Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1904-01-09
TESTIMONY BEING TAKEN.
Coroner's Jury in the Iroquois Disas-
ter Beqins Work.

Chicago, Jan. 8.-The coroner's in
quest over the remains of the victims
of the Iroquois theater began in the
city council chamber during the day.
The coroner's official list of dead for
use at the inquest contains just 5 }
names. Previous police reports indi-
eating sol dead are declared now to be
inaccurate and due to the shifting OF
bodies from one mOrgue to another
The first witness before the cor.
oner's jury was John G. Calvin, a
painting contractor. He testified that
on the afternoon of the fire he stepped
into the vestibule of the Iroquois the
ater to purchase tickets for the fol-
lowing evening. AS he turned to the
ticket office the center doors of the
lobby foyer and the outside entrance
doors were blown open as though by
q blast of hot air Looking into the
foyer he saw people running towards
the entrance. He rushed to the lobby
and endeaYored to open the west door,
that being the nearest. 1t was locked
on the inside and he could do nothing
with it.
Calvin said he tried to pacify the
people from rushing or crowding, tried
to prevent panic, but it was no use.
He judged there were not more than
dozen cleared the door before the
crush came He did what he could to
release the jam, but all the while the
vestibule was filling up by those re.
turning to help their friends. He tried
to open the outside entrance door, the
west door, which he found was bolted.
He tried to lift the bolt, but could not
do it, He then kicked out two of the
panels, also the glass of the panels
and returned to the west vesibule
double door and kicked out the pan
els of these two doors. After seeing
the people coming out he walked out
and never thought anything more Of
the fire until he had gone block or
two away Then the great danger
dawned upon him. He returned to the
building and found iremen carrying
out the bodies of the dead.
Eye Witness Tells His Story.
Joseph H. Bruce testified as follows: !
II was in the second balcony in the
fifth row of seats from the back wall.
[ had an aisle seat on the south side
of the theater. l saw the fire when it
broke out and l thought it would be
safer to remain in my seat than to try
to get out in the panic stricken mob.
l saw the curtain come down about
half way and then stick on the north
end about fifteen feet from the stage,
while the south end of the curtain was
about five feet from the floor. l stayed
in my seat until the curtain either
fell to the stage or was destroyed by
fire and then | ran out. | got out by
way Of the second aisle on the south
SIDE of the building | had no diff
Guilty in getting out Of the first doors,
but found the west door leading to the
street locked. All the people sitting
back of me or standing up managed to
get out as I did. There were fifty or
more persons standing in the rear OF
the seats when the play began. AS
came out | noticed that a number of
people had fallen coming down the
stairs. There seemed 70 be plenty of
theater employees there to help people
out, so | did not wait, but hurried
along. | am positive that none of the
exits on the north side of the house
were open."'
The witness declared that all the
passages OF the theater were well
lighted.
Antonio F'rosoleno, leader of the
orchestra. testified that he was sitting
sideWise to the stage and that the fire
started, to his back. He declared that
the asbestos curtain came down after
each performance and that it came
down within foot Of the stage at the
time Of the fire. Then, he asserted, it
appeared to straighten out and the
flames came from underneath On
close questioning he was unable to
state positively whether the curtain
was asbestos.