davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
Three More Vessels for Panama.
Attempt Suicide by Ploson.

Minneapolis, Dec. 31.-May Smith, a
waitress, and Michael Tilfin, butch
er, respondent over unfortunate love
affairs, attempted suicide last even
ing by swallowing carbolic acid. Both
were carried to the city hospital and
both will recover.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

lertain, but the best reason given Is
that an electric wire near the lower
part of a piece of drop scenery, sud-
denly broke and was grounded. The
FIRE spread rapidly toward the front Of
the stage, causing the members of the
chorus who were then engaged in the
performance, to flee to the wings with
screams of terror. The fire in itself
up to this time was not serious and
possibly could have been checked had
not the asbestos curtain failed to work
ASBESTOS CURTAIN STUCK
WHEN HALF WAY DOWN.
AS soon as the fire was discovered
Eddie Foy, the chief comedian of the
company, shouted to lower the curtain,
and this was Immediately done. 1t
descended about half way and stuck.
The fire thus was given practically a
flue through which strong draft was
setting, aided by the doors which had
been thrC wn open in the front Of the
theater.
With roar and bound, the flames
shot through the opening over the
heads of people on the first floor and
reaching clear up to those in the first
balcony, caught them and burned
them to death where they sat.
Immediately following this rush of
flames there came an explosion which
lifted the entire roof of the theater
from it's walls, SCATTERING the great
skylight into fragments. AS soon as
the flames first appeared beyond the
curtain a man in the rear of the hall
shouted Fire, fire!" and the entire
audience rose as one person and made
for the doors.
1t is believed that the explosion was
caused by 9e flames coming in con-
tact with the gas reservoirs OF the
theater, causing them to burst.
Will ]. Davis, manager of the thea
ter, said after the catastrophe that if
the people had remained in their seats
and had not been excited by the cry
Of fire, not single life would have
been lost. This is, however, contra
dicted by the statements Of the fire.
men, who found numbers of people
sitting in their seats, their faces di-
rected toward the stage as if the per
Torrance were still going on. 1t was
the opinion of the firemen that these
people had been suffocated at once by
the flow of gas which came from be-
hind the asbestos curtain.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

gerously i'll during the past two weeks
with water on the chest and who ras re-
Gently operated upon appears to. be, max
ing good eonvalescence.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
MANkATo FREE PRESS.

TANNED with bodies higher than their
heads. They at once notified Fire
Chief Mushane. who called all his
men to the rescue.
The gruesome work was at once be-
gun under the light of 200 Pickering
lanterns.
So rapidly were the bodies brought
two streams of men passing in and
out of the doorway, the one carrying
bodies. the other composed OF men re-
turning to get more. They were car.
ried into Thompson's restaurant adj
Joining the theater on the east. The
dead and wounded were placed upon
chairs, tables and counters, one wo-
man even being placed for lack of a
better spot, on top of cigarcase.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE
KILLED IN THE DISASTER.

