davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07
contributed in bringing up the per-
centage of dead.


centage of dead.
At MOrgues and Hospitals.
Morgues ana hospitals we're the scenes
of wild disorder and frantic grief for
hours after the disaster. Kinsfolk and
friends sought their loved ones, frantic
with grief, threatening to break win
dows and overpower the police unless
permitted to enter and search for the
bodies of those they loved Heavy po-
lice guards were necessary TO keep the
crowds in check at Rolstons and Jor-
dams morgues. At the same time the
hospitals were filled in with injured.
Many of them unconscious, many of
them writing in pain from their burns,
the yet living victims were taken to the
wards, where hastily collected extra
forces of nurses and physicians did all
they could to alleviate suffering. Many
had breathed flame and were in the
stupor that preceded death; many had
been scorched from head TO foot, and
some died on the way to the hospitals
or shortly after their arrivals.
Never have such scenes been wit
messed in Chicago's institutions for the
care of the dead or the suffering. The
capacities Of many were exhausted long
before all had been taken care OF. -
wounded FIJI Hospitals.
Rolston's morgue was filled early.
when 100 bodies were laid out in rows,
and wagons carrying hundreds of 9TH
ers were turned away. And all the
while. as the black wagons, express
wagons, carriages. vans, carts, wagons
for delivery of meat, groceries and MGR
chandise of all sorts, arrived with their
fearful burdens, the crowd sursed
around the doors In waves that the DO
lice could scarce withhold and hailed
each new arrival with frantic manifesto
tons OF grief and horror Those. in
front strove to get nearer and look at
the faces of the dead as they were car
ried In and those in the rear surped for
ward The whole human mass, swayed
by common impulse, moved in a tide
that almost swept the policemen from
their feet.
Greatest In Country's Historxy
The lroquois theater was vastly mora
destructive to human life than any,other
playhouse fire in the history of this
country. The fire next to II in point ~
lives lost occurred December 8. 1875 In
Conway's Brooklyn theater; BROOKLYN
N. Y. Here 295 of the audience ner,sbed
In fierce flames. The day after Christ.
mas IN 1871, while the play, THE Bleed
ingsNun," was being performed IN a
theater at Richmond. Va, a fire started
that burned 40 persons to death anon q
tnem the governor Of the state. George
w. smith, Only two European theater
catastrophes approach that OF the local
playhouse. On December 9. 1891 the
Ring theater in Vienna burned and s75
lives were lost. In the destruction OF
Lehman's theater in st. Petersburg be-
tween 600 and 700 persons we're killed.
n the great Chicago fire Of 1871, the
largest confagration OF modern times.
in which 2,124 acres were devastated,
but 200 lives were lost. SO far as the most
reliable Information showed.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07
Awful DISASTER TN
CHICAGO THEATER !!
Fire Breaks Out During the
Performance and Many
Hundreds Perish.
LIVES CRUSHED OUT IN THE FRENzEO ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE
Almost Six Hundred Souls Sacrificed in the Appalling
Catastrophe - Unfortunate Victims Mostly
Women and Little Children.
LIVES CRUSHED OUT IN THE FRENzEO ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE

on the bottom of the piles where fire
and smoke could not reach them.
Awful Scenes.
So tiercely the fire burned during the
short time which hundreds of lives
were sacrificed that the velvet cushions
of the balcony seats were burned bare.
The crowds fought so in their efforts
to escape that they tore away the iron
ratings of the balconies, leaping upon
the people below.
From $3.50 o'clock, when the alarm
was sent in, to 1880 o'clock, when the
doors of the Quilted theater were closed,
the charred, torn and blistered bodies
were carried from the building at the
rate OF four minute. Many blankets
filled with fragments OF human bodies
were taken from the building.
Like Rats in Trap.
Most grewsome were the sights in
the upper balcony of the burned thea
ter, when the police and firemen began
removing the bodies. There $50 per-
sons, caught like rats in trap, had
died in fearful agony. Along the rail
guarding the edge of the pit were
stacked the bodies of the hapless vic
Tins, their limbs drawn and faces set.
Indications in the highest balcony were
that in the last few seconds of the
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Il am told" a clergyman is reported
as saying at recent religious conven-
ton not far from New Bedford, that
four-fifths of the drummers on the road
spend their nights in gambling. To
be sure. There are always persons who
are ready to tell scandalous stories
about their neighbors and other per-
sons who are ready to spread the scan
dial with the deprecating Il am told"
II we want to listen we can hear all
manner of ridiculous and slanderous as
sertions about all sorts and conditions
of men-drummers, politicians, police
men and ministers, to mention only four
varieties. Sometimes they are forced
upon US. But there is no compulsion
to spread them, particularly when they
are absurd exaggerations.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

