The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-01

of the ordlnaucss. m vi>w, of tte ter- r1blc disaster. at the IroQoir Theatfs and pending 4c<1ens sof the City Couhcns 4have directed tho Chief of tho Eife p9part- ment tc aessgn one reeplsr 7uenbsr of the department to each the&tre now com- plying with the ordinance relating to the employment of a fireman.
 sThe nremen now employed by the theatres should be assIgned to the front of the house. while the fireman ASsigned by the chief should be assigned ~ the stage. have further directed tae cheif In cases where the ordinance has not been obeyed to. assign two reguIar nreF1snrto
 the duty of protecting the public ee inst
 fire. k3{
 r-ust Fay for Tissmsn. nshe wages of these AFemen VIII be tassed direct to taIe fheatx4s to which they l'ars assigned and the seryics win bs con. tinued untp tI.s council has finally acted sAftg dsspAtchins this letter the Msyor
 s'If any ono of the thestacal manasefs refuse to pay the wages pf these Men, las several of them have refused in the past, I win close the doors of the thta- tres and keep 4hen1 closed until they agrec to act as thcx should. [
 All during the day tAIsxrams of ayrx- pathy to the people of Chicago and of | fers of aid poured In by telegraph upon l the Mayor He announced tonight: T have recefSed many offers of aid l It may be that befcra We set thronGh we may find that { few personn will be found | to have been put 10 nee0. but Chicago will l be able to give that nid htrsclf. Most Of | those killed or injured nov identified can \ be abundant1y cared for
 Among the teiegrams Of condStenpe re-
 ceived from abroad by the Mayor wefe
 the following: Y . Mayor Harrison: K. x wish to express deepest sympath< ''i account of terrible catastrpphe { Iroaueis Theatre. Fle9sH iek no kfgs f nissIas aad f ,.'. soms ? ss .; . x! ... ': of new year many good citizens of Chi caEo win have. Henry of Prussia From F, s. Willard, the actor. London.
 was received the following; Deepest sympathy with the citizens mourning" 1 Message from President. 'Washington, D. C., Dec. H.-To Hon. Carter H. Harrison. Mayor, Chicago: ..In common with all our people | throughout this land, extend through | you, to the people of Chicago, my deep- est sympathy in the terrible catastrophe which has befallen them.
 | fsiKned.) Theodore Roosevelt" 1 A message of condolence was also re- ceIved from Mayor Collins of Boston and | from doxens of the chief executives of cities between St. Louis and New York. | In addition to his proclamation issued tduring the afternoon. suggesting that the lusual new years festivities be abandoned, Mayor Harrison tonight made the an- nouncennent that all departments Of the city hall will be closed on Saturday. | January 2 on account of the calamity at | the Iroquois. He made the request that | all business houses throughout the city | also close on that day.
 l On every train which arrived in Chica- Eo during the morning. came the relatives I of persons who were thought to have been killed or injured in the fire. The lobbies of the down town hotels were the scenes of many happy meetings as will as anx- | ious inquiries on the part of the fathers. mothers and more distant relatives of people of whom no trace could be found. Twelve members of the City Council to- day inspected the theatre and after doing
 so returned to the. city hall and called on
 the building department. They asked to
 see the plans of the theatre and MT. | Stanhope produced them.
 l IlOW oCAAA~A~SA | Alderman Jones, who was one of the in- vestigating committee.
 "The way the theatre Is built they can | be left out" Mir. Stanhope replied. "Ano anyhow, the flames spread so rapidly that
 no sprinkler system would have availed anything"
 | Alderman Jones then remarked that the
 ordinance required all exits to be marked
 That will be looked into" Mir. Stan hope said. Remember. however. that the lights were out and that many of ths people were killed in their seats" l Pointing to the diagram of the theatre
 Alderman Herman said:
 Caught Like Rats.
 Here is a passageway on the soItE
 side of the first balcony which looks al though 1t led to a stairway. But in thu darkness the people scrambling thfougr ! 1t were caught like rats in trap. They l could not get either way. The confusion | of exits was such that no one coud finC his way in the darkness. If those things are considered exits. do not know what
 constitutes an exit that would be of any | use."
 ] Mir Stanhope told the aldermen that | he had made an inspection of the build ing and that structurally it was good.
 You cannot convince me-" declared Al. derman Herman, If you talk for a hun
 dred years that people could get out Oi that place. I don't care what they cal
 the exits they did not work, there were
 not enough of them open and the people could not get out. The plans show aislef
 at the end If the first floor. but we were | over there and saw the seats run bang | up against the railing, leaving no aisle
 at all. Now what want to know is dsd these people in building this theatre llvC | up to the plans they submitted to tht l city building department? Here there
 seems to be ample exits on paper but
 a number of friends of mine got badly
 scorched just the same"
 "On the first floor. they got out" said | Mir. StanhOpe.
 My friends were on the first floor. but ! they got burns on their backs just the | same" Alderman Herman rejoined. Alderman Friestedt declared that in the
 second balcony there is not suaaaE' | room when the seats are dowR
 1 any one to walk between
 | man scully and AidermaN
 from the floor of the
 stage curtain to the st
 company. The bits VI