Evening journal., 1903-12-31

women mem DerS OF the COmDany into
the alley. Some Of them were in their
dressing rooms, and were almost over
come by smoke before they could ger
down to the stage and to the doors.
/ The simple fact that the curtain did
not descend entirely was what saved
the lives Of the company, although it
caused such horrible catastrophe in
the front of the house. After the cur
, tain 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 fire.
proof curtain in front. Under these cir
cumstances, it would not have been
possible for a single member of the
company to escape alive unless be or
she had been standing Immediately in
front Of the door leading into the
alley. AS it was, the draft carried all
the gas and fire out beneath the cur
tain, and the company was saved, al
though their salvation was the death
Of so many poor people in front"
Rarely in the history Of Chicago has
its people been SO stirred as by this
calamity 1t is. next to the Chicago
fire, the greatest catastrophe that has
ever occurred here, and the speed with
which it came and went seemed for a
brief period to appalf the business sec
tion Of the city. In spite of the ef-
forts Of the police, however. a large
number of people succeeded in break
ing 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.
Bodies Filed Higher Than Mems Heads
The building was so full of smoke
when the fremen first arrived that the
fun extent of the catastrophe was not
Immediately grasped until a fireman
and newspaper man crawled up the
stairway leading to the balcony, hold
ing handkerchiefs over their mouths to
avoid suffocation. AS they reached the
doorway, the fireman, whose vision
was better trained in such emergencies,
seized his companion by the arm, cx-
claiming: Good God, man, don't walk
on their faces" The two men tried
vainly to get through the door, which
was jammed with dead women piled
higher than either of their heads. All
the lights in the theatre were neces-
sarily out and the only illumination
came through the cloud of smoke that
hung between the interior of the thea
tre and the street. The two men i'm
mediately hurried to the floor below
and informed Chief Musham, of the
fire department that the dead bodies
were piled high in the balcony, and
prompt assistance must be rendered i'll
any of them we're to be saved. The
chief at once called upon all of his men
in the vicinity to abandon work on
the fire and come at once to the rescue.
The building was so dark and the
smoke so thick that it was found inn
possible to accomplish anything until
lights had been secured. Word was at
once sent TO the Orr & Lockett Hard
ware Co., two doors east of the theatre.
and that firm at once placed its entire
stock of lanterns at the service of 'he
fire department over 200 lights were
quickly carried into the building and
the work of rescue commenced.
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
bodies, the other composed Of men re-
turning to get more. They We're car
ried into Thompson's restaurant, which
adioins the theatre on the east, where
all the available space was given by
the proprietor. The dead and wounded
were placed upon chairs, tables and
counters, one woman even being placed
for lack Of a better spot upon the top
OF a cigar case. Because Of the tre-
mendous throng which surrounded the
block in which the theatre building
stood. it was not possible for the police
to carry the dead and wounded any
distance, and they were compelled toI
wait for ambulances at the theatre.
Bodies Piled on Sidewalk.
Although. all the patrol wagons and
every ambulance owned by the city
was pressed into service, they werel
utterly inadequate tolcarry away the
lead, and in a short time there was a
line Of corpses 90 feet long piled two
and three high on the sidewalk in 'front.'
OF the theatre. 1t was found necessary
in order to convey the bodies rapidly
TO the morgue and to the various un-
dertaking establishments, to impress
trucks into service, and on these, upon
costly blankets furnished by the dry
goods stores in the vicinity, and COW
cred with the same material, the dead
we're hauled away practically like so
much cord wood.
The merchants in the vicinity Of the
theatre rose to the emergency in splen-
did fashion. Marshall, Field & Co.,
Mandel Brothers, Schlesinger & Meyer,
Carson, Pierre. Scott & Co. and other
largo dry goods stores sent wagon load
after wagon load of blankets, rolls OF
linen and packages of cotton to be
used in binding up the wounds OF the
injured and to cover the dead. The
drug stores furnished their stock 10
anybody that asked for it in the name
of people hurt in the fire. Doctors and
trained nurses were on the ground by
the score within half an hour after the
extent of the calamity was known, and
every wounded person who was carried
from the building received prompt
medical aid. A number Of doctors