Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-12-31
STORY OF THE PANIC.
Eddy Foy Stayed Crowd at First Blu,
Snene Was Awful In a Moment.

The fire broke out during the second
act of MIR. Blue Beard" which was
the first dramatic production produced
in the theater after its opening. The
theatrical company. which was large.
escaped, nearly all of them, however.
being compelled to flee into the snowy
streets with no clothing but stage cos
tunes. A few members OF the COM
pany sustained injuries, but none were
severely hurt.
Started From Broken Wire.
The accounts of the origin of the
certain, but the best reason given is
that an electric wire near the lower
part of piece OF drop scenery broke
and caused short circuit, setting fire
to the scenery. The fire spread rap
idly toward the front of the stage,
causing the chorus, which was on the
stage, To flee to the wings screaming.
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 soon as the
fire was discovered. Eddy Foy, chief
comedian of the company, shouted for
the asbestos curtain to be lowered, and
it was Immediately dropped about half
way. Then it stuck.
The fire was thus given flue
through which a strong draft was
formed. aided by the doors, which had
been thrown open in the front of the
theater. The flames shot roaring,
tongue shaped, thru the opening
over the heads of the people on the
first floor, almost licking the faces of
those in the first balcony. and smoth-
ering many where they sat.
Immediately following this rush of
flames, came an explosion, which lifted
the entire roof of the theater from the
walls. SCATTERING the great sky light
into fragments. A hail of glass, the
tottering galleries, the quaking of the
building and cry of fire" from sew
eral persons in the rear, started the
panic. The entire audience rose as
one person. and made for the doors. II
is believed that the explosion was
caused by flames coming In contact
with the, gas reservoirs within the
theater.
VIII j. Davis, manager of the the
alter. said after the catastrophe. that
ii the people had remained in their
seats and had not been excited by the
cry of fire and other noises, not sim
gle life would have been lost. This Is,
however, contradicted by the f1remen.
who found numbers of people sitting In
their seats, their faces directed toward
the stage as IL the performance was
still going on. 1t was the opinion of
the firenien that these people had been
suffocated at once by the flow of gas
which came from the asbestos curtain.
AS near as can be estimated at the
present time. about nineteen hundred
persons were in the theater. Three
hundred of these were on the first
floor, the remainder being in the bal
comics, and in the aisles back of them.
How the Tragedy Happened.
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris, and from the
rear of each balcony there are three
doors leading out to the passageways
toward the front of the theater. Two
of these doorways are at the end Of the
balcony, one being in the center
Most OF the spectators in the rush for
the outer air seem TO have chosen to
flee to the left entrance and to attempt
to make stheir way down the eastern
stairway leading Into tho lobby. Out
side of the people burned and suffo-
Gated by gas, 1t was IN these two
doorways on the first and second bal
comics that the greatest loss of life oc-
CURED. When the firemen entered the
building the dead were found stretched
in a pile reaching from the head of
the stairway at least eight feet from
the door back to a point about five
feet in the rear of the door.
This mass of bodies in the center of
the doorway reached within two feet of
the Intel. All the corpses at this point
were women and children. Hare fight
for life took place that dismembered
many persons in death. This is shown
by the aspect of the bodies as they lay
when found.
Women on top of these masses of
dead had been overtaken by death as
they crawled on hands and knees over
the bodies of those who had died be-
fore Others lay with arms stretched
out in. the direction toward which lay
life and safety, holding in their hands
fragments of garments not their own.
They had evidently been torn from the
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