The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-28
TWAS A FATAL PANIC
A Senseless Cry Of Fire in q Theater
Cost 4 Lives
RUSHED TO THEIR DEATH
Some One In the Gallery Gave an
Alarm and the Crowd Surgsd
to the Stairways-Await-
ing IdsntifIoatIon.

Baltimore. Dec. 2s.-In q senseless
panic caused by q defective gas burner
and a foolish cry of fire at the old
Front street theater tonight. "a per-
sons were killed. two fatally injured
and 10 more seriously hurt. UP to
O'Clock this morning but four Of the
dead have been Identified. They are:
Leo Cohen. Jennie Hensele, Jacob Ro-
senthai. Morris MALICIOUS. Louis Amos
ky, Louis Levenstein,- Gabriel Bern
stein, Theresa Bernstein. Ida Friedman,
Susan Rosen. Lena Lewis, salse-
are at the morgue awaiting identihca-
ton. The injured at the city hospital
are: Mrs. Friedman. Mrs Goldman.
Milda Coldwait. Morris Schaeffer. Ja-
cob Goldstein. Abraham Rosenthal. un-
known boy, unknown woman. unknown
man, unknown boy.
The theater, which Is probably. the
oldest in the city. was filled from pit
to dome with people who had assem-
bled to listen to Hebrew opera 1t Is
supposed there were 1900 people within
the walls when the curtain went up.
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 attendante
went up to the second tier to light
gas Jet As he trned the cock and ap-
piled the match. the light fiared up and
II was seen there was no tip on the
burner. Just then some one In the gal
lery shouted Fire" and there was
wild scramble for the door. The van
guard of the terror-stricken multitude
reached the entrance on Front street.
pushed on by a bowling. shrieking mob
behind them. Those In the foremost
ranks were compelled to turn to the
right and to the left to reach the dou-
BILE entrance way, built in the form OF
a storm door. Passing through these
doors they reached a flight or steps,
leading from each door downward to
the landing, from whence the broad
stairway of modern height would have
carried them into the street and to
safety. The steps leading from the
doorway are but 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 GER
tain death behind them.
As the crowd reached the landing,
one to the right and one to the left,
they met. There was a brief struggle,
and then some one lost his or her foot
ing and fell. In a moment the crowd
pushed with irresistible force from the
rear, crowded upon the PROSTATE form
and began, in turn. to stumble, reel ana
presently fall prone upon the floor. un-
der the myriads of feet, coming down
like q herd of buffalo from behind. In
less time than IL takes to tell IL, the
landing was packed, 20 or 30 deep, with
the panic stricken multitude and the
hundreds behind were struggling over
them to reach the street.
Officer Z. ]. Kelly, one of the first to
arrive at the scene, forced his way
through the main door, grasped a pair
of arms and, pulling with all his might.
dragged a woman from under the surg
ing crowd. She was dead from suffo-
cation. Again he reached into the mass
of humanity and pulled out a boy 7
years old. He. too. was dead. The
other officers. by this time reinforced
by a dozen of their fellow officers,
dragged out the PROSTATE ones. passing
them to those on the sidewalk. Am
balances carried the dead to the
morgue and the wounded to the city
hospital.
When the mass on the landing mad
been cleared the frightened mob inside
were quieted down sufficiently to ena-
BILE the police to clear the theater. Then
1t was found that there had been no
danger and not a soul would have been
injured had the audience remained in
their seats. Nine bodies were taken to
the morgue, all of them dead from suf-
location. OF those taken to the city
hospital. is are dead. Two more will
probably die before morning. The con-
fusion at both places Is indescribable.
and up to midnight four of the dead
had been identified. The dead are of
all ages, from mere infants to gray
haired men and women