The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-16

Sad and Interesting Details of the
Great Calamity 1t Robinson's Opera
House, Feb. 5th.
From the Cincinnati Commercial, 6th.l
Mr.. William Eckel, whe 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: II 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 I 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 were so terror.
stricken that they did not think Of steps
or anything else except to fling them.
queaces were that there was general
piling up Of PROSTATE and struggling
people, those who followed the first rush
falling on the top of the others as soon as
they got to the steps. The people, men.
women and children, piled up around me,
and the other men who made their way
into the vestibule, waist high, and still
they kept coming. It was simply awful.
Men and women were grooming, chill.
drcn were shrieking, and by
the gasps and deep gurgling
of some of the women and children,
knew they we're being smethered to death.
We pulled out all we could, and worked
as fast as we could, but it seemed that
they piled up as fast as we jerked them
out, and some we're so tightly wedg+d in
we couldn't bulge them an inch either
way. One poor lady who was killed lay
on the thing with dozen women and
children on top of her, her face fattened
against the floor and her tongue, which
protruded two or three inches, being
trampled on by others trying to work
themselves out. One little 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 I managed to
catch hold Of his arm. He worked the
other arm out somehow, and policeman
caught hold Of it. We tuggcd 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 legs and try to
pull themselves out in that way. and we
were all in danger every second of going
down with the whole crowd. There must
have been as many as a hundred and fifty
piled up in that vestibule, as described,
and I don't think half of them would
ever have issued from the trap above if q
couple Of policemen had not broken
through the Office to the west of the en-.
trance, and found their way to the inner
doors, and commenced throwing the PEG.
pie back into the house in order to give
Us a chance to extricate those already in
the vcstibule. My God! if there had
been a fire in the house, it must have
roasted half the audience to death, the
way the people were piled up and clog.
cling the exit. The work Of the police
men at the inner doors in throwing the
people back until quiet was restored, IN.
doubtedly saved many lives. It enabled
US to clear the vestibnlc 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.
UNCLE JOHN ROBINSON
made the following statement: 81 was
fearful of some accident to-day, from the
way this show was managed. In the first
place, the people who had it in charge
knew nothing about handling big crowds
of people. They had children all over
town selling tickets to whoever would
buy them, without making any calcula-
tons as to the capacity of the house.
The people who had bought tickets for
the matinee expected to get in, and so
did the people who had to buy tickets at
the Office. The doors ught to have
been opened at IL o'clock to-day, and
when the house was full they oug ht to
have been shut for good. Instead Of that
the doors were not opened until ten min
utes to one by my watch, and when I
got there found the street thronged with
people, and the managers of the show to.
tally unable to control them. It is a
wonder to me that there was not as
many people hurt and killed in getting
n as there was in getting out. The
crowd had the best Of the ticket-takcrs,
and went in at almost every door that
gives admission to the house.
finally had to take the thing into my
own hands. would let the yestibule fill
up with people, and then put up the bars
until they got inside, when would admit
another lot the same way, and so on until
the theatre was as full as it would hold.
don't know how many people there
we're in the house, should say five
thousand and there were az many out.
side demanding admission as there were