The Dickinson press., 1904-01-02

DICKINSON
certain, but the best reason given Is
that an electric wire near the lower
part Of piece Of drop scenery, sud.
denly broke and was grounded. The
fire spread rapidly toward the front Of
the stage, causing the members of the
chorus who were then engaged in the
performance, to fee to the wings with
screams of terror. The fire in itself
up to this time was not serious and
possibly could have been checked had
not the asbestos curtain failed to work.
ASBESTOS CURTAIN STUCK
WHEN HALF WAY DOWN.
As soon as the fire was discovered
Eddie Foy, the chief comedian of the
company, shouted to lower the curtain,
and this was Immediately done. 1t
descended about half way and stuck.
The fire thus was given practically
flue through which strong draft was
been thre wn open in the front Of the
theater.
With roar and bound, the flames
shot through the opening over the
heads of people on the first floor and
reaching clear up to those in the first
balcony, caught them and burned
them to death where they sat.
Immediately following this rush of
flames there came an explosion which
lifted the entire roof of the theater
from it's walls, shattering the great
skylight into fragments. AS soon as
the flames first appeared beyond the
curtain a man In the rear of the hall
shouted "Fire, fre!" and the entire
audience rose as one person and made
for the doors.
It is believed that the explosion was
caused by the flames coming in con-
tact with the gas reservoirs of the
theater, causing them to burst.
Will j. Davis, manager of the thea
ter, said after the catastrophe that if
the people had remained in their seats
and had not been excited by the cry
of fire, not a single life would have
been lost. This is, however, contra
dicted by the statements Of the fire.
men, who found numbers of people
sitting in their seats, their faces di-
rected toward the stage as If the per-
formance were still going on. 1t was
the opinion of the firemen that these
people had been suffocated at once by
the flow of gas which came from be-
hind the asbestos curtain.
ABOUT Thirteen HUNDRED
PEOPLE IN THE PLAYHOUSE.
AS near as can be estimated about
1900 people we're in the theater. Three
hundred of these were on the first
floor, the balance being in the two up
per balconies, and in the Railways
back OF them.
The theater Is modelled after the
| Opera Comique in Paris and from the
rear of each balcony are three doors
leading out to passageways toward
| the front of the theater. Two OF
these doorways are at the end of the
balcony and one being in the center
The audience in it's rush for the outer
air seems to have, for the greater
part chosen to flee to the left en-
trance and to attempt to make its way
down the eastern stairway leading in
to the lobby Of the theater.
| OULoluc VI tuS pCopiC OuiAOu hAu
suffocated by gas, 1t was in these two
doorways on the first and second bal
comics that the greatest loss of life
occurred. When the firemen entered
l the building, the dead were founc
stretched In pile reaching from the
head of the stairway at least eigh1
feet from the door back to a point
about five feet in rear of the door
This mass of dead bodies in the cen
ter Of the doorway reached to Withir
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
something that is simply beyond hu
man power to adequately describe
Only a faint idea of its horrors coult
be derived from the aspect Of the
bodies as they lay,
WOMEN ARE AsPHYxiATED
WHILE CRAWLING ON DEAD
Women on top of these masses o
dead had been overtaken by death a:
they were crawling on their hands ant
knees over the bodies of those wht
had died before. Others lay witt
arms stretched out in the direction to
ward which lay life and safety hold
ing in their hands fragments of gar
menrs not their own. They were evi
IDENTIFY torn from the clothing Of 9th
ers whom they had endeavored to pul
down and trample under foot as the!
fought for their own lives.
AS the police removed layer afte
layer of dead in these doorways, tn
sight became too much even for po
lice and firemen, hardened as they arr
to such scenes, to endure.
The bodies were in such an mex
tricable mass, and so tightly were the!
jammed between the sides Of the doc
and the walls that it was impossible
to lift them one by one and carr!
they out The only possible thing tt
do was to seize limb or some othe
portion Of the body and pull with mail
strength. Men worked at the tasl
with tears streaming down thei
cheeks and the sobs of the rescuer
could be heard even in the hall below
where this awful scene was beinl
enacted. A number of the men wer
compelled to abandon their task AM
|
had not as vet been shaken by the aw
full experience.
BODIES ARE CRUSHED INTO
sHAPELEss PULP OF FLESH
| AS one by one the bodies wer
dragged out Of the water-soaked
blackened mass Of corpses, the spec
tacle became more and more heart
rending There were women who's
clothing was torn completely fron
their bodies above the waist, who's
bosoms had been trampled into pul
and whose faces were marred beyon
all power Of identification.
Bodies lay in the first and secon
balconies in great numbers. In som
places they were piled up in the aisle
three and four deep. where one ha
fallen and others trpped over tn
PROSTATE forms, and all had die
where they lay. evidently suffocate
hv tho pas Others were bent Ove