The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1904-01-06
ZOO BURNED AND
t CRUSHED TO DEATH
| IN THEATER FIRE
New Playhouse at Chicago Is
Scene Of One of the Most
Appalling Disaster.
dead AND DYING ARE
PILED IN GREAT HEAPS
Fire Escapes Prove to Be Only
Death Traps for Scores
of Persons. L.
MANY FALL IN CRUSH
NEVER TO RISE AGAIN
Morgues AMI Other Buildings
Filled to Overlooking With
Unrecognizable Corpses.
MANY FALL IN CRUSH
NEVER To RISE AGAIN
TWO GAS TANKS BLOW UP

CHlCdBO, Lee. ol-ocfcu huhdi GU
persons were killed in 10 minutes
during a fire in the Iroquois theater,
the newest, the largest and as far as
human power could make it, the safest
theater in Chicago.
A few of these people were burned
to death by fire, many were suffocat-
ed by gas, and scores were trampled
to death in the panic that followed the
mad plunge of the frightened audi
ence for the exits. 1t will be many
hours before the number of dead IS
accurately known and many days be-
fore all of them will be identified.
There are bodies lying by the dozens
in the undertaking rooms, in police
stations and in hospitals, from which
nearly everything that could reveal
their identity to those who knew them
best Is gone. Their clothing is torn to
rags or burned to cinders and their
faces have been trampled into an I'M
recognizable pulp by the heels of the
crowd that trampled them down as
they fed for safety
The fire broke out during the sec
ond act of the play "Mr. Bluebeard,"
witch was the first dramatic produc-
! ton produced in the theater since its
erection.
Cause Of the Catastrophe.
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 mono were
seriously hurt.
The accounts of 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 the 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 screams of terror. The fire in
itself up to this time was not serious
and possibly could have been checked
| had not the asbestos curtain failed TO
work. As soon as the fire was discov-
| cred, Eddie Foy, the chief comedian
of the company, shouted to lower the
curtain, and this was Immediately
| done. 1t descended about half way
| and then stuck. The fire thus was
| given practically fue through which
strong draft was setting, aided by
the doors which had been thrown
open in the front of the theater.
Hundreds Burned to Death.
| With roar and a bound, the flames
| shot through the opening over the
| heads of the people on the first floor
and reaching clear up to those in the
first balcony, caught them and burned
them to death where they sat.
Immediately following this rush OF
flames there came an explosion which
lifted the entire roof of the theater
from it's walls, SCATTERING the great
skylight into fragments. AS soon as
the flames first appeared beyond the
curtain man in the rear of the hall
| shouted Fire, Fire!" and the entire
audience rose as one person and made
for the doors.
1t is believed that the explosion
was caused by the flames coming in
| contact with the gas reservoirs of the
theater, causing them to burst. Will
]. Davis, manager of the theater, said
after the catastrophe that If the PEG
| pie had remained in their seats and
had not been excited by the cry Of
fire, not a single life would have beer
lost. This is, however, contradicted
by the statements of the firemen, who
found numbers of people sitting IL
| their seats, their faces directed to
ward the stage as if the performance
| was still going on. 1t was the opinion
| Of the flremen that these people hat
been suffocated at once by the flow