The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-10-16
COLLAPSE IN A THEATER
Dangers Of a Great City" BZem-
plifed in Real Life.
THREE KILLED, THIRTY INJURED

Tho WOOD in the Roof Trusses Had
shrunk. and These Gave way and
RULED the Big Dome Down Them.
Small Loss of Life Miraculous.
Cincinnati, Oct. 16.-"The Dangers Of
a Great city" on the stage Of Robin
sons opera House last night, was cut
short in its performance by a tragic
realization o fthe actual dangers Of a
great city. The house was fairly well
filled, but not crowded. A little before
$3.50 o'clock lady in the audience says
she heard rasping noise, which con-
tinued for five minutes before the ca
tastrophe. She gave it little attention,
thinking it was part of the perform
ance. Presently the plastering began
to fall in small particles, at first but
enough to alarm the timid or cautious
Of the audience Soon the plastering
began to shower down in great chunks
It came from the ceiling which sup
ported 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, and
strange to say, without an apparent
door obstructed the passage Of people
from the parquet which accounts in
a measure for the number of casualties.
Nobody expected at that moment any
other danger than from the falling
plastering. Suddenly, and with a great
crash, the great central truss of the
/ ceiling, so feet long and 30 feet wide,
came plunging down. The ends of it
.
/ doubled 1t up in the center sending ii
/ down into the parquet with a great
scattering Of joists and timbers. Moth
/ ing on the stage was harmed.
The news of the accident spread rap
/ idly. There was rush Of patrol
/ wagons and Of fremeu to the scene
The injured We're carried to the Gin
/ cinnat hospital
! The list at the hospital showed three
! dead, five dangerously, if not fatally
wounded, and 26 more or less seriously
| injured. In addition to these a large
number, probably 25 or 30, were SC
slightly injured as to be able to walk
home. A score of surgeons volunteered
/ their assistance to the hospital corps
The scene i'm front of the hospital door
was a sad one Hundreds of people
]
names of the injured At the Opera
House ropes were stretched across all
approaching streets. and the police ha5
all they could do to keep the crowd OF
seven or eight thousand people from
crushing through.
The damage to the structure w2s
nothing at all to the stage, compare
lively little to the gallery, which suf.
{ oil D.;
circle and much less than one would
think from the debris scattered arouut
through the parquet where the mair
truss landed. The truss rested in tn,
parquet very much in the shape of
capital letter " The wonder is tha
so very few We're hurt
The dead are Miss Lucy Cohen, Mrs
George Kleman and an unknown man
Dangerously injured: Mr.. Goldman
, Mrs. Studder Mary Studder. Mar
Haas and an unknown woman.
Seriously or slightly injured: Pear
Hall, Grace Connor, c. ]. Weiss, Jaco
Weyle, Mary Hess, John White, Ameli
Weyle, Mary Howe. Ella Moormar
Della Algier and her three children
+ Stanley, Joseph and John: Daisy Fair
e head, S. e. Long, S. J. FairIand, T. Z
e Wiley, Fred jerks, William Moten, A
y ]. McCabe, Clint Deal, Kate White
r Maggie Studder, Amelia Weyle. Sam
uel Rosenbaum and Clint Steele.
3 The cause of the accident lay wit
the roof trusses. The house has beel
built more than 25 years, and the WOO
e shrunk until the bolts and nails af
p forded the smallest possible security
r One Of these trusses had rottcd ava.
from its fastenings 1t parted an
threw the two sections down, and thu
in their descent pulled the dome wit
them.
A singular coincidence is that tn
, play announced for next week was en-
g titled Under the Dome"
Last nights disaster recalls forcibl
= a more fearful one which took place IL
the same building in February. 1871
Last night there was a real cause 70
the panic and loss Of life. Then ther
was no cause whatever EXCEPT tn
- wickedly foolish cry Of fire, started b
{ a little sputtering hiss coming from tb
d calcium light in the upper gallery. Tb
h house on that occasion was packed
I mostly with women and children. {
witness an allegory Of America" give
g by hundreds Of school children.
With the single cry of fire I'm such a
% assembly the mischief was done
score or more We're killed and man
others were injured
70 vynvvv,