Among the known dead are:
Mortimer Eldridge, Helen Boyer
soth, Rev. Henry l.. Richardson, Louis
Kisner and wife, Thomas J. Flanagan,
Mrs. G. A. Henry, Rose X. Rogers, H.
II. Moore, G. l.. Cooper, May Curran,
boy named MARTIN" E. Moses, HI. w.
Williams, B. Regenberg, Ella Linden,
Bernice Bailey, A. Mandel, Donald
Wells, Burr Scott, Fornetta Peterson,
Harvey Keller, Thomas Courtell,
Emily Hall, Henning, boy; Walter
B. Eisler, Nueir, Mrs Emma
Bricnckley, Hoyt Fox Richard and
Allen Hoist, Harold Martin, John Hol-
land, Lulu Shabbard, W. N. Prang,
Charles H. Kohl, Mrs. Dawson, Will
singer, Margaret Buerman, Mrs. Leo
Wolff, Alice Kaufman, Helen Howard,
Helen Cooper, B. L. Gould, Mrs. F. A.
Morrill,, Mrs. A. Sullivan, Miss Edith
Horton, Mrs. Harbaugh, Irene Lang,
Hortense Lang, E. A. Wilson, Mrs. w.
T. Marsh, Mrs. Donnelly, three stage
employees, Mrs. Patrick P. O'Donnell,
Otto Wattman, w. H. Coults, Miss
Howard, Miss Ross, Walter B. Zeisler,
@. Sidney Fox, Mrs. c. D. Bartlett,
Mrs. John A. Daneck, Gertrude Falken-
stein, Mrs. w. T. Boise, Mrs. William
Dawson, William BeI1tel, Mary D.
Gartz, Louise Buschwah, Leigh Hol-
land, ]. Graham, Will McGary, Lean
der Deffendorf, Paul Windes, Mrs.
Morton Fox, Annie Moak, Walter
Phacker. James Mcclellan, Pauline
Geary, and seventy-five unidentified
dead at Randolph morgue.
NoRTHWEsTERNERs AMONG
THE IDENTIFIED VICTIMS
The following are the known dead
from Northwestern states:
Mrs. T. c. Peterson, Fargo, N. D.;
Mrs. M. Stark. Des Moines, Ia; Mrs
o. ]. Tuthill, Des Moines; c. A. Wins
low, Three Rivers, Mimi; w. w. Hop
per, Kenosha, Wis; five children OF
H. S. Van Ingen of Kenosha, Wis.
probable father became separated
from them and is among injured.
Mrs. G.. Kranz, Racine, Wis, and B
B. Stevenson, Madison, Wis, are
among the badly injured.
The fire broke out during the second
act of the play, "Mr Bluebeard,
which was the first dramatic produc
ton produced in the theater since its
erection. The company, which was
very large, escaped safely to the
street in their stage costumes, a few
members of these sustaining minol
injuries.
The accounts of the origin of the
fire are conflicting and none of then
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
FIREMEN SAVE SOME PEOPLE
IN ONE OF THE BALCONIES.

About a score of persons in the Sec
ond balcony were saved by firemen
who took them through the roof and
carried them down ladders in the rear
of the building.
While many men were busy carry
ing out the dead and injured, others,
fortunately few in number, searched
the aisles and seats for valuables.
Two men were found who had pro-
vided themselves with baskets and
were filling them with property of the
dead.
One liveryman says he went to the
anton headquarters, where the drivers
who are now on strike were congre-
gated and told them he had donated
the carriages and asked If they would
drive to the Iroquios theater to help
remove the wounded. They fatty re-
fused to do so.
The Iroquois theater disaster was
vastly more destructive to human life
than any other theater fire in this
country The next most fatal fire was
in Conway's Brooklyn theater, Dec. 5,
1876, where 295 persons persisted. In
the great Chicago fire of 1871, but 200
lives were lost SO far as known.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

Misses Maidie and Mabel Page went
to Minneapolis yesterday morning to
visit at the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Dave
Glass, who used to reside. in the village,
and whose little girl is JUST commissioning
from a severe case Of typhoid fever.
Oscar r. Bennett. JHha, has beer dam
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
FRANTIC SEARcRERs EVADE
THE POLICEMEN ON DUTY.

The building in which the calamity
occurred stands midway between
State and Dearborn streets on the
north side of Randolph street. AL
though every available policeman with
in call of the department was imme-
diately hurried to the spot and the
men placed in lines at the end of the
block allowing nobody to enter Ran
dolph street from either Dearborn or
State, 1t was found for time almost
impossible to hold back the frenZied
crowd that pressed forward, many of
them having friends or relatives in
the theater, succeeded in breaking
through the police lines and entering
the theater. and in many cases di
deroic work in rescuing the injured
and carrying out the dead.
A fireman and newspaper man
crawled up the dark stairway leading
to the balcony and found the door
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
ZAP FROM THE PLATFORM
TO INSTANT DEATH BELOW.

