Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-12-31

hundred of Ihese were on tho iirst floor,
the rrmunder being IN the balconies
and M the Railways back of them.
The theater Is modelled after the
Opera Comique In Paris, and from the
rear Of each balcony there are three
doors leading out 10 passageways to-
ward the front Of the theater. Two, OF
these dorways are at the end OF the
balcony end one being In the center.
RUSH FOR EXITS.
The audience IN Its rush for the outer
air seems TO have chosen, for the great
en- part, to flee TO the left entrance and
TO attempt 10 make its way down tina
eastern stairway leading into the lobby
OF the theater.
Outside of the people burned and suf-
located by gas. II was in these two
doorways on the flrst and second ball
comics that the greatest loss Of life oo-
cured
DEAD HEAPED UP.
Whom the tiremen entered the build
ing the dead We're found stretched In
pile reaching from the head of the
stairway at least eight feet from the
door back to point about 1--WE feet in
the rear of the door,
cir of the doorway reached TO within
two feet OF the top of the passageway.
All OF the corpses at this point were
women and children.
The fight for life which must have
taken place at these two points Is some
thing that is simply beyond human
power TO adequately describe, Only a
faint idea OF It's horror could be de-
rived from the aspect or the bodies as
they lay.
Women on top Of these masses Of
dead had been overtaken by death as
they were crawling on their hands and
knees over the bodies Of those who had
died before.
HOW THE DEAD LAY.
Others lay with arms stretched out
In the direction toward which lay life
and safety, holding in their hands frag-
ments OF garments not their own. They
were evidently torn from the clothing
Of others whom they had endeavored TO
pull down and trample Under foot as
they fought for their own lives.
AS the police removed layer after
layer of dead In those doorways the
SIGHT became too much even for the
police and flremen, hardened as they
are TO such sights, to endure.
The bodies were In such an lnextrica-
Bile mass and so tightly were they
iammed between the sides OF the door
and the walls that 1t was impossible TO
lift them one by one and carry them
out.
PULLING BODIES OUT.
The only possible thing to do was to
seize limb or some other portion OF
k.stt a
Men worked al the task with tears run
ming down their checks, and the sobs
OF the rescuers could be heard even IN
the hall below where this awful scene
was being enacted.
A number of the men were com
PEELED to abandon their tasks and give
them over to others whose nerves had
not as yet been shaken by the awful
experience. AS one by one the bodies
were dragged out Of the water-soakcd,
b,ackened mass Of corpses, the spec
tacie became more and more heart
rending.
TRAMPLED INTO A PULP.
There were women whose clothing
was torn completely from their bodies
above the waist, whose bosoms had
been trampled into n pulp and whose
faces were marred beyond all hope OF
Identification.
Many were bent over backs OF seats
where they had been thrown by me
rush OF people for the doors and killed
with hardly n chance to rise from their
seats.
WOMAN CUT IN TWAIN.
Ono man was found with his back
bent nearly double, his spinal column
having been fractured as he was
thrown backward. A woman was
found nearly cut In half by the back
OF the seat, she having been toreeu
over IL face downward.
In the aisles nearest to the doors the
scenes were narrowing in the extreme
Bodies lay In every conceivable h,ti-
tude, half-naked, the look on 'the,r
faces realizing some portion OF tne
agony which must have preceded 'heir
death.
FACES TRAMPLED OFF.
There were scores and scores of peo-
ule whose entire faces had been tram.
pled off by the heels of those VINO had
rushed over them, and In one aisle the
body OF a man was found with not
yestiee of clothing, flesh or bone re-
matning above the waist line
The entire upper portion or MS pody
had been cut into mince meat and car
ried away by the feet of those VINO had
trainpled on him,
A search was made carefully with a
hone OF finding his head, but at late
hour tonight 1t had not been discovered
and ali that will ever tell his friends
who he was Is the color and appearance
of the clothing on the lower limbs, ana
this Is In such condition as 10 NC
hardly recognizable.
MoRGUE KEEPERS ESTIMATES.
According 20 the morgue keepers
there are 1892 bodies at 1--WE OF the NOR
cues and at st. Luke's hospital. hotn-
ston's. $50, Jordan'e, Is; Sarrolls, Sd'
Gavin's. 20; county, 49, ST. Luke's nos
pital, 20, IA
Tbe crowds around Rothston's and
Jordan's are so large that II is impos-
slble to get the excited people into line
10 view the dead.
Therefore, the crowd was notified that
no one would be admitted tonight TO see
II they could identify their relatives or
friends. Only one body was identified
at the county morgue'
NO ESCAPE LADDERS.
The theater had been constructed but
a short time and its equipment was not
all yet In place. This included, uIlior'
tunately, q fire escape in the rear OF the
building. The small iron balconies 10
which the iron ladder was TO be at
tached were up. but the ladder hau
not yet been constructed.
When the panic was at Its height .
great number OF women ran for these
fire escapes only to md as they emerged
from the doorway upon the little iron
platform that they We're 80 TO % fee'
from the ground fire behind and no
method OF escape In front. THOSE Who
reached the platform first endeavored
10 hold their footing and to keep back
the crowd that pressed upon them from
the rear
WOMEN SCREAM AND FIGHT.
The effort was utterly useless, and IN
81 few moments the iron lodges were
tamuad with crowds of women, VINO