The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1904-01-08
DEATH SWIFT AND AWFUL

bodies as they lay. Women On Top Of
these masses Of dead had been over
taken by death as they were crawling
on their hands and knees over tbs
bodies of those who had died before.
Others lay-with arms stretched out in
the direction toward which lay life and
safety, holding in their hands frag-
menus Oh garments not their own
They were evidently torn from cloth
ing or others whom they had endeav-
ored 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 police and
firemen, hardened as they are to such
sights, to endure. The bodies were in
such an inextricable 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 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 run
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 awful experience. AS one by one
the bodies were dragged out of the
water-soake ed, blackened mass of
corpses the spectacle became more and
more heart-rending. There were wom-
en- whose clothing was torn complete
ly from their bodies above the waist.
whose bosom had been trampled into
a pulp and whose faces were marred
beyond all power of Identification.
Chicago Stirred by the Calamity.
Rarely in the history of Chicago has
its people been 80 stirred as by the ca
Chicago fire, the greatest catastrophe
that has ever occurred, and the speed
with which 1t came and went seemed
for a brief period to appal the business
section Of the city. The news spread
with great rapidfty and in short time
hundreds of men, women and children
were rushing toward the theater. The
building In which the calamity 90
CURED stands midway between State
and Dearborn streets, on the north side
of Randolph street. Although every
available policeman within call of the
department was Immediately hurried
to the spot and the men placed in lines
at the end of the block, allowing no
body to enter Randolph street from
either Dearborn or State. it was found
for a time at first impossible to hold
back the frenzied crowd that pressed
forward, many of them having friends
or relatives in the theater, and anx-
ious to learn something Of them. The
conduct of the police was beyond all
praise. The officers held their ground
those who sought to gain an entrance
to the theater, although in some in
stances frantic men, anxious to look
for their loved ones, actually beat the
officers with their fists in their rage at
being prevented. In spite of the ef
forts of the police, however, a large
number of people succeeded in break
ing through their lines and entering
the theater and in many cases did he
roic work In rescuing the injured and
carrying out the dead.
Dead Women Piled in q Heap.
The first newspaper men upon the
ground also carried out many of the
dead and injured. The building was
SO full of smoke when the firemen first
arrived that the full extent of the ca
tastrophe was not Immediately grasped
until fireman and a newspaper man
crawled up the stairway leading to the
balcony, holding handkerchiefs over
their mouths to avoid suffocation. AS
they reached the doorway the fireman.
whose vision was better trained in
such emergencies, seized his compan-
ion by the arm, exclaiming: Good
God, man, don't walk on their faces. I"
The two men tried vainly to get
through the door, which was damned
| with dead women piled higher than
either of their heads. An the lights
in the theater were necessarily out
and the only illumination come through
the interior of the theater and the
street. The two men Immediately hur-
ried to the floor below and Informed
Chief Musham, of the fire department,
that the dead bodies were piled high
in the balcony and prompt assistance
must be rendered IL any OF them were
to be saved.
Dee Moines Jeweler Robbed Of $4,000.
DeS Moines. Ia. Dec S1.-BurglarS