Others leaped from the platform, frac-
turing legs and arms, and two were
picked up at this point with fractured
skulls, having been killed instantly.
George H. Elliott, secretary of the
Ogden Gas company, was in build
ing directly opposite from the theater
across this alley, and noticing smoke,
went down to ascertain it's cause.
When he reached the street the wo-
men were already dropping into the
alley and Elliott Immediately rushed
for ladder in the effort to save as
many as possible No ladder was
available and the only method of as
sistance they were able to devise was
to hurriedly lash some planks together
and throw them across to the offright-
ed women on the platforms, with in
structions to place the end firmly or
the iron framework. Before this could
be done fearful loss of time ensued,
the women were being pushed every
instant into the alley and by the time
the bridge was constructed but few
remained to take advantage of it.
However, about two dozen made their
way across this narrow causeway.
The members of the theatrical COM
pany, being on the first floor, had
comparatively little difficulty in reach
ing the street.
Eddie Foy, comedian in the play,
was one of the last to escape, by get
ting out through rear door after as
sisting the women members Of the
company to safety. He went into the
Sherman House in his stage costume
in order to secure surgical attendance
for some burns which he had sus-
tanned.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
DRAFT SWEPT FIRE AND GAS
UP INTO THE BALCONIES.

In describing the commencement of
the fire Mr.. Foy attributed the extent
of the catastrophe to the failure of
the fireproof curtain to work properly.
Because of this, he said, the flames
readily obtained access to the main
part of the theater and were by the
draft carrying with it gas as well as
fire. swept up to the two balconies
where the loss Of life was greatest.
"The fire began in the middle of the
second act" said Mr.. Foy. can cleo
trio wire broke, was grounded, and
from this the flames were started in
the rear Of the stage. The stage is
unusually wide and there was so great
a draft the flames spread rapidly.
They soon had attacked all the scenery
in the rear of the house. I never be-
lieved it possible for fire to spread so
quickly. When it first started 1 went
to the footlight and to prevent alarm
ing the audience, said that there was
slight blaze, and that it would be
better for all to leave quietly. Then
/ stepped back and called for the as
bestos curtain to be lowered. This
when about half way down, refused to
go farther, and thus an additional
draft was created. This swept the
flames out into the auditorium and /
knew that the theater was doomed.
hurried back to the stage and aided
in getting the women members of the
company into the alley.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
FIFTEEN PERSONS RESCUED
FROM A PERILOUS POSITION.

Walters and cooks from Thompson's
restaurant rescued fifteen persons by
raising a ladder from the room OF a
shed to a window in the rear of the
building around which mass OF
screaming women and children were
cougregated. C. Little, the head cook,
mounted to the top Of the ladder and
told them to jump into his arms.
Fifteen women and children did this
and were passed by Little down to
other men on the ladder below them.
One woman attempted to jump into
his arms before he was ready to take
hold of her and she fell to the alley,
fracturing her skull, dying instantly.
It is estimated that the property
damage to the theater will amount to
$250,00O. This loss is sustained almost
entirely upon the interior decorations
and the destruction of glass and seats
made by the crowd in their rush for
the doors. What decorations were not
burned were ruined by smoke and
water.
The CHASTITY work of preparing the
dead for view by the thousands of
anxious friends and relatives who
haunt the morgues and other places
where the bodies of the victims are ly-
ing is progressing slowly, and only
one-ffth of the bodies had been identi-
fed at o'clock. Dreadful and dis
tressing scenes are being enacted
everywhere, and the city is house
of mourning, the streets crowded with
frenzied seekers for missing dear ones.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

Last evening occurred the regular quar-
terly meeting of the North Mankato w.
G. T. U. with the "Y" branch of the
same, that is, a meeting of both e ell
derby and the young members of the
association. The gathering took place
at the residence of Mrs. T. j. Sherk on
Sherman avenue. About thirty five in
all were present and enjoyed the gayest
kind of a. social evening. Music, vocal and
instrumental, games and refreshments
made the evening speed happily away.
Miss Marie Mayer is rallying splendid
ly after her operation at the st. Joseph's
hospital. Her father, j. c. Mayer, con-
fdently expects to have her brought
home a week from next Monday.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
WOMEN ARE ASPHYXIATED
WHILE CRAWLING ON DEAD