having been stripped of their clothing
in the rush for safety The heat of the
fire and the water thrown in extinguish-
ing ii combined to make the bodies
Shiny and most difficult to handle.
There was less difficulty after a thou
sand blankets had been brought from
the store Of Marshal Field & Co, half
block away. Firemen and spectators
worked together in removing the last
200 bodies, which were taken from the
building in less than an hour. AS fast
as the blanketed forms were taken to
the street doctors examined them. The
dead were ordered taken away. the liv-
ing hurried TO the temporary hospitals
in adjacent buildings.
bodies Piled on Sidewalks.
When the dead became SO numerous
that the ambulances could not carry
them away as fast as taken to the street
ii was the first thought of the rescuers
to carry the bodies TO the shelter of adj
tacent business places. Twenty dead
were carried into Thompson's restau-
rant, east of the theater There they
were piled beneath tables and covered
with tarpaulins and blankets from the
fire wagons. The crush of bodies final
-ly became SO great that sheltering them
was impossible. Wrapped in blankets,
they were piled along the sidewalk for
a hundred feet, four narrow lanes divid-
ing the piles and affording passages for
the firemen and police.
The Burned Theater, -
The lroquois theater was built at a
cost of $4,000. 1t was opened to the
public with its first and only ,attfaction
November Is Managers, Davis and
Powers said Wednesday that there was
but $4,000 Insurance on the building.
II was supposed to be absolutely fire.
proof, and little insurance was consid-
ared - -
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07
There is a story Of numberA Of
women of cultivated English so6iet.

WOueH VI CultlFdteu English oo1Fes
manner, q, who were curious
to learn why
american Men, American women
of cultivation so often marry abroad.
They recently made long visit of
investigation and have given out the
results. Apparently they do not
blame the women. They say they
find that the American woman, as
rule, is charming, as they have found
most of those who married abroad,
but as for, the American man, even
in what is known as the best So
ciety, with all his readiness to buy
for women costly flowers and such
like luxuries, he is utterly impossible.
They say that not one In a hundred
Of American men would pass muster
as gentleman in England; that we
are coarse and vulgar in society, often
overdressed and nearly always with
out taste, that We are always talk
ing shop, destitute of knowledge or
taste or desires in common with culti-
waited people and prone to taking Of
fensive liberties with women who treat
us with courtesy-in short, that it is
no wonder that so many American
women seek husbands abroad. OF
course it is easy to point out that
marriages abroad have not always,
perhaps not often, proved what they
were expected to be, 1t is easy, TOO,
to say that the criticisms of Amer
lean men are all from an artificial
point of view and do not touch their
manhood at all. All this may be true,
and so it may be true that the polite
man is not he who stamps on your
toes and then thinks he has atoned
for all by a perfunctory BEG par
don," but is rather he who is care
full not to tread on your toes at all,
and to 60 unobtrusively about his af-
fairs, drawing no especial attention to
himself. Yet there is much to be
said for even the artificial amenities,
says the Chicago Chronicle. They
lubricate human intercourse wonder
fully and there is absolutely no rea-
son why they may not be combined in
the same personality with honesty,
sincerity, unselfishness, generosity,
courage, forbearance and all the quail
ties of a frank and warm-hearted
manhood There is small doubt, too,
that most American men are too en-
tirely absorbed in business, whether
it be running a milk wagon or a great
metropolitan bank. 1t is not SO much
because we despise the artificial
amenities of life as because we have
always been too eagerly occupied to
learn them Nevertheless all this is
easy. 1t is no more than to remember
that the whole basis and inspiration
of good breeding is regard for others.
II we are moved by that we will MOI
go late to theater or church nor jam
our knees into the back of the man
in front of us in the suburban train,
nor perpetually joggle the elbow of the
man who sits with us, nor slop over
into his half of the seat From this
we may see how easy it is to apply
the principle to the little things of life,
and of them is made up the great
whole.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

