place. One of the most thrilling accounts is told by Nellie Gibbs, the 16-year-old sister of Margaret Gibbs, who was killed. When she was taken from the pile, she was clinging to the lifeless form of her 6-year-old sister.