The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-08

Chicago. January 6.-By their ow.
evidence given today before Monroe
Fulkerson. who is conducting the fire
department investigation into the Iro-
Quois theatre horror, the proprietors o.
the theatre showed that worse con-
dition of affairs existed than had here
tofore been thought possible.
Will J. Davis. Harry ]. Powers and
Thomas ]. Noonan, active managers OF
the Iroquois theatre, were examined
by Mr.. F'ulkerson today. All Of them
pleaded ignorance of any precautions
taken to prevent loss OF life by fire
at their theatre They admitted fail
ure to instruct employees in fighting
fire. and failure even to provide suita-
BILE appliances. for use against the
flames. Their statements were corrob-
Grated by the testimony Of twenty en-
ployeeS of the theatre, none Of whom
had ever been told his duty in case of
fire.
Noonan who is the working manager
Of the theatre under direction OF Davis
and Powers, admitted today that
eleven of the theatre exits were lock-
u.
leading to the front of the theatre en-
the ground floor were locked. three ad-
ditional exits on the north side of the
ground floor were bolted. three exits
on the north side of the theatre from
the first balcony were bolted, and
three exits on the north side of the
second balcony were bolted.
The greatest loss of life from the
fire was in the first and second bal
comics where hundreds of people were
suffocated through the inability to get
out or were tramped to death while
trying to do so. Had these three
exits in each balcony been available,
according to Inspector F'ulkerson tn.
loss of life must have been greatly Gi-
minished.
Noonan declared that no person had
been named by the theatre manage
ment to superintend the operation of
the ventilators Of the theatre in case
of fire and that in consequence the
flames had been permitted to sweep
the place, instead of Seking a natural
outlet through the stage roof. 1t was
said by NoOnan that George NJ .Dusan-
berry the head usher, Archibald Ber-
nard chief electrician and the thea-
tre engineer knew how to operate tns
ventilatOrs. 1t was proved by the ev-
idence Of these men. however, that two
of them never went upon the stage and
that the other had never been told to
assume charge OF the ventilators in
case of fire. -
From figures obtained by Noonan to-
day it became evident that almost one
in three of the people who attended
the matinee lost their lives, the 3er
centage being a trif1e over 81 per cei;t.
The theatre seated 1,606 people and In
addition to these 236 had been admit
ted after all these were sold, making
a total OF 1852 people in the theatre OF
whom 591 were killed.
That the employees in the front OF
the house were thrown into a panic by
the fire was shown by the testimony
Of all stage hands examined today.
Two ushers. each sixteen years old, de-
clared that they ran on the first alarm
of fire and did not return TO the
theatre until the next day. The stage
hands said they all sought safety on
hearing that the place was on fire.
The formal inquest into the fire viii
begin tomorrow morning. The first
witnesses called will probably be spec
tators who were in the theatre when
the fire was discovered and after them
the stage hands will testify.