About $4,000 recent immigrants have
returned TO Europe this fall. Many
thousands of homeseekers have gone
from the United States to Manitoba and
adjacent districts of British America
within the last few months. These
facts make an important offset tc some
of the immense inflow of immigration
during the year.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Andrades failure to overthrow Pres
ident Castros government in Venezuela
is said to have been due to mechan-
ical blunder. When, at critical mo-
ment, Andrade's men lay in ambush for
Castros army, the insurgents could
not make their guns work.; the firearms
manufacturer had sent cartridges that
did not fit the guns That manufacture
er should be subsidized to supply arms
to anarchists, bad boys who run away
from home, and people who do not know
when a gun is loaded.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

struggle for life the agonized people
had crushed forward, intent upon
throwing themselves to the floor below,
Their arms were interlocked and the
muscles set so hard that much force
was necessary to separate them. In
the end of the gallery nearest the stage
the fire had done its most awful work.
There were found bodies charred be-
yond the possibility of recognition,
some with shreds of clothing still
elinging to them. A number of the
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

The bureau OF labor statistics at Wash
ingtofhas put out report which shows
that the average advance in the prices
of food has within the last five years
been II per cent, and that the average
increase in wages has been at about the
same rate.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

victims bodies had hJmed to the seats,
so that the firemen were either forced
to rend the bodies in removing them
or use axes on the seats to which they
were fastened.
Men fell on their knees and prayed.
Men and women cursed. A rush was
made for the Randolph street exits. In
their fear the crowds forgot the many
side exits, and rushed for the doors at
which they had entered the theater,
Little boys and girls were thrown to
one side by their stronger companions.
The 12-year-old son of Mrs F. A. Nor
gan, OF 496 Webster avenue, was lit
orally scalped by man who grasped
the boy by the hair and threw him to
one side With his hands the man tore
the boys hair out The mother held to
her sons arm. Alive, but injured, both
were carried out.
Work of Rescuers.
The struggling line of rescuers which
followed the conquest Of the flames be-
came a steady stream as a strong wind
from the front cleared the theater of
smoke and the odor of burned flesh.
Down the front stairs, the rescuers be-
hind treading on those before them,
went the line of workers, their blankets
shielding the nakedness of the bodies
from the gaze of the crowds in the
street -Four stories above the street
most spectacular means of rescue were
adopted. From the fire escapes at the
rear of the theater to those of the old
fremont house were laid three narrow
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Never in the history Of the United
States, and only once in the history OF
the world, has Chicagos disaster been
exceeded by fire panic in theater,
The greatest theater disasters in this
and foreign countries are enumerated
in the following table:
IN THE UNITED STATES.
Richmond, Va, theater Dec. rs,
l&l ................,.,.,. ...........,.. " Qead
Brooklyn theater, Dec. 5, 1876. .2e7 dead
Central theater, Philadelphia,
April Is, 1892. ........................ dead
Front Street theater, Baltimore,
Dec. e. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 22 dead
Iroquois theater, Chicago, Dec. 30,
1913 .......,.......,,.......0 deau
IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Lehman's theater st. Petersburg,
1886 Observation-Disclosures. 200 dead
iS47 Observation-Disclosures. 200 dead
Ring theater, Vienna, Dec. s, 1881. .s75 dead
Exeter theater. England, Sept 5,
1857 ....................... .2O0 dead
Banquet theater, oporto, March
q, 1888 .............,,.......,... 200 dead
Opera Comique, Paris, May %,
1881 ............'.''..'s...... 10 DEAD
Despite all precautions for providing
means of EXIT, theater fire always
results in panic, and from this comes
the great death roll. What, up to
Wednesday, was the worst theater dis
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

As result of his recent operation, the
kaiser has a new voice. If the car
would submit to similar ordeal il
might materially improve the concert
Of the powers.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

When once person acquires habp
Of frugality il Is as essy as it is to waste
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07
Fire Curtain Fails to Act.

