Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1904-01-01
five HUNDRED
Die IN FLAMES
Women and Children Perish
in Fire in lroquoise The
atre, Chicago.
WAS AN APPALLING TRAGEDY
Happy Thestregoers Perish IN Wild
Stampede for Safety Scenes in
Theatre After the Fire Beggar De-
scripfion.

A >
Missing .-...-...s ....-..-....-.zo ~.
According to morgue keepers there
are 1872 bodies at six mcraues:
Rciston's ......... -. $3.50. .I5C
Jordan's .....-...... .....-....1oV
CafroIPs ..-..--....-..... .-..-. 50
CAvin's .......... .....-... ...y. Is
County ..-........ .......-.... ~
St luke's ...-...-............ II
Chicago. Dec. 3l.---Women and 1T
tie children fought in vain for Life
at FIRE in the Hoquois theater, the
newest, largest and safest theater in
Chicago. yesterday afternoon. At .
o'clock. Coroner Traeger reported by
actual count $50 dead, and the ghast-
ly work OF the fremen was not even
then ended. 1t is estimated that 300
people were killed In ten minutes.
The police count the number OF
lead at $40. The estimate of the
newspapers is SCI. There are nearly
100 persons missing. many OF whom
are possibly among the dead. Eighty
six Ut the dead have been identified.
while ninety-two others are known to
be injured
The theater was crowdec by a
matinee audience, mostly Of women
and children. In the midst OF the
performance, while the stage was
alight with beauty and color, the first
alarm OF fire was given, and the next
instant great wave of flame shot out
over the theater. The resulting
scenes were Undesirable. Hundreds
were trampled to death In the mad
rush to escape from that blazing fur.
mace. Many bodies were scorched
and blackened by the flames after the
life had already been trampled out.
Several people were burned to death,
others were suffocated by gas thrown
into the auditorium by the explosion
OF gas tank, but by far the larger
majority persisted in the wild STAN
pede for safety.
1t will be many hours before the
number of dead is accurately known,
and many days before all of them will
be identified. There are bodies lying
by the dozens IN undertakers' rooms
in police stations and in hospitals
from which nearly everything that
could reveal their identity has been
torn or burned away. Their clothing
is torn to rags or burned to cinders
and their faces have been trampled
into an unacceptable pulp by the
heels Of the crowd that trampled
them down as they fed for safety.
The fire broke out during the sec
ond act Of "AIr. Blue Beard" which
was the first dramatic production pro
duced Il the theater after Its opening.
The theatrical company, which was
large, escaped, nearly ell Of them,
however, being compelled to fee into
the snowy streets with no clothing
but stage costumes. A few members
OF the company sustained injuries, but
none was severely hurt.
The accounts Of the origin OF the
FIRE are conflicting and none OF them
is certain, but the best reason given
is that an electric wire near the
lower part of a piece OF drop scenery
broke and caused a short circuit, set.
ting fire to the scenery. The fire
spread rapidly toward the front OF the
stage, causing the chorus, which was
luE 6tdSE, " ACC W thS wing"
screaming, The fire in itself up to
this time was not serious and pos
sibly could have been checked had
cot the asbestos curtain failed to
work. AS soon as the fire was dis
covered, Eddy Foy, chief comedian OF
.he company, shouted for the asbestos
curtain to be lowered, and it was i'm
me6iately dropped about half way.
Then 1t stuck.
The fire thus was given flue
through which strong draft was
formed, aided by the doors which hac
been thrown open in the front OF the
theater. The flames shot roaring
tongue shaped, through the opening
over the heads Of the people on the
first floor, almost licking the faces O
those in the first balcony, and smoth
cred many where they sat.
Immediately following this rush O
flames came an explosion, which
lifted the entire roof of the theatel
from the walls, SCATTERING the grea
sky light into fragments. A hail o
glass, the tottering galleries, thu
nuaking Of the building and cry o
fire" from several persons in thu
rear, started the panic. The entire
audience rose as one person ant
made for the doors. It is believer
that the explosion was caused b.
| flames coming in contact with the ga:
reservoirs within the theater.
Will J. Davis, manager of the the
alter, said after the catastrophe, tina
| il the people had remained in thei
| seats and had not been excited by thu
cry OF fire, and other noises, not {
4 single life would have been lost. Thi!
| is, however, contradicted by the fire
! men. who found numbers Of people
sitting in their seats, their faces di
| rected toward the stage as II t6t
performance was still going on. l
was the opinion OF the firemen tina
| these people had been suffocated a
! once by the flow of gas which came
from the asbestos curtain.
AS near as can be estimated, at tn
| present time, about thirteen hundred
persons were in the theatre. Three
hundred Of these were on the frs
floor, the remainder being in the bal
comics, and In the aisles back Of them
The theater Is modelled after thu
Opera Comique in Paris and from thu
| rear OF each balcony there are thre'
doors leading out to passageways to
ward the front OF the theater Two Q
these doorways are at the end OF thu
balcony, one being In the center.
Most Of the spectators in the rusf
for the outer air seem to have chose:
| to flee to the left entrance and to at
tempt to make their way down thu