Women on top of these masses of
dead had been overtaken by death as
they were crawling on their hands and
knees over the bodies of those who
had died before. Others lay with
arms stretched out in the direction to
ward which lay life and safety, hold
ing in their hands fragments of gar
menrs not their own. They were evil
IDENTIFY torn from the clothing OF 9TH
ers whom they had endeavored to pull
down and trample under foot as they
fought for their own lives.
AS the police removed layer after
layer of dead in these doorways, the
sight became too much even for po-
lice and firemen, hardened as they are
to such scenes, to endure.
The bodies were in such an mex
tricable mass, and so tightly were they
damned between the sides Of the door
and the walls that it was impossible
to lift them one by one and carry
they out. The only possible thing to
do was to seize a limb or some other
portion Of the body and pull with main
strength. Men worked at the task
with tears streaming down their
cheeks and the sobs of the rescuers
could be heard even in the hall below
where this awful scene was being
enacted. A number 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 aw-
full experience.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
BODIES ARE CRUSHED INTO
SHAPELESS PULP OF FLESH

AS one by one the bodies were
dragged out of the water-soaked,
blackened mass of corpses, the spec
tacle became more and more heart
rending. There were women whose
clothing was torn completely from
their bodies above the waist, whose
bosoms had been trampled into a pulp
and whose faces were marred beyond
all power of identification.
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 trpped over the
PROSTATE forms, and all had died
where they lay, evidently suffocated
by the gas. Others were bent over
backs of seats where they had been
thrown by the rush of people for the
doors and killed without hardly a
chance to rise from their seats. One
man was found with his back bent
nearly double, his spinal column hav
ing been fractured as he was thrown
backward. A woman was found cut
nearly in half by the back Of the seat
she having been forced over it face
downward.
In the aisles nearest the doors the
scenes were narrowing in the extreme
Bodies lay in every conceivable atti
tude half naked, the look on theil
faces revealing some portion of the
agony which must have preceded their
death.
SCORES OF PEOPLE WITH
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
story:

SCOry.
Not long before the expulsion took
place, Ahlenstorf had some sort of a,
trivial quarrel with another North Man,
katonian, Charles Dubke of Wheeler
street. Dubke's feelings ran away with,
his judgment and he used such language.
to Ahlenstorf as caused the latter to
have him arrested. Dubke was fined for
the offense by Justice Walrath.
Dubke who was member of the same
church society carried his complaint
among the other members. An endeavor
was made to have the matters adjust
ed amicably between the two men and
Ahlensdorf says, he was asked to stand
half the fine He refused, however, to
patch the thing up in this way and was
turned out of the society,
Ahlenstorf was at first inclined to let
the matter drop, though his feelings were
much ruffled by the course events had
taken Something, however, appears to
have reopened the wound that time had
partly healed. He received legal advice
that he had grounds for an action at
law and could sue for restitution to
membership. He does not seem to want
this however. He rather favors the idea
of simply asking Judgment for dam
ages.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
CURTAIN FAILING TO FALL
SAVED LIVES OF PLAYERS.

"The simple fact that the curtain
did not descend entirely was what
saved the lives of the company, al
though it caused such horrible
catastrophe in the front of the house.
After the curtain had refused to de-
scend, there came the explosion Of
the gas tanks and with the curtain
down, all the fire and gas would have
been confined between the rear wall
of the theater and the fireproof cur
tain in front. Under these circum-
stances, it would not have been posi-
BILE for a single member of the COM
pany to escape alive unless In front
of the door leading into the alley. AS
it was, the draft carried all the gas
and fire out beneath the curtain, and
the company was saved, although
Their salvation was the death of so
many poor people in front"
Rarely in the history of Chicago has
its people been so stirred as by the
calamity of Wednesday. It is, next
TO the Chicago IRE, the greatest catas-
trophe that has ever occurred here,
and the speed with which it came and
went seemed for a brief period to ap-
pal the business section of the city.
The news spread with great rapidity
and in short time hundreds Of men,
women and children were rushing to-
wards the theater.
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

Oscar E. Bennetts, who, las beer dan
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01
SCORES OF PEOPLE WITH
FACES ALL TRAMPLED OFF.

