Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1904-01-02
OVER 500 LIVES WERE LOST
IROQUOIS THEATRE IN CHICAGO
DESTROYED BY FIRE.
Crossed Electric Wires Cause It---Humanity
Packed Ten Feet Deep---People
Were Panic Stricken.

Chicago, Jan. between 500 and
600 people were killed in 10 minutes
Wednesday afternoon during a fire in
the Iroquois theater, the newest, the
largest, and, as far as human pow
er could make it, the safest theater in
Chicago.
A few of these people were burned
to death by fire. many were suffocated
by gas and scores were tTampled to
death in the panic that followed the
mad plunge of the frightened audi
ence for the exits.
The fire broke out during the Sec
ond act of the play, "Mr. Bluebeard,"
which was the first dramatic produc-
ton produced in the theater since its
erection The company, which was
very large, escaped to the street in
safety, nearly all of them, however,
being compelled to fee into the snowy
streets with no clothing but their
stage costumes. A few members Of
the company sustained minor injuries.
but none was seriously hurt.
Electric Light Wires Started 1t.
The accounts of the origin of the
fire are conflicting, but the best rea-
son given is that an electric wire on
the lower part Of a piece of drop
scenery suddenly broke and was
grounded. The fire spread rapidly to-
ward the front or the stage, causing
the members of the chorus, who were
then engaged in the performance, to
flee to the wings with screams of ter
ror. The fire in itseIl up to this time
was not serious and possibly could
have been checked had not the as
bestos curtain failed to work. AS
soon as the fire was discovered, Ed
die Foy the chief comedian of the
company, shouted to lower the cur
tain and this was Immediately done.
1t descended about half way and then
stuck. The fire thus was given prac-
tically tlue, through which a strong
wind was setting, aided by the doors,
which had been thrown open in the
front of the theater. With a roar
and a bound the flames shot through
the opening over the heads of the peo-
pie on the floor and reaching clear
up to those on the first balcony, caught
them and burned them to death where
they sat.
Explosion Adds to Dangers.
Immediately following this rush of
flames there came an explosion which
lifted the entire roof OIL the theater
from its walls, SCATTERING the great
skylight into fragments. AS soon as
the flames appeared beyond the cur
tain a man in the rear of the hall
shouted, Fire! Fire! Fire!" and the
entire audience rose as one person and
made for the doors.
The explosion was caused by the
flames coming into contact with the
gas reservoirs of the theater, causing
them to burst.
VIII j. Davis, manager of the the
alter, said after the catastrophe, that
if the people had remained in their
seats and had not been excited by the
cry of fire, not single life would have
been lost.
This, however, is contradicted by
the statements of the firemen, who
found numbers of people sitting in
their seats, their faces directed to-
ward the stage, as if the performance
was still going on.
1t is the opinion of the firemen that
these persons had been suffocated at
once by the flow. of gas which came
from behind the asbestos curtain.
Tbeater 1aId lam CouIe
AS near as can be estimated at the
present time about 1900 people were
in the theater. Three hundred of these
were on the first floor, the remainder
being in the balconies and in the hall
ways back of them. The theater is
modelled after the Opera Comique in
Paris, and from the rear of each bal
cony are three doors leading out to
passageways toward the front of the
tneater. Two of these doorways are
at the end of the balcony and one in
the center. The audience, in its rush
for the outer air, seems to have
chosen, for the greater part, to flee to
the left entrance and to attempt to
make its way down the eastern stair
way leading into the lobby of the
theater.
Outside of the people burned and
suffocated by gas, it was in these two
doorways on the first and second bal
comics that the greater loss of life
occurred. When the firemen entered
the building the dead were found
stretched in a pile reaching from the
head of the stairway, at least eight
feet from the door, back to a point
five feet in the rear Of the door