The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-02-17
CRUSHED TO DEATH.

CRUSHED TO DEATH.
The Fatal Panic I'm the Cincinnati Opera
hOuse-SOme Heart-rending Scenes.
TFrom the Cincinnati Enquirer.l
BEHIND THE SCENES.
On the stage, behind the scenes, on
the terraced seats and in the green-room
were about six hundred children, cos
tuned and attired for the exhibition.
The first scene-the Indian scene-was
ready for the curtain to rise, the Indians
all posted, ready to take their places.
Mr.. Hagar says he rang the calcium
light on, and then appeared before the
chorus and asked how many could not
be present at a repetition of the Ale
CORY next week. Not one was found
but agreed to be present. He then
turned TO the Indians, and they all
agreed. Then he went to the green
room and took note of "the States"
on the subject, and the fair ones all
agreed to come. 1t had been ascer-
tanned that a thousand tickets had been
| sold to people who could not obtain adj
mission because the house was full. 1t
was in view of this fact that repetition
was asked, and to give it was regarded
a matter of justice to the holders OF
| these thousand tickets. These votes de-
cided the matter. Itwas while Mr.. Hagar
was talking to the " States" that the cry
of fire was brought to him. Jesse
DeBeck rushed on the stage before the
five hundred pupils and called on them
to keep their seats, and they did. After
waiting moment for the tumult outside
| to subside, the curtain rose. This was
at the suggestion of Mr.. Webb, a we'll
| known Fifth Street business man. 1t
assured the audience that all was right
on the stage. The effect was to restore
confidence, and the play went on through
the first part. The time to stop it came
then, and it was stopped. The man.
agement behind the scenes appears to
have been most excellent, but for which
the calamity might have been vastly
greater. When the first part closed and
the curtain dropped, and Mr.. Hagar an
nounced the fact to the children that
the performance was ended for the day,
some of them inquired: "And will we
have no party tomorrow" The an
swer was, of course, "No." The truth
is that behind the scenes and in front of
them scarcely any one under that roof
was aware of the terrible calamity that
had occurred.
A CHILD'S AGONY.
Decidedly the most affecting after
scenes which the catastrophe gave rise
were to be witnessed in the ante-rooms
of the second floor of the Opera-house,
to which the bodies of four of the dead
had been removed. In the first of these
rooms, at the southwest corner OF the
building, were stretched on the floor
the bodies of Annie May Runzi and
Frederick Loech, while in the next room
lay the corpses of Harry White and
Hattie Leslie In the front room there
were none but curiosity-seekers present
to view the melancholy sight, but in the
rear room half an hour after the panic
a scene was enacted that brought tears
to the eyes of every man in the room.
Mr.. Leslie, the father of the dead
Girl, had been hastily summoned from
his place of business at the corner of
Fourth and Race Streets, and when he
entered the room the first person he en-
countered was his little eight-year-old
son, who was wringing his hands in an
agony of grief by the side of his sisters
| corpse. One look at the remains suf-
feed to prove to the trembling father
that it was indeed his child, and then
with fervently uttered "My God, J"
that betokened the overwhelming grief
with which the sight had inspired him,
he began weeping and fell into chair,
as helpless as the boy that stood beside
him. As the little fellow noticed the
terrible effect the sight produced upon
his father, he burst into fresh fit of
weeping, and fell upon his knees before
his parent, with the exclamation, " Oh,
father, was always good to her, wasn't
I?'
"You was, my son." was all the pa
rent could reply for an instant, and
then the boy said:
sFather, tried to save her. pull
ed two little girls out of the crowd my
self, and then got Hattie in my arms,
when big, heavy man came along and
knocked her away from me and trampled
on her"
Then followed another deluge of
tears, and the parent upon recovering g
said, "My son, she was the only one!"
"Yes, father" replied the boy, ''but
she is in heaven. She was so good that
| know she must be there, and-and-
oh, can nevsr be happy again without
her.
Eyes, my son." answered the father
with desperate attempt to appear re-
signed, ''she has gone to another and a
better place"
"Oh, father" then cried the boy,
"what will mother say when she hears
of this?'' 50 -s..-.a
This question caused the parent such
anguish as to again throw him into a
paroxysm of grief, during which he
walked the floor with his hands clasped
to his forehead, and never dared to
glance at the spot where, in plain attire,
with muff and gloves resting upon her
bosom and an expression of peace on
her countenance, lay the child who but
an hour before had been rejoicing at the
treat which she owed to his affection
The boy meanwhile, with an earnestness
that was pitiable in its fervency, piled
the bvstanders with questions as to how
his sister had looked when they found
her body; whether she had worn an ex,
preston of pain, or whether the posi-
l ton in which she was found indicated
, that she had expired speedily and with
out suffering. .a.
l Mr. Leslie, unable longer to bear the
l scene, and deeply affected by his SON:
t conduct, said: ''COme, my boy, we vii
a rTIl-- L n III
spared to me-" AS they started from
: the room the boy broke away from hi
1 father, and, rushing through the crowd
t cried out: ''Let me see her again; lie
e me see my sister" Then, as room wa
e made for him, he knelt at the side o
| his dead playmate, and looked long an'
/ earnestly in her face, as if he could no
e realize it was death he saw imprinted
e there. He was weeping violently now
e and as the tears rolled forth the.