The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-12-28

There Was No Cause for Alarm
List Of the Dead and
Wounded.
| BALTIMORE, Dec. %, 1895.-Not since
the awful Tivol disaster in 1888 has
| Baltimore been so horrifed as 1t was
| last night when tragedy was enacted
| at Old Front Street Theatre, which has
| resulted in the death of twenty-three
men. women and children, while nearly
100 more are more or less seriously in
jured To some person Unknown, and it
may be well for him if his identity be
| forever concealed, is due this deadiy oe-
| struction of human life.
The venerable Thespian Temple was
packed from dome to orchestra rail. The
| occasion was a Hebrew operate per-
formance and more than $500 persons OF
| the Hebrew faith, of both sexes and all
| ages, were present.
AS the orchestra finished the overture
and the curtain was being rung up there
rang through the theatre loud cry OF
fire. fire., All eyes were transfixed by
a tongue of fame which suddenly burst
forth from a leaking gaspipe in the
second gallery near the boxes on the le1t
| hand side.
For moment paralysis seemed 10
seize every limb as the dreadful cry OIL
| fire struck terror to every heart Inc
next instant the scene was one OF WIZ
excitment; everyone was on MS or her
feet; men yelled, women walled cnii-
| dren screamed. 1t was panoeiiioii'uAi
unloosed.
With one accord the surging, seething
| tide turned toward the exits. The rush
and lam and crush was appalling. Men
| and women alike were for the time pc
ing bereft of their reason. They 1ought
| like tigers and tigresses to get IN the
! smallest advantage over one anotner-
To each it was a life and death strug-
gle. The strong availed themselves OF
/ their strength to ruthlessly SHOVE the
weaker aside. even climbing over tnslr
shoulders in their desperate anxiety to
save themselves from what they believ-
| ed to be certain death in the rear.
The cries of the feeble. of the children
| and of the women-the pleadings of the
aged were heartrending. Hundreds were
| thrown to the floor. while those behind
| pressed on and over them little needing
| the fate of those underneath their feet
and only possessed of the fear that
| their turn might come next. The thea-
tre attendants and actors on the stage
did all in their power to check the
panic and stem the human tide Whlcn
was sweeping along SO furfously, put
| their entreaties were unavailing the
| crowd was deaf to reason Some one
| cried. Turn off the gas" and Matt
| Cavanaugh. the stage director. rusned 10
the meter and with turn of the wrist
| plunged the house into semi-darkness
| The cry of fire was a great mistake
the turning off of the gas was greater.
| Instead of aliaying the excitement 1t
added vastly thereto The frantic Rus
sian and Polish Jews naturally of
yery nervous and excitable temperament,
redoubled their efforts to leave the
building. Under the influence of their
| fright men and women seemed to hear
the roaring of imaginary flames and TO
see death reaching out after them. Every
human instFalct appeared to have left
| them, and they fought each other ike
wild beasts in their misdirected enorts
toward reaching the open air.
| The occupants of the galleries swarmed
| to the stairways. Here 1t was that the
most deadly efforts of the stampede
manifested themselves. In few minutes
] the hundreds who composed this part
| of the audience were jammed together
! like sardines in the dowermost stairway,
struggling with the fury of wild animals
| to reach the street. Men, women and
children went down in groups and were
almost instantly crushed lifeless.
| Each of the staircases has but one
turn. that is sharp angle. In these
| angles, many persons went down to their
death. Children were torn from mothers
| arms and carried for awhile on the top
| of the surging mob, brushed here and
| there when they got in the way of the
! despairing creatures who were fighting
to get away from they knew not what
and finally going down under foot never
| to see light again.
| One woman fought her way down the
steps, carrying her child above her head
| A man behind grabbed her by her ex-
| tended arms and crowded her aside, push
| ing her behind him. The little one was
| torn from her grasp and fell. She made
| an effort to recover 1t but failed and
| then turned with an awful shrek to the
| man ahead of her and fought like
! tigress to reach him. The child dropped
! in front of a woman whose humanity
! had not an been frightened out of her.
She stopped to pick UP the little one
endeavoring to push back the crowd to
get it on its feet. Her struggle held back
the crowd but an ins tant. It pressed on
and She went down before It,. Her body
and that of the child she tried to save
were found at the bottom Of the stair
case and were taken to the morgue to-
| gether.
Another woman stumbled and fell on
that awful staircase. Her escort tried
to save her, but was pressed down by
the Overwhelming numbers behind him.
He struggled to his feet, holding her
by the arm, and by mighty effort pulled
her to her feet. But the life was well
nigh, if not entirely out of her, and he
| fell over limp as rag. Down she went
under the feet of the mob again. and
again the man tried to save her. He
begged the crowd to hold back but a
moment, and bracing himself against the
| side of the staircase, threw himself back
| upon the crowd. He might as we'll have
tried to hold back a mountain torrent
The curses and imprecations were heap
ed upon him for trying to block the
/ passageway, and he went down and the
crowd passed over him, leaving the life
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