There were scores and scores OF
no. Via vIs2a Gsat:xH -fanes had been
The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-01-01

trampled off by the heels of those who
rushed over them and in one aisle the
body of man was found with not a
vestige of clothing, flesh or bone re-
naming above his waist line. The en-
tire upper portion of his body had
been cut into mince heat and carried
away by the feet of those who tram
pied him; a search was carefully made
with hope of finding his head, but at
late hour last night it had not been
discovered and all that will ever tell
his friends who he was is the color
and appearance of the clothing on the
lower limbs, and this is in such con-
dition as to be hardly recognizable.
The theater has been constructed
but a short time and all its equipment
was not yet in place. This was I'M
fortunately the case with fire escape
in the rear of the building. The small
iron balconies to which the iron lad
der was to be attached were up but the
ladder had not yet been constructed.
When the panic was at it's height a
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 platform
first endeavored to hold their footing
and to keep back the crowd that
pressed upon them from the rear. The
effort was utterly useless and in few
moments the iron Lodges were damned
with crowds or women who screamed,
fought and tore at each other like
maniacs. This lasted but 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.
The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1904-07-01
CABINET
APPOINT MENTS
ARE MADE
BY President Roosevelt and designations
Have Been Accepted to Take Effect
on July Illinois Man secze-
tary of Navy.
By Associated Press.

Dy 1As5OUIdVlu FIIss'
Washington, june u, - President
Roosevelt today announced the follow
ing appointments in Ms cabinet: Will
lam II. Moody, Of Massachusetts, at
torncy general; Paul Morton, Of Illinois
secretary 81 the navy, and Victor II.
Metcalf, Of California, secretary OF Com
mercc and Labor.
The designations Of Moody and CorteI
You have been accepted to take effect
July !.
Secretary Moody goes from the navy
portfolio T. succeed Attorney General
Knox, Who was recently appointed
United States senator in Pennsylvania
The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1904-07-01
WEDDING
OF Mr.. Ernest James, of This City, and
Miss Maxwell, OF comas. Md, oc-
ours at comas Thursday Even
ing-Couple W III Reside in
This City.

The wedding Of MIR. Ernest Willie,
james OF this city. and Miss Edna Vir
ginia Maxwell, daughter of Mrs Jane.
5. Maxwell. Of comas. Md. took plnc,
at half past six o'eloce Thursday evening
in the Mountain Methodist Episeopl
Church at Comns. Mr. and Mrs. james
have gone to the home Of Mrs. Maxwel's
unclo near Washington. where they VII
spend a few days From there They will
20 to Stamton, Va. After their honey
n,oon "Trip they wiii rome to clarksbura
- take up ther residence They vii
r side at The residence Of Nlr.. lolilcn
ON Coal street NIr. James Is mombs9
Of the James Shepard Company. book
sellers and 7tationcrs. in the Waldo
building. He i ~ excellent Young zen
tlemau, possessing sterling business qual
titles mil ba- many friend, in this city
Who win cNtrnd he and his bride hearty
CONCENTRATION, upon their arrival here
The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1904-07-01
B. & @. r. r.
OFFICIALS
ARRIVE HERE ON SPECIAL TRAIN
ON INSPECTION TRIP AND TO
TOUR CITY AND SUBURBS AS
GUESTS OF cLARKsBuRGERS.
Drive Taken About City and Banquet
win Be TcndeEed Them by cIarksburg
Business Men-President Murray and
Other High Officials Compose Party.

President Oscar G. Murray and a group
Of the high officials OF the Baltimore x
Ohio railroad arrived in the city Friday
afternoon at O'Clock on their special
train from Aforgantown. They are mere
on special trip of their annual inspec.
ton tour and in response to an invita-
tion extended to them by the clarksburg
industrial companies.
The members of the Industrial COM
pnnics and number of prominent citi.
zens OF the city met the distinguished
party ut the passenger depot and took
them for drive about the city and sub.
urbs in order that they might view the
wonderful commercial, industrial and
building growth of the city. 1ney include
i visit to the Clarksburg Industrial Com.
pany's land in East Clarksburg in their
drive and the other eastern additions.
This evening banquet viii be ten-
.dcred the party at The Waldo Hotel by
4 committee from the three East Cnrks
burg industrial companies.
With Mr.. Murray are George = Ran.
dolph, first vice president; George l.
Potter. third vice president; g. 5. Simms.
general manager; D. D. Carotners. chief
engineer: J. y. Dickson, engineer OF
maintenance Of KAY, and J. D. McCub-
bin. the real estate agent
The chief object Of tie visit OF the Of
iicial- i to thoroughly inspect the rail
roads facilities at this point and 70 look
+4,..,,l ,,t,n So X ,..s.:I.I. ;.,,,.,..