Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1896-01-03
4 FOOLS WORK.
A Senseless Cry of Fire Causes
Twenty-Five Deaths.
AN AWFUL CALAMITY
At TIL. FRONT STREET THEATRE IN
BALTIMORE. NARROW DOORWAYS
AND INSUFFICIENT EXITS DO
THEIR DEADLY WORK.

Ii senseless panic, caused by
a defective gas burner and a
foolish cry of fire, at the old
Front street theatre in Baltimore,
Maryland, last Friday night, "a
| people were killed, two fatally
injured and ten more seriously
hurt.
Almost all the victims are of
Polish nativity and Hebraic ex-
traction, and many Of the injured
were taken to their homes by
friends, rendering it almost i'm
possible to get 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 twic: a
week for the past month. The
ticket office receipts show that
over 2,7oo tickets had been sold,
when, at S o'clock, the sale of
seats was stopped because there
were no more left. General ad-
mission tickets were sold, how
ever, after this, and it is sup
posed that there were at least
three thousand people within
the walls when the curtain went
up on the first act AS the
capacity Of the house is less than
$500 the density Of the crowd
may be imagined.
Ten minutes after the certain
rose, one of the attendants went
up to the second tier to light
gas jet which appeared to have
been extinguished. AS he turn
ed the cock and applied match,
the light fared up, and it was
seen that there was no tip to the
burner. The jet was we'll down
toward the stage On the left side
of the house, i'll plain view OF
the greater part of the audience,
but as the glare from it showed
against the wall, someone in the
gallery shouted "hre, fire, fire. )"
In all instant there was mad
scramble for the door, in which
the whole audience took part.
The van guard of the terror>
stricken multitude reached the
entrance on Front street, pushed
on by the howling, 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 ell
trance way, built in the form Of
storm doors. Passing through
these doors, they reached 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 door
ways are but about FIVE feet high
but the landing at their base is
narrow. Down these the fright
ened people hurled themselves
in the trightful struggle to reach
the open air end to escape the
certain death they thought was
behind them. AS the crowd
from the two doors, one OH 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 moment
the crowd, pushed with irresisti-
BILE force from the rear, crowded
upon the PROSTATE form and be-
gan in turn to stumb BILE, reel and
presently to fall prone upon the
floor, under the 1nyriads 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 or thirty deep with the