The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-01

mother about this of me. I'm all right,
/ am. 1t was a fire. That's what 1t was"
+ 7
The woman who assisted in caring for
the wounded in Thompson's restaurant
spoke of a young girl on a table near the
quick-witted boy mentioned. The doctor
discovered in his fair patient a spark of
life.
''strychnia. quick" he said to the nurse.
ION my way back 1 stumbled over some
thing soft. The horror of 1t will be with
me always. L had stumbled over a dead
man."
1.-THE girls hands were cold-as cold as
snow. Chafe them, said the doctor, and
L did so. Already they were stiffening.
Upon one slender finger was a pretty SOli-
delicate body was laid with a pile of dead"
T + r
I'm the most grateful man in all Chi
cago,' said John r. Thompson, who owns
the restaurant. My sister was in the
theater with my two children, John, aged
nine, and Ruth, aged seven. She almost
got to the door with both of them when
Ruth disappeared. My sister told me she
knew that the child must be safe, but L
ran around like a maniac for an hour be-
fore 1 found her. How IL happened | don't
know, but she ran back into the theater
anu Jul uIlu llG 0Nd6Cb AtAON6A AN Sld6C
entrance"
Walter Zeisler, seventeen years old, son
of Mr.. and Mrs. Zigmund Zeisler. is among
the missing. He is a nephew of Fanny
loomfel Zeisler, the famous p~ianiste.
Mrs. B. L. Stoddard, of Minonka. Ill.
lay all morning at the Auditorium Annex
in a semi-conscious condition, grieving
ox-o~ A. L.. H. a,,-Lta Z,,IoI ond
Donald, a six-year-old son. Mrs. Stoddard
purchased tickets for herself, daughter
and son for the matinee. but later became
indisposed and did not attend the per-
Torrance. Her son and daughter went and
both were burned to death. AS soon as Mrs.
that her children would be burned to death.
She spent hours In a f~rultless search for
their bodies and would probably not nave
returned TO her hotel had she not been COM
PEELED by friends. But a short time after
her return to the Auditorium the bodies
of the boy and girl were identified in one
of the morgues. Mrs. StOddard returned
TO Minonka late this afternoon, taking the
bodies of her children with her.
7
A party consisting of Mrs. Lucy earn.
her two children. Frank, ten years old, and
Willie, six years old, Harriet Wolfe, ten
years old, laughter of Ludwick Wolfe, a
millionaire business man, and Miss Burke,
a dressmaker, are dead. Mr.. Wolfe's entire
family searched all night through the hos
pitfalls and mOrgues, but failed to find a
trace of any member of the party. To-day
the bodies of Mrs. earn. Frank earn and
Willie earn were identified among the dead.
AT the Great Northern Hotel are two of
the injured who have lost friends in the
catastrophe. They are Mrs. Fred Koehler,
of Chicago Heights, H., who escaped with
IL - - - -
lost her two daughters. Mrs. A Paulzein,
of Knox, Ind, who is a friend of Mrs.
Koehler, went to the theater with her, and
she. like Mrs. Koehler, escaped with burns.
but lost her daughter.
At the Stratford Hotel are Mrs. F.. NJ.
White and her mother, Mrs. NJ. c. Yawkey,
of Marquette, Mich. They had seats in the
balcony of the theater and had an almost
miraculous escape from death. Our seats
were on the extreme right of the balcony
said Mrs. White, ''in the second row. We
were in a position to see the light that
caused the fire. 1t began to splutter and
sparks from it flew upon a red drapery that
was continually swaying to and fro in the
draft of the stage. The sparks from the
light caught this drapery and a small flame
shot out upon it. Efforts were made to put
this out. but 1t spread to other pieces Of
scenery and finally the top and sides of the
stage Were in flames. Some one on the
stage had been telling the audience not to be
alarmed, but when the blaze spread up into
the flies and an attempt was made TO lower
the asbestos curtain l thought ii was time to
move. 1 turned to pick up our wraps, and
when l again looked toward the stage the
lower part Of the theater looked like a mass
of flames, which shot out from the stage.
/ took my mothers arm and We made our
way TO the aisle. where we heard an usher
saying, Turn TO the left and make your
mo- ont , ATn f-r~nnI q Fha nff 81 60
form.S We were by this time in the
midst of a perfect jam OF people who
seemed TO be too thoroughly dazed to be
panic-stricken. i locke down the fire.
escape stairway and saw about halfway
down on an iron shutter opened directly
outward and blocking the fre-escape 80
that but one person could squeeze by 1t at
a time. 1 remember thinking that if l could
only get TO that shutter | would push it
back and clear the stairway. When we
reached il did so, but Ii sprung across the
way again, and when my mother tried TO
force her way by her skirt caught upon IT
and held her firmly, nor would the door it
self move. The crowd behind was pushing
us and we were unable to retreat and re-
lease my mother. Soon a powerful man
grasped her around the waist and tore her
loose from the door and forced it back out
Of the way. A few steps from the bottom
OF the ladder a fireman took her in his
arms aud carried her to the ground. /
made my way down unassisted."
Miss Wilma Hensey. of the Auditorium
Hotel. with Miss Rose Moody, Of Chicago.
and Miss Marguerite Apgar, of Ratoon.
N. NJ, were among the spectators on the
main floor. They became separated when
they tried TO leave the theater. and in max
ing a turn in the aisle at the end OF the
row of seats i'm which they had been sit
ting Miss Hensey. in trying TO avoid step
ping upon a woman who had been thrown
TO the floor, was herself tripped up and Sc
verely trampled upon before she regained
her feet. Several people were thrown on
top OF her and two men walked over her,
one stepping upon her head and the other
upon her right hand. She regained her feet
finally and reached the lobby, where she
! tainted and was carried 10 the street by the
hremen. Miss Moody and Miss Apgar also
escaped, both Of them badly bruised and
with their clothing torn TO shreds.
Among those In the theater were three
prominent society girls of Kenwood, the
most aristocratic portion OF the South Side
| Of the city. They were Miss Irene Cum