The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-01-02
4 CKY OE FIRE
Twenty-Three Persons Dead, Three WIN
Die, and Number Of Others Badly In.
fured.

Causes Panic In q Baltimore Theat0r- |
Twenty Three Persons Dead, Three WIN |
Die, and Number Of Others Badly In. |
jured.
BALTIMORE, Dec. 2s-Twenty-three |
persons were crushed and trampled to |
death in panic at the Front Street
theater Friday night. Several others
were injured, some of whom will, IL
is believed, die.
The United Oriental and Dramatic
Co., of Boston, under the management
of A. Schongold and Abram Tansman,
was billed to present the Jewish opera
"Alexander," and the theater was fill
ed with a motley throng. About $500
persons were in the house when the
orchestra began playing the introd1c-
tory.
A strong odor of gas was noticed in
the second gallery of the theater and
one of the attaches of the place was
seen hunting for the leak with light
ed torch. Suddenly jet Of flame
flashed out as the torch came in con-
tact with the phnctured gas pipe.
Cries of Fire were heard in the
upper galleries and in an instant the
excitement became intense. Some one
rushed to the gas meter and turned off
the supply, plunging the main body of
the house into darkness The stage
jets alone remained lighted, being fed
through another meter.
Instead of allaying the excitement
caused by the sheet of flame from the
leaking pipe, the turning off of the
gas and consequent darkness only
served to add to the confusion. The
audience rose en- masse and made q
mad rush for the exits.
The gas was quickly turned on 1T
the meter, and as the theater again be-
came illum mated an indescribable
scene of horror was presented. Men,
women and children, crazed by fear,
were fighting and struggling in the
aisles and on the stairways in their
efforts to reach the open air.
The actors on the stage and few
cool heads in the audience added to the
turmoil by shouting their commands
to sit down and cursing those who
were most vigorous in their efforts to
get out
The struggling mass of humanity
made little or no headway for few
minutes. Every aisle was congested
and every doorway jammed with the
frantic Poles and Russian Jews who
mainly comprised the gathering.
The strong men in the rear of the
panic stricken mob climbed upon the
shoulders of those in front, crushing
the weaker men, women and little
children to the floor to be trampled to
death by those still further in the
rear.
For several minutes the wild fight
continued. Then a few policemen
forced a passageway to the main en-.
trance and began dragging forth those
who were jammed in the doors A
rushing stream of humanity flowed out
on Front street until all those who
were able to move reached the open
| air.
A hurry call for policemen had
brought a large squad to Ine theater
| by this time and fire alarm had also
been sent in, bringing some engines to
| the scene.
The excitement in the street was al
most as great as in the theater, as rela.
tives began searching for those from
whom they had become separated dur
ing the mad rush. Fathers and mothers
rushed about looking for their children
and attempted to re-enter the theater
in their search for missing ones.
The crowd grew so great that the
/ police, fearing riot, ordered the fire
engine hose to be turned on and in
that way the struggling mass was
driven back from the theater entrance.
Meanwhile officers had entered the
theater and encountered sickening
sight. In every direction were found
bodies from which life had been
crushed and trampled.
A majority of the victims were young
men, girls and children. They were
tenderly carried to the front of the
house and taken to the city hospital
and the morgue as fast as the ambu-
lances and patrol wagons could make
the trips.
Great crowds followed the ambu-
lances and patrol wagons and stormed
the entrances to the hospital and
morgue in their anxiety to learn if
their relatives or friends were among
the injured or dead.
Twenty-three dead bodies were
finally taken from the theater. Ten
persons, more or less injured, are at
the city hospital and two of them may
die. Several others were taken to
their homes in carriages suffering from
contusions or broken bones. The
death list will probably exceed 25.
|