The Grenada sentinel., 1904-01-02

astrophe in the history of the country.
More THAI 600 men, women and
children, according to the official re-
port of the police. met death by fire,
smoke and panic during matinee per-
formance of "Mr. Bluebeard' at the
beautiful new Eoquois Theater.
Most of the dead are women and
children. Scores were incinerated.
while hundreds were suffOcated by
pulp by one another, while struggling
to escape. Still other hundreds are
lying tonight between life and death,
with limbs broken and burned, at their
homes and in hospitals. Every under
taking establishment in the city is
probably never will be Identified
From pit to dome the house was
packed Mothers AID their little ones
had laughed themselves hoarse at the
antics of Eddie" Foy, a comedian
1t was in the middle of the play, and
the chorus, smiling and frolicsome,
had just concluded singing the moon
light song
There is the moon now," cried q
little chap in the front row as a curl
of smoke and a tiny tongue of flame
shot out from the wings to the right
of the stage.
The Fra f.o..ed on the Stage.
The children clapped their hauds
i'll glee. Mothers laughed and the
whole audience was in fine humor.
and caught a bit of inflammablc
scenery that hung over the center of
the stage.
Instantly there was a larger ribbon
of flames. A calcium light on a stand
six feet above the level of the stage
had exploded, and in a moment every
thing back of the footlights was a
broad wave OF fire that lighted the
half-illuminated house with wierd ef-
fects
Foy, the chief comedian of the COM
pany, stood out from the panic-strick-
en- group oQ tho stage to assure the
audience that there was no da lger.
Even as he spoke the great asbestos
curtain was let down, but it caught on
one side and failed to work In an
other instant smoke burst from the
top arch of the stage and from under
the bottom OF the curtain. Before a
man or woman in the seats could
rise the whole roof of the auditorium
was ablaze. Two gas ta1ks exploded
in the flies on the east side of the
theater and black, choking flames beat
down in a cloud of death from every
wall. That was all.
Men and Women Fought Like Beasts.
Fear, uncomfortable and terrible,
reigned. Men and women fought like
wild beasts. filled only with the de-
sire of self-protection. Little babies
slipped from their mother arms up
lifted, AID in an instant their lives
selves from the balconies and lay
crushed and dying, till suffocation end
ed their miseries. More than a thous-
and persons in the orchestra seats.
with easy access to the doors, gradual
ly made their way to safety, but most
of them threw aside wraps, pocket
books, hats-everything that seemed
to burden them in their rush for life
and the open air.
But in the balcony aid the gallery
destruction wrought frightful~ work
The flame and smoke. gathering on
these upper floors, caught the victims
before they realized the full extent OF
the danger. 1t seemed incredible that
the little rush of fire could lap the
walls so quickly and reach out after
them like a stroke of lightning.
Then. when the full meaning of the
disaster came to the helpless ones
they fought and battled with o1e an
other for safety-battled like STAN.
peded animals-with the smoke curl
ing about them. Everything was
/ plunged in absolute darkness; not
even a friendly lantern showed them
the way out of this house of death
The classic outlines OF the theater
the beautiful plush hangings, the
glass, the stately pillars, became q
morgue five minutes after the first
bit of ribbon of fame made its way
along the stage.
Scores Of People Crushed to Death
Women and girls in the gallery new
er had chance for life. They met the
end still seated in their theatel
chairs, their hands burned into one
commingied cinder with the sides OF
the seats they had grasped when the
panic came. Others who had managed
by strength OF terror to get iato tht
aisles, found their end in q mingled
doom Of smoke and fire and tearing o1
limbs In the aisles and in the oper
space back OF tie seats. Dozens o1
.others were swept, carried, dragged
Or thrown out TO the stairways, ani
even beyond them. dowl to the land
ings, IN actual sight Of daylight tha'
streamed through the big front doors
IN sight of. the throngs outside. witt
feet high. with their facss IN theil