The Dickinson press., 1904-01-02
! front. Under these Giro

StSs-.NIS, IL Woulu hOt nave Uc0u pOSSls
Bile f0r a single member of the com.
pan; 10 escape alive unless in front
of the door leading into the alley. AS
it was the draft carried all the gas
and fire out beneath the curtain, and
the company was saved, although
ther salvation was the death of 80
many poor people in front"
Rarely in the history of Chicago has
Its people been so stirred as by the
calamity of Wednesday. It is, next
TO the Chicago fire, the greatest catas-
tropha that has ever occurred here,
and the speed with which it came and
went seemed for brief period to ap-
pal the business section of the city.
The news spread with great rapidity
and in a short time hundreds of men.
women and children were rushing to-
wards the theater.
FRANTIC sEARcHERs EvADE
THE POLICEMEN ON DUTY.
The building in which the calamity
occurred stands midway between
State and Dearborn streets on the
north side of Randolph street. AL
though every available policeman with
In call of the department was imme-
diately hurried to the spot and the
men placed in lines at the end of the
block allowing nobody to enter Ran.
dolph street from either Dearborn or
State, it was found for time almost
impossible to hold back the frenzied
crowd that pressed forward, many of
them having friends or relatives in
! the theater, succeeded in breaking
| through the police lines and entering
the theater, and in many cases di
deroic work in rescuing the injured
and carrying out the dead.
fireman and newspaper man
crawled up the dark stairway leading
/ to the balcony and found the door
| Janmed with bodies higher than their
heads. They at once notified Fire
Chief Mushane, who called all his
men to the rescue.
The gruesome work was at once be-
gun under the light of 200 Pickering
lanterns.
So rapidly were the bodies brought
down that for over an hour there we're
two streams of men passing in and
out of the doorway, the one carrying
bodies. the other composed of men re-
turning to get more. They were car
ried into Thompson's restaurant ad-
joining the theater on the east The
dead and wounded were placed upon
chairs. tables and counters, one wo.
man even being placed for lack of a
better spot, on top of cigarcase.
DEAD BODIES HAULED AWAY
IN DRAYs LIKE coRDWooD.
Although all the patrol wagons and
everv ambulance owned by the city
was messed into service, they were
utterly inadequate to carry away the
dead and in short time there was a
line Of corpses fifty feet long piled two
and three high on the sidewalk in
front of the theater. It was found
necessary in order to convey the
bodies rapidly to the morgue. and tc
the various undertaking establish
ments to impress trucks into service
and in these. upon costly blankets fur
nished by the drvgoods stores in the
vicinity, and covered with the same
material. the dead were hauled away
practically like SO much cordwood.
One large freight truck was sc
heavily loaded with dead in front o
the theater that two large horses at
tached to it were unable to start II
and the police were compelled to as
sfst by tuggirg at the wheels.
The merchants in the vicinity of the
theater rose to the emergency ir
splendid fashion. Large dry goods
stores sent wagonload after wagon
load Of blankets. rolls of linen anG
packages of Gotten to be used in bind
ing up the wounds of the injured and
to cover the dead. The drug stores
furnished their stock to anybody thai
asked for it In the name Of people hurl
in the fire. Doctors and trained nurses
were On the ground by the score with
in half an hour after the extent Of the
calamity was known, and ever,
wounded person who was carried FROM
the building received prompt medica
aid.
Fifteen PERSONS RESCUED
| FROM A PERILoUS POSITION
Walters and cooks from Thompson.
restaurant rescued fifteen persons b,
raising a ladder from the room of ;
shed to window in the rear of tn
building around which mass o
scrca ming women and children wer'