The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-31

taken out, two men, a boy and a little
girl about Is years old, woman was
also taken out with her face so badly
burned that she could not be rec
ognized. A man who jumped from the
third story window was taken to the
emergency hospital in an unconscious
condition.
Fire Marshal Musham, who has just
been up to the balcony, says it looks to
him as If there were two or three hun
bred people lying piled up on the floors
of the two upper balconies.
He could not say whether they were
alive or dead. In one place there SEEM
ed to be over a hundred. He is going up
and down in front of the theater urging
his men for Gods sake to go upstairs
and bring the people down. Numbers of
dremen rushed up in the smoke and
are now bringing people down, most of
them unconscious and some crushed.
Some of these people were suffocated
from smoke, but none of them were
thrown down during the panic which
ensued when some one cried: "Eire!"
Manager Davis said that most of the
actors were accounted for, but that a
number of the minor employees were
missing. He said that the cry of "Firel''
created a panic and that this accounted
for SO many people losing their lives.
Nine injured persons arrived at the
Samaritan hospital within 20 minutes
after the first fire broke out.
At 4:40 p m. it was estimated that at
least so dead bodies had been rescued
from the fire. The bodies were taken to
near by stores and every possible avail
able place.
PEOPLE IN PILES.
Though the fire broke out in the stage
there was apparently little protection for
the audience. Women and children were
piled out of the doors, but the flames
gained rapidly and it was a considera BILE
time before a large number of people
could leave the building. Meanwhile
special calls and a general alarm had
summoned a large number of fire en-
gines.
Chief Marshal Musham took personal
charge of the fire when he arrived. Mar
shall Musham found the theater balco-
MES still occupied by many persons, and
he promptly directed the firemen in
raising ladders to the upper exits in or
der to save the persons imprisoned
there. Two little girls, their hands and
faces blistered, were among the first
taken from the balconies.
At this time it was estimated that be-
tween six and ten persons were dead
within the theater At the same time
persons were being carried from both
the front and the rear of the theater.
The fire apparently was gaining upon the
firemen. who were having the greatest
difficulty in gaining entrance because of
the crowds.
Three additional bodies were quickly
removed from the building, one of a
were taken to a feed store nearby. The
child was found buried and trampled
to death on the first floor. The women
were found close to the child While
the dead bodies were being recovered
Is persons were stretched on tables in
Thompson's restaurant not far distant,
many of them believed to be dying.
CUT OFF FROM RETREAT.
1t was reported that 20 persons in
the balcony were cut off from retreat
and probably persisted in the flames
The firemen found at the head of the
stairs leading to the balcony a large
number of people piled up six or eight
feet high SO tangled together that the
policemen and firemen had to drag
them out by main force
At 4:40 o'clock 80 bodies had been
carried from the theater into Thomp-
sons restaurant, one door east OF
these fully 80 were dead.
LOSS OF LIFE AT STAIRWAY.
The loss of life was greatest at the
foot of the stairways from the upper
balconies At that point the bodies of
the flames were piled fully IL feet
deep. The bodies were taken out as
rapidly as the men could enter the
smoke filled corridors and grasp their
awful load.
With over go bodies recovered from
the theater, conservative estimates OF
the firemen were that there were at
least two hundred more persons inside,
EiTPnPn
and policemen said that inside the bal
comics the bodies were piled five feet
high. In nearly every instance the
bodies were fearfullY burned and the
hair singed to the scalp.
FIRE IS EXTINGUISHFD
At AS D. m. the fire was out.
At AS p. M Chief Musham of the
hre department said that from per-
sonal investigation he believed that
there We're fully 300 to 500 dead bodies
IF he
Three dead women were carried
across ladder which was stretched
across the alley from the rear of the
theater to the fremont building. Most
OF the people who escaped from the
balcony We're rescued in this manner
a number were showing faint signs
or life and it was impossible to tell at
first glance whether about one dozen
OF them We're dead or alive They were
mostly the bodies of young women
under 20 years old and children from
to II The bodies were placed on the
floor, on chairs. tables and one Young
woman in dripping garments was
stretched along the cigar case. All
the large dry goods stores of the CITY
which were situated within two
squares of the theater, Fields. Man
defs, Carson-Piere- SCOTS, ScheIsinper
and Meyer and the Boston store as
soon as they heard of the emergency.
sent wagon load after wagon load Of
blankets, linen. and cotton for band
ages. All of their teams were placed
at the disposal of the authorities and
were utilized in conveying the wound
ed to hospitals or to the Offices of
nearby physicians. Within Is minutes
after the fire broke out. fully so physi-
clans were on the scene and trained
nurses seemed to spring from the
ground, SO rapidly did they appear.
As soon as a body was taken into
! Thompson's or one of the neighboring
stores it was examined with a r+a+ba
scope for signs of life.
FIVE HUNDRED DEAD.
At p. m. the police estimated that
500 persons either lost their lives or