The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-18
CRY OF FIRE STARTS
PANIC AT GRAND
People Take Fright at Trivial
Accident and Make a Break
for the Exits.

A cry of 'FYF6ls at the Grand opera
house last night during the perform
ance of a melodrama caused a panic
which came near resulting seriously to
many people in the large audience.
Despite the efforts of the house en-
ployes to calm the audience, scores of
people in all parts Of the house became
nic-stricken and began wild
scramble for the exits.
To add to the panic two or three
women in different parts of the house
tainted, and men, women and children
commenced climbing over the backs of
chairs in their efforts to reach the
neaeSt exits.
line of hose was unfurled in the
balcony and another In the gallery, and
a portion Of the house was flooded with
water.
Fortunately no one was injured, al
though several people were knocked
down in the wild scramble for a place
of safety
Sergeant Patrick Moran was in the
house at the time and, rushing down
the aisle, assisted the management in
its attempt to assure the audience that
nothing was wrong and that there was
no danger AIlyrlof- the exits were
thrown open, and between 200 and 800
people managed to get outside the
building before the employees were sue
cessful in restoring order in the the
alter. tsA
Up in the gallery scores of boys
fought their way to the exits, and in
the first balcony the scramble for lib
erty was just as spirited.
The-~house was in darkness at the
time the cry Of fire was made, the
lights being extinguished for stage eff
feet, which added to the alarm of the
spectators, few OF whom waited to
learn whether there was any real dan
ger or not %
I. Caused by Burning Out of Fuse.
The scare was caused by the burning
out of fuse used in the operation of a
spot light" for illustrated songs 1t
was between the third and fourth acts
of the play, when the house had been
darkened with the exception of the light
in the balcony used during an illus
trated song.
The burning out Of the fuse caused
flash, and in an instant there was a
cry of fire from some one in the ball
cony. Without waiting for anything
further the audience was an its feet
and excited people were fighting their
way to the exits, which had been
thrown open as soon as possible.
Manager Mccormick, of the Garnd,
Police Sergeant Moran and M. H. May
ers, manager of the show, realizing the
peril of the audience if the panic was
not stopped, rushed down the aisle.
mounted chairs and shouted to the peo-
pie to remain in their seats, assurances
being given that there was no danger
whatever.
Two Women tainted.
A fainting woman,. in the parouet
added to the excitement, and a similar
occurrence in the balcony caused con-
sternation among the women on that
floor. When the lights were turned on
Manager Mayors rushed down to che
front of the house, ordered the orches-
ira to start up the music and shouted
to the singer to go ahead with his song.
All of the stage hands appeared in
front of the footlights and assisted the
management in assuring the audience
that there was no danger, and within a
few minutes the excitement was over
and the performance continued. Many
of the people who had made their es :
cape from the theater returned to wit
ness the rest of the performance
Much of the credit for preventing
what might have been a very serious
panic is due to Manager Mccormick"
/ said Sergeant Moran. "The crowd
could not have been handled in a more
diplomatic way. Every, employee of the
house seemed to know his duty and the
exits were OPEN before the people
reached them"
Manager Mccormick, while regret
ting the occurrence, said he was pleas
ed to see that the employees could be
depended upon in such case.