Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-12-31
the auditorium and 1 knew that the

theatre was doomed.
II hurried back to the stage and
aided in getting the women members
of the company into the alley. Some
| of them We're in their dressing rooms
and were almost overcome by smoke
before they could get down to the stage
| and to the doors. The simple fact that
the curtain did not descend directly
| was what saved the lives of the COM
pany although it caused such a hOrri-
BILE catastrophe in the front of the
house.
| After the curtain had refused to
| descend there came the explosion of
the gas tanks and with the curtain
down all the fire and gas would have
been confined between the rear wall of
the theatre and the fireproof curtain
| in front. Under these circumstances
| it would not have been possible for a
single member of the company to es-
cape alive unless he or she had been
standing Immediately in front of the
door leading into the alley. AS 1t was
the draft carried all the gas and fire
out before the curtain and the COM
pany was saved, although their saliva
ton was the death of SO many poor
people in front"
Rarely in the history of Chicago has
it's people been so stirred as by the
calamity of today.
It is, next to the Chicago fire, the
greatest catastrophe that has ever oc-
Cured here, and the speed with which
1t came and went seemed for brief
period to appall the business section
of the city. The news spread with
great rapidity and in a short time num-
dreds of men, women and children were
rushing toward the theatre.
The building in which the calamity
occurred stands midway between State
land Dearborn streets, on the north side
of Randolph street.
Although every available policeman
within call of the department was i'm
mediately hurried to the spot and the
men placed in lines at the end of the
block allowing nobody to enter Ran
dolph street from either Dearborn or
State, it was found for a time almost
impossible to hold back the frenZied
crowd that pressed forward, many OF
them having friends or relatives in the
theatre and anxious to learn something
Of them.
| The conduct of the police was be-
You'd all praise. The officers held their
ground firmly and gently pushed Sack
all those who sought to gain an en-
trance to the theatre, although in some
instances frantic men, anxious to look
for their loved ones, actually beat the
officers with their fists in their rage al
being prevented.
In spite of the efforts of the police
| To- Of
ceeded in breaking through their lines
and entering the theatre and in many
cases did heroic work in rescuing the
injured and carrying out the dead
Among these was Former Alderman
William H. Thompson, who, unaided
carried to the street the bodies OF
eight women. The first newspaper
men upon the ground also carried Out
many of the dead and injured.
The building was so full of smoke
when the firemen first arrived that the
extent of the catastrophe was not i'm.
mediately grasped until a fireman an6
a newspaper man crawled up the stairs
leading to the balcony, holding hand
kerchiefs over their mouths to avoid
suffocation. AS they reached the door,
way the fireman, whose wisdom was
better trained in such emergencies
Iseized his companion by the arm, ex.
claiming:
Good God, man, don't walk on theil
faces"
The two men tried vainly to gel
through the door which was damned
with dead women piled higher thar
either of their heads. All the lights III
the theater were necessarily out and
the only illumination came through the
cloud of smoke that hung between the
interior of the theater and the street.
The two men Immediately hurried tc
the floor below and informed Chief
Mussham of the fire department, that
the dead bodies were piled high in the
| balcony and prompt assistance must be
| rendered If any of them were saved.
The chief at once called upon all his
men in the vicinity to abandon work
on the fire and come at once to the res
cue The building was so dark and the
smoke SO thick that 1t was found inn
possible to accomplish anything until
lights had been secured.
Word was at once sent to the Orr Il
Locket Hardware Co., two doors east
of the theater. and that firm at once
l placed it's entire stock of lanterns at
| the service of the department. Over
| 200 lights We're quickly carried into the
building and the work of rescue COM
menced.
| So rapidly were the bodies brought
| down that for over an hour there were
| two streams of men passing in and out
of the doorway, the one carrying bod
les, the other composed of men return
| ing to get more. They were carried
into Thompson's restaurant, which ad-
| Joins the theater on the east. where all
| the available space was given by the
proprietor. The dead and wounded
were placed upon chairs, tables and
counters.
| Because of the tremendous throng
which surrounded the block in which
the theater building stood 1t was not
possible for the police to carry the dead
and wounded any distance and they
were compelled to wait for ambulances
at the theater.
Although all the patrol wagons and
! every ambulance owned by the city
| was pressed into service. they were ut
| dead and in short time there was a
terly inadequate to carry away the
doad opd n, q short time there was a