The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-02-04
A PANIC-sTRIGKEX AUDIENCE


The st. Louis Republican gives
the following incident that occurred
at the recent storm at st. Louis.
The Varieties, as our readers are
aware, is open Su nday night, and in
yarisbly draws large and exceed
ingly promiscuous audience sifted
from the same sans colotte and the
denli-moade, and every other CLAUS In
the community. On Sunday night
there was a full assembly when the
storm burst down upon the city. The
rush of the rain and the sound tlf
the wind and thunder soon brok,.
the spell of the performance. Then
as the wind increased and the furi-
Gus gusts shook the building, and
there were heard the straining, ereak-
ing sound, caused by great pressure
men began to look inquiringly at
each other, the play began to drag,
and hush pervaded the assembly.
Finally there came a savage blast;
the theater building seemed to shiv-
er, and the audience became startled
and alarmed. At this moment a
fearful crash sounded; a crash as of
yielding wall and breaking beams
1t was q part of the theater In a
second arrested attention was meta
morphosed into the widest panic,
and then came the frantic rush for
escape, there being all that desperate
struggle and unreasonableness of ef-
fort which generally characterize
such events. Each one thought
only Of himself, and how to get out /
of the building. The approaches of !
the door became choked by a con-
fused, screaming mass Of scared hu-
manity, while those who were fortu-
nate enough to be nearest to the
doors tumbled down stairs. hsadlong
or any other way they could, and !
communicated the alarm outside. But
as is always the case, the number be-
hind us in the building, that could i
not get out was by far the largest.
and the scene was pitiful and appal- 4
ing. A rush was made for the win
dows; scores Of men jumped over in
to the parquette and made their way
to the stage, The side windows op-
ening on the alley were burst open, \
and men precipitated themselves II
down to the ground, hight of 10 or
30 feet, with perfect recklessness Of
limb and life, The carpenter tried
to provide ladder, but he was pitch
ed to one side, the more expeditions
method of jumping being preferred,
and so the window for quite time,
continued to vOmit forth its living
stream of frightened men. But #
was at the main exit doors and s sta:ir-
ways that the worst crush occurred
Here the jam was perfectly fearful
and numerous injuries are reDorted
Men were thrown down or fell down
and were trampled upon BY the in
sane panic-stricken mob; GJr crushed
against walls until their ribs cracked
or broke, as the case may be. Wo-
men tainted, and reached the omen
air, they knew not how The scene
is described by eye witness as really |
awful, but most fortunately, so far as
heard from, was not attended bv loss
of life. The policestate that several
men were heard TO complain Of brok-
en- ribs, and internal injuries. but
none we're so hurt as not to be able
to make theirway home. 1t is sing
ular so violent a pane was unattend-
ed by more serious results, and the
prOprietors Of the theater have reas-
on to congratulate themselves on
sustaining only a triaing damage.
Several women are reported to have
been carried out unconscious and
taken into saloons in the vicinity.
The cause of the panic was the
falling ofa chimney in the rear.
The building was not at all damag-
ed, and, as is often the case, there
was reslly no adequate cause for the
terrible terror that sprung up.