The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-01-08

On. IL W80 inc q q tho urOInOn
that these people had been ~sufrocated
q oncs By the dow OF gas which came
from behind the asbestos curtain.
AZ rear a. can be estimated ut the
present time about 1900 people we're
In the theater. Three hundred of
these were on the Hrst floor. the bal
ance being In the two upper balconies.
and in the Railways back Of them.
Dead Jam the Doorways.
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris. and from
the e a of each balcony there are
doors leading out to passage
ways toward the front of the theater.
Two OF these doorways are at the end
OF the balcony and one being in the
center. The audience in it's rush for
the outer air seems to have, for the
greater part. chosen to fee to the left
entrance and to attempt to make it's
way down the eastern stairway lead
ing into the lobby OF the theatsr.
Outside Of the people burned and sui
located by gas, 1t vas in these two
doorways on the first and second bal
comics that the greatest loss Of life
occurred. When the fremen entered
the building the dead were found
stretched in q pile reaching from the
head OF the stairway at least eight
feet from the door back to a point
about five feet in rear Of the door. This
Mass Of Dead Bodies
in the center Of the doorway reached
90 within two feet OF the top of the
passageway. All of the corpses at this
point were women and children. The
fight for life which must have taken
place at these two points il something
that Is simply beyond human power to
adequately describe. Only q faint idea
Of it's horror could be derived from the
aspect of the bodies az they lay.
Women ON top of these masses Of
dead had been o~vertaken by death as
they were crawling IN their hands
and knees over the bodies OF those
who had died before. Others lay with
arms stretche. out In the direction
toward which lay life and safety, hold
ing in their hands Fragments OF gar
ments not their " They we're evi
IDENTIFY orr from the clothing of others
whom they had ~endeavored to pull
down and trample under foot as ley
fought for their own lives. Al the pc.
lice removed
Layer After Layer Of Dead
In these doorways, the sight became
too much rel for police and aremen,
hardened as they are to such scenes,
to endure. The bodies were In such
an inextricable mass, and so tightly
were they damned between the sides
OF the door and walls that 1t "a i'm
possible to lift them one by n and
carry them out. Tho only possible
thing to do was to seize a limb or some
other portion OF the body and pull with
main strength. Men worked At the
task with tears running down their
cheeks and the sobs Of the rescuera
could be heard even in the hall below
where this awful scene was being en-
acted. A number of the men were
compelled to abandon their task and
give it over to others whose nerves
had not yet been shaken by the awful
experience. As one by one the bodies
were dragged out OF the water-soaked
blackened mass Of corpses, the spec
tacle became and more heart
rending. There we're women whose
clothing vas torn completely from
their bodies atovs the waist, whose
bosoms had been ~
Trampied Into a Pulp
and whose faces were marred beyond
all power OF Identification. Bodies lay
in the first and second balconies. In
great numbers. In some places they
we're piled up in the aislss three and
four deep. where n had fallen and
others had tripped over the prostrate
forms, and all had died where they
lay, evidently suffocatsd by gas. 9th
ers were bent over backs Of seats
where they had been thrown by the
rush Of people for the doors and
killed with hardly q chance to rise
from their seats. One mar was
found with his back bent nearly
double, his spinal column having been
fractured as he was thrown backward.
A woman was found cut nearly In half
by the back Of a seat, she having been
forced over it face downward. In the
aisles nearest the doors the scenes
were
Narrowing In the Extreme.
Bodies lay in every conceivable atti-
tudes, half-naked, the look on their
faces revealing some portion of the
agony which must have preceded
death. There were scores and scores
OF people whose entire face had been
trampled completely. off by the heels
of those who rushed over them, aud IN
one aisle the body of a mar was found
with not a vestige Of clothing. flesh or
bone remaining above his waist line.
The entire upper portion OF his body
had been cut into mince meat and
carried away by the feet of those who
trampled him.. search was carefully
made with the hope OF finding his
head, but at a late hour it had not
been discovered, and all that will ever
tell his friends who he was is the color
and appearance OF the clothing on the
lower limbs, an. this is in such a con
dition as to be hardly recognizable.
Fire Escanes not Il, PIace