New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-03
A DIVE FROM THE GALLERY.
DREADFUL SCENE IN A THRD.AvT.
THEATRE

GEORGE DUNAN rUMBLEs OVER THE RAIL IxTo
THE ORCHESTRA CHAIRs-HIs IN.
JURIEs PROBABLY FATAL.
II George Dunan had not been in so much of
n hurry 10 reach the front row Of gallery seats
in II. r. Jacobss Third Avenue Theatre last night
he would probably not now be lying at the point
Of death in Bellevue Hospital. The eagcrness to
secure the most favored position has cost him
many severe INJURIES and in all probability will
cause his death.
That his fall from the gallery to the floor did
not involve the loss of one more lives and
serious injury 10 several persons is due solely to
a happy accident. Dunan, who lived with his
wife the fourth foor of the crazy rear tenement
house No. 446 Third-avc., follows the occupa-
ton Of lather, and when he chooses to work is
employed by Joseph Scroggo, a builder, of Thirty
hrst-,t. and Third-ave His weakness for drink
has sometimes brought him into unpleasant con-
tact with the police of the Twenty-frst Precinct
but in other respects his reputation is pretty
good. Every week he was accustomed to visit
Jacobss Third Avenue cilcatre, which 10 directly
opposite his home. Generally his wife accom-
panied him. Last night, however, she felt too
i'll to go out and Dunan went to the theatre
alone.
At the gallery door he met John Barrett, COM
panion, and the two went upstairs together, Du-
nan being little ahead of Barrett. The gallery
is reached by straight fight Of stairs, and on
arriving at the top Of the flight the visitor hnds
himself on the south side of the gallery, facing the
stage The bill at Jacobss Theatre for this week is
"Grimess Cellar Door," one OF the variety farce
comedies dear TO the hearts of East Side audiences
and always sure to draw crowded gallery. On
reaching the top of the stairs Dunan found that
the seats In the south and centre of the build
ing were already we'll filled. Over on the north or
prompt side of the thee tre and 70 the left. facing
the stage. he saw three or four rows of empty
benches.
Dunan, who is thirty eight years old; has q
herculeau FRAME and weighed somewhere in the
ncighborhood of 22O pounds. 1t was child's play
for him TO elbow and to drive his way through
| the crowd in front Of him, and skirting the back
OF the gallery he made his way TO the north side
ahead of everybody. Now, if he had been con-
| tent to walk down the side aisle TO the front Of
| the gallery, all would have been we'll But he
scorned such simple means of reaching his seat
and went in for an amateur acrobatic exhibition.
| Forgctfu of his great bulk and his years, Dunau
jumped from the rear row of seats TO the row in
| front Of il, and so downward until he reached
the iron railway which divides the front and
rear galleries Over this rail he vauted and
found himself on the three of seats from tho
front. The gallery at Jacobs's Theatre is deep
and steep, and rs Dunan stood on the third row
Of seats his ankles were on level with the top
of the raised iron railing which surmounts the
front of the gallery Dunan was not content to
step to tie second row and from the second row
| to the front. Instead, he poised himself for .
spring and then Jumped for the first
| As he made the leap. his foot caught slipped
on the top Of the bench. There a scream Of
from, fbo md in thn
balcony below as be shot headforemost over tho
| rail and whirled through the air to
the floor thrty-fve feet beneath. The
first row OF orchestra seats was filed, the
second was empty The men in the first row heard
the scream from above. and as by instinct rushed
into the aisle just Dunan's body struck two
chairs in the second row. For an instant he
hung heplessy over the top OF the two
chairs: then rolled to the ground and
lay motionless From the 700 people
in the theatre there burst cry Of
horror Women screamed with fright: some
tainted and carried out. James IIannigan,
the fireman attached TO the theatre, two stage
| hands Marcus Jacobs who represents the manage
| mcnt, and Patroman Thomas J. Walsh, were the
first to reach the body. BY four Of these the
criL,hed mass of flesh and bone was lifted on to
the stage ana carried 10 une dressng-room OF
James B. Mackie, the leading man Of the "Grim's's
Cellar Door" company, while Mr. Jacobs, stepping
TO the front of the stage. calmed the audience
with few rcassuring words. Then the band
which had hurried into their seats began tho
overture. -,
In the meantime Drs. Sylvester and Smith, of
No $50 East Thirty secondst., had been called
and they attended the wounded man until the
| arrival of the Bellevue Hospital ambulance. An
examination of Dnnans body showed that his right
leo and arm were broken-clch in two places: that
his pose was smashed. and his s'c:.der lisocaed,
| and that lie had sustained n compoGn: fracture OF
| The skull. He he's about one chance in thousand
| to