The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1904-01-07
CHICAGO HAS AWFUL FIRE

ing In the two upper balconies and ir
the Railways back of them. The the
atre Is modelled after the Opera Co
mique, In Paris, and from the rear OF
each balcony there are three doors
leading out to passage ways toward
! the front Of the theatre. Two of these
doors are at the end OF the balcony
and one in the centre. The audience In
its rush for the outer air seems to
have, for the greater part, chosen to
flee to the left entrance, and to at
tempt to make its way down the cas-.
tern stairway leading intp the lobby
OF the theatre
Outside of the people burned and
suf1ocated by gas, it was in these two
doorways on the first and second ball
comics that the greatest loss of life oc-
CURED. When the firemen entered, the
cead were found stretched In a pile
reaching from the head Of the stair
way at least eight feet from the door
back to point about five feet in the
rear OF the door. This mass OF dead
bodies In the centre Of the doorway
reached to within two feet Of the top
passage way. All Of the corpses at this
point were women and children
The fight for life which must have
taken place at these two points is
something that is simply beyond hu-
man power adequately to describe
Only faint idea of its horror could
be derived from the bodies as thy lay
Women on top of these masses of dead
had been overtaken by death as they
were crawling on hands and knees over
the bodies OF those who had died be-
fore. Others lay with arms outstretch-
ed in the direction toward which lay
life and safety, holding in their hands
the fragments of garments not their
own. They were evidently torn from
others whom they had endeavored to
pull down and trample under foot as
they madly fought for their own
lives.
AS the police and firemen removed
layer after layer of dead in these door
ways. the sight became too much even
for them, hardened as they are to such
narrowing scenes, to endure. The bod
les were in such an inextricable mass
and so tightly were they jammed be-
tween the sides of the door and the
walls that 1t was impossible to lift
them, one by one, and carry them out.
The only possible thing to do was to
seize limb Or some other portion of
the body and pull with main strength.
Men worked at the task with tears
running down their cheeks, and -he
sObs Of the rescuers could be heard
even in the hall below where this aw-
full scene was being enacted. A num-
ber 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 awful experience.
AS one by one the bodies were drag
ged out of the water, soaked blacl "
ed mass of corpses, the spectacle be-
came more and more heartrending.
There were women whose clothing
was torn completely from their bodies
above the waist, whose bOsOmS had
been trampled into a pulp and whose
face 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 tripped 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 with hardly CT ance to rise
from their seats. One man was found
with his back bent nearly Nuble, his
spinal column having been fractured as
he was thrown backward. A woman
was found cut nearly in half by the
back of the seat, she having fallen over
face down.
'The fire began in the middle of the
second act" said Mr.. Foy. 'An elec-
trio wire broke; was grounded and the
flames were started in the rear of the
stage. The stage is unusually wide
and there is so great draft the flames
spread rapidly. They soon had attack
ed all the scenery in the rear of the
house. 1 never believed it possible fol
fire to spread 50 quickly. When ii
first started l went to the foot-lights,
and to prevent alarming the audience
said that there was slight blaze ane
that it would be better for all to leave
quietly. Then I stepped back and call
ed for the asbestos curtain to be low
cred. This when about half way down
refused to go further, and thus an addi-
tional draft was created. This swept
and knew that the theatre was doom
ed. I hurried back to the stage and
aided in getting the women members
Of the company into the alley. Some
of them were in their dressing rooms
and were almost overcome by smoke
before they could get down to the stage
and to the doors. The simple fact that
the curtain did not descend entirely
was what saved the lives of the com
pany. although it cost such a horrible
catastrophe in the front of the house
The curtain had refused to descend
there came the explosion OF the gas
tanks, and with the curtain down all
the fire and gas would have been con
fined between the rear wall OF the the
atre and the fire-proof curtain In front
Under these circumstances it would
not have been possible for single
member Of the company to escape alive
unless he or she had been standing
Immediately in front Of the door lead
ing into the alley. AS it was the
draft carried the flames out from the
curtain and the company was saved al
though their salvation was the death
OF so many poor people in front
All Chicago was deeply stirred by
the terrible disaster and awful loss OF
life. The work of rescue was vigor-
ously prosecuted. The morg,e and
city hospitals were filed ith the
dead and dying.