Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-12-31

Ee rear Of the door.
This mass Of dead bodies in the con
ter Of the doorway reached to within
two feet of the top Of the passaEcway.
Ali Of the corpses az this point were
women and children. The fight for life
which must have taken place at these
two points is something that is simply
beyond human power adequately to de-
t,ribe. Only Il faint idea Of its horror
csgld be derived from the aspect Of tic
bodies as they lay. Women N top Of
these masses Of dead had been over
taken by death as they were crawling
on their hands and knees over the bod
les Of those who had died before.
The bodies were in such an ineXtrica-
bic mass and so tightly were they jam
med between the sides Of the door and
the walls that it was impossible TO lift
them n 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 run
ming down their checks, and the scbs
of the rescuers could be heard even in
the hall below where this awful scene
was being e=acted. y number OF the
men were compelled to abandon their
task and give it yer 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, blacliened
mass of corpses the spectacle became
more and more heartrenling. There
were ZONE whose clothing was torn
completely from their bodies above the
waist, whose bosoms had been tram
pied into Il pulp and whose faces were
marred beyond Identification.
The theater had been constructed but
a short time, and all its equipment was
Eot yet in place. This was unfortunate
ly the case with Il fire escape in the
rear Of the Building. The small iron
balconies 10 which the iron ladders
were 10 be attached were IN, but the
! ladders had not yet been constructed.
When. the panic was at its height a
great number OF ome ran for these
ire escapes. only TO find as they
| emerged from the doorway Upon the
| little iron platform that they were tllir-
! ~ 10 fifty feet from the ground, a fire
| behind and no method of escape in
front.
Those who reached the platform frs,
| underworld to hold their footing and TO
keep back Gle crowd that pressed upon
them from the rear. The effort was ut
| terly useless, and in a few moments
| the iron Lodges were damned with
crowds of women. who screamed.
| fought and tore at each other like ma
macs. This lasted but a brief interval.
and the rush from the interior Of the
building became so violent that many
of them were crowded off and fell TO
the granite pavement below. Others
leapcd from the platform, fracturinS
legs and arms, and two were picked
up at this point with fractured skulls,
having been killed instantly.
Eddie Foy, principal comedian in the
play, was one of the last to escape by
getting ont through a rear door after
assisting the women members Of the
company to safety. He went into the
Sherman House in his stage costume
and with his face covered with grease
paint in order to ecure surgical at
tendance for some burns which he had
sustained. In describing the com
mencement of the fire Foy attributed
the extent of the catastrophe to the
failure of the freproof curtain 10 work
properly. Because of this, he said, the
1 q, ~ rr,1i1r ,11tafnp1 aor1cc tn TIA
main part Of the thoater and were by
the draft, carrying with it gas as well
as fire, swept up to the two balconies,
where the loss Of life was greatest.
The building in which the calamity
occurred stands midway between State
and Dearborn streets on the north side
of Randolph street. Although every
available policeman within call of the
I department was Immediately hurried
to the spot and the men placed in lines
at the ends of the block, allowing no.
body to enter Randolph street from eli
ther Dearborn or State street, it was
found for a time almost impossible to
hold back the frenzied crowd that
pressed forward, many Of them having
friends or relatives in the theater and
anxious to learn something Of them.
Although all the patrol wagons and
every ambulance owned by the city
was pressed into service, they were
utterly inadequate to carry away the
dead. and in Il short time there was Il
line of corpses fifty feet long piled two
and three feet high on the sidewalk in
front of the theater. 1t was found nee
essary in order TO convey the bodies
rapidly to the morgue and to the varl-
Gus undertaking establishments to
press trucks into service, and in these
upon costly blankets furnished by the
dry goods stores in the vicinity and
covered with the same material the
dead were hauled away practically like
so much cordwood.
Mr.. Edward Butler. who escaped
| from the burning theater and after
ward saved a lot of lives, said;
stV-o norpb+ hold of fhn haDdipS of n