The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1896-01-02
FEARFUL PANIC.
Foolish Cry OF Fire Causes Great
Loss of Life.
PEOPLE ARE KILLED
Mad Rush of Three thousand Frightened
People for safety Through u Tor
tuous rasssge-KnIe aud
Wounded are Hebrews.

Wounded are Hebrews.
Baltimore, Dec. 2s.-In a senseless
panic caused by G defective gas burner
and a foolish cry OF FIRE at the old Front
street theatre tonight. twenty-four peo-
pie were killed. two fatally injured and
ten more seriously hurt.
Up TO l O'Clock this morning thirteen
OF the dead have been Identified. They
are:
LEE COHEN. aged 25; 25 North Front
street.
JENNIE HENSLE, aged Is; 200 Al
bernardo street.
JACOB RoSENTHAL, aged 10; 226
South Eden street.
MORRIS MALICIOUS. tailor, aged 30.
LOUIS AMOSKI, aged As.
LOUIS LEVENSTEIN, aged 2s.
GABRIEL BERNSTEIN, aged 4.
THERESA BERNSTEIN. aged 8.
IDA FRIEDMAN, aged ID.
SUSAN ROSN. aged is.
LENA LEWIS, aged -
- SALZBURG, aged ~. (boy)
- WOLF. aged 2S. (man)
Identification.
Inc injured at the city hospital are:
MRS. Friedman, aged %, crushed.
Alrs. Goldman, aged 40. badly crushed.
Milda Goldwait, aged l6. Commissions
and shock.
Morris Schaeffer. crushed.
Jacob Goldstein. aged 20. crushed.
Abraham Essential, aged 20. crushed.
Unknown boy. aged 10. will die.
woman, aged %. seriously
hurt about the body.
nknow boy, aged l6. seriously in
jured.
HOUSE TANNED FULL.
Almost all the victims are Of Polish
nativity and Hebraic extraction. Many
OF the injured were taken to their homes
by friends, rendering 1t almost impos-
slble to get a complete list at this time.
The theatre. which Is probably the
oldest In the city, was filled from pit
to dome with people who had assembled
TO listen TO Hebrew opera, which has
been given In the old house twice a week
Tor the past month. The ticket Office re-
ceipts show hat over 400 tickets were
sold, when. at s o o'clock. the sale of seats
was stopped because there was not more
room left. General admission tickets
were sold, however, after this and Il Is
supposed that there were at least 5000
people within the walls when the cur
tain went up on the first act. AS the
capacity of the house Is less than $780,,
the density OF the crowd may be mag
lned.
SOME FOOL YELLS FIRE.
Ten minute after the curtain rose,
one OF the attendants went up TO the
second tier to light a gas Jet which APP
peared to have been extingulshed. AS
he turned the cock and applied a match.
the light fiared up and 1t was seen that
there was no 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 audience, but
as the glare from 1t showed against the
wall. some one In the gallery shouted
fire, fire. fire"
In an instant there was a mad scram-
BILE 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 be-
mind them. There, those In the fore
most rank were compelled to turn to
the right and to the left to reach the
double entrance way. built in the
form OF a storm door. Passing thro'
these doors. they reached a flight OF
steps. leading from each door. down
ward to the landing. from whence a
broad stairway of moderate height
would have carried them into the street
and to safety. The steps 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 fright
full struggle TO reach the open air and
to escape the certain death they thought
was behind them.
SOMEBODY FELL.
As the crowds from the two doors,
one on the right. the other on the left,
reached the landing. they met. There
was a brief struggle, and then some one
lost his or her footing and fell. In a
moment the crowd pushed with ire
sistable force from the rear, crowded
upon the PROSTATE form and began In
turn to stumble, reel and presently to
fan prone upon the floor. under the myr-
lads of feet coming like a herd OF
frightened buffalo from behind. In
less time than It takes to tell It, the
landing was packed twenty to thirty
deep with the panic stricken multitude
and the hundreds behind them were
struggling over them to reach the
street.
DEAD FROM SUFFOCATION
The tumult attracted an immense
crowd from the side. many of whom
tried to gain entrance to the theatre, !
thus adding to the confusion. A doz-
en- policemen, also attracted by the
shrieks of the frightened crowd. hurried
to the scene, and, using their clubs on
those outside, pushed through the door
and 10 the writing mass on the land
ing,
Among the first to reach them was
Officer !, N, Kelley, Forcing 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 hu-
man aid, dead from su~ffocation.
Again he reached into the mass of
humanity and pulled out a boy about
7 years old. He too, was dead. also
from suffocation. with scarce a bruise
upon his body. The OLD officers, by
this time reinforced by a dozen of their
fellow-ofncers, dragged out the pros
trate ones, passing hem TO those on the
sidewalk.
Ambulances carried the dead to the
morgue and the wounded TO the city
hospital, wherever practical. In many
cases the more slightly injured and in
a few cases those who were badly hurt.
We're taken to their homes by friends