Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-01-03
by A FALSE FIRE ALARM
Death Came 20 "a People in a
Baltimore Theater
ALL DIED BY SUFFcCATION
Ia The FIan..c Rush to Escape an Imag.
mary Danger They Were Trampled
Under Foot.

Baltimore, Dec. 27.-In a senseless
panic caused by a defective gas burner
and a foolish cry of fire at the old
Front Street theater tonight "a people
were killed, two fatally injured and 10
more seriously hurt.
Up to / o'clock this morning but 13
of the dead have been identified. They
are:
Leo Cohn. a..
Jennie Hensele.
Jacob Rosenthal.
Morris MALICIOUS.
Louis Amosky.
Louis LevenStein.
Gabriel Bernstein.
Theresa Bernstein.
Ida Friedman.
Susan RoSen.
Lena Lewis.
Mr.. Salzburg.
Mr.. Wolf.
The others are at the morgue await
ing identification. The injured at the
City hospital are: Mrs. Friedman, Mrs.
Goldman, Milda Goldwait, Morris
Schaefer Jacob Goldstein, Abraham
Rosenthal, an unknown boy, unknown
woman, unknown man. unknown boy.
SENSELESS CRY OF FIRE.
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 a Hebrew opera. 1t Is
supposed there were 5000 people within
the walls when the curtain went up.
AS the capacity is less tnan $500 the
density of the crowd may be imagined.
Ten minutes after the curtain arose,
one of the attendants went up to the
second tier to light the gas Jet. AS he
turned the cock and applied a match.
the light fiared up and it was seen there
was no tip on the burner. Just then
some one in the gallery shouted Fire"
Then there was wild scramble for the
door where the vanguard of the terror
| stricken multitude reached the entrance
| on Front street, pushed on by howl
| ing, shrieking mob behind them. There
| those in the foremost rank were COM
| PEELED to turn to the right and to the
left to reach the double entranceway
built in the form of a storm door, The
| passage through these doors they
| reached by a flight of steps, leading
from each door downward to a landing
from whence a broad stairway of mod
crate 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 them
selves in the frightful struggle to reach
the open air and to escape the certain
| death behind them.
THE CROWDS MEET.
AS the crowd reached the landing
one to the right and one to the left, they
met. There was a brief struggle an6
then some one lost his or her footing
and fell. In a moment the crowd push
ed with irresistible force from the real
| crowded upon the PROSTATE form and
began in turn to stumble, reel and pres
emily fall prone upon the floor under tn.
myriads of feet coming down like 6
herd of buffalo from behind. In les.
time than it takes to tell it the landing
was packed 20 or 80 deep with the panic
stricken multitude and the hundreds
behind were struggling over them II
reach the street.
Officer e. j. Kelly, one of the first t,
reach the scene, forced his way through
the main door, grasped pair of arms
and pulling with all his might, dragged
a woman from under the surginf
| crowd. She was dead from suffocat ton
Again he reached into the mass of hu
manity and pulled out a boy about
years old. He, too, was dead.
The officers by this time, reinforced
| by a dozen of their fellow officers, drag
ged out the PROSTATE ones, passing
them to those on the sidewalk. Ambu
lances carried the dead to the morgut
and the wounded to the city hospital.
When the mass on the landing hat
been cleared the frightened mob inside
were quoted down sufficiently to enablt
the police to clear the theater. TheI
it was found that there had been NJ
danger and not a soul would have beer
injured had the audience remained IL
their seats.
| Nine bodies were taken to the morgu'
all of them dead from suffocation. o
those taken to the city hospital Is ar
dead. Two more will probably die be
fore morning. The confusion at boil
places is indescribable and at midnigh
only four of the dead had been identi
| fed.
The dead are of all ages, from mer
infants to gray-haired men and VIC
men.
| n IL RACklN