Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-12-31

tho D~isnater-Iire Spread Rapidly,
and Panic Ensued, Filling the Pns-
saEes with EntnngIed StrugSIers,
Soon to become Il Charred Mass Of
Bodies.
CHICAGO, Dec. 31.-Six hundred and
thirty-seven people by Coroner Trae-
gers actual count were killed in ten
minutes during the great fire and pan
ic III the %Iroquois theater, the newest,
the largest and as far as human power
could make it the safest theater in Chi
cago.
Chicago is stunned BY this, the worst
catastrophe in the history OF the coun-
try.
Men, women and children met death
by fire, smoke and panic during Il
matinee performance Of Mr.. Blue
beard" a new play, here at the beauti-
ful new Iroquois theater. Nest Of the
dead are women and children.
While it is difficult to get III exact re-
port, it is known that more than 800
were injured by fire and in the wild
stampede for safety.
A few Of these people were burned to
death by ire, many were suffocated by
gas, and scores were trampled to death
in the panic that followed the mad
plunge Of the frightened audience for
the exits.
1t will be many days before all of the
bodies recovered from the ruins are
identified. There are bodies lying by
the dozen in the undertaking rooms, in
the police stations and in the hospitals
from which nearly everything that
could reveal their identity to those who
knew them best Is gone. Their clothing
is torn to rags or burned to cinders, and
their faces have been trampled into an
unrecognizable pulp by the crowd that
tramplcd them down as they fled for
safety.
The fire broke out during the second
act Of the play "AIr. Bluebeard,' which
was the first dramatic production pro-
duced in the theater since its erection.
The company, which was very large,
escaped to the street in safety, nearly
all of them, however, being compelled
to flee into snowy streets with no cloth
ing but their stage. costumes. a few
members Of the company sustained mi
nor injuries, but none was seriously
hurt. The dead and wounded were all
in the audience.
The accounts of the origin of the fire
a,o ao,,J;.4inar ,yI nOnn of thnn1 1O7s-
tain, but the best reason given is that
an electric wire near the lower part Of
q piece of drop scenery suddenly broke
ard was grounded. The fire spread
rapidly toward the front of the stage,
causing the members of the chorus who
were then engaged in the performance
to fee to the wings, with screams Of
terror.
The fire in itself up to this time was
not serious and possibly could have
been checked had not the asbestos cur
tain failed to work. AS oon as the fire
was discovered Eddie Foy, the chief
comedian of the company, shouted to
lower the curtain, and this was imme-
diately done. 1t descended about half
way and then stuck.
The fire was thus given practically
a lue through which a strong draft
was setting, aided by the doors which
had been thrown open in the front Of
the theater. With n IA and a bound
the flames shot out through the open
ing over the heads of the people on
the first floor and. reaching clear up
to those in the first balcony. caught
them and burned them TO death whore
they sat. Immediately following this
rush of flames there came an explo-
sion which lifted the entire roof OF the
~tlieater from its walls. SCATTERING the
great skylight into fragments.
AS soon as the first flames appeared
beyond the curtain a man in the rear
Of the hall shouted: Fire. Fire. and
the entire audience rose as Il person
and made for the doors. 1t is believed
that the explosion was caused by the
flames coming in contact with the gas
reservoirs of the theater, causing them
to burst.
As neal as can be estimated at the
present time about 1.300 people were
in the theater. Three hundred OF these
we're on the first floor, the balance be-
ing in the two upper balconies and in
the Railways back of them.
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris, and from the
real Of each balcony there are three
doors leading out to passageways to-
ward the front of the theater. Two Of
these doorways are at the end of the
balcony and one being in the center,
The audience In its rush for the outer
air seems TO have for the greater part
chosen to flee TO the left entrance and
to attempt to make its way down the
eastern stairway leading into the lobby
OF tie theater.
Outside II the people burned and snf-
focat~I by sas it vas in these two
doorways on the first and second bal
comics that the greatest loss of life oc-
Cured. When the Gremen entered the
building the dead We're found stretched
a., a p;lo rpnchinp from thp head OF The