Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-16

Cincinnati, O., October 15.-The
Dangers Of a Great City," on the stage
of Robinson's Opera House tonight,
was cut short in its perform 9nce by
tragic realization of the actual dangers
! of a great city.
The house was fairly well filled, al
| though not crowded.
A little before $50 o'clock tonight
lady in the audience says she heard
a creeping noise, which continued for
I've minutes before the catastrophe.
She gave it little attention, thinking it
was part of the performance.
Presently the plastering began to fall
in small particles at first, but enough
to alarm some of the timid or cautious,
who retired.
\ little later the plastering began
to shower down in great chunks. 1t
came from the ceiling above, which
supported the dome There was a rush
from the gallery, which was not very
well filled. The balcony was soon
emptied. Those in the dress circle re-
| tired as promptly as possible but
strange to say without an apparent
panic.
The crowding of these to the door
INSTRUCTED the passage of people from
the parquette, which accounts in a meas
ure for the number Of casualties
Nobody expected at that moment any
other danger than the falling plaster
ing, but suddenly, and with a heavy
crash, the great central truss of the
ceiling, eighty feet long and thirty feet
wide, came plunging down. The ends
Of it struck on the two gallery wings
and doubled it up in the center, send
ing it down into the parquette with
great Settlement of joists and timbers.
Nothing on the stage was harmed.
Of course, there were means of the
injured, and, as often happens, loudeSt
from those least hurt.
The news spread rapidly. There was
a rush Of patrol wagons and of firemen
to the scene. The salvage corps, with
its wagon, was first on the ground, and
it was followed by all the police patrol
wagons, carrying the injured to the
Cincinnati Hospital.
The list at the hospital showed three
dead, five dangerously, if not fatally,
wounded, and twenty-siX more or less
seriously injured; in addition to these
large number probably twenty-five or
thirty, were so slightly injured as to be
BILE to walk home
CT the dangerously injured at the
hospital. several will require amptation.
yet every one is refusing to submit TO
the operation. A score of surgeons vol
unteered their assistance to the hospital
corps. A sufficient number was accept
ed. The scene in front of the hospital
doors was sad. Hundreds of people
gathered there. clamoring for the names
of the injured. An attendant stood at
the door with list of those brought
to the hospital and answered these anx-
ious inquiries. Many names were in
quired for that were not in the hospital
list.
AT the opera house ropes were stretch
ed across all approaching streets. and
the police had all they could do to keep
the crowd of seven or eight thousand
people from crushing through.
All sorts of wild rumors were afoat
and public curiosity was on the tip toe:
all the more ardent because Of these
rumOrs.
The damage to the structure was
nothing at all to the stage. comparative
ly little to the gallery, which suffered
most. almost nothing to the dress circle,
and much less than one would think
from the debris scattered around
through the parquette. where the main
truss landed. The truss rested in the
parquetIe very much in the shape of
capital letter V. The wonder is that so
few were hurt. and CT the few hurt so
many escaped with slight injuries.
To-nights disaster recalls fOrcibly a
more fearful one which took place in
the same building in February, 1876.
Tonight there was a real cause for
the panic and loss Of life: then there
was no cause whatever, except the
wickedly foolish cry of fire started.
when a little suffering hiss came
from the calcium light in the upper
gallery. The house was packed mostly
with women and children to witness
an allegory of America. given by hun
dreds of school children. With the
single cry of fire in such an assembly
the mischief was done. Plunging into
the aisles and rushing down the stair
ways and towards the wide doorway
leading TO the street, the inevitable
blockade of fallen human bodies Oc-
CURED and the wild and savage strug-
gle for escape by those behind COM
pleted the dreadful mischief Only
when all outward progress was absO-
lutely blocked and time was given to
the living to use their senses TO dis
cover that there was no fire and no
cause for alarm. did the insane panic
cease. Then followed the sickening
rescue Of the score or more of the
dead and the many others who were
injured. To-night's catastrophe. how
ever. had a real cause for panic. and
if the conditions had been the same
as those in the 1876 horror. the result
would have been fearful beyond calcu-
lation.
The dead:
An Unknown Man.
Miss Lucy Cohen.
Mrs George Kleeman.
Dangerously injured:
Mr.. Goldman
Mrs. Studder.
Mary Studder.
Mary Haas.
An unknown woman.
Seriously or slightly injured.