The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-01-08
Unparalleled Playhouse Ho,o-
caus, at the lroquois
Theater.
FEW ESCAPE uN'NJuReD
Hundreds ofthe panic-stricken
Audience Died In Their
Seats.
THE MoRGUEs BEslEGEC
Many Can Never Be ldentified-Fire
Started at Afternoon Perform
ance and Almost Instantly
the Horror Was On.

Chicago, Jan. 1.-At 2:30 o'clock this
morning 500 persons had been identi-
fled among the dead, and there were
still fifty or tifty-five bodies which had
not been recognized.
Chicago, Jan. 1.-For the first time
since Chicago possessed bells to peal.
the old year was allowed to silently
take it's place in history and the new
year permitted to come with no evil
dence of joy at it's birth.
In an official proclamation issued yes
terday afternoon by Mayor Carter
Harrison he made the suggestion that
the usual New Years eve celebration
be for this time omitted. The idea
found ready response in the hearts
of the people and the mayors words
in fact only gave utterance to the un-
expressed thoughts that had filled them
all.
The appalling calamity in the Iro-
quois theater has cast Chicago into the
deepest grief and gloom, and for the
time being at least seems to have
chilled and deadened all the ordinary
ambitions of life. Business yesterday
was performed with the sole view to
actual necessity, and even that much
was carried out in a perfunctory man
ner.
Ordinarily on New Years eve the
streets of the city are filled with mer-
I1ymakers, but tonight the only throngs
to be found We're those around the
morgues: ordinarily numbers of fash
fonable restaurants in the heart of the
city are filled with light hearted rev.
elers who toast the year that passes
and hail the year that comes. These
places We're comparatively deserted.
and some of them closed entirely with
doors locked and curtains drawn. U.s.
uaily among these gay people are found
many members of the theatrical pro-
fession. Tonight not a single one of
them was in evidence.
Beginning of the Fire.
The fire broke out during the sec
ond act of MIR. Bluebeard," which was
the first dramatic production produced
in the theater after it's opening. The
members of the theatrical company,
which was large, escaped, nearly ali Of
them, however, after being compelled
to flee into the snowy streets with no
clothing but stage costumes. A few
members of the company sustained in
juries, but none was severely hurt.
The accounts of the origin of the
fire are conflicting, and none of them
is certain, but the best reason given
is that an electric wire near the lower
part of a piece of drop scenery broke
and caused short circuit, setting fire
to the scenery. The fire spread rapidly
to the front of the stage, causing the
chorus, which was on the stage to flee
to the wings, screaming. The fire In it,
self up to this time vas not serious, and
possibly could have been checked had
not the asbestos curtain failed to work.
AS soon as the fire was discovered
Eddie Foy, chief comedian of the COM
pany, shouted for the asbestos curtain
to be lowered, and it was Immediately
lowered half way. Then it stuck.
The fire thus was given five.
through Which a strong draft was
formed, aided by the doors, which had
been thrown open In the front of the
theater. The flames shot, roaring,
tongue shaped, through the opening
over the heads of the people on the first
floor, almost licking the faces of those
in the first balcony, and smothering
many where they sat.
Explosion Starts Horror.
Immediately following the rush Of
flames came an explosion. which lifted
the entire roof of the theater from its
walls, shattering the great skylight
into fragments A hail of glass, the
tottering galleries, the quaking of the
eral persons in the rear started the
panic. 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.
Will j. Davis, manager of the the
ater, said after the catastrophe that If
the people had remained in their seats
and had not been excited by the cry of
fire and other noises not a single life
would have been lost.
This is, however. contradicte. by the
fremen, who found numbers of people
sitting in their seats, their faces direct
ed toward the stage as ii the perform
ance was still going on. 1t was the
opinion of the firemen that these peo-
pie had been suffocated at once by the
flow of gas which came from behind
the asbestos curtain.
AS near as can be estimated about
1900 persons We're in the theater. Three
hundred of these We're on the first
floor, the remainder being in the ball
comics and in the aisles back Of them.
Architecture CT Theater.
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris. From the rear
of each balcony there are three doors