The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-01-13

4
They thought only Of themselves as
inch as they advanced toward the eX-
| it's.
For an instant the stairways leading
from the balcony were mass of strug-
| Cling people. with scores behind con-
stantly pushing closer and fighting to
get out. Those in the van, unable to
keep their footing, fell headlong.
Those behind fell over their PROSTATE
forms, crushing and suffocating them.
The scene was then bedlam. Women
and children were in the majority Of
the fighting crowd, and their shrieks of
fear mingled with the groans Of the in
jured and the prayers of supplicants to
God.
Women seized their babies in their
arms, frantically clung to them, be-
seeching ears that were deaf to en-
| treaty to save them from the terrible
fate impending. Had those appealed
to been so disposed they could not have
| given the assistance so pfteouSly be-
sought.
In the last hope, born of desperation.
scores Of those in the balcony. climbed
to the railing and ,leaped to the pit of
| the theatre, many feet below. Their
bodies were found long afterward.
when the smoke had cleared away and
/ the firemen could grope their way with
lanterns into the place.
The dense smoke quickly rose to the
| top Of the building. To score of those
who had sought to jump from the gal
lery the smoke was kind, for it brought
death quickly. Three women were
found hanging over the rail, their faces
distorted with agonies of death.
IRON q dozen sources the alarm went
| to fire headquarters, but before the
vanguard of engines wheeled into Ran
| dolph street dense crowd mad gath
cred in front of the theatre. The fire.
men were quick to act. but hundreds
of bodies were already motionless with
| in the walls of the playhouse so re-
Gently opened.
An awe-stricken crowd stood fxedly
as those who had been nearest the
doors rushed out, their eyes wild with
fear. These yelled fire at the top of
their voices, and the cry was taken up
by the crowd and carried far into busy
State street and the other avenues of
commerce.
None realized at that minute what
had occurred. Each man asked his
neighbor if there had been loss of life
or injury. Not until the first black
ened and limp body was borne forth in
the arms of a policeman did the impor-
tance of the disaster begin to dawn on
those in the street.
In fifteen minutes nineteen dead bod
les were carried out the Randolph
street entrance. Then they came so
fast that all count was lost.
Every hospital in the city hurried am
balances to the scene, and with them
every surgeon who could be spared.
They were as nothing. though, as COM
pared to the need. Two and three, and
in many cases even more, were hud-
died into the ambulance and hurried
off to the hospitals, where kindlier at
tention could be given them.
The great majority of those who had
occupied orchestra seats escaped with
their lives, though scores were badly
hurt in the rush. Some were knocked
down, and with broken limbs were un-
able to rise.
They were left to die with number
of women who tainted from fright.
With these bodies were found the
corpses of those who had leaped from
the balcony and gallery.
In the exits Of the balcony and gal
leries the greatest loss Of life occurred.
When the firemen went to remove the
bodies they found hundred or more
piled in a mass in each place. The
clothes were torn completely away
from some of the bodies. Here and
there a jewelled hand protruded from
the pile. All the faces were distorted
with pain.
From beneath one mass there sudden
ly came the moan of woman. Tremb-
ling hands plunged their way into the
tangle of human forms, and with a
mighty effort pulled to the surface the
woman. The blackened lips parted.
and a fireman bent over her to catch
the words.
"My child. my poor little boy, where
is he? Oh, do bring him to me-"
Again the lips parted.
rs he safe? Tell me he is safe and
I can die"
He is safe," the fireman muttered,
and all knew his reply was best. She
died, and her body was lifted with
those of hundreds Of others in that one
spot.
The calamity was so overwhelming
that the firemen and the policemen,
who were the first to reach the upper
parts of the house, could not realize its
astonishing extent. They began by
dragging body or two from the terri
BILE piles at the head Of the stairways,
as if they did not know the piles We're
made of human bodies.
Gradually the full significance of the
catastrophe dawned upon them. All
the lights of the theatre had been e1-
tinguished. The lanterns Of the fire.
men cast only a dim glow over the
piles of dead. From the bodies arose
small curls of steam. The firemen had
drenched the piles before they knew
they were made Of human corpses.
Then the work of taking out the in
animate forms began. There were con-
slant appeals for more help. The bod
les Of little children, torn and bleeding.
were tenderly lifted, each by fire.
men or policeman, and carried to the
street below. Two or three men were
needed to bear the heavier burdens.
Every now and then q form family
breathing was dragged out of the pile.
These were handled with even more
tenderness than the others as they
were carried down the marble stairway
of the gllded foyer. Now and then
faint groan was heard coming from the
bottom of the pile. This was the Sig
nal for renewed and frantic efforts on
the part of the rescuers to untangle
the human mass.
In tho halnnnY scattered ahnut the