The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-10-16
COLLAPSE IN A THEATER
Dangers Of a Great City" Ezem-
-pli6ed in Real Life.
THREE KILLED, THIRTY INJURED

Tho Wood in the Roof Trusses Had
shrunk. and Those Gave Way and
Pulled the Big Dome Down on Them.
tSmall Loss of Life Miraculous.
Cincinnati, Oct. 16.-"The Dangers OF
4 Great CITY" on the stage of Robin
sons Opera House last night. was cut
ehort in Its performance by a tragic
seailxation fthe actual dangers of a
great city. The house was fairly we'll
0lled. but not crowded. A little before
b:50 o'clock a lady In the audience says
she heard a rasping noise, which con-
tinued for five minutes before the ca
tastrophe. She gave II little attention,
thinking 1t was part Of the perforin-
ance. Presently the plasterlng began
10 fall in small particles. at first but
enough to alarm the timid or cautious
1 Of the audience. Soon the plastering
began to shower down In great chunks.
II came from the ceiling which sup
ported the dome. There was q 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
PkIhukc " say, WilHOut all dppdIenN
banjo. The crowding Of these to the
noor obstructed the passage of people
From the parquet, which accounts In
, measure for the number Of casualties.
= Nobody expected At that moment any
Dther danger than from the falling
plastering. Suddenly. and with a great
urash, the great central truss of the
Deiling, so feet long and 80 feet wide.
ftame plunging down. The ends Of 1t
struck ON tbs two gallery wings and
A0ubled It up in the center, sending 1t
down into the rlrquet with a great
Bcattering of joisls and timbers. Moth
hg on the stage was harmed.
The news Of the accident spread rap
Idly. There was d rush of patrol
wagons and of firemen TO the scene. 4
The injured were carried 10 the Gin
einnati hospital.
The list at the hospital showed three
dead, Ave dangerously, II not fatally.
wounded, and 26 more or less seriously
injured. In addition to these large
number. probably rs or 80, were 80
Elightly injured as to be able to walk
home. A score of surgeons volunteered
their assistance to the hospital corps.
The scene in front Of the hospital door
was u sad one. Hundreds Of people
gathered there. clamoring for the
names of the injured. AT the Opera
House ropes were stretched across all
approaching Streets and the police had
al they could do to keep the crowd OF
seven or eight thousand people from
srushins through.
The damage to the structure was
nothing at all to the stage, compara-
tively little to the gallery, which suf-
Tered most, almost nothing to the dress
circle and much less than one would
think from the debris scattered around
through the parquet, where the main
truss landed. The truss rested in the
Pnrquet very much in the shape of n
capital letter V. The wonder is that
% very few were hurt.
j The dead are Miss Lucy Cohen, Mrs.
George Kleman and an unknown man.
Dangerously injured: Mr. Goldman,
lRrs. Studder, Mary Studder, Mary
Haas and all unknown woman.
! Seriously or slightly injured: Pearl
Hall, Grace Connor, c. J.sWeiss, Jacob
Meyle. Mary Hess, John White. Amelia
Weyle, Mary Howe, Ella Moorman,
Oella Algier and her three children,
Stanley Joseph and John; Daisy Fair
bead s. q. Long, S. J. Fairland, r. e. |
Wiley. Fred Jenks, William Moten, AL
y MeGabe; Clint Deal. Kate White, |
Maggie Studder, Amelia Weyle, Sam
VEL Rosenbaum and Clint Steele.
the cause Of the accident lay with |
ne roof trusses. The house has been
bnilt more than rs years. and the wood |