The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1876-12-27
The Brooklyn Horror
STATEMENT OF An EYEWITNESS

were II the gallery II the Brook 81
Theatrr A. fhe tame ii tAu dl-astrr /
heart -reus.i3& And horrible 4 fred 1
Jones gtv.- iAe following ace s,nt a.
the serI.r. ~, >s4tes. A~At go I'll.
front go~. s+i' seciug HAT -el.a 1h'n,
vas wrJG2 oia tie lag ! isu.,i al
the entrshcs: l. the tler. " Aru u'y tgtei
Was Turned sAf..ss wtr.. heard, aud %
mass oi E5e 'i,.' ia t..o gallery arose /.
wild coufusatlI. | cau4ot lescril,. IN,
scene a. ~ was. They were nbin.
over seats, grabbing each otner by th'
clothes. and struggling fsau!icaily Il
get ahead Of one another. SAW on'
man smash another in tue face wis
would not yield to him In the passage
and q big powerful! woman tore her va,
through aud came towards me witt
scarcely any clothes un her back, snC
with blood streaming from her nostrils
Two decent looking boys got iogethel
IN the front row, au,. ! saw them clam
bering over seats and squeezing theil
bodies through the crowd. One of then
was thrown down. aid the other turnec
and called him wildly by name. got
down among the first that escaped. and
did not wai, to see y hat happened.
ANOTHER ,TATEMENT.
A tall stout man. " ho eali lac was 4
truckman. gave "A very VIVID descri ptior
of the scene when thc nproar began
He said Was seated III the aisle, about
the middle of the gallery and three oil
four seats from the front l never saw
anything like it. AL the people in the
gall.ry seemed TO be crowding on toy OF
one another. There were snen who
seemed perfectly frantic. The yells aud
shrieks | shall never forget to my dy-
ing day My wife is down stairs. one
man cried cut, "let me get her out :!
Another cried. Were all safe if you
will only be orderly" At the same
time. however, he WAS making most
efforts to get through the
fhrong. The weakest went down one
after another and the strongest rushed
rccklessiy over them. | could actually
hear the bones cracking, "a men jumped
on the writhing struggling and helpless
mass beneath them. The cries that as
ccuded amid the uproar were heart
r.nding. My God have mercy on
me ~ one yoice repeated several times
One man managed 10 crawl from u heap
of prostrate bodies. but the struggling
throng rushed against him, and he spun
around towards me aud fell almost a.
my tee,. tried tn lift him, but he
groa ned once or twice, gave II few gasp'
and ali was over. " hen | saw II WAS
to he life or death. made f.'r the d. :.
All l have been telling took plac= IL Il
few seconds, but there is a picture lii
my miad cannot paint. When got
cut. walked over ih,j bodies thro or
four deep.
AN OLD IIREMAN's vERsIoN
q. 4. Weismar. Of the mt med
squad, testified that hu was in tlc he
ater, in citizens clothes, when ile fire
occurred From the dress circle lie saw
the. flames burning the scenery. He
reached forward 10 open the doors The
actors quieted the audience for mo-
men,. lie waited ut the doors ,.ll the
spectators were all out. and then closed
the doors to keep the draught out. Peo-
pie were coming do.n from the gal
iery, but suddenly stopped. To use
his own words: IL ran to see what WAS
the matter. As 90, 10 the top Of the
first fligh, of stairs. there was a lady
who. in coming down. got her leg
caught IN the bannisters A large man
r.f 1A~ .,l f.t =
him made heap which those III the
rear could not pass There were fully
fifty or sixty persons packed in ii head
1t tho foot of the second flight of stairs.
The stairs were open all the way down
from that point. and ab we it the stairs
were vacant for four or five steps At
this time the smoke was very dense
l; was not three minutes after the tire
broke ont The curtain was lowered
and took fire. and this had the effect of
the flames ny u the gallery
| looked at it for three seconds. ana
then closed the door to the parquet.
Some of the persons who were piled up
in the heap cried 10 me to help them.
and did get some in the rear 10 fall
la * Till got man aud woman out.
Seeing these two get out. they rushed
forward aud again blocked up the pas
sage. | tried to extrica;e the woman
" hose leg MAS caught In the railing
but she Was held fast. An usher came
up 10 help me. and we made small
place among them We tore tile
dresses of some oH. bu, We got them all
out Then ! went up III the dIess cir
Gle found woman there and took
her ont There must have been other
persons there. for | heard cries, but |
could not see them on account Of the
smoke. knew there mus, have been
several others in the dress circle, who
were oyertaken by the fire was
then t,ing weak, and | dropped 10
the floor Ia sot fresh air The smoke
WAS black surs,ke and had - very susso-
eating smell sm an old firemas. aud
never experienced smoke 50 su!fos ating
| was no. III the smoke more than a
minutes. and yet could nat bIea; be.
The first and second galleries aud even
the stails were AZ the tune .illesi viii.
smoke. No human being
could live III shs; smoke two minutes
| heard \ thumpiuS noise, A. if some
persons were jumping ou' ot the win
dows. ~ 'hsS time II Mas utterly im-
possible 10 get up IN the top gallery.
was nearly sitg Gated when l 80; cut.
| know that tia people were al taken
from the dres. -circle stairs. hns hear
cries inside. called cut. Where sse
"a 81; ~, 80 ANSWER E.veE
v hen 80, down on the ioor h.a :
humping noise IS though ;he Ia
jumping osi: ot the upper gsI.s II
they bad jumped tfom the cal ~ tc
the dress circle the smoke WAS = j ase