The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1904-01-23
The IrOquOis Theatre Horror.

As L. OuuSS VI lIAO 1dtCSNluS
a student of Kentucky University,
who was in Chicago at the times9f
the Iroquois theatre disaster, re-
turned yesterday, and gives thrill
ling account of the horrible scenes
enacted after the fire:
"When I saw the men bringing
out the corpses by the score | went
inside the theatre, and the sight
that met my eyes was sickening
in its awful grusomeness. The
bodies were piled up so that all
that appeared was tangled mass
of legs, arms and charred and
mutilated bodies. People we're
caught in every conceivable atti-
tude, and at the bottom of the
stairs was where the most horri-
BILE sight was. Here the people
had been trampled to death-wo-
men, men and little children.
"The curtains, scenery and all
the stage trappings were COM.
pletely destroyed, and as for the
asbestos curtain, / did not see
anything of it. The parquette
was filled with dead bodies, some
of them frightfully burned, others
crushed out of all semblance to
human beings. In the balcony
was the most pitiful sight. The
first few seats in the balcony were
burned and others charred. Those
who were in the first three or four
rows were badly burned, while
further back women and children
were dead in their seats, appar-
emily smothered or suffocated by
the smoke. Back farther toward
the iron doors, which had been
locked to prevent any one from
getting out, a great many died
while standing, the compactness
with which they were crushed to-
gether by the frenzied endeavor
to escape preventing them from
falling after death ensued.
'sMy heart sickened at the hor-
rible sight of so many deaths that
/ left the building as hurriedly as
possible. Out on the street the
excitement was intense. The hur-
rying crowd could not be held in
check by the policemen, who, by
this time, had arrived and were
trying to stem the human tide,
and the work of the fremen was
much impeded by the numberless
men and women who were strain
ing to get into the building to
search for some loved one. AS
to the ones who leaped from the
fire escapes, driven to desperation
by the pitiless flames from be-
hind, they were dashed to pieces
on the pavement below. Arms,
legs, hands and fingers we're scat
tered along the street; clothing
was torn from bodies and gloves
we're stripped from the hands of
women and men and Uttered along
the causeways. [ went along the
side of the theatre to avoid the
crowd and escape the heartrend-
ing sights, and barely escaped
stepping on the headless body of
a woman. She had evidently
been decapitated in the leap from
the burning building; although
/ looked around the neighborhood
I could not find her head.
"The bodies were taken to every
store near the building, and great
many were piled up along the side
walk in rows. All the nearby
merchants did everything they
could TO aid the injured and to
save the dead from desecration.
81 was carried by the crowd
into Adams morgue, and here
the scenes beggar description.
The dead bodies were laid on the
tables and covered with sheets.
] was in here only d few minutes,
but I will never forget the har-
rowing picture. Old men, styl-
ishly dressed women and anxious
fathers or brothers were hurried
ly going from table to table look
ing for relatives, yet dreading to
find their fears realized.
"One woman, on recognizing a
burned and disfigured form of a
young girl to be her daughter
gave a half stifled groan-not a
scream or a shriek-but heart
wringing, inarticulate cry, like
that of mortally wounded deer,
and fell faihting to the floor. She
was lifted and carried from the
place, and [ followed in the wake
of the men, as | feared could
not bear to witness such another
agonizing picture Of sGal in.
curably pierced.
II sat up the night of New
Years eve to see the old year out,
and the absence of noise of any
kind was most marked. Not .
bell changed, not firearm was
discharged to mar the stiffness as
Of the grave, the death-like pal
that had been thrown over the
city. The tacit refraining from
festivities Of any kind was deeply
Impressive, and he deep silence
that prevailed WI more eloquen