Crossed wires on spot light" coming
In contact with canvas border" at the
right of the stage are said to have caused
the fire. Ten minutes after the border
ignited the acres of canvas scenery In
the rear of the stage were ablaze. The
asbestos fire curtain caught in tangle
of ropes and could not be lowered. An
instant later the entire theater from
foyer to stage was sea of flame Had
the asbestos fire curtain acted properly
the fire would have been shut off from
the theater proper and the persons in the
theater could have escaped with little
difficulty.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Big things have TO grow from small
beginnings if their life is permanent.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07
Loss Heaviest In Balconies.

All but three persons on the main
floor escaped with their lives. OF the 800
persons seated in the first and second
balconies few If any escaped without
serious injury. The majority of those es-
Gaping did so by jumping from the
balconies onto the heads of the crowds
surging from the main floor of the
theater. The fight of the men and wo-
men TO get through the balcony exits
was their undoing. They damned the
doors so tight that none of them could
get out
Piled in the aisles of the balconies in
solid mass, four feet high, they were
found. They had either been burned to
death or suffocated The few taken
from the theater and resuscitated we're
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

planks. Across the little bridge thus
formed were transported the bodies OF
80 dead Twenty injured were also
taken across the chasm. Many OF the
rescuers on this bridge were stage
hands who gave little heed to the drop
of 70 feet which would follow false
step. While in transit across the chasm
the bodies Of the dead and injured were
steadied by the use OF rope by the
rescuers.
Removal of the Bodies.
Coroner Traeger and his two physi-
clans, Joseph Springer and Otto Lewke,
arrived at the fire early. The coroner
took personal charge of the removal of
the bodies, $50 policemen and zoo fire.
men working under his orders. In their
first efforts to take out the dead, the
rescuing parties had much trouble.
Numbers of the dead were nearly nude,
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Chicago, Dec 31.-Fire broke out in
the lroquois theater, IN Randolph
street between Dearborn and State
streets, about $3.50 p. m. The theater
was packed to the doors with an audi
ence gathered to witness matinee per-
Torrance Of the extravaganza Mr..
Bluebeard, Jr." The flames spread rapid
ly through the auditorium, and panic
and stampede ensued. The loss of life
is appalling, latest estimates placing the
number of dead at $50, while $50
others were injured. Many of the vic
tins were burned to death, but the ma
jority lost their lives through suffoca-
ton or being trampled upon. Every
hospital and morgue in the city is filled
with victims. The work of identifica-
tion is proceeding very slowly, and it is
impossible at this time to give any
thing like correct list of the dead in
Jured or missing. The hospitals and
morgues are besleged by hundreds of
agonized men and women whose rela-
uves were known to have attended the
performance, but of whom nothing has
since been heard. 1t is the most ap-
palling catastrophe in point of loss of
life which has ever been visited upon
this city.
Origin of the Fire.
The fire started from sparks from the
eight electricarcli lights which hung in the
first entrance back of the proscenuium
arch, behind the grand drapery on the
south side of the stage. The large arc
lamps were used to throw spot" lights
on the performers in the dark scenes.
There were 1870 drop scenes hung in the
flies of the theater and spark ignited
one of the draperies hanging from the
top OF, the stage near the proscenium. 1t
burned nearly a minute before 1t waSdis-
covered by one of the'men in~r11
who gave the alarm. Stage Manager
Carlson ordered the drapery lowered. but
the men in charge of the fly gallery were
excited and instead of lowering it pulled
1t up. and in an instant all the hanging
drops were ablaze. A moment later
there was an explosion of several calcium
tanks which lighted the theater like
photographers flash light powder and
the flames spread to the auditorium.
The fly men barely had time to climb
down the ladder leading to the upper
portion of the stage and escape before
the entire scenery was blazing. Nearly
all the company were In their dressing
rooms at the time and when the alarm
was given they rushed madly into the
street through the stage exits, their
faces covered with makeup and wearing
their stage costumes.
Fire Curtain Fails to Act
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Chicago, Jan. 2.-The search of the
rows of charred dead at the morgues
by Borrowing friends and relatives con-
tinues. over 400 of the $50 known dead
now have been identified. Failing to
find scores of the missing in these
heaps of bodies, the search has been
turned to the private hospitals and
homes for more dead and dying Coro-
ner Traeger has asked all citizens to
aid him in this quest. Grief-crazed
friends and relatives Of the missing
Join in this appeal.
Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-01-07

Eight stagemen and electricians of the
Inflated theater have been held in bonds
of IS, 1000 each on charges Of manslaugh-
ter due to criminal negligence, and 10
others, actors and chorus girls of the
''Mr. Bluebeard, Jr.' company are held
as witnesses for the coroner's inquest.
Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-12-17
Why Not See Mexicos

Forty-eight hours travel will take you
from the cold clustering Northern winter
to land Of sunshine and flowers. What
Egypt and India are to the old world.
Mexico is to the new. "a land Of white
sunshine, redolent with flowers; land
of gay costumes, crumbliug churches,
aud old converts; land of kindly greet
ings, Of extreme courtesy, of open broad
hospitality. It was more than enough to
revel in an Italian sun, lighting up a semi
tropical land; to look up to white capped
peaks, towering into blue; to look down
upon wind swept plains, encircied by
ragged chains Of mountains; and to real
ize that today, in its varied scenery. cos
tunes, architecture, street life, canals
crowded with flower laden boats. market
plazas thronged with gaily dressed natives,
faded church interiors, and abandoned
converts, Mexico u the most marvelously
picturesque country under the sun. A
tropical Venice. A -bArbarous Spain.
A new Holy Land" For rates and infor-
nation write T. E. FISHER.
G. P. A., c. & s. Ry.,
Denver, Colo,
Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-12-17

Do you remember the little things that
gave as % much pleasure when We were
younei With What xest did We sit down to
the table after our play was over and eat the
mush and milk our mother put before us.
But as We get older il takes more to give
us pleasure Mush and milk NO longer
tastes good to US, and our digestion may be
impaired. The best advice We can give to
such q person is to tone mp the stomach with
DIR. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery II
is natures most valuable and health giving
agent-amade without the use Of alcohol. II
contains roots, herbs and barks, and h the
conceutration Of natures vitality - found
in the fields and woods. This remedy has
history which speaks well for Il because
II was given to the public by Dr.. r. ".
Pierce, founder Of the 1nvalids' Hotel and
Surgical Institute, at Buffalo. n. Y, nearly
forty years ago, and has since been sold by
druggists in ever increasing Quantities.
Some medicines. touics or compounds, en-
joy large sale for a few yeafs, then disap-
pear from the public attention, but Dr..
Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery has
proved such . reliable blood remedy and
tonic that II often enjoys the confidence Of
several generations In . family, and its In
creased sales year by year coming from the
recommendations Of those who have tried
II, prove its lasting merit, 20 that every
bottle bears the stamp Of public approval.
Every other blood-maker and tonic for the
stomach that We know of contains alcohol,
but DR.. Pierce guarantees that no alcohol
10 contained In his . Medical Discovery
Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-12-17

A carload of I6-inch steel air pipe was
received this week for the Honest John
tunnel. Two shifts are now employed
and the tunnel is making from FIVE 10
seven feet every az hours. The breast is
into better breaking rock, which is con-
siderably mixed with mineral. Several
splendid veins on the surface will be
reached By the tunnel within the next
few hundred feet a; good depth.
Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-12-17

john Stasuey is engaged in driving a
tunnel on his prospect, the Great Well
Var lode on Devils mountain. and ex-
pc cts to Gu, the vain within the next
tao weeks. While the present tunnel
will only intersect the lead at depth Of
sixty feet, there is good ore showing
in the surface shaft, from which
ore running over froo per ton was
shipped number Of years ago, and he
will be amply satisfied if he should cut
any part Of the shoot. Very little de-
velopement work has been done in that
section, while the surface showing would
justify the expenditure of considerable
capital and labor to open IT up.
Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-12-17

canon, are working four men in the
breast Of the adit 1900 feet in ON the
vein. The breasts looking splendid and
averages from three to i've feet in width
of milling ore. carrying values of about
sI3 per ton. The ore will concentrate
four tons into one, and returns from the
the shipments made recently gave f46
per ton. Smelling ore comes in punches
In the adit ard frequently runs as high
as SIoo per ton. but no sp -cial effort is
made to s-psrate il from The milling ore.
The four men employed break three
tons of ore every day in driving the level
and it is the intention soon to start a
number of Slopes. after which the prop
er,y will produce large tonnage.