Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-01-06
THROWN IN A PANIC.
Eddie Foy, the Comedian, Is a Hero
His Narration.

Chicago. ILL.,, Dec. o1.-Only once
year could such an audience have gath
cred: only once within all the twelve
months could so many children have been
collected within the walls Of a theater.
The froQuois was packed to the doors
yesterday afternoon A matinee Of Mr..
Bluebeard' was being given
There were 1000 persons or thereabouts
had seats. The rest were massed in the
rear OF the seats on the main floor and
the first balcony.
In the galleries, even the rear seats of
the second gallery, were seated persons
who ordinarily would have not been con-
tent with anything less than parQuet
seats. They were mothers. aunts, and
elder sisters, taking the children for an
outing which fitted only to this one af-
tern0on: young fellows from college
treating their visiting chums TO the the
alter; school girls out with their young
friends for the same kind of lark. 4
number Of parties consisted of trios Of
girls under - years Of age
Such was the human material provided
on one side of the curtain
On the other were 800 members of the
extravaganza company. They were
dressed IN hlmsy garments, trailing with
gauze. wells Of death once the breath Of
hre swept over them
Fire Curtain Delusion.
Between audience and performers was
the curtain line down which an asbestos
fire curtain should have fallen a second
after the alarm was given, combining the
IRE to the stage.
The curtain never fell.
The fire leaped from the stage as il
from q furnace door. The draft from
the opened stage exits behind drove it
across the auditorium and upward to the
galleries. Over a carpet Of the dead it
forced its own way through the chimney
Of the alley doors on the galleries.
The newest theater in Chicago, the
playhouse declared to be freproof from
dressing rooms to capstone burned till
wrecked interior a charnel house.
WAY Curtain Failed to Work.
The fynan Of the theater Charles
johnson, said that for some time past it
had been the practice at the .theater to
have the curtain high at night so as to
permit a good view for the aerial ballet.
"rrhey attempted to drop the curtain
he said, but it would not drop below
the height it had been fixed at
A report in wide circulation was that
the assistant stage manager. who had
Immediate charge Of the curtain was not
on the stage, but in front. He, it was
declared could have touched an electric
button which would have operated the
sheet III q seco1G. Without him. accord
ing to this story, the attempt was made
clumsily to run the curtain down by hand
an attempt that failed.
The Fire Starts.
The FIRE started While the double oc-
tette was singing "In the Pale Moon
light Eddie Foy, off the stage, was
making up for his 'elepha Mt" speciality.
On the audiences left-the stage right
"a line of fire flashed straight up. It
was followed by a noise as Of an ex-
DlOSf0n According np9;ir oil
counts, however, there was no real ex-
plosion, the sound being that of the fuse
of the spot" light, the light which :
turned on . pivot to follow and illumi-
nate the progress OF the star across the
stage.
y spot" Electric Light the Cause.
L This light caused the fire On this all
reports Of the stage folk agree. AS to
manner, accounts differ widely. r. M
i&Jummings, the boy in charge of the
light, said last night that it was short
circuited.
Stage hands, as they fled from the
kcene, however, were heard to question
Ione another. "Who kicked over the
ilight?'' The light belonged tc the Blue
beard" company.
The beginning of the disaster was
leisurely. The stage hands had been fight,
ing the line Of wavering flame along the
muslin fly border for some seconds before
the audience knew anything was the mat
ter.
The fy border, made of muslin and sat
urated with paint, was finder to the
flames.
The stage hands eraspcd the long sticks
used in ther work. They forgot the hand
grenades that are supposed to be on every
stage.
''Hit it with Tie sticksn was the cry
"Beat it outr' BEAT it out!'
The men struck sayagely. A few yards
of the border fell upon the stage and
was stamped to charred fragments
That sight was the first warning the
audience had. For a second there was q
hush. The singers halted in their lines
the musicians ceased to play.
Then the murmur Of fear ran through
the audience. There were cries from a
few, followed by the breaking. rumbline
sound of the first step toward the flight
of panic.
One Man Keeps His Head.
At that moment strange, groteSaue
hgure appeared upon the stage. 1t wore
lights. a. loose upper garment. and the
face was one-holf made up. The man