The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-13
PANIC BRINGS DEATH
SIX KILLED AND MANY INJURED
IN CHICAGO.
SOMEBODY CRIED FIRE"
AUDIENCE OF HEBREWS WENT
WILD AT THE SOUND.


dish-The Building Located in
Center of ThiclSIy settled Hebrew
District-The People Acted Like
MnniRcs and women Threw Their
Children over the Balconies - 1t
Was a False Alarm.
Chicago, Jan. 12.-Six people were
crushed to death and as many more Sc
riously injured in a panic which followed
a 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 a play entitled THE Greenhorn."
The following people are killed or miss
ing: The dead
Lidsley. Rebecca.
Goldberg, Annie, aged 7 years.
Millenbach, Regina, aged years.
Salomon, Annie aged 81 years.
Shaffer. George, eged Q years
Mende,sohn, Mrs. Samuel.
Xidann, Birdie.
Twenty-two persons are reported in
juTed, several very seriously.
Six persons are missing.
The play was in Yiddish and the audi
ence, comprising for the most part women
and children, were all Hebrews. The hal.
stands in the center of district densely
populated by Jews.
The play was nearly over when the cry
which caused the panic was raised, and
within five seconds after 1t rang through
the hall the entire audience was convert
ed into a frantic mob every member OF
which was fighting for the safety which
lay beyond the doors of the building
The hail is frequently used for dances,
and when a theatrical performance is
given chairs are set fr the spectators. AS
soon as the wild rush toward the doors
began chairs were knocked down in every
direction, the aises disappeared and the
excited people ran. climbed and stumbled
over the chairs in their way toward the
doors.
Around the upper part of the han ex-
tends a balcony which is open only al
one end. Here were seated $50 women
and children, and the women at the far
ther end of the balcony, away from
the stairway, seeing that the rush to-
ward the exit was booked to them and
their children began at once to throw
the little ones over the railing to the
floor, ten feet below. The children fell
dnto 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 We're thrown from the
balcony and were trampled by the crowd
with not chance for their lives. Fol-
lowing the children, many of the women
Sprang from the balcony upon the crowd
below, and others swinging over, hung
by their hands before they dropped. The
railing of the balcony was broken through
in half dozen places by the pressure
brought against it by the maddened or, wa
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
VINO frequent the place, are two doors i'm
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 a
frantic mess of screaming men, women
and children was packed, all struggling
hercely 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 score of people were
down and before the rush was over four
lives had been crushed out in a space
four feet wide by six feet long
Within five minutes after the begin
ming of the panic it was all over and
the policemen and firemen who came hur-
crying to the scene of the disaster were
called upon to do nothing beyond carry
ing away the dead ana Injured and keep
ing back the thousands of people who
tried to force their way into the building.
AS soon as the news of the panic had
spread throughout the district, which
seemed but a very few minutes, all the
Hebrews from that part of the city rush
ed to the place bent upon learning the
names of the dead and wounded Men
and women fought desperately with TIE
officers in their efforts to enter the build
ing and learn If any Of their loved ones
were among the dead. The crowd was %
great so excited and so unmanaReable
that several calls were sent for addit onal
officers and firemen before 1t could be re-
strained. The alarm of fire was false.
there having been no blaze at any time.
The furnace in the building is somewhat
defective and at times allows sparks TO
pass up through the registers. 1t was the
sight Of these sparks rising into the
room that frightened the man who raised
the cry of fire.
The hall has several times been the
scene OF panics, and it is only few
months since a number Of children were
hurt in a rush for the doors which oc-
CURED during a Juvenile party that was
given IN the place
1t was found a most difficult task 10
secure the names of the dead and in
1ured Many of the latter we're taken TO
their homes before the police were aware
Of their names, and many Of them were
learned only by canvassing the district
surrounding Turner Hall. Mrs. Mendel-
sohn was taken TO her home, at 70 Barber
street, by friends and her death, whieh
occurred shortl yafter the panic, was not
told to the police for over three hours.
Her husband and two children are sill
missing and II is not known whether they
have been killed or are wandering around
seeking the woman who lies dead.