The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1904-01-08

was burning.
STORY OF THE HORROR
Scenes Described by People Who Took
Part in Them at the Burning
sf Theater.
Chicago. Dec. Sl.-William C. Sellers,
house f1reman of the 1roquois theater,
who was severely burned in trying to
lower the asbestos curtain, describes
the scene on the stage and the cause Of
the fire, as follows:
i was standing in the wings when 1
heard the explosion, and then immedi-
ately afterward a cry Of fire on the
stage and all over the theater. Look
ing up. I saw that the curtain was
ablaze, and at once ran for the fire
curtain. We got 1t half way down,
when the wind. rushing in from the
broken skylights, bellied it out so that
IT caught and we could not bulge 1t.
With the stage hands I climbed to
where it was suspended, and together
we tried to push it down. Our efforts
We're futile, and seeing that ne man
could move the fire curtain and that
the stage was a mass Of flames. I
turned my attention to warning the
actors and trying to save those who
were In trouble. The women were fran
tic, n the men not much better. I
stood at the stairway leading to the
dressing rooms Where the chorus girls
We're, and kept some from going up to
get their street clothes. AS the others
came down I forced them TO leave the
building. 1 don't know how they ever
got out, all those girls and men, who
came cr0Waing down the stairs, for the
stage entrance was blocked by a mass
of hames.'s
A Heroic Bishop.
Among the hundreds OF persons who
rushed to the rescue when the call of
Ilre was heard on the streets was
Bishop Samuel Fallows. who was pass
ing he heater. Without hesitation he
mad his way through the darkness
and smoke to the top gallery and as
sisted in carrying u the victims.
God forbid that I ever again see
such, a h~eartrending sight" said the
bishop last night. II have Deer in
but in all my experience I have never
seen anything half so grewsome as the
sight that met my eyes when, with
the aid OF a tiny lantern, l was finally
able to penetrate the inky darkness Of
that balcony. There was a pile of
twisting n bleeding bodies ten feet
high, with blackened faces and REM
eAAl VI SlidIIed SlOt11luS ClIIlSlu6 10
them. Some were alive and moaning
in their agony. Others, and by far the
greater number, were dead"
The presence of children, hundreds
of whom We're in the audience, and the
efforts of frantic mothers to save their
young caused much Of the pandemon-
iun.
Alexander H. Reven, who had sent
his little daughter Margaret with a
friend. In IphoJpa Of q ,o,ot1' tn acna fhn
performance, heard Of the fire soon af-
ter 1t started.
He drove hurriedly from his store to
the burning theater. One Of the first
persons he encountered was the maid,
who informed him that the two chill
dren had been saved without injury.
Mr.. Revell then FASTENED into the the
alter and participated in the rescue.
Horrors Of the Balconies.
:" worked in the p balconies"
said he. "The sight Of those
and their little children, with their
clenched fists raised as though trying
to beat their way to safety, and then
stricken down in the very act, is too
horrible to attempt to describe. l as
sisted In carrying down more than
twenty bodies."
Sheriff Barrett and a score OF depu-
ties assisted in carrying cut injured
people and keeping order among the
mob OF frantic relatives.
Il have never before witnessed such
a scene in all my life" said Sheriff
Barrett. "On all sides We're heaps OF
mangled and charred humanity. We
carried out SO nan injured and dead
that we were unable to keep count Of
them. Crazed men fought to get with
in the corridors. thinking to Sind their
loved ones among the piles of corpscs.
Men stood on the sidewalk and called
loudly the Of wives and children,
as though the dead might hear Them
e. Leasitt, ticket taker at the the
alter. was at the main entrance. He
burst open the three double doors and
then ran to turn in a fire alarm.
II heard the cry and saw the crowd
rushing for the door," said he. II
could not see the fire, and I did not
think 1t, was SO bad as 1t really was.
When the first Of the frenzied audi
ence reached the outside door I tried to
calm them. but in less than a minute
saw that 1t was no use, and / burst
open the doors. Then I al for a fire
alarm box. Coming back, l assisted in
the rescue as much as | could, but was
overrun with the terrified crowd that
the doorway, and I was caught in the
mass Of struggling humanity and ,ar-
ried out to the street."
Miss ~Plamondon's Description
A theater party given by Miss Char
Iotte e. Plamondon Of Chicago had a
narrow escape. The party was made
up II a number of Chicago young
women and Miss Elsie fillmore Of AS
toria, Ore. and Miss Mary Peters OF
Columbus, O. Miss Plamondon was
the first Of her party to notice the fire.
She called the attention Of other mem-
bers Of her party to the blaze, and
they watched it. Miss PlamondQn said:
II could see little girls and boys in
the orchestra chairs pointing upward
to the slowly moving line of flame.
One of the stage hands, wearing over
alls, appeared before the footlights and
requested the audience to keep their
seats, as there was no danger. Eddie
Foy then hurried to the front Of the
stage II commanded the people to
remain calm, saying hat II they would
keep their seat the danger would be
ayerted. The curtain, however. still
burned, pieces Of h smoldering cloth
falling into the orchestra pit. An eff
fort was made by the stage hands to
ran the curtain SO that the blazing
fragments dropped in h pit. | looked
over the faces of the audience n re-
no ,lx an how many children were pres