The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-02-10
Details Of the Cincinnati Opera-HOuse
Horror.

| CINCINNATI, Ohio, Feb. s.
THE allegory of The Great Republic
has been upon the stage OF Robinson's
Opera House for the past two nights, un-
der the auspices of the Cincinnati Relief
Association. The proceeds were to be ap
| piled to the relief of the suffering poor of
the City The performers, numbering
nearly 600 children, were taken;from the
public schools of the city; and, as the OBJ
| ject was worthy one, and those who took
part children of old residents of the city,
vast audiences were present at each pre-
sentation of the aIlegory. The weather
this afternoon being propitious and there
being no session of the public schools, the
matinee audience in most part was
| composed of women and children.
| About half-past two o'clock, while the
| great house was dcnsely packed and the
thousands of children among the audience
| were at the height of their enjoyment,
some boy in the gallery, through mischief
or ignorance, raised the cry Of fire, as the
red light from the colored fires used in the
piece flashed out from the wings. Every
inch of the theater was! occupied, and the
dense crowd was pressing and surging
about the stair-cases and in front of the
doors. Some one in the audience took up
the cry of fire, and it was re-echoed from
near the door by some one who caught
glimpse of red glare from the stage. There
was an Immediate rush for the front
doors. A child was pushed down the
steps and screamed. Immediately after a
man thrust his arm through window,
and the scream and crash was enough to
set the panic in full force.
The scene was terrible one in the mar
row vestibule leading to the street. The
people in the rear mad with fear, pressed
upon those in front, shouting and curslng
Men, terror stricken, struck down help
less women and children in front, or
climbed over their heads to the top OF the
staircase, and precipitated themselves
upon the screaming and bleeding mass OF
children and women in the hallway.
The scene in and about the Opera
House after the accident was heart-rend-
ing. The news of the catastrophe spread
like wildfire over the city, and from every
direction came people hurrying to the
scene until the squares were impossible.
There are many conflicting stories as to
the origin of the panic. The building
was filed, from parquet to gallery, with
dense mass, which not only filled all the
seats and aisles, but crowded the stair
ways, and hundreds were outside seeking
to gain admission. Behind the scenes
were 500 school children, who were to
take part in the performance. When the
false alarm was given the audience be-
came panic stricken, and a rush was made
for the stairways. Some are said to have
leaped from the balcony upon the crowd
below. The lower circle of the house is
but few steps above the level of the
street, but the steps are narrow, and soon
became blocked by the surging crowd in
side the house. .Nultitudes were pressing
for the doorway, and in the panic women
and children were overthrown and
trampled to death by the panic-stricken
icrowd. The scene beggars description.
The alarm rapidly spread throughout the
city, and those who had wives or children