Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-01-06

the throngs outside, the fire wagons and
the smoking horses-died in great masses
seven and eight feet high. limbs mingled
fearfully together, clothing burnt off and
faces caught in their last agonies all
turned toward the doors they could not
reach.
From windows at the north and west
ends of the building the victims streamed.
blinded by the smoke and crazed beyond
any possibility of helping themselves fur
ther or of taking advantage of the aid
extended to them from the upper floors
of buildings facing the theater. Ladders,
planks ropes. poles, everything that
could possibly serve to assist these poor
creatures in their battle for life were
rugged and turned into bridges, but Few
got across alive.
These things were utilized fifteen min
utes after the first alarm to drag the
charred bodies across, and over them
passed rapidly enc blackened corpse af-
ter another till every building on the
north and west end was filled with them.
Barely five minutes after the first
alarm was turned in fremen were strug-
Cling into the theater, milking their way,
in some miraculous manner, through the
maddened mob that was pouring out of
the auditorium, and doing what little
they could, not only to check the fire
which was fast turning the whole interior
shell into a caldron. but to Id the fran
tic hundreds in the upper balconies by
ladders stretched from the main floor.
\ few-thirty 1T most-were rescued
in this way, and then the firemen, after
controlling the flames, abandoned their
lengths of hose to go with the fast gath
ering police and manfully reach to what
waited for them on the upper stairways
aud in the balcony seats.
Here was no more struggling, no more
frantic haste. Hundreds, with hcmes in
every part of the city still showing al
their windows Christmas wreaths, still
filled with the decorations of the holida :
season, lay beyond all thought of worldly
things in silent heaps of death.
There were no men, even among those
most accustomed to scenes of destruction
and mortality. who could approach these
fearful, stilled masses calmly. Time and
time again they started toward the upper
stairways, caught one another by the
arms and cried like little children, stun
ned by the horror of it all. =
And still outside the main entrance to
the building. passers-by, attracted by the
presence of the fire engines, had no
knowledge OF the fearful disaster inside.
Tens of thousands passed and repassed
within a block without knowing II, even
hundreds of men stationed in the road
way, were asking one another if there
had been any accident. if any among the
audience had been badly hurt.
But when from the inside began TO
stream a procession of fremen, carrying
betweel. them the charred remains of
those who a little while before had been
happy in the enjoyment of an afternoon s
pleasure. the scene without changed as If
by magic.
From every business street of the city,
men, whose wives and families had gone
to the matinee, streamed, with white
faces and eyes blinded with bathroom
tears. over to the theater, and screamed
like madmen the names of those they
were seeking. Many of them FOUND
heir loved ones safe, but still hale Graz
ed. in surrounding stores and hotels:
others discovered them among the dead,
identified by some particle of dress.
half-charred hair ribbon. shoe, or
locket
Doctors and Nurses Arrive.
Soop from every hospital in the city
came ambulances. nurses and physicians;
priests and Sisters of Mercy stood side
by side with surgeons and great bands
of women from St. Luke's, the Presby-
terrain and nearly every other hospital
in the city. waiting patiently like sol
diers till the moment they should be
called on.
Two large restaurants. one on Ran
dolph and one on Dearborn street, flung
their tables and counters on top of one
another and laid out great heaps of table
linen to be used for bandages for the
wounded and coverings for the dead Al
the great State street stores threw their
main floors open and sent 10 the theater
great piles of blankets rubber cloth
anything and everything that could be
utilized.
Ambulances were REINFORCED by doz-
ems of wagons from these stores and
teaming establishments, and from every
where willing helpers poured out to do
or give what they could. In a little
while. with frantic thousands trying to
batter through strong lines of police
flung across the corners of Dearborn and
State streets. the bodies of the dead came
place to lay them.
The north sidewalk of Randolph street
for hr 1red yards was covered with
these remains. packed side by side and
covered with white blankets and table
cloths Soon tlhe great entrance was
choked with them, and faster than
morsue wagons could take them away
they were deposited on the sidewalks and
in every building in the neighborhood.
Here and there. men up in the gallery
entrances could hear underneath the tan
gled masses. a faint moan--the despair
ing signal Of some unfortunate for sue
cor. Their. tearing. struggling at the
blackened mass to penetrate it and effect
a rescue. they labored. cursing and cry
ing. Some Of the still living victims
were rescued and taken out in time to be
saved. Others died before they could~be
lifted from the heap Of dead; others,
while they were being carried down the
staircases.