The news & observer., 1901-01-15
TWENTY-FIVE INJURED
Women and Children Trampled Down
in the Rush.
PLAY IN PROGRESS WHEN CRY IS GIVEN
Eight Hundred Hebrews in a Chicago Hall
Converted Into Madmen by a False
Alarm. Six People Are
Still Missing.
Still Missing.
lRv the Associated Press. ]

1HlChSO, jan lH.--'olA pcOpiC "CiS
crushed to death and as many more Sc
riously injured in a panic which followed
mans cry of fire late this afternoon
in West Twelfth Street Turner Hall.
About eight hundred people were in the
place. gathered to witness the perform
ance of play entitled THE Green
horn
The following were killed:
L1DSLEY. Rebecca
GOLDBERG, Annie, aged seven years.
MILLENBACH Regina, aged four years.
SALOMON, Annie, aged 81 years.
SHAFFER, George, aged nine years.
MENDELsoHN, Mrs. Samuel.
XIDANN. Burdie.
Twenty-Five persons are reported in
jured, several very seriously.
Six persons are missing.
The play was in Yiddish and the audi
ence, composed for the most part of
women and children, was all Hebrews
The hall stands in the center of dis
trict densely populated by Jews. The
play was nearly over when the cry which
caused the panic was raised and within
five seconds after it rang through the
hall the entire audience was converted
into a frantic mob, every member of
which was fighting for the safety which
Law beyond the doors of the building.
The hall is frequently used for dances
ana when theatrical performance is
given, chairs are set for the spectators.
AS soon as the wild rush toward the
doors began, chairs were knocked down
iii every direction, the aisles disappeared
and the excited people ran, climbed and
stumbled over the chairs on their way
toward the DOORS
Around the upper part of the hall ex-
tends balcony which is open onlv at one
end Here were seated $50 women and
children and the women at the farther
end of the balcony, away from the stair
way, seeing that the rush toward the ex-
ii was blocked to them and their chill
dren. began at once to throw the little
ones over the railing to the floor ten
feet below. The children fell into the
midst Of the maddened throng and We're
at once trampled under their feet. 1t
is known that three of the dead were
children who were thrown from the bal
cony and were trampled by the crowd
with not a chance for their lives Fol-
lowing the children many of the women
sprang from the balcony upon the crowd
below and others swinging overhung by
their hands before they dropped The
railing of the balcony was broken
through in half a dozen places Ly the
pressure brought against it by the rnoc-
dened crowd.
On the main floor the crush was much
worse than in the balcony.
The main exits from the hall and the
only ones known to a majority of those
who frequent the place, are two doors
in the south end of the main auditorium
that open upon winding stairs. which eight
steps down. unite into one broader flight
leading to the main door at the Twelfth
street front Around these two doors
frantic mass of screaming men, women
and children was packed. all struggling
fiercely to force their way down the stairs.
At the landing where the two flights Of
stairs winding down from the main hall
unite, a woman stumbled and fell. In an
instant a score of people were down and
before the rush was over four lives had
been crushed out of existence, in space
five feet wide by six square
Within five minutes after the Begin
ming of the panic it was all over and po-
licemen and firemen who could come to
the scene of the disaster were called
upon to remove the dead and wounded.
AS soon as the news of the panic had
scread throughout the district: which
seemed but a very few minutes, all the
Hebrews from that part of the city rush
ed 10 the place bent upon learning the
names of the dead ard wounded. Men
and women fought desperately with the
officers IN their efforts to enter the build
ing.
The crowd was so great, so excited and
so unmanageable, that several calls were
sent for additional officers and firemen
before it could be restrained. The alarm
of fire was false, there having been no
blaze at any time. The furnace in the
building is defective and at times allows
sparks to pass up the registers. 1t was
sharks that frightened the man who rais-
ed the cry of fire.
1t was a most difficult task to secure
the names of the dead and injured. Many
of the latter were taken to their homes
before the police could learn their names.
Mrs Mendelsohn was taken to her home
at 10 Barber street by friends. and her
death which occurred shortly after the
panic was not told to the police for over
three hours. Her husband and two chill
dren are still missing and it is not known
whether they have been killed or are
wandering around seeking the woman
who is dead.