Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-28
An Awful Stampede in a Baltimore
Theater.
PANIC CAUSED BY A CRY OF FIRE
People TrampIed Upon at a Bend
in the Stairway.
TURNED THE HOSE ON THEM

the doors last evening", an unWdTrdnteu cry
Of fire caused panic, and a wild stampede
ensued. Men. women and children went
down before the awful rush of the frantic,
terror-stricken crowd, and were crushed to
death beneath pitiless feet that had no time
to stop for the PROSTATE.
Twenty-Five persons were either killed
outright died in horrible agony shortly
afterward, and at least thirty are known
to have been more or less injured.
The panic began just as the curtain had
been raised two feet from the stage for the
beginning Of the play.
The odor Of gas had become very notice
able, and had been traced to spot at the
side Of the tier of boxes at the left Of the
stage. and right under the top gallery One
Of the men " no had been sent to fix 1t struck
a match to ascertain just where the leak
was, and streak of flame about six inches
long shot out from the wall Some excitable
person In the middle of the balcony saw it.
and, instantly imagining that the theater
was in flames. gave a horror-stricken shout
of Fire. AS the cry rang out through the
auditorium the curtain fell with crash,
and the LOGO or more people who crowded
every inch of space in the building were
on their feet.
Rush for the Doors.
Another instant and there was a terrific
rush for the doors. The people in the Or
chestra and the orchestra circle had the
best chance for escape, and their backs were
toward the stage and they were excitedly
pushing their way to the street before any
one could call out that there was no danger.
The people in the balcony hestated an in
slant, and In that moment they gathered
that unreasoning fear which causes all
panics, and which drove them toward the
doors into the wings in the maddened plunge
which resulted in the death of so many hui
man beings and in the Injury of SO many
others.
People in the gallery did not at first under
stand the rush of the people below. and
they. hearing the shouts of sit down,
there's no danger!' were quieted for a brief
time. Then the cries Of the frightened peo-
pie below, and the screams of those who
were struggling with death. were borne up
to them and they. too. again plunged down
the long stairways to the street, moved not
as much by fear as they were actuated by
curiosity to find out the cause of the fren-
zied cries which they heard
The scene of the tragedy had by The time
those In the gallery were half way down
the gallery stairs been transferred to the
balcony stairs, the lobby and the main en-
trance of the theater.
Mr.. William E. Miles, an attache Of the
company. who was in the box office as
sisting the treasurer, Samuel Keston, in
selling tickets, had heard the cry of fire.
and realizing the almost certain result,
rushed to the north entrance from the
lobby to the theater and threw open the
door. These lobby entrances are shaped
like the regulation storm DOORS with the
box-like Enclosure inside the theater. The
door itself of each entrance opens back to-
ward Front street. Then the side of each
entrance nearest its respective stairway
falls back toward Front street This leaves
the way clear for the crowd to pass out.
The Alarm Turned In.
Mr.. Miles, having thrown open the north
entrance. rushed to the south entrance, to
find 1t already open. and he then jumped
for fire laarm box No. 2l3. which is at the
corner Of Low and Front streets. just
across the way from the theater. and turn
ed In an alarm just as the city hall clock
was striking eight. He then ran for the
stage entrance to the theater, and, as he
got inside. he saw Matthew Cavanaugh
the man who rings up the curtain, trying
to turn off the gas from the meter which
controls the lights on the balcony circle
and also those In the wings, or lobby, of
the balcony. Mr.. Miles helped him to do
this. and while the primary cause of the
panic was thus cut out, the darkness which
ensued in the wings was terrifying to the
struggling, frenZied mob.
Half the people who had been in the bal
cony were by this time In the wings, and
the black pail which fell over them served
to increase their blind desperation to get
out. The vanguard had reached The foot of
the stairs, and were tumbling into the mass
of those who were issuing from the or
chestra. The open lobby doors gave them
free access to the lobby. and, like sheep.
one after another jumped down the five
steps to the lobby, and out through the
wide-open north entrance into the street.
The south door of the south entrance was
half closed and this served to impede the
egress of those on that side, till some one
discovered that 1t was a sliding door and
threw it wide open.
A Rush to Death.
The wild and impassioned shouts of the
struggling people and the screams of the
injured and dying could be heard coming
from the foot of the balcony stairs. The
crowd had rushed from the wings of the
balcony down the ten steps of the stairs
to the landing. and then, making right
angled turn, jumped down the thirteen
steps of the remaining flight to the main
floor, and thence into the street. For the
first few seconds all went we'll, but the
skirts of a woman tripped her and she fell
There was no stopping the panic-strcken
mob. and the unfortunate woman's screams
were stlled in a minute by the trampling
of the surging crowd on the PROSTATE form.
Another woman stumbled and fell, and
then another. and their lives were also
soon crushed out by the hundreds of mad
dened men and women plunging down the
stairs
Turned on the Hose.
Scenes Of horror now followed each other.
The mass Of people inside which had lost
all Individuality in the rush for life, was
fighting madly to get out, and those who
were outside We're trying to get back into
the theater again, to rescue some friend or
relative. As the fire department came up
an excited crowd was packed about the
doors of the theater, and this kept the peo-
pie on the inside from getting out. Round
Sergeant Schlcgh and Sergeant Lutz came
up just behind the fire department, and
tried to pick out people from the jam in
front and in the north main door 1t was
almost Impossible to help any one in that
wild crowd. The crowd was hemmed into
oh -.
truck, which stood in front of the theater
few feet from the curb. and they fought
there, one with another like angry bulls.
The mass grew denser as the minutes
passed, and had it not been for happy
thought of District Fire Chief w. A Nc
Afee, the fatalities which We're growing
every minute, would doubtless have been
greatly more numerous
He ordered the playing of a stream of
water on the heads of the crowd by one of
the engines and this at once drove the
crowd back. This facilitated the work of
getting the people out of the theater, and
the policemen and citizens began to rush