Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-01-02
Chicago's Greatest Calamity.

Snlcd8O, icy. Oudy uIPhRll
only the legacy of yesterdays mon
.umental calamity and the predic-
tons that the list of fatilities at the
Iroquois theater fire will run over
600 when the information is com
plete.
The latest statement Of the dead at
the various morgnes is 56i and it is
stated at the various hospitals and
hotels to which the injured were re-
moved that of the 1871 people who
injured probably one third would die.
It's no extra 'agant language TO
say that the city is stunned by the
over whelming tragedy enacted
when the theater became a chamber
of horrors. There Is deepest woe in
hundreds of homes today, deep sor-
row in thousands Of others and pity
beyond the potency of words to con
vey in all.
The striking livery drivers, with
out a dissenting vote, decided to de-
clare a truce OF ten days in order to
assist in every way IN caring for the
wants OF the public.
All night long crowds came and
went around the morgue, where the
bodies of the victims of the disaster
lay. There were heads of families,
brothers. sisters. and men and wom-
en- looking for those from outside
cities who had been their guests.
For hours they passed before the
long row of dead searching for the
faces of their missing friends or rel
atiyes.
Among theatrical men, the re-
sponsibility Tor the fire is ascribed
to placing electric arc lights too close
to the scenery.
One girl lay in Thompson's res
taurant, a beautiful blond of sixteen
years She is too perfect to let die
said a physician. and he worked
heroically for half an hour, but there
was no sign of life.
By order of Coroner Traeger the
Iriquois Theatre, the charnel house.
was placed today under police guard
and the long stream of curiosity
seekers were barred from entering.
Individual scenes and pathetic Incl
dents around the morgues and I'M
dertaking establishments were heart
rending in the extreme and so nume-
rous as to easily fill the newspapers
in an attempt to describe them.
Coroner Treager viii investigate
the fire and call a jury,
"lf any person is responsible for
this fire." he said, "hey will be
prosecuted to the full extent of the
law"
Estimates of the deadand injured
vary. The police countof the dead
is 536. The estimate 0 the news
papers is COZ. Besides this there
are $50 people missing, q midnight,
the majority of whom ar probably
among the dead in the mrgues and
various undertaking establishments.
Eighty-six Of the dead ave been
positively identified, ninet.-two 9TH
ers are known to be iniurd.
A fewof these people wee burned
to death by fire, many wersuffocat-
ed by gas, and cores weretrampled
to death in the panic thatsollcwed
the mad npl lHhag"ol'Ne frightened au
lHience Tor the exlus. 1t will be
several days before all of the dead
are known and identified. There
are bodies lying by the dozena to-
night in the undertaking rooms in
the police stations and in the hos
pitals, from which nearly everything
that could reveal their identify to
those who knew them best is CINE
Their clothing torn to rags, or butn-
ed to cindcrs, and their faces have
been t%rampled into an unrecogniz-
able pulp by the heels of the crowd
that trampled them down as they
fled for safety.