The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-09-29
A FOOLISH SCARE.

A FOOLISH SCARE. ~
Alarmed by . CRY Of Fire . Big coner.-
cation in = jewish Synagogue In New
York Makes . Rush for the Doors-Many
Persons Trampled Upon. Four Women
Being Killed.
NEW YORK, Sept 24.-Four women
were trampled to death and a dozen
other persons injured, several of them
probably fatally, by senseless fire
panic in Jewish synagogue Friday
morning. The catastrophe occurred in
one of the four synagogues located
in dirty and crowded tenement
house at 81 Ludlow street. The syna-
gogue- is on the third, floor, and was
crowded with Polish and Hungarian
Jews of the lowest type. The panic
was the result of bit of paper catch.
used in the ceremonies attendant
upon the Rosh Hashannah celebration.
The worshipers in the room mum.
bered about 300 persons, and they
were so closely packed that
when man who saw the paper
blaze up cried "Fire!' none of the peo-
pie could turn to get out, but forced
their way over the heads of others.
The men led the fight to get to the
door, and women and children were
trampled under foot The men made
no attempt to save the women and
children, but literally fought their way
to the passage and struggled with on.
another on the stairs toget to the street.
One man who could not escape ex-
tinguished the blazing paper, and
when the cowardiy men reached the
street and saw no smoke coming from
the windows, they sought to return.
but by this time the congregations of
two other synagogues located on the
second and third floors had be-
come excited by the noise of
the stampede from the rooms above
;hem and not knowing the cause
sought to escape. The widest con-
fusion reigned and two persons in the
synagogue on the second floor were
badly injured. The frightened worship
ers fled through the streets yelling
wildly in their native jargon and at
tracted a crowd of 2, 600 to the scene of
The panic.
When the police, who were also at
tracted by the clamor, went up to the
third floor synagogue they found the
lead bodies of three women and six
grooming women, one child and an old
nan lying on the stairway in an intri-
cate mass In the top room were found
one dead body and four injured. The bod
les of the dead women were concealed
by the towns of the injured. who had
saved themselves from being crushed
20 death by forming mound on the
door with the bodies of the dead for
base. So dense was the crowd that
choked mp the street that the policemen
aad to use their clubs to make room for
the ambulance surgeons and police en-
oloyed in removing the victims. 1t re-
luired nearly two hours to accomplish
The task.
The congregation on the third floor
IF the building. where the panic &C.
cured, was that of the Talmud Torah.
Its rabbi is Samuel Muller and the con.
yregation numbers $50 persons. About
800 of these gathered at $3.50 o'clock
20 join in what is known to The
faith as second day prayers, follow
ng the yom kipper celebration which
occurred Thursday. The services,
which were of the most rigid orthodox
character progressed for abont fifteen
minutes without interruption, Rabbi
Muller had opened the book of proph-
cts and raised his voice, while
The congregation sat with bowed
leads praying, when Ivy some ac-
cident candle which stood on the
preachers desk was upset. In it's fall
t set fire to some flilnsy paper
1rapery on the stand-a piece no big
ger than child's apron. The paper
olazed up. A frightened man in the
congregation shouted "Fire!'' Instant
Y the whole mass of 500 persons arose
md rushed for the door. At the front
partition door there was jam, then a
crash, and part of the board wall
gave way. The mass poured, fell,
oiled down the steep stairway.
Three times as MANY persons were
attending the services in the syna-
gogues on the lower floors. They
heard the disorder overhead, the crash
Of the rending boards, the shouts of
ire and cries of anguish and with
common impulse did what the others
lad done. ran for the stairs and their
lives At the second floor landing
there is a sharp turn. Again the mass
stuck for moment. but worked loose
presently, and the first onset occurred.
The two blind and maddened human
valanches met, on coming downstairs,
the other cutting in under it and trying
20 get ahead.
A furious struggle ensued. Men and
women fought, dumb with the mad
aess of despair, and the weakest went
1own. The deadlock was broken
again and again, only to be
renewed with the same scenes of
error. Slowly the solid mass, fill
ing the stairway from wall to ceiling,
slid down to the ground floor Down
there it brought up against the rush
from the rear room synagogue, the
biggest of all, and came to dead
stop. The stairs did not give
way. The shrieks of desperate
women on the stairs had called
lelp. Patrolman Cotton ran in, fought
his way through the struggling mass
and pulled the front figure out of the
solid block on the stairs 1t was
woman, Milowitch by name. AS she
came out the barriers slowly yielded
and those above were freed.
Albert Wolfe, of 1856 Monroe street.
jumped out of the window of a neigh
boring house in his excitement and was
badly hurt. He was picked up and car
ried away by two policemen.
BATTlEO IN A CELL.
A Tennessee Murderer Locked Cp with a
Brother of One of His Victims.
kXOxYlLIE Tenn Sent o. dam