The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-31
Men Give Up.

Men Give Up.
A number of men were compelled to
abandon their task and give it over to
others whose nerves had not as yet
been shaken by the awful experience.
AS one by one the bodies were drag
ged out of the water-Soaked, blackened
mass, the spectacle became more and
more heart rending. There were Wo-
men whose clothing was torn COM
pletely from their bodies above the
waist. whose boSomS had been tram
pied into a pulp and whose faces were
marred beyond all power of identifica-
ton.
In the first and second balconies bod
les were piled up in the aisles three
and four deep, where some had fallen
and others had tripped over their pros
trate forms. All had died where they
lay, evidently suffocated by the gas.
Others were bent over backs of seats,
where they had been thrown by the
rush of people for the doors, and kill
ed with hardly a chance to rise from
their seats.
One man was found with his back
bent nearly double. his spinal column
having been fractured as he was
thrown backward.
A woman was found cut nearly in
half by the back of the seat, she hav-
ing been forced over it face downward.
Bodies Almost Nude.
In the aisles nearest to the doors
the scene were narrowing in the ex-
IRENE. Bodies lay in every conceiVa-
BILE attitude half naked, the look on
their faces revealing some portion OF
the agony which must have preceded
their death.
There were scores and scores of Ueo-
pie whose entire faces had been tram
pied completely off by the heels of
one aisle the body of man was found
with not a vestige of clothing. flesh or
bone remaining above his waist line.
The upper portion of his body had been
cut into pieces and carried away by the
feet of those who tramDled on him. A
search was made carefully with hope
of finding his head. but at a late hour
it had not been discovered and all that
will ever tell his friends who he was
is the color and appearance of the
clothing on the lower limbs, and this is
in such condition as to be hardly
recognizable.
Fire Escapes Not Finished.
The theater had been constructed but
a short time and all it's equipment was
not yet in place. This was unfortun-
ately the case with a fire escape in the
rear of the building. The small iron
balconies to which the iron ladder was
to be attached were I'D. but the ladder
had not yet been constructed.
When the panic was at its height. a
large number of women ran for these
IRE ESCAPES, only TO ma as tney
emerged from the doorway upon the
little iron platform that they We're 80
to so feet from the ground. a fire be-
hind and no method of escape in front.
Those who reached the platform first
endeavored to hold their footing and
to keen back the crowd that pressed
upon them from the rear The effort
was utterly useless and in a few mo-
ments the iron lodges were damned
with crowds of women who screamed,
fought and tore at each other like ma
macs. This lasted but a brief interval
and the rush from the interior of the
building became so violent that many
of them were crowded off and fell to
the granite alley below. Others Ieaped
from the platform, fracturing legs and
arms, and two were picked up at this
point with fractured skulls, having
been killed.