The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-31

ways, the sight became too much even
for them, hardened as they are to such
scenes, to endure. The bodies were in
such an inextricable mass and so tight
ly were they jammed between the sides
of the door and the walls that it was
impossible to lift them one by one and
carry them out. The only possible thing
to do was to seize a limb or some other
portion of the body and pull with main
strength. Men worked at the task with
tears running down their cheeks. and
the sobs of the rescuers could be heard
even in the hall below, where this aw-
full scene was being enacted. A num-
Der of the men were compelled to
abandon their task and give it over to
others, whose nerves had not as yet
been shaken by the awful experience.
AS one by one the bodies were drag
ged out of the water-soaked blackened
mass of corpses, the spectacle became
more and more heartrending.
Bodies Torn, TrampIed and De-
nuded.
There were women whose clothing
was torn completely from their bodies
above their waists. while their bosoms
had been trampled into pulp, and
whose faces were married beyond all
power of identification. Bodies lay in
the first and second balconies in great
numbers. In some places they were
piled up in the aisles three and four
deep, where one had fallen and others
tripped over the PROSTATE FORMS and
all had died where they lay, evidently
suffocated by the gas.
Others were bent over backs of seats,
where they had been thrown by the
rush of people for the doors, and killed
with hardly a chance to rise from
their seats.
One man was found with his back
bent nearly double, his spinal column
having been fractured as he was
thrown backward.
woman was found, cut nearly in
half by the back of the seat, she hav-
ing been forced over it face down.
ward.
In the aisles nearest to the doors the
scenes were narrowing in the extreme.
Bodies lay in every conceivable atti-
tude, half naked, the look on their
faces revealing some portion of the
agony which must have preceded their
death.
There were scores and scores of peo-
pie whose entire faces had been
trampled completely off by the heels
of those who rushed over them, and
in one aisle the body of a man was
found with not a vestige Of clothing
flesh or bone remaining above his
waist line. The entire upper portion
of his body had been cut into noince-
meat and carried away by the feet of
those who trampled him. A search
was carefully made with a hone of
finding his head, but at late hour to
night it had not been discovered. and
all that will tell his friends who he
was is the color and appearance Of the
clothing on the lower limbs, and this is
in such a condition as to be hardly
recognizable.
Rush for Fire Escapes.
The theater had been constructed but
a short time. and all OF it's equipment
was not yet in place. This was I'M
fortunately the case with a fire escape
in the rear OF the building. The small
iron balconies TO which the iron ladder
was to be attached were up. but the
ladder had not yet been constructed.
When the panic was az lie hight a
great number OF women ran for these
FIRE escapes only 10 md a. they emsrg-
ed from the doorway upon the 1T
tls iron platform that thsy we're thir-