Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-12-31
A FIRE HORROR!


The only possible thing to do was
to seize limb or some portion of the
body and pull with main strength.
Nen worked at the task with tears
running down their cheeks, and the
sobs Of the rescuers could be heard
even in the hall below where this aw-
full scene was being enacted.
A number. Of the men were COM
PEELED to abapdon their task and give
It over to others whose nerves had not
as yet been shaken by the awful ex-.
perience.f
As one by one the bodies were
dragged out of the watersoaked, black
ened mass Of corpses the spectacle be-
came more and more heartrendfng.
There were women whose clothing was
torn completely from their bodies
above the waist, whose bosoms had
been trampled into pulp and whose
faces were marred beyond all posi-
bility Of Identification.
Bodies lay in the first and second
balconies in great numbers In some
places they were piled up in the aisles
three and four deep. where one had
fallen and others tripped over the
PROSTATE forms and 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
killed 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 backwards. A woman was
found cut nearly in half by the back of
the seat, she having been forced over
1t face downwards.
In the aisles nearest to the doors the
scenes were narrowing In the extreme.
Bodies lay in every conceivable attitude,
half naked, the look on their faces re-
vealing some portion of the agony
which must have preceded their death.
There were scores and scores of peo-
pie whose entire faces had been tram
pied completely Off by the heels of
those who rushed over them.
In one aisle the body of a man was
found with not a vestige of clothing,
flesh or bone remaining above his
wAistline. The entire upper portion of
his body had been cut into mincemeat
ana carried away by the feet of those
who trampled on him; a search was
carefully made with a hope of finding
his head. but at a late hour tonight it
had not been discovered and all that
will ever tell his friends who he was
IL the color and appearance of the
clothing on the lower limbs and this
IL in such condition as to be hardly
recognizable.
The theater had been constructed but
a short time and all it's equipment was
not yet in place. This was, unfortu-
nate1y, 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 up but the ladders
had not yet been constructed.
When the panic was at. it's height a
great number of women ran for these
fire escapes, only to find as they
emerged from tns doorway upon the
little iron platform that they were 30 to
80 feet from the ground. fire behind
and no method of escape in 'front.'
Those who reached the platform first
endeavored to hold their footing and to
keep back the crowd that pressed upon
them from the rear. The effort was ut
terly useless and in few moments the
iron lodges were damned with crowds
Of women who screamed. fought and
tore at each other like maniacs.
This lasted but brief interval and
the rush from the interior of the build
ing became so violent that many Of
them were crowded off and fell to the
granite pavement below. Others leap
ed from the platform. fracturing legs,
and arms, and two were picked up at
this point with fractured skulls, having
been killed instantly.
George H. Elliott, secretary of the
Ogden Gas Co., was in a building di-
rectly opposite from the theatre across
this alley, and noticing smoke. went
down to ascertain it's cause. When he
reached the street the women We're
already dropping into the alley and
Elliott Immediately rushed for a lad
der in an effort to save as many as
possible -
No ladder was available and the only
method Of assistance they were able to
devise was to hurriedly lash some
planks together and throw them across
to the affrighted women on the plat
form with instructions to place the
end firmly on the iron framework.
Before this could be done fearless
loss of time ensued, the women were
being pushed every instant into the
alley and by the time the bridge was
constructed but few remained to take
advantage of it. However, about two
dozen, 1t is believed made their way
across this narrow causeway.
The members of the theatrical COM
pany being on the first floor had COM
paratively little difficulty in reaching
the street. although their situation was
for. d moment highly critical because
Of the speed with which the flames
swept through the mass Of scenery in
the flies and on the stage.
Eddie Foy, principal comedian in the
play, was one of the last to escape by
getting out through rear door after
assisting the women members of the
company to safety. He went into the
Sherman. House in his stage costume
and with his face covered with grease
paint, in order to secure surgical at
tendance for some burns which he had
sustained.
In describing the commencementkof
the fire Foy. attributed the extent of
the catastrophe to the failure of the
fireproof curtain to work properly.
Because OF this, he said. the flames