Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1904-01-07


theater.
The scenes around the office of the
managers was pathetic in the extreme.
1t was constant succession Of tragic
episodes.
Eyewitness Describes Scene.
William A. Brady, the we'll known
New York theatrical manager, who
was in the audience at the time the
fire started said last night:
Il had just got in from New York
and reached the theater not more than
fifteen minutes before the fire broke
out. It was one Of the biggest audi.
ences I ever saw, and was unable to
secure a seat. l was standing near
the door when, looking up, saw that
the calcium light apparatus was out
Of order. Some one came on the stage
and assured the audience that there
was no danger and for them to keep
their seats. Then q ballet dancer
csme on and performed, but in another
second the whole balcony seemed to
DO In flames. Every one down stairs
rushed for the doors, and as far as
know no one In that part of the house
was killed. It was upstairs, where tho
smoke blown by the strong draft that
came through the skylights, where
death was dealt out to hundreds be-
fore they realized what had happened.
Such panic as followed
The First Cry Of Fire
l have never seen in all my life. The
stairways and exits became damned
with fighting humanity in a moment.
and the shrieks and means Of the poor
people cut off from all escape was the
most awful thing imaginable. 1t can
only be likened to Dante's Inferno.
With two companions l tried to reach
the balcony but we were driven back
by the suffocating smoke and were un-
able to accomplish anything until the
f1remen had. extinguished the flames.
Hundreds of persons joined the res
cuers, and from one Of the entrances
to the balcony we removed $50 bodies
by actual count. They were damned
and twisted together in all shapes.
Many of the women and children had
been stripped almost. naked in their
mad efforts to escape from the living
tomb. II the audience had not become
pan!c-strickcn l am sure not more than
fifty persons would have been killed or
injured, as all the bodies helped to
remove from the place were those OF
persons who had boe2. killed in the
terrible JAM
Bodice i-i!ed Ten Feet High.
Among the hundreds Of people who
rushed to the rescue when the call Of
fire was heard OF. the streets was
Bishop O'Fallows, who happened to be
passing the theater. Without fear or
hesitation he made his way through
the darkness that was intensified Ivy
the volume of smoke that filed the
auditorium to the top gallery and as
sisted in carrying out the victims
God forbid that l ever again see
such q heartrending sight, said tho
bishop. II have been in wars and on
the bloody field of battle, but in all my
experience have never seen anything
half 80 grewsome as the sight that met
my eyes. When. with the aid Of tiny
lantera was finally able to penetrate
the inky darkness of the balcony
There was q pile of twisted and bleed
ing bodies ten feet high, with black.
ened faces and remnants OF charred
clothing clicgi1g to them. Some were
alive and meaning in their agony.
Others. and oh, by far the greater
number, were dead"
Many Pathetic Incidents.
One of the pathetic incidents which
occurred in the identifying Of the dead
last night was when Patrick O'Don-
nell. wealthy brewer of this city,
found the body of his wife among the
hundred Or more corpses in an under.
taking establishment. Mr.. O'Donnell
had started down town as soon as he
learned of the fire. knowing that his
wife had attended the theater. Hel
was walking through the aisres OF
tables on which bodies were stacked
when his attention was attracted by a
woman's hand which extended from
beneath a sheet which covered pile
of bodies.
"It's my wife, my poor wife," he
moaned, and without lifting the sheet
he knelt and kissed the hand, on one
q ring he had given his wife as a
Christmas present.
Worst in the Worlds History.
The lroquois theater disaster was
vastly more destructive to human life !
than any other playhouse fire in the
history of the world. The fire next to |
It in point OF lives lost occurred Dec. |
S. 1876. in Conways Brooklyn theater.