The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-02
ANXIOUS TO FIGHT
 THE BOIL WEEYIL
SECRETARY WILSON SAYS MOST IMPORTANT EFFORT THIS YEAR WILL BE TO FIND SOME CHECK FOR THE PEST.

TOh TIE TGois
 Washington, January 1.-(Special)- Secretary of Agriculture Wilson said to- day: q do not like to place one division over another but I should say that our most important effort this year will be to find some check for the cotton boil weevil which is doing such a vast amount of injury to the cotton growers of the coun- try.
 Our most expert entomologists and men thoroughly familiar with cotton growing In all it's phases and in all coun- tries will give the subject their close at tention. We hope by this time next year to have learned enough about the habits and life of the pest to be able to evolve some method by which the evil can be obviated. The remedy may be in treating the plants directly or in preparing the ground, or it may be in changing the seed or the time of planting, and we shall try every possible device to find some means of saving the thousands of bales now annually destroyed by the weevil."
 the auditorium the aisle was choked with people who had fallen. looked down to avoid stepping on them, and just as I did so, my eyes caught those of boy about years old. who was lying on the floor unable to rise. He had large brown eyes and was so neatly dressed and appa- rently well bred that he fascinated me. It was all in a second. I know. but as he saw me looking at him he said: Won t you help me. pleaseT
 T stopped to raise him, but the crowd was too thick and the rush too strong. I seized hIm under the arms and then I was knocked over him on my knees. I struggled to my feet but the weight of the crowd was such that I could not turn back. and I was carried out through the door. The little boy was probably tram pied to death, and the memory of those eyes will haunt me while live" crawIed Through Hole.
 Miss Viola Mcdonald of Chicago said she was the last person to leave the the- atre alive. She was a member of the chorus and rushed to the dressing room beneath the stage to dress. but after seiz- ing some Of her clothing. found it impos- sible to make her way up the stairs, which by this time were blocked by flames and smoke. Turning around she ran back into the basement again and made her way to a coal hole underneath
 
 and knees to the hole, sine managed to thrust out her arms to attract attention and was drawn out by fireman. iss-,
 Many Victims From Other States.
 The burial permits issued today for over 300 victims shows that the disaster deso- lated homes in many staes, New York, California and Louisiana even being rep resented on the death roll. The Louisi- ana victim was Miss Ella Sullivan.
 Superintendent of Schools Cooley an- nounced tonight that the Iroquois the- atre fire had killed twenty-four teachers in the Chicago public schools. and six teachers are still reported missing. mak- ing a total of thirty
 Mayor Carter Harrison today, in com pany with Building Commissioner Will Hams, Alderman Mayer and several archi- tects, visited the Iroquois theatre build ing and went over it completely. AS they stepped into the building the | mayor accidentally trod a large lock of human hair which had been torn from the head of some victim of the disaster. He shuddered and removing the hair from his shoe placed 1t on one side of the hallway and passed on.
 The mayor went everywhere except in- to the cellar, went out on the fire es- capes tried the exits and finally mount ed into the rigging loft above the stage. The dressing rooms were visited and the whole interior explored. H. Marshall, architect of the building. accompanied the mayor throughout the trip.
 When in the gallery, the mayor paid particular attention to the exits and tried all the handles of the doors The filure to comply with the ordinance requirement that exits shall be indicated by printed signs, struck the mayor. and when he noted that heavy damask curtains hung before some of these doors, he inquired of Architect Marshall why they had been placed there. MT. Marshall replied that it was done to improve the appear ance of the house
 No Stairway Provided. It was noted by the mayor that the or dinance requirement which insists that where thef are two or more galleries above the | ound floor, each must have a separate st lrway leading to the street. had been disregarded This circumstance excited the indignation of Alderman Mayer, who said:
 This theatre should never have been allowed to open because the ordinance on gallery stairways has received no atten- ton and has been disobeyed. The occu- pants of the second balcony were com pelled to use the same exits as those of the first balcony. The exits should have been separate and if they had been so. | think more people would have been able to escape.''
 ExpIaining the lack of separate stair way of the second balcony, Architect Marshall eaid:
 There was more total space for the people to get out of the gallery than If separate staircases had been provided. The law requires eight inches of stair and door space for each 100 persons. and