Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-05-08

Following is the Geographic report OF
the close of the centennial celek~etio..
in tbs great city of Chicago:
One hundred thousand men, wop9n
and children were tossed in waves about
the big lake front park. Halfa hundred
people are known to have been serious
ly hurt; a number perhaps fatally.
Scores of others suffered serious iniurie5.
The people were massed in walls as
solid as the frowning stones of the
Auditorium against which they were
hurled when the first strong blow Of
excitement broke the great mob into
scores of tremendous rushes and STAN
pedes. Under the glare of the fire.
works, which the throng had gathered
to see, the faces of thousands OF women
showed white and pleading. The
shrieks of children, trampled under
foot, could be plainly heard above
the booming of the big bombs
and the cheers of the unaffected
parts of the vast a~ssemblage. First the
pressure on the west side forced the
| crowd against the Auditorium, Stude-
bakers Building and the Art Institute.
Then reaction came, and with a great
roar the mob was forced eastward el-
most to the lake side. The Illinois
Central suburban trains were forced to
stop. %powerless to get through the press
Of people. Aside from the presence of
the great crowd itself the cause of
the excitement was the huge SER
pentine fireworks. One of their
shot out from the stand and
squirmed through the crowd, scorching
everybody in its course. Another iol-
lowed a moment later, seeming literal
ly to rip the crowd in two. Women
tainted everywhere and were brutally
trampled upon as they lay in the grass.
A movement of the crowd away from
the threatened horror of a wholesale
panic was met by the movement in the
opposite direction, and the result was q
terrible CONFUSION of the whole body.
Seventy-ive policemen sent by Capt.
Bartram to keep order were tossed
about as they might have been on a bill
lowy sea. But the worst was to come.
Congress Street is narrow, alongside
the Auditorium. and when the greatest
jam came, as it soon afterwards did
when the fireworks were Owe and the
people started westward encountered
multltudes who had been unable to see
the pyrotechnics. the collision was
frightful. Men fought and cursed and
bore each other down, the women and
children meanwhile getting the worst
of the struggle. They were knocked
under foot and ground by thousands
of heels. their cries going unheeded
in the din. The policemen in despair
threatened to shoot the men who were
pressing re~sistles~lv over the unfortC-
nate weaklings. Some officers did draw
their revolvers and fire in the air to
frighten the mob into quiet, but ap-
parently nothing could stay the out
break. 1t was not until the west-bound
thousands at last forced their way out
into Wabash Avenue thatth wild Gene
ended.
The victims were hurriedly gathered
up and carried to their homes and the
hospitals. No time was consumed in
asking ame or keeping records. 1t is
impossible to give the number of per-
sons hurt in the jam. One estimate
places it at not less than a thousand who
sustained injuries of some sort.
Following were among the Injured:
Miss Mary Schubert. 14S Twenty-ffth Street,
probably fatal.
Lena Schubert, sister of above.
Miss Kitty ConnOrs. 43 State Street.
Mrs. George F. Farron, S13 Dearborn Street,
probably fatal.
Miss Lizzie Howard, Forty-third Street.
Mrs. f. Z. Brady, 625 Sixty-third Street, prob
Mrs. Crowley, S76 State Street.
Fred Grant aged 81. probably fatal.
AuRuSI cCnuiiZ, 100 monroe street.
Fred Esenberg, ased IS.
Joan Hoolihan, 27S Aberdeen Street.
George Northington, wagon manufacturer.
John Hull, his foreman.
Another panic. attended with dis
astrous results, happened at almost the
same time in the north division of the
city. When the fireworks had ceased
in Lincoln ark the thousands of peo-
pie rushed out peIl-mell in a mad race
TOR seats on the -Stroot-cars. A sidewalk
about 500 feet long gave way, and several
hundred people fell five or six feet. In
the scramble to get out. women and
children were trampled upon, and many
painfully, but, it is reported, zone ia
tally injured. The crowd surged across
the street and broke down the
other side walk. The police here were
able to clear the street with prom pti-
tude, and helped the injured home.
Among those hurt were: Max Rokrer,
[. c.. Sorensen, F. D. Diope and wife.