The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-02-24
The Cincinnati Calamity.

The following extracts are from the aC-
count published in the Cincinnati Com
mercial of the fatal stampede which Oc-
CURED in RobinsOn's Opera House on
the afternoon of February 9th, during
the presentation of the allegOTy and
tableaux of the " Great Republic:
Mr.. William Eckel, who was one of
the first to rush into the fatal vestibule
on hearing the cry of fire, and seeing the
crowd of people rush out, thus describes
the scene: " [ was standing on the side
walk talking to some gentlemen when /
heard the alarm of fire, and as one Of my
children was inside, | naturally made an
effort to force my way in. The entrance
was completely clogged with people, how
ever, and [ never got beyond the middle
of the vestibule. My idea is that some
of the first crowd that rushed out slipped
on the steps and fell, and the immense
throng that followed them were so terror
stricken that they did not think of steps
or anything else except to fling them
selves out of the inner doorway. The
consequence was that there was a general
piling-up of PROSTATE and struggling peO-
pie, those who followed the first rush
falling on top of others as soon as they
got to the steps. The people, men, wO-
men. and children, piled up around me,
and the other men who made their way
into the vestibule, waist high, and still
they kept coming. 1t was simply awful.
Men and women were gTOaning, children
were shrieking, and by the gasps and
deep gurgling of some of the women and
children, knew they were being smOth-
cred to death. We pulled out all we
could, and worked as fast as ave could,
but it seemed that they piled up as fast
as we ierked them out, and some were so
tightly wedged in we couldn't bUdge
them an inch either way. One poor lady,
who was killed, lay on the tiling with a
dozen women and children on top of her,
her face fattened against the floor, and
her tongue, which prOtruded two or
three inches, being tIampled on by Others
trying to work themselves out. One lit
tie white-headed boy, who | saw was
almost smOthered to death, thrust out
his hand to me from under two or three
persons who were crOwding him down,
and managed to catch hold of his arm.
He worked the other arm out somehow,
and a policeman caught hold of it. We
tugged and tugged at him for several
minutes, and it took our united strength
to pull him out, and we are both strong
men, too. They would catch me by the
way, and we were all in danger every
second of going down with the whole
crowd. There must have been as many
as $50 people piled up in that vestibule
as | have described, and l don't think
| half of them would ever have issued
! from the trap alive if a couple of police
men had not broke through the office at
| the west of the entrance, and fought
| their way to the inner doors, and com
menced throwing the people back into
! the house in order to give us chance to
extricate those already in the vestibule-
| Nv God if there had been a fire in the
] house, il must have roasted half the
audience to death, the way the people
were piled up and clogging the main
exit. The work of the policemen at the
| inner doors in throwing the people back
until quiet WAS restored undoubtedly
saved many lives 1t enabled us to cleal
/ the vestibule of the living and the dead
and when that was done, and the alarmed
! people got to passing out in something
| like order, the danger was over"
! Mrs. George T. Davis. of Mount
! Auburn, with her sister, and four or five
small children, was in the balcony wheT
| the cry of fire was raised. She said she
| gathered all the children in her arms anC
! pursuaded them TO sit still. She felttht
| crowd surging around her, but with ;
! firm hand she held the trembling LITTLE
flock together. One lady near her sh'
noticed before the alarm, but lost sigh
of her in the tumult. After the excite
ment was over she reached the stree
safely. One of the children was missing
| and She went in to look among the deaC
for him. There she saw the woman wh'
sat near her, among the dead. Fortu
nately her missing charge was found IN
hurt. Mrs. Davis reached home safely
where she was overcome by the nervou
| shock and Frustrated.