Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-01-09

ately afterward a cry of fire on the
stage and all over the theater. Look
ing up, I saw that the curtain was
ablaze. and at once ran for the 1re
when the wind, rushing In from the
broken sky1ights, bellied It out SO that
1t caught n we c6nld pot bulge t.
With the stage hands / Climbed ,, t9
where it was suspended, and together
we tried to push 1t down. Our EFFORTS
were futile, I'M seeing that no man
could move the fire curtain and that
the stage was a mass of flames. !
turned my attention to warning the
actors and trying to a W those who
were In trouble. Tbs m were fran
tic, and the men not mitch better. !
stood at the stairway leading TO the
dressing rooms where the chorus girls
were, ana kept some from going up TO
get their street clothes. AS the others
came down I forced them to leave the
building. l don't know how they ever
got out, all those girls and men, who
came crowding down the stairs, for the
stage entrance was blocked by a mass
OF flames"
A Heroic Bishop.
Among the hundreds Of persons who
rushed to the rescue when the call OF
fire was heard on the streets was
Bishop Samuel Fallows. who was pass
ing the theatet. Without hesitation he
made his way through the darkness
n smoke to lhe top gallery and as
sisted in carrying out the victims.
God forbid hat / ever again see
such a heartrending sight" said the
bishop last night. Il have been in
wars and on the bloody field of battle,
but in all my experience / have never
seen anything half so grewsome as the
sight that met my eyes when, with
the aid of a tiny lantern. / was finally
able to penetrate the inky darkness Of
that balcony. There was q pile OF
twisting and bleeding bodies ten feet
high, with ~blackened faces and rem
nants of charred clothing clinging to
them. Some were alive and moaning
in their agony Others. and by far the
greater number, were dead"
The presence OF children, hundreds
of whom were in the audience, and the
efforts of frantic mothers to save their
young caused much Of the pandemon-
Jun.
Alexander II. Revell, who had sent
his little daughter Margaret with a
friend In charge OF a maid to see the
performance, heard of the fire soon az
ter It started.
He drove hurried1y from his store to
the burning theater. One OF the first
persons he encountered was the maid,
who informed him hat the two chill
dren had been saved without injury.
Mr.. Revell then fastened into the the
alter n participated in the rescue.
Horrors OF the Balconies.
II worked in the upper Balconies"
said he. The sight of those women
n their little children. with their
( clenched fists raised as though trying
TO beat their way to safety, and then
stricken down in the very act, is too
horrible 20 attempt to describe. i as
sisted in carrying down more than
twenty bodies
Sheriff Barrett and a score of depu-
ties assisted in carrying out injured
people and keeping order among the
mob of frantic relatives.
II have never before witnessed such
n scene in all my life," said Sheriff
Barrett. "On all sides were heaps Of
mangled and charrcd humanity. We
carried out so many injured and dead
hat we were unable to keep count Of
them. CraZed men fought to get with
in the corridors, thinking to find their
loved ones among the piles of corpses.
Men stood OH the sidewalk and called
loudly the names Of wives and children,
as though the dead might hear them"
e. Leavitt, ticket taker at the the
alter, was at the main entrance. He
burst open the three double doors n
then ran to turn in n fire alarm.
Il heard the cry and saw the crowd
rushing for the door," said he. II
could not see tbs fire, and | did not
think it was so bad as 1t really was.
When the first of the frenZied audi
ence reached the outside door tried to
calm them, but in less than "a minute
I saw that it vas no use, and i burst
open the doors. Then l ran for a fire
alarm box. Coming back, | assisted In
the rescue as much as | could, but was
overrun with the terrified crowd that
pushed and showed each other VI of
the doorway, and l was caught III the
mass of struggling humanity and car
ried out to the street"
Miss P]lamondon's Description.
A theater party given by Miss Char
lotte j.. PIamondon of Chicago had 4
narrow escape. The party was made
up % 81 number Of Chicago young
women and Miss Elsie Elmore of AS
toris, Ore, and Miss Mary Peters of
Columbus, o.. Miss Plamondon was
the first of her party to notice the fire.
She called the attention of other mem
bers of her party to the blaze, n
they watched ii. Miss Plamondon said:
II could see little girls and hoys in
the orchestra chairs pointing Upward
To the slowly moving line of flame.
one of the stage hands, wearing over
alls, appeared before the footlights and
requested the audience to keep their
seats, as tneIe WAS no udllStT. Euulc
Foy then hurried TO the front of the
stage and commanded the people to
remain calm, saying that IL they would
keep their seats the danger would be
averted. The curtain, however, still
burned, pieces of the smoldering cloth
falling into the orchestra pit. An eff
fort was made by the stage hands to
arrange the curtain SO that the blazing
dropped in the pit. l looked
.,..,, tho fnnnC of the. nn6i0npa md Tn-
marked how many children were pres
ent. ] could see their faces filled with
interest and their eyes wide open as
they watched the burning curtain.
lust then the people in the bal
cony rose to their feet and crowded
forward to obtain a better view of the
fire. Eddie Toy rushed to h center OF
the stage again and wave Sis arms in
q gesture meaning for the people to
be seated. At that instant a woman III
the rear seats screamed Fire n
the entire audience rose to its feet. In
another instant there was a confused
roar made by a thousand persons as
they rushed madly from the impending
danger.
Panic in the Chorus.
ION the stage the chorus girls, who
had aroused my admiration a of
their exhibition of presence of mind,
turned to flee, but many of them were
overcome before they could take Il step.
Several of them fell TO the floor. and I
saw the actors and stage hands carry
them off the stage.
Miss Elsie Gilmore was the first to-
leave our box. The upholstering on
the railing was then on fire, and we
were compelled to brush fragments Of
the burning curtain from our cloth
ing in order to prevent its catching
fire.
Then there came n great roa and a
great draft of air, and the flames shot
out over the parquette Of the theater
until it seemed to me as though they
must reach the very walls of the gal
Ieries. There were few men in the
galleries, but l saw several Of them