The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-01-08
DEATHS
FEARFUL
HARVEST
HUNDREDS OF LIVES RUSHED TO
ETERNITY IN BRIEF SPACE
OF TEN MINUTES.
APPALLING DISASTER
IN A CHICAGO TEfATfR
FIRE BREAKS OUT ON THE STAGE
AND AUDIENCE is THROWN
INTO A PANIC.
5S2 KNOWN TO Be DEAD
AND OVER 300 MISSING
SOME BURNED TO DEATH, MANY
SUFFOcATED AND SCORES
TRAMPLED TO DEATH.
CHASTITY SCENES THAT
RIVAL DANTt'S NFtENO
HEAPS OF CHARRED AND MAN
oLED HUMANITY CHOKE The
AlsLEs AND EXITS.
..-- .u,rA sArn
HEAPS OF CHARRED AND MAN
oLED HUMANITY CHOKE The
AisLEs AND EXITS.
VICTIMS TRAMPlED INTO
UNitCOGNlZABif PULP
PANIc-STRlCKEN PEOPLE TEAR
EACH OTHER TO PIECES IN
RUSH FOR EXITS.

Chicago, Dec. 31.-About 5S2 per-
sons were killed in ten minutes yes
terday afternoon during a fire In the
Iroquois theater, the newest, the
largest and as far as human power
could make II, the safest theater IN
Chicago.
The count Of actual corpses most
generally agreed upon was 5S2 includ-
ing 561 identified and Il unidentified.
Lists Of the missing vary greatly, one
authority putting the total at BIZ. Inc
injured now figure IS 104.
A few of these people were burned
J to death by the fire, many were sui
located by gas, and scores were
trampled to death in the panic that
followed the mad plunge of the fright
ened audience for the exits. There
are scores of bodies from which nearly
everything that could reveal their
identity is gone. Their clothing is
torn to rags or burned to cinders and
their faces have been trampled
Into an Unacceptable Pulp
by tho heels OF the crowd that
trampled them down as they fed for
safety.
The fire broke out during the second
act of the play, "Mr. Bluebeard," which
was the first dramatic production pro-
duced in the theater since its erection.
The company, which was very large,
escaped to the street in safety, nearly
all of them, however, being compelled
to fee into the snowy streets with no
clothing but their stage costumes. A
few members Of the company sus-
tanned minor injuries, but, none were
seriously hurt
The accounts 1of the origin OF the
fire are conflicting. and none OF them
certain, but the best reason given is
that an electric wire near the lower
part Of a piece OF drop scenery sud
denly broke and was grounded. The
fire spread rapidly toward the front OF
the stage, causing the members OF the
chorus who were then engaged in the
performance, to fee to the wings
With Streams Of Terror.
The fire in itself up to this time was
0 serious and possibly could have
been checked had not the asbestos cur
tain failed to work. AS soon as the
fire was discovered Eddie Foy, the
chief comedian OF the company,
shouted to lower the curtain. and this
was Immediately done. It descended
about halfway and stuck. The fire
thus was given practically a flue
through which q strong draft was set
ting, aided by the doors which had
been thrown open in the front of the
theater. With q roar and a bound,
the names shot through the opening
over the heads OF people on the first
noor and reaching clear up to those in
tho nrst balcony. caught them and
burned them to death where they sat.
Immediately following this rush of
flames there came m explosion, which
lifted the entire roof Of the building
from Its walls. shattering the great
skylfghts into fragments. As soon as
the flames first appeared beyond the
curtain a man in the rear OF the hall
Shouted "Fire! Fire!"
and the entire audience rose a. one
person and made for the doors. It Is
believed that the explosion was caused
by the flames coming in contact with
the gas reservoirs of the theater. cans
ing them to burst. VIII j. Davis
manager OF the theater, said after the
catastrophe. that If the people had re-
manned in their seats and had not been
excited by the cry Of fire, not a single
life would have been lost. This is,
however, contradicted by the state.
ments of the iremen, who found mum.
bers OF people sitting In their seats,
their faces directed toward the stage
- Il the p~effor~a2ce was still going