The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-01-06

taken by death as they were crawling
on hands and knees over the bodies OF
those who had died before. Others lay
with arms stretched out in the dlrec-
tion toward which lay life and safety,
holding in their hands fragments OF
garments not their own.
They we're evidently torn from
others, whom they had endeavored to
pull down and trample under foot as
they fought for their own lives AS
the police and fremen removed layer
AFTER layer of dead in these doorways
the sight became too much even for
them, hardened as they are to such
scenes, to endure. The bodies were IN
such an inextricable mass, and so
tightly were they jammed between the
sides Of the door and the walls, that it
was impossible to lift them one by one
and carry them out. The only posi-
BILE thing to do was to seize limb or
some other portion Of the body and
pull with main strength.
Men worked at the task with tears
running down their cheeks, and the
sobs of the rescuers could be heard
even in the hall below where this aw-
full scene was being enacted. a num-
ber of the men were compelled to
abandon their task and give it.over to
others whose nerves had not as yet
been shaken by the awful experience.
As, one by one, the bodies were drag
ged ont of the water-soaked blackened
mass Of corpses, the spectacle became
more and more heart-rending. There
! were women whose clothing was torn
completely from their bodies above the
waist, whose bosoms had been tram
pied into pulp and whose faces were
| marred beyond all power OF Identifies
| tion.
Bodies lay in the first and second
balconies in great numbers. In some
places they were piled up in the aisles
three and four deep, where one had
fallen and others tripped over the
PROSTATE forms, and all had died
| where they lay, evidently sufocated
| by the gas. Others were bent over the
backs of seats, where they had been
thrown by the rush of people for the
doors and killed, with hardly a chance
| to rise from their seats. One man was
| found with his back bent nearly
double, his spinal column having been
fractured as he was thrown backward.
i A woman was found cut nearly IN
| half by the back Of the seat, she hav-
! ing been forced over it face downward.
| In the aisles nearest to the doors
| the scenes were narrowing in the ex-
! treme. Bodies lay in every conceivable
attitude, half-naked, the look OF their
faces revealing some portion OF the
agony which must have preceded their
| death. There were scores and scores
| OF people whose entire faces had been
trampled completely off by the heels
of those who rushed over them, and IN
one aisle the body of.a man was found
with not vestige of clothing, flesh
or bone remaining above his waist
line. The entire upper portion of his
body had been cut into mincemeat and
! carried away by the feet Of those who
trampled him. A search was carefully
made with hope of finding his head.
| but at late hour tonight it had not
been discovered, and all that will tell
his friends who he was is the color and
appearance of the clothing on the lower
limbs, and this is in such condition
as to be hardly recognizable.
The theatre had been constructed
| but a short time and all of it's equip
| ment was not yet in place. This was
unfortunately the case with fire es-
cape in the rear of the building. The
| small iron balconies to which the iron
ladder vas to be attached were up,
but the ladder had rot yet been con-
structed. When the panic was at its
height great number Of women ran
for these fire escapes, only to find as
they emerged from the doorway upon
the little iron platform that they were
thirty to fifty feet from the ground, a
| fire behind and no method of escape
in front. Those who reached the plat
| form first endeavored to hold their
footing and keep back the crowd that
| pressed upon them from the rear. The
effort was utterly useless and in few
moments the iron ledges we're jammed
with crowds OF women who screamed,
fought and tore at each other like
maniacs. This lasted but a brief in
tervaL and the rush from the interior
of the building became so violent that
many of them were crowded off and
fell to the granite paved alley below.
Several leaped from the platform,
fracturing legs and arms, and two
were picked up at this point with
fractured skulls, having been killed
instantly.
George q. Elliott, secretary of the
Ogden Gas Company, was in build
ing directly opposite from the theatre
across this alley. and, noticing smoke,
went down to ascertain it's cause.
When he reached the street the women
were already dropping into the alley,
and Elliott Immediately rushed for a
ladder in the effort to save as many as
possible. No ladder was available and
the only method of assistance they
were able to devise was to hurriedly
lash some planks together and throw
them across, the end lying firmly on
the iron framework. Before this could
be done fearful loss of time had en-
sued, the women were being pushed
over every instant into the alley, and
by the time the bridge was construct
| ed hut few remained to take adVan-