The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-01-06


standing Immediately in front Of th
door leading to the alley. AS IL wa
the draft carried the gas AMI fire GU
beneath the curtain and the compau.
was saved, although their salvation
was the death OF so many poor peo
pie in front.
4 FEARFUL DIsCovEl-Y.
The first newspaper men on the
ground also carried out many deat
and injured. The building: was s.
full Of smoke when the fremen frs
arrived that the full extent Of th
catastrophe was not i'm nediately
grasped until a fireman anil a news
paper man crawled up the stairwa.
leading to the balcony; holding hand
kerchiefs over their mouths to avoic
suffocation. AS they reached the
doorway the fireman, whose riSioI
was better trained in such emergen
cies, seized his companion b. the arm
eXclaiming:
Good God, man, don't walk or
their faces"
The two men tried vainly to get
through the door which was jammeo
with dead women, piled higher thar
either of their heads.
All the lights in the theatre were
necessarily out and the only light
came through the clouds Of smoke in
the interior of the theatre. The two
men Immediately hurried to the floor
below and informed Chief Musham OF
the fire department that dead bodies
we're piled high in the balcony and
prompt assistance must be rendered If
any Of them were to be saved.
The chief at once called upon all of
bis men in the vicinity to abandon
work on the fire and come at once to
the rescue. The building WIS so dark
and the smoke so thick that it was
found impossible to accomplish any
thing until lights had been secured.
Word was at once sent to the Orr y
Lockett Hardware company, two
doors east of the theatre, and that
firm at once placed its entire stocks
of lanterns at the service OF the de-
partment. Over 200 lights were
quickly carried into the building and
the work of rescue commenced.
So rapidly we're the bodies brought
down that for over an hour there
we're two streams Of men passing IN
and out of the doorway, the one carry
ing bodies, the other compoS d Of men
returning to get more. Tney were
carried into Thompson's restaurant,
which adjoins the theatre on the east,
where all the available space was
given by the proprietors.
THE WORK OF RELIEF.
The dead and wounded were placed
upon chairs, tables and counters, one
woman even being placed for lack Of
better place on top Of cigar case.
Because OF the tremendous throng
which surrounded the block 10 which
the theatre building stood, it was not
possible for the police to carry the
dead and wounded any distance, and
they were compelled to await for
mbulances at the theatre.
Although all the patrol wagons and
every ambulance owned by the city
was pressed into service, they were
utterly inadequate to carry away the
dead and in short time there was a
line of corpses so feet long piled two
and three deep on the sic swalE in
front of the theatre. 1t vas found
n necessary 10 order to convey The bodies
rapidly to the morgue, and ID the va
rious undertaking establish .1ents, to
impress trucks into service. and IN
these, upon costly blankets .urnlshed
by the dry goods stores in the vicinity,
and covereved with the same material,
the dead were hauled away practically
like 50 much cord wood. The mer-
chants in the vicinity OF tbs theatre
sent wagon load after wagon load OF
blankets, rolls Of linen aud packages
of cotton to be used in binding up the
wounds Of the injured and to cover
the dead. The drug stores furnished
their stock to anybody that asked
for it in the name Of the people hurt
in the fire. Doctors and trained
nurses were on the ground by the
score within half an hour after the
extent of the calamity was known,
and every wounded person who was
carried from the building received
prompt medical aid. A number OF
doctors waited at the entrance to the
theatre with stethoscopeS N hand,
and as soon as a body which looked as
though it might have life was carried
out it was at once examined and II
dead placed on the pile lying on the
sidewalk. The others were at once
placed in ambulances and wheeled
away to hospitals or to the offices OF
physicians in the immediate neighbor-
hood.
CHILDREN TRANPLED UNDER FOOT.
A man who vas in the theatre said
there were few men in attendance,
but I saw several Of them pulling
and pushing women and children
aside as they fought like manics to
reach the exits. saw number OF
little children trampled underfoot and
some of them arose again. II the BAL
cony the scene was beyond my power
TO describe. There was a tig black
crush of human beings, each one ap-
arently lighting everybody else. The
balcony was so steep that many fell in
the first four rows Of seats. The exits
to the fire escapes were checked and
those in the rear rushed VITA all the
strength they possessed up)n those
who we're nearer to the doorway.
1T was almost incredible-the
speech with which the flames ran
through the scenery, and although 1t
was but a second after Miss. Elnore
jumped over the railing of our box to