The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-28

BALTIMORE, Dec. 27.-In a senseless
panic. caused by defective gas burner and
a foolish cry of fire at the old Front-street
Theater, tonight, twenty-four people were
killed, two fatally injured and ten more
seriously hurt. Up to l o'clock this morn
ing but thirteen of the dead have been
identified. They are:
LEO COHEN. aged twenty-five, No. 2O5
North Front street.
JENNIE HENZLE, aged eighteen, No.
200 Albemarle street.
JACOB ROSENTHAL, aged ten years.
No. 226 South Eden street.
MORRIS MALICIOUS, tailor, aged thirty
LOUIS AMOSKI, aged forty-eight
s LOUIS LEVENSTEIN. aged twenty
eight.
GABRIEL BERNSTEIN. aged four
THERESA BERNSTEIN. aged five.
IDA FRIEDMAN, aged fourteen.
SUSAN ROSEN, aged eighteen.
LENA LEWIS, aged twenty-five.
- SALZBERG (boy), aged twelve,
- WOLF (man), aged twenty-eight.
The others are at the morgue awaiting
Identification. The injured at the City Hos
pital are:
MRS. FRIEDMAN. aged twenty-five.
MRS. GOLDMAN. aged forty. badly
MILDA GoLDwAIT, aged sixteen. con-
X.
MORRIS SCHAEFFER. crushed.
JACOB GOLDSTEIN, aged twenty,
q GBRAHAM RosENrHAL. aged thirty.
UNKNOWN BOY. aged ten. will die.
UNKNOWN WOMAN. aged twenty-five,
UNKNOWN MAN, aged twenty-five, seri-
ously hurt about body.
UNKNOWN BOY, aged sixteen, seriously
injured.
N ~ -.,..;~.- - 80 po,;.t, ,ot;x,
ity and Hebraic extraction, and many of
the injured were taken to their homes by
friends, rendering it almost impossible to
get complete list at this time.
PACKED WITH PEOPLE.
The theater, which is probably the oldest
in the city, was filled from pit to dome with
people. who had assembled to listen 10 He
brew opera, which has been given in the cid
house twice a week for the past month.
The ticket Office receipts show that over
27o0 tickets had been sold when, at o'clock,
the sale of seats was stopped because there
were no more left. General admission tick
els were sold, however, after this, and Ii Is
supposed that there were at least 1900
people within the walls when the curtain
went UP on the first act. AS the capacity
of the house is less than $500, the density
of the crowd may be imagined.
Ten minutes after the curtain rose. one of
the attendants went up to the
second tier to light a gas jet.
which appeared to have been ex-
tinguished. AS he turned the cock and
applied a match, the light f1ared up and
it was seen that there was tip to the
burner. The jet was well down toward
the stage on the left side of the house. in
plain view of the greater part Of the audi
ence but as the glare from it showed
against the wall, some one in the gallery
shouted "Fire Fire! Fire.' in an instant
there was a mad scramble for the door
in which the whole audience took part. The
vanguard of the terror-stricken multitude
reached the entrance on Front-street,
pushed on by the bowling, shrieking mob
behind them. There. those in the foremost
rank were compelled to turn to the right
and to the left to reach the double en-
trance way. built in the form of a storm
door. Passing through these doors, they
reached fight of steps leading from each
door downward to landing. from whence
a broad stairway of moderate height
would have carried them into the
street and to safety. The stems leading from
the doorways are but about five feet high.
but the landing. at their base, is narrow
Down these the frightened people hustled
themselves in the frightful struggle to reach
the open air and to escape the certain death
they thought was behind them. As the
crowds from the two doors. one on the right
the other on the left reached the landing
they met. There a brief struggle and
then some one lost his or her footing and
fell. In a moment the crowd, pushed with
irresistible force from the rear, crowded
he 70 forr, md
to stumble. reel and presently to fall prone
on the floor, under the myriads of feet COM
ing like a herd of frightened buffalo from
behind. In less time than it takes to tell 1t.
the landing was packed twenty or thirty
deep with the panic-str.cken multitude and
the hundreds behind them were struggling
over them to reach the street.
SOME WE'RE SUFFOCATED.
The tumult attracted an immense crowd
from the outside, many of whom
tried to gain entrance to the theater thus
adding to the confusion. A dozen police
men. also attracted by the shrieks and the
frightened crowd hurried to the scene.
and. using their clubs on those outside.
pushed through the door and to the writh-
ing mass on the landing. Among the first
to reach them was officer f. j. Kelly Fore
ing his way in through the main door, he
grasped a pair OF arms. and. pulling with
all his might dragged a woman from under
the surging crowd. A glance at her face
showed that she was past all human aid,
dead from suffocation. Again he reached
into the mass OF humanity and pulled out a
boy about eleven years old. He, too, was
dead, also from suffocation. with scarce a
bruse on his body. officer Kelly was by this
time reinforced by a dozen other officers,
Who dragged out the PROSTATE ones, pass
ing them TO those on the sidewalk. Am
balances carried the dead to the morgue
and the wounded to the City Hospital. In
many cases the more slightly injured and
In few cases those who were badly hurt
were taken to their homes by friends.
When the mass on the landing had been
cleared the frightened mob inside was
quieted down sufficiently to enable the po-
lice to clear the theater. Then 1t was found