The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-12-31
Explosion of Calcium Light Sets Fire
TO 7inSeI of Stage Settings, Gas
Tanks Explode, and Bearing
Sheet of Flame Shoots to the Caller
IeS--Men and Women Fight Like
Wild Beasts to Gain the Eats.

streamed. blinded by the smoke and
crazed beyond any possibility OF help
ing themselves further OF of taking ad.
vantage OF the aid extended to them
from the upper floors of buildings fac
ing the theater. Ladders. pianks.
ropes. poles, everything that could pos
sibly serve to assist these poor Great
ures in their battle for life. were rigged
and turned into bridges. but few got
across a.i-e.
These were utilized fifteen rlinutes af-
ter the first alarm TO draE the charred
bodies across. and over them passed rap
idly one blackened corpse after another.
until every building on the north and
west end was filed with them
Interior a CaIdron-
Barely FIVE minutes szter the first
alarm was turned in firemen were strug-
Cling into the theater. making their
way. In some miraculous manner.
througf. the maddened mob that was
pouring out Of the auditorium, and do
ing what little they could. not only
20 check the fire. which was fast turn
ing the whole interior shell into cal
cron. but 80 aid the frantic hundreds
in the upper balconies By ladders
stretched from the main floor.
A few-thirty at most-were rescued
in this way and then the firemen. after
controlling the flames. abandoned their
lengths OF hose 10 go with the fast
gathering police and reach for what
awaited them on the upper stairways
and in the balcony seats
Silent Heaps of Dead.
Here was no more struggling. ne more
frantic haste Hundreds. with homes IN
every part Of the city. still showing ~
their windows Christmas wreaths. still
filed with the decorations of the heli-
day season. lay beyond all thought OF
worldly things in silent heaps of death.
There We're no men. even among those
most accustomed 10 scenes Of destrlie-
ton and mortality. who could approach
these fearful. stilled masses caiulv.
Time and time again. as they started
toward the upper stairways. they caught
one another by the arms and cried Is..-
little children, stunned by the horror Of
it all.
Panic on the Stage.
The panic on the stage among the per
formers was appalling. but heroes saved
the lives OF every one. though many
were burned before they had been car
ried to safety.
The failure OF the asbestos curtain to
operate was the main cause Of the dis
aster. Eddie FOy tried TO ring the cur
tain down before the stage doors had
eeen opened. but il would not bulge
Stage hands. managers and ey<,erts
worked franticaliy. but the freproof
curtain would not fall Then he ropes
were cut. but the curtain fsII o7Iv a
few feet and caught in the ropes.
Flames Shot Under Curtain.
The flames burst under IL. and finally
through il into the auditorium. where
the circuit OF air from the stage doors
to the ventilatOrs in the roof Of the
building famed and sucked the blaze
to the human wall that became its prey.
The unfortunates whOtchoked the ca
pacity Of the upper balcony were DOOM
ed when the sheets Of flames swept
across the yawning pi, and fell over
their heads The clothes Of some in
stantly took FIRE. and the wild dash for
the fire escapes created pandemonium
that never can be described. But in the
lower balcony and on the ground floor
the panic was just as great.
Cool Men in Farquet.
Strong and cooI-headed men tried to
control the terrified throns. and that
evinced by the fact that all but three
persons who occupied seats in the par
Iuet and parquet circles esca-ed death.
Il was in the balconies that the hor-
rors We're enacted Before those in the
second balcony could reach the stair
way, escape was cut of BY the flames.
and the only chance for life was in the
inadequate fire escapes on the north
side Of the building. In a stampede
that only those who perished could pos
sibly picture. the hundreds OF men. vvo-
meT, and children who saw their only
chance for life. struggled to seize the
opportunity Out Of the struggle. az
nearly as can be estimated. less than
100 ever emerged TO see the ltht of
day again. and some Of these may die
II ON the burns and the BREATHING Of hot
gases that foUed the air of the the
ater.
Women Jump Fifty Feet.
OF those who escaped, many owe their
lives to number of painters who were
n work on the third floor os the North
western University building. in \ rear
room that looked out o. rhe theater
ACROSS the alley. These